Why is the Tuscan dialect still the language of Italy?

Question

Old school books and theories teach us that the standard Italian (meaning the pronunciation of opened or closed vowels) is the one spoken in Tuscany.

Is it true anymore?

During my exams to study linguistics at university, the professor would write a work on the blackboard and us students would have to write down using pronunciation symbols. Italians from the north of Italy or the south of Italy would be wrong in phonetically translate the biggest part of the words.

But what is a standard accent? Does it exist? Aren't all the accents important and spoken enough to be considered part of a whole standard Italian?

Are the Italian spoken by theater actors the standard Italian?

What is a STANDARD exactly for a language?

Shouldn't a language be considered so since spoken by a group of people?

If so, what are the variations and what is the standard?

Answer 1

Since Dante and Boccaccio made the decision to write in the vernacular of their homes--in both cases,Tuscany--the language has been associated with literacy and culture. During another crucial moment in Italy's history, the Risorgimento, or the unification of Italy into a modern nation state in the mid-nineteenth century, Tuscan still came up on top as the dialect that would be called Italian. At a time when newspapers proliferated, like blogs do today, they all were written in Tuscan. The language of the newly-formed parliament and the Quirinal was also Tuscan. When Carlo Lorenzini wrote his serial installments for the newly-founded "Giornale per i Bambini," a newspaper based in Rome, which has its own dialects, it was still written in Tuscan. Out of this children's newspaper came the most widely-disseminated story to come out of Italy, "Le avventure di Pinocchio," which was written in the Tuscan dialect.

That has not changed even with movements to democratize culture--multiculturalism--in the modern world. The question of why Tuscan persisted as the dialect of choice for Italy is an interesting one, considering that the economic center of Italy has moved north of Tuscany and the political center is south of Tuscany. Tuscany's main role today is still as a symbol of cultural achievement of the peninsula in the arts: the Renaissance, after all, was born and matured in Tuscany. Out of tradition and convenience, Tuscan is the language of one of the newest nation states in Western Europe. Given how already culturally and politically fragmented the Italian peninsula is, it is doubtful that you will see anybody try to elevate regional dialects and diminish the importance of Tuscan as the preeminent dialect, or Italian, as we know it. In places like Catalonia in Spain where politicians attempt to replace the national dialect with the regional dialect, it often corresponds to an ideology of secession or separation from the rest of the nation. Language is very political indeed.

As far as which dialect becomes standard in a country, that is a big question, and the reasons can often differ. We shall look to the Iberian peninsula again for an example. Castilla, the part of Spain that gave birth to what we call Spanish today, was for the much of Spain's history a cultural and economic backwater of subsistence farmers and warriors raiding neighboring, richer regions. When Isabela la Catolica, who represented Castilla y Leon and Ferdinand who was the king of points east, united Spain under their standards, the dialect of these central realms was on its way to becoming "Spanish." No doubt what sealed the deal in Spain's case for the Castilian dialect becoming the national language was the conquest of the Americas. From Mexico to Peru, the natives were taught Castilian. Then the dialect of a minority of the peninsula became the language of the majority of the Spanish Empire. An interesting side note to this is that when Charles V, Isabel and Ferdinand's successor, was Holy Roman Emperor and King of Spain, he added Castilian to the list of languages he commanded, including Dutch and German, but he preferred to speak French. Historically, it has not been important which language the monarch has personally preferred; other forces shape which dialect becomes the national language.

In China, a place with hundreds of dialects, the dialect of Peking in the northeast corner of the empire, where the emperor put his capital, became the official language, "Mandarin Chinese" of the whole country. Until that choice was made, it was neither the geographical nor the cultural center of the country.

We can see how the reasons why the Tuscan dialect became the Italian language are cultural, rather than strictly economic or political. Generally, it does not matter what the language of the monarch is, however, or England would be speaking a dialect of French today and Spaniards would speak Flemish, German, or French. In contrast with Italy, in Spain Castilian became the national language of the Iberian peninsula for political reasons. On the other hand, in China, it was just a matter of which dialect was spoken in the city that became the capital of the Chinese empire.

Answer 2

Old school books and theories teach us that the standard Italian (meaning the pronunciation of opened or closed vowels) is the one spoken in Tuscany.

Is it true anymore?

No, it is not true anymore. Standard Italian originated from a dialect originally spoken in Florence only. This dialect has been used first by Dante Alighieri in his masterpiece The Divine Comedy. He set the standard, and is now considered the Father of the Italian language, followed by Boccaccio and Petrarca who used the same dialect. However, nowadays Italian is spoken everywhere in the country and the one spoken in Tuscany is not considered the "best" or "standard" Italian anymore. People from Tuscany have an accent that may or may sound pleasant to Italians: it just depends on personal preference. All Italians speak with an accent, same as in the USA or anywhere else in the world. In general, all Italian dialects suffer a stigma, especially when they are used in formal contests in place of Italian.

But what is a standard accent? Does it exist?

Yes, there is a standard accent, but all Italians speak with an accent (except TV journalist, skilled actors or people who studied Italian diction for specific purposes) and would need to train in order to hide or lose their accent.

In terms of vowels, the standard Italian is based on seven phonemes /a, ɛ, e, i, ɔ, o, u/. This means that if you want to speak standard Italian you need to know when to pronounce open/closed E and O sounds. Kids are not taught diction in school, so most Italians do not know when to pronounce one or the other sound, being those sounds allophones. There are specific rules on how to pronounce consonants and diphthongs too according to the standard Italian, but again, most Italians do not know them.

If you are wondering on what kind of accent you should learn when learning Italian, that depends on your preference. You would be exposed to the accent of your teacher, but you would definitely learn an accent that everybody would understand and since you are a foreigner you would develop a pronunciation that at the beginning people would detect as being of a foreigner. A good rule of thumb to improve would be to expose yourself to varied accents (speak to people from the North, Centre and South).

Aren't all the accents important and spoken enough to be considered part of a whole standard Italian?

Yes, they are all important and accepted as the norm. However, unfortunately accents from the South have sometimes a worse stigma than accents from the North. This has to do with the cultural everlasting North vs South issue that originated in Italy since unification (1861).

Answer 3

The Tuscan dialect became the linguistic model above the different and coexisting languages ​​present in ancient Italy. The Tuscan kingdom was the one that had a larger land, and its Lord and families were the richest and most powerful of the peninsula. The nation did not yet exist as united as it does now. The country was divided into small kingdoms with different populations, languages ​​and cultures linked only by a unique faith made by the Catholic Church and its spiritual power. The fact was that this unique power was the only one capable of deciding and judging the work of art of literature and art that appeared at the time as well as the desire to control all the small Italian countries. The Tuscan kingdom during the Renaissance,  had wealthy families who were able to pay artists to create religious works of art as well as science and literature. Having said that, the Tuscan with his wealth ended up controlling the religious power of the church of the time over other Italian countries. In the Tuscan region the principle of humanism in art and science began and developed, giving rise to the birth of the Renaissance which was a cultural revolution throughout Italy and Europe. Reason why the church in the middle of the cultural renaissance chose the Tuscan dialect over the other dialects. Dante Alighieri wrote the Divine Comedy in Tuscan-Latin language verses starting with the poet Boccaccio at the beginning of the Italian language.

Answer 4

Jeffrey's answer describes in detail the historical reasons why Tuscany is considered the birthplace of Italian. Tuscany is indeed considered the cradle of the Italian language, and it holds great importance in Italian literature. Italy's most eminent society for scholars and Italian linguists, Accademia della Crusca, is based in Florence and has been active since 1583.

That said, I would like to add some input regarding modern Italian as it is regarded now by the teaching community in Italy. Hopefully, the next paragraph will contain the specific answers you are looking for.

The words "standard Italian" are often used by members of the teaching community, but there are other variants of the language which are equally recognized and appreciated. There is, for example, a so-called "neo-standard" variation for Italian, which is based on the written language but also includes many idiomatic expressions and colloquialisms that have developed in the last 50 years. Many textbooks published after the year 2000 are actually based on neo-standard Italian.

An example of neo-standard: the pronoun "egli" is replaced by the plain "lui".

Another term you will easily find online is "substandard". This word is used to describe the Italian language used in a creative way, which is not necessarily "correct" from a grammar standpoint but is understood and used by many Italian citizens, especially those who belong to the younger generations.

An example of substandard Italian could be the masculine indirect pronoun "gli" used towards women. Sure, it's not technically correct, but since many people use it we need to find a good definition for it and accept this variation of the spoken language.

English is a perfect example of a language with many variations and many different standard forms, many of which are respected and recognized as equal (think of British and American variations, or to more specific variations that 30 years ago used to be called "slang" and disapproved by the general public). When thinking about Italian, I think we don't necessarily need to elevate one of these variations to the status of the "best" or "most useful" one, but simply accept the intricacies. This might be an obvious concept to English speakers who come from the United States, but the Italian community as a whole tends to be pretty conservative in their views on language. This might be the reason why regional varieties from the North and the South have, in your experience, been labeled as "wrong" when compared to the variety spoken in Tuscany.

Going back to the definiton of "Tuscan", I believe there is a big disparity between the objective status of the Italian language and the perception held by the average Italian citizen.The word "Tuscan" is frequently used today in colloquial Italian to refer not to the volgare language from which Italian stemmed, but to the current variety spoken in Tuscany. Italians tend to use the word "dialect" pretty freely, even when the terms "regional variation" and "slang" would be more appropriate. The current regional variation of Italian spoken in Tuscany has, in my opinion, developed well beyond the textbook definition "standard Italian"

If you posted this question hoping to receive guidance as to which variety of Italian to prioritize during your studies, I would say that it depends on your personal targets and setting. I'd love to expand on the subject.