| Western Lombard | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Milanes/Milanées, Insubrigh/Insübrich, lumbard ucidental | ||||
| Spoken in | Italy (Province of Milan, Province of Monza, Province of Como, Province of Lecco, Province of Lodi, a small part of Province of Cremona, Province of Novara, Province of Pavia, Province of Sondrio, Province of Varese, Province of Verbano Cusio Ossola, a small part of Province of Vercelli) and Switzerland (Canton Ticino and some valleys of Canton Grigioni) | |||
| Native speakers | unknown[1] (date missing) | |||
| Language family |
Indo-European
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| Language codes | ||||
| ISO 639-3 | lmo – Lombard group | |||
| Linguasphere | 51-AAA-odd ... 51-AAA-odj | |||
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Western Lombard is a Romance language spoken in Italy, 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 and a small part of Vercelli (Valsesia), and Switzerland (Canton Ticino and part of Grischun). 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").
In Italian-speaking contexts, Western Lombard is often incorrectly called a dialect of Italian language, but actually it is a separate language, not a dialect. Insubric and Italian are different languages and only partly mutually intelligible, due to various lexical, phonetic, and grammatical differences. Its substratum is celtic. Western Lombard is relatively homogenous (much more so than Eastern Lombard language), though it does present a number of variations,[2] mainly in relation to the vowels /o/, /ɔ/ and the development of /ts/ into /s/.
Western Lombard can be divided into four main varieties, referred by many Italian linguists as 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.
At the present time, Western Lombard has no official status in Lombardy or anywhere else. The only official language in Lombardy is Italian.
Some texts in Western Lombard are available: various dictionaries, a few grammars, extensive literature (see Insubric literature), and a recent translation of the Gospels.
Examples of Western Lombard language are:
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.
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