Brigasc is 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 ...

of the

Ligurian language Ligurian () or Genoese () (locally called or ) is a Gallo-Italic language spoken primarily in the territories of the former Republic of Genoa, now comprising the area of Liguria in Northern Italy, parts of the Mediterranean coastal zone of Fran ...

. It is 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 ...

and

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...

Area of use

The Brigasc dialect is spoken in

La Brigue La Brigue (; lij, Briga; oc, La Briga; it, Briga Marittima) is a commune in the Alpes-Maritimes department in southeastern France. La Brigue became part of France after World War II, when Italy was forced to hand it over in September 1947 ...

(France) and

Briga Alta Briga Alta is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Cuneo in the Italian region Piedmont. Geography The village is located about south of Turin and about southeast of Cuneo, on the border with France. Briga Alta borders the follow ...

(Italy) and some villages of the communes of

Ormea Ormea is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Cuneo in the Italian region Piedmont, located about south of Turin and about southeast of Cuneo. Ormea borders the following municipalities: Alto, Armo, Briga Alta, Caprauna, Cosio di ...

and

Triora Triora ( lij, Triöra) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the province of Imperia in the Italian region Liguria, located about southwest of Genoa and about northwest of Imperia, on the border with France. As of 31 December 2004, it had a populat ...

. It is very close to Royasc dialect.

History

During the

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass id ...

the

was spoken in all the territories of the

Republic of Genoa The Republic of Genoa ( lij, Repúbrica de Zêna ; it, Repubblica di Genova; la, Res Publica Ianuensis) was a medieval and early modern maritime republic from the 11th century to 1797 in Liguria on the northwestern Italian coast. During the L ...

: in the western area of this republic one of its groups (spoken mainly in the area between the

Principality of Monaco Monaco (; ), officially the Principality of Monaco (french: Principauté de Monaco; Ligurian: ; oc, Principat de Mónegue), is a sovereign city-state and microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Italian region of Ligur ...

and

Sanremo Sanremo (; lij, Sanrémmo(ro) or , ) or San Remo is a city and comune on the Mediterranean coast of Liguria, in northwestern Italy. Founded in Roman times, it has a population of 55,000, and is known as a tourist destination on the Italian Rivie ...

) was called ''Intemelio''. The language spoken in the mountains around Briga was called ''Brigasc'' and received some influence from the Occitan language.Giulia Petracco Sicardi, E. Azaretti, "Studi linguistici sull'anfizona Liguria-Provenza", in ''Dizionario Etimologico Storico Ligure'', Alessandria 1989, a pp. 11-62, di Giulia Petracco Sicardi, "Contributo alla definizione dell'anfizona Liguria-Provenza".

Some words in Brigasc

References

Bibliography

* Fiorenzo Toso, ''Il brigasco e l'olivettese tra classificazione scientifica e manipolazioni politico-amministrative'', in ''Intemelion. Cultura e territorio – Quaderno annuale di studi storici dell'Accademia di cultura intemelia'', n. 14, anno 2008
website online (in Italian)

External links

* ttp://web.tiscali.it/robertotarabella/ "Terra brigasca" website {{Authority control Languages of France Ligurian language (Romance)