| Emiliano | ||
|---|---|---|
| Emiliàn | ||
| Spoken in |
 Italy |
|
| Total speakers | 2 million | |
| Language family |
Indo-European
|
|
| Language codes | ||
| ISO 639-1 | None | |
| ISO 639-2 | roa | |
| ISO 639-3 |
egl |
|
| Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. | ||
The term Emilian refers to a group of local languages, popularly
also called
dialects, who are parte of
Gallo-Italic group, which are spoken in the historical region of
Emilia. Although commonly referred to as an Italian dialect (even by its
speakers), it does not descend from the Italian language.
Gallo-Italic languages are Western
New Latin
(they conserve innovative phonetic and syntactic features), as
French,
Occitan and
Catalan; while
Italian is part of Eastern
New Latin.
Phonetics and
Vocabulary borders between Emilian and the other Gallo-Italic languages
are not exactly defined. For example, some dialectologists regard “pavese“
(the dialect of
Pavia, in
Lombardy)
as a transitional variety between "real Emilian" and
Western Lombard, while others think it is an Emilian language.
The dialect of
Piacenza
features elements of both Emilian and Western Lombard languages; the same
for the dialect of
Cremona.
Contents[hide]
|
Varieties
 |
This section may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Please improve this section if you can. (March 2009) |
Emiliano varies considerably across the region, and several dialects exist:
- Piacentino
- Lunigiano
- Massese (mixed with some Tuscanian features)
- Reggiano and Modenese
- Parmigiano
- Bolognese
- Ferrarese
Emilian group includes other local languages as transitional idioms between Emiliano and Lombard, since they[who?] have common features:
- Carrarese, spoken in West-northern Tuscany,
- Mantovano, spoken in Mantua (Lombardy),
- Vogherese-Pavese (spoken in Southern Province of Pavia, Lombardy.
- Casalasco, spoken in Southern Province of Cremona, Lombardy.
Features
The variants of both dialects have common features with all the other languages of the Gallo-Italic group. The most important are:
- With respect to Italian, the loss of all final unstressed vowel except for a and the subsequent vowel stretching of the tonic syllable, that may generate a diphthong. In Bolognese we have: mèder (mother), dutåur (doctor), âlber (tree).
- Rounded vowels which are typical of the Gallo-Iberian area. In Carrarese and Western Emilia there are four of them: ä, ü, ö, and å (in Western Emilia there is also ë, a sort of schwa similar to the third vowel of Piedmontese). In Bolognese there are two: (ä and å), in Central Emilia only ä. The phonetic of the same word may vary across the diffusion area of this idiom, as in the case of the word snail, written as lümäga in Western Emilia and as lumèga in Bolognese. Another typical feature of Emilian dialects is extreme syncope, i.e. loss of atonic vowels within a word. As an example we can have the Bolognese words: śbdèl (hospital), bdòć (louse), and dscårrer (speak).
- The nasal alveolar ŋ (transcribed in Bolognese orthography with the grapheme ń) as in cuséń [ku'zeŋ] cousin').
- The plural forms are made up either with a consonant alternation, similarly to some Germanic languages, or vowel distinctions: źnòć (knee) and źnûć (knees); dutåur (doctor) and dutûr (doctors); calzaider (bucket) and calzîder (buckets), with special suffix changes: martèl (hammer) and martî (hammers); fiôl (son) and fiû (sons), cuséna (female cousin) and cuséni (female cousins) [but: cuséna (kitchen) and cusén (kitchens)] or with no modifications: lèg (lake) and lèg (lakes).
- Various verb classes
- The presence of a verbal system with an affirmative conjugation and
an interrogative conjugation (Example: the present tense form of the
verb fèr to do):
- mé a fag (I do) - faghia (do I do?);
- té t fè (You do) - fèt (Do you do?);
- lò/lì al/la fà (he/she does) - fèl/fèla (does he/she do?);
- nuèter [or nuièter] a fän (We do) - faggna (Do we do?);
- vuèter [or vuièter] a fèv (You (pl.) do) - fèdi (do you do?);
- låur i/al fàn (they [m/f] do); fèni (do they do?)
- The presence of two kinds of personal pronouns, tonic and clitic
(atonic and inseparable verb host) that are used in the verbal
conjugation:
- me a sun [or so'] andèe - I went (not to be compared with e.g. moi, Je suis allé in French, where moi and je are functionally quite different from the Bolognese forms).
Emiliano is not mutually intelligible with Italian and the two languages
belong to different branches of the Romance language family tree
(respectively Western Romance and Italo-Dalmatian). An uncommon feature for
a Romance language is the extensive use of idiomatic phrasal verbs
(verb-particle constructions) much in the same way as in English and other
Germanic languages, above all in Western Emilia, Vogherese-Pavese and
Mantovano.
Examples:
- dèr so (lit. give up, same as in English); *fèr so (lit. do up, meaning: to tidy up);
- dèr zå (lit. give down, meaning: to brush or to beat);
- mètter vî (lit. to put away, meaning: to lock);
- dîr so (lit. to tell up, meaning: to call up);
- dèr vî (lit. to give away, same as in English);
- èser dré (action in progress, a form of gerund: A san dré ch'a fag - I'm doing);
- avair dré (to have with yourself: A i ò dré di sold - I have money with me).
Usage
The use of Emiliano has in the past been stigmatized, due to a number of cultural and social reasons; speaking the 'dialect' was considered a sign of poor schooling or low social status. It now appears to have lost its negative connotations: native speakers use it to address close friends and family, so its usage has come to mean "I feel well, I feel in the company of friends". Emiliano is also commonly used in manufacturing industry or construction workplaces, where it is not uncommon to find foreign immigrants who speak it with workmates.
Words
- Yes - Sé, Ói (bolognese); sì (piacentino)
- No - Nå (bolognese); no (piacentino)
- I love you - A t vói bän (bolognese); a t' vöi bëin (piacentino)
- Thanks, Thank you - A t aringrâzi (bolognese); a t' ringrasi (piacentino)
- Good morning - Bån dé (bolognese); bon giùran (piacentino)
- Good bye - A se vdrän (bolognese); arvëdas (piacentino)
- I - Mé, A (bolognese); me, mi (piacentino)
- And - E
- How much is it - Quant véńnel? csa cåsstel? (bolognese); cus al custa, quant al custa, cus al vegna? (piacentino)
- What's your name? - Cum t ciâmet? (bolognese); cma ta ciamat? (piacentino)
- My name is... - A m ciâm ... (bolognese); me/mi a m' ciam... (piacentino)
- Tree - Âlber (bolognese); pianta, ärbul (piacentino)
- England - Inghiltèra
- London - Lånndra
- Emilia - Emégglia (bolognese); Emilia (piacentino)
- Romagna - Rumâgna (bolognese); Rumagna (piacentino)
- Bologna - Bulåggna (bolognese); Bulogna (piacentino)
- City - Zitè
- Coffee - Cafà (bolognese); café (piacentino)
- Wine - Vén (bolognese); vëin (piacentino)
- Water - Âcua
- Nine - Nôv (bolognese); növ (piacentino)
- Sun - Såul (bolognese); sul (piacentino)
- Language - Längua (bolognese); lëingua (piacentino)
- God - Dìo (bolognese); diu (piacentino)
- See you - A t salût
- Excuse me - Scuśèm, ch'al scûśa bän (bolognese); scüsìm, scüsèm (piacentino)
- Do you speak English/Emilian? - Dscårret in inglaiś/emigliàn?
- Nation - Naziån
- Father - Pèder
- Mother - Mèder
- Brother - Fradèl
- Sister - Surèla
- Doctor - Dutåur
- America - Amêrica
- Africa - Âfrica
- Antarctica - Antàrrtide
- Italy- Itâglia
- Germany - Germâgna
- Army - Esêrzit
- World - Månnd
- Peace - Pèś
- War - Guèra