Western Lombard is a group of dialects of Lombard, 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 f ...

spoken in

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

. It is widespread in the Lombard provinces of Milan, Monza, Varese,

Como Como (, ; lmo, Còmm, label= Comasco , or ; lat, Novum Comum; rm, Com; french: Côme) is a city and ''comune'' in Lombardy, Italy. It is the administrative capital of the Province of Como. Its proximity to Lake Como and to the Alps h ...

Lecco Lecco (, , ; lmo, label= Lecchese, Lècch ) is a city of 48,131 inhabitants in Lombardy, northern Italy, north of Milan. It lies at the end of the south-eastern branch of Lake Como (the branch is named ''Branch of Lecco'' / ''Ramo di Lecco''). ...

, Sondrio, a small part of Cremona (except

Crema Crema or Cremas may refer to: Crema * Crema, Lombardy, a ''comune'' in the northern Italian province of Cremona * Crema (coffee), a thin layer of foam at the top of a cup of espresso * Crema (dairy product), the Spanish word for cream * ''Cremà ...

and its neighbours), Lodi and

Pavia Pavia (, , , ; la, Ticinum; Medieval Latin: ) is a town and comune of south-western Lombardy in northern Italy, south of Milan on the lower Ticino river near its confluence with the Po. It has a population of c. 73,086. The city was the cap ...

, and the

Piedmont it, Piemontese , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

provinces of Novara, Verbano-Cusio-Ossola, the eastern part of the Province of Alessandria ( Tortona), a small part of Vercelli (

Valsesia Valsesia ( pms, Valsesia; Walser German: ''Tseschrutol''; it, Valle della Sesia) is a group of valleys in the north-east of Piedmont in the Province of Vercelli, Italy; the principal valley is that of the river Sesia. The major towns located h ...

), and Switzerland (the Canton of

Ticino Ticino (), sometimes Tessin (), officially the Republic and Canton of Ticino or less formally the Canton of Ticino,, informally ''Canton Ticino'' ; lmo, Canton Tesin ; german: Kanton Tessin ; french: Canton du Tessin ; rm, Chantun dal Tessin . ...

and part of the Canton of Graubünden). After the name of the region involved, land of the former Duchy of Milan, this language is often referred to as Insubric (see

Insubria Insubria ( Lombard: ''Insübria'') is a historical-geographical region which corresponds to the area inhabited in Classical antiquity by the Insubres; the name can also refer to the Duchy of Milan (1395–1810). For several centuries this name sto ...

and Insubres) or Milanese, or, after Clemente Merlo, (literally "of this side of

Adda River The Adda (Latin ''Abdua'', or ''Addua''; in Lombard ''Ada'' or, again, ''Adda'' in local dialects where the double consonants are marked) is a river in North Italy, a tributary of the Po. It rises in the Alps near the border with Switzerlan ...

").

Western Lombard and Italian

In Italian-speaking contexts, Western Lombard is often incorrectly called a

dialect The term dialect (from Latin , , from the Ancient Greek word , 'discourse', from , 'through' and , 'I speak') can refer to either of two distinctly different types of linguistic phenomena: One usage refers to a variety of a language that is a ...

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

. Western Lombard and Standard Italian are very different. Some speakers of Lombard varieties may have difficulty understanding one another and require a standard to communicate, but all Western Lombard varieties are mutually intelligible. Western Lombard is relatively homogeneous (much more so than

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 ...

), but it has a number of variations, mainly in relation to the

vowel A vowel is a syllabic speech sound pronounced without any stricture in the vocal tract. Vowels are one of the two principal classes of speech sounds, the other being the consonant. Vowels vary in quality, in loudness and also in quantity (leng ...

s , and the development of into . Western Lombard has no official status in Lombardy or anywhere else. The only

official language An official language is a language given supreme status in a particular country, state, or other jurisdiction. Typically the term "official language" does not refer to the language used by a people or country, but by its government (e.g. judiciary, ...

in Lombardy is

Grammar

The general lines of diachronics of Western Lombard plural declension are drawn here, with reference to

Milanese Milanese (endonym in traditional orthography , ') is the central variety of the Western dialect of the Lombard language spoken in Milan, the rest of its metropolitan city, and the northernmost part of the province of Pavia. Milanese, due to ...

orthography:

Feminine

Most feminine words end with the inflection ''-a''; the feminine plural is non-inflected (''la legora'' / ''i legor'' ; ''la cadrega'' / ''i cadregh''). The final vowel keeps its original length (non-final syllables have no difference), which is often long when it is followed by a voiced consonant and short when it is followed by a voiceless consonant. When the stem ends with a particular consonant cluster, there can be the addition of a final ''-i'' or of a schwa between consonants (for example: in

sing. ''scendra'', plur. ''scendr'' > ''scender''). For adjectives, the plural form and masculine form are often the same.

Masculine

Most masculine nouns lack inflections, and the plural masculine is always non-inflected (''el tramvaj''/''i tramvaj''; ''el lett''/''i lett'' ). When the word stem ends with a particular group of consonants, both singular and plural forms can add a schwa between consonants; otherwise, a final ''-o'' (pron. /u/) is added to singular nouns, ''-i'' for plurals. Masculine words ending in ''-in'' or, less commonly, in ''-ett'', have plurals in ''-itt'' (''fiolin''/''fiolitt''). Those ending in ''-ll'' have plurals in ''-j'', (''el sidell''/''i sidej'' ; ''el porscell''/''i porscej'' ; ''el cavall'' / ''i cavaj''). The same occurs in the determinate article: singular ''ell'' > ''el'', plural ''elli'' > ''ej'' > ''i''. Masculine words ending in ''-a'' are invariable and are proper nouns, words from Ancient Greek or idiomatic words such as ''pirla'', a derogatory term for a person.

Varieties

Western Lombard can be divided into four main varieties: ''lombardo alpino'' (spoken in the provinces of Sondrio and of Verbania,

Sopraceneri The Sopraceneri (''above the Ceneri'', lombard: ''Surascender'') is the part of the Swiss canton of Ticino that lies to the north of the Monte Ceneri Pass through the Lugano Prealps. It includes the whole of the valley of the Ticino river and it ...

Canton Ticino Ticino (), sometimes Tessin (), officially the Republic and Canton of Ticino or less formally the Canton of Ticino,, informally ''Canton Ticino'' ; lmo, Canton Tesin ; german: Kanton Tessin ; french: Canton du Tessin ; rm, Chantun dal Tessin . ...

and Grigioni in Switzerland), ''lombardo-prealpino occidentale'' (spoken in the provinces of Como, Varese and Lecco, Lugano and its neighbors in Canton Ticino), ''basso-lombardo occidentale'' (Pavia and Lodi), and ''macromilanese'' (provinces of Milan, Monza, Novara and Valsesia of Vercelli). The boundaries are obviously schematic, since the political division in provinces and municipalities are usually independent from languages spoken. Examples of Western Lombard language are: * Milanese or Meneghin (''macromilanese'') * Bustocco and Legnanese * Brianzöö (''lombardo-prealpino occidentale'' - ''macromilanese'') *Monzese *

Comasco-Lecchese The group of dialects Comasco-Lecchese is part of the Western Lombard language and is spoken in the province of Como and province of Lecco in Italy, especially around the capital cities and north of them. In other parts of this provinces, other ...

(''lombardo-prealpino occidentale'') ** Comasco ** Laghée **Intelvese **

Vallassinese Vallassinese is variety of the Western Lombard language spoken in the Vallassina valley of Italy (about 6,000 speakers). It belongs to the Comasco-Lecchese group and it has many subdialects. Asso subdialect resembles to Canzés ( Brianzoeu g ...

Lecchese Lecchese is a dialect of Western Lombard language spoken in the city and suburbs of Lecco (Lombardy). Characteristics It has the characteristic, in contrast with the other Comasco-Lecchese dialects, to be influenced by Brianzöö, Valsassi ...

**Valsassinese **

Ossolano Ossolano is the dialect spoken in the Ossola valley in North West Italy. It is an umbrella name for a myriad of dialects spoken in the main Ossola valley and the other seven valleys and their subvalley that spread from it. As the territory is very m ...

* Varesino or Bosin (''lombardo-prealpino occidentale'') *Alpine Lombard (''lombardo alpino'', influence from Ladin_language) **Valtellinese **Chiavennasco * Ticinese (''lombardo alpino'') (influence from Ladin_language) *

Southwestern Lombard Southwestern Lombard is a group of dialects of Western Lombard language spoken in the provinces of Pavia, Lodi, Novara, Cremona, in the south of the historic Insubria, and comprises Pavese dialect, Ludesan dialect, Nuaresat dialect, Cremun� ...

(''basso-lombardo occidentale'') ** Paves (influences from

Emiliano-Romagnolo language Emilian-Romagnol is a linguistic continuum part of the Gallo-Romance languages spoken in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna. It is divided into two main varieties: Emilian and Romagnol. While first registered under a single code i ...

Piedmontese language Piedmontese (; autonym: or , in it, piemontese) is a language spoken by some 2,000,000 people mostly in Piedmont, northwestern region of Italy. Although considered by most linguists a separate language, in Italy it is often mistakenly regard ...

, and Ligurian_language) **Ludesan (influence from

Emilian_dialects Emilian ( egl, emigliàn, links=no, ; it, emiliano, links=no) is a Gallo-Italic language spoken in the historical region of Emilia, which is now in the northwestern part of Emilia-Romagna, Northern Italy. There is no standardised version o ...

) **

Nuaresat Novarese, locally pronounced ''Nuares'', is a dialect of the Western Lombard language spoken in the province of Novara (Piedmont). The dialect is rarely used in the city, where the use of Italian language is preferred, largely because of high imm ...

(''lombardo-prealpino occidentale'' - ''macromilanese'') ** Cremunéez (influence from

) *Slangs **

Spasell Spasell is a slang of Insubric language, spoken until the 19th century by inhabitants of Vallassina, when they used to go out from the valley for business and they didn't want to be understood by the people. It is characterized by code-words conve ...

Phonology

The following information is based on the Milanese dialect:

Consonants

* occurs only as a nasal sound before velar stops. * The central approximant sounds are mainly heard as allophones of when preceding vowels. * is not typically pronounced, and only occurs in a few words from Italian.

Vowels

* A double vowel ''aa'' is pronounced as or . may also be pronounced as .

Orthography

The most important orthography in Western Lombard literature is the Classical Milanese orthography. It was used by

Carlo Porta Carlo Porta (June 15, 1775 – January 5, 1821) was an Italian poet, the most famous writer in Milanese (the prestige dialect of the Lombard language). Biography Porta was born in Milan to Giuseppe Porta and Violante Gottieri, a merchant famil ...

(1775–1821) and Delio Tessa (1886–1939). It was perfected by the Circolo Filologico di Milano. Other orthographies are the Ticinese, the Comasca, the Bosina, the Nuaresat, and the Lecchese.

Literature

An extensive Western Lombard literature is available. Texts include various dictionaries, a few grammars, and a recent translation of the Gospels.

References

Bibliography

* Andrea Rognoni, ''Grammatica dei dialetti della Lombardia'',

Oscar Mondadori Arnoldo Mondadori Editore () is the biggest publishing company in Italy. History The company was founded in 1907 in Ostiglia by 18-year-old Arnoldo Mondadori who began his publishing career with the publication of the magazine ''Luce!''. In 1 ...

, 2005. * AA. VV., ''Parlate e dialetti della Lombardia. Lessico comparato'', Mondadori, Milano 2003. {{Romance languages Western Lombard language Endangered Romance languages