Grafia e pronuncia negli strumenti per lo studio dell’italiano nella Spagna del Cinquecento

This article analyzes the spelling and orthoepic patterns that exist in the two main books used for studying Italian in Spain during the 16th century : the Vocabulario de las dos lenguas toscana y castellana, written by Cristóbal de las Casas (1570), and the Arte muy curiosa por la cual se enseña muy de rayz el entender, y hablar la Lengua Italiana, written by Francisco Trenado de Ayllón (1596). These two texts are ­compared in order to underline their similarities and differences in terms of both ­content and argument. This ­comparison focuses in particular on the linguistic reference pattern and the description of Italian phonemes – in particular those which have no equivalent for Spanish speaking people – and the corresponding way in which they are spelt. This study also takes into ­consideration other texts of the same period, published both in Spain and in Italy, and takes into account the fundamental differences in historical and ­cultural development that led to a definition of the linguistic norm in these two countries.