The present dialects of Italy are descendants of Latin. But innearly all regions it was a Latin influenced in its vocabualryand pronunciation by the earlier linguistic habits of thepopulations that had adopted it. These peoples contain astrong admixture of Ligurian, Gallic, Illyrian, Greek andPhoenician nationalities, and of Italic tribes whose native tongue was related to Latin, for instance, Umbrian and Oscan.Professor Grandgent presents a fascinating account of the early development of the Italian language which will be of particular interest to linguists and medievalists.Charles Hall Grandgent was a professor at Harvard from 1896 to 1932. He was highly regarded as a Romance linguist and authorityon Dante. He was also a leading expert on American Englishdialects.