Fiorenzo Toso (20 February 1962 – 24 September 2022) was an Italian academic, linguist, and dialectologist.

Life and career

Toso graduated from the

University of Genoa The University of Genoa, known also with the acronym UniGe ( it, Università di Genova), is one of the largest universities in Italy. It is located in the city of Genoa and regional Metropolitan City of Genoa, on the Italian Riviera in the Liguri ...

with a degree in foreign language and literature in 1988, then earned a degree in Italian philology from

Saarland University Saarland University (german: Universität des Saarlandes, ) is a public research university located in Saarbrücken, the capital of the German state of Saarland. It was founded in 1948 in Homburg in co-operation with France and is organized in si ...

in 2000. In 2007, he earned a doctorate in Romance studies and general linguistics from the

University of Perugia University of Perugia (Italian ''Università degli Studi di Perugia'') is a public-owned university based in Perugia, Italy. It was founded in 1308, as attested by the Bull issued by Pope Clement V certifying the birth of the Studium Generale. Th ...

. From 2007 to 2022, he taught at the

University of Sassari The University of Sassari ( it, Università degli Studi di Sassari, UniSS) is a university located in Sassari, Italy. It was founded in 1562 and is organized in 13 departments. The University of Sassari earned first place in the rankings for t ...

, first as an associate professor and subsequently as a full professor. A specialist in the linguistics of Ligurian, Toso collaborated with the ''

Lessico etimologico italiano The ''Lessico etimologico italiano'' (''LEI'') is an etymological dictionary of the Italian language. It has been published since 1979 by the Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur in Mainz, Germany under the direction of Max Pfister and ...

'' in

Saarland The Saarland (, ; french: Sarre ) is a state of Germany in the south west of the country. With an area of and population of 990,509 in 2018, it is the smallest German state in area apart from the city-states of Berlin, Bremen, and Hamburg, and ...

. On both Ligurian and the

Genoese dialect Genoese, locally called or , is the main Ligurian dialect, spoken in and around the Italian city of Genoa, the capital of Liguria, in Northern Italy. A majority of remaining speakers of Genoese are elderly. Several associations are dedicated ...

, he wrote numerous publications in both Italian and foreign journals. He also wrote several monographs. Toso also researched the phenomenon of

language contact Language contact occurs when speakers of two or more languages or varieties interact and influence each other. The study of language contact is called contact linguistics. When speakers of different languages interact closely, it is typical for th ...

, with special attention to language islands in the Mediterranean basin, from the to

Tabarchino Tabarchino is a dialect of the Ligurian language spoken in Sardinia. Tabarchino is spoken in the communities of Carloforte on San Pietro Island and Calasetta on Sant'Antioco Island, which are located in the Archipelago of Sulcis in the Provin ...

. In addition, he conducted etymological research on linguistic minorities in Italy and Europe. Thanks to his research on Tabarchino, he was awarded honorary citizenship of

Calasetta Calasetta ( Ligurian: ''Câdesédda'') is a small town (population 2,919) and ''comune'' located on the island of Sant'Antioco, off the Southwestern coast of Sardinia, Italy. History While the town itself dates to 1770. In the middle of the 16th c ...

and

Carloforte Carloforte (''U Pàize'' in Ligurian, literally: ''the village, the town'') is a fishing and resort town located on Isola di San Pietro (Saint Peter's Island), approximately off the southwestern coast of Sardinia, in the Province of South Sard ...

. Fiorenzo Toso died from brain cancer in

Arenzano Arenzano (local lij, Rensën) is a coastal town and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Genoa, Liguria, northern Italy, facing the Ligurian Sea. , it has a population of 11,445. This varies during the holiday seasons due to tourist flow. There ...

, on 24 September 2022, at the age of 60.

Works

*''Vocabolario delle parlate liguri'' (1985) *''Letteratura genovese e ligure. Profilo storico e antologia'' (1989) *''Gli ispanismi nei dialetti liguri'' (1993) *''Storia linguistica della Liguria. Dalle origini al 1528'' (1995) *''La letteratura in genovese. Ottocento anni di storia, arte, cultura e lingua in Liguria'' (1999) *''Il tabarchino. Strutture, evoluzione storica, aspetti sociolinguistici, in Il bilinguismo tra conservazione e minaccia. Esempi e presupposti per interventi di politica linguistica e di educazione bilingue'' (2004) *''Dizionario Etimologico Storico Tabarchino. Volume I, a-cüzò'' (2004) *''Le eteroglossie interne. Aspetti e problemi'' (2005) *''Lingue d'Europa. La pluralità linguistica dei Paesi europei fra passato e presente'' (2006) *''Liguria linguistica. Dialettologia, storia della lingua e letteratura nel Ponente. Saggi 1987-2005'' (2006) *''Le minoranze linguistiche in Italia'' (2008) *''Linguistica di aree laterali ed estreme. Contatto, interferenza, colonie linguistiche e “isole” culturali nel Mediterraneo occidentale'' (2008) *''Circolazioni linguistiche e culturali nello spazio mediterraneo. Miscellanea di studi'' (2008) *''La letteratura ligure in genovese e nei dialetti locali. Profilo storico e antologia'' (2009) *''La Sardegna che non parla sardo'' (2012) *''Le parlate liguri della Provenza. Il dialetto figun tra storia e memoria'' (2014) *''Parole e viaggio. Itinerari nel lessico italiano tra etimologia e storia'' (2015) *''Piccolo dizionario etimologico ligure'' (2015) *''Il mondo grande. Rotte interlinguistiche e presenze comunitarie del genovese d'oltremare. Dal Mediterraneo al Mar Nero, dall'Atlantico al Pacifico'' (2020) *''Ra cittara zeneize. Poesie scelte'' (2020)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Toso, Fiorenzo 1962 births 2022 deaths Deaths from brain cancer in Italy Deaths from cancer in Liguria Italian academics Dialectologists Italian translators Translators from French Translators from Spanish University of Genoa alumni Saarland University alumni People from the Province of Genoa