The Cilentan dialect (

endonym An endonym (also known as autonym ) is a common, name for a group of people, individual person, geographical place, language, or dialect, meaning that it is used inside a particular group or linguistic community to identify or designate them ...

: or ; ), also known as Cilento dialect, is a Neapolitan

dialect A dialect is a Variety (linguistics), variety of language spoken by a particular group of people. This may include dominant and standard language, standardized varieties as well as Vernacular language, vernacular, unwritten, or non-standardize ...

spoken in the area of

Cilento Cilento () is an Italian mountain range (part of the Lucan Apennines), which gives its name to a geographical region of Campania in the central and southern part of the province of Salerno. Is an important tourist area of southern Italy. ...

, located in the southern part of the

Province of Salerno The province of Salerno () is a province in the Campania region of Italy. It has 1,054,766 inhabitants as of 2025. Geography The largest towns in the province are: Salerno, the capital, which has a population of 131,950; Cava de' Tirreni, Bat ...

, Campania, Italy.

Influences

It has been influenced, especially in the

Vallo di Diano 240px, Vallo di Diano seen from Caggiano. 240px, Panoramic view of Pertosa. View of 240px The Vallo di Diano (also known as ''Valdiano'') is an Italian valley of the south-eastern side of Campania, in the province of Salerno. Geography Situ ...

and in central Cilento, by the

Basilicata Basilicata (, ; ), also known by its ancient name Lucania (, , ), is an administrative region in Southern Italy, bordering on Campania to the west, Apulia to the north and east, and Calabria to the south. It has two coastlines: a 30-kilometr ...

language as spoken in

Potenza Potenza (, ; ; , Potentino dialect: ''Putenz'') is a ''comune'' in the Southern Italian region of Basilicata (former Lucania). Capital of the Province of Potenza and the Basilicata region, the city is the highest regional capital and one of ...

and part of its

Province of Potenza The province of Potenza (; Potentino: ) is a province in the Basilicata region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Potenza. Geography It has an area of and a total population of 369,538 (as of 2017). There are 100 ''comuni'' (singular: ''com ...

. In the towns of northern Cilento close to the urban area of

Salerno Salerno (, ; ; ) is an ancient city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Campania, southwestern Italy, and is the capital of the namesake province, being the second largest city in the region by number of inhabitants, after Naples. It is located ...

(for example Agropoli, Capaccio and

Paestum Paestum ( , , ) was a major Ancient Greece, ancient Greek city on the coast of the Tyrrhenian Sea, in Magna Graecia. The ruins of Paestum are famous for their three ancient Greek temples in the Doric order dating from about 550 to 450 BCE that ...

), the language is mainly influenced by Neapolitan, more specifically by the Salernitan dialect. In the southern corner of Cilento, the language is largely influenced by Sicilian, particularly the Calabrian variety of Sicilian.

Phonology

Consonants

Many words in Cilento are similar to their Neapolitan counterparts, but with slightly different consonants. * LL: The "ll" in certain Neapolitan words becomes an "dd" in Cilento, e.g. (, ) becomes . * NF: The "nf" in certain Neapolitan words becomes an "mp" in Cilento, e.g. (, ) becomes .

References

Bibliography

* Dialects of Neapolitan Cilento {{romance-lang-stub

Influences

Phonology

Consonants

See also

References

Bibliography