Gallo-Italic languages

The Gallo-Italian, Gallo-Italic, Gallo-Cisalpine or simply Cisalpine languages constitute the majority of the Romance languages of northern Italy. They are Piedmontese, Lombard, Emilian-Romagnol and Ligurian.[4] Although some publications define Venetian as part of the Italo-Dalmatian branch, both Ethnologue and Glottolog group it into the Gallo-Italic languages.[5][6]

Gallo-Italic
Gallo-Italian
Geographic
distribution		Italy, San Marino, Switzerland, Monaco, France
Linguistic classificationIndo-European
Subdivisions
Glottologgall1279[3]
Linguistic map of Italy; Gallo-Italic region is shaded gold. Note also the Tabarchino dialect, spoken in southwest Sardinia.

The Gallo-Italian languages have characteristics both of the Gallo-Romance languages to the northwest (including French and Occitan) and the Italo-Dalmatian languages to the south (including Italian). Examples of the former are the loss of all final vowels other than -a; the occurrence of phonemicized diachronic lenition; the development of original /kt/ to /jt/ (and often later to /tʃ/); and the development of front rounded vowels (e.g. the change of /u/ to /y/). Examples of the latter are the use of vowel changes to indicate plurals in place of /s/; the widespread occurrence of metaphony of stressed vowels, triggered by original final /i/; and the development in some areas of /tʃ/ instead of /ts/ as the result of palatalisation of original /k/ before e and i.

As a result, there is some debate over the proper grouping of the Gallo-Italic languages. They are sometimes grouped with Gallo-Romance,[7][8][9][10] but other linguists group them in Italo-Dalmatian.[11][12][13][14][15]

Geographic distribution

Traditionally spoken in Northern Italy, southern Switzerland, San Marino and Monaco, most Gallo-Italian languages have given way in everyday use to regional varieties of Standard Italian. The vast majority of current speakers are bilingual with Italian. These languages are still spoken by the Italian diaspora in countries with Italian immigrant communities. The variety of Ligurian spoken in Monaco is formalised as Monégasque (Munegascu).

General classification

Phonology

The Gallo-Italian languages differ somewhat in their phonology from one language to another, but the following are the most important characteristics, as contrasted with Standard Italian:[17]

Vowels
  • Most Gallo-Italian languages have lost all unstressed final vowels except /a/, 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 /kaŋ, keŋ/ "dog, dogs" (Italian cane, cani).
  • u /u/ tends to evolve as ü /y/, 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 /i/, 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 /a/, leading to masculine crü (Italian crudo "raw") but feminine cru(v)a (Italian cruda).
  • Metaphony is very common, affecting original open stressed è /ɛ/ and ò /ɔ/ when followed by /i/ or sometimes /o/ (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 /ø/. Unlike standard Italian diphthongization, this typically operates both in open and closed syllables, hence in Lombardy (where typically /i/ but not /o/ triggers metaphony) quest (Italian questo "this") vs. quist (Italian questi "these").
  • Stressed closed é /e/ and sometimes ó /o/, when occurring in an open syllable (followed by at most one consonant) often diphthongized to /ei/ and /ou/, as in Old French; e.g. Piedmont beive (Italian bere < *bévere "to drink"), teila (Italian tela "cloth"), meis (Italian mese "month"). In some dialects, /ei/ developed further into either /ɛ/ or /i/, e.g. tèla /tɛla/ < *teila (Italian tela "cloth"), sira (Italian sera "evening"), mis (Italian mese "month").
  • Stressed /a/ in an open syllable often fronts to ä /æ/ or è /ɛ/.

Consonants
  • Lenition affects single consonants between vowels. /d/ and /ɡ/ drop; /b/ becomes /v/ or drops; /t/ and /k/ become /d/ and /ɡ/, or drop; /p/ becomes /b/, /v/, or drops. /s/ between vowels voices to /z/. /l/ between vowels sometimes becomes /r/, and this /r/ sometimes drops. Double consonants are reduced to single consonants, but not otherwise lenited. /n/ becomes velarized to /ŋ/. 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 /ŋ/ sometimes dropping. Liguria, especially in former times, showed particularly severe lenition, with total loss of intervocalic /t/, /d/, /ɡ/, /b/, /v/, /l/, /r/ (probably also /p/, but not /k/) 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.
  • /k/ and /ɡ/ preceding /i/, /e/ or /ɛ/ often assibilitated historically to /s/ and /z/, respectively. This typically does not occur in Lombardy, however, and parts of Liguria have intermediate /ts/ and /dz/, while Piemontese varieties typically have differential developments, with /k/ assibilating (sent /sɛŋt/ '100'), but /ɡ/ retaining palatalization (gent /dʒɛŋt/ 'people').
  • Latin /kl/ palatalized to /tʃ/ (Piemontese ciav, Romagnol ceva 'key'); similarly /ɡj/ from Latin /ɡl/ develops as /dʒ/. In Liguria, /pj/ and /bj/ from Latin /pl/ and /bl/ are affected in the same way, e.g. Ligurian cian (Italian piano "soft") and giancu (Italian bianco "white").
  • Latin /kt/ develops into /jt/, /tʃ/ or /t/, varying by locale (contrast Italian /tt/).

Isolated varieties in Sicily and in Basilicata
Further information: Gallo-Italic of Sicily and Gallo-Italic of Basilicata

Varieties of Gallo-Italian languages are also found in Sicily, corresponding with the central-eastern parts of the island that received large numbers of immigrants from Northern Italy, called Lombards, during the decades following the Norman conquest of Sicily (around 1080 to 1120). Given the time that has lapsed and the influence from the Sicilian language itself, these dialects are best generically described as Gallo-Italic. The major centres where these dialects can still be heard today include Piazza Armerina, Aidone, Sperlinga, San Fratello, Nicosia, and Novara di Sicilia. Northern Italian dialects did not survive in some towns in the province of Catania that developed large Lombard communities during this period, namely Randazzo, Paternò and Bronte. However, the Northern Italian influence in the local varieties of Sicilian are marked. In the case of San Fratello, some linguists have suggested that the dialect present today 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, more precisely in the province of Potenza (Tito, Picerno, Pignola and Vaglio Basilicata), Trecchina, Rivello, Nemoli and San Costantino.[18]

Comparisons of the sentence, "She always closes the window before dining," between different Gallo-Italic languages
Bergamasque (Eastern Lombard)(Lé) La sèra sèmper sö la finèstra prima de senà.
Milanese (Western Lombard)(Lee) la sara semper su la finestra primma de zena.
Piacentino (Emilian)Le la sära sëimpar sö/sü la finestra (fnestra) prima da disnä
Bolognese (Emilian)(Lî) la sèra sänper la fnèstra prémma ed dsnèr.
Fanese (Romagnol dialect of Marche)Lì a chìud sèmper la fnestra prima d' c'nè.
Piedmontese(Chila) a sara sempe la fnestra dnans ëd fé sin-a.
Canavese (Piedmontese)(Chilà) a sera sémper la fnestra doant ëd far sèina.
Carrarese (Emilian)Lê al sèr(e)/chiode sènpre la fnestra(paravento) prima de cena.
LigurianLê a særa sénpre o barcón primma de çenâ.
Tabarchino (Ligurian dialect of Sardinia)Lé a sère fissu u barcun primma de çenò.
RomanshElla clauda/serra adina la fanestra avant ch'ella tschainia. (Rhaeto-Romance)
Nones(Ela) la sera semper la fenestra inant zenar. (Rhaeto-Romance)
SolanderLa sèra sempro (sèmper) la fenèstra prima (danànt) da cenàr. (Rhaeto-Romance)
FriulanJê e siere simpri il barcon prin di cenâ. (Rhaeto-Romance)
Ladin (Gherdëina)Ëila stluj for l vier dan cené. (Rhaeto-Romance)
VenetianŁa sàra/sèra senpre el balcón vanti senàr/dixnàr.
TrentinianÈla la sèra sèmper giò/zo la fenèstra prima de zenà.
Istriot (Rovignese)Gila insiera senpro el balcon preîma da senà.
gollark: On the moon.
gollark: There's a 28-day-ish day/night cycle.
gollark: No, you just have... longer hours?
gollark: Actually, come to think of it, you would probably need a pretty powerful microcontroller to hold and handle the whole database of time zone insanity.
gollark: An RTG might be better for the whole "overengineering" thing than solar power, but they're pretty hard to get hold of, and it might be a bit heavy.

References
  1. "Glottolog 4.2.1 - Istriot". glottolog.org.
  2. "Venetian". Ethnologue.
  3. Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2017). "Gallo-Italic". Glottolog 3.0. Jena, Germany: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
  4. Loporcaro, Michele. 2009. 'Profilo linguistico dei dialetti d'Italia. Bari: Laterza. Pg. 3.'
  5. "Venetian". Ethnologue. Retrieved 2020-03-01.
  6. "Glottolog 4.1 - Venetian". glottolog.org. Retrieved 2020-03-01.
  7. Ethnologue,
  8. Hull, Geoffrey (1982): «The linguistic unity of northern Italy and Rhaetia.» Ph.D. diss., University of Sidney West.
  9. Longobardi, G. (2014). Theory and experiment in parametric minimalism. Language description informed by theory. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 217-262.
  10. Tamburelli, M., & Brasca, L. (2018). Revisiting the classification of Gallo-Italic: a dialectometric approach. Digital Scholarship in the Humanities, 33, 442-455.
  11. For example, Giovan Battista Pellegrini, Tullio De Mauro, Maurizio Dardano, Tullio Telmon (see Enrico Allasino et al. Le lingue del Piemonte Archived 2011-08-10 at the Wayback Machine, IRES – Istituto di Ricerche Economico Sociali del Piemonte, Torino, 2007, p. 9) and Vincenzo Orioles (see Classificazione dei dialetti parlati in Italia).
  12. Walter De Gruyter, Italienisch, Korsisch, Sardisch, 1988, p. 452.
  13. Michele Loporcaro, Profilo linguistico dei dialetti italiani, 2013, p. 70.
  14. Martin Maiden, Mair Parry, Dialects of Italy, 1997, Introduction p. 3.
  15. Anna Laura Lepschy, Giulio Lepschy, The Italian Language Today, 1998, p. 41.
  16. "Glottolog 4.1 - Istriot". glottolog.org. Retrieved 2020-03-01.
  17. 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.
  18. Michele Loporcaro, "Phonological Processes", in Maiden et al., 2011, The Cambridge History of the Romance Languages: Volume 1, Structures

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.

See also
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