Lausberg area
The Lausberg area is a part of southern Italy that covers much of Basilicata and the northern edge of Calabria, where Southern Italian dialects characterized by atypical Italo-Romance vowel developments are spoken. It is named after the German philologist Heinrich Lausberg, who brought the area to the attention of mainstream scholarship in 1939.[1]
Stressed vowel outcomes
There are three main subdivisions, as can be seen on the map to the upper right.
Romanian-like
Dubbed the Vorposten ('outpost') by Lausberg, this area encompasses the towns of Castelmezzano, Potenza, and Picerno; here the Latin vowel /i/ merged with /eː/, while /u/ merged with /uː/. The same asymmetric vowel development characterizes Eastern Romance languages such as Romanian.[1]
Transitional
The western part of Lausberg's Mittelzone ('middle area') encompasses the towns of Lauria, Maratea, Scalea, Diamante, and Verbicaro; here the majority of words show a stressed vowel development similar to that of Sicilian, although many words have Sardinian-like outcomes as well.[2] In much of the Mittelzone, both in the west and east, Latin final /s/ and /t/ survive in certain verb endings.[a]
Sardinian-like
The eastern part of the Mittelzone encompasses the towns of Senise, Tursi, and Oriolo; here the tonic vowels developed approximately as in Sardinian. There is evidence, however, of an earlier distinction between Latin /eː oː/ and /e o/. In the variety spoken in Senise, for instance, the outcomes of Latin /e/ and /o/ were subject to diphthongization when stressed and followed by a syllable containing a close vowel (namely /i/ or /u/), while the outcomes of /eː/ and /oː/ were not. Cf. Latin /fokum, nepoːteːs/ > */ˈfɔku, neˈpoti/ > [ˈfwokə, nəˈpʊtə].[3]
Selected lexical comparisons
Below are the (non-metaphonic) stressed vowel outcomes in the three regions, each represented here by one dialect.[2]
| Latin | ˈfiːlum | ˈniwem | ˈteːlam | ˈpedem | ˈpaːnem | ˈkanem | ˈkor | ˈsoːlem | ˈkrukem | ˈluːnam |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Castelmezzano | ˈfilə | ˈnevə ˈtela ˈperə | ˈpanə ˈkanə | ˈkorə ˈsolə | ˈkrutʃə ˈlunə | |||||
| Verbicaro | ˈfɪlə ˈnɪva ˈtɪla | ˈpɛtra | ˈpanə ˈkanə | ˈkɔrə | ˈsʊlə ˈkrʊtʃa ˈlʊna | |||||
| Senise | ˈfilə ˈnivə | ˈtɛlə ˈpɛrə | ˈpanə ˈkanə | ˈkɔrə ˈsɔlə | ˈkrutʃə ˈlunə | |||||
| English | thread | snow | canvas | foot | bread | dog | heart | sun | cross | moon |
Here is a comparison of conjugated forms of the verb meaning 'die' (in the present indicative) in various parts of the Mittelzone.[4] Asterisks indicate forms that cause syntactic doubling in a following word.
| San Chirico | Aliano | Castelluccio | Noepoli | Amendolara | Papasidero | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1SG | ˈmɔrə | ˈmɔrəjə | ˈmɔrəkə | ˈmɔrə~ˈmuərə | ˈmɔrrə | ˈmɔru |
| 2SG | ˈmwerəsə | ˈmɔrəsə | ˈmuːrəsə | ˈmuərəsə | ˈmuːrəsə | ˈmuːrisi |
| 3SG | ˈmwerətə | ˈmɔrətə | ˈmurə* | ˈmuərədə | ˈmuːrədə | ˈmuri* |
| 1PL | muˈriəmə | muˈrɛmə | muˈrimə | muˈriəmə | muˈrimə | muˈrimu |
| 2PL | muˈriəsə | muˈrɛsə | muˈrisə | muˈriətəsə | muˈritəsə | muˈrisi |
| 3PL | ˈmɔrənə | ˈmɔrənə | ˈmɔrənə | ˈmɔrənə | ˈmuːrənə | ˈmɔrunu |
Notes
- ^ See second table below.
References
- ^ a b Loporcaro 2011, p. 114
- ^ a b Ledgeway 2016, p. 248
- ^ Loporcaro 2011, p. 113
- ^ Trumper 1997, p. 362
Bibliography
- Lausberg, Heinrich (1939). Die mundarten Südlukaniens (in German). Halle: Niemeyer.
- Loporcaro, Michele (2011). "Phonological processes". In Maiden, Martin; Smith, John Charles; Ledgeway, Adam (eds.). The Cambridge history of the Romance languages. Vol. 1. Cambridge University Press. pp. 109–154.
- Ledgeway, Adam (2016). "The dialects of southern Italy". In Ledgeway, Adam; Maiden, Martin (eds.). The Oxford guide to the Romance languages. Oxford University Press. pp. 246–269.
- Trumper, John (1997). "Calabria and southern Basilicata". In Maiden, Martin; Parry, Mair (eds.). The dialects of Italy. London: Routledge. pp. 355–364.