Abstract:This paper deals with the concepts of focusing and diffusion and how they interact in the history of a language; whereas the former implies regularity and stability in the use of the code, the latter refers to a situation of great variability . Some defining moments in
the history of the Italian language (the Late Middle Ages, the Renaissance and the Unifica- tion of Italy) are here analyzed and discussed in terms of the focusing / diffusion distinction . Moreover, the sociolinguistic situation of contemporar… Show more
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