“Alfonso de Ulloa protoispanista: la Introdutione che mostra il signor Alfonso di Uglioa a proferire la lingua castigliana”

The main purpose of the present paper is to discuss subsequent editions of Ulloa’s treatise on the pronunciation of the Spanish language. Inclusion of information about the author and his work in Venice will enable us to address the publication of the book in the wider context of the Venetian printing activities of the time. The treatise is intended for Italian readers and represents one of the first works in contrastive linguistics for the Spanish-Italian language pair. First published in 1553, the treatise went through four subsequent editions, each coming with modifications. While this paper concentrates on the very first edition – the only one written in both Spanish and Italian – later additions are also discussed. As will be seen, subsequent editions give evidence of Ulloa’s interest in providing better versions of the original publication through more precise wording and inclusion of useful information. Importantly, his ultimate goal was not only to assist the user, but also to prove his own proficiency.

numero monografico: “Le ragioni delle seconde lingue: un approccio grammaticografico” a cura di Félix San Vicente