The Bergamasque dialect is the western variant of the

Eastern Lombard Eastern Lombard is a group of closely related variants of Lombard, a Gallo-Italic dialect spoken in Lombardy, mainly in the provinces of Bergamo, Brescia and Mantua, in the area around Cremona and in parts of Trentino. Its main variants are Be ...

group of the

Lombard language Lombard (native name: ,Classical Milanese orthography, and . , Ticinese orthography. Modern Western orthography. or , Eastern unified orthography. depending on the orthography; pronunciation: ) is a language, belonging to the Gallo-Italic famil ...

. It is mainly spoken in the

province of Bergamo The Province of Bergamo ( it, provincia di Bergamo; lmo, proìnsa de Bèrghem) is a province in the Lombardy region of Italy. It has a population of 1,112,187 (2017), an area of , and contains 243 '' comuni''. Its capital is the city of Bergamo. ...

and in the area around Crema, in central

Lombardy (man), (woman) lmo, lumbard, links=no (man), (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , ...

. Bergamasque has official status in the province of Bergamo, according to the Regional Law 25/2016.

Classification

Bergamasque is a

Romance language The Romance languages, sometimes referred to as Latin languages or Neo-Latin languages, are the various modern languages that evolved from Vulgar Latin. They are the only extant subgroup of the Italic languages in the Indo-European language ...

and belongs to the Gallo-Italic branch. Its position on the language family is genetically closer to Occitan,

Catalan Catalan may refer to: Catalonia From, or related to Catalonia: * Catalan language, a Romance language * Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia Places * 13178 Catalan, asteroid #1 ...

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

, etc. than to Italian.

Geographic distribution

Bergamasque is primarily spoken in the province of

Bergamo Bergamo (; lmo, Bèrghem ; from the proto- Germanic elements *''berg +*heim'', the "mountain home") is a city in the alpine Lombardy region of northern Italy, approximately northeast of Milan, and about from Switzerland, the alpine lakes Com ...

and in the area around Crema, in central

. Bergamasque is generally mutually intelligible for speakers of

's variants of neighbouring areas (i.e. from

Brescia Brescia (, locally ; lmo, link=no, label= Lombard, Brèsa ; lat, Brixia; vec, Bressa) is a city and '' comune'' in the region of Lombardy, Northern Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, a few kilometers from the lakes Garda and Iseo ...

) but this is not always true for distant peripheric areas, especially in alpine valleys. Differences include either lexical, grammatical and phonetic aspects. Bergamasque is often referred to as a dialect of the Italian language; this is not entirely correct, as Bergamasque and Italian are not mutually intelligible. Following the migrations of the 19th and 20th centuries, the Bergamo dialect was transplanted and is spoken in various communities of southern Brazil, for example in the municipality of

Botuverá Botuverá is a municipality in the state of Santa Catarina in the South region of Brazil. The municipality contains part of the Canela Preta Biological Reserve, a full protected area. See also * List of municipalities in Santa Catarina Re ...

Speakers

Monolingual Bergamasque speakers are now virtually non-existent. All Lombard speakers also speak Italian, and their command of each of the two languages varies according to their geographical position as well as their socio-

economic An economy is an area of the production, distribution and trade, as well as consumption of goods and services. In general, it is defined as a social domain that emphasize the practices, discourses, and material expressions associated with th ...

situation, the most reliable predictor being the speakers' age.200
report
by the Italian institute for national statistics.( ISTAT)

Samples of literary works in Bergamasque

Another example

The Lord's Prayer English- Our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Italian- Bergamasque-

Bibliography

Bortolo Belotti Bortolo Belotti (26 August 1877 – 24 July 1944) was an Italian politician of the first half of 20th century. Life Born in Zogno, son of a wealthy family, he studied law at the University of Pavia and then became a lawyer. In 1907, he joined ...

, ''Storia di Bergamo e dei bergamaschi''. *Carmelo Francia, Emanuele Gambarini, ''Dizionario italiano-bergamasco'', Bergamo, Grafital, 2001. *Carmelo Francia, Emanuele Gambarini, ''Dizionario bergamasco-italiano'', Bergamo, Grafital, 2004. *Umberto Zanetti, ''La grammatica bergamasca'', Bergamo, Sestante, 2004. . *

References

External links

Orbilat
- An interesting site more for western lombard, but the map of the distribution of the two main varieties is noteworthy.
Italian/Bergamasque Dictionary - Carmelo Francia, Emanuele Gambarini - Ducato di piazza Pontida Ducato di piazza Pontida (folkloristical and linguistic association)
*
collection of comedies in Bergamasque

a dictionary for the Bergamasque variety of Casirate d'Adda village, in Italian. {{Languages of Italy Eastern Lombard language