Genoese dialect

Genoese (Zeneize) is a dialect of the Ligurian language spoken in Genoa (the principal city of the Liguria region in Northern Italy).

Ligurian is listed by Ethnologue as a language in its own right, of the Romance branch, and not to be confused with the ancient Ligurian language. Like the languages of Lombardy, Piedmont, and surrounding regions, it is of Gallo-Italic derivation.

The language is far from dying out. While most remaining speakers of it are elderly, many young people still speak the language. Further, there are several associations dedicated to keeping the language alive, like "O Castello" in Chiavari and "A Compagna" in Genoa.

Written literature has been produced in Genoese since the thirteenth century, but the spelling has never been regularized. However, since 2008 there is an official orthography set up by the Académia Ligùstica do Brénno, which attempts to put its script in order based on citizen speech of the Portoria area. Their rules, which may be seen here, are useful to write in all Ligurian language varieties.

Genoese phonology includes a number of similarities with French. One of these is the heavily nasalized vowels before nasal consonants (i.e. in VN(C) sequences). This also occurs when Genoese speakers speak standard Italian. There used to be an alveolar approximant (English-like) /ɹ/ opposed to an alveolar trill /r/ (using the eighteenth century genoese spelling: caro [ˈkaːɹu] "dear" vs. carro [ˈkaːru] "cart"), but it is no longer heard in the city. It may still survive in some rural areas of Liguria, such as Calizzano and Sassello. Audio samples may be heard here. By far the most widespread type of /r/ today is the alveolar tap [ɾ] (identical to unstressed Standard Italian /r/). There are several distinctive local accents of Genoese. Nervi, Quinto and Quarto are heard to the east of Genoa. Voltri, Prà, Pegli and Sestri are heard to the west. There are also accents of the central Polcevera Valley and Bisagno.

Genoese is also an influence on the Llanito vernacular of Gibraltar.

Tongue twisters

• Sò asæ s'a sâ a sä asæ pe sâ a säsissa. = I don't have a clue whether the salt is going to be enough to salt the sausage.
• Scia scîe scignôa, sciando scia xêua inscî scî. = Ski, madam, skying you fly on skis.
• A-o mêu nêuo gh'è nêue nâe nêue; a ciû nêua de nêue nâe nêue a n'êu anâ. = At the new pier there are nine new ships; the newest of the nine new ships doesn't want to go.
• Gi'angiai g'han gi'oggi gi'uegge gi'unge cume gi'atri? = Do angels have eyes, ears, and (finger)nails like everyone else? (variant of the Cogorno comune)

Expressions

• Son zeneize, rizo ræo, strenzo i denti e parlo ciæo. = "I'm Genoese, I seldom laugh, I grind my teeth, and I say what I mean" (literally, "speak clearly").

• The child complains: Ò famme. = I'm hungry. The mother answers: Gràttite e zenogge e fatte e lasagne. = Scratch your knees and make lasagna.
• Chi veû vive da bon crestiàn, da-i begghìn o stagghe lontàn. = If you want to live as a good Christian, stay away from those who pretend to be devout; a traditional warning to beware of fanatics and hypocrites.
• Sciuscià e sciurbì nu se peu. = You can't have or do two contradicting things at the same time (literally, "you can't inhale and exhale").
• Belìn! = Wow! (very informal)

Phonology

Genoese has eight vowels, twenty consonants, and three semivowels.

Vowels:

• /a/ barba /ˈbarba/ (uncle, beard)
• /e/ tésta /ˈtesta/ (head)
• /ɛ/ ægoa /ˈɛɡwa/ (water)
• /i/ bibin /biˈbiŋ/ (turkey)
• /o/ cöse /ˈkoːse/ (what?)
• /ø/ anchêu /anˈkøː/ (today)
• /u/ comme /ˈkumme/ (how?)
• /y/ fugassa /fyˈɡassa/ (focaccia, a kind of Italian bread)

External links

Ligurian edition of Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

• Genoese phonology (Italian)
• Do you want to learn Genoese?? (Italian)
• Asterix speaks Genoese
• Audio samples of several Italian dialects
• ACADÉMIA LIGÙSTICA DO BRÉNNO (in Genoese)
• Official Orthography and Alphabet (in Genoese)
• A Compagna (Italian)
• Genoves.com.ar - Bilingual website in Spanish and Genoese, with resources to learn Genoese, Ligurian literature with Spanish version, texts, photos, etc. (Spanish)

1. ↑ Nordhoff, Sebastian; Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2013). "Genoese". Glottolog. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.