Western Lombard language

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Western Lombard
Milanes/Milanées, Insubrigh/Insübrich
Spoken in: Italy (Province of Milan, Province of Monza, Province of Como, Province of Lecco, Province of Lodi, little part of Province of Cremona, Province of Novara, Province of Pavia, Province of Sondrio, Province of Varese, Province of Verbano Cusio Ossola, little part of Province of Vercelli) and Switzerland (Canton Ticino and some valleys of Canton Grigioni)
Total speakers: N/A[1]
Language family: Indo-European
 Italic
  Romance
   Italo-Western
    Gallo-Iberian
     Gallo-Romance
      Gallo-Italic
       Lombard
        Western Lombard
Language codes
ISO 639-1: none
ISO 639-2: roa
ISO 639-3: lmo – Lombard group
Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode.

Western Lombard is a Romance language spoken in Italy, in the Lombard provinces of Milan, Monza, Varese, Como, Lecco, Sondrio, a little 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. It has more than a few similarities to French. Insubric and Italian are different languages and are not mutually intelligible, because of lexical, phonetic, and grammatical differences. Western Lombard, more than many other languages spoken in Italy, has many varieties, because of the mountain geography and history of various political divisions.

Western Lombard is divided into four main classes, called by many Italian linguists lombardo alpino (provinces of Sondrio and of Verbania, Sopraceneri of Canton Ticino and Grigioni in Switzerland), lombardo-prealpino occidentale (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.

The linguistic classification of Western Lombard is

Romance languages (derived from Latin).

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 dialects 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.

[edit] References

  1. ^ While an upper bound to the number of speakers lies around 2,500,000, this figure more closely represents the number of people who can understand Western Lombard. Because of immigration from other parts of Italy, use of Lombard is very rare in Lombardy and most people are not able to speak it fluently.

[edit] See also


v • d • e
Western Lombard language

Dialects and group of dialects:

Milanese or Meneghin • Bustocco and Legnanese • Brianzöö or Brianzoeu (Canzés, Canturino, Monzese) • Comasco-Lecchese (Comasco, Laghée, Intelvese, Vallassinese, Lecchese, Valsassinese) • Ticinese (Ossolano) • Varesino or Bosin • Southwestern Lombard (Pavese, Lodigiano, Nuaresat, Cremunéez) • Alpine Lombard (Valtellinese, Chiavennasco) • Slangs: Spasell

Literature:

Insubric literature • Insubric writers (Bonvesin de la Riva, Carlo Maria Maggi, Carlo Porta, Giuseppe Parini, Giuseppe Bossi, Alessandro Manzoni, Tommaso Grossi, Delio Tessa)

Grammar:

Insubric grammar (Milanese grammar) • Orthography (Classical Milanese orthography, Alternative Insubric orthographies) • Other (Plural inflection in Western Lombard)


v • d • e
Romance languages
Eastern
Southern
Italo-
Western
Italo-
Dalmatian
Gallo-
Rhaetian
other
† denotes Extinct ♦ bolded denotes languages with more than 5 million speakers

[edit] Bibliography

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