Enforcing Linguistic Transformation: The EU Parliament’s Role in Italian Grammar and Lexicon Revision

The Italian language, like any other, serves as a means of communication, comprising sounds, words, expressions, and grammar rules that people utilize to understand and interact with others in their community. Linguistic experts in Italy concur that languages are natural processes that evolve on their own and do not require intentional guidance. The language is influenced by socio-cultural circumstances, rather than vice versa. Imposing specific words or expressions on a language is an impractical and ahistorical endeavor. The Italian language consistently progresses and updates itself organically. Presently, many English words are used in spoken and written Italian, even when corresponding Italian equivalents are available. It is people’s prerogative to choose how they speak and write. This inclination would not change even if foreign words were prohibited. During Benito Mussolini’s regime, Italians were compelled to abstain from using foreign words and were obliged to employ expressions that the dictatorship favored and promoted. Non-compliance with these rules was subject to legal consequences. However, after Mussolini’s fascism came to an end, these imposed changes to the language disappeared. In a democracy, public institutions and linguistic academies cannot dictate how citizens should speak, think, write, or behave. At most, they can explain why certain linguistic and cultural phenomena occur or why specific grammar errors become prevalent. Nevertheless, in recent years, the Italian language has faced challenges from the EU Parliament which has attempted to impose new grammar rules, expressions, or even basic words on the populace. This research paper aims to investigate the nature of these interferences, why they were undertaken, whether they succeeded in altering the language, and how the Italian people reacted to them.