Table Of ContentThis page intentionally left blank
Using Italian
ThisisaguidetoItalianusageforstudentswhohavealreadyacquired
thebasicsofthelanguageandwishtoextendtheirknowledge.Unlike
conventionalgrammars,itgivesspecialattentiontothoseareasof
vocabularyandgrammarwhichcausemostdifficultytoEnglish
speakers.Carefulconsiderationisgiventhroughouttoquestionsof
style,register,andpolitenesswhichareessentialtoachievingan
appropriatelevelofformalityorinformalityinwritingandspeech.
Thebooksurveysthecontemporarylinguisticsceneandgivesample
spacetothenewvarietiesofItalianthatareemerginginmodernItaly.
TheinfluenceofthedialectsinshapingthedevelopmentofItalianis
alsoacknowledged.Clear,readableandeasytoconsultviaitstwo
indexes,thisisanessentialreferenceforlearnersseekingaccesstothe
finernuancesoftheItalianlanguage.
j. j. kinder isAssociateProfessorofItalianattheDepartmentof
EuropeanLanguagesandStudies,UniversityofWesternAustralia.He
haspublishedwidelyontheItalianlanguagespokenbymigrantsand
theirchildren.
v. m. savini istutorinItalianattheDepartmentofEuropean
LanguagesandStudies,UniversityofWesternAustralia.Heworksas
bothatutorandatranslator.
Companion titles to Using Italian
Using French (third edition) Using Italian Synonyms
Aguidetocontemporaryusage howard moss and vanna motta
r. e. batchelor andm. h. offord (ISBN0521475066hardback)
(ISBN0521641772hardback) (ISBN0521475732paperback)
(ISBN052164593Xpaperback)
Using French Vocabulary
Using Spanish jean h. duffy
Aguidetocontemporaryusage (ISBN0521570409hardback)
r. e. batchelor and c. j. pountain (ISBN0521578515paperback)
(ISBN0521421233hardback) Using Spanish Vocabulary
(ISBN0521269873paperback)
r. e. batchelor and miguel a.
Using German (Second edition) san josè
Aguidetocontemporaryusage
(ISBN0521810426hardback)
martin durrell (ISBN052100862Xpaperback)
(ISBN0521823072hardback)
Using Italian Vocabulary
(ISBN0521530008paperback)
marcel danesi
Using Russian
(ISBN0521818826hardback)
Aguidetocontemporaryusage (ISBN0521524253paperback)
derek offord
Further titles in preparation
(ISBN0521451302hardback)
(ISBN0521457602paperback)
Using Japanese
Aguidetocontemporaryusage
william m clure
C
(ISBN0521641551hardback)
(ISBN0521646146paperback)
Using French Synonyms
r. e. batchelor and m. h. offord
(ISBN0521372771hardback)
(ISBN0521378788paperback)
Using Russian Synonyms
terence wade and nijole white
(ISBN0521790840hardback)
(ISBN0521794056paperback)
Using Spanish Synonyms
r. e. batchelor
(ISBN0521441609hardback)
(ISBN0521446945paperback)
Using German Synonyms
martin durrell
(ISBN0521465524hardback)
(ISBN0521469546paperback)
Using Italian
A guide to contemporary usage
J. J. KINDER and V. M. SAVINI
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS
Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, São Paulo
Cambridge University Press
The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 8RU, UK
Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York
www.cambridge.org
Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521485562
© J. J. Kinder and V. M. Savini 2004
This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the
provision of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part
may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press.
First published in print format 2004
ISBN-13 978-0-511-55558-9 eBook (Dawsonera)
ISBN-13 978-0-521-48556-2 paperback
Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy
of urls for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication,
and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain,
accurate or appropriate.
Contents
Prefaceandacknowledgments page xvii
Abbreviations xviii
1 Varietiesoflanguage 1
1.1 TheItalianlanguagetoday 1
1.2 Thedialects 2
1.3 DialectandlanguageincontemporaryItaly 2
1.4 DialectandItalianincontact 4
1.5 Registersoflanguage 5
1.6 Examplesofregionalvariation:pronunciation 5
1.7 Examplesofregionalvariation:grammar 7
1.8 Examplesofregistervariation:grammar 8
1.9 Examplesofregionalvariation:vocabulary 10
1.10 ExtractsillustratingregistersofItalian 12
ExampleofR1(SicilianandNorthernvarieties) 12
ExampleofR1(Romanvariety) 15
ExampleofR1(Tuscanvariety) 16
ExampleofwrittenR1–2:SMSmessages 17
ExampleofspokenR2:Un’agenziadiviaggi 19
ExampleofspokenR2:TVgameshow 20
ExampleofR2–3:magazineeditorial 22
ExampleofR3:writtencommunicationfrombank
toitscustomers 24
ExampleofR3:policereport 25
ExampleofR3:formalletter 27
WORDSANDTHEIRMEANINGS
2 Misleadingsimilarities 30
2.1 Similarform–differentmeaning:Falsefriends 30
2.1.1 ‘Falsiamici’i 30
2.1.2 ‘Falsiamici’ii:English(orEnglishlooking)wordswith
differentmeaningsinItalian 39
v
Contents
2.2 Similarform–partlysimilarmeaning:Partial
deceptivecognates 41
2.3 Paronymswithsimilarmeanings 51
2.3.1 Paronymswithsimilarmeanings:agenerallist 52
2.3.2 Paronymswithsimilarmeanings:misleading“alterati” 66
2.4 Paronymswithdifferentmeanings 67
2.5 Verbswithsimilarstems 70
2.6 Genderparonyms 75
2.6.1 Genderparonymswithsimilarmeanings 75
2.6.2 Genderparonymswithdifferentmeanings 79
2.7 Deceptiveminimalpairs 83
2.8 Othertypesofmisleadingsimilarities 87
3 Fieldsofmeaning–“Synonyms” 89
4 Complexverbalexpressions 158
4.1 SingleEnglishverbscorrespondingtocomplexItalian
expressions 158
4.2 SingleItalianverbscorrespondingtocomplexEnglish
expressions 160
4.3 ComplexItalianexpressionscorrespondingtocomplexEnglish
expressions 161
4.4 Italian“impersonal”verbs 162
4.5 Verbalexpressionswithla,ne,ci 164
4.5.1 Idiomaticverbalexpressionswithla 164
4.5.2 Idiomaticverbalexpressionswithne 166
4.5.3 Idiomaticverbalexpressionswithci 166
5 Affectivesuffixes 168
5.1 Diminutivesuffixes 169
5.2 Augmentativesuffixes 172
5.3 Suffixesf orverbs 173
6 Idioms,similes,andproverbs 174
6.1 Idioms 174
6.2 Similesbasedonadjectives 184
6.3 Similesbasedonverbs 185
6.4 Otherproverbialcomparisons 185
6.5 Proverbs 186
7 Personalnames 188
7.1 Theancientworld:GreeceandRome 189
7.2 TheBible 189
7.2.1 OldTestament 189
7.2.2 NewTestament 190
vi
Contents
7.3 TheMiddleAgestothetwentiethcentury 190
7.3.1 Non-Italiannames 190
7.3.2 ItaliannameswithaLatinizedorAnglicized
forminEnglish 191
8 Geographicalandastronomicalnames 192
8.1 Italy:administrativeregions 193
8.2 Italy:cities 193
8.3 Continents 196
8.4 Europe:countriesandregions 196
8.5 TheAmericas:countriesandregions 199
8.6 Asia:countriesandregions 199
8.7 Africa:countriesandregions 200
8.8 Oceania:countriesandregions 201
8.9 Historicalormythicalplaces 202
8.10 Citiesoftheworld 203
8.11 Riversoftheworld 205
8.12 Mountainsandvolcanoesoftheworld 205
8.13 Planets,stars,andconstellations 206
9 Abbreviationsandacronyms 207
9.1 Titlesandotherfrequentlyusedabbreviations 208
9.2 Internationalorganizations 212
9.3 Italiannon-politicalorganizations 213
9.4 Italianofficialpoliticalorganizations,
unionsetc. 214
10 Latinexpressionsandsayings 217
10.1 Latinexpressions 217
10.2 Latinproverbsandmottoes 220
11 Grammaticalterms 221
11.1 Grammaticalterms 221
11.2 Punctuationmarks 224
11.3 Othercommontermsandexpressions 225
12 Numeralsandtelephoneconventions 226
12.1 Numeralsandmathematicalconventions 226
12.1.1 Decimals 226
12.1.2 Mathematicaloperations 226
12.1.3 Ordinalnumbers 226
12.2 Telephoneconventions 227
12.2.1 Telephonenumbers 227
12.2.2 Telephonealphabet 227
vii
Contents
13 Measurement 229
13.1 Length 230
13.2 Weight 231
13.3 Area 232
13.4 Volume 233
13.5 Capacity(liquid) 233
13.6 Currency 234
13.7 Temperature 234
13.8 Time 235
THECLAUSE–combiningwords
14 Gender 239
14.1 Genderandsex 239
14.1.1 Persons 239
14.1.2 Animals 240
14.2 Formationofmasculine/femininepairs 240
14.2.1 Unrelatedm-fnouns 241
14.2.2 Relatedm-fnouns:anomalousm-f
correspondence 242
14.2.3 Relatednouns:patternsofm-fcorrespondence 242
14.3 Genderassociatedwithtypesofnoun 243
14.4 Genderassociatedwithnounending 245
14.5 Genderofcompoundnouns 248
14.5.1 Verb+noun 248
14.5.2 Noun+noun 249
14.5.3 Noun+adjective/adjective+noun 250
14.5.4 Othercompounds 250
14.6 Homonymsdistinguishedbygender 252
14.7 Nounswithbothmasculineandfeminineplurals 253
15 Number 256
15.1 Formationofplurals 256
15.2 Pluralofcompoundnouns 258
15.3 ItalianpluralswhichcorrespondtoEnglishsingulars 259
15.4 ItaliansingularswhichcorrespondtoEnglishplurals 260
15.5 Numberconcord 261
16 Pronouns 262
16.1 First-andsecond-personpronouns 262
16.2 Third-personpronouns 263
16.3 Orderofobjectpronouns 265
16.4 Pronounsandverb 266
16.5 Pronounsofaddress 268
viii
