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I think you're underestimating how much linguistic drift and regional dialects and accents there were before widespread literacy and then radio, film and televi
by cwyers 9y ago
I think you're underestimating how much linguistic drift and regional dialects and accents there were before widespread literacy and then radio, film and television helped to further standardize things. They spoke the same way as the people in their area -- but that's no guarantee they wouldn't stick out if they moved far enough away that nobody would recognize them.
- MandieD 9y agoYou can still encounter different dialects from one Alpine valley to another in Austria and South Tyrol (part of northern Italy since after WWI, but still culturally south German), audible to even a non-native but attentive German speaker. The older the speaker, the stronger the dialect.
- mastazi 9y agoIn central Italy (e.g. Tuscany or Umbria), still nowadays, you can experience a clearly recognizable change in accent by just moving to the next village 5-10 km down the road. Until not so long ago, it was normal in many places in Europe to call "foreigner" anyone who was not from the same village (my grandparents, born in the first half of the '900 in a village which is less than 30 km from Rome, called people from Rome "stranieri" which in Italian means "foreigners"). This must sound almost incredible to someone from e.g. North America, but you need to realize the feudal past left major traces in modern European culture.