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The Gallo-Italic, Gallo-Italian, Gallo-Cisalpine or simply Cisalpine languages constitute the majority of the
Romance languages 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 ...
of northern Italy. They are
Piedmontese 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 ...
, Lombard, Emilian, Ligurian, and Romagnol. Although most publications define Venetian as part of the
Italo-Dalmatian The Italo-Dalmatian languages, or Central Romance languages, are a group of Romance languages spoken in Italy, Corsica (France), and formerly in Dalmatia (Croatia). Italo-Dalmatian can be split into:Hammarström, Harald & Forkel, Robert & Haspe ...
branch, both Ethnologue and
Glottolog ''Glottolog'' is a bibliographic database of the world's lesser-known languages, developed and maintained first at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany (between 2015 and 2020 at the Max Planck Institute fo ...
group it into the Gallo-Italic languages. These languages are spoken also in the departement of Alpes-Maritimes in
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 ...
,
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 southern Grisons in Switzerland and the microstates of
Monaco Monaco (; ), officially the Principality of Monaco (french: Principauté de Monaco; Ligurian: ; oc, Principat de Mónegue), is a sovereign ''Sovereign'' is a title which can be applied to the highest leader in various categories. The word ...
and
San Marino San Marino (, ), officially the Republic of San Marino ( it, Repubblica di San Marino; ), also known as the Most Serene Republic of San Marino ( it, Serenissima Repubblica di San Marino, links=no), is the fifth-smallest country in the world an ...
. They are still spoken to some extent by the
Italian diaspora , image = Map of the Italian Diaspora in the World.svg , image_caption = Map of the Italian diaspora in the world , population = worldwide , popplace = Brazil, Argentina, United States, France, Colombia, Canada, ...
in countries with Italian immigrant communities. Having a Celtic
substratum In linguistics, a stratum (Latin for "layer") or strate is a language that influences or is influenced by another through contact. A substratum or substrate is a language that has lower power or prestige than another, while a superstratum or su ...
and a Germanic, mostly Lombardic,
superstrate In linguistics, a stratum (Latin for "layer") or strate is a language that influences or is influenced by another through contact. A substratum or substrate is a language that has lower power or prestige than another, while a superstratum or sup ...
, Gallo-Italian descends from the
Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power ...
spoken in northern part of Italia (former
Cisalpine Gaul Cisalpine Gaul ( la, Gallia Cisalpina, also called ''Gallia Citerior'' or ''Gallia Togata'') was the part of Italy inhabited by Celts ( Gauls) during the 4th and 3rd centuries BC. After its conquest by the Roman Republic in the 200s BC it was ...
). The group had for part of
late antiquity Late antiquity is the time of transition from classical antiquity to the Middle Ages, generally spanning the 3rd–7th century in Europe and adjacent areas bordering the Mediterranean Basin. The popularization of this periodization in English has ...
and the
early Middle Ages The Early Middle Ages (or early medieval period), sometimes controversially referred to as the Dark Ages, is typically regarded by historians as lasting from the late 5th or early 6th century to the 10th century. They marked the start of the M ...
a close linguistic link with
Gaul Gaul ( la, Gallia) was a region of Western Europe first described by the Romans. It was inhabited by Celtic and Aquitani tribes, encompassing present-day France, Belgium, Luxembourg, most of Switzerland, parts of Northern Italy (only durin ...
and
Raetia Raetia ( ; ; also spelled Rhaetia) was a province of the Roman Empire, named after the Rhaetian people. It bordered on the west with the country of the Helvetii, on the east with Noricum, on the north with Vindelicia, on the south-west w ...
, west and north to the
Alps The Alps () ; german: Alpen ; it, Alpi ; rm, Alps ; sl, Alpe . are the highest and most extensive mountain range system that lies entirely in Europe, stretching approximately across seven Alpine countries (from west to east): France, ...
. From the
late Middle Ages The Late Middle Ages or Late Medieval Period was the period of European history lasting from AD 1300 to 1500. The Late Middle Ages followed the High Middle Ages and preceded the onset of the early modern period (and in much of Europe, the Ren ...
, the group adopted various characteristics of the
Italo-Dalmatian The Italo-Dalmatian languages, or Central Romance languages, are a group of Romance languages spoken in Italy, Corsica (France), and formerly in Dalmatia (Croatia). Italo-Dalmatian can be split into:Hammarström, Harald & Forkel, Robert & Haspe ...
languages of the south. As a result, the Gallo-Italic languages have characteristics both of the
Gallo-Romance languages The Gallo-Romance branch of the Romance languages includes in the narrowest sense the Langues d'oïl and Franco-Provençal. However, other definitions are far broader, variously encompassing the Occitano-Romance, Gallo-Italic, and Rhaeto-Roma ...
to the northwest (including French and Arpitan), the
Occitano-Romance languages The Occitano-Romance or Gallo-Narbonnese ( ca, llengües occitanoromàniques; oc, lengas occitanoromanicas), or rarely East Iberian, is a branch of the Romance language group that encompasses the Catalan/Valencian and Occitan languages spoken i ...
to the west (including
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 ...
and
Occitan Occitan may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the Occitania territory in parts of France, Italy, Monaco and Spain. * Something of, from, or related to the Occitania administrative region of France. * Occitan language Occitan (; ...
) and the Italo-Dalmatian languages to the
north-east The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each sep ...
,
central Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Directions and generalised locations * Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known a ...
and
south Italy South Italy ( it, Italia meridionale or just ) is one of the five official statistical regions of Italy used by the National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT), a first level NUTS region and a European Parliament constituency. South Italy encom ...
( Venetian, Dalmatian, Tuscan, Central Italian, Neapolitan, Sicilian). For this there is some debate over the proper grouping of the Gallo-Italic languages. They are sometimes grouped with Gallo-Romance, Ethnologue

/ref> but other linguists group them in Italo-Dalmatian.Walter De Gruyter, ''Italienisch, Korsisch, Sardisch'', 1988, p. 452.Michele Loporcaro, ''Profilo linguistico dei dialetti italiani'', 2013, p. 70.Martin Maiden, Mair Parry, ''Dialects of Italy'', 1997, Introduction p. 3. Anna Laura Lepschy,
Giulio Lepschy Giulio Ciro Lepschy, FBA (born 14 January 1935) is an Italian academic. He was Professor of Italian at the University of Reading from 1975 to 1997. Born in 1935, Lepschy attended the University of Pisa and the Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa. H ...
, ''The Italian Language Today'', 1998, p. 41.
Most Gallo-Italic languages have to varying degrees given way in everyday use to regional varieties of Italian. The vast majority of current speakers are
diglossic In linguistics, diglossia () is a situation in which two dialects or languages are used (in fairly strict compartmentalization) by a single language community. In addition to the community's everyday or vernacular language variety (labeled "L" ...
with Italian. Among the regional languages of Italy, they are the most endangered, since in the main cities of their area (
Milan Milan ( , , Lombard language, Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the List of cities in Italy, second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4  ...
,
Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. Th ...
,
Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Regions of Italy, Italian region of Liguria and the List of cities in Italy, sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of t ...
,
Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language, Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 1 ...
) they are mainly used by the elderly.


History


Geographical distribution

Within this sub-family, the language with the largest geographic spread is Lombard, spoken in the Italian region of Lombardy, in eastern
Piedmont it, Piemontese , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...
and western
Trentino Trentino ( lld, Trentin), officially the Autonomous Province of Trento, is an autonomous province of Italy, in the country's far north. The Trentino and South Tyrol constitute the region of Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol, an autonomous regio ...
. Outside Italy it is widespread in Switzerland in 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 some southern valleys of the canton of the Grisons. The Emilian language, western part of the Emilian-Romagnol dialect continuum, is spoken in the historical-cultural region of Emilia, which forms part of
Emilia-Romagna egl, Emigliàn (man) egl, Emiglièna (woman) rgn, Rumagnòl (man) rgn, Rumagnòla (woman) it, Emiliano (man) it, Emiliana (woman) or it, Romagnolo (man) it, Romagnola (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title ...
, but also in many areas of the bordering regions, including southern Lombardy, south-eastern Piedmont, around the town of
Tortona Tortona (; pms, Torton-a , ; lat, Dhertona) is a ''comune'' of Piemonte, in the Province of Alessandria, Italy. Tortona is sited on the right bank of the Scrivia between the plain of Marengo and the foothills of the Ligurian Apennines. Histo ...
,
province of Massa and Carrara The province of Massa-Carrara ( it, provincia di Massa-Carrara) is a province in the Tuscany region of central Italy. It is named after the provincial capital Massa, and Carrara, the other main town in the province. History The province of "Ma ...
in
Tuscany it, Toscano (man) it, Toscana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Citizenship , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = Italian , demogra ...
and
Polesine Polesine (; vec, label=unified Venetian script, Połéxine ) is a geographic and historic area in the north-east of Italy whose limits varied through centuries; it had also been known as Polesine of Rovigo for some time. Nowadays it correspon ...
in Veneto, near the Po delta. Romagnol, spoken in the historical region of
Romagna Romagna ( rgn, Rumâgna) is an Italian historical region that approximately corresponds to the south-eastern portion of present-day Emilia-Romagna, North Italy. Traditionally, it is limited by the Apennines to the south-west, the Adriatic to ...
, including also the northern part of the region of
Marche Marche ( , ) is one of the twenty regions of Italy. In English, the region is sometimes referred to as The Marches ( ). The region is located in the central area of the country, bordered by Emilia-Romagna and the republic of San Marino to the ...
, statistically in Central Italy, fading, towards
Ancona Ancona (, also , ) is a city and a seaport in the Marche region in central Italy, with a population of around 101,997 . Ancona is the capital of the province of Ancona and of the region. The city is located northeast of Rome, on the Adriatic ...
, into the median dialects, through Gallo-Picene speeches, sometimes ascribed to Romagnol.
Piedmontese 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 ...
refers to the languages spoken in the region of Piedmont and the north west corner of
Liguria Liguria (; lij, Ligûria ; french: Ligurie) is a Regions of Italy, region of north-western Italy; its Capital city, capital is Genoa. Its territory is crossed by the Alps and the Apennine Mountains, Apennines Mountain chain, mountain range and is ...
. Historically, the Piedmontese-speaking area is the plain at the foot of the
Western Alps The Western Alps are the western part of the Alpine Range including the southeastern part of France (e.g. Savoie), the whole of Monaco, the northwestern part of Italy (i.e. Piedmont and the Aosta Valley) and the southwestern part of Switzerland ...
, and ends at the entrance to the valleys where Occitan and Arpitan are spoken. In recent centuries, the language has also spread into these valleys, where it is also more widely spoken than these two languages, thus the borders of Piedmontese have reached the western alps watershed that is the border with France. The speaking area of Ligurian or Genoese cover the territory of the former
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 ...
, which included much of nowadays Liguria, and some mountain areas of bordering regions near the Ligurian border, the upper valley of Roya river near
Nice Nice ( , ; Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative c ...
, in
Carloforte Carloforte (''U Pàize'' in Ligurian, literally: ''the village, the town'') is a fishing and resort town located on Isola di San Pietro (Saint Peter's Island), approximately off the southwestern coast of Sardinia, in the Province of South Sard ...
and
Calasetta Calasetta ( Ligurian: ''Câdesédda'') is a small town (population 2,919) and '' comune'' located on the island of Sant'Antioco, off the Southwestern coast of Sardinia, Italy. History While the town itself dates to 1770. In the middle of the 16 ...
in Southern
Sardinia Sardinia ( ; it, Sardegna, label= Italian, Corsican and Tabarchino ; sc, Sardigna , sdc, Sardhigna; french: Sardaigne; sdn, Saldigna; ca, Sardenya, label= Algherese and Catalan) is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, af ...
, and
Bonifacio Bonifacio may refer to: Places * Bonifacio, Corse-du-Sud, a town in Corsica, France * Strait of Bonifacio, separating Corsica from Sardinia * Bonifacio, Misamis Occidental, a municipality in the Philippines * Bonifacio Global City, a central bu ...
in Corsica.


Isolated varieties in Sicily and in Basilicata (Southern Gallo-Italic variants)

Varieties of Gallo-Italic languages are also found in
Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...
, corresponding with the central-eastern parts of the island that received large numbers of immigrants from Northern Italy, called
Lombards The Lombards () or Langobards ( la, Langobardi) were a Germanic people who ruled most of the Italian Peninsula from 568 to 774. The medieval Lombard historian Paul the Deacon wrote in the '' History of the Lombards'' (written between 787 an ...
, during the decades following the
Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norm ...
conquest of Sicily (around 1080 to 1120). Given the time that has lapsed and the influence from the
Sicilian language Sicilian ( scn, sicilianu, link=no, ; it, siciliano) is a Romance language that is spoken on the island of Sicily and its satellite islands. A variant, ''Calabro-Sicilian'', is spoken in southern Calabria, where it is called Southern Calabro ...
itself, these dialects are best generically described as Southern Gallo-Italic. The major centres where these dialects can still be heard today include
Piazza Armerina Piazza Armerina ( Gallo-Italic of Sicily: ''Ciazza''; Sicilian: ''Chiazza'') is a ''comune'' in the province of Enna of the autonomous island region of Sicily, southern Italy. History The city of Piazza (as it was called before 1862) developed ...
,
Aidone Aidone (Gallo-Italic of Sicily: ''Aidungh'' or ''Dadungh''; scn, Aiduni) is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Enna, in region of Sicily in southern Italy. The extensive archaeological site of Morgantina is on a ridge close to the town. ...
,
Sperlinga Sperlinga is a comune in the province of Enna, in the central part of the island of Sicily, in southern Italy. It is one of I Borghi più belli d'Italia ("the prettiest villages in Italy"). Geography Sperlinga is at about above sea level, o ...
,
San Fratello San Fratello (Gallo-Italic: San Frareau, Sicilian: ''Santu Frateddu'', Greek and Latin: ''Apollonia'', Medieval Latin ''Castrum S. Philadelphi''), formerly San Filadelfo, is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Messina in the ...
, Nicosia, and
Novara di Sicilia Novara di Sicilia (Gallo-Italic of Sicily: Nuè; Sicilian: ''Nuvara'') is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Messina in the Italian region of Sicily, located about east of Palermo and some southwest of Messina. Novara di ...
. Northern Italian dialects did not survive in some towns in the
province of Catania The Province of Catania ( it, Provincia di Catania; scn, Pruvincia di Catania) was a province in the autonomous island region of Sicily in southern Italy. Its capital was the city of Catania. It had an area of and a total population of about 1 ...
that developed large Lombard communities during this period, namely
Randazzo Basilica of Santa Maria Assunta. Randazzo ( scn, Rannazzu) is a town and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Catania, Sicily, southern Italy. It is situated at the northern foot of Mount Etna, c. northwest of Catania. It is the nearest town ...
,
Paternò Paternò ( scn, Patennò) is a southern Italian town and ''comune'' of the Metropolitan City of Catania, Sicily. With a population (2016) of 48,009, it is the third municipality of the province after Catania and Acireale. Geography Patern� ...
and Bronte. However, the Northern Italian influence in the local varieties of Sicilian are marked. In the case of San Fratello, some linguists suggested that the nowadays dialect has Provençal as its basis, having been a fort manned by Provençal mercenaries in the early decades of the Norman conquest (bearing in mind that it took the Normans 30 years to conquer the whole of the island). Other dialects, attested from 13th and 14th century, are also found in
Basilicata it, Lucano (man) it, Lucana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = ...
, more precisely in the province of
Potenza Potenza (, also , ; , 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 o ...
( Tito,
Picerno Picerno is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Potenza, in the Southern Italian region of Basilicata it, Lucano (man) it, Lucana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demograph ...
,
Pignola Pignola is an Italian town in the province of Potenza in Basilicata. It borders to the east with Anzi, to the south-west with Abriola, to the west with Tito and to the north with Potenza Potenza (, also , ; , Potentino dialect: ''Putenz'') ...
and
Vaglio Basilicata Vaglio Basilicata is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Potenza, in the Southern Italian region of Basilicata. It is bounded by the comuni of Albano di Lucania, Brindisi Montagna, Cancellara, Pietragalla, Potenza, Tolve and Tricarico. It i ...
),
Trecchina Trecchina () is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Potenza, in the Southern Italian region of Basilicata it, Lucano (man) it, Lucana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demo ...
,
Rivello Rivello is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Potenza, in the Southern Italian region of Basilicata it, Lucano (man) it, Lucana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demograph ...
,
Nemoli Nemoli is a town and ''comune'' of 1,501 inhabitants, found in the province of Potenza, in the Southern Italian region of Basilicata. The town, positioned between the Apennine Mountains, is noted for its artisanal work, typically in wood and copp ...
and San Costantino.


General classification

* ''Gallo-Italic'' **
Piedmontese 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 ...
** Ligurian ** Lombard ***
Western Lombard dialect Western Lombard is a group of dialects of Lombard, a Romance language spoken in Italy. It is widespread in the Lombard provinces of Milan, Monza, Varese, Como, Lecco, Sondrio, a small part of Cremona (except Crema and its neighbours), Lodi ...
***
Eastern Lombard dialect 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 ...
**
Emilian-Romagnol 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 ...
***
Emilian dialect 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 versio ...
s *** Romagnol dialects **( Venetian) **
Gallo-Italic of Sicily , states = Northwest Italy , region = Central and eastern Sicily , speakers = 60,000 , ref = , date = 2006 , familycolor = Indo-European , fam2 = Italic , fam3 = Romance , fam4 = Italo-Western , ...
**
Gallo-Italic of Basilicata The Gallo-Italic of Basilicata ( it, Gallo-italico di Basilicata) is a group of Gallo-Italic dialects found in Basilicata in southern Italy, that could date back to migrations from Northern Italy during the time of the Normans. These dialects a ...
**
Judeo-Italian Judeo-Italian (or Judaeo-Italian, Judæo-Italian, and other names including Italkian) is an endangered Jewish language, with only about 200 speakers in Italy and 250 total speakers today. The language is one of the Italian languages. Some wor ...


Phonology

Gallo-Italic languages are often said to resemble Western Romance languages like French, Spanish, or Portuguese, and in large part it is due to their phonology. The Gallo-Italic languages differ somewhat in their phonology from one language to another, but the following are the most important characteristics, as contrasted with
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 ...
: Bernard Comrie, Stephen Matthews, Maria Polinsky (eds.), The Atlas of languages : the origin and development of languages throughout the world. New York 2003, Facts On File. p. 40. Stephen A. Wurm, Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger of Disappearing. Paris 2001, UNESCO Publishing, p. 29. Glauco Sanga: La lingua Lombarda, in Koiné in Italia, dalle origini al 500 (Koinés in Italy, from the origin to 1500), Lubrina publisher, Bèrghem Studi di lingua e letteratura lombarda offerti a Maurizio Vitale, (Studies in Lombard language and literature) Pisa : Giardini, 1983 Brevini, Franco – Lo stile lombardo : la tradizione letteraria da Bonvesin da la Riva a Franco Loi / Franco Brevini – Pantarei, Lugan – 1984 (Lombard style: literary tradition from Bonvesin da la Riva to Franco Loi ) Mussafia Adolfo, Beitrag zur kunde der Norditalienischen Mundarten im XV. Jahrhunderte (Wien, 1873) Pellegrini, G.B. "I cinque sistemi dell'italoromanzo", in Saggi di linguistica italiana (Turin: Boringhieri, 1975), pp. 55–87. Rohlfs, Gerhard, Rätoromanisch. Die Sonderstellung des Rätoromanischen zwischen Italienisch und Französisch. Eine kulturgeschichtliche und linguistische Einführung (Munich: C.H. Beek'sche, 1975), pp. 1–20. Canzoniere Lombardo – by Pierluigi Beltrami, Bruno Ferrari, Luciano Tibiletti, Giorgio D'Ilario – Varesina Grafica Editrice, 1970.


Vowels

*Most Gallo-Italic languages have lost all unstressed final vowels except , e.g. Lombard ''òm'' "man", ''füm'' "smoke", ''nef'' "snow", ''fil'' "wire", ''röda'' "wheel" (Italian ''uomo, fumo, neve, filo, ruota''). They remain, however, in Ligurian, with passage of ''-o'' to ''-u'', except after ''n''; e.g. ''ramu, rami, lüme, lümi'' "branch, branches, light, lights" (Italian ''ramo, rami, lume, lumi''), but ''can, chen'' "dog, dogs" (Italian ''cane, cani''). *''u'' tends to evolve as ''ü'' , as in French and Occitan, as in Lombard ''füm'' (Italian ''fumo'' "smoke") and Ligurian ''lüme'', Piedmont ''lüm'' (Italian ''lume'' "light"). In some parts, e.g. southern Piedmont, this has further developed into , e.g. ''fis'' (Italian ''fuso''), ''lim'' (Italian ''lume'' "light"). In some mountainous parts of Piedmont, however (e.g. Biellese, Ossolano), this development was blocked before final , leading to masculine ''crü'' (Italian ''crudo'' "raw") but feminine ''cru(v)a'' (Italian ''cruda''). *
Metaphony In historical linguistics, metaphony is a class of sound change in which one vowel in a word is influenced by another in a process of assimilation. The sound change is normally "long-distance" in that the vowel triggering the change may be se ...
is very common, affecting original open stressed ''è'' and ''ò'' when followed by or sometimes (operating before final vowels were dropped). This leads at first to diphthongs ''ie'' and ''uo'', but in many dialects these progress further, typically to monophthongs ''i'' and ''ö'' . Unlike standard Italian diphthongization, this typically operates both in open and closed syllables, hence in Lombardy (where typically but not triggers metaphony) ''quest'' (Italian ''questo'' "this") vs. ''quist'' (Italian ''questi'' "these"). *Stressed closed ''é'' and sometimes ''ó'' , when occurring in an open syllable (followed by at most one consonant) often diphthongized to and , as in
Old French Old French (, , ; Modern French: ) was the language spoken in most of the northern half of France from approximately the 8th to the 14th centuries. Rather than a unified language, Old French was a linkage of Romance dialects, mutually intelligi ...
; e.g. Piedmont ''beive'' (Italian ''bere'' < *''bévere'' "to drink"), ''teila'' (Italian ''tela'' "cloth"), ''meis'' (Italian ''mese'' "month"). In some dialects, developed further into either or , e.g. ''tèla'' < ''*teila'' (Italian ''tela'' "cloth"), ''sira'' (Italian ''sera'' "evening"), ''mis'' (Italian ''mese'' "month"). *Stressed in an open syllable often fronts to ''ä'' or ''è'' .


Consonants

*
Lenition In linguistics, lenition is a sound change that alters consonants, making them more sonorous. The word ''lenition'' itself means "softening" or "weakening" (from Latin 'weak'). Lenition can happen both synchronically (within a language at a ...
affects single consonants between vowels. and drop; becomes or drops; and become and , or drop; becomes , , or drops. between vowels voices to . between vowels sometimes becomes , and this sometimes drops. Double consonants are reduced to single consonants, but not otherwise lenited. becomes velarized to . These changes occur before a final vowel drops. After loss of final vowels, however, further changes sometimes affect the newly final consonants, with voiced obstruents often becoming voiceless, and final sometimes dropping. Liguria, especially in former times, showed particularly severe lenition, with total loss of intervocalic , , , , , , (probably also , but not ) in Old Genoese, hence ''müa'' (Latin ''matura'' "early"), ''a éia e âe?'' (Italian ''aveva le ali?'' "did it have wings?"; modern ''a l'aveiva e ae?'' with restoration of various consonants due to Italian influence). In Liguria and often elsewhere, collapse of adjacent vowels due to loss of an intervocalic consonant produced new long vowels, notated with a circumflex. * and preceding , or often assibilitated historically to and , respectively. This typically does not occur in Lombardy, however, and parts of Liguria have intermediate and , while Piemontese varieties typically have differential developments, with assibilating (''sent'' '100'), but retaining palatalization (''gent'' 'people'). *Latin palatalized to (Piemontese ''ciav'', Romagnol ''ceva'' 'key'); similarly from Latin develops as . In Liguria, and from Latin and are affected in the same way, e.g. Ligurian ''cian'' (Italian ''piano'' "soft") and ''giancu'' (Italian ''bianco'' "white"). *Latin develops into , or , varying by locale (contrast Italian ).


Lexical comparison


Comparisons of the sentence, "She always closes the window before dining." between different Gallo-Italic languages


See also

*
Gallo-Italic of Sicily , states = Northwest Italy , region = Central and eastern Sicily , speakers = 60,000 , ref = , date = 2006 , familycolor = Indo-European , fam2 = Italic , fam3 = Romance , fam4 = Italo-Western , ...
*
Languages of Italy The languages of Italy include Italian, which serves as the country's national language, in its standard and regional forms, as well as numerous local and regional languages, most of which, like Italian, belong to the broader Romance gr ...
* List of languages in Europe / Languages of Europe *
Romance plurals This article describes the different ways of forming the plural forms of nouns and adjectives in the Romance languages, and discusses various hypotheses about how these systems emerged historically from the declension patterns of Vulgar Latin. Th ...


References


Sources

* Bernard Comrie, Stephen Matthews, Maria Polinsky (eds.), The Atlas of languages : the origin and development of languages throughout the world. New York 2003, Facts On File. p. 40. * Stephen A. Wurm, Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger of Disappearing. Paris 2001, UNESCO Publishing, p. 29. * Glauco Sanga: La lingua Lombarda, in Koiné in Italia, dalle origini al 500 (Koinés in Italy, from the origin to 1500), Lubrina publisher, Bèrghem * Studi di lingua e letteratura lombarda offerti a Maurizio Vitale, (Studies in Lombard language and literature) Pisa : Giardini, 1983 * Brevini, Franco – Lo stile lombardo : la tradizione letteraria da Bonvesin da la Riva a Franco Loi / Franco Brevini – Pantarei, Lugan – 1984 (Lombard style: literary tradition from Bonvesin da la Riva to Franco Loi ) *Hull, Geoffrey ''The Linguistic Unity of Northern Italy and Rhaetia: Historical Grammar of the Padanian Language'' 2 vols. Sydney: Beta Crucis Editions, 2017. * Mussafia Adolfo, Beitrag zur kunde der Norditalienischen Mundarten im XV. Jahrhunderte (Wien, 1873) * Pellegrini, G.B. "I cinque sistemi dell'italoromanzo", in ''Saggi di linguistica italiana'' (Turin: Boringhieri, 1975), pp. 55–87. * Rohlfs, Gerhard, ''Rätoromanisch. Die Sonderstellung des Rätoromanischen zwischen Italienisch und Französisch. Eine kulturgeschichtliche und linguistische Einführung'' (Munich: C.H. Beek'sche, 1975), pp. 1–20. * ''Canzoniere Lombardo'' – by Pierluigi Beltrami, Bruno Ferrari, Luciano Tibiletti, Giorgio D'Ilario – Varesina Grafica Editrice, 1970.


External links

{{Romance languages