Central Italian (Italian: dialetti mediani “central dialects”) refers to a family of indigenous varieties of Italo-Romance spoken in much of Central Italy.
| Central Italian | ||
|---|---|---|
| Native to | Italy | |
| Region | Umbria, Lazio (except the southeast), central Marche, southern edge of Tuscany, northwestern Abruzzo | |
Native speakers | ~3,000,000[citation needed] (2006) | |
| Language codes | ||
| ISO 639-3 | – | |
| Glottolog | None | |
| Linguasphere | ... -rba 51-AAA-ra ... -rba | |
| ||
Background
In the early Middle Ages, the Central Italian area extended north into Romagna and covered all of modern-day Lazio. Some peripheral varieties have since been assimilated into Gallo-Italic and Southern Italo-Romance respectively. In addition, the dialect of Rome has undergone considerable Tuscanization from the fifteenth century onwards, such that it has lost many of its Central Italian features. (The speech of the local Jewish community was less affected.)
Subdivisions
The Central Italian dialect area is bisected by isoglosses that roughly follow a line running from Rome to Ancona (see map). The zones to the south and north of this line are sometimes called the Area Mediana and Area Perimediana respectively. (Area Mediana may also be used in a broader sense to refer to both zones.)
Pellegrini's Carta dei dialetti d’Italia features the following divisions:
- Central Marchigiano
- Anconitan
- Maceratese
- Umbrian
- Northern
- Northwestern and Viterbese
- Southeastern
- Laziale
- Central-southern
- Romanesco
- Cicolano-Reatino-Aquilano
Phonological features
Except for its southern fringe, the Area Mediana (in the narrow sense) is characterized by a contrast between the final vowels /u/ and /o/, which distinguishes it from both the Area Perimediana to the north and from Southern Italo-Romance to the south. Compare the words [ˈkreːto] and [ˈtittu] in the dialect of Spoleto (from Latin crēdō, tēctum ‘I believe’, ‘roof’).
Most of the Area Mediana shows voicing of plosives after nasal consonants, as in [manˈt̬ellu] ‘cloak’, a feature shared with neighbouring Southern Italo-Romance.
In the Area Mediana are found the following vocalic phenomena:
- In most areas, stressed mid-vowels are raised by one degree of aperture if the following syllable contains either /u/ or /i/ (a phenomenon sometimes called ‘Sabine metaphony’). Compare the following examples from the dialect of Ascrea:
- [ˈmeːla], [ˈmiːlu] ‘apples’, ‘apple’
- [ˈʃpoːsa], [ˈʃpuːsu] ‘wife’, ‘husband’
- [ˈwɛcca], [ˈweccu] ‘old’ (F), ‘old’ (M)
- [ˈnɔːwa], [ˈnoːwu] ‘new’ (F), ‘new’ (M)
- In a few areas, metaphony results in diphthongization for stressed low-mid vowels, while high-mids undergo normal raising to /i, u/. Compare the following examples from the dialect of Norcia:
- [ˈmetto], [ˈmitti] ‘I put’, ‘you put’
- [ˈsoːla], [ˈsuːlu] ‘alone’ (F), ‘alone’ (M)
- [ˈbbɛlla], [ˈbbjɛjju] ‘beautiful’ (F), ‘beautiful’ (M)
- [ˈmɔrte], [ˈmwɔrti] ‘death’, ‘dead’ (PL)
- Southeast of Rome, low-mid vowels undergo metaphonic diphthongization, while high-mids remain unaffected. This was also the case for Old Romanesco, which had alternations such as /ˈpɛde/, /ˈpjɛdi/ ‘foot’, ‘feet’.
- In some areas with Sabine metaphony, if a word has a stressed mid-vowel, then final /u/ lowers to /o/. Compare */ˈbɛllu/, */ˈfreddu/ > /ˈbeʎʎu/, /ˈfriddu/ (metaphony) > /ˈbeʎʎo/, /ˈfriddu/ ‘beautiful’, ‘cold’ in the dialect of Tornimparte.
Sound-changes (or lack thereof) that distinguish most or all of Central Italian from Tuscan include the following. Many of them shared with Southern Italo-Romance.
- /nd/ > /nn/ as in Latin vēndere > [ˈwenne] ‘to sell’.
- /mb/, /nv/ > /mm/ as in Latin plumbum > [ˈpjummu] ‘lead’.
- /ld/ > /ll/ as in Latin cal(i)da > [ˈkalla] ‘hot’
- Retention of /j/ as in Latin Maium > [ˈmaːju] ‘May’.
- /mj/ > /ɲ(ɲ)/ as in Latin vindēmia > [wenˈneɲɲa] ‘grape harvest’.
- /rj/ > /r/ as in Latin caprārium > [kraˈpaːru] ‘goatherd’.
Sound-changes with a limited distribution within the Area Mediana include:
- /ɡ-/ > /j/ or ∅ as in Latin cattum > [ˈɡattu] > [ˈjjattu] (Norcia), [ˈattu] (Rieti) ‘cat’.
- /ɡn/ > /(i̯)n/ as in Latin agnum, ligna > /ˈai̯nu/, /ˈlena/ (Tagliacozzo) ‘lamb’, ‘firewood’.
- /v/, /d/ > ∅ word-initially and intervocalically as in Latin dentem, vaccam, crudum, ovum > /ɛnte akka kruː ou/ (Rieti and L'Aquila)
- Around Terni, and to its immediate northeast, this deletion only applies in intervocalic position.
In the north of the Area Perimediana, a number of Gallo-Italic features are found:
- /a/ > /ɛ/ in stressed open syllables, as in /ˈpa.ne/ > /ˈpɛ.ne/ ‘bread’, around Perugia and areas to its north.
- In the same area, habitual reduction or deletion of vowels in unstressed internal syllables, as in /ˈtrappole/ > /ˈtrapp(ə)le/ ‘traps’.
- Voicing of intervocalic /t/ to /d/ and consonant degemination around Ancona and to its west.
- In both of the aforementioned areas: lack, or reversal, of the sound-changes /nd/ > /nn/ and /mb/, /nv/ > /mm/ that are found in the rest of Central Italian.
The following changes to final vowels are found in the Area Perimediana:
- /-u/ > /-o/, as in Latin musteum > [ˈmoʃʃo] (Montelago), everywhere except for a small area around Pitigliano.
- /-i/ > /-e/, as in /i ˈkani/ > /e ˈkane/ ‘the dogs’, in some of the dialects situated along an arc running from Montalto di Castro to Fabriano.
Morphological features
- In part of the Area Mediana, below a line running northeast from Rome to Rieti and Norcia, the 3PL ending of non-first conjugation verbs is /-u/ (rather than /-o/) which acts as a trigger for metaphony. Cf. Latin vēndunt > [ˈvinnu] ‘they sell’ in the dialect of Leonessa.
- In the same area, a series of irregular first-conjugation verbs also show 3PL /-u/ (as opposed to the /-o/ or /-onno/ found elsewhere). Examples include [au, dau, fau, vau] ‘they have/give/do/go’.
- Latin fourth-declension nouns have been retained as such in many cases. Cf. Latin manum, manūs ‘hand’, ‘hands’ > [ˈmaːno] (invariant) in the dialect of Fabrica di Roma and Latin fīcum, fīcūs ‘fig’, ‘figs’ > [ˈfiːko] (invariant) in the dialect of Canepina.
- Latin neuters of the -um/-a type survive more extensively than in Tuscan. Cf. Latin olīvētum, olīvēta ‘olive-grove’, ‘olive-groves’ > [liˈviːtu], [leˈveːta] in the dialect of Roiate. Even originally non-neuter nouns are sometimes drawn into this class, as in Latin hortum, hortī ‘garden’, ‘gardens’ > [ˈᴐrto], [ˈᴐrta] in the dialect of Segni.
- The plurals, which are grammatically feminine, are replaced by the feminine ending /-e/ in some dialects, leading to outcomes such as [ˈlabbru], [ˈlabbre] ‘lip’, ‘lips’ in the dialect of Spoleto. Both plural endings may alternate within a dialect, as in [ˈᴐːa]~[ˈᴐːe] ‘eggs’ in the dialect of Treia.
- The Latin neuter plural /-ora/, as in tempora ‘times’, was extended to several other words in medieval times, but today the phenomenon is limited to areas such as Serrone, e.g. [ˈraːmo], [ˈraːmora] ‘branch’, ‘branches’. In Serviglianeo, the final vowel changes to /-e/, as in [ˈfiːko], [ˈfiːkore] ‘fig’, ‘figs’.
- In several dialects, final syllables beginning with /n/, /l/, or /r/ may be deleted in masculine nouns. In some dialects, such as that of Matelica, this occurs only in the singular, not the plural, as in */paˈtrone/, */paˈtroni/ > [paˈtro], [paˈtruːni] ‘lord’, ‘lords’. In Servigliano, this deletion occurs both in the singular and the plural, resulting in [paˈtro], [paˈtru].
Syntactic features
- Direct objects are often marked by the preposition a if they are animate.
See also
- Languages of Italy
Notes
- This citation also covers the following bullet-point.
- This citation applies to the following two bullet-point as well.
References
- Loporcaro & Paciaroni 2016, pp. 229–230.
- Vignuzzi 1997, pp. 312, 317.
- Loporcaro & Paciaroni 2016, pp. 229, 233.
- Loporcaro & Paciaroni 2016, p. 228.
- "Carta dei dialetti d'Italia a cura di G. B. Pellegrini". 1977.
- Vignuzzi 1997, pp. 312–313.
- Loporcaro & Paciaroni 2016, pp. 228–229, 231–232.
- Loporcaro & Paciaroni 2016, pp. 229–230, 232.
- Vignuzzi 1997, p. 313.
- Loporcaro & Paciaroni 2016, p. 230.
- Vignuzzi 1997, p. 317.
- Vignuzzi 1997, p. 314.
- Loporcaro & Paciaroni 2016, p. 232.
- Vignuzzi 1997, pp. 314–315.
- Vignuzzi 1997, pp. 315–316, 318.
- Loporcaro & Paciaroni 2016, pp. 240–241.
- Vignuzzi 1997, p. 318.
- Loporcaro & Paciaroni 2016, p. 229.
- Loporcaro & Paciaroni 2016, pp. 229, 240.
- Loporcaro & Paciaroni 2016, p. 240.
- Vignuzzi 1997, p. 315–316.
- Loporcaro & Paciaroni 2016, p. 231.
- Vignuzzi 1997, p. 316–317.
- Loporcaro & Paciaroni 2016, p. 241.
- Loporcaro & Paciaroni 2016, p. 234.
- Loporcaro & Paciaroni 2016, p. 233.
- Vignuzzi 1997, p. 315.
- Loporcaro & Paciaroni 2016, p. 237.
Bibliography
- Loporcaro, Michele; Paciaroni, Tania (2016). "The dialects of central Italy". In Ledgeway, Adam; Maiden, Martin (eds.). The Oxford guide to the Romance languages. Oxford University Press. pp. 228–245. doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199677108.003.0015. ISBN 978-0-19-967710-8.
- Vignuzzi, Ugo (1997). "Lazio, Umbria, and the Marche". In Maiden, Martin; Parry, Mair (eds.). The dialects of Italy. London: Routledge. pp. 311–320.
Central Italian Italian dialetti mediani central dialects refers to a family of indigenous varieties of Italo Romance spoken in much of Central Italy Central ItalianNative toItalyRegionUmbria Lazio except the southeast central Marche southern edge of Tuscany northwestern AbruzzoNative speakers 3 000 000 citation needed 2006 Language familyIndo European ItalicLatino FaliscanLatinRomanceItalo WesternItalo RomanceCentral ItalianLanguage codesISO 639 3 GlottologNoneLinguasphere rba 51 AAA ra rba Area Perimediana Area Mediana Outlined in red is the area where the distinction between unstressed final u and o is maintained BackgroundIn the early Middle Ages the Central Italian area extended north into Romagna and covered all of modern day Lazio Some peripheral varieties have since been assimilated into Gallo Italic and Southern Italo Romance respectively In addition the dialect of Rome has undergone considerable Tuscanization from the fifteenth century onwards such that it has lost many of its Central Italian features The speech of the local Jewish community was less affected SubdivisionsThe Central Italian dialect area is bisected by isoglosses that roughly follow a line running from Rome to Ancona see map The zones to the south and north of this line are sometimes called the Area Mediana and Area Perimediana respectively Area Mediana may also be used in a broader sense to refer to both zones Pellegrini s Carta dei dialetti d Italia features the following divisions Central Marchigiano Anconitan Maceratese Umbrian Northern Northwestern and Viterbese Southeastern Laziale Central southern Romanesco Cicolano Reatino AquilanoPhonological featuresExcept for its southern fringe the Area Mediana in the narrow sense is characterized by a contrast between the final vowels u and o which distinguishes it from both the Area Perimediana to the north and from Southern Italo Romance to the south Compare the words ˈkreːto and ˈtittu in the dialect of Spoleto from Latin credō tectum I believe roof Most of the Area Mediana shows voicing of plosives after nasal consonants as in manˈt ellu cloak a feature shared with neighbouring Southern Italo Romance In the Area Mediana are found the following vocalic phenomena In most areas stressed mid vowels are raised by one degree of aperture if the following syllable contains either u or i a phenomenon sometimes called Sabine metaphony Compare the following examples from the dialect of Ascrea ˈmeːla ˈmiːlu apples apple ˈʃpoːsa ˈʃpuːsu wife husband ˈwɛcca ˈweccu old F old M ˈnɔːwa ˈnoːwu new F new M In a few areas metaphony results in diphthongization for stressed low mid vowels while high mids undergo normal raising to i u Compare the following examples from the dialect of Norcia ˈmetto ˈmitti I put you put ˈsoːla ˈsuːlu alone F alone M ˈbbɛlla ˈbbjɛjju beautiful F beautiful M ˈmɔrte ˈmwɔrti death dead PL Southeast of Rome low mid vowels undergo metaphonic diphthongization while high mids remain unaffected This was also the case for Old Romanesco which had alternations such as ˈpɛde ˈpjɛdi foot feet In some areas with Sabine metaphony if a word has a stressed mid vowel then final u lowers to o Compare ˈbɛllu ˈfreddu gt ˈbeʎʎu ˈfriddu metaphony gt ˈbeʎʎo ˈfriddu beautiful cold in the dialect of Tornimparte Sound changes or lack thereof that distinguish most or all of Central Italian from Tuscan include the following Many of them shared with Southern Italo Romance nd gt nn as in Latin vendere gt ˈwenne to sell mb nv gt mm as in Latin plumbum gt ˈpjummu lead ld gt ll as in Latin cal i da gt ˈkalla hot Retention of j as in Latin Maium gt ˈmaːju May mj gt ɲ ɲ as in Latin vindemia gt wenˈneɲɲa grape harvest rj gt r as in Latin caprarium gt kraˈpaːru goatherd Sound changes with a limited distribution within the Area Mediana include ɡ gt j or as in Latin cattum gt ˈɡattu gt ˈjjattu Norcia ˈattu Rieti cat ɡn gt i n as in Latin agnum ligna gt ˈai nu ˈlena Tagliacozzo lamb firewood v d gt word initially and intervocalically as in Latin dentem vaccam crudum ovum gt ɛnte akka kruː ou Rieti and L Aquila Around Terni and to its immediate northeast this deletion only applies in intervocalic position In the north of the Area Perimediana a number of Gallo Italic features are found a gt ɛ in stressed open syllables as in ˈpa ne gt ˈpɛ ne bread around Perugia and areas to its north In the same area habitual reduction or deletion of vowels in unstressed internal syllables as in ˈtrappole gt ˈtrapp e le traps Voicing of intervocalic t to d and consonant degemination around Ancona and to its west In both of the aforementioned areas lack or reversal of the sound changes nd gt nn and mb nv gt mm that are found in the rest of Central Italian The following changes to final vowels are found in the Area Perimediana u gt o as in Latin musteum gt ˈmoʃʃo Montelago everywhere except for a small area around Pitigliano i gt e as in i ˈkani gt e ˈkane the dogs in some of the dialects situated along an arc running from Montalto di Castro to Fabriano Morphological featuresIn part of the Area Mediana below a line running northeast from Rome to Rieti and Norcia the 3PL ending of non first conjugation verbs is u rather than o which acts as a trigger for metaphony Cf Latin vendunt gt ˈvinnu they sell in the dialect of Leonessa In the same area a series of irregular first conjugation verbs also show 3PL u as opposed to the o or onno found elsewhere Examples include au dau fau vau they have give do go Latin fourth declension nouns have been retained as such in many cases Cf Latin manum manus hand hands gt ˈmaːno invariant in the dialect of Fabrica di Roma and Latin ficum ficus fig figs gt ˈfiːko invariant in the dialect of Canepina Latin neuters of the um a type survive more extensively than in Tuscan Cf Latin olivetum oliveta olive grove olive groves gt liˈviːtu leˈveːta in the dialect of Roiate Even originally non neuter nouns are sometimes drawn into this class as in Latin hortum horti garden gardens gt ˈᴐrto ˈᴐrta in the dialect of Segni The plurals which are grammatically feminine are replaced by the feminine ending e in some dialects leading to outcomes such as ˈlabbru ˈlabbre lip lips in the dialect of Spoleto Both plural endings may alternate within a dialect as in ˈᴐːa ˈᴐːe eggs in the dialect of Treia The Latin neuter plural ora as in tempora times was extended to several other words in medieval times but today the phenomenon is limited to areas such as Serrone e g ˈraːmo ˈraːmora branch branches In Serviglianeo the final vowel changes to e as in ˈfiːko ˈfiːkore fig figs In several dialects final syllables beginning with n l or r may be deleted in masculine nouns In some dialects such as that of Matelica this occurs only in the singular not the plural as in paˈtrone paˈtroni gt paˈtro paˈtruːni lord lords In Servigliano this deletion occurs both in the singular and the plural resulting in paˈtro paˈtru Syntactic featuresDirect objects are often marked by the preposition a if they are animate See alsoLanguages of ItalyNotesThis citation also covers the following bullet point This citation applies to the following two bullet point as well ReferencesLoporcaro amp Paciaroni 2016 pp 229 230 Vignuzzi 1997 pp 312 317 Loporcaro amp Paciaroni 2016 pp 229 233 Loporcaro amp Paciaroni 2016 p 228 Carta dei dialetti d Italia a cura di G B Pellegrini 1977 Vignuzzi 1997 pp 312 313 Loporcaro amp Paciaroni 2016 pp 228 229 231 232 Loporcaro amp Paciaroni 2016 pp 229 230 232 Vignuzzi 1997 p 313 Loporcaro amp Paciaroni 2016 p 230 Vignuzzi 1997 p 317 Vignuzzi 1997 p 314 Loporcaro amp Paciaroni 2016 p 232 Vignuzzi 1997 pp 314 315 Vignuzzi 1997 pp 315 316 318 Loporcaro amp Paciaroni 2016 pp 240 241 Vignuzzi 1997 p 318 Loporcaro amp Paciaroni 2016 p 229 Loporcaro amp Paciaroni 2016 pp 229 240 Loporcaro amp Paciaroni 2016 p 240 Vignuzzi 1997 p 315 316 Loporcaro amp Paciaroni 2016 p 231 Vignuzzi 1997 p 316 317 Loporcaro amp Paciaroni 2016 p 241 Loporcaro amp Paciaroni 2016 p 234 Loporcaro amp Paciaroni 2016 p 233 Vignuzzi 1997 p 315 Loporcaro amp Paciaroni 2016 p 237 Bibliography Loporcaro Michele Paciaroni Tania 2016 The dialects of central Italy In Ledgeway Adam Maiden Martin eds The Oxford guide to the Romance languages Oxford University Press pp 228 245 doi 10 1093 acprof oso 9780199677108 003 0015 ISBN 978 0 19 967710 8 Vignuzzi Ugo 1997 Lazio Umbria and the Marche In Maiden Martin Parry Mair eds The dialects of Italy London Routledge pp 311 320
