Keywords

• This article investigates Antonio Gramsciâ€
• ™
• s commitment to linguistic studies between 1911 and 1915
• in the context of the scientific debate of that time. After an introduction (section 1)
• where the letter from prison of 19 March 1927 is analyzed
• section 2 is dedicated to discovering Gramsciâ€
• ™
• s scientific past through the contributions of Luigi Russo
• Vittorio Santoli
• Giuseppe Vidossi
• Benvenuto Terracini
• Benedetto Croce and Palmiro Togliatti
• in 1947-1949. The relationships between the young Gramsci and the linguists Francesco Ribezzo and Matteo Bartoli are illustrated in sections 3 and 4
• where the lecture notes from academic year 1912-1913 (Matteo Bartoli
• Course of Historical Linguistics
• University of Turin)
• taken down by Gramsci
• are examined.
• Then
• section 5 illustrates Gramsciâ€
• ™
• s Sardinian studies
• and his likely contribution to Wilhelm Meyer-Lübkeâ€
• ™
• s Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch
• with the task of checking its Sardinian lexical material. Gramsciâ€
• ™
• s studies in Greek
• Latin and Sanskrit comparative grammar
• and his interest in the methodological writings of Antoine Meillet (particularly in the topics of the social conception of language
• the regularity of linguistic change and the descriptive value of sound laws
• language contact and the relationships among European linguistic traditions)
• are illustrated in section 6.
• Section 7 underlines the unique nature of the Italian school of dialectology
• in which Gramsci was educated
• and the scientific debate on Romance and Indo-European etymology at the beginning of 20th century
• and illustrates the specific positions of Meyer-Lübke and Meillet
• along with their differences from those of Jules Gilliéron and Hugo Schuchardt (as well as Croceâ€
• ™
• s). Possible theoretical analogies between such a debate and Antonio Labriolaâ€
• ™
• s reflections on linguistic methodology
• on the «genetic» conception of history
• and on Marxism are suggested