Abstract

The production of Emilio Salgari, characterized by a wide diffusion among children and classes less exposed to the traditional written language, played a central role in the spread of the national language between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The article analyzes the linguistic choices of the author through the complete counting of the ‘Tigri di Mompracem’, of the ‘Corsaro Nero’, and the partial one of some subsequent titles (‘Alla conquista di un impero’ and ‘Jolanda, la figlia del Corsaro Nero’), considering, due to the methods of composition and edition that characterize the texts, only morphology, syntax and lexicon. The result is a composite prose, capable both of expressing the epic and melodramatic character of the Salgarian Adventure and of configuring itself as a modern tool at the service of a modern genre such as paraliterature, guaranteeing recognizability and ease of circulation to his novels.