Eleonora Serra | Ghent University (original) (raw)

Papers by Eleonora Serra

Research paper thumbnail of ‘L'arte in prattica’: Reconstructing Orazio Toscanella's language ideology

Renaissance Studies

This paper examines the dynamics which led to the formation of Italian by reconstructing the lang... more This paper examines the dynamics which led to the formation of Italian by reconstructing the language ideology of the teacher and polygraph Orazio Toscanella, i.e. one of those cultural mediators who, in the sixteenth‐century Venetian printing market, were actively involved in the promotion of the vernacular. Looking for traces of Toscanella’s language ideology through a range of paratextual materials (title‐pages, prefatory letters), we reconstruct his ideas on the vernacular. These reveal an eclecticism which is not entirely coherent, but which can be understood in light of this polygraph’s pedagogical objectives, and of his pressing need to respond to the market’s requirements. By focusing on Toscanella’s translation of Vives’ Exercitatio, published in 1568 under the title Flores Italici, we then compare the ideas conveyed in the paratexts with the author’s linguistic usage in the text: we thus show that Toscanella’s eclectic ideas on language and his need to accommodate the mark...

Research paper thumbnail of The use of discourse-ending formulae: Exploring intra-writer variation in Michelangelo Buonarroti's correspondence

Markus Schiegg and Judith Huber (eds.), Intra-writer variation in historical sociolinguistics [Studies in Historical Sociolinguistics series]. Peter Lang., 2023

The Florentine artist Michelangelo Buonarroti was a prolific letter writer: more than 400 autogra... more The Florentine artist Michelangelo Buonarroti was a prolific letter writer: more than 400 autograph lettersmost of which are private and everyday lettershave survived that address a range of individuals from different backgrounds and span 68 years (1496-1563). This chapter investigates intrawriter variation in Michelangelo's use of a set of discourse-ending formulae, charting their usage in relation to time and to the relationship with the addressee. This focus on intra-writer variation allows one to investigate the relative roles of writing experience and group practices in Michelangelo's language, suggesting that, for him, this set of formulae functioned primarily as social conventions.

Research paper thumbnail of Advertising grammars and dictionaries in the Venetian printing market: A linguistic analysis of title pages

Renaissance Studies, 2023

Title-pages represent an interesting and under-researched type of paratextual material in the con... more Title-pages represent an interesting and under-researched type of paratextual material in the context of the Italian early modern book market. Drawing on pragma-linguistic approaches not yet applied in the Italian context, this paper offers an analysis of title-pages of vernacular grammars and lexicographic works that were printed in Venice in the sixteenth and early seventeenth century (31 works).In Venice, which was the hub of vernacular codification, this new genre saw increasing attempts at popularization as more and more readers demanded straightforward tools that would help them learn literary Tuscan. My analysis focuses on the marketing strategies employed by publishers, printers, and authors – viewed together as a community of practice – on the title-pages of these works. Focus is placed on the genre labels employed in primary titles, the presentation of the author's credentials, intended readership, printer and publisher, and dedication, as well as on the modifications applied by Venetian publishers when it came to re-print and popularize non-Venetian works. By exploring strategies used to guide and attract target audiences, this article aims to show that linguistic approaches are useful in the study of Italian paratexts and confirms the importance of including paratextual features in studies of historical sociolinguistics.

Research paper thumbnail of “Giudicho essere più ghuadagnio lo spendere qui che ’l ghuadagniare chostì”: The plague in the Buonarroti correspondence among anxieties, professional dilemmas and medical beliefs.

Journal of Early Modern Studies, special issue [Plagues in early modern Europe: History, models, representations and metaphors, ed. by Donatella Pallotti and Paola Pugliatti]. 1–20., 2021

This paper examines the experiences of the plague in early sixteenth-century Italy from the persp... more This paper examines the experiences of the plague in early sixteenth-century Italy from the perspective of one Florentine family, the Buonarroti, based on their vast correspondence. The paper explores the way the Buonarroti family members gave voice to their anxieties, particularly with regard to the violent outbreak that swept across Italy in the 1520s. It also examines the advice that family members gave each other, assessing the extent to which this reflected recommendations found in contemporary medical literature. These recommendations most often amounted to fleeing to isolated places, and avoiding contact with individuals and with potentially infected objects. Recommendations about prayers are also found. Comments on the notion of 'bad' air are especially frequent, showing that a close association between the concept of contagion and the concept of corrupt air existed not only in medical literature, but even for lay people. The paper underlines the dilemmas the Buonarroti family members (several of whom were wool merchants) faced when it came to choosing between saving their businesses or protecting their health. Finally, it explores writers' perceptions of social differences.

Research paper thumbnail of Change from Above in a 16th-Century Corpus of Tuscan Correspondence: The Spread of the Codified Form of the Masculine Determiner

BRILL eBooks, Aug 16, 2022

Research paper thumbnail of New speaker paradigm and historical sociolinguistics: Dynamics between Florentines and learners in early modern Italy

Journal of Historical Sociolinguistics, 2019

This paper aims to assess whether the emerging research paradigm of the new speaker may be useful... more This paper aims to assess whether the emerging research paradigm of the new speaker may be useful in the study of language history. This question is tackled by exploring the dynamics which arose between Florentines and non-Florentine learners in sixteenth-century Italy. At the time, notwithstanding the peninsula’s linguistic fragmentation, the written language came to be progressively standardised around an archaic variety of Florentine (the fourteenth-century vernacular used by Dante, Petrarch and Boccaccio). Florentines, initially, had no active role in this process and literary Florentine was living an autonomous life, becoming, at the written level, a “learner” variety progressively influenced by its new users. If at first Florentines themselves saw the emerging exogenous written standard in negative terms, they were not immune to its influence – an influence which grew stronger as the century progressed. The dynamics which arose between Florentines and learners concerning lingu...

Research paper thumbnail of ‘L'arte in prattica’: Reconstructing Orazio Toscanella's language ideology

Renaissance Studies

This paper examines the dynamics which led to the formation of Italian by reconstructing the lang... more This paper examines the dynamics which led to the formation of Italian by reconstructing the language ideology of the teacher and polygraph Orazio Toscanella, i.e. one of those cultural mediators who, in the sixteenth‐century Venetian printing market, were actively involved in the promotion of the vernacular. Looking for traces of Toscanella’s language ideology through a range of paratextual materials (title‐pages, prefatory letters), we reconstruct his ideas on the vernacular. These reveal an eclecticism which is not entirely coherent, but which can be understood in light of this polygraph’s pedagogical objectives, and of his pressing need to respond to the market’s requirements. By focusing on Toscanella’s translation of Vives’ Exercitatio, published in 1568 under the title Flores Italici, we then compare the ideas conveyed in the paratexts with the author’s linguistic usage in the text: we thus show that Toscanella’s eclectic ideas on language and his need to accommodate the mark...

Research paper thumbnail of The use of discourse-ending formulae: Exploring intra-writer variation in Michelangelo Buonarroti's correspondence

Markus Schiegg and Judith Huber (eds.), Intra-writer variation in historical sociolinguistics [Studies in Historical Sociolinguistics series]. Peter Lang., 2023

The Florentine artist Michelangelo Buonarroti was a prolific letter writer: more than 400 autogra... more The Florentine artist Michelangelo Buonarroti was a prolific letter writer: more than 400 autograph lettersmost of which are private and everyday lettershave survived that address a range of individuals from different backgrounds and span 68 years (1496-1563). This chapter investigates intrawriter variation in Michelangelo's use of a set of discourse-ending formulae, charting their usage in relation to time and to the relationship with the addressee. This focus on intra-writer variation allows one to investigate the relative roles of writing experience and group practices in Michelangelo's language, suggesting that, for him, this set of formulae functioned primarily as social conventions.

Research paper thumbnail of Advertising grammars and dictionaries in the Venetian printing market: A linguistic analysis of title pages

Renaissance Studies, 2023

Title-pages represent an interesting and under-researched type of paratextual material in the con... more Title-pages represent an interesting and under-researched type of paratextual material in the context of the Italian early modern book market. Drawing on pragma-linguistic approaches not yet applied in the Italian context, this paper offers an analysis of title-pages of vernacular grammars and lexicographic works that were printed in Venice in the sixteenth and early seventeenth century (31 works).In Venice, which was the hub of vernacular codification, this new genre saw increasing attempts at popularization as more and more readers demanded straightforward tools that would help them learn literary Tuscan. My analysis focuses on the marketing strategies employed by publishers, printers, and authors – viewed together as a community of practice – on the title-pages of these works. Focus is placed on the genre labels employed in primary titles, the presentation of the author's credentials, intended readership, printer and publisher, and dedication, as well as on the modifications applied by Venetian publishers when it came to re-print and popularize non-Venetian works. By exploring strategies used to guide and attract target audiences, this article aims to show that linguistic approaches are useful in the study of Italian paratexts and confirms the importance of including paratextual features in studies of historical sociolinguistics.

Research paper thumbnail of “Giudicho essere più ghuadagnio lo spendere qui che ’l ghuadagniare chostì”: The plague in the Buonarroti correspondence among anxieties, professional dilemmas and medical beliefs.

Journal of Early Modern Studies, special issue [Plagues in early modern Europe: History, models, representations and metaphors, ed. by Donatella Pallotti and Paola Pugliatti]. 1–20., 2021

This paper examines the experiences of the plague in early sixteenth-century Italy from the persp... more This paper examines the experiences of the plague in early sixteenth-century Italy from the perspective of one Florentine family, the Buonarroti, based on their vast correspondence. The paper explores the way the Buonarroti family members gave voice to their anxieties, particularly with regard to the violent outbreak that swept across Italy in the 1520s. It also examines the advice that family members gave each other, assessing the extent to which this reflected recommendations found in contemporary medical literature. These recommendations most often amounted to fleeing to isolated places, and avoiding contact with individuals and with potentially infected objects. Recommendations about prayers are also found. Comments on the notion of 'bad' air are especially frequent, showing that a close association between the concept of contagion and the concept of corrupt air existed not only in medical literature, but even for lay people. The paper underlines the dilemmas the Buonarroti family members (several of whom were wool merchants) faced when it came to choosing between saving their businesses or protecting their health. Finally, it explores writers' perceptions of social differences.

Research paper thumbnail of Change from Above in a 16th-Century Corpus of Tuscan Correspondence: The Spread of the Codified Form of the Masculine Determiner

BRILL eBooks, Aug 16, 2022

Research paper thumbnail of New speaker paradigm and historical sociolinguistics: Dynamics between Florentines and learners in early modern Italy

Journal of Historical Sociolinguistics, 2019

This paper aims to assess whether the emerging research paradigm of the new speaker may be useful... more This paper aims to assess whether the emerging research paradigm of the new speaker may be useful in the study of language history. This question is tackled by exploring the dynamics which arose between Florentines and non-Florentine learners in sixteenth-century Italy. At the time, notwithstanding the peninsula’s linguistic fragmentation, the written language came to be progressively standardised around an archaic variety of Florentine (the fourteenth-century vernacular used by Dante, Petrarch and Boccaccio). Florentines, initially, had no active role in this process and literary Florentine was living an autonomous life, becoming, at the written level, a “learner” variety progressively influenced by its new users. If at first Florentines themselves saw the emerging exogenous written standard in negative terms, they were not immune to its influence – an influence which grew stronger as the century progressed. The dynamics which arose between Florentines and learners concerning lingu...