La Parabola del Figliol Prodigo e le sue traduzioni in area tedesca
Dall'antico alto tedesco alle isole linguistiche italiane
open access | peer reviewed-
edited by
- Federica Cognola - Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia, Italia - email orcid profile
- Chiara De Bastiani - Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia, Italia - email orcid profile
Abstract
Starting with Coquebert de Montbret’s linguistic surveys on the languages spoken in the French Empire (1806-12), the Parable of the Prodigal Son (Luke XV, 11-32) became, at least until the beginning of the twentieth century, the typical text used to collect linguistic samples of a specific variety. For many varieties, the translations collected during the nineteenth-century linguistic surveys represent the oldest available text; in some cases these translations are the only documentation of now extinct varieties. Through the analysis of different case studies from German varieties, the contributions collected in the present volume discuss the linguistic characteristics of the translations in relation to the grammar of present-day varieties, and highlight their potential for comparative linguistic research. The volume can be of interest to all those working on diachronic linguistics, comparative linguistics, contact linguistics, and heritage German varieties.
Keywords Language variation • Parable of the Prodigal Son • Montbret Manuscript • Old High German Diatessaron • OV/VO languages • Timavese • Syntax • Translation strategies • Linguistic islands • Minority languages • German dialectology • German language islands • Walser dialects • Language contact • Languages in diachrony • Saurano • Old Germanic Gospels • Walser varieties • Mòcheno • Comparative linguistics • Heritage German • German minorities • Verb second (V2) • Disharmonic syntax • Tischlbongarisch • Multilingualism • Language attrition • Diachronic change • Diachronic linguistics • Old High German • Linguistic island • Language Contact • Saurian
Permalink http://doi.org/10.30687/978-88-6969-995-5 | e-ISBN 978-88-6969-995-5 | ISBN (PRINT) 979-12-5742-021-5 | Published Feb. 10, 2026 | Language en, it
Copyright © 2026 Federica Cognola, Chiara De Bastiani. This is an open-access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction is permitted, provided that the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. The license allows for commercial use. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.