Ligurian language

Template:Short description Template:Template otherTemplate:Main other Ligurian (Template:IPAc-en Template:Respell; endonym: ) or Genoese (Template:IPAc-en Template:Respell; endonym: or ) is a Gallo-Italic language spoken primarily in the territories of the former Republic of Genoa, now comprising the area of Liguria in Northern Italy, parts of the Mediterranean coastal zone of France, Monaco (where it is called Monégasque), the village of Bonifacio in Corsica, and in the villages of Carloforte on San Pietro Island and Calasetta on Sant'Antioco Island off the coast of southwestern Sardinia. It is part of the Gallo-Italic and Western Romance dialect continuum. Although part of Gallo-Italic, it exhibits several features of the Italo-Romance group of central and southern Italy. Zeneize (literally "Genoese"), spoken in Genoa, the capital of Liguria, is the language's prestige dialect on which the standard is based.

There is a long literary tradition of Ligurian poets and writers that goes from the 13th century to the present, such as Luchetto (the Genoese Anonym), Template:Interlanguage link, and Template:Interlanguage link.

File:WIKITONGUES- Alessandro speaking Ligurian.webm

A man speaking Ligurian, recorded in Italy

Geographic extent and status

Status

The Italian Government does not consider Ligurian a language, but rather a dialect of Italian. Hence, it is not protected by law. Historically, Genoese (the dialect spoken in the city of Genoa) is the written koiné, owing to its semi-official role as language of the Republic of Genoa, its traditional importance in trade and commerce, and its vast literature.

Like other regional languages in Italy, the use of Ligurian and its dialects is in rapid decline. ISTAT (the Italian Central Service of Statistics) claims that in 2012, only 9% of the population used a language other than standard Italian with friends and family, which decreases to 1.8% with strangers. Furthermore, according to ISTAT, regional languages are more commonly spoken by uneducated people and the elderly, mostly in rural areas. Liguria is no exception. One can reasonably suppose the age pyramid to be strongly biased toward the elderly who were born before World War II, with proficiency rapidly approaching zero for newer generations. Compared to other regional languages of Italy, Ligurian has experienced a significantly smaller decline which could have been a consequence of its status or the early decline it underwent in the past. The language itself is actively preserved by various groups.

Geographic extent

Because of the importance of Genoese trade, Ligurian was once spoken well beyond the borders of the modern province. It has since given way to standard varieties, such as Standard Italian and French. In particular, the language is traditionally spoken in coastal, northern Tuscany, southern Piedmont (part of the province of Alessandria, around the area of Novi Ligure, and the Province of Cuneo, in the municipalities of Ormea, Garessio, Alto and Caprauna), western extremes of Emilia-Romagna (some areas in the province of Piacenza), and in Carloforte on San Pietro Island and Calasetta on Sant'Antioco Island off of southwestern Sardinia (known as Tabarchino), where its use is ubiquitous and increasing. It is also spoken in the department of the Alpes-Maritimes of France (mostly the Côte d'Azur from the Italian border to and including Monaco), in the town of Bonifacio at the southern tip of the French island of Corsica, and by a large community in Gibraltar (UK). It has been adopted formally in Monaco under the name Monégasque – locally, – but without the status of official language (that is French). Monaco is the only place where a variety of Ligurian is taught in school.

The Mentonasc dialect, spoken in the East of the County of Nice, is considered to be a transitional Occitan dialect to Ligurian; conversely, Roiasc and Pignasc spoken further North in the Eastern margin of the County are Ligurian dialects with Occitan influences.

Description

File:Romance-lg-classification-en.svg

Chart of Romance languages based on structural and comparative criteria

As a Gallo-Italic language, Ligurian is most closely related to the Lombard, Piedmontese and Emilian-Romagnol languages, all of which are spoken in neighboring provinces. Unlike the aforementioned languages, however, it exhibits distinct Italian features. No link has, thus far, been demonstrated by linguistic evidence between Romance Ligurian and the Ligurian language of the ancient Ligurian populations, in the form of a substrate or otherwise. Very little is known about ancient Ligurian itself due to the lack of inscriptions and the unknown origin of the Ligurian people. Only onomastics and toponyms are known to have survived from ancient Ligurian, the name Liguria itself being the most obvious example.

Variants

Most important variants of the Ligurian language are:

• Bonifacino (in Bonifacio, Corsica)
• Brigasc (in La Brigue and Briga Alta)
• Template:ExtinctFigùn (in Provence)
• Genoese (main Ligurian variant, spoken in Genoa)
  • Template:ExtinctGenoese of Gibraltar
  • Template:ExtinctGenoese of Nueva Tabarca (Spain)
  • Template:ExtinctGenoese Pörtoriàn (in Genoa)
• Intemelio (in Sanremo and Ventimiglia)
• Monégasque (in Monaco)
• Novéize or Oltregiogo Ligurian (North of Genoa, mainly in Val Borbera and Novi Ligure)
• Royasc (in Upper Roya Valley, between Italy and France)
• Spezzino (in La Spezia)
• Tabarchino (in Calasetta and Carloforte, Sardinia)
• Tendasc (in Tende)

Phonology

Consonants

Consonants in the Genovese dialect

		Labial	Dental/ Alveolar	Post- alveolar	Palatal	Velar
Stop	voiceless	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link			Template:IPA link
	voiced	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link			Template:IPA link
Affricate	voiceless			Template:IPA link
	voiced			Template:IPA link
Fricative	voiceless	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link
	voiced	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link
Nasal		Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link		Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link
Trill			Template:IPA link
Approximant			Template:IPA link		Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link

Semivowels occur as allophones of and , as well as in diphthongs. is realized as a semivowel Template:IPAblink after a consonant, or before a vowel (i.e ), as well as after , when the sequence is spelled Template:Angbr.

Vowels

	Front		Central	Back
Close	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link		Template:IPA link
Mid	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link
	Template:IPA link			Template:IPA link
Open			Template:IPA link

Diphthong sounds include Template:Vr and Template:Vr .

Alphabet

No universally accepted orthography exists for Ligurian. Genoese, the prestige dialect, has two main orthographic standards.

One, known as (unitary orthography), has been adopted by the Ligurian-language press – including the Genoese column of the largest Ligurian press newspaper, – as well as a number of other publishing houses and academic projects. The other, proposed by the cultural association A Compagna and the Academia Ligustica do Brenno is the self-styled (official orthography). The two orthographies mainly differ in their usage of diacritics and doubled consonants.

The Ligurian alphabet is based on the Latin alphabet, and consists of 25 letters: Template:Angbr, Template:Angbr, Template:Angbr, Template:Angbr, Template:Angbr, Template:Angbr, Template:Angbr, Template:Angbr, Template:Angbr, Template:Angbr, Template:Angbr, Template:Angbr, Template:Angbr, Template:Angbr, Template:Angbr or Template:Angbr, Template:Angbr, Template:Angbr, Template:Angbr, Template:Angbr, Template:Angbr, Template:Angbr, Template:Angbr, Template:Angbr, Template:Angbr, Template:Angbr.

The ligature Template:Angbr indicates the sound , as in 'city' . The c-cedilla Template:Angbr, used for the sound , generally only occurs before Template:Angbr or Template:Angbr, as in 'recipe' . The letter Template:Angbr, also written as Template:Angbr (or more rarely Template:Angbr, Template:Angbr, Template:Angbr, or simply Template:Angbr), represents the velar nasal before or after vowels, such as in 'bell' , or the feminine indefinite pronoun .

There are five diacritics, whose precise usage varies between orthographies. They are:

• The acute accent Template:Angbr, can be used for Template:Angbr and Template:Angbr to represent the sounds and .
• The grave accent Template:Angbr, can be used on the stressed vowels Template:Angbr , Template:Angbr , Template:Angbr , Template:Angbr , and Template:Angbr .
• The circumflex Template:Angbr, used for the long vowels Template:Angbr , Template:Angbr , Template:Angbr , Template:Angbr , and Template:Angbr at the end of a word.
• The diaeresis Template:Angbr, used analogously to the circumflex to mark long vowels, but within a word: Template:Angbr , Template:Angbr , Template:Angbr , and Template:Angbr . It is also used to mark the long vowel Template:Angbr , in any position.

The multigraphs are:

• Template:Angbr, used for the sound as in 'box' .
• Template:Angbr, for .
• Template:Angbr, for .
• Template:Angbr (written as Template:Angbr in older orthographies) which indicates the sound .

Sample Text

Sources:

English

Article 1

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

Article 2

Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty.

Vocabulary

Some basic vocabulary, in the spelling of the Genoese Academia Ligustica do Brenno:

Ligurian vocabulary with multiple translations

Ligurian	English	Italian	French	Spanish	Romanian	Catalan	Portuguese
or , pl.	pear, pears	,	,	,	,	,
or , pl.	apple, apples	,	,	,	,	,
	lemon					/llima
	fig
	peach					/bresquilla
	raspberry
	cherry
	strawberry
	(wal)nut
	hazelnut
	apricot
	grape
	pine nut
	tomato
	artichoke
	egg
or	home, house		,			or
	clear or light
	eye
	mouth
	head
	back
	arm
	leg
	heart
	to open
	to close

Further reading

• Template:Cite thesis
• Werner Forner, "Le mentonnais entre toutes les chaises ? Regards comparatifs sur quelques mécanismes morphologiques" [Caserio & al. 2001: 11–23]
• Intemelion (revue), No. 1, Sanremo, 1995.

External links

• Associazione O Castello (in Italian and Ligurian)
• Académia Ligùstica do Brénno (in Ligurian)
• "Official Orthography and Alphabet" proposed by the Académia Ligùstica do Brénno (in Ligurian)
• A Compagna Template:In lang
• GENOVÉS.com.ar (English version) – Ligurian language & culture, literature, photos and resources to learn Ligurian Template:In lang
• GENOVÉS.com.ar (Homepage in Ligurian and Spanish) Template:In lang
• Ligurian poetry and prose
• Ligurian dictionaries in Spanish and English to download for free
• Ligurian basic lexicon at the Global Lexicostatistical Database
• The Firefox browser in Ligurian
• The Opera browser in Ligurian