Faetar, fully known as Faetar–Cigliàje (

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

: ), is a variety of the

Franco-Provençal language Franco-Provençal (also Francoprovençal, Patois or Arpitan) is a Gallo-Romance language that originated and is spoken in eastern France, western Switzerland, and northwestern Italy. Franco-Provençal has several distinct dialects and is s ...

that is spoken in two small communities in

Foggia Foggia (, ; ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) of Apulia, in Southern Italy, capital of the province of Foggia. In 2013, its population was 153,143. Foggia is the main city of a plain called Tavoliere delle Puglie, Tavoliere, also know ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

Faeto Faeto (, ) is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Foggia in the Apulia region of southeast Italy. It is a mountain village lying astride the Apennines and renowned for its prosciutto, an Italian dry-cured ham known as . Residents of Faeto and ...

and Celle di San Vito, as well as émigré communities in

Ontario, Canada Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

(primarily

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

and

Brantford Brantford ( 2021 population: 104,688) is a city in Ontario, Canada, founded on the Grand River in Southwestern Ontario. It is surrounded by Brant County but is politically separate with a municipal government of its own that is fully indep ...

). Although Faetar shares many similarities with other varieties of Franco-Provençal, as well as

, it is distinct from both. Because Faeto and Celle di San Vito have been isolated from the rest of Italy by the Daunian mountains, and also due to the influence of

Irpinian dialect The Irpinian dialect, or Irpino, is the dialect of Neapolitan language spoken in almost all of the comuni in the Province of Avellino in the Italian region of Campania Campania is an administrative Regions of Italy, region of Italy located ...

s (spoken in almost all neighboring villages), Faetar has evolved and changed over the centuries into a distinct language. After a large wave of emigration from Italy after the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, many Faetano and Cellese settled in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

; with a relatively large group immigrating to Toronto, Canada. The language has been studied both in its native Italy, and in Toronto, because of its small number of speakers, its unique blend of Italian and Franco-Provençal features, and its changes brought on by language contact. Although not given a distinct language code from Franco-Provençal, it is listed by

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

as "definitely

endangered An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching, inv ...

".
UNESCO Interactive Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger.

History

The Faetar language has its beginnings in the 13th century.
, Accenti provenzali sui monti Dauni, by Antonio Ricucci, April 30, 2012 (in Italian). A Franco-Provençal group of soldiers was sent to the district of Apulia in the

Kingdom of Naples The Kingdom of Naples (; ; ), officially the Kingdom of Sicily, was a state that ruled the part of the Italian Peninsula south of the Papal States between 1282 and 1816. It was established by the War of the Sicilian Vespers (1282–1302). Until ...

to fight the

battle of Benevento The Battle of Benevento was a major medieval battle fought on 26 February 1266, near Benevento in present-day Southern Italy, between the forces of Charles I of Anjou and those of King Manfred of Sicily. Manfred's defeat and death resulted in C ...

of 1266. After the battle, some soldiers remained and established communities in the region. Celle di San Vito was founded as a monastery on the mountainside to avoid an outbreak of

malaria Malaria is a Mosquito-borne disease, mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects vertebrates and ''Anopheles'' mosquitoes. Human malaria causes Signs and symptoms, symptoms that typically include fever, Fatigue (medical), fatigue, vomitin ...

down the mountain, and Faeto was founded either on 8 July 1268, or 20 October 1274 by an edict from

Charles of Anjou Charles I (early 1226/12277 January 1285), commonly called Charles of Anjou or Charles d'Anjou, was King of Sicily from 1266 to 1285. He was a member of the royal Capetian dynasty and the founder of the House of Anjou-Sicily. Between 1246 a ...

. In the 20th century, hundreds of Faetano and Cellese people left Italy and settled in the Toronto area of Canada, and in small pockets of the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, such as upstate

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

(The

demonyms A demonym (; ) or 'gentilic' () is a word that identifies a Cultural group, group of people (inhabitants, residents, natives) in relation to a particular place. Demonyms are usually derived from the name of the place (Hamlet (place), hamlet, vil ...

for the people from Faeto and Celle di San Vito are Faetani and Cellese, respectively). The Toronto community has been studied recently to examine the effects of language contact, and to study the differences between the language in Toronto and in Italy.

Language

There have been at least two dictionaries and one grammar published since 2000 that describe the Faetar language in Italian.Rubino, Vincenzo et al. 2007. Dizionario Italiano-Francoprovenzale (F-I) di Faeto. Sportello Linguistico Francoprovenzale. Foggia, Italy. It has also been studied extensively in English,Perta, Carmela. 2008. Can language politics ensure languages survival? Evidence from Italy. Language and Linguistics Compass 2.6: 1216-1224. French,Colecchio, Linda & Michele Pavia. 2008. Les patrimoines linguistiques dans le cadre du développement local: enjeux seulement symboliques ou également économiques? la situation de Faeto. Abstract for a paper presented at Les droits linguistiques: droit à la reconnaissance, droit à la formation. Université de Teramo. and Italian Bitonti, Alessandro. 2012. Luoghe, lingue, contatto: Italiano, dialetti, e francoprovenzale in Puglia. Tesi. Università di Lecce. as a

minority language A minority language is a language spoken by a minority of the population of a territory. Such people are termed linguistic minorities or language minorities. With a total number of 196 sovereign states recognized internationally (as of 2019) and ...

, a language in contact, and for comparison with other Franco-Provençal languages.Heap, D. & N. Nagy. 1998. Subject pronoun variation in Faetar and Francoprovencal. Papers in Sociolinguistics. NWAVE-26 a l'Universite Laval. Quebec: Nota bene. 291-300. Faetar's grammar is similar to most other Romance languages with articles that agree with masculine and feminine nouns, and verbs that are inflected with different endings for person, number, and tense. Because of these inflected verbs, pronouns are not necessary. However, Faetar has a unique pronoun characteristic in that it has two versions of each pronoun. There is a "strong" pronoun and a "weak"

pronoun In linguistics and grammar, a pronoun (Interlinear gloss, glossed ) is a word or a group of words that one may substitute for a noun or noun phrase. Pronouns have traditionally been regarded as one of the part of speech, parts of speech, but so ...

. In conversation, both the strong and the weak can be used together (the strong always comes first), or only the strong, or only the weak, or no pronoun at all. The weak can also appear after a noun. For example: (1) No overt subject pronoun ''and that day, �=I'' was at the house'' (2) Weak pronoun ''and it was vacant'' (3) Strong pronoun ''No, he was always…'' (4) Strong + Weak pronoun ''She-''strong ''she-''weak ''is my favourite'' Nagy, N.; Iannozzi, M.; & D. Heap. In Press. Faetar Null Subjects: A Variationist Study of Heritage Language In Contact. International Journal of the Sociology of Language. This case of strong and weak pronouns has been the source of much study as to what constrains, if anything, the choice of pronouns in a given phrase. This also makes Faetar a partial

pro-drop language A pro-drop language (from "pronoun-dropping") is a language in which certain classes of pronouns may be omitted when they can be pragmatically or grammatically inferable. The precise conditions vary from language to language, and can be quite ...

References

{{Languages of Italy Franco-Provençal language Languages of Apulia Endangered diaspora languages Endangered Romance languages Languages of Canada Culture of Toronto Brantford Italian-Canadian culture