Tullio De Mauro and the spread of Italian throughout the world

Abstract

The analysis of the linguistic issues of Italian emigrant movements abroad is a constant interest in De Mauro’s works. Emigration contributed directly and indirectly to Italianisation; furthermore, linguistic teaching in emigration contexts contributes to the diffusion of the Italian language and culture throughout the world. The essay analyzes some works in which De Mauro deals with the topic, starting from the Storia linguistica dell’Italia unita (1963), passing through the conference of the Società di Linguistica Italiana (Italian Linguistics Society) in 1970, up to the two large quantitative and qualitative investigations of 2000 (Italiano 2000) and 2017-2020 (Italiano 2020), reconstructing the lines of his scientific research and the dialectic with the institutions on the
linguistic policy.