A vernacular or vernacular language is in contrast with a "standard language". It refers to the language or dialect that is spoken by people that are inhabiting a particular country or region. The vernacular is typically the native language, normally spoken informally rather than written, and seen as of lower status than more codified forms. It may vary from more prestigious speech varieties in different ways, in that the vernacular can be a distinct stylistic register, a regional dialect, a sociolect, or an independent language. Vernacular is a term for a type of speech variety, generally used to refer to a local language or dialect, as distinct from what is seen as a standard language. The vernacular is contrasted with higher-prestige forms of language, such as

national National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...

literary Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to ...

, liturgical or scientific idiom, or a ''

lingua franca A lingua franca (; ; for plurals see ), also known as a bridge language, common language, trade language, auxiliary language, vehicular language, or link language, is a language systematically used to make communication possible between groups ...

'', used to facilitate communication across a large area. According to another definition, a vernacular is a language that has not developed a

standard variety A standard language (also standard variety, standard dialect, and standard) is a language variety that has undergone substantial codification of grammar and usage, although occasionally the term refers to the entirety of a language that includes ...

, undergone codification, or established a literary tradition. In the context of language standardization, the terms "vernacular" and "vernacular dialect" are also used as alternative designations for "

non-standard dialect A nonstandard dialect or vernacular dialect is a dialect or language Variety (linguistics), variety that has not historically benefited from the institutional support or sanction that a standard language, standard dialect has. Like any dialect, ...

Etymology

First usage of the word "vernacular" is not recent. In 1688, James Howell wrote:

Concerning Italy, doubtless there were divers before the Latin did spread all over that Country; the
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n, and
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n spoke Greek, whereof some Relicks are to be found to this day; but it was an adventitious, no Mother-Language to them: 'tis confess'd that Latium it self, and all the Territories about Rome, had the Latin for its maternal and common first vernacular Tongue; but Tuscany and Liguria had others quite discrepant, viz. the Hetruscane and Mesapian, whereof though there be some Records yet extant; yet there are none alive that can understand them: The Oscan, the
Sabin Sabin may refer to: ;Places in the United States * Sabin, Minnesota, a city in Clay County, Minnesota * Sabin, Portland, Oregon, a neighborhood in Portland, Oregon *Sabin-Schellenberg Center, a technical skills center for the North Clackamas Schoo ...
and Tusculan, are thought to be but Dialects to these.

Here, vernacular, mother language and dialect are already in use in a modern sense. According to

Merriam-Webster Merriam-Webster, Inc. is an American company that publishes reference books and is especially known for its dictionaries. It is the oldest dictionary publisher in the United States. In 1831, George and Charles Merriam founded the company as ...

, "vernacular" was brought into the English language as early as 1601 from the Latin ''vernaculus'' ("native") which had been in figurative use in Classical Latin as "national" and "domestic", having originally been derived from ''vernus'' and ''verna'', a male or female slave born in the house rather than abroad. The figurative meaning was broadened from the diminutive extended words ''vernaculus, vernacula''. Varro, the classical Latin grammarian, used the term ''vocabula vernacula'', "termes de la langue nationale" or "vocabulary of the national language" as opposed to foreign words.

Concepts of the vernacular

General linguistics

In contrast with lingua franca

In general linguistics, a vernacular is contrasted with a ''

'', a third-party language in which persons speaking different vernaculars not understood by each other may communicate. For instance, in Western Europe until the 17th century, most scholarly works had been written in Latin, which was serving as a lingua franca. Works written in

Romance language The Romance languages, sometimes referred to as Latin languages or Neo-Latin languages, are the various modern languages that evolved from Vulgar Latin. They are the only extant subgroup of the Italic languages in the Indo-European languages, I ...

s are said to be in the vernacular. The ''

Divina Commedia The ''Divine Comedy'' ( it, Divina Commedia ) is an Italian narrative poem by Dante Alighieri, begun 1308 and completed in around 1321, shortly before the author's death. It is widely considered the pre-eminent work in Italian literature and ...

'', the '' Cantar de Mio Cid'', and The Song of Roland are examples of early vernacular literature in Italian, Spanish, and French, respectively. In Europe, Latin was used widely instead of vernacular languages in varying forms until c. 1701, in its latter stage as New Latin. In religion, Protestantism was a driving force in the use of the vernacular in Christian Europe, the Bible having been translated from Latin into vernacular languages with such works as the Bible in Dutch: published in 1526 by

Jacob van Liesvelt Jacob van Liesvelt or Jacob van Liesveldt ( Antwerp, c. 1489, – Antwerp, 28 November 1545), was a Flemish printer, publisher and bookseller.Luther Bible in 1534 ( New Testament 1522); Bible in Spanish: published in Basel in 1569 by Casiodoro de Reina (Biblia del Oso); Bible in Czech: Bible of Kralice, printed between 1579 and 1593; Bible in English:

King James Bible The King James Version (KJV), also the King James Bible (KJB) and the Authorized Version, is an Bible translations into English, English translation of the Christian Bible for the Church of England, which was commissioned in 1604 and publis ...

, published in 1611; Bible in Slovene, published in 1584 by Jurij Dalmatin. In Catholicism, vernacular bibles were later provided, but Latin was used at Tridentine Mass until the Second Vatican Council of 1965. Certain groups, notably Traditionalist Catholics, continue to practice

Latin Mass Latin Mass may refer to: * Liturgical use of Latin ** Mass of Paul VI in Latin * Tridentine Mass ** As part of the use of preconciliar rites after the Second Vatican Council * Some liturgies of the Pre-Tridentine Mass See also * ''Latin Mass Magaz ...

. In Eastern Orthodox Church, four

Gospels Gospel originally meant the Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words an ...

translated to vernacular Ukrainian language in 1561 are known as

Peresopnytsia Gospel The Peresopnytsia Gospel ( uk, Пересопницьке Євангеліє, ''Peresopnytske Yevanheliie''), dating from the 16th century, is one of the most intricate surviving East Slavic manuscripts. It was made between 15 August 1556 and 29 ...

. In India, the 12th century

Bhakti movement The Bhakti movement was a significant religious movement in medieval Hinduism that sought to bring religious reforms to all strata of society by adopting the method of devotion to achieve salvation. Originating in Tamilakam during 6th centur ...

led to the translation of Sanskrit texts to the vernacular. In science, an early user of the vernacular was

Galileo Galileo di Vincenzo Bonaiuti de' Galilei (15 February 1564 – 8 January 1642) was an Italian astronomer, physicist and engineer, sometimes described as a polymath. Commonly referred to as Galileo, his name was pronounced (, ). He was ...

, writing in Italian c. 1600, though some of his works remained in Latin. A later example is Isaac Newton, whose 1687 '' Principia'' was in Latin, but whose 1704 '' Opticks'' was in English. Latin continues to be used in certain fields of science, notably binomial nomenclature in biology, while other fields such as mathematics use vernacular; see scientific nomenclature for details. In diplomacy, French displaced Latin in Europe in the 1710s, due to the military power of Louis XIV of France. Certain languages have both a classical form and various vernacular forms, with two widely used examples being Arabic and Chinese: see Varieties of Arabic and Chinese language. In the 1920s, due to the May Fourth Movement, Classical Chinese was replaced by written vernacular Chinese.

As a low variant in diglossia

The vernacular is also often contrasted with a liturgical language, a specialized use of a former ''lingua franca''. For example, until the 1960s,

Roman Rite The Roman Rite ( la, Ritus Romanus) is the primary liturgical rite of the Latin Church, the largest of the ''sui iuris'' particular churches that comprise the Catholic Church. It developed in the Latin language in the city of Rome and, while dist ...

Catholics held Masses in Latin rather than in vernaculars; the Coptic Church still holds liturgies in

Coptic Coptic may refer to: Afro-Asia * Copts, an ethnoreligious group mainly in the area of modern Egypt but also in Sudan and Libya * Coptic language, a Northern Afro-Asiatic language spoken in Egypt until at least the 17th century * Coptic alphabet ...

, not Arabic (Liturgy is commonly conducted in the language of the parish. Arabic is the most-used vernacular language for Liturgy, and by far, the most used language in the Coptic church. The Liturgies were translated to Arabic a few centuries after the Arab conquest of Egypt in the 7th century. Coptic is still used in the Liturgy, but is not the only language used. Just as EOC uses Amharic) . ; the

Ethiopian Orthodox Church The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church ( am, የኢትዮጵያ ኦርቶዶክስ ተዋሕዶ ቤተ ክርስቲያን, ''Yäityop'ya ortodoks täwahedo bétäkrestyan'') is the largest of the Oriental Orthodox Churches. One of the few Chris ...

holds liturgies in Ge'ez though parts of Mass are read in

Amharic Amharic ( or ; (Amharic: ), ', ) is an Ethiopian Semitic language, which is a subgrouping within the Semitic branch of the Afroasiatic languages. It is spoken as a first language by the Amharas, and also serves as a lingua franca for all oth ...

. Similarly, in

Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

culture, traditionally religious or scholarly works were written in Sanskrit (long after its use as a spoken language) or in

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia ** Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nati ...

in Tamil country. Sanskrit was a lingua franca among the non-Indo-European languages of the Indian subcontinent and became more of one as the spoken language, or prakrits, began to diverge from it in different regions. With the rise of the

bhakti movement The Bhakti movement was a significant religious movement in medieval Hinduism that sought to bring religious reforms to all strata of society by adopting the method of devotion to achieve salvation. Originating in Tamilakam during 6th centur ...

from the 12th century onwards, religious works were created in the other languages: Hindi, Kannada,

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India *Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language ** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode S ...

and many others. For example, the Ramayana, one of Hinduism's sacred epics in Sanskrit, had vernacular versions such as '' Ranganadha Ramayanam'' composed in Telugu by Gona Buddha Reddy in the 15th century; and '' Ramacharitamanasa'', a Hindi version of the Ramayana by the 16th-century poet

Tulsidas Tulsidas (; born Rambola Dubey; also known as Goswami Tulsidas; c.1511pp. 23–34.–1623) was a Ramanandi Vaishnava Hindu saint and poet, renowned for his devotion to the deity Rama. He wrote several popular works in Sanskrit and Awadhi, but ...

. These circumstances are a contrast between a vernacular and language variant used by the same speakers. According to one school of linguistic thought, all such variants are examples of a linguistic phenomenon termed diglossia ("split tongue", on the model of the genetic anomaly). In it, the language is bifurcated, i.e. the speaker learns two forms of the language and ordinarily uses one but under special circumstances the other. The one most frequently used is the low (L) variant, equivalent to the vernacular, while the special variant is the high (H). The concept was introduced to linguistics by

Charles A. Ferguson Charles Albert Ferguson (July 6, 1921 – September 2, 1998) was an American linguist who taught at Stanford University. He was one of the founders of sociolinguistics and is best known for his work on diglossia. The TOEFL test was created under ...

(1959), but Ferguson explicitly excluded variants as divergent as dialects or different languages or as similar as styles or registers. H must not be a conversational form; Ferguson had in mind a literary language. For example, a lecture is delivered in a different variety than ordinary conversation. Ferguson's own example was classical and spoken Arabic, but the analogy between

Vulgar Latin Vulgar Latin, also known as Popular or Colloquial Latin, is the range of non-formal Register (sociolinguistics), registers of Latin spoken from the Crisis of the Roman Republic, Late Roman Republic onward. Through time, Vulgar Latin would evolve ...

and Classical Latin is of the same type. Excluding the upper-class and lower-class register aspects of the two variants, Classical Latin was a literary language; the people spoke Vulgar Latin as a vernacular. Joshua Fishman redefined the concept in 1964 to include everything Ferguson had excluded. Fishman allowed both different languages and dialects and also different styles and registers as the H variants. The essential contrast between them was that they be "functionally differentiated"; that is, H must be used for special purposes, such as a liturgical or sacred language. Fasold expanded the concept still further by proposing that multiple H exist in society from which the users can select for various purposes. The definition of an H is intermediate between Ferguson's and Fishman's. Realizing the inappropriateness of the term diglossia (only two) to his concept, he proposes the term broad diglossia.

Sociolinguistics

Within

sociolinguistics Sociolinguistics is the descriptive study of the effect of any or all aspects of society, including cultural norms, expectations, and context, on the way language is used, and society's effect on language. It can overlap with the sociology of l ...

, the term "vernacular" has been applied to several concepts. Context, therefore, is crucial to determining its intended sense.

As an informal register

In variation theory, pioneered by William Labov, language is a large set of styles or registers from which the speaker selects according to the social setting of the moment. The vernacular is "the least self-conscious style of people in a relaxed conversation", or "the most basic style"; that is, casual varieties used spontaneously rather than self-consciously, informal talk used in intimate situations. In other contexts the speaker does conscious work to select the appropriate variations. The one they can use without this effort is the first form of speech acquired.

As a non-standard dialect

In another theory, the vernacular is opposed to the standard. The non-standard varieties thus defined are dialects, which are to be identified as complexes of factors: "social class, region, ethnicity, situation, and so forth." Both the standard and the non-standard language have dialects, but in contrast to the standard, the non-standard have "socially disfavored" structures. The standard are primarily written (in traditional print media) but the non-standard are spoken. An example of a vernacular dialect is African American Vernacular English.

As an idealisation

A vernacular is not a real language but is "an abstract set of norms."

First vernacular grammar

Vernaculars acquired the status of official languages through metalinguistic publications. Between 1437 and 1586, the first grammar of Italian, Spanish,

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

, Dutch,

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

and English were written, though not always immediately published. It is to be understood that the first vestiges of those languages preceded their standardization by up to several hundred years.

Dutch

In the 16th century, the " rederijkerskamers", learned literary societies founded throughout Flanders and Holland from the 1420s onward, attempted to impose a Latin structure on Dutch, on the presumption that Latin grammar had a "universal character." However, in 1559

John III van de Werve, Lord of Hovorst John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second ...

published his grammar ''Den schat der Duytsscher Talen'' in Dutch and so did

Dirck Volckertszoon Coornhert Dirck Volckertszoon Coornhert (152229 October 1590), also known as Theodore Cornhert, was a Dutch writer, philosopher, translator, politician, theologian and artist. Coornhert is often considered the Father of Dutch Renaissance scholarship. Biogr ...

(''Eenen nieuwen ABC of Materi-boeck'') in 1564. The Latinizing tendency changed course with the joint publication in 1584 by De Eglantier, the rhetoric society of Amsterdam, of the first comprehensive Dutch grammar, ''Twe-spraack vande Nederduitsche letterkunst/ ófte Vant spellen ende eyghenscap des Nederduitschen taals''.

Hendrick Laurenszoon Spieghel Hendrik Laurenszoon Spiegel (11 March 1549 – 4 January 1612) was one of the most important writers and thinkers from Amsterdam in the second half of the sixteenth century. Spiegel was born in Amsterdam and is seen as a forerunner to the Gold ...

was a major contributor but others contributed as well.

English

Modern English is considered to have begun at a conventional date of about 1550, most notably at the end of the Great Vowel Shift. It was created by the infusion of Old French into

Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Anglo ...

after the Norman conquest of 1066 AD and of Latin at the instigation of the clerical administration. While present-day English speakers may be able to read Middle English authors such as

Geoffrey Chaucer Geoffrey Chaucer (; – 25 October 1400) was an English poet, author, and civil servant best known for ''The Canterbury Tales''. He has been called the "father of English literature", or, alternatively, the "father of English poetry". He wa ...

is much more difficult. Middle English is known for its alternative spellings and pronunciations. The British Isles, although geographically limited, have always supported populations of widely variant dialects (as well as a few different languages). Being the language of a maritime power, English was of necessity formed from elements of many different languages. Standardization has been an ongoing issue. Even in the age of modern communications and mass media, according to one study, "… although the Received Pronunciation of Standard English has been heard constantly on radio and then television for over 60 years, only 3 to 5% of the population of Britain actually speaks RP … new brands of English have been springing up even in recent times ...." What the vernacular would be in this case is a moot point: "… the standardisation of English has been in progress for many centuries." Modern English came into being as the standard Middle English, i.e. as the preferred dialect of the monarch, court and administration. That dialect was East Midland, which had spread to London where the king resided and from which he ruled. It contained Danish forms not often used in the north or south, as the Danes had settled heavily in the midlands. Chaucer wrote in an early East Midland style, John Wycliffe translated the New Testament into it, and William Caxton, the first English printer, wrote in it. Caxton is considered the first modern English author. The first printed book in England was Chaucer's '' Canterbury Tales'', published by Caxton in 1476. The first English grammars were written in Latin, with some in

. After a general plea for mother-tongue education in England: ''The first part of the elementary'', published in 1582 by Richard Mulcaster,

William Bullokar William Bullokar was a 16th-century printer who devised a 40-letter phonetic alphabet for the English language. Its characters were in the black-letter or "gothic" writing style commonly used at the time. Taking as his model a Latin grammar by ...

wrote the first English grammar to be written in English: ''Pamphlet for Grammar'', followed by ''Bref Grammar'', both in 1586. Previously he had written ''Booke at Large for the Amendment of Orthography for English Speech'' (1580) but his orthography was not generally accepted and was soon supplanted, and his grammar shared a similar fate. Other grammars in English followed rapidly: Paul Greaves' ''Grammatica Anglicana'', 1594;

Alexander Hume Alexander Hume (1558 – 4 December 1609) was a Scottish poet who served as Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in the early 17th century. Life He was born in 1558 the son of Patrick Hume (d.1599). The brother of Patr ...

's ''Orthographie and Congruitie of the Britain Tongue'', 1617, and many others. Over the succeeding decades many literary figures turned a hand to grammar in English:

Alexander Gill Alexander Gill the Elder (7 February 1565 – 17 November 1635), also spelled Gil, was an English scholar, spelling reformer, and high-master of St Paul's School, where his pupils included John Milton. He was the author of an English grammar, w ...

, Ben Jonson, Joshua Poole,

John Wallis John Wallis (; la, Wallisius; ) was an English clergyman and mathematician who is given partial credit for the development of infinitesimal calculus. Between 1643 and 1689 he served as chief cryptographer for Parliament and, later, the royal ...

, Jeremiah Wharton,

James Howell James Howell (c. 1594 – 1666) was a 17th-century Anglo-Welsh historian and writer who is in many ways a representative figure of his age. The son of a Welsh clergyman, he was for much of his life in the shadow of his elder brother Thomas How ...

, Thomas Lye, Christopher Cooper, William Lily, John Colet and so on, all leading to the massive dictionary of

Samuel Johnson Samuel Johnson (18 September 1709 – 13 December 1784), often called Dr Johnson, was an English writer who made lasting contributions as a poet, playwright, essayist, moralist, critic, biographer, editor and lexicographer. The ''Oxford ...

French

French (as Old French) emerged as a

Gallo-Romance language The Gallo-Romance branch of the Romance languages includes in the narrowest sense the Langues d'oïl and Franco-Provençal. However, other definitions are far broader, variously encompassing the Occitano-Romance, Gallo-Italic, and Rhaeto-Roman ...

from

Colloquial Latin Vulgar Latin, also known as Popular or Colloquial Latin, is the range of non-formal registers of Latin spoken from the Late Roman Republic onward. Through time, Vulgar Latin would evolve into numerous Romance languages. Its literary counterpar ...

during late antiquity. The written language is known from at least as early as the 9th century. That language contained many forms still identifiable as Latin. Interest in standardizing French began in the 16th century. Because of the

Norman conquest of England The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Normans, Norman, Duchy of Brittany, Breton, County of Flanders, Flemish, and Kingdom of France, French troops, ...

and the Anglo-Norman domains in both northwestern France and Britain, English scholars retained an interest in the fate of French as well as of English. Some of the numerous 16th-century surviving grammars are: * John Palsgrave, ''L'esclarcissement de la langue francoyse'' (1530; in English). * Louis Meigret, ''Tretté de la grammaire françoeze'' (1550). * Robert Stephanus: ''Traicté de la grammaire françoise'' (1557).

German

The development of a standard German was impeded by political disunity and strong local traditions until the invention of printing made possible a " High German-based book language." This literary language was not identical to any specific variety of German. The first grammar evolved from pedagogical works that also tried to create a uniform standard from the many regional dialects for various reasons. Religious leaders wished to create a sacred language for Protestantism that would be parallel to the use of Latin for the Roman Catholic Church. Various administrations wished to create a civil service, or chancery, language that would be useful in more than one locality. And finally, nationalists wished to counter the spread of the French national language into German-speaking territories assisted by the efforts of the French Academy. With so many linguists moving in the same direction, a standard German (''hochdeutsche Schriftsprache'') did evolve without the assistance of a language academy. Its precise origin, the major constituents of its features, remains uncertainly known and debatable. Latin prevailed as a

until the 17th century, when grammarians began to debate the creation of an ideal language. Before 1550 as a conventional date, "supraregional compromises" were used in printed works, such as the one published by Valentin Ickelsamer (''Ein Teutsche Grammatica'') 1534. Books published in one of these artificial variants began to increase in frequency, replacing the Latin then in use. After 1550 the supraregional ideal broadened to a universal intent to create a national language from

Early New High German Early New High German (ENHG) is a term for the period in the history of the German language generally defined, following Wilhelm Scherer, as the period 1350 to 1650. The term is the standard translation of the German (Fnhd., Frnhd.), introduce ...

by deliberately ignoring regional forms of speech, which practice was considered to be a form of purification parallel to the ideal of purifying religion in Protestantism. In 1617, the Fruitbearing Society, a language club, was formed in Weimar in imitation of the

Accademia della Crusca The Accademia della Crusca (; "Academy of the Bran"), generally abbreviated as La Crusca, is a Florence-based society of scholars of Italian linguistics and philology. It is one of the most important research institutions of the Italian language ...

in Italy. It was one of many such clubs; however, none became a national academy. In 1618–1619 Johannes Kromayer wrote the first all-German grammar. In 1641 Justin Georg Schottel in ''teutsche Sprachkunst'' presented the standard language as an artificial one. By the time of his work of 1663, ''ausführliche Arbeit von der teutschen Haubt-Sprache'', the standard language was well established.

Irish

'' Auraicept na n-Éces'' is a grammar of the

Irish language Irish ( Standard Irish: ), also known as Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Insular Celtic branch of the Celtic language family, which is a part of the Indo-European language family. Irish is indigenous to the island of Ireland and was ...

which is thought to date back as far as the 7th century: the earliest surviving manuscripts are 12th-century.

Italian

Italian appears before standardization as the ''lingua Italica'' of Isidore and the ''lingua vulgaris'' of subsequent medieval writers. Documents of mixed Latin and Italian are known from the 12th century, which appears to be the start of writing in Italian. The first known grammar of a Romance language was a book written in manuscript form by Leon Battista Alberti between 1437 and 1441 and entitled ''Grammatica della lingua toscana'', "Grammar of the Tuscan Language." In it Alberti sought to demonstrate that the vernacular – here Tuscan, known today as modern Italian – was every bit as structured as Latin. He did so by mapping vernacular structures onto Latin. The book was never printed until 1908. It was not generally known, but it was known, as an inventory of the library of

Lorenzo de'Medici Lorenzo di Piero de' Medici (; 1 January 1449 – 8 April 1492) was an Italian statesman, banker, ''de facto'' ruler of the Florentine Republic and the most powerful and enthusiastic patron of Renaissance culture in Italy. Also known as Lorenzo ...

lists it under the title ''Regule lingue florentine'' ("Rules of the Florentine language"). The only known manuscript copy, however, is included in the

codex The codex (plural codices ) was the historical ancestor of the modern book. Instead of being composed of sheets of paper, it used sheets of vellum, papyrus, or other materials. The term ''codex'' is often used for ancient manuscript books, with ...

, Reginense Latino 1370, located at Rome in the Vatican library. It is therefore called the ''Grammatichetta vaticana.'' More influential perhaps were the 1516 ''Regole grammaticali della volgar lingua'' of Giovanni Francesco Fortunio and the 1525 ''Prose della vulgar lingua'' of

Pietro Bembo Pietro Bembo, ( la, Petrus Bembus; 20 May 1470 – 18 January 1547) was an Italian scholar, poet, and literary theorist who also was a member of the Knights Hospitaller, and a cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. As an intellectual of the It ...

. In those works the authors strove to establish a dialect that would qualify for becoming the Italian national language.

Occitan

The first grammar in a vernacular language in western Europe was published in Toulouse in 1327. Known as the ''

Leys d'amor Guilhem Molinier or Moulinier ( 1330–50) was a medieval Occitan poet from Toulouse. His most notable work is ''Leys d'amors'' ("Laws of Love"), a treatise on rhetoric and grammar that achieved great notoriety and, beyond the Occitan, influenced ...

'' and written by Guilhèm Molinièr, an

advocate An advocate is a professional in the field of law. Different countries' legal systems use the term with somewhat differing meanings. The broad equivalent in many English law–based jurisdictions could be a barrister or a solicitor. However, ...

of Toulouse, it was published in order to codify the use of the

Occitan Occitan may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the Occitania territory in parts of France, Italy, Monaco and Spain. * Something of, from, or related to the Occitania administrative region of France. * Occitan language Occitan (; o ...

language in poetry competitions organized by the company of the

Gai Saber Gai Saber is an Italian folk group focused on the musical and dance traditions of Italian Occitania. Gai Saber draws its name from a medieval Occitan poetic academy that traces its roots to the regions influential troubadour culture. Founded ...

in both grammar and rherotical ways.

Spanish

Spanish (more accurately, ''lengua castellana'') has a development chronologically similar to that of Italian: some vocabulary in Isidore of Seville, traces afterward, writing from about the 12th century, standardization beginning in the 15th century, coincident with the rise of Castile as an international power. The first Spanish grammar by Antonio de Nebrija ('' Tratado de gramática sobre la lengua Castellana'', 1492) was divided into parts for native and nonnative speakers, pursuing a different purpose in each: Books 1–4 describe the Spanish language grammatically in order to facilitate the study of Latin for its Spanish speaking readers. Book 5 contains a phonetical and morphological overview of Spanish for nonnative speakers.

Welsh

The ''Grammar Books of the Master-poets'' ( cy, Gramadegau'r Penceirddiaid) are considered to have been composed in the early fourteenth century, and are present in manuscripts from soon after. These tractates draw on the traditions of the Latin grammars of Donatus and Priscianus and also on the teaching of the professional Welsh poets. The tradition of grammars of the Welsh Language developed from these through the Middle Ages and to the Renaissance.

First vernacular dictionaries

A dictionary is to be distinguished from a

glossary A glossary (from grc, γλῶσσα, ''glossa''; language, speech, wording) also known as a vocabulary or clavis, is an alphabetical list of Term (language), terms in a particular domain of knowledge with the definitions for those terms. Tradi ...

. Although numerous glossaries publishing vernacular words had long been in existence, such as the Etymologiae of

Isidore of Seville Isidore of Seville ( la, Isidorus Hispalensis; c. 560 – 4 April 636) was a Spanish scholar, theologian, and archbishop of Seville. He is widely regarded, in the words of 19th-century historian Montalembert, as "the last scholar of ...

, which listed many Spanish words, the first vernacular

dictionaries A dictionary is a listing of lexemes from the lexicon of one or more specific languages, often arranged alphabetically (or by radical and stroke for ideographic languages), which may include information on definitions, usage, etymologies, p ...

emerged together with vernacular grammars.

Dutch

Glossaries in Dutch began about 1470 AD leading eventually to two Dutch dictionaries: * Christophe Plantin: ''Thesaurus Theutonicae Linguae'', 1573 * Cornelis Kiliaan: ''Dictionarium Teutonico-Latinum'', 1574 (becoming ''Etymologicum'' with the 1599 3rd edition) Shortly after (1579) the Southern Netherlands came under the dominion of Spain, then of Austria (1713) and of France (1794). The Congress of Vienna created the United Kingdom of the Netherlands in 1815 from which southern Netherlands (being Catholic) seceded in 1830 to form the

Kingdom of Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to the ...

, which was confirmed in 1839 by the

Treaty of London The Treaty of London or London Convention or similar may refer to: *Treaty of London (1358), established a truce between England and France following the Battle of Poitiers *Treaty of London (1359), which ceded western France to England *Treaty of ...

. As a result of this political instability no standard Dutch was defined (even though much in demand and recommended as an ideal) until after World War II. Currently the Dutch Language Union, an international treaty organization founded in 1980, supports a standard Dutch in the Netherlands, while Afrikaans is regulated by Die Taalkommissie founded in 1909.

English

Standard English In an English-speaking country, Standard English (SE) is the variety of English that has undergone substantial regularisation and is associated with formal schooling, language assessment, and official print publications, such as public service a ...

remains a quasi-fictional ideal, despite the numerous private organizations publishing prescriptive rules for it. No language academy was ever established or espoused by any government past or present in the English-speaking world. In practice the British monarchy and its administrations established an ideal of what good English should be considered to be, and this in turn was based on the teachings of the major universities, such as Cambridge University and Oxford University, which relied on the scholars whom they hired. There is a general but far from uniform consensus among the leading scholars about what should or should not be said in standard English, but for every rule examples from famous English writers can be found that break it. Uniformity of spoken English never existed and does not exist now, but usages do exist, which must be learnt by the speakers, and do not conform to prescriptive rules. Usages have been documented not by prescriptive grammars, which on the whole are less comprehensible to the general public, but by comprehensive dictionaries, often termed unabridged, which attempt to list all usages of words and the phrases in which they occur as well as the date of first use and the etymology where possible. These typically require many volumes, and yet not more so than the unabridged dictionaries of many languages. Bilingual dictionaries and glossaries precede modern English and were in use in the earliest written English. The first monolingual dictionary was

Robert Cawdrey Robert Cawdrey (ca. 1538 – after 1604) was an English clergyman who produced one of the first dictionaries of the English language, the ''Table Alphabeticall'', in 1604. Career Robert Cawdrey did not attend university, but became a school tea ...

's ''Table Alphabeticall'' (1604) which was followed by Edward Phillips's ''A New World of English Words'' (1658) and

Nathaniel Bailey Nathan Bailey (died 27 June 1742), was an English philologist and lexicographer. He was the author of several dictionaries, including his '' Universal Etymological Dictionary'', which appeared in some 30 editions between 1721 and 1802. Bailey's ...

's ''

An Universal Etymological English Dictionary ''An Universal Etymological English Dictionary'' was a dictionary compiled by Nathan Bailey (or Nathaniel Bailey) and first published in London in 1721. It was the most popular English dictionary of the eighteenth century. As an indicator of its ...

'' (1721). These dictionaries whetted the interest of the English-speaking public in greater and more prescriptive dictionaries until

published ''Plan of a Dictionary of the English Language'' (1747), which would imitate the dictionary being produced by the French Academy. He had no problem acquiring the funding, but not as a prescriptive dictionary. This was to be a grand comprehensive dictionary of all English words at any period, ''

A Dictionary of the English Language ''A Dictionary of the English Language'', sometimes published as ''Johnson's Dictionary'', was published on 15 April 1755 and written by Samuel Johnson. It is among the most influential dictionaries in the history of the English language. T ...

'' (1755). By 1858, the need for an update resulted in the first planning for a new comprehensive dictionary to document standard English, a term coined at that time by the planning committee. The dictionary, known as the '' Oxford English Dictionary'', published its first fascicle in 1884. It attracted significant contributions from some singular minds, such as William Chester Minor, a former army surgeon who had become criminally insane and made most of his contributions while incarcerated. Whether the OED is the long-desired standard English Dictionary is debatable, but its authority is taken seriously by the entire English-speaking world. Its staff is currently working on a third edition.

French

Surviving dictionaries are a century earlier than their grammars. The

Académie française An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary education, secondary or tertiary education, tertiary higher education, higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membershi ...

founded in 1635 was given the obligation of producing a standard dictionary. Some early dictionaries are: * Louis Cruse, alias Garbin: ''Dictionaire latin-françois'', 1487 * Robert Estienne, alias Robertus Stephanus: ''Dictionnaire françois–latin'', 1539 * Maurice de la Porte: ''Epitheta'', 1571 *

Jean Nicot Jean Nicot de Villemain (; 1530 – May 4, 1604) was a French diplomat and scholar. He is famous for being the first to bring tobacco to France, including snuff tobacco. Nicotine is named after the tobacco plant ''Nicotiana tabacum,'' which in tur ...

: ''Thresor de la langue fracoyse, tant ancienne que moderne'', 1606 * Pierre Richelet: ''Dictionnaire françois contenant les mots et les choses'', 1680 *

: '' Dictionnaire de l’Académie française'', 1694 ''annis''.

German

High German dictionaries began in the 16th century and were at first multi-lingual. They were preceded by glossaries of German words and phrases on various specialized topics. Finally interest in developing a vernacular German grew to the point where Maaler could publish a work called by

Jacob Grimm Jacob Ludwig Karl Grimm (4 January 1785 – 20 September 1863), also known as Ludwig Karl, was a German author, linguist, philologist, jurist, and folklorist. He is known as the discoverer of Grimm's law of linguistics, the co-author of th ...

"the first truly German dictionary", Joshua Maaler's ''Die Teutsche Spraach: Dictionarium Germanico-latinum novum'' (1561). It was followed along similar lines by Georg Heinisch: ''Teütsche Sprache und Weißheit'' (1616). After numerous dictionaries and glossaries of a less-than-comprehensive nature came a thesaurus that attempted to include all German, Kaspar Stieler's ''Der Teutschen Sprache Stammbaum und Fortwachs oder Teutschen Sprachschatz'' (1691), and finally the first codification of written German, Johann Christoph Adelung's ''Versuch eines vollständigen grammatisch-kritischen Wörterbuches Der Hochdeutschen Mundart'' (1774–1786).

Schiller Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller (, short: ; 10 November 17599 May 1805) was a German playwright, poet, and philosopher. During the last seventeen years of his life (1788–1805), Schiller developed a productive, if complicated, friendsh ...

called Adelung an ''Orakel'' and Wieland is said to have nailed a copy to his desk.

Italian

In the early 15th century a number of glossaries appeared, such as that of Lucillo Minerbi on Boccaccio in 1535, and those of Fabrizio Luna on Ariosto, Petrarca, Boccaccio and Dante in 1536. In the mid-16th the dictionaries began, as listed below. In 1582 the first language academy was formed, called Accademia della Crusca, "bran academy", which sifted language like grain. Once formed, its publications were standard-setting. Monolingual * Alberto Accarisio: ''Vocabolario et grammatica con l'orthographia della lingua volgare'', 1543 * Francesco Alunno: ''Le richezze della lingua volgare'', 1543 * Francesco Alunno: ''La fabbrica del mondo'', 1548 * Giacomo Pergamini: ''Il memoriale della lingua italiana'', 1602 *

: '' Vocabolario degli Accademici della Crusca'', 1612 ItalianFrench * Nathanael Duez : ''Dittionario italiano e francese/Dictionnaire italien et François'', Leiden, 1559–1560 * Gabriel Pannonius: ''Petit vocabulaire en langue françoise et italienne'', Lyon, 1578 * Jean Antoine Fenice : ''Dictionnaire françois et italien'', Paris, 1584 ItalianEnglish *

John Florio Giovanni Florio (1552–1625), known as John Florio, was an English linguist, poet, writer, translator, lexicographer, and royal language tutor at the Court of James I. He is recognised as the most important Renaissance humanist in England. F ...

: ''A Worlde of Words'', London, 1598 *

: ''Queen Anna’s New World of Words'', London, 1611 ItalianSpanish *

Cristóbal de las Casas Cristóbal or Cristobal, the Spanish version of Christopher, is a masculine given name and a surname which may refer to: Given name *Cristóbal Balenciaga (1895–1972), Spanish fashion designer *Cristóbal Cobo (born 1976), Chilean academic *Cr ...

: ''Vocabulario de las dos lenguas toscana y castellana'', Sevilla, 1570 *

Lorenzo Franciosini Lorenzo Franciosini di Castelfiorentino (*Castelfiorentino, ca. 1600 - † after 1645) was an Italian Hispanist, translator, lexicographer and grammarian from the 16th century. He wrote an excellent ''Vocabolario italiano, e spagnolo'' (Rome, 16 ...

: ''Vocabulario italiano e spagnolo/ Vocabulario español e italiano'', Roma, 1620.

Serbo-Croatian

* The first vernacular Serbian dictionary was '' Srpski rječnik'' (Serbian dictionary) written by Vuk Karadžić and published in 1818. * '' Dictionary of Serbo-Croatian Literary and Vernacular Language'' was initiated in 1888 by Stojan Novaković, still in the making

Spanish

The first Spanish dictionaries in the 15th century were Latin-Spanish/Spanish-Latin, followed by monolingual Spanish. In 1713 the

Real Academia Española The Royal Spanish Academy ( es, Real Academia Española, generally abbreviated as RAE) is Spain's official royal institution with a mission to ensure the stability of the Spanish language. It is based in Madrid, Spain, and is affiliated with ...

, "Royal Spanish Academy," was founded to set standards. It published an official dictionary, 1726–1739. * Alonzo de Palencia: ''El universal vocabulario en latin y romance'', 1490 * Antonio de Nebrija: ''Lexicon latino-hispanicum et hispanico-latinum'', 1492 *

Sebastián de Covarrubias Orozco Saint Sebastian (in Latin: ''Sebastianus''; Narbo, Gallia Narbonensis, Roman Empire c. AD 255 – Rome, Italia, Roman Empire c. AD 288) was an early Christian saint and martyr. According to traditional belief, he was killed during the Diocl ...

: '' Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española'', 1611 *

: ''Diccionario de la lengua castellana'', 1726–1739

Metaphorical usage

The term "vernacular" may also be applied metaphorically to any cultural product of the lower, common orders of society that is relatively uninfluenced by the ideas and ideals of the educated élite. Hence, vernacular has had connotations of a coarseness and crudeness. " Vernacular architecture", for example, is a term applied to buildings designed in any style based on practical considerations and local traditions, in contrast to the "

polite architecture Polite architecture, or "the Polite" in architectural theory comprises buildings designed to include non-local styles for aesthetically-pleasing decorative effect by professional architects. The term groups most named current architectural styles an ...

" produced by professionally trained architects to nationally or internationally agreed aesthetic standards. The historian Guy Beiner has developed the study of "vernacular historiography" as a more sophisticated conceptualization of folk history.

References

Sources

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

External links

* {{cite web, title=Vernacular Values, url=http://www.preservenet.com/theory/Illich/Vernacular.html, last=Illich, author-link=Ivan Illich, access-date=7 November 2009, publisher=The Preservation Institute, archive-date=20 July 2016, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160720033517/http://www.preservenet.com/theory/Illich/Vernacular.html, url-status=dead *

Vernacular (disambiguation) Vernacular is the common speech variety of a specific population, as opposed to national, liturgical, literary or scientific idiom. Vernacular may also refer to: * Vernacular architecture, a category of architecture based on local needs and con ...

Sociolinguistics Language varieties and styles Linguistics terminology Folklore