Discussing humanist education in the vernacular

Abstract This article contributes to the study of the relationship between Latin and Tuscan vernacular in the 16th century. We examine a set of almost neglected grammatical works (the Concetti, Supplimento, and Il grammatico) published between 1557 and 1567, and related to the Italian humanist Aonio Paleario. We adopt both a linguistic and literary approach to shed light particularly on the humanistic perspectives on language education and proficiency. After presenting a brief outline of the content of the three works and their problematic authorship, we focus on the dialogue Il grammatico. We conclude that, within the discussion on method for teaching Latin, the dialogue defines the humanist as the guardian of the best language for both Latin and vernacular.