Central Italian (Italian: dialetti mediani) refers to the dialects of Italo-Romance spoken in the so-called Area Mediana, which covers a swathe of the central Italian peninsula. Area Mediana is also used in a narrower sense to describe the southern part, in which case the northern one may be referred to as the Area Perimediana, a distinction that will be made throughout this article. The two areas are split along a line running approximately from Rome in the southwest to Ancona in the northeast.[1]
In the early Middle Ages, Central Italian extended north into Romagna and covered all of modern-day Lazio, Abruzzo, and Molise. Since then, however, the dialects spoken in those areas have been assimilated into Gallo-Italic and Southern Italo-Romance respectively.[2] In addition, the dialect of Rome has undergone considerable Tuscanization from the fifteenth century onwards, such that it has lost many of its Central Italian features.[3]
Phonological featuresEdit
Except for its southern fringe, the Area Mediana is characterized by a contrast between the final vowels /-u/ and /-o/, which distinguishes it from both the Area Perimediana and from Southern Italo-Romance.[4] Cf. Spoletine [ˈkreːto, ˈtittu] < Latin crēdō, tēctum 'I believe, roof'. An additional isogloss that runs along the border between the two areas, but often overlaps it in either direction, is that of post-nasal plosive voicing, as in [manˈt̬ellu] 'cloak'. This is a feature that the Area Mediana shares with neighbouring Southern Italo-Romance.[5]
In the Area Mediana are found the following vocalic phenomena:
In most areas, stressed mid-vowels are raised by one degree of aperture if the following syllable contains either /u/ or /i/. This is referred to as 'Sabine metaphony'. Compare the following examples from the Ascrean dialect:[6]
In a few areas, metaphony results in diphthongization for stressed low-mid vowels, while high-mids undergo normal raising to /i, u/. Compare the following examples from the Nursine dialect:[7]
Southeast of Rome, around Nemi, low-mid vowels undergo metaphonic diphthongization, while high-mids resist raising to /i, u/. This was also the case for Old Romanesco, which had alternations such as /ˈpɛde, ˈpjɛdi/ 'foot, feet'.[8]
In some areas with Sabine metaphony, if a word has a stressed mid-vowel, then final /-u/ lowers to /-o/ in a sort of height-based vowel harmony. Compare */ˈbɛllu, ˈfreddu/ > /ˈbeʎʎu, ˈfriddu/ (metaphony) > Tornimpartese /ˈbeʎʎo, ˈfriddu/ 'beautiful, cold'.[9]
Sound-changes (or lack thereof) that distinguish most or all of Central Italian from Tuscan include the following, many of them shared with Southern Italo-Romance:[10]
/nd/ > /nn/, as in Latin vēndere > [ˈwenne] 'to sell'.
/mb, nv/ > /mm/, as in Latin plumbum > [ˈpjummu] 'lead'.
/ld/ > /ll/, as in Latin cal(i)da > [ˈkalla] 'hot'.
Retention of /j/, as in Latin Maium > [ˈmaːju] 'May'.
/mj/ > /ɲ(ɲ)/, as in Latin vindēmia > [wenˈneɲɲa] 'grape harvest'.
/rj/ > /r/, as in Latin caprārium > [kraˈpaːru] 'goatherd'.
Sound-changes with a limited distribution within the Area Mediana include:[11]
/ɡ-/ > /j/ or ∅, as in Latin cattum > [ˈɡattu] > Nursine [ˈjjattu], Reatine [ˈattu] 'cat'.
/ɡn/ > /(i̯)n/, as in Latin agnum, ligna > Tagliacozzese /ˈai̯nu, ˈlena/ 'lamb, firewood'.
/d, v/ > ∅ word-initially and intervocalically, as in Latin dentem, vaccam, crudum, ovum > /ɛnte akka kruː ou/ in Rieti and L'Aquila.
Around Terni, and to its immediate northeast, this deletion only applies in intervocalic position.
In the north of the Area Perimediana, a number of Gallo-Italic features are found:[12]
/a/ > /ɛ/ in stressed open syllables, as in /ˈpa.ne/ > /ˈpɛ.ne/ 'bread', around Perugia and areas to its north.[13]
In the same area, habitual reduction or deletion of vowels in unstressed internal syllables, as in /ˈtrappole/ > /ˈtrapp(ə)le/ 'traps'.
Voicing of intervocalic /t/ to /d/ and degemination of long consonants around Ancona and to its west.[14]
In both of the aforementioned areas: lack, or reversal, of the sound-changes /nd/ > /nn/ and /mb, nv/ > /mm/ that are found in the rest of Central Italian.[15]
The following changes to final vowels are found in the Area Perimediana:
/-u/ > /-o/, as in Latin musteum > Montelaghese [ˈmoʃʃo], everywhere except for a small 'island' around Pitigliano.[16]
/-i/ > /-e/, as in /i ˈkani/ > /e ˈkane/ 'the dogs', in some of the dialects situated along a long arc from Montalto di Castro in the southwest to Fabriano in the northeast.[17]
Morphological featuresEdit
In part of the Area Mediana, below a line running northeast from Rome to Rieti and Norcia, the 3PL ending of non-first conjugation verbs is, unusually, /-u/ (rather than /-o/), which acts as a trigger for metaphony. Cf. Latin vēndunt > Leonessan [ˈvinnu] 'they sell'.[18]
In the same area, a series of irregular first-conjugation verbs also show 3PL /-u/ (as opposed to the /-o/ or /-onno/ found elsewhere). Examples include [au, dau, fau, vau] 'they have/give/do/go'.[19]
Latin fourth-declension nouns have been retained as such in many cases. Cf. Latin manum, manūs 'hand(s)' > Fabrichese [ˈmaːno] (invariant) and Latin fīcum, fīcūs 'fig(s)' > Canepinese [ˈfiːko] (invariant).[20]
Latin neuters of the -um/-a type survive more extensively than in Tuscan. Cf. Latin olīvētum, olīvēta > Roiatese [liˈviːtu, leˈveːta] 'olive-grove(s)'. Even originally non-neuter nouns are sometimes drawn into this class, as in Latin hortum, hortī > Segnese [ˈᴐrto, ˈᴐrta] 'garden(s)'.[21]
The plurals, which are grammatically feminine, are replaced by the feminine ending /-e/ in some dialects, leading to outcomes such as Spoletine [ˈlabbru, ˈlabbre] 'lip(s)'. Both plurals may also alternate within the same dialect, as in Treiese [ˈᴐːa~ˈᴐːe] 'eggs'.
The Latin neuter plural /-ora/, as in tempora 'times', was extended to several other words in medieval times, but today the phenomenon is limited to areas such as Serrone, where one finds cases like [ˈraːmo, ˈraːmora] 'branch(es)'. In Serviglianese, the final vowel changes to /-e/, as in [ˈfiːko, ˈfiːkore] 'fig(s)'.
In several dialects, final syllables beginning with /n/, /l/, or /r/ may be deleted in masculine nouns. In varieties such as Matelicese, this occurs only in the singular, not the plural, leading to outcomes such as */paˈtrone, paˈtroni/ > [paˈtro, paˈtruːni] 'lord, lords'. In varieties such as Serviglianese, this deletion occurs both in the singular and the plural, resulting in [paˈtro, paˈtru], with metaphony-induced vowel distinctions remaining as a marker of number.[22]
Syntactic featuresEdit
Direct objects are often marked by the preposition a if they are animate.[23]
Loporcaro, Michele & Paciaroni, Tania. 2016. The dialects of central Italy. In Ledgeway, Adam & Maiden, Martin (eds.), The Oxford guide to the Romance languages, 228–245. Oxford University Press.
Vignuzzi, Ugo. 1997. Lazio, Umbria, and the Marche. In Maiden, Martin & Parry, Mair (eds.), The dialects of Italy, 311–320. London: Routledge.
October 16, 2023
central, italian, italian, dialetti, mediani, refers, dialects, italo, romance, spoken, called, area, mediana, which, covers, swathe, central, italian, peninsula, area, mediana, also, used, narrower, sense, describe, southern, part, which, case, northern, refe. Central Italian Italian dialetti mediani refers to the dialects of Italo Romance spoken in the so called Area Mediana which covers a swathe of the central Italian peninsula Area Mediana is also used in a narrower sense to describe the southern part in which case the northern one may be referred to as the Area Perimediana a distinction that will be made throughout this article The two areas are split along a line running approximately from Rome in the southwest to Ancona in the northeast 1 Central ItalianNative toItalyRegionUmbria Lazio except the southeast central Marche small parts of southernmost Tuscany and northwestern AbruzzoNative speakers 3 000 000 citation needed 2006 Language familyIndo European ItalicLatino FaliscanRomanceItalo WesternItalo DalmatianItalo RomanceCentral ItalianLanguage codesISO 639 3 GlottologNoneLinguasphere51 AAA ra rbaDialects that maintain a distinction between final u and o are outlined in red Area Perimediana Area Mediana Contents 1 Background 2 Phonological features 3 Morphological features 4 Syntactic features 5 See also 6 References 7 BibliographyBackground EditIn the early Middle Ages Central Italian extended north into Romagna and covered all of modern day Lazio Abruzzo and Molise Since then however the dialects spoken in those areas have been assimilated into Gallo Italic and Southern Italo Romance respectively 2 In addition the dialect of Rome has undergone considerable Tuscanization from the fifteenth century onwards such that it has lost many of its Central Italian features 3 Phonological features EditExcept for its southern fringe the Area Mediana is characterized by a contrast between the final vowels u and o which distinguishes it from both the Area Perimediana and from Southern Italo Romance 4 Cf Spoletine ˈkreːto ˈtittu lt Latin credō tectum I believe roof An additional isogloss that runs along the border between the two areas but often overlaps it in either direction is that of post nasal plosive voicing as in manˈt ellu cloak This is a feature that the Area Mediana shares with neighbouring Southern Italo Romance 5 In the Area Mediana are found the following vocalic phenomena In most areas stressed mid vowels are raised by one degree of aperture if the following syllable contains either u or i This is referred to as Sabine metaphony Compare the following examples from the Ascrean dialect 6 meːla miːlu apples apple ʃpoːsa ʃpuːsu wife husband wɛcca weccu old f m nᴐːwa noːwu new f m In a few areas metaphony results in diphthongization for stressed low mid vowels while high mids undergo normal raising to i u Compare the following examples from the Nursine dialect 7 metto mitti I put you put soːla suːlu alone f m bbɛlla bbjɛjju beautiful f m mᴐrte mwᴐrti death dead pl Southeast of Rome around Nemi low mid vowels undergo metaphonic diphthongization while high mids resist raising to i u This was also the case for Old Romanesco which had alternations such as ˈpɛde ˈpjɛdi foot feet 8 In some areas with Sabine metaphony if a word has a stressed mid vowel then final u lowers to o in a sort of height based vowel harmony Compare ˈbɛllu ˈfreddu gt ˈbeʎʎu ˈfriddu metaphony gt Tornimpartese ˈbeʎʎo ˈfriddu beautiful cold 9 Sound changes or lack thereof that distinguish most or all of Central Italian from Tuscan include the following many of them shared with Southern Italo Romance 10 nd gt nn as in Latin vendere gt ˈwenne to sell mb nv gt mm as in Latin plumbum gt ˈpjummu lead ld gt ll as in Latin cal i da gt ˈkalla hot Retention of j as in Latin Maium gt ˈmaːju May mj gt ɲ ɲ as in Latin vindemia gt wenˈneɲɲa grape harvest rj gt r as in Latin caprarium gt kraˈpaːru goatherd Sound changes with a limited distribution within the Area Mediana include 11 ɡ gt j or as in Latin cattum gt ˈɡattu gt Nursine ˈjjattu Reatine ˈattu cat ɡn gt i n as in Latin agnum ligna gt Tagliacozzese ˈai nu ˈlena lamb firewood d v gt word initially and intervocalically as in Latin dentem vaccam crudum ovum gt ɛnte akka kruː ou in Rieti and L Aquila Around Terni and to its immediate northeast this deletion only applies in intervocalic position In the north of the Area Perimediana a number of Gallo Italic features are found 12 a gt ɛ in stressed open syllables as in ˈpa ne gt ˈpɛ ne bread around Perugia and areas to its north 13 In the same area habitual reduction or deletion of vowels in unstressed internal syllables as in ˈtrappole gt ˈtrapp e le traps Voicing of intervocalic t to d and degemination of long consonants around Ancona and to its west 14 In both of the aforementioned areas lack or reversal of the sound changes nd gt nn and mb nv gt mm that are found in the rest of Central Italian 15 The following changes to final vowels are found in the Area Perimediana u gt o as in Latin musteum gt Montelaghese ˈmoʃʃo everywhere except for a small island around Pitigliano 16 i gt e as in i ˈkani gt e ˈkane the dogs in some of the dialects situated along a long arc from Montalto di Castro in the southwest to Fabriano in the northeast 17 Morphological features EditIn part of the Area Mediana below a line running northeast from Rome to Rieti and Norcia the 3PL ending of non first conjugation verbs is unusually u rather than o which acts as a trigger for metaphony Cf Latin vendunt gt Leonessan ˈvinnu they sell 18 In the same area a series of irregular first conjugation verbs also show 3PL u as opposed to the o or onno found elsewhere Examples include au dau fau vau they have give do go 19 Latin fourth declension nouns have been retained as such in many cases Cf Latin manum manus hand s gt Fabrichese ˈmaːno invariant and Latin ficum ficus fig s gt Canepinese ˈfiːko invariant 20 Latin neuters of the um a type survive more extensively than in Tuscan Cf Latin olivetum oliveta gt Roiatese liˈviːtu leˈveːta olive grove s Even originally non neuter nouns are sometimes drawn into this class as in Latin hortum horti gt Segnese ˈᴐrto ˈᴐrta garden s 21 The plurals which are grammatically feminine are replaced by the feminine ending e in some dialects leading to outcomes such as Spoletine ˈlabbru ˈlabbre lip s Both plurals may also alternate within the same dialect as in Treiese ˈᴐːa ˈᴐːe eggs The Latin neuter plural ora as in tempora times was extended to several other words in medieval times but today the phenomenon is limited to areas such as Serrone where one finds cases like ˈraːmo ˈraːmora branch es In Serviglianese the final vowel changes to e as in ˈfiːko ˈfiːkore fig s In several dialects final syllables beginning with n l or r may be deleted in masculine nouns In varieties such as Matelicese this occurs only in the singular not the plural leading to outcomes such as paˈtrone paˈtroni gt paˈtro paˈtruːni lord lords In varieties such as Serviglianese this deletion occurs both in the singular and the plural resulting in paˈtro paˈtru with metaphony induced vowel distinctions remaining as a marker of number 22 Syntactic features EditDirect objects are often marked by the preposition a if they are animate 23 See also EditCentral Marchigiano dialect Languages of ItalyReferences Edit Loporcaro amp Paciaroni 2016 228 Loporcaro amp Panciani 2016 229 230 Vignuzzi 1997 312 317 Loporcaro amp Panciani 2016 229 233 Vignuzzi 1997 312 313 Loporcaro amp Panciani 2016 228 229 231 232 Loporcaro amp Panciani 2016 229 230 232 Vignuzzi 1997 313 Loporcaro amp Panciani 2016 230 Loporcaro amp Panciani 2016 230 Vignuzzi 1997 317 Loporcaro amp Panciani 2016 230 Vignuzzi 1997 314 Loporcaro amp Panciani 2016 232 Vignuzzi 1997 314 315 Loporcaro amp Panciani 2016 232 Vignuzzi 1997 315 316 318 Loporcaro amp Panciani 2016 240 241 Vignuzzi 1997 318 This citation also covers the following bullet point Loporcaro amp Panciani 2016 229 Loporcaro amp Panciani 2016 229 Loporcaro amp Panciani 2016 229 240 Vignuzzi 1997 318 Loporcaro amp Panciani 2016 240 Vignuzzi 1997 315 316 Loporcaro amp Panciani 2016 231 Vignuzzi 1997 316 317 Loporcaro amp Panciani 2016 241 Loporcaro amp Panciani 2016 234 This citation applies to the following two bullet point as well Loporcaro amp Panciani 2016 233 Vignuzzi 1997 315 Loporcaro amp Panciani 2016 237Bibliography EditLoporcaro Michele amp Paciaroni Tania 2016 The dialects of central Italy In Ledgeway Adam amp Maiden Martin eds The Oxford guide to the Romance languages 228 245 Oxford University Press Vignuzzi Ugo 1997 Lazio Umbria and the Marche In Maiden Martin amp Parry Mair eds The dialects of Italy 311 320 London Routledge Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Central Italian amp oldid 1178237484, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
