Western Lombard dialects

Group of Lombard dialects

This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. No cleanup reason has been specified. Please help improve this article if you can. (February 2011) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

|

Western Lombard

Milanes/Milanées, Insubrigh/Insübrich, lumbard ucidental
Native to| Italy, Switzerland
Region| Italy

* Lombardy
* Piedmont

Switzerland

* Ticino
* Grisons

Native speakers

| unknown[1]

Language family

Indo-European

* Italic
* Latino-Faliscan
* Romance
* Italo-Western
* Western Romance
* Gallo-Romance
* Gallo-Italic
* Lombardo-Italic
* Lombard
* Western Lombard

Dialects|

* Brianzöö
* Bustocco-Legnanese
* Comasco-Lecchese
* Milanese
* Novarese
* Southwestern Lombard
* Ticinese
* Varesino

Language codes
ISO 639-3| –
Glottolog| `west2343`
Linguasphere| `51-AAA-odd ... 51-AAA-odj`
This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA.

Western Lombard is a group of dialects of Lombard, a Romance language spoken in Italy. It is widespread in the Lombard provinces of Milan, Monza, Varese, Como, Lecco, Sondrio, a small part of Cremona (except Crema and its neighbours), Lodi and Pavia, and the Piedmont provinces of Novara, Verbano-Cusio-Ossola, the eastern part of the Province of Alessandria (Tortona), a small part of Vercelli (Valsesia), and Switzerland (the Canton of Ticino and part of the Canton of Graubünden). After the name of the region involved, land of the former Duchy of Milan, this language is often referred to as Insubric (see Insubria and Insubres) or Milanese, or, after Clemente Merlo, Cisabduano (literally "of this side of Adda River").[2]

## Western Lombard and Italian[edit]

In Italian-speaking contexts, Western Lombard is often incorrectly called a dialect of Italian.[citation needed] Western Lombard and Standard Italian are very different.[3] Some speakers of Lombard varieties may have difficulty understanding one another and require a standard to communicate, but all Western Lombard varieties are mutually intelligible.[3] Western Lombard is relatively homogeneous (much more so than Eastern Lombard), but it has a number of variations,[4] mainly in relation to the vowels /o/, /ɔ/ and the development of /ts/ into /s/.

Western Lombard has no official status in Lombardy or anywhere else. The only official language in Lombardy is Italian.

## Grammar[edit]

Main article: Western Lombard grammar

The general lines of diachronics of Western Lombard plural declension are drawn here, with reference to Milanese orthography:

### Feminine[edit]

Most feminine words end with the inflection -a; the feminine plural is non-inflected (la legora / i legor ; la cadrega / i cadregh). The final vowel keeps its original length (non-final syllables have no difference), which is often long when it is followed by a voiced consonant and short when it is followed by a voiceless consonant. When the stem ends with a particular consonant cluster, there can be the addition of a final -i or of a schwa between consonants (for example: in Milanese sing. scendra, plur. scendr > scender). For adjectives, the plural form and masculine form are often the same.

### Masculine[edit]

Most masculine nouns lack inflections, and the plural masculine is always non-inflected (el tramvaj/i tramvaj; el lett/i lett ). When the word stem ends with a particular group of consonants, both singular and plural forms can add a schwa between consonants; otherwise, a final -o (pron. /u/) is added to singular nouns, -i for plurals.

Masculine words ending in -in or, less commonly, in -ett, have plurals in -itt (fiolin/fiolitt). Those ending in -ll have plurals in -j, (el sidell/i sidej ; el porscell/i porscej ; el cavall / i cavaj). The same occurs in the determinate article: singular ell > el, plural elli > ej > i.

Masculine words ending in -a are invariable and are proper nouns, words from Ancient Greek or idiomatic words such as pirla, a derogatory term for a person.

## Varieties[edit]

Western Lombard can be divided into four main varieties: lombardo alpino (spoken in the provinces of Sondrio and of Verbania, Sopraceneri of Canton Ticino and Grigioni in Switzerland), lombardo-prealpino occidentale (spoken in the provinces of Como, Varese and Lecco, Lugano and its neighbors in Canton Ticino), basso-lombardo occidentale (Pavia and Lodi), and macromilanese (provinces of Milan, Monza, Novara and Valsesia of Vercelli). The boundaries are obviously schematic, since the political division in provinces and municipalities are usually independent from languages spoken.

Examples of Western Lombard language are:[citation needed]

* Milanese or Meneghin (macromilanese)
* Bustocco and Legnanese
* Brianzöö (lombardo-prealpino occidentale \- macromilanese)
* Monzese
* Comasco-Lecchese (lombardo-prealpino occidentale)
* Comasco
* Laghée
* Intelvese
* Vallassinese
* Lecchese
* Valsassinese
* Ossolano
* Varesino or Bosin (lombardo-prealpino occidentale)
* Alpine Lombard (lombardo alpino, influence from Ladin)[5]
* Valtellinese
* Chiavennasco
* Ticinese (lombardo alpino) (influence from Ladin)[6]
* Southwestern Lombard (basso-lombardo occidentale)
* Paves (influences from Emilian-Romagnol, Piedmontese, and Ligurian)[7]
* Ludesan (influence from Emilian)[8][9]
* Nuaresat (lombardo-prealpino occidentale \- macromilanese)
* Cremunéez (influence from Emilian-Romagnol)[10]
* Slangs
* Spasell

## Phonology[edit]

The following information is based on the Milanese dialect:[11]

### Consonants[edit]

| Labial | Dental/
Alveolar | Post-
alveolar | Palatal | Velar

|
|
|
|
|

Stop/
Affricate | voiceless | p | t | t͡ʃ |  | k
voiced | b | d | d͡ʒ |  | ɡ
Fricative | voiceless | f | s | ʃ |  |
voiced | v | z | ʒ |  |
Nasal | m | n |  | ɲ | (ŋ)
Rhotic |  | r |  |  |
Approximant | lateral |  | l |  | (ʎ)  |
central |  |  |  | j | w

* [ŋ] occurs only as a nasal sound before velar stops.
* The central approximant sounds /j w/ are mainly heard as allophones of /i u/ when preceding vowels.
* [ʎ] is not typically pronounced, and only occurs in a few words from Italian.

### Vowels[edit]

| Front | Central | Back

|
|
|

Close | i ĩ | y ỹ |  | u ũ
Close-mid | e ẽ |  |
Open-mid | ɛ | œ |  | ɔ
Open |  | a ã | ɑ | (ɒ)

* A double vowel aa is pronounced as [ɑː] or [ɒː]. /a/ may also be pronounced as [ɑ].

## Orthography[edit]

The most important orthography in Western Lombard literature is the Classical Milanese orthography. It was used by Carlo Porta (1775–1821) and Delio Tessa (1886–1939). It was perfected by the Circolo Filologico di Milano. Other orthographies are the Ticinese, the Comasca, the Bosina, the Nuaresat, and the Lecchese.[citation needed]

## Literature[edit]

An extensive Western Lombard literature is available. Texts include various dictionaries, a few grammars, and a 2020 translation of the Gospels arranged into an account of the life of Christ.[12]

## See also[edit]

* Languages of Italy
* Milanese
* Insubric literature
* Romance languages

## References[edit]

1. ^ Although the upper bound to the number of speakers is around 2,500,000,[citation needed] this figure represents more closely the number of people who can understand Western Lombard. Because of immigration (mostly to Milan) from other parts of Italy, the use of Western Lombard is very rare in western Lombardy and most people are not able to speak it fluently.[citation needed]
2. ^ Merlo, Clemente (1960). "I dialetti lombardi". Storia di Milano (in Italian). 13: L'età napoleonica, 1796–1814. Milan: Fondazione Treccani degli Alfieri: 466–475.L'età+napoleonica,+1796–1814Category:Articles+containing+Italian-language+text&rft.pages=466-475&rft.date=1960&rft.aulast=Merlo&rft.aufirst=Clemente&rfr_id=info:sid/en.wikipedia.org:Western+Lombard+dialects" class="Z3988">
3. ^ a b "Lombard". Ethnologue. Retrieved 2022-03-08.
4. ^ Gian Battista Pellegrini, Carta dei dialetti d'Italia, Pacini, Pisa, 1977.
5. ^ Sanga, Glauco (1984). Dialettologia Lombarda Lingue e Cultura Popolari. Aurora Edizioni. p. 8.
6. ^ Sanga, Glauco (1984). Dialettologia Lombarda Lingue e Cultura Popolari. Aurora Edizioni. p. 8.
7. ^ Sanga, Glauco (1984). Dialettologia Lombarda Lingue e Cultura Popolari. Aurora Edizioni. p. 8.
8. ^ Maiden, Martin; Mair Perry, M (1997). Dialects of Italy. Psychology Press. p. 256.
9. ^ Sanga, Glauco (1984). Dialettologia Lombarda Lingue e Cultura Popolari. Aurora Edizioni. p. 8.
10. ^ Sanga, Glauco (1984). Dialettologia Lombarda Lingue e Cultura Popolari. Aurora Edizioni. p. 8.
11. ^ Nicoli, Franco (1983). Grammatica Milanese. Busto Arsizio: Bramante editrice. pp. 31–74.
12. ^ Gianotti, Massimiliano (2020-05-29). 'L Vangel. Trascrizione in lingua lombarda della storia di Gesù. L'Onda. ISBN 9788894518320.

## Bibliography[edit]

* Andrea Rognoni, Grammatica dei dialetti della Lombardia, Oscar Mondadori, 2005.
* AA. VV., Parlate e dialetti della Lombardia. Lessico comparato, Mondadori, Milano 2003.

* v
* t
* e

Western Lombard dialects

Dialects and
dialect groups|

| Brianzöö
(Brianzoeu)|

* Canzés

|

Comasco-
Lecchese|

* Comasco
* Laghée
* Vallassinese
* Lecchese

Southwestern
Lombard|

* Cremunés
* Novarese
* Pavese

Others|

* Milanese (Meneghin)
* Bustocco and Legnanese
* Ticinese (Ossolano)
* Varesinese (Bosin)
* Spasell (slang)

Literature|

| Writers|

* Bonvesin de la Riva
* Carlo Maria Maggi
* Domenico Balestrieri
* Carlo Porta
* Giuseppe Parini
* Giuseppe Bossi
* Alessandro Manzoni
* Tommaso Grossi
* Delio Tessa

|

Related topics|

* Insubric grammar (Milanese)
* Classical Milanese
* Plural inflection

* v
* t
* e

Languages of Italy

Historical linguistic minorities: Albanian, Catalan, Croatian, French, Franco-Provençal, Friulian, Germanic, Greek, Ladin, Occitan, Romani, Sardinian, Slovene

| Italo-Romance|

| Italian|

* Regional Italian

|

Tuscan|

* Florentine

Central|

* Central-Northern Latian
* Marchigiano
* Marinese
* Romanesco
* Sabino

Intermediate Southern (Neapolitan)|

* Beneventano
* Barese
* Castelmezzanese
* Cilentan
* Cosentino
* Irpinian
* Arianese
* Molisan
* Southern Latian
* Tarantino
* Vastese

Extreme Southern|

* Central-Southern Calabrian
* Salentino
* Manduriano
* Sicilian
* Pantesco

Other Italo-Dalmatian
languages|

* Corsican
* Gallurese
* Sassarese

Sardinian|

| Sardinian|

* Campidanese
* Logudorese

|

Occitano-Romance|

| Catalan|

* Algherese

|

Occitan|

* Vivaro-Alpine
* Mentonasc
* Niçard

Gallo-Romance|

| French|

* Aostan

|

Franco-Provençal|

* Valdôtain
* Faetar
* Cellese

Gallo-Italic|

| Ligurian|

* Brigasc
* Genoese
* Intemelio
* Monégasque
* Royasc
* Tabarchino

|

Lombard|

* Western Lombard
* Brianzöö dialects
* Canzés
* Bustocco and Legnanese
* Comasco-Lecchese dialects
* Comasco
* Laghée
* Vallassinese
* Lecchese
* Milanese
* Ticinese
* Ossolano
* Varesino
* Southwestern Lombard
* Pavese
* Novarese
* Cremunés
* Spasell
* Eastern Lombard
* Bergamasque
* Cremish

Emilian–Romagnol|

* Emilian
* Bolognese
* Parmigiano
* Romagnol
* Forlivese

Other Gallo-Italic
languages|

* Gallo-Italic of Basilicata
* Gallo-Italic of Sicily
* Judeo-Italian
* Judaeo-Piedmontese
* Piedmontese

Venetian[a]|

| Venetian|

* Fiuman
* Triestine

|

Rhaeto-Romance|

| Rhaeto-Romance|

* Friulian
* Ladin
* Cadorino
* Fornes
* Nones

|

* Italy portal

| Albanian|

| Arbëresh language|

* Arbëresh
* Vaccarizzo Albanian

|

South Slavic|

| Slovenian|

* Brda
* Gail Valley
* Inner Carniolan
* Istrian
* Karst
* Natisone Valley
* Resian
* Torre Valley

|

Serbo-Croatian|

* Croatian
* Montenegrin
* Slavomolisano
* Triestine Serbian

Greek|

| Italiot Greek|

* Calabrian Greek
* Griko

|

German|

| Bavarian|

* Cimbrian
* Mòcheno
* Southern Bavarian
* South Tyrolean

|

Other German dialects|

* Austrian German
* Walser
* Yiddish

Others|

* Hebrew
* Italian Hebrew
* Italian Sign Language
* Romani
* Sinte Romani
* Wenzhounese

1. ^ Venetian is either grouped with the rest of the Italo-Dalmatian or the Gallo-Italic languages, depending on the linguist.

* v
* t
* e

Romance languages (classification)

Major branches|

* Eastern
* Italo-Western
* Italo-Dalmatian
* Western
* Southern

Eastern|

* Aromanian
* Istro-Romanian
* Megleno-Romanian
* Daco-Romanian
* dialects
* Banat
* Bukovinian
* Crișana
* Maramureș
* Moldavian
* Oltenian
* Transylvanian
* Wallachian
* Common Romanian

Italo-
Dalmatian|

| Central|

* Central Italian
* Central Marchigiano
* Ancona
* Fabriano
* Macerata
* Central−Northern Latian
* Romanesco
* Sabino
* Corsican
* Gallurese
* Italian
* Italo-Australian
* Maltese Italian
* Regional Italian
* Swiss Italian
* Sassarese
* Tuscan
* Florentine

|

Southern|

* Extreme Southern Italian
* Central−Southern Calabrian
* Salentino
* Manduriano
* Sicilian
* Pantesco
* Neapolitan–Calabrese
* Neapolitan
* Barese
* Benevento
* Castelmezzano
* Cilentan
* Irpinian
* Arianese
* Molisan
* Southern Latian
* Tarantino
* Vastese
* Northern Calabrian

Others|

* Dalmatian Romance
* Dalmatian
* Istriot
* Judaeo-Italian

Western|

| Gallo-Italic|

* Emilian–Romagnol
* Emilian
* Bolognese
* Parmigiano
* Romagnol
* Forlivese
* Sammarinese
* Gallo-Italic of Basilicata
* Gallo-Italic of Sicily
* Gallo-Picene
* Ligurian
* Brigasc
* Genoese
* Intemelio
* Monégasque
* Royasc
* Tabarchino
* Judeo-Italian
* Lombard
* Eastern
* Bergamasque
* Cremish
* Western
* Brianzöö
* Canzés
* Bustocco–Legnanese
* Comasco–Lecchese
* Comasco
* Laghée
* Lecchese
* Vallassinese
* Milanese
* Ossolano
* Southwestern
* Cremunés
* Novarese
* Pavese
* Ticinese
* Varesino
* Old Lombard
* Piedmontese
* Judaeo-Piedmontese

|

Gallo-
Romance|

| Langues
d'oïl|

* Angevin
* Berrichon
* Bourbonnais
* Burgundian
* Champenois
* Ardennais
* Rémois
* Frainc-Comtou
* Gallo
* French
* Jersey Legal
* Meridional
* North American dialects
* Canadian
* Acadian
* Chiac
* St. Marys Bay French
* Brayon
* Newfoundland
* Quebec
* Joual
* Magoua
* Franco-Ontarian
* Métis
* Muskrat
* New England
* Frenchville
* Louisiana
* Houma
* Missouri French
* Creoles
* Lorrain
* Gaumais
* Vosgien
* Welche
* Mayennais
* Norman
* Anglo-Norman
* Auregnais
* Guernésiais
* Jèrriais
* Sercquiais
* Law French
* Augeron
* Cauchois
* Cotentinais
* Orléanais
* Paydret
* Picard
* Poitevin–Saintongeais
* Poitevin
* Saintongeais
* Walloon
* West Walloon
* Wisconsin Walloon

|

* Franco-Provençal/Arpitan
* Faetar
* Savoyard
* Valdôtain
* Moselle Romance

Ibero-
Romance
(West
Iberian)|

| Asturleonese|

* Asturian
* Western Asturian
* Cantabrian
* Leonese
* Mirandese

|

Galician–Portuguese|

* Fala
* Galician
* Galician–Asturian/Eonavian
* Minderico
* Portugis
* Portuguese
* dialects
* African
* Asian
* Brazilian
* Mineiro
* European
* Estremenho
* Uruguayan
* Creoles
* Judaeo-Portuguese

Castilian|

* Amazonic Spanish
* Extremaduran
* Judaeo-Spanish
* Spanish
* dialects
* Equatoguinean
* Latin American
* Chilean
* Chilean Chilote
* Peruvian
* Peruvian Ribereño
* Rioplatense
* Peninsular
* Andalusian
* Llanito
* Castilian
* Castrapo
* Castúo
* Murcian
* Philippine
* Saharan
* Creoles
* Old Spanish

Pyrenean–Mozarabic|

* Andalusi Romance
* Navarro-Aragonese
* Aragonese
* Judaeo-Aragonese

Others|

* Barranquenho (mixed Portuguese–Spanish)
* Caló (mixed Romani–Ibero- and Occitano-Romance)

Occitano-
Romance|

* Catalan
* dialects
* Eastern
* Algherese
* Balearic
* Mallorcan
* Menorcan
* Central
* Northern
* Judaeo-Catalan
* Patuet
* Western
* Catalan Ribagorçan
* Valencian
* Occitan
* Auvergnat
* Gascon
* Aranese
* Béarnese
* Landese
* Judeo-Gascon
* Judeo-Provençal
* Languedocien
* Limousin
* Provençal
* Niçard
* Vivaro-Alpine
* Gardiol
* Mentonasc
* Old Occitan
* Old Catalan

Rhaeto-
Romance|

* Friulian
* Fornes
* Ladin
* Cadorino
* Nones
* Romansh
* Jauer
* Putèr
* Surmiran
* Sursilvan
* Vallader

Others|

* Mediterranean Lingua Franca (Western Romance-based pidgin)
* Venetian (unknown further classification)
* Chipilo
* Fiuman
* Talian
* Triestine

Others|

* African Romance
* British Latin
* Pannonian Latin
* Sardinian
* Campidanese
* Logudorese

Reconstructed|

* Proto-Romance

* Italics indicate extinct languages
* Bold indicates languages with more than 5 million speakers
* Languages between parentheses are varieties of the language on their left.

*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template