ИСТИНА

Nowadays it has become common place to classify modern and early grammatical treatises as either descriptive or prescriptive. In fact, each of the two approaches presupposes the choice of certain strategies and attitudes that determine the way the linguistic material is treated. The opposition of description and prescription has a long history; however, not always the distinction between them has been as clearcut as one can imagine. It is in this perspective that I would like to consider the first printed grammar of the Italian language ! “Regole grammaticali della volgar lingua” by Francesco Fortunio (published in the year 1516).