2023-09-06 21:51:53
by FRANCO MANZONI
Thursday 7 on newsstands with the newspaper the second issue of the series «Lessons in writing». In the volume dedicated to “Grammar” and created with the Scuola Holden, why the rules governing our language are born and how they are used
Impossible to be able to write adequately without knowing in depth the formal rules, which regulate spelling, punctuation, logical analysis and that of the period. A magma of practices consolidated over the centuries, but in constant change, since language is a vivid and versatile organism. With the determination to offer readers of any age an aid in expressing themselves better in writing and a critical spirit to fully understand the meaning of these customs, Grammatica is out today, the second volume of the new Writing Lessons series, on newsstands together with «Corriere della Sera», fruit of the collaboration with the Scuola Holden of Turin.
It is a title that immediately recalls the difficulties of the notions to be put into practice and inevitably encloses awe perhaps in the memory of the school years spent studying since the elementary school desks. Added to this is the constant terror of making mistakes even now in the formulation of a sentence or in making a mistake in a subjunctive. Which can happen in the habit of writing.
However, this title is accompanied by a completely innovative captivating motto: breaking the rules, learning them. An aphorism, if you like, conceived in an oxymoronic sense, because the purpose of the volume is above all to present the grammar rules in pills, revitalizing their learning through an unusual and engaging approach, proposing operational exercises in the second part to be controlled gradually at the end of reading. A study without a teacher in attendance, but which includes a series of lessons, to be approached with the spirit of the self-taught.
However, in the times of social media and digital e-taliano, does it make sense to learn punctuation as it once was? Numerous professors (supported by textbooks) still erroneously teach today that punctuation marks serve only to signal the pause in reading aloud. Conversely, punctuation is very useful for dividing the text into structured groups only in silent reading. After a long series of studies, the well-known linguist Bice Mortara Garavelli (1931-2023) underlined the importance of “punctuation for the eye” and certainly not for giving the right intonation to sentences. Scuola Holden Grammar highlights how language is not an organism made up of graphemes, but rather of sounds that come to light on the written page.
But how is a grammatical rule born? From a proposal accepted by the majority and implemented by everyday use. A clear example: in the middle of the last century the famous linguist Bruno Migliorini (1896-1975) dictated the rules for the formation of the plural of words ending in -cia and -gia (acacia, suitcase, tip, beach), establishing that the i should be kept when -cia and -gia are preceded by a vowel and dropped when there is a consonant first. As a result, acacias, suitcases, tips and beaches. Can a blunder par excellence such as «a me mi» be accepted? It is necessary to pay close attention, the authors write, to open wide one’s eyes and ears. Well yes – surprise! – there is no blunder, “a me mi” is only a dislocation to the left, it serves to affirm a difference, the contrast between what has value for me and not for others. As if that weren’t enough, the speaker continues to use it and is not mistaken.
Is it a real advantage to know the grammatical analysis in detail? It’s not always advisable, it remains an unresolved question, it depends on the theses of the different grammarians, it’s almost like imposing the study of Greek and Latin law on those who don’t want to be a lawyer. In any case it seems appropriate to be able to distinguish the noun from the verb, the adjective from the pronoun. What about logical analysis? Understood in the classic sense, it is an exercise devoid of any use or of a precise purpose, if not the one that derives from the pleasure of doing it. A verification that only Italian teaching requires, often with tests prepared for years and therefore pre-cooked by the sadism of some teachers. In other countries, syntax is studied, i.e. distinguishing the function of the minimum units of a sentence (the syntagms) in order to then understand the different relationships that link them. We then come to the analysis of the period. In traditional grammars, the terminology of the syntax of the period (ruler, subordinates of different degrees, coordinates) also proceeds by hierarchies and power relationships. An inherent patriarchal language, which should be entirely demolished.
Is there a possibility of depriving the subjunctive of that social prestige it has always enjoyed? The response of the authors of the Scuola Holden is very clear: it is sufficient to devise alternative sentences that exclude the so-called verba putandi, which in our language come directly from Latin, such as believing, thinking, supposing. And voilà, that’s it, so much so that the subjunctive mood loses its aura as an icon and returns it to a simple verbal form to be used like the others, when it really is necessary.
Each volume on sale for 6.90 euros
The volume Grammatica, the second title of the «Lessons in writing», the series of new books designed to teach writing techniques and, in general, communication, will be released on Thursday 7 September with the newspaper. The series, in 25 issues, was produced by «Corriere della Sera» with Scuola Holden and is available on newsstands on a weekly basis (each volume costs €6.90 plus the usual price of the newspaper). The “Lessons” of “Corriere” and Scuola Holden are designed for anyone who wants or needs to do with writing, not just for aspiring novelists. Each volume includes a first theoretical part and a second practical one, with exercises and activities for training and verifying what has been learned. The second title, on newsstands on September 7, focuses on the rules that govern the Italian language, to be known, used and even transgressed if needed according to the key to reading the volume. Scuola Holden, founded in Turin in 1994 by the novelist Alessandro Baricco, teaches the crafts of storytelling. From the small writing school of its origins, over the years it has grown to become, today, also a recognized university which, through the professions of storytelling, trains children and adults in the so-called Contemporary Humanities, i.e. in all the indispensable skills for living in the world and communicate in the most effective and incisive way. After that of Thursday 7, the subsequent releases of the «Lessons in writing» series will be: Il corpo (on newsstands with the newspaper on 14 September), which has the «body of the text» as its material and shows how to bring characters to life on the page , On conflict (September 21), Words (September 28), Phrases (October 5), Growing an obsession (October 12).
September 6, 2023 (change September 6, 2023 | 7:36 pm)
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