Eastern Lombard language
Encyclopedia
Eastern Lombard is a group of related languages, spoken in the eastern side of Lombardy
, mainly in the provinces of Bergamo
, Brescia
and Mantua
, in the area around Crema
and in a part of Trentino . Its main variants are Bergamasque
and Brescian .
In Italian-speaking contexts, Eastern Lombard is often generically called a "dialect
". This is often incorrectly understood as to mean a dialect of Italian, which actually is not the case, it's not a dialect but a language. Eastern Lombard and Italian
are different languages and are only partly mutually intelligible.
As per today, Eastern Lombard does not have any official status either in Lombardy
or anywhere else: the only official language
in Lombardy is Italian
.
Its position on the language family put in evidence that it is genetically closer to Occitan, Catalan
, French
, etc. than to Italian
. Its substratum is Celtic.
(Northern Italy
), in the territories of the provinces of Bergamo and Brescia, in the northern side of the province of Mantua
and in the area around Crema
.
The varieties spoken in these regions are generally mutually intelligible for speakers of neighbouring areas but this is not always true for distant peripheric areas. For instance, an inhabitant of the alpine valleys of Bergamo can be hardly understood by a peasant of the plains of Mantua. Differences include either lexical, grammatical and phonetic aspects.
Eastern Lombard has 9 vowel
s and 20 consonant
s.
The voiced consonants /b/, /d/, /ɡ/, /v/, /z/, /dʒ/ never occur at the end of a word. This phenomenon, common to other languages (including German
, 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. For example:
The approximants /j/ and /w/ are distinct phonemes from the vocalic sounds /i/, /u/. This can be seen in the following examples:
= "how much" vs. /kuˈat/ = "brooded" = "flat" vs. /piˈat/ = "bitten"
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; thus "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 grasie ("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].
Other examples for this feature:
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 = [ˌlɛniˈvːert].
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:
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 (actually slightly more close than cardinal [ɔ]). For example:
In conclusion, it is possible to say that only five contrastive vowel qualities are found in unstressed syllables: [o/ɔˌ(u)], [øˌ(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.
involving the feature of vowel height. 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. 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:
This article follows the rules of the Italian orthography, with the following exceptions.
is adopted to represent the rounded vowels /ø/ and /y/:
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.
<-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: before front vowels and 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
The sequence /sdʒ/ is also present in Eastern Lombard and not in Italian and is represented in this article with the sequence of signs <-sgi->, for example:
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
.
(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).
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.
[ˌlelaˈmɛrlɔ lasaˌiɔpjøkeˈfakojˌsɔuziˌlindɛlɔˈɲatɔ, ɛiˈse ˌlɛnadɔˌarifyˈdʒasɛnˌdɛlɔˌkapɔdɛlkaˈmi ˌdrealkaˈmivasølˈføm ɛˈlurjuziˈli jɛdeɛnˈtajˌtøjˈneɡɛr ˌkwaŋkɛjɛˌnijfɔdeˈla laˈmɛrlɔlaˌɡiɔmiɔˌpjøleˌpɛneˈbjaŋke malaɡɛˌjerɔˈneɡre aˈlurɔ zeˈner tøsːudisˈfat elɡaˈdit ˈtɔˌmɛrlɔ kɛtɛloˌfadɔˈmestaˌoltɔ sɛtɛseˌstadɔˈbjaŋkɔ ˌmetofaˌnːiˈneɡrɔ ɛiˈse tɛlasɛˈlːe dɛseɡeˈta atiˌramenˈdʒir]
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 to fool you, blackbird: you were white and I turned you black, this will teach you to stop teasing me.
Lombardy
Lombardy is one of the 20 regions of Italy. The capital is Milan. One-sixth of Italy's population lives in Lombardy and about one fifth of Italy's GDP is produced in this region, making it the most populous and richest region in the country and one of the richest in the whole of Europe...
, mainly in the provinces of Bergamo
Bergamo
Bergamo is a town and comune in Lombardy, Italy, about 40 km northeast of Milan. The comune is home to over 120,000 inhabitants. It is served by the Orio al Serio Airport, which also serves the Province of Bergamo, and to a lesser extent the metropolitan area of Milan...
, Brescia
Brescia
Brescia is a city and comune in the region of Lombardy in northern Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, between the Mella and the Naviglio, with a population of around 197,000. It is the second largest city in Lombardy, after the capital, Milan...
and Mantua
Mantua
Mantua is a city and comune in Lombardy, Italy and capital of the province of the same name. Mantua's historic power and influence under the Gonzaga family, made it one of the main artistic, cultural and notably musical hubs of Northern Italy and the country as a whole...
, in the area around Crema
Crema, Italy
Crema is a town and comune in the province of Cremona, in the region of Lombardy in northern Italy. It is built along the river Serio at 43 km from Cremona. It is also the seat of a Catholic Bishop, who gave to Crema the title of city...
and in a part of Trentino . Its main variants are Bergamasque
Bergamasque
The Bergamasque is the western variant of the Eastern Lombard group of the Lombard language. It is mainly spoken in the province of Bergamo and in the area around Crema, in central Lombardy....
and Brescian .
In Italian-speaking contexts, Eastern Lombard is often generically called a "dialect
Dialect
The term dialect is used in two distinct ways, even by linguists. One usage refers to a variety of a language that is a characteristic of a particular group of the language's speakers. The term is applied most often to regional speech patterns, but a dialect may also be defined by other factors,...
". This is often incorrectly understood as to mean a dialect of Italian, which actually is not the case, it's not a dialect but a language. Eastern Lombard and Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
are different languages and are only partly mutually intelligible.
As per today, Eastern Lombard does not have any official status either in Lombardy
Lombardy
Lombardy is one of the 20 regions of Italy. The capital is Milan. One-sixth of Italy's population lives in Lombardy and about one fifth of Italy's GDP is produced in this region, making it the most populous and richest region in the country and one of the richest in the whole of Europe...
or anywhere else: the only official language
Official language
An official language is a language that is given a special legal status in a particular country, state, or other jurisdiction. Typically a nation's official language will be the one used in that nation's courts, parliament and administration. However, official status can also be used to give a...
in Lombardy is Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
.
Classification
Eastern Lombard is a Romance language and belongs to the Gallo-Italic branch.Its position on the language family put in evidence that it is genetically closer to Occitan, Catalan
Catalan language
Catalan is a Romance language, the national and only official language of Andorra and a co-official language in the Spanish autonomous communities of Catalonia, the Balearic Islands and Valencian Community, where it is known as Valencian , as well as in the city of Alghero, on the Italian island...
, French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
, etc. than to Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
. Its substratum is Celtic.
Geographic distribution
Eastern Lombard is primarily spoken in the east side of LombardyLombardy
Lombardy is one of the 20 regions of Italy. The capital is Milan. One-sixth of Italy's population lives in Lombardy and about one fifth of Italy's GDP is produced in this region, making it the most populous and richest region in the country and one of the richest in the whole of Europe...
(Northern Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
), in the territories of the provinces of Bergamo and Brescia, in the northern side of the province of Mantua
Mantua
Mantua is a city and comune in Lombardy, Italy and capital of the province of the same name. Mantua's historic power and influence under the Gonzaga family, made it one of the main artistic, cultural and notably musical hubs of Northern Italy and the country as a whole...
and in the area around Crema
Crema, Italy
Crema is a town and comune in the province of Cremona, in the region of Lombardy in northern Italy. It is built along the river Serio at 43 km from Cremona. It is also the seat of a Catholic Bishop, who gave to Crema the title of city...
.
The varieties spoken in these regions are generally mutually intelligible for speakers of neighbouring areas but this is not always true for distant peripheric areas. For instance, an inhabitant of the alpine valleys of Bergamo can be hardly understood by a peasant of the plains of Mantua. Differences include either 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 vowel
Vowel
In phonetics, a vowel is a sound in spoken language, such as English ah! or oh! , pronounced with an open vocal tract so that there is no build-up of air pressure at any point above the glottis. This contrasts with consonants, such as English sh! , where there is a constriction or closure at some...
s and 20 consonant
Consonant
In articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a speech sound that is articulated with complete or partial closure of the vocal tract. Examples are , pronounced with the lips; , pronounced with the front of the tongue; , pronounced with the back of the tongue; , pronounced in the throat; and ,...
s.
Consonants
| Labial Labial consonant Labial consonants are consonants in which one or both lips are the active articulator. This precludes linguolabials, in which the tip of the tongue reaches for the posterior side of the upper lip and which are considered coronals... |
Alveolar Alveolar consonant Alveolar consonants are articulated with the tongue against or close to the superior alveolar ridge, which is called that because it contains the alveoli of the superior teeth... |
Postalveolar Palato-alveolar consonant In phonetics, palato-alveolar consonants are postalveolar consonants, nearly always sibilants, that are weakly palatalized with a domed tongue... /palatal Palatal consonant Palatal consonants are consonants articulated with the body of the tongue raised against the hard palate... |
Velar Velar consonant Velars are consonants articulated with the back part of the tongue against the soft palate, the back part of the roof of the mouth, known also as the velum).... |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosives and affricates Affricate consonant Affricates are consonants that begin as stops but release as a fricative rather than directly into the following vowel.- Samples :... |
p b | t d | tʃ dʒ | k ɡ |
| Nasals Nasal consonant A nasal consonant is a type of consonant produced with a lowered velum in the mouth, allowing air to escape freely through the nose. Examples of nasal consonants in English are and , in words such as nose and mouth.- Definition :... |
m | n | ɲ | |
| Trill Trill consonant In phonetics, a trill is a consonantal sound produced by vibrations between the articulator and the place of articulation. Standard Spanish <rr> as in perro is an alveolar trill, while in Parisian French it is almost always uvular.... |
r | |||
| Fricatives Fricative consonant Fricatives are consonants produced by forcing air through a narrow channel made by placing two articulators close together. These may be the lower lip against the upper teeth, in the case of ; the back of the tongue against the soft palate, in the case of German , the final consonant of Bach; or... |
f v | s z | (ʃ) | |
| Approximants | w | j | ||
| Lateral approximant Lateral consonant A lateral is an el-like consonant, in which airstream proceeds along the sides of the tongue, but is blocked by the tongue from going through the middle of the mouth.... s |
l | ʎ |
The voiced consonants /b/, /d/, /ɡ/, /v/, /z/, /dʒ/ never occur at the end of a word. This phenomenon, common to other languages (including German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
, Dutch
Dutch language
Dutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...
, Turkish
Turkish language
Turkish is a language spoken as a native language by over 83 million people worldwide, making it the most commonly spoken of the Turkic languages. Its speakers are located predominantly in Turkey and Northern Cyprus with smaller groups in Iraq, Greece, Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo,...
and Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
), 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. For example:
-
- i è nacc vià - [iɛnajˈvja] = "they have gone away"
The approximants /j/ and /w/ are distinct phonemes from the vocalic sounds /i/, /u/. This can be seen in the following examples:
= "how much" vs. /kuˈat/ = "brooded" = "flat" vs. /piˈat/ = "bitten"
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; thus "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 grasie ("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].
Other examples for this feature:
- licensià ("to dismiss, to fire") = [litʃenˈsja] / [lehenˈtʃa]
- cristià ("Christian") = [crisˈtja] / [crihˈtʃa]
- pasiù ("passion") = [paˈsju] / [pahˈtʃu]
Assimilation
Regressive assimilationAssimilation (linguistics)
Assimilation is a common phonological process by which the sound of the ending of one word blends into the sound of the beginning of the following word. This occurs when the parts of the mouth and vocal cords start to form the beginning sounds of the next word before the last sound has been...
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:
- el ga fat pàla = [ɛlɡafaˈpːalɔ]
- l'è tròp calt = [ˌlɛtrɔˈkːalt]
- el gat bianc = [ɛlɡaˈbːjaŋk]
The same phenomenon occurs when an occlusive consonant precedes a nasal or a liquid consonant. For example:
- en gat négher = [ɛŋɡaˈnːeɡɛr]
- l'è tròp mis = [ˌlɛtrɔˈmːis]
- so ché strac mórt = [soˌkestraˈmːort]
Complete assimilation can also occur when an occlusive precedes a fricative. For example: l'è nit vért = [ˌlɛniˈvːert].
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:
- el ga 'l sanc blö = [ɛlˌɡalsamˈblø]
- l'è lonc fés = [ˌlɛloɱˈfes]
But when an occlusive precedes [z], assimilation involves both consonants and the result is an affricate sound:
- l'è nit zó ècc = [lɛˌnidzːoˈɛtʃ]
- l'è tròp zalt = [ˌlɛtrɔˈdzːalt]
The phoneme /n/ can undergo assimilation in place of articulation
Place of articulation
In articulatory phonetics, the place of articulation of a consonant is the point of contact where an obstruction occurs in the vocal tract between an articulatory gesture, an active articulator , and a passive location...
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:
- en ca = [ɛŋˈka] "a dog"
- vàghen fò = [ˌvaɡeɱˈfɔ] "hurry up"
- l'an pasàt = [ˌlampaˈsat] "the last year"
Vowels
Eastern Lombard has 9 vocalic sounds:| IPA International Phonetic Alphabet The International Phonetic Alphabet "The acronym 'IPA' strictly refers [...] to the 'International Phonetic Association'. But it is now such a common practice to use the acronym also to refer to the alphabet itself that resistance seems pedantic... | Description | Example | Italian | English |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| i | Close front unrounded vowel Close front unrounded vowel The close front unrounded vowel, or high front unrounded vowel, is a type of vowel sound, used in many spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is .... |
sich /sik/ | cinque | five |
| e | Close-mid front unrounded vowel Close-mid front unrounded vowel The close-mid front unrounded vowel, or high-mid front unrounded vowel, is a type of vowel sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is .... |
sét /set/ | sete | thirst |
| ɛ | Open-mid front unrounded vowel | sèch /sɛk/ | secco | arid |
| a | Open front unrounded vowel | sach /sak/ | sacco | sack |
| o | Close-mid back rounded vowel | ciót /tʃot/ | chiodo | nail |
| ɔ | Open-mid back rounded vowel | sòch /sɔk/ | ceppo | stump |
| ø | Close-mid front rounded vowel Close-mid front rounded vowel The close-mid front rounded vowel, or high-mid front rounded vowel, is a type of vowel sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is , a lowercase letter o with a diagonal stroke through it, derived from the Danish, Norwegian... |
söt /søt/ | asciutto | dry |
| y | Close front rounded vowel Close front rounded vowel The close front rounded vowel, or high front rounded vowel, is a type of vowel sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is , and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is y... |
mür /myr/ | muro | wall |
| u | Close back rounded vowel Close back rounded vowel The close back rounded vowel, or high back rounded vowel, is a type of vowel sound, used in many spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is , and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is u.... |
mur /mur/ | gelso | mulberry |
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 (actually slightly more close than cardinal [ɔ]). For example:
- lüna = [ˈlynɔ] "moon"
- sètèmana = [sɛtɛˈmanɔ] "week"
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/ɔˌ(u)], [øˌ(y)], [a], [e/ɛ], [i] (but with the [i] not completely separated from [e/ɛ]). Some examples:
- molà [moˈla] ("to let go, to release")
- mölà [møˈla] ("to grind")
- malàt [maˈlat] ("sick")
- pelàt [peˈlat] ("bald")
- milà [miˈla] ("Milan")
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
Franciacorta
The territory of Franciacorta is a section of the Province of Brescia in the Italian Region of Lombardy. Franciacorta extends north from the plain of the river Po to the shores of Lake Iseo, and from the river Oglio on the western border to the town of Cellatica in the east. The geography of...
, a province of Brescia, the sounds [o] and [ø] are regularly replaced by [u] and [y] in pretonic position:
- mulà (Franciacortan) instead of molà (Brescian)
- Ruàt (RovatoRovatoRovato is a comune in the province of Brescia, in Lombardy. It is bounded by other communes of Cologne and Cazzago San Martino. It is located in Franciacorta ar the foot of Monte Orfano.-External links:**...
, a toponym) instead of Roàt - Üspedalèt (OspitalettoOspitalettoOspitaletto is a town and comune in the province of Brescia, in Lombardy....
, a toponym) instead of Öspedalèt
Since in unstressed position these vocalic sounds are not contrastive, these local variants do not compromise reciprocal intelligibility.
Vowel harmony
Eastern Lombard exhibits a process of regressive vowel harmonyVowel harmony
Vowel harmony is a type of long-distance assimilatory phonological process involving vowels that occurs in some languages. In languages with vowel harmony, there are constraints on which vowels may be found near each other....
involving the feature of vowel height. 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. This phenomenon affects all the words independent of the word's function
Because the diminutive
Diminutive
In language structure, a diminutive, or diminutive form , is a formation of a word used to convey a slight degree of the root meaning, smallness of the object or quality named, encapsulation, intimacy, or endearment...
and augmentative
Augmentative
An augmentative is a morphological form of a word which expresses greater intensity, often in size, but also in other attributes...
are formed with the suffixes -ì and -ù (feminine -ìna and -ùna) respectively, this process is easily observable in nouns:
- cortèl ("knife")
- curtilì ("small knife")
- curtilù ("big knife")
As already mentioned, the vowel /a/ acts as opaque vowel which blocks the harmonization process:
- fontàna ("fountain")
- fontanì ("small fountain") (not funtanì)
- öspedàl ("hospital")
- öspedalì ("small hospital") (not üspidalì)
But vowels that occur after the /a/ and before the stressed vowel are still affected:
- mortadèla (type of Italian sausage)
- mortadilìna
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:
- öler(öl) ("to want" - infinitive)
- öle ("I want" - first person singular present indicative)
- ülìt ("wanted" - past participle)
- ülìf ("you all want" - second person plural present indicative)
- ülìef ("you all were wanting" - second person plural imperfect indicative)
Adjectives formed with the suffix -ùs (feminine -ùza) also exhibit this rule:
- póra(pura) ("fear")
- purús ("fearful person" [masculine])
- purúza ("fearful person" [feminine])
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.
Writing of vowels
Diacritic marks are utilized for vowel sounds to distinguish /e/ from /ɛ/ and /o/ from /ɔ/ in stressed syllables. Furthermore, the umlautUmlaut (diacritic)
The diaeresis and the umlaut are diacritics that consist of two dots placed over a letter, most commonly a vowel. When that letter is an i or a j, the diacritic replaces the tittle: ï....
is adopted to represent the rounded vowels /ø/ and /y/:
| Letter | Phoneme |
|---|---|
| a | /a/ |
| é | /e/ |
| è | /ɛ/ |
| i | /i/ |
| ó | /o/ |
| ò | /ɔ/ |
| u | /u/ |
| ü | /y/ |
| ö | /ø/ |
Note that grave
Grave accent
The grave accent is a diacritical mark used in written Breton, Catalan, Corsican, Dutch, French, Greek , Italian, Mohawk, Norwegian, Occitan, Portuguese, Scottish Gaelic, Vietnamese, Welsh, Romansh, and other languages.-Greek:The grave accent was first used in the polytonic orthography of Ancient...
and acute
Acute accent
The acute accent is a diacritic used in many modern written languages with alphabets based on the Latin, Cyrillic, and Greek scripts.-Apex:An early precursor of the acute accent was the apex, used in Latin inscriptions to mark long vowels.-Greek:...
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.
Writing of consonants
The digraphDigraph (orthography)
A digraph or digram is a pair of characters used to write one phoneme or a sequence of phonemes that does not correspond to the normal values of the two characters combined...
<-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:
A consonant sequence that is peculiar to Lombard is that of a voiceless alveolar fricative
Voiceless alveolar fricative
The voiceless alveolar sibilant is a common consonant sound in spoken languages. It is the sound in English words such as sea and pass, and is represented in the International Phonetic Alphabet as . It has a characteristic high-pitched, highly perceptible hissing sound...
followed by a voiceless postalveolar affricate
Voiceless postalveolar affricate
The voiceless palato-alveolar affricate or domed postalveolar affricate is a type of consonantal sound used in some spoken languages. The sound is transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet with ⟨⟩ or ⟨⟩...
, [stʃ]. This article adopts the convention of representing this sound as
The sequence /sdʒ/ is also present in Eastern Lombard and not in Italian and is represented in this article with the sequence of signs <-sgi->, for example:
- bàsgia ("large bowl") = /ˈbasdʒa/
- sgionfà ("to inflate") = /sdʒonˈfa/
Grammar
The grammatical system of Eastern Lombard is similar to other those of other Romance languages. The word orderWord order
In linguistics, word order typology refers to the study of the order of the syntactic constituents of a language, and how different languages can employ different orders. Correlations between orders found in different syntactic subdomains are also of interest...
is SVO (subject–verb–object) and it has a moderate inflection system: verbs are declined for mood
Grammatical mood
In linguistics, grammatical mood is a grammatical feature of verbs, used to signal modality. That is, it is the use of verbal inflections that allow speakers to express their attitude toward what they are saying...
, tense
Grammatical tense
A tense is a grammatical category that locates a situation in time, to indicate when the situation takes place.Bernard Comrie, Aspect, 1976:6:...
and aspect
Grammatical aspect
In linguistics, the grammatical aspect of a verb is a grammatical category that defines the temporal flow in a given action, event, or state, from the point of view of the speaker...
and agree with their subject in person
Grammatical person
Grammatical person, in linguistics, is deictic reference to a participant in an event; such as the speaker, the addressee, or others. Grammatical person typically defines a language's set of personal pronouns...
and number
Grammatical number
In linguistics, grammatical number is a grammatical category of nouns, pronouns, and adjective and verb agreement that expresses count distinctions ....
. Nouns are classified as either masculine or feminine
Grammatical gender
Grammatical gender is defined linguistically as a system of classes of nouns which trigger specific types of inflections in associated words, such as adjectives, verbs and others. For a system of noun classes to be a gender system, every noun must belong to one of the classes and there should be...
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
Declension
In linguistics, declension is the inflection of nouns, pronouns, adjectives, and articles to indicate number , case , and gender...
.
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 BovegnoBovegno
Bovegno is a comune in the province of Brescia, in Lombardy. It borders the communes of Collio, Pezzaze, Irma, Artogne. It is pronounced Bòvegno .It is located in the valley named Valle Trompia....
(Trompia
Trompia
The Valle Trompia is a valley in northern Italy, running from the Tre Valli massif to the plain of Brescia. It shows no sign of glacial geomorphologic activity and includes the Mella river....
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 (the variety of Eastern Lombard spoken in city of Brescia):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: "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
[iˈmɛrli naˈoltɔ iˈɡiɔleˌpɛneˈbjaŋke maˌkɛlɛmˌverɛnˈle lerɔˌstatɛmˈbɛlɛɱˌverɛn ɛˌlelaˈmɛrlɔlaɡaˈditː zeˈnerdelaˌmalɔˈɡrapɔ ˌpertɔdeˈspɛt ˌɡojuziˈliˌndelɔˈɲatɔ aˈly lzeˈner ˌɡɛnitaˈdɔsemˌpodeˈrabja ˌɛːlɡaˈdit ˈspɛtɔˌmɛrlɔ kɛtɛlafaˌroˈmeaˌdɛsaˈte ɛsɛtɛˌseˈbːjaŋkɔ ˌmetɛfaroˌɛɲɛrˈneɡrɔ ɛpɔˈdɔpolɡaˌditaˌmɔ ˌduɡɛˈjo ɛdʒymˌprɛstetɛltøaˈro ɛsɛtɛˌseˈbːjaŋkɔ ˌmetɛfaˌroniˈneɡrɔ ɛaˈlurɔ lɡaˌfaːniˌfɔɱˈfrɛt kɛsɛˌniamaiˌvesdʒycomˈpaɲ][ˌlelaˈmɛrlɔ lasaˌiɔpjøkeˈfakojˌsɔuziˌlindɛlɔˈɲatɔ, ɛiˈse ˌlɛnadɔˌarifyˈdʒasɛnˌdɛlɔˌkapɔdɛlkaˈmi ˌdrealkaˈmivasølˈføm ɛˈlurjuziˈli jɛdeɛnˈtajˌtøjˈneɡɛr ˌkwaŋkɛjɛˌnijfɔdeˈla laˈmɛrlɔlaˌɡiɔmiɔˌpjøleˌpɛneˈbjaŋke malaɡɛˌjerɔˈneɡre aˈlurɔ zeˈner tøsːudisˈfat elɡaˈdit ˈtɔˌmɛrlɔ kɛtɛloˌfadɔˈmestaˌoltɔ sɛtɛseˌstadɔˈbjaŋkɔ ˌmetofaˌnːiˈneɡrɔ ɛiˈse tɛlasɛˈlːe dɛseɡeˈta atiˌramenˈdʒir]
The she-blackbird
Once upon a time blackbirds had white feathers, but in that time the 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, and I will turn you from white to black." And he brought forth a cold as never had 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 to fool you, blackbird: you were white and I turned you black, this will teach you to stop teasing me.
See also
- BergamasqueBergamasqueThe Bergamasque is the western variant of the Eastern Lombard group of the Lombard language. It is mainly spoken in the province of Bergamo and in the area around Crema, in central Lombardy....
- Lombard languages
- Western LombardWestern LombardWestern Lombard is a Romance language spoken in Italy, in the Lombard provinces of Milan, Monza, Varese, Como, Lecco, Sondrio, a small part of Cremona , Lodi and Pavia, and the Piedmont provinces of Novara, Verbano-Cusio-Ossola and a small part of Vercelli , and Switzerland...
- Plural inflection in Eastern Lombard
- Dialects of Italy
External links
- Orbilat - An interesting site more for western lombard, but the map of the distribution of the two main varieties is noteworthy.
- Poetry in Eastern Lombard from 1902 (in Italian)
- Copy of the original dictionary Bresciano - Italiano (work in progress, in Italian)
- a Casiratese-Italian vocabulary, a dictionary for the Bergamasque (Casirate d'Adda) dialect, in Italian.
- A Dictionary for the Camunic variant of Eastern Lombard.
- A collection of comedies in Bergamasque