Evidence of Oral Interference in Franco-Italian

Abstract

The four lexemes bragagner, sberna, seterer and smenaventure are problematic within the text of Ms. marc. fr. 13 since the forms differ from those of any other texts of the time (with the exception of other Franco-Italian texts in the case of bragagner). I will show that the points of difference are phonological and morphological changes resulting from interference patterns with spoken Italian.Manoscritto marciano francese 13 (St. Mark’s manuscript 13 of the French collection) is an untitled anonymous manuscript from the first half of the 14th century at St. Mark’s Library in Venice. It contains eight chansons de geste. These are the first written versions of Old French epic poetry produced in Italy; that is, they are not copies of Old French manuscripts.