O NASTANKU ITALIJANSKOG JEZIKA I SPECIFIČNOSTIMA ODNOSA STANDARDNI JEZIK - DIJALEKTI / ON THE ORIGIN OF THE ITALIAN LANGUAGE AND SPECIFICITIES OF THE RELATION BETWEEN THE STANDARD LANGUAGE AND DIALECTS

The subject of this paper is the relation of the standard Italian language to the dialects present on the territory of Italy. In the first part of the paper, we will focus on the basic concepts such as the difference between the standard language and dialects, on the prestige it has in comparison to dialects, as well as on linguistic varieties. Since the issue of language is often related to socio-historical aspects, in the second part of the paper we will look at the development of the Italian language and its role in raising awareness of national identity. We will then explain the concept of dialect and see that, specifically on Italian soil, dialectal differences can as considerable as to prevent communication within the same language. We will briefly look at some Italian dialects, such as Venetian, Sardinian and Neapolitan, and the status they enjoy. We will also mention contemporary attitudes about the use of dialects in Italy and some of the tendencies of the modernItalian language.

Jews in Florence

The first sporadic Jewish presence in Florence is attested from the 1320s. In 1437, Jewish bankers were formally granted the license to lend money at interest in Florence, an act that stimulated the establishment of a small but permanent Jewish community composed of families from central Italy and their entourages (100–300 people). The fate of the community was closely connected to its elite’s banking specialization and to the Medici patrons who protected them. Threatened with expulsion on multiple occasions, Florentine Jews managed at times to stave off exile thanks to the economic services they offered the state. The presence of wealthy patrons, most notable among them Yehiel da Pisa, also benefited Jewish intellectual life, as evidenced by both Hebrew manuscript production and cultural flourishing in the last decades of the 15th century. Figures such as Elijah del Medigo, Abraham Farissol, and Yohanan Alemanno were all active in Renaissance Florence, while Christian interest in Hebrew and kabbalistic traditions led humanists such as Giannozzo Manetti, Marsilio Ficino, and Giovanni Pico della Mirandola to associate with Jewish scholars. Around the time of the Florentine Republic (1527–1532), the city saw an initial influx of Sephardic Jews, whose traditions and economic focus were different from the established local Jewish community. After the Medicis returned to Florence, they granted generous freedoms to these “Levantine Jews” (1551), hoping to attract them to the capital and benefit from their mercantile networks. This initial experiment failed, and only with the Livornina of 1591 was a growing Sephardic presence drawn to the Medici state—not to Florence, but to coastal Livorno. In 1570, the Jews of Florence and the surrounding countryside were ordered to resettle in a segregated enclosure, the third ghetto to be established on Italian soil after Venice and Rome; the community grew to 600–700 individuals due to the destruction of rural communities and their confluence into Florence. In the 17th century, the economic activities of Florentine Jews dwindled significantly as a result of the forced closure of Jewish banks and new limitations imposed by the Medicis. Despite these restrictions, Jewish life endured. Current research is increasingly shedding light on the opportunities and challenges Florentine Jews experienced during the ghetto period, a previously understudied topic.

Exploring the effect of varying soil organic matter contents on current and future moisture supply capacities of six Italian soils

<p>The Available Soil Water Capacity (AWC) is standard data in most soil databases and expresses soil water contents in the rootzone between field capacity (FC;-33 kPa) and permanent wilting point (WP; -1500 kPa). Literature suggests that increasing the content of soil organic matter (SOM) of a given soil does not significantly increase AWC and this has important implications when estimating soil moisture supply to crops and evaluating the potential for climate mitigation. For most crops, the real FC values vary between -10 and -50 kPa in different soils and WP values between -800 and -1500 kPa. Thus standard values for AWC of FC and WP do not represent field conditions in many soils. When exploring AWC for six Italian soil series, ranging from clay to sandy, AWC values at increasing %SOM were lower in clay soils and higher in sand as compared with actual conditions, which could be explained by considering the shape of the corresponding moisture retention curves. Rather than focus on static AWC values to define moisture supply to plants, real or actual soil moisture supply capacities (MSC) can be obtained by dynamic modeling of the soil-water-atmosphere-plant system, including a “sink-term” indicating a continuous relation between water uptake and negative pressure head of soil water and evaporative demand. Also, only models allow exploration of the effects of future severe IPCC climate scenario RCP 8.5. Thus, studying MSC for the six Italian soil series showed that MSC values were: (i) on average 30% higher than the corresponding AWC; (ii) distinctly different for the six soils; (iii) affected by declines of 1-9% as a result of the effects of future climate scenarios.; (iv) not significantly affected by increases of %SOM when considering climate change, except for the sand. Generalizations as to the effect of future climate scenarios and %SOM on MSC can only be realistic when modeling is performed for soil series in different climate zones. The contribution has been published in Geoderma journal by Bonfante A., Basile A., and Bouma J. (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoderma.2019.114079).</p>

Metus Gallicus, tumultus Cimbricus?

This article aims to contribute to an ongoing scholarly debate about crises in the Roman world. It presents a case study of Roman crisis management, the so-called tumultus. The main question it sets out to answer is whether the wars of the Romans against the Germanic Cimbri and Teutones (113-101)1—the Roman defeat at the Battle of Arausio (Orange) in 105 in particular—led to the promulgation of such a military emergency, which opened the possibility to facilitate the draft of extra troops by the Roman Senate. A prerequisite for this state of emergency was that the enemy had crossed the Alps and had set foot on Italian soil (tumultus Italicus), or at least entered the area north of the river Po, Cisalpine Gaul (tumultus Gallicus). Contrary to recent views on crisis management during the Roman Republic, it is stated here that the scattered literary sources related to the Cimbrian War all seem to suggest that on two occasions during this war a tumultus declaration may have been proclaimed in Rome; either directly after the news of Arausio reaching the city of Rome, or else after the Cimbrian invasion of Italy in 102.

Language and Identities: The Exceptional Normality of Italy

Language issues loom large in current debates on Italian identity/identities, indigenous minorities in Italy and, of course, immigration. While the context of language debates in early 21st century Italy presents new realities and challenges, the fundamental issues are the same as those originally defined by the first European language planner, Dante, and reworked by successive theorists. The debates turn on exclusions and inclusions, on levels of multiple identities, on understandings of otherness. It is no accident that language is at once as a provocation for debates on identity and a metaphor of those debates, for the tensions that run through the debates lie at the heart of language itself. All cultures have a narrative that explains diversity among languages and cultures, either as the result of a mistake or as divine punishment. The Biblical accounts of Creation, Babel and Pentecost provide the framework for European understandings of language diversity. These accounts capture the paradoxical nature of human language, which characterizes us a species and is a tool for building unity between persons and groups, but is, by its nature, always and inevitably an expression of diversity, in time and space. These contradictions are being played out in current language debates as emigration, return migration, internal migration and immigration elicit new constructions of ‘Italianness’, the literary canon and the social weight of the different varieties of language present on Italian soil and in Italian communities abroad.

New Lineage of Filamentous, Spore-Forming, Gram-Positive Bacteria from Soil

ABSTRACT A novel bacterial strain that was isolated from an Italian soil and was designated SOSP1-21T forms branched mycelia in solid and liquid media and has a filamentous morphology similar to that of some genera belonging to the Actinobacteria. Electron microscopy showed that this organism has a grape-like appearance, resulting from interlacing of spores originating from sporophoric hyphae. Ten strains that are morphologically related to SOSP1-21T were recovered from soil. Phylogenetic analyses of 16S rRNA gene segments confirmed the relatedness of these strains to SOSP1-21T and indicated that the newly isolated strains form separate clades in a deeply branching lineage. The closest matches for the 16S rRNA sequences of all the strains (around 79% identity) were matches with representatives of the Chloroflexi, although the affiliation with this division was not supported by high bootstrap values. The strains are mesophilic aerobic heterotrophs and are also capable of growing under microaerophilic conditions. They all stain gram positive. Strain SOSP1-21T contains ornithine, alanine, glutamic acid, serine, and glycine as the peptidoglycan amino acids. In addition, an unusual level of C16:1 2OH (30%) was found in the cellular fatty acids. The G+C content of SOSP1-21T genomic DNA is 53.9%, and MK-9(H2) was the only menaquinone detected. All these data suggest that SOSP1-21T and the related strains may constitute a new division of filamentous, spore-forming, gram-positive bacteria. We propose the name Ktedobacter racemifer gen. nov., sp. nov. for strain SOSP1-21T.