Barese dialect

Barese
Barése, dialètte barése/baríse
Pronunciation	[ˈbaːresə]
Native to	Italy
Region	Apulia, Basilicata
Native speakers	2 million
Language family	Indo-European Italic Romance Barese
Writing system	Latin (Italian alphabet)
Official status
Regulated by	not officially by Dialetto di Bari, grammatica, scrittura, lettura di Alfredo and Felice Giovine and by Corso di Lingua Barese by Felice Giovine e Gigi De Santis
Language codes
ISO 639-3	–

Bari dialect (dialetto barese) is spoken in the Apulia region of Italy. Influences range from Old French due to Norman and Angevin rule, to an ancient pre-Roman Illyrian substratum, creating one of the most distinct Italian dialects both from phonetics and lexis point of view.

Region

As assigning local dialects to strict geographical areas is often problematic, Barese may be seen, as with other local dialects, as a dynamic and changing language with regional differences determined by a range of geographical, historical and social factors. Nevertheless, Bari dialect may be identified predominantly within the province of Bari in central Puglia, and in the region of Barletta-Andria-Trani, which is characterized by variants such as Barlettano, Tranese and Andriese. The north of the Puglia region in the province of Foggia, where Foggian dialect is spoken, may be seen as a variant of Bari dialect, albeit heavily influenced by Naples dialects.

In Italian cinema of the Commedia all'Italiana, Barese has been made famous by actors such as Lino Banfi, Sergio Rubini, Gianni Ciardo, Dino Abbrescia, and Emilio Solfrizzi. There are also numerous films shot exclusively in Bari dialect: amongst the most notable including LaCapaGira which was recognised by critics at the Berlin Film Festival. Many local theatre companies produce light comedy shows in dialect, often focusing on the comic linguistic opportunities presented by the millions who left Puglia during the last century in search of work abroad.

Extracts

Il Padre Nostro

Attàne Nèste,

ca sta 'ngile,

sandificàte jè u nome tuje,

venghe à nú u Régne tuje,

sèmbe che lla volondà tuje,

come 'ngile acchessí 'ndèrre.

Annúscece josce u pane nèste de tutte le di,

é llívece à nnú le díbete nèste,

come nú le levàme à ll'alde,

é nnon z'inducénne à nnú 'ntendazióne,

ma líbberace d'o' male,

Amen.

L'Ave Maria

Ave Maríe,

chine de gràzzie,

u Segnore jè cche tté.

Tu ssi benedétte 'nmènze à lle fémmene,

é benedétte jè u frutte

d'u vèndre tuje, Gesú.

Sanda Maríe, madre de Ddie,

prighe pe' nnú peccatóre,

josce é 'nd'à ll'ore de la morta nèste,

Amen.

Il Salve regina

Salve o' Reggine

matre de misericòrdie vita, dulgézze, spirànze nostre

salve, à tté recurràme, figghie d'Èva

à tté sospiriàme, chiangénne,

'nd'à 'sta valle de lacreme, alló avvocàte

nostre chiamínde à nnú cche ll'ècchie tuje

misericordióse,

é ffamme vide dope 'stu esílie, Gesú,

u frutte bènedétte d'u séne tuje.

O clèmènde, bone

o dulge Vérgene Maríe.

L'Angelo custode

Àngele de Ddie

ca si u custòde mije,

allucíneme, custodísceme, tineme é

gguvèrneme

ca te venibbe date da lla piètà celèste,

Amen.

The alphabet

The Bari dialect is composed by this alphabet: a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p r s t u v z

The accents

In Barese the use of the accents is obligatory:

• acute accent, used when the vocals have a closed sound: é, í, ó, ú;
• grave accent, used when the vocals have an open sound: à, è, ò;

the monosyllables haven't to be accented, without some as à (a, preposizione semplice), é (e, congiunzione coordinativa), mè (mai, avverbio di tempo), ecc.

Examples:

• Mo me n'i à scí! - Now I've to go!;
• Quànte si sscéme - What an idiot you are;
• Ué! - Hi!/Hello!;
• Ce ssi tè-tè! - You are an idiot! / You talk too much!
• Ce ttremóne! - What a wanker - it's similar to pirla in the Milano dialect.

The accents are very important to show the differences between words that are written in the same way, but which have different pronunciations. Examples:

• mé (me: personal pronoun complement, form unstressed) e mè (ever/never: time adverb);
• nu (a/an: indefinite article, masculine, singular) e nú (we, personal pronoun, subject);
• pésce (fish) e pèsce (worse);
• ué (hi/hello) e uè (you want).

Linguistic features

Within the Province of Bari many dialects exist which, while similar to Bari dialect, have various vocal differences. For example, the expression Che c'è? in standard Italian, meaning What's the matter? or What's up? is variously produced as:

Ci jè? (Barese)

Ciobbà? (Andriese)

Ce jè? (Bitettese)

Ce d'è? (Grumese and Palese)

Ce jèi? (Bitontino)

Ce da? (Terlizzese)

Ci jò? (Barlettano)

Ce d'è? (Molfettese)

Meanwhile, the conjugation of verbs sees changes such as:

Essere (to be in standard Italian)

Person	io	tu	lui	noi	voi	loro
Indicative
Present	sono	sei	è	siamo	siete	sono

Essere (to be in Barese)

Person	ji	tu	jidde/jédde	nú	vú	lore
Indicative
Present	so	si	jè	sime	site	so'/sonde (rare)

Fare (to do/make in standard Italian)

Person	io	tu	lui	noi	voi	loro
Indicative
Present	faccio	fai	fa	facciamo	fate	fanno

Fare (to do/make in Barese)

Person	ji	tu	jidde/jédde	nú	vú	lore
Indicative
Present	fazze	fasce	fasce	facíme	facíte	fáscene

References

• D'Amaro, Sergio. "Apulia"
• Official page for LaCapaGira [1] at the Internet Movie Database