Eastern Lombard

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Eastern Lombard
Spoken in:	Italy
Total speakers:
Language family:	Indo-European Italic Romance Italo-Western Western Gallo-Iberian Gallo-Romance Gallo-Italic Lombard Eastern Lombard
Language codes
ISO 639-1:	none
ISO 639-2:	`roa`
ISO/FDIS 639-3:	`lmo` — Lombard language
Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. See IPA chart for English for an English-based pronunciation key.

Eastern Lombard is a group of dialects spoken in the eastern side of Lombardy, mainly in the provinces of Bergamo, Brescia and Mantua and in the area around Crema. These dialects are generally mutually intelligible for speakers of neighbouring areas but this is not always true for distant peripheric areas. For instance, an inhabitant of the alpine valleys of Bergamo can be hardly understood by a peasant of the plains of Mantua. Differences include either lexical, grammatical and phonetical aspects.

In Italian-speaking contexts, Eastern Lombard is often generically called a "dialect". This is often incorrectly understood as to mean a dialect of Italian, which actually is not the case. Eastern Lombard and Italian are different languages and are not mutually intelligible.

Like all other dialects of Gallo-Italic, Eastern Lombard belongs to the Romance language related to French, Romansh, Italian, etc.

As per today, Eastern Lombard does not have any official status either in Lombardy or anywhere else: the only official language in Lombardy is Italian.

1 Phonology
2 Orthography
- 2.1 Writing of vowels
- 2.2 Writing of consonants
3 Grammar
4 Literature
5 Examples
- 5.1 See also
- 5.2 External links

[edit] Phonology

The following notes are essentially based on the variety of Eastern Lombard spoken in Brescia. The basic principle are generally valid also for the other varieties but local discrepancies can be found.

Eastern Lombard has 9 vowels and 20 consonants.

[edit] Consonants

	bilabial	labio- dental	alveolar	post- alveolar	palatal	velar	labio- velar
plosive	p b		t d			k g
nasal	m		n		ɲ
flap			r
fricative		f v	s z	(ʃ)
affricate				tʃ dʒ
approximant					j		w
lateral approximant			l		ʎ

• The voiced consonants /b/, /d/, /g/, /v/, /z/, /dʒ/ never occur at the end of a word. This phenomenon, common to other languages (German, Dutch, Russian), is called final devoicing.

• The phoneme /tʃ/ is pronounced [j] before consonant. This never occurs inside a word as the segment /tʃ/+consonant doesn't exist in Eastern Lombard. Conversely, it occurs when /tʃ/ is in a final position in a word preceding another word beginning with a consonant. For example:

i è nacc vià - [i ɛ naj vja] = they have gone away

• The approximants /j/ and /w/ are distinct phonemes from the vocalic sounds /i/, /u/. This can be seen in the following examples:

/kwat/=how much
/kuˈat/=brooded

/pjat/=flat
/piˈat/=bitten

• The phoneme /n/ can undergo assimilation in accord with the articulation point of the following consonant. Thus, the /n/ in /-nk-/ and /-ng-/ is a velar [ŋ], the /n/ in /-nv-/ or /-nf-/ is a labiodental [ɱ]. The phoneme /n/ never occurs before p and b, where /m/ is used instead.
Assimilation takes place also when the two sounds occur in contiguous position but pertain to different words, i.e.:

en ca [ɛŋ ka] - (a dog)
vàghen fò [ˈvageɱ fɔ] - (hurry up)
l'an pasàt [l am paˈsat] - (the last year)

• Locally, the sound /s/ is replaced by the sound /h/. This mainly happens in the prealpine valleys of the provinces of Bergamo and Brescia, thus Brescia is pronounced /ˈbrɛha/ instead of /ˈbrɛsa/¹.

• The sound /ʃ/ is used uniquely for loanwords, often coming from Italian. For example:

scià /ʃiˈa/ = to ski (from the Italian 'sciare')

Notes:

1. Actually, even in areas where this phenomenon is the rule, there are some interesting exceptions to take in account.

Words like grasie (eng. thanks) are never pronouced [ˈgrahje]. At present, indeed, the most common pronounce is [ˈgrasje] but a more genuine outcome (and often preferred by aged people) would be [ˈgrahtʃe].

Other examples for this feature:

licensià (to dismiss, to fire) -> [litʃenˈsja] / [lehenˈtʃa]

cristià (christian) -> [crisˈtja] / [crihˈtʃa]

pasiù (passion) -> [paˈsju] / [pahˈtʃu]

[edit] Vowels

Eastern Lombard has 9 vocalic sounds:

IPA	Description	Example	Italian	English
i	Close front unrounded vowel	sic /sik/	cinque	five
e	Close-mid front unrounded vowel	sét /set/	sete	thirst
ɛ	Open-mid front unrounded vowel	sèc /sɛk/	secco	arid
a	Open front unrounded vowel	sac /sak/	sacco	sack
o	Close-mid back rounded vowel	ciót /tʃot/	chiodo	nail
ɔ	Open-mid back rounded vowel	sòc /sɔk/	ceppo	stump
ø	Close-mid front rounded vowel	söt /søt/	asciutto	dry
y	Close front rounded vowel	mür /myr/	muro	wall
u	Close back rounded vowel	mur /mur/	gelso	mulberry

Only three vocalic phonemes are allowed for the final syllables when unstressed:
the phoneme /a/ uniquely for open syllables.
the phonemes /o/ and /e/ both for open and closed syllables.

Other vocalic sounds in final syllables can be found in loanwords.

The final sound of the word caàj (horses) is actually the approximant consonant /j/.

Locally, the phoneme /a/ is pronounced [ɔ] when it appears as last sound of the word in an unstressed syllable (actually slightly closer than the phonemic /ɔ/). For example:

[ˈlynɔ] (moon),
[sɛtɛˈmanɔ] (week).

[edit] Unstressed vowel system reduction and local variability

The vowel system for the unstressed vowels is reduced if compared to the stressed vowels one.
In the urban Brescian variety for example [ɔ] and [o] no longer contrasts. This means that for the word robà (to steal) both pronunciations [roˈba] or [rɔˈba] are allowed and almost no difference is noticed by speakers. In addition, a further variant [ruˈba] is also possible. In this case, a difference is noticed by speakers but it is considered as a local variant and intelligibility is absolutely not compromised.
Again, the sound [u] replaces the sounds [o/ɔ] when the stressed vowel is /i/ or /u/, see the section on vowel harmonization described below.
The sounds [e] and [ɛ] also no longer contrast in unstressed syllables, therefore the word vedèl (calf) can be pronounced [veˈdɛl] or [vɛˈdɛl] indifferently. In this case also, [e/ɛ] is replaced by [i] in case of vowel harmonization. In other environments the interchange between [e/ɛ] and [i] is not accepted at the same degree of [o/ɔ] and [u]: an hypothetical variant [viˈdɛl] would be felt as a disagreeable pronunciation even if not completely contrastive (there are no mimimal pairs).
The contrast between the sounds [y] and [ø] is also eliminated and [y] replaces [ø] in case of vowel harmonization.
In conclusion, it is possible to say that only five contrastive vowel qualities are found in unstressed syllables:

[o/ɔ,(u)], [ø,(y)], [a], [e/ɛ], [i]

(but with the [i] not completely separated from [e/ɛ])

Some examples:

molà [moˈla] (to let go, to release)
mölà [møˈla] (to grind)
malàt [maˈlat] (sick)
pelàt [peˈlat] (bald)
milà [miˈla] (Milan)

The situation for other Eastern Lombard varieties however can be different, infact the rules of the unstressed vowel system varies according to the area.
In Franciacorta for example (province of Brescia) the sound [o] and [ø] are regularly replaced by [u] and [y] in pretonic position.

mulà (Franciacortan) instead of molà (Brescian)
Ruàt (Rovato, nameplace) instead of Roàt
Üspedalèt (Ospitaletto, nameplace) instead of Öspedalèt

Since in unstressed position these vocalic sounds are not contrastive, these local variants do not compromise reciprocal intelligibility.

[edit] Vowel harmonization

Eastern Lombard shows a regressive harmonization process involving the vocal height feature. When the stress falls on a closed vowel (/i/ or /u/) the preceding vowels shifts their height feature to the closest grade.
The vowel /a/ is not affected by this process and acts as opaque vowel blocking the harmonization process.
This phenomenon affects all the words independently from the function the word covers. So we have harmonization either in nouns, adjectives, verbs end so on.

As the diminutive and augmentative are formed with the suffix -ì and -ù (feminine -ìna and -ùna) respectively, this process is easily findable in nouns:

cortèl (knife)
curtilì (small knife)
curtilù (big knife)

This phenomenon should not be confused with the reduced distinctive importance of the unstressed vowels. An hypothetic variant cortelì is felt as incorrect.

As said before, the vowel /a/ acts as opaque vowel and blocks the harmonization process:

fontàna (fountain)
fontanì (small fountain)

öspedàl (hospital)
öspedalì (small hospital)

but vowels that comes after the /a/ are still affected:

mortadèla (type of Italian sausage)
mortadilìna

In these cases variants like funtanì, üspedalì (but not üspidalì) or murtadilìna are accepted (or locally preferred) but fall under the normal unstressed vowel variability.

Verbs are affected by this process in their conjugation, where the inflection contains a stressed /i/ (there are no verbal suffixes containing a stressed /u/).

córer (infinitive of to run)
córe (I person singular indicative present)
curìt (past participle)
curif (II person plural indicative present)
curìef (II person plural indicative imperfect)

béer (infinitve of to drink)
bée (I person singular indicative present)
biìt (past participle)
biìf (II person plural indicative present)
biìef (II person plural indicative imperfect)

öler (infinitve of to want)
öle (I person singular indicative present)
ülìt (past participle)
ülìf (II person plural indicative present)
ülìef (II person plural indicative imperfect)

Adjectives formed with the suffix -ùs (feminine -ùza) also observe this rule:

póra (fear)
purús (fearful person -masculine-)
purúza (fearful person -femenine-)

[edit] Orthography

Since Eastern Lombard is still principally an oral language, a commonly accepted orthography has never been established.
Actually, last years saw an increasing production of texts (mainly light comedies and poem collections) but each of them still follows their own writing rules.
In recent times, the problem of the orthography of the Bergamasque dialect have been faced up by the cultural society Ducat de Piassa Pontida. A translation of Andersen's tales has been published in 2003, following Ducat's rules.
Also, lately, placename road panels have appeared with the bilingual version of the placename (Italian and local dialect), which seems to suppose a certain effort of standardization but a widely accepted orthography seems still quite far.
The most problematic and controversial issues seem to be the representation of the intervocalic /s/ and /z/ (rendered by different authors with -ss-, -s- or -z-) and the final /tʃ/ vs. /k/ (rendered with -cc, -c or -ch).

This article follows the rules of the Italian orthography, with the following exceptions:

[edit] Writing of vowels

Diacritical marks are utilised for vocalic sounds to distinguish /e/ from /ɛ/ and /o/ from /ɔ/ in stressed syllables.
Also, umlaut is adopted to represent the rounded vowels /ø/ and /y/.

Letter	sound
a	/a/
é	/e/
è	/ɛ/
i	/i/
ó	/o/
ò	/ɔ/
u	/u/
ü	/y/
ö	/ø/

Note that accent is also used to indicate the stressed syllable in non-monosyllabic words.
Since unstressed vowels are less distinctive, it is not necessary to discriminate the open/close quality. This means that you can pronounce the word vedèl (calf) as [veˈdɛl] or [vɛˈdɛl] indifferently without compromising the comprehension.

[edit] Writing of consonants

The digraph -cc is used at the end of the word to represent the sound /tʃ/ (in other positions this sound is rendered by means of the usual Italian orthography rules).

A consonant sequence that is peculiar to Lombard is formed by a voiceless alveolar fricative and voiceless postalveolar affricate, in IPA: [-stʃ-]. This article adopts the convention of representing this sound as s·c, although other texts can follow different traditions (so, you may find, for the same sound, s'c or s-c or even the ambiguous sc).
This sequence, which is absent in Italian, can occur at the beginning of word, as in s·cèt (son, boy) /stʃɛt/; in the middle, as in brös·cia (brush) /ˈbrøstʃa/; or at the end, as in giös·cc (correct, adjective plural) /ˈdʒøstʃ/.

The sequence /-sdʒ-/ is also present in Eastern Lombard and not in Italian and is represented in this article with the sequence of signs -sgi-, like in:

bàsgia /ˈbasdʒa/ - (large bowl)
sgionfà /sdʒonˈfa/ - (inflate)

[edit] Grammar

Main article: Eastern Lombard grammar

Eastern Lombard is similar to other Romance languages. The word order of Eastern Lombard is SVO and it has moderate inflection system: verbs are declined in mood, tense and aspect and agree with the subject. Nouns can be masculine or feminine and have a singular or plural form. Adjectives and pronouns agree with the corresponding nouns. It has prepositions and hardly any case marking.

[edit] Literature

The oldest known text written in Eastern Lombard dialect are fragments of a laud known as Mayor gremeza il mund no pothevela ancor aver, a manuscript found in Bovegno (Trompia valley), and dating from the XIV century, but the work known as Massera da bè (the good housewife, XVI century) also deserves a mention.
Anyway it is somewhat significant that the most important and internationally reknown work in Eastern Lombard actually is not a written text but a movie. In 1978 Ermanno Olmi won the Golden Palm at the Cannes Film Festival with L'albero degli zoccoli (The Tree with the Wooden Clogs), a movie entirely recited in Bergamasque.

As per today, literary production has increased in volume and mainly consists in light comedies and poem collections, (Angelo Canossi is a remarkable example for the Brescian dialect poetry) even if, according to: Ph.Blondeau: Les dialectes et la conscience linguistique dans la provincie de Bergame, PhD thesis, Sorbona University, Paris III, many authors claim that Eastern Lombard tongue is declining in quality, in its capability of expressing complex situations, emotions and of coping with a more complex syntax: this fact agrees with the general decline of the whole Lombard language.

[edit] Examples

All the following exemples are in Brescian (the variety of Eastern Lombard spoken in city of Brescia)

Goodbye = Ariidìs /ariiˈdis/
Goodnight = Buonanòt /bwɔnaˈnɔt/
That one = Chèl là /kɛl ˈla/
How much = Quàt? /kwat/
Yesterday = Géer /ˈdʒeɛr/
Today = Encö /ɛnˈkø/
Tomorrow = Dumà /duˈma/
Yes = Sé /se/
No = Nò /nɔ/
Sorry = El me scüze /ɛl mɛ ˈskyze/
I don't understand = Capése mìa /kaˈpese ˈmia/
Where's the bathroom? = Endoél èl bagn? /ɛndoˈel ɛl baɲ/
Do you speak English? = Pàrlet inglés? /ˈparlɛt inˈgles/
Pota /'pɔta/ (Common interjection, used mainly in Brescian and Bergamasque)

Tongue-twisters:
ah chèla àca là che la a a cagà in chèla ca là = Look at that cow that is taking a shit in that house
sic sac dè sòc sèc söl solér a secà = Five sacks of dried logs in the loft to dry