Exploring the language of Leonardo: graphic signs, forms, words
abstract in italiano

by Paola Manni
Professor of Italian Linguistics at the Faculty of Letters and Philosophy, University of Florence

Saturday 12 April 2008, 10.30am
Vinci, Biblioteca Leonardiana

Leonardo’s use of language has been studied by generations of scholars in their efforts to interpret or edit his mass of writings, and an invaluable body of notes, observations and comments has been produced. However, not many contributions have been forthcoming from historians of language, despite the fact that in recent years they have devoted increasing attention to the technical and scientific culture of the Renaissance age, resulting in a number of in-depth studies of prominent figures like Francesco di Giorgio Martini, Pacioli, Cellini and Tartaglia. It would be useful to do something similar for Leonardo, embarking upon a systematic investigation of the various components of his language (graphic signs, phonomorphology, syntax, vocabulary) and making use of the tools offered by an up-to-date linguistic bibliography, which permit a specific assessment of individual traits from a structural point of view and in relation to registers and variety of use. Furthermore, it is evident that investigations of this kind can benefit hugely from new computer technologies, available both in the field of Leonardo studies and in that of linguistics.
Any examination of Leonardo’s language will of course have to include careful consideration of the very particular typology of Leonardo’s texts, which are inextricably bound up with their material form, namely the manuscript, and are distinguished by a symbiotic relationship between text and drawing. Nor can it be ignored that the mass of texts produced by Leonardo and written in the typical mercantesca script cover a vast range of situations, communicative models and degrees of formality: besides various forms of descriptive notes on technical-scientific matters, there is a gamut of genres including letters and personal reflections, stories and witty remarks, prophecies and fantastic visions, grammatical exercises and word lists, poetic citations and translated passages, notes of expenses, inventories and so forth.
The lines of inquiry that will be briefly explored in the lecture will focus on and throw up ideas regarding the use of graphic signs, phonomorphological structure, textual-syntactic organization and vocabulary. The texts that will be examined are from the Codex Atlanticus and the Codices Madrid, in other words from the corpus of manuscripts that can already be consulted on the web via the digital archive e-Leo (www.leonardodigitale.com), which is greatly facilitating the work of linguists.

(The lecture will be given in Italian)