Eastern Lombard dialects

Last updated
Eastern Lombard
Native to Italy
Region Lombardy (Province of Bergamo, Province of Brescia, northern Province of Mantua, northern and central Province of Cremona)
Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol (western Trentino), Santa Catarina (Vale do Itajaí)
Native speakers
(undated figure of 2.5 million[ citation needed ])
Language codes
ISO 639-3 –
Glottolog east2276
east2278
Linguasphere 51-AAA-oda; -odb; -odc
This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA.

Eastern Lombard is a group of closely related variants of Lombard, a Gallo-Italic language spoken in Lombardy, mainly in the provinces of Bergamo, Brescia and Mantua, in the area around Cremona and in parts of Trentino. [2] Its main variants are Bergamasque and Brescian. [3] [4]

Contents

In Italian-speaking contexts, Eastern Lombard is often called a dialetto ("dialect"), understood to mean not a variety of Italian, but a local language that is part of the Romance languages dialect continuum that pre-dates the establishment of Tuscan-based Italian.

Eastern Lombard and Italian have only limited mutual intelligibility, like many other Romance languages spoken in Italy.

Eastern Lombard does not have any official status either in Lombardy or anywhere else: the only official language in Lombardy is Italian.

Classification

Eastern Lombard is a Romance language of the Gallo-Italic branch, closer to Occitan, Catalan, French, etc. than to Italian, with a Celtic substratum.

Geographic distribution

Eastern Lombard is primarily spoken in Eastern Lombardy (Northern Italy), in the provinces of Bergamo and Brescia, in the Northern region of the province of Mantua and in the area around Crema. The varieties spoken in these regions are generally mutually intelligible for speakers of neighboring areas, but this is not always true for distant peripheral areas. For instance, an inhabitant of the alpine valleys of Bergamo can hardly be understood by a rural inhabitant of the plains of Mantua. Differences include lexical, grammatical and phonetic aspects.

Phonology

The following notes are essentially based on the variety of Eastern Lombard spoken in Brescia. The basic principle are generally valid also for the other varieties but local discrepancies can be found.

Eastern Lombard has 9 vowels and 20 consonants.

Consonants

Table of consonants [5] [6]
Labial Alveolar Postalveolar
/ Palatal 		Velar
Nasal m n ɲ
Plosive and
Affricate 		voiceless p t t͡ʃ k
voiced b d d͡ʒ ɡ
Fricative voiceless f s ( ʃ )
voiced v z
Trill r
Approximant central w j
lateral l ( ʎ )

The voiced consonants /b/, /d/, /ɡ/, /v/, /z/, /dʒ/ never occur at the end of a word. [5] This phenomenon, common to other languages (including German, Catalan, Dutch, Turkish and Russian), is called final devoicing. The phoneme /ʃ/ only occurs in loanwords, often borrowings from Italian. For example, scià, "to ski" (from Italian sciare) is pronounced /ʃiˈa/. The phoneme /tʃ/ is pronounced [j] before a consonant. This never occurs inside a word as the segment /tʃ/ + consonant doesn't exist in Eastern Lombard. However, it does occur when /tʃ/ appears word-finally preceding another word which begins with a consonant. [5] For example:

  • I è nacc vià[iɛˌnajˈvja] = "they have gone away" vs
    i è nacc a spas[iɛˌnatʃaˈspas] = "they have gone for a leisurely walk"
  • Töcc du[tøjˈdu] = "both", "each of the two" vs
    töcc öndes[tøtʃˈøndes] = "all of the eleven"

The approximants /j/ and /w/ are distinct phonemes from the vocalic sounds /i/, /u/. This can be seen in the following examples:

  • /kwat/ = "how much" vs/kuˈat/ = "brooded"
  • /pjat/ = "dish" vs/piˈat/ = "bitten" [6]

Locally, the alveolar fricative [s] is replaced by the glottal fricative [h]. This mainly happens in the prealpine valleys of the provinces of Bergamo and Brescia; [n 1] thus Brèssa ("Brescia") is pronounced [ˈbrɛhɔ] instead of [ˈbrɛsɔ]. However, even in areas where this phenomenon is the rule, there are some interesting exceptions to take in account. Words like grassie ("thanks") are never pronounced [ˈɡrahje]. At present, the most common pronunciation is [ˈɡrasje] but a more genuine outcome (and often preferred by aged people) would be [ˈɡrahtʃe]. [7]

Other examples for this feature:

Assimilation

Regressive assimilation at word boundaries is common in Eastern Lombard. Assimilation can be either complete or partial. Complete assimilation occurs when two occlusive sounds fall in contact. In this case the first occlusive is completely absorbed by the second and the resulting sound has all the features of the second consonant but is notably lengthened. For example:

The same phenomenon occurs when an occlusive consonant precedes a nasal or a liquid consonant. For example:

Complete assimilation can also occur when an occlusive precedes a fricative. For example: l'è nit vért = [ˌlɛni‿ˈvːert].

When a sequence of nasal+occlusive falls in contact with another occlusive or a fricative, the first occlusive is completely elided and the nasal undergoes partial assimilation. In this case no lengthening occurs. For example:

But when an occlusive precedes /z/, assimilation involves both consonants and the result is an affricate sound:

The phoneme /n/ can undergo assimilation in place of articulation with a following consonant. Thus, the /n/ in /nk/ and /nɡ/ is a velar [ŋ], the /n/ in /nv/ and /nf/ is a labiodental [ɱ]. Within a word, the phoneme /n/ is never transcribed before /p/ and /b/, where /m/ is written instead. Nasal assimilation, including /n/ to /m/, also takes place across word boundaries. For example:

Vowels

Eastern Lombard has 9 vocalic sounds: [5]

IPA ExampleItalianEnglish
i sich /sik/cinquefive
e sét /set/setethirst
ɛ sèch /sɛk/seccodry, arid
a sach /sak/saccosack, bag
o ciót /tʃot/chiodonail
ɔ sòch /sɔk/cioccostump
ø söt /søt/asciuttodry
y mür /myr/murowall
u mur /mur/gelsomulberry

Only three vocalic phonemes occur in unstressed final syllables: /a/ in open syllables only, and /o/ and /e/ in both open and closed syllables. Other vowels can occur in final syllables in loanwords.

Locally, the phoneme /a/ is pronounced [ɔ] when it appears as last sound of the word in an unstressed syllable [5] (actually slightly more close than cardinal [ɔ]). For example:

Unstressed vowel system reduction and local variability

Some vowel contrasts are eliminated in unstressed syllables. For example, in the urban Brescian variety, [ɔ] and [o] no longer contrast. Thus, the word robà ("to steal") can be pronounced both [roˈba] and [rɔˈba], with almost no difference noticed by speakers. In addition, a further variant [ruˈba] is also possible, though in this case, a difference is noticed by speakers but it is considered a local variant and no loss of intelligibility results. The sounds [e] and [ɛ] also no longer contrast in unstressed syllables, and therefore the word vedèl ("calf") can be pronounced [veˈdɛl] or [vɛˈdɛl]. However, when affected by vowel harmony (see below), the unstressed sounds [e]/[ɛ], [o]/[ɔ], and [ø] become [i], [u], and [y] respectively.

In conclusion, it is possible to say that only five contrastive vowel qualities are found in unstressed syllables: [o]/[ɔ]/[(u)], [ø]/[(y)], [a], [e]/[ɛ], [i] (but with the [i] not completely separated from [e]/[ɛ]). Some examples:

The situation can differ for other Eastern Lombard varieties, however, and the rules of the unstressed vowel system vary according to the area. For example, in Franciacorta, a province of Brescia, the sounds [o] and [ø] are regularly replaced by [u] and [y] in pretonic position:

Since in unstressed position these vocalic sounds are not contrastive, these local variants do not compromise reciprocal intelligibility.

Vowel harmony

Certain varieties of Eastern Lombard (mostly in Brescian area) exhibit a process of regressive vowel harmony involving the feature of vowel height. [5] When the stress falls on a close vowel (/i/ or /u/) the preceding vowels shift their height, becoming close as well (/ɛ/ and /e/ become [i], while /ɔ/ and /o/ become [u]). The vowel /a/ is not affected by this process and acts as opaque vowel blocking the harmonization process. [8] In Camuno, harmonization occurs almost only where the stressed vowel is an /i/ and not where it is an /u/. [6]

This phenomenon affects all the words independent of the word's function.

Because the diminutive and augmentative are formed with the suffixes -ì and -ù (feminine -ìna and -ùna) respectively, this process is easily observable in nouns:

As already mentioned, the vowel /a/ acts as opaque vowel which blocks the harmonization process:

But vowels that occur after the /a/ and before the stressed vowel are still affected:

In these cases variants like funtanì and üspedalì (but not üspidalì) or murtadilìna are accepted (or locally preferred) but fall under the normal unstressed vowel variability.

Verbs are affected by this process in their conjugation, when the inflection contains a stressed /i/ (there are no verbal suffixes containing a stressed /u/). For example:

Adjectives formed with the suffix -ùs (feminine -ùza) also exhibit this rule:

Orthography

Since Eastern Lombard is still principally an oral language, a commonly accepted orthography has not been established. While in recent years there has been an increasing production of texts (mainly light comedies and poem collections), each author continues to follow their own spelling rules. The most problematic and controversial issues seem to be the representation of intervocalic /s/ and /z/ (rendered by different authors with ⟨-ss-⟩, ⟨-s-⟩ or ⟨-z-⟩) and final /tʃ/ vs. /k/ (rendered with ⟨-cc⟩, ⟨-c⟩ or ⟨-ch⟩).

This article follows the rules of the Italian orthography, with the following exceptions.

Vowels

Diacritic marks are utilized for vowel sounds to distinguish /e/ from /ɛ/ and /o/ from /ɔ/ in stressed syllables. Furthermore, the umlaut is adopted to represent the rounded vowels /ø/ and /y/:

LetterPhoneme
a/ a /
é/ e /
è/ ɛ /
i/ i /
ó/ o /
ò/ ɔ /
u/ u /
ü/ y /
ö/ ø /

Note that grave and acute accents are also used to indicate the stressed syllable in non-monosyllabic words. Since unstressed vowels are less distinctive, it is not necessary to discriminate the open/close quality.

Consonants

The digraph ⟨-cc⟩ is used at the end of the word to represent the sound /tʃ/ (in other positions this sound is rendered by means of the usual Italian orthography rules: ⟨c⟩ before front vowels and ⟨ci⟩ before non-front vowels).

A consonant sequence that is peculiar to Lombard is that of a voiceless alveolar fricative followed by a voiceless postalveolar affricate, [stʃ]. This article adopts the convention of representing this sound as ⟨s·c⟩, although other texts may follow different traditions (so the same sequence can also be spelled ⟨s'c⟩ or ⟨s-c⟩ or even the ambiguous ⟨sc⟩; some authors use ⟨scc⟩). This sequence, which is absent in Italian, can occur at the beginning of word, as in s·cèt ("son, boy") /stʃɛt/; in the middle, as in brös·cia ("brush") /ˈbrøstʃa/; or at the end, as in giös·cc ("right, correct", plural) /ˈdʒøstʃ/.

The sequence /zdʒ/ is also present in Eastern Lombard and is represented in this article with the sequence of signs ⟨-sgi-⟩, for example:

Grammar

The grammatical system of Eastern Lombard is similar to other those of other Romance languages. The word order is SVO (subject–verb–object) and it has a moderate inflection system: verbs are declined for mood, tense and aspect and agree with their subject in person and number. Nouns are classified as either masculine or feminine and can be marked as singular or plural. Adjectives and pronouns agree with any nouns they modify in gender and number. Eastern Lombard also prefers prepositions over case marking.

Literature

The oldest known text written in Eastern Lombard consists of fragments of a laud known as Mayor gremeza il mund no pothevela ancor aver, a manuscript found in Bovegno (Trompia valley), and dating from the fourteenth century. Today, literary production has increased in volume and mainly consists in light comedies and poem collections (Angelo Canossi is an example for poetry in the Brescian dialect).

Examples

The following tale is in Brescian:

La mèrla

I mèrli 'na ólta i ghìa le pène biànche, ma chèl envéren lé l'éra stàt en bèl envéren e lé, la mèrla, la gà dìt: "Zenér de la màla gràpa, per tò despèt gó i uzilì 'ndela gnàta." A lü, 'l Zenér, gh'è nìt adòs 'n pó de ràbia, e 'l gà dìt: "Spèta, mèrla, che te la faró mé adès a té, e se te sét biànca mé te faró ègner négra." E pò dòpo 'l gà dit amò: "Dù ghe i ó e giü 'n prèstet el töaró e se te sét biànca, mé te faró ní négra." E alùra 'l gà fàt nì fò 'n frèt che se n'ìa mài vést giü compàgn.

Lé la mèrla la saìa piö che fà cói sò uzilì ndèla gnàta, e isé l'è nàda a rifügiàs endèla càpa del camì; dré al camì va sö 'l föm e lùr i uzilì i è déentàcc töcc négher, e quànche i è nicc fò de là, la mèrla la gh'ìa mìa piö le pène biànche, ma la ghe i éra négre. Alùra Zenér, töt sudisfàt, el gà dìt: "Tò mèrla, che te l'ó fàda mé staólta: se te se stàda biànca mé t'ó fàt ní négra e isé te làset lé de seghetà a tiràm en gìr."

Phonetic transcription

[iˈmɛrlinaˈoltɔiˈɡiɔleˌpɛneˈbjaŋke|maˌkɛlɛɱˌverɛnˈlelerɔˌstatɛmˈbɛlɛɱˌverɛnɛˌle|laˈmɛrlɔ|laɡaˈditː|zeˈnerdelaˌmalɔˈɡrapɔ|ˌpertɔdeˈspɛtˌɡojuziˈliˌndelɔˈɲatɔ|aˈly|lzeˈner|ˌɡɛnitaˈdɔsemˌpodeˈrabja|ˌɛlːɡaˈdit|ˈspɛtɔ|ˌmɛrlɔ|kɛtɛlafaˌroˈmeaˌdɛsaˈte|ɛsɛtɛˌseˈbːjaŋkɔˌmetɛfaroˌɛɲɛrˈneɡrɔ|ɛpɔˈdɔpolɡaˌditaˌmɔ|ˌduɡɛˈjoɛdʒymˌprɛstetɛltøaˈroɛsɛtɛˌseˈbːjaŋkɔ|ˌmetɛfaˌroniˈneɡrɔ|ɛaˈlurɔlɡaˌfanːiˌfɔɱˈfrɛtkɛsɛˌniamaiˌvezdʒykomˈpaɲ]

[ˌlelaˈmɛrlɔlasaˌiɔpjøkeˈfakojˌsɔuziˌlindɛlɔˈɲatɔ|ɛiˈseˌlɛnadɔˌarifyˈdʒasɛnˌdɛlɔˌkapɔdɛlkaˈmi|ˌdrealkaˈmivasølˈfømɛˈlurjuziˈlijɛdeɛnˈtajˌtøjˈneɡɛr|eˌkwaŋkɛjɛˌnijfɔdeˈla|laˈmɛrlɔlaˌɡiɔmiɔˌpjøleˌpɛneˈbjaŋke|malaɡɛˌjerɔˈneɡre|aˈlurɔzeˈner|tøsːudisˈfat|elɡaˈdit|ˈtɔˌmɛrlɔ|kɛtɛloˌfadɔˈmestaˌoltɔ|sɛtɛseˌstadɔˈbjaŋkɔˌmetofaˌnːiˈneɡrɔɛiˈsetɛlasɛˈlːedɛseɡeˈtaatiˌramenˈdʒir]

The she-blackbird

Once upon a time blackbirds had white feathers, but in that time winter had been mild and a she-blackbird scorned January saying: "Bad-headed January, in spite of you I have got a brood in my nest." Hearing this, January got angry and he said: "Just wait a bit, you she-blackbird, I will fool you and I will turn you from white into black." Then he said: "I have got two, and I will borrow one, [9] and I will turn you from white to black." And he brought forth a cold as there had never been before.

The she-blackbird did not know how to cope with her brood in the nest, so she sheltered in the hood of a chimney, and the smoke turned all the birds black; so when they came out the blackbirds did not have white feathers anymore, but black ones. And January, very happy, said: "This time it was me that fooled you, blackbird: you were white and I turned you black, this will teach you to stop teasing me."

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ "The sound change *s > h which appears to be an innovation of Eastern Lombard has diffusional characteristics. It is not attested in the towns of Brescia and Bergamo. In the province of Brescia, it is attested in most of the upper low, and low Val Camonica, on the banks of Lake Iseo, in Franciacorta, in Val Trompia (with the exception of Collio), in Val Sabbia, and along the banks of Lake Idro. In the province of Bergamo, it is attested in low Val Brembana, in low Val Seriana, in Val Borlezza, in the areas around Bergamo, in the eastern plain, in Val Cavallina, and in Val Calepio (G. Bonfadini, personal communication, August 4, 2013)." [6]

    Related Research Articles

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Allophone</span> Phone used to pronounce a single phoneme

    In phonology, an allophone is one of multiple possible spoken sounds – or phones – used to pronounce a single phoneme in a particular language. For example, in English, the voiceless plosive and the aspirated form are allophones for the phoneme, while these two are considered to be different phonemes in some languages such as Central Thai. Similarly, in Spanish, and are allophones for the phoneme, while these two are considered to be different phonemes in English.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Schwa</span> Vowel sound

    In linguistics, specifically phonetics and phonology, schwa is a vowel sound denoted by the IPA symbol ⟨ə⟩, placed in the central position of the vowel chart. In English and some other languages, it usually represents the mid central vowel sound, produced when the lips, tongue, and jaw are completely relaxed, such as the vowel sound of the ⟨a⟩ in the English word about.

    The phonology of Portuguese varies among dialects, in extreme cases leading to some difficulties in intelligibility. This article on phonology focuses on the pronunciations that are generally regarded as standard. Since Portuguese is a pluricentric language, and differences between European Portuguese (EP), Brazilian Portuguese (BP), and Angolan Portuguese (AP) can be considerable, varieties are distinguished whenever necessary.

    The phonology of Catalan, a Romance language, has a certain degree of dialectal variation. Although there are two standard varieties, one based on Central Eastern dialect and another one based on South-Western or Valencian dialect, this article deals with features of all or most dialects, as well as regional pronunciation differences.

    English phonology is the system of speech sounds used in spoken English. Like many other languages, English has wide variation in pronunciation, both historically and from dialect to dialect. In general, however, the regional dialects of English share a largely similar phonological system. Among other things, most dialects have vowel reduction in unstressed syllables and a complex set of phonological features that distinguish fortis and lenis consonants.

    In linguistics, vowel length is the perceived length of a vowel sound: the corresponding physical measurement is duration. In some languages vowel length is an important phonemic factor, meaning vowel length can change the meaning of the word, for example in Arabic, Estonian, Finnish, Fijian, Japanese, Kannada, Kyrgyz, Latin, Malayalam, Old English, Scottish Gaelic, Tamil and Vietnamese.

    French phonology is the sound system of French. This article discusses mainly the phonology of all the varieties of Standard French. Notable phonological features include its uvular r, nasal vowels, and three processes affecting word-final sounds:

    Stress is a prominent feature of the English language, both at the level of the word (lexical stress) and at the level of the phrase or sentence (prosodic stress). Absence of stress on a syllable, or on a word in some cases, is frequently associated in English with vowel reduction – many such syllables are pronounced with a centralized vowel (schwa) or with certain other vowels that are described as being "reduced". Various phonological analyses exist for these phenomena.

    The phonology of Italian describes the sound system—the phonology and phonetics—of Standard Italian and its geographical variants.

    The phonology of Quebec French is more complex than that of Parisian or Continental French. Quebec French has maintained phonemic distinctions between and, and, and, and. The latter phoneme of each pair has disappeared in Parisian French, and only the last distinction has been maintained in Meridional French, yet all of these distinctions persist in Swiss and Belgian French.

    Eastern Lombard grammar reflects the main features of Romance languages: the word order of Eastern Lombard is usually SVO, nouns are inflected in number, adjectives agree in number and gender with the nouns, verbs are conjugated in tenses, aspects and moods and agree with the subject in number and person. The case system is present only for the weak form of the pronoun.

    The phonological system of the Hawaiian language is based on documentation from those who developed the Hawaiian alphabet during the 1820s as well as scholarly research conducted by lexicographers and linguists from 1949 to present.

    This article discusses the phonological system of the Czech language.

    Canzés is a variety of Brianzöö spoken in the commune of Canzo, Italy.

    This article describes the phonology of the Occitan language.

    This article discusses the phonological system of standard Russian based on the Moscow dialect. For an overview of dialects in the Russian language, see Russian dialects. Most descriptions of Russian describe it as having five vowel phonemes, though there is some dispute over whether a sixth vowel,, is separate from. Russian has 34 consonants, which can be divided into two types:

    This article is about the phonology of Egyptian Arabic, also known as Cairene Arabic or Masri. It deals with the phonology and phonetics of Egyptian Arabic as well as the phonological development of child native speakers of the dialect. To varying degrees, it affects the pronunciation of Literary Arabic by native Egyptian Arabic speakers, as is the case for speakers of all other varieties of Arabic.

    Proto-Sámi is the hypothetical, reconstructed common ancestor of the Sámi languages. It is a descendant of the Proto-Uralic language.

    French exhibits perhaps the most extensive phonetic changes of any of the Romance languages. Similar changes are seen in some of the northern Italian regional languages, such as Lombard or Ligurian. Most other Romance languages are significantly more conservative phonetically, with Spanish, Italian, and especially Sardinian showing the most conservatism, and Portuguese, Occitan, Catalan, and Romanian showing moderate conservatism.

    The phonology of Māori is typical for a Polynesian language, with its phonetic inventory being one of the smallest in the world with considerable variation in realisation. The Māori language retains the Proto-Polynesian syllable structure: (C)V(V ), with no closed syllables. The stress pattern is unpredictable, unlike in many other Polynesian languages.

    References

    1. ↑ Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin; Bank, Sebastian (2023-07-10). "Glottolog 4.8 - Piemontese-Lombard". Glottolog . Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. doi: 10.5281/zenodo.7398962 . Archived from the original on 2023-10-29. Retrieved 2023-10-29.
    2. ↑ Bonfadini, Giovanni 1983 Il confine linguistico veneto-lombardo In: Guida ai dialetti veneti / a cura di Manlio Cortelazzo. - Padova : CLEUP, 1983. - V. 5, p. 23–59
    3. ↑ Enciplopedia Treccani Online
    4. ↑ "M. Forzati, Dialèt de Brèsa (dialetto Bresciano)". Archived from the original on 2013-12-22. Retrieved 2013-03-11.
    5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Alberti, Roberto. Die Mundart von Gavardo (prov. Brescia). Geneva: Librairie Droz S.A. ISBN   978-2600000017.
    6. 1 2 3 4 Cresci, Michela (2014). "Dissertations and Theses, 2014–Present". The Sound Patterns Of Camuno: Description And Explanation In Evolutionary Phonology.
    7. ↑ Massariello Merzagora, Giovanna (1988). Manlio Cortelazzo; Alberto Zamboni (eds.). Profilo dei dialetti italiani. Vol. 3–Lombardia. Pisa Pacini Editore.
    8. ↑ Sanga, Glauco (1984). Dialettologia lombarda. Lingue e culture popolari. Università di Pavia, Dipartimento di scienza della letteratura.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
    9. ↑ "I have got two, and I will borrow one" refers to the days. After a popular tradition, January 30 and 31st and February 1 are called I dé de la Mèrla ("the days of the She-Blackbird") and are expected to be the most cold of the winter. Another version of the same tradition makes I dé de la Mèrla fall at the last three days of January. This last is actually a little more widespread and was also told to children to have them remember that February has 28, days explaining this with the fact that January borrowed one from February to be able to chill the blackbird.
    This page is based on this Wikipedia article
    Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
    Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.