The Ticinese dialect is the set of dialects, belonging to the Alpine and
Western
Western may refer to:
Places
*Western, Nebraska, a village in the US
*Western, New York, a town in the US
*Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
*Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
*Western world, countries that id ...
branch of the
Lombard language
The Lombard language (,Classical Milanese orthography, and . ,Ticino, Ticinese orthography. Modern Western orthography and Classical Cremish Orthography. or ,Eastern Lombard, Eastern unified orthography. depending on the orthography; pronuncia ...
, spoken in the northern part of the
Canton of Ticino
Ticino ( ), sometimes Tessin (), officially the Republic and Canton of Ticino or less formally the Canton of Ticino, is one of the 26 cantons forming the Swiss Confederation. It is composed of eight districts and its capital city is Bellinzo ...
(
Sopraceneri The Sopraceneri ('Above the Ceneri'; ) 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 its side valleys, the Swiss ...
); the dialects of the region can generally vary from valley to valley, often even between single localities,
while retaining the mutual intelligibility that is typical of the Lombard linguistic continuum.
''Ticinese koiné'' refers instead to a
koiné form used by speakers of local dialects (particularly those diverging from the ''koiné'' itself, as, e.g.,
Leventinese, etc.) when communicating with speakers of other
Western Lombard
Western Lombard is a group of varieties of the Lombard language, a Romance language of the Gallo-Italic subgroup. It is spoken primarily in Italy and Switzerland. Within Italy, it is prevalent in the Lombard provinces of Milan, Monza and Brianz ...
dialects of
Ticino
Ticino ( ), sometimes Tessin (), officially the Republic and Canton of Ticino or less formally the Canton of Ticino, is one of the Canton of Switzerland, 26 cantons forming the Switzerland, Swiss Confederation. It is composed of eight districts ...
, the
Grisons
The Grisons (; ) or Graubünden (),Names include:
* ;
*Romansh language, Romansh:
**
**
**
**
**
**;
* ;
* ;
* .
See also list of European regions with alternative names#G, other names. more formally the Canton of the Grisons or the Canton ...
(collectively known as
Swiss Italian
The Italian language in Italian Switzerland or Swiss Italian (, ) is the variety of the Italian language taught in the Italian-speaking area of Switzerland. While this variety is mainly spoken in the canton of Ticino and in the southern part ...
) or Italian
Lombardy
The Lombardy Region (; ) is an administrative regions of Italy, region of Italy that covers ; it is located in northern Italy and has a population of about 10 million people, constituting more than one-sixth of Italy's population. Lombardy is ...
.
Status
Ticinese is generally more lively than the Western Lombard varieties spoken in Italy, with a significant number of young speakers. Some radio and television programmes in Ticinese, mostly comedies are broadcast by the Italian language broadcasting company
RTSI.
A dictionary and some studies on the Ticinese variants are published by CDE – ''Centro di dialettologia e di etnografia'', a cantonal research institution.
Examples
Some possible expressions and idioms:
See also
*
Swiss Italian
The Italian language in Italian Switzerland or Swiss Italian (, ) is the variety of the Italian language taught in the Italian-speaking area of Switzerland. While this variety is mainly spoken in the canton of Ticino and in the southern part ...
References
Bibliography
* Centro di dialettologia e di etnografia, ''LSILessico dialettale della Svizzera italiana'', Bellinzona 2004.
* Comrie, Bernard, Matthews, Stephen and Polinsky, Maria: ''The Atlas of Languages: The Origin and Development of Languages Throughout the World. Rev. ed.'', New York 2003.
* Lurà, Franco: ''Il dialetto del Mendrisiotto'', Mendrisio–Chiasso 1987.
* Lurati, Ottavio: ''Dialetto e italiano regionale nella Svizzera italiana'', Lugano 1976.
* Petrini, Dario: ''La koinè ticinese'' (''Romanica Helvetica'' vol. 105), Bern 1988.
* VSI – Vocabolario dei dialetti della Svizzera italiana'', Lugano / Bellinzona 1952–.
External links
Dialectal lexicon of Italophone Switzerland - Official dictionary for the dialectRTSI: Acquarelli popolari - Media files in Ticinese (site metalanguage and some media files are in Italian*
ttp://www.lessico.ch/wordtexte/Basso%20Mendrisiotto.htm Examples of Italian and Ticinese idioms with meanings (Basso Mendrisiotto)
{{Western Lombard language
Languages of Switzerland
Culture in Ticino
Western Lombard language