The Emiliano–Romagnolo (also known as Emilian-Romagnolo) language group is a genetic subgroup of the Gallo-Italic languages. Its two varieties are Emilian and Romagnol, which are almost exclusively spoken in Emilia-Romagna, Italy and San Marino.
Geographic distribution [edit]
The Emiliano–Romagnolo languages are spoken in the Northern Italian regions of Emilia-Romagna and Lombardy (provinces of Pavia, of Mantua and in some municipalities in the province of Cremona), in the Central Italian regions of Tuscany (province of Massa-Carrara) and Marche (province of Pesaro e Urbino) and in the Republic of San Marino. They are also spoken in the lower part of Veneto (in part of the province of Rovigo) in an ancient zone known in Italian as "transpadana ferrarese".
Varieties [edit]
Areas where Emiliano–Romagnolo is spoken
Emiliano–Romagnolo varies considerably across the region, and several dialects exist (e.g.: Piacentino has much more in common with Lombard than with Central or Eastern Emiliano and it is hardly intelligible by a speaker from Bologna, the capital of Emilia-Romagna). A major distinction is usually made between Emilian and Romagnolo, seen as separate languages by some linguists. The divergence between the two is thought to have happened in the Early Middle Ages at the time of Byzantine rule. Diphthongisation was more pronounced in Emilian than in Romagnolo. The latter is spoken in the provinces of Forlì-Cesena, Ravenna, Rimini but also in Pesaro e Urbino, in the region of Marche, which formed the historical region of Romagna. The heart-city of Romagnolo is Forlì, because it is the meditullium of Romagna, as Dante Alighieri says.
Distinctive features stereotypically associated with Emiliano-Romagnolo within Italy include voicing of stops between vowels (/t/, /k/, /p/ turn to /d/, /g/, /b/), while voiced stops become fricatives, much as in Iberia (/ð/, /ɣ/, /β/). Also, the voiceless sibilant /s/ is altered to /ʃ/.
Emiliano–Romagnolo can be subdivided into two main subgroups, which in turn are made up of further varieties:
| Group |
Dialect |
| Emiliano |
Western Emiliano (Piacentino and Pavese-Vogherese) |
| Lunigiano |
| Carrarese |
| Massese (mixed with some Tuscan principles) |
| Central-Western Emiliano (Parmigiano) |
| Central Emiliano (Reggiano and Modenese) |
| Southern Emiliano (Bolognese) |
| Northeastern Emiliano (Ferrarese and Mantovano) |
| Romagnolo |
Northern Romagnolo |
| Southern Romagnolo |
See also [edit]
External links [edit]
