Emilian dialects
![]() | This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. (December 2010) |
Emilian | |
---|---|
emigliàn / emiliân | |
Pronunciation | Emilian pronunciation: [emiʎa:ŋ] |
Native to | Italy |
Region | Primarily Emilia-Romagna |
Ethnicity | 3.3 million (2008)[1] |
Native speakers | Unknown, c. 1.3 million (2006 estimate) (2006)[2] |
Dialects | Bolognese, Ferrarese, Modenese, Reggiano, Parmigiano, Piacentino |
Latin | |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | egl |
Glottolog | emil1241 |
Linguasphere | ... -okh 51-AAA-oka ... -okh |
![]() Geographic distribution of Emilian (shown in light pink) | |
Emilian (Emilian: emigliàn / emiliân, Italian: emiliano) is a group of closely related dialects of Emilian-Romagnol language spoken in the historical region of Emilia, the western portion of today's Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy.
There is no standardised version of Emilian.
The default word order is subject–verb–object. There are two genders as well as a distinction between plural and singular. Emilian has a strong T–V distinction to distinguish varying levels of politeness, social distance, courtesy, familiarity or insult. Its alphabet uses a considerable number of diacritics.
Classification
Emilian is a dialect of the Emilian-Romagnol language, one of unstandardized Gallo-Italic languages. The Emilian dialects naturally form a natural dialect continuum with the bordering Romagnol varieties, while the more distant dialects might be less mutually intelligible. Besides Emilian-Romagnol, the Gallo-Italic family includes Piedmontese, Ligurian and Lombard, all of which maintain a level of mutual intelligiblity with Emilian-Romagnol, which is further influenced by Standard Italian.
Dialects
Linguasphere Observatory recognises the following dialects:[3]
- Mantovano, spoken in all but the very north of the Province of Mantua in Lombardy. It has a strong Lombard influence.
- Vogherese (Pavese-Vogherese), spoken in the Province of Pavia in Lombardy. It is closely related phonetically and morphologically to Piacentino. It is also akin to Tortonese.[clarification needed]
- Piacentino, spoken west of the River Taro in the Province of Piacenza and on the border with the province of Parma. The variants of Piacentino are strongly influenced by Lombard, Piedmontese, and Ligurian.
- Parmigiano, spoken in the Province of Parma. Those from the area refer to the Parmigiano spoken outside Parma as Arioso or Parmense, although today's urban and rural dialects are so mixed that only a few speak the original. The language spoken in Casalmaggiore in the Province of Cremona to the north of Parma is closely related to Parmigiano.
- Reggiano, spoken in the Province of Reggio Emilia, although the northern parts (such as Guastalla, Luzzara and Reggiolo) of the province are not part of this group and closer to Mantovano.
- Modenese, spoken in the Province of Modena, although Bolognese is more widespread in the Castelfranco area. In the northern part of the province of Modena, the lowlands around the town of Mirandola, a Mirandolese sub-dialect of Modenese is spoken.
- Bolognese, spoken in the Metropolitan City of Bologna and in around Castelfranco Emilia, Modena.
- Ferrarese, spoken in the Province of Ferrara, southern Veneto, and Comacchio.
Other definitions include the following:[citation needed]
- Carrarese and Lunigiano dialects, spoken in Carrara, Lunigiana, in almost all of the Province of Massa and Carrara in northwestern Tuscany, and a good portion of the Province of La Spezia in eastern Liguria. Historically, this region has been part of Tuscany and the duchies of Modena and Parma at different times, so it has a close economic relationship with the Emilian area and is geographically proximate due to the Magra and Vara rivers.
- Massese (mixed with some Tuscan features)
- Casalasco, spoken in Cremona, Lombardy.
Phonology
Consonants
Labial | Dental | Alveolar | Post- alveolar |
Palatal | Velar | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Stop | voiceless | p | t | k | |||
voiced | b | d | ɡ | ||||
Affricate | voiceless | (t͡s) | t͡ʃ | ||||
voiced | (d͡z) | d͡ʒ | |||||
Fricative | voiceless | f | θ | s | |||
voiced | v | ð | z | ||||
Nasal | m | n | ɲ | ŋ | |||
Rhotic | r | ||||||
Approximant | central | j | w | ||||
lateral | l | ʎ |
- Affricates [t͡s, d͡z] are heard as alternates of fricative sounds /θ, ð/ particularly among southern dialects.
- In the Piacentino dialect, an /r/ sound can be heard as either an alveolar trill [r], or as a uvular fricative [ʁ] sound.
Vowels
Front | Central | Back | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Close | i | y | u | ||
Mid | e | ø | ə | o | |
ɛ | œ | ʌ | ɔ | ||
Open | æ | a |
- Rounded front vowel sounds /y, ø, œ/ and a mid-central vowel sound /ə/ are mainly common in the Piacentino dialect.
- In the Piacentino dialect, five vowel sounds being followed by /n/, are then recognized as nasalized [ĩ ẽ ã õ ũ], unless /n/ occurs between two vowel sounds.
Writing system
Emilian is written using a Latin script that has never been standardised. As a result, spelling varies widely across the dialects. The dialects were largely oral and rarely written until some the late 20th century; a number of written media in Emilian-Romagnol have been made since World War II.
References
- ^ ISO change request
- ^ La lingua italiana, i dialetti e le lingue straniere Anno 2006
- ^ "51-AAA-ok. emiliano + romagnolo". Linguasphere.
- ^ Foresti, Fabio (2009). Profilo linguistico dell'Emilia-Romagna. Roma: Laterza.
- ^ Lepri, Luigi; Vitali, Daniele (2009). Dizionario bolognese-italiano, italiano bolognese. Bologna: Pendragon.
- ^ Hajek, John (1997). Emilia-Romagna. The dialects of Italy: London: Routledge. p. 275.
Bibliography
- Colombini, F. 2007. La negazione nei dialetti emiliani: microvariazione nell’area modenese. University of Padua, MA Thesis.
Further reading
- Pietro Mainoldi, Manuale dell'odierno dialetto bolognese, Suoni e segni, Grammatica – Vocabolario, Bologna, Società tipografica Mareggiani 1950 (Rist. anast.: Sala Bolognese, A. Forni 2000)
- Fabio Foresti, Bibliografia dialettale dell'Emilia-Romagna e della Repubblica di San Marino (BDER), Bologna, IBACN Emilia-Romagna / Compositori 1997
- E. F. Tuttle, Nasalization in Northern Italy: Syllabic Constraints and Strength Scales as Developmental Parameters, Rivista di Linguistica, III: 23–92 (1991)
- Luigi Lepri e Daniele Vitali, Dizionario Bolognese-Italiano Italiano-Bolognese, ed. Pendragon 2007
External links
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/99/Wiktionary-logo-en-v2.svg/40px-Wiktionary-logo-en-v2.svg.png)