From Latin to Italian

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A guidebook for students of Romance philology, this volume presents the phonetic and morphological principles that emerge from a study of the development of the ancient tongue into the standard of speech of today. Inasmuch as this language is in its origin mainly Tuscan, and especially Florentine, the examination has to do mostly with Florence and Tuscany, but other dialects are cited when they have at any period made contributions to the literary vocabulary. The discussion of inflectional forms really includes the more conspicuous changes in syntax. In the midst of a mass of detail the author has attempted to keep the fundamental outlines of his subject clear. He has tried also to explain the phenomena in the light of our present knowledge of phonetics and of linguistic history.