Lombard language

The term Lombard refers to a Romance language belonging to the Gallo-Italic group and widespread mainly in Lombardy (northwestern Italy), in some areas of neighboring regions (Novara province in Piedmont and in the part westernmost Trentino) and in the Canton of Ticino (Switzerland).

Historical, social and cultural aspects

Official recognition

Lombard is recognized by UNESCO as an endangered language, but it is not recognized as a regional or minority language by the Council of Europe because Italy has not ratified the Charter. Problems arise from the difficult classification as a language or dialect within modern sociolinguistics.

The use, especially formal, of the Lombard varieties is not common in the areas politically belonging to Italy, while it is more frequent in the Swiss areas. Some Lombard-language radio and television programs are occasionally broadcast on Italian-speaking Swiss channels. The largest research institution for Lombard dialects is located in Bellinzona, Switzerland (CDE - Centro di dialettologia e di ethnography).

At the beginning of 2016, a bill for the institution of Italian-Lombard bilingualism and for the promotion of Lombard and its local dialectal variants was presented to the Lombardy Regional Council, later integrated by the law for the & #34;reorder" of Lombard culture, which was approved in September 2016.

Use

The use of Lombard dialects is decreasing by the day in the Lombard-speaking area of Italy, especially among the younger sections of the population where schooling and media are in standard Italian.

Cinema

Professional films in Lombard are rare. There are basically three known:

• L'albero degli zoccoli, produced by Ermanno Olmi in bergamascus dialect.
• Ona strada bagnada, award-winning documentary on several occasions by Lamberto Caimi.
• SluggishLamberto Caimi.

Linguistic description

Classification

The Lombard varieties are classified within the Western Romance languages, related to the Gallo-Romance languages and the other Gallo-Italic languages (Piedmontese, Emiliano-Romagnolo, etc.). Lombard has no kinship with Old Lombard (Lombardic), which is a Germanic language used, in antiquity, by the German population of Lombards (attested to between the VI and the X century AD). Although Italian is normally used as a written and formal language in Lombard-speaking areas, Lombard dialects are quite different from standard Italian, as they belong to two different branches of the Romance language tree, the latter being a language belonging to the group italoromance.

Spelling

Lombard has never achieved spelling unification. The two most widely used spelling systems are Ticinese (also called pro-German), since it uses the vowels ö and ü (although it originated in the Swiss Italian cantons and today it is used in the Lombard High-Italian linguistic areas both east and west of the river Adda) and Classical Milanese. The latter is the system with the most historical prestige (it was already used in the XVI century) and up to the first half of the < span style="font-variant:small-caps;text-transform:lowercase">XX was adopted, albeit with minor differences, in all Lombard-speaking areas.

Phonology and phonetics

• The palatalization of Latin groups CL- and GL- in c(i), g(i) (eye. CLAMAR(E) ▪ cia, GLAREA ▪ gièra);
• The lention of intervocálic deaf occlusive consonants (e.g. CAPRA ▪ cavra, CARRICARE ▪ carregà, POTERE ▪ podè);
• The transformation of -CE, GE. in alveolar or sybilants (e.g. GELU ▪ dzel/zel);
• Loss of latin final vowels except for a, result of the syncope procedure (i.e. MUNDUM ▪ world/mond) (present also in the French language.
• Evolution in ü de la ū latina (PLUS ▪ pü);
• The presence of the ö vowel (NOVU ▪ növ/nöf).
• unlike most languages romances opposition between /ā/long and /ă/ brief. paass 'peace' ► Lat. PÀX, pass 'paso'. PASSU(m)

Common Phenomena

The presence of these front vowels is one of the characteristics of Lombard that it shares with Piedmontese and Ligurian, but which separates it from Venetian and Emilian-Romagnol.

Divergent phenomena

Lombard is separated from Piedmontese by the absence of the central mid vowel, orthographically represented ë and by the infinitive of the first conjugation ending in à (r).

Sample Text (Milanese)

The following is a poem in the Milanese dialect, by Domenico Balestrieri (1714–1780), interpreted by Antonio Bozzetti.

Chi tròpp e chi minga

Dialectal variation

Western and Eastern Lombard separated by the green line.

Eastern and Western Lombard Variants.

The two main variants of the Lombard language, which present quite different grammatical, lexical, and phonetic tracts, are: Western Lombard (comprising the Milanese dialect) and Eastern Lombard (comprising the Bergamo, Brescian, and Trentino dialects)..

The Western Lombard

• Milanese, spoken in Milan, Monza, in the Lower Brianza and through the middle course of the Olona, in the Saronnese. It is the variant with greater international recognition and literary production.
• Bustocco, spoken in Busto Arsizio, west of the Olona valley, has ligurine phonetic characteristics and differs from most of the other variants lombard by the presence of the "u" final atone in the nouns and in the masculine adjectives, as also happens in the Asturleon.
• Legnanés: spoken in Legnano, south of Busto Arsizio. Share some phonetic features with the ligurine.
• Brianzolo: Speaking in Brianza.
• Comasco: spoken in the surroundings of Como, north of Mozzate and Sottoceneri.
  • Lecchese: spoken in the surroundings of Lecco, branch of the Western Lombard.
• Ticinese: spoken in Canton Ticino.
  • Ossolano: spoken in the Ossola Valley.
• Varesino: spoken in Varese, Tradate, the northern part of Varese province.
• Valtellinés: spoken in Valtellina.
  • Chiavennasco with the Bregagliotta variant, the most archaic.

Other western Lombard dialects south of Milan:

• Lodigiano, spoken throughout the Lodigian to the reception of the town halls that limit the city of Piacenza, in the town hall of San Colombano to Lambro and the most eastern municipalities of the province of Pavia that limit with the province of Lodi.
• Novarés: spoken in the south of the province of Novara.

The Eastern Lombard and Alpine-Oriental

• Eastern Lombard, spoken in the east of the Adda River:
  • Bergamasco, in the province of Bergamo with more archaic variants in the oróbic lateral valleys.
  • Cremasco, spoken in the lower bergamasca and in the territory cremasco.
  • High manuano, attach to the Gardesan area.
  • Bresciano, spoken in the province of Brescia, with the variants Lumezzanese, Camuna, Bagossa (in Bagolino) and Rendenese (in Trentino).
  • Western Trentino, spoken in the west of Trentino.
• Alpine-Eastern Lombard:
  • Bor
  • Livignasco
  • High camo

The southern Lombardy

The dialect spoken in the region of Lower Lombardy (the central area of the province of Cremona), while preserving the grammar and structure of Lombard speech, shows strong influences of the Emilian dialect in phonetics:

• Cremonian dialect

The Mantuano dialect and Casalasco are classified in Ethnologue with ISO 639-3 eml, as Emilian dialects.

Language Islands

• Sicily
  • Lombard of Sicily or Galoitálico, spoken in some areas of Sicily, originating in the Norman era.
  • Local variants, strongly influenced by the Sicilian.
• Lazio
  • Variant influenced by components of Lazio and the Roman dialect, spoken by the Valtelinesa community of Rome.
• Brazil
  • Talian Lombardo: Italian, Venetian and Portuguese influences.

Slang Dialects

• The jargon dialects are several, including:
  • Gaì, almost extinct dialect of the Camuni shepherds and the Bermous valleys.
  • Spasell, commercial jargon of Vallassina.
  • Rungin, spoken in Val Cavargna.
  • Rügin, spoken in Val Colla (Ticino).