The Italian Language

Learn about the Italian language, grammar, vocabulary and culture

Several Vernaculars

After the fall of the Western Roman Empire there was a long hiatus during which Vulgar Latin evolved into the modern Romance Languages. Latin did not die out, however, but continued to be used as a lingua franca and a language of science and philosophy until the early XX century.
Vulgar Latin, however, continued to develop, giving a number of vernaculars. Some of these became literary languages on their own right, while others continue to be used as “dialects”, that is, almost exclusively as spoken, informal speech.

Saint Francis and Saint Claire

Some of the earliest examples of written vernacular were documents with scarce literary pretensions. The earliest of these dates from the IX century. Though it is no longer in Latin, it cannot be said to be in any Romance language either. In 13th-century a number of literary texts appear, written in different dialects of the vernacular. Among these we can site St Francis of Assisi’s (1181/2-1226) Canticle of the Sun, written in Umbrian. This form of religious poetry became popular in Umbria as a result of the activity of the Saint, the main poet being Jacopone da Todi (early XII century-1306). The satirical poetry of Cecco Angiolieri (Ca. 1260-Ca 1330), chivalric literature of French inspiration in the form of chansons de geste, the didactic and moralistic prose of Brunetto Latini (1210-1294) and love poetry all deserve to be mentioned.