Ligurian language

This article is about the modern Ligurian language. For the ancient language, see Ligurian (ancient language).

Ligurian (/lɪˈɡjʊəriːən/^[2]) or Genoese (/ˌdʒɛnoʊˈiːz/^[3]) (locally called zeneise or zeneize)^[4] is a Gallo-Italic language spoken primarily in the territories of the former Republic of Genoa, now comprising the area of Liguria in Northern Italy, parts of the Mediterranean coastal zone of France, Monaco (where it is called Monegasque), the village of Bonifacio in Corsica, and in the villages of Carloforte on San Pietro Island and Calasetta on Sant'Antioco Island off the coast of southwestern Sardinia. It is part of the Gallo-Italic and Western Romance dialect continuum. Although part of Gallo-Italic, it exhibits several features of the Italo-Romance group of central and southern Italy. Zeneize (literally "for Genoese"), spoken in Genoa, the capital of Liguria, is the language's prestige dialect on which the standard is based.

Ligurian / Genoese
lìgure, zeneize/zeneise
Pronunciation	[ˈliɡyre], [zeˈnejze]
Native to	Italy, Monaco, France
Region	Italy  • Liguria  • Southern Piedmont  • Southwestern Lombardy  • Western Emilia-Romagna  • Southwestern Sardinia France  • Southeastern Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur  • Southern Corsica
Native speakers	600,000 (2002)^[1]
Language family	Indo-European Italic Latino-Faliscan Romance Italo-Western Western Romance Gallo-Romance Gallo-Italic Ligurian / Genoese
Early forms	Proto-Indo-European Proto-Italic Old Latin Vulgar Latin Proto-Romance
Dialects	Genoese Monégasque Intemelio Brigasc
Language codes
ISO 639-3	lij
Glottolog	ligu1248
Linguasphere	51-AAA-oh & 51-AAA-og
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There is a long literary tradition of Ligurian poets and writers that goes from the 13th century to the present, such as Luchetto (the Genoese Anonym), Martin Piaggio, and Gian Giacomo Cavalli.

A man speaking Ligurian, recorded in Italy

Geographic extent and status

Ligurian does not have an official status in Italy. Hence, it is not protected by law.^[5] Historically, Genoese (the dialect spoken in the city of Genoa) is the written koiné, owing to its semi-official role as language of the Republic of Genoa, its traditional importance in trade and commerce, and its vast literature.

Like other regional languages in Italy, the use of Ligurian and its dialects is in rapid decline. ISTAT^[6] (the Italian Central Service of Statistics) claims that in 2012, only 9% of the population used a language other than standard Italian with friends and family, which decreases to 1.8% with strangers. Furthermore, according to ISTAT, regional languages are more commonly spoken by uneducated people and the elderly, mostly in rural areas. Liguria is no exception. One can reasonably suppose the age pyramid to be strongly biased toward the elderly who were born before World War II, with proficiency rapidly approaching zero for newer generations. Compared to other regional languages of Italy, Ligurian has experienced a significantly smaller decline which could have been a consequence of its status or the early decline it underwent in the past. The language itself is actively preserved by various groups.

Because of the importance of Genoese trade, Ligurian was once spoken well beyond the borders of the modern province. It has since given way to standard varieties, such as Standard Italian and French. In particular, the language is traditionally spoken in coastal, northern Tuscany, southern Piedmont (part of the province of Alessandria, around the area of Novi Ligure, and the Province of Cuneo, in the municipalities of Ormea, Garessio,^[7] Alto and Caprauna), western extremes of Emilia-Romagna (some areas in the province of Piacenza), and in Carloforte on San Pietro Island and Calasetta on Sant'Antioco Island off of southwestern Sardinia (known as Tabarchino), where its use is ubiquitous and increasing. It is also spoken in the department of the Alpes-Maritimes of France (mostly the Côte d'Azur from the Italian border to and including Monaco), in the town of Bonifacio at the southern tip of the French island of Corsica, and by a large community in Gibraltar (UK). It has been adopted formally in Monaco under the name Monégasque – locally, Munegascu – but without the status of official language (that is French). Monaco is the only place where a variety of Ligurian is taught in school.

The Mentonasc dialect, spoken in the East of the County of Nice, is considered to be a transitional Occitan dialect to Ligurian; conversely, Roiasc and Pignasc spoken further North in the Eastern margin of the County are Ligurian dialects with Occitan influences.

Description

 

Chart of Romance languages based on structural and comparative criteria

As a Gallo-Italic language, Ligurian is most closely related to the Lombard, Piedmontese and Emilian-Romagnol languages, all of which are spoken in neighboring provinces. Unlike the aforementioned languages, however, it exhibits distinct Italian features. No link has been demonstrated by linguistic evidence between Romance Ligurian and the Ligurian language of the ancient Ligurian populations, in the form of a substrate or otherwise. Only the toponyms are known to have survived from ancient Ligurian, the name Liguria itself being the most obvious example.

Variants

Most important variants of the Ligurian language are:

• Bonifacino (in Bonifacio, Corsica)
• Brigasc (in La Brigue and Briga Alta)
• †Figùn (in Provence)
• Genoese (main Ligurian variant, spoken in Genoa)
• †Genoese of Gibraltar (in Gibraltar)
• †Genoese of Nêuva Tabarca (in Spain)
• †Genoese pörtoriàn (in Genoa)
• Intemelio (in Sanremo and Ventimiglia)
• Monégasque (in Monaco)
• Novéize or Oltregiogo Ligurian (North of Genoa, mainly in Val Borbera and Novi Ligure)
• Royasc (in Upper Roya Valley, between Italy and France)
• Spezzino (in La Spezia)
• Tabarchino (in Calasetta and Carloforte, Sardinia)
• Tendasc (in Tende)

Phonology

Consonants

Consonants in the Genovese dialect

		Labial	Dental/ Alveolar	Post- alveolar	Palatal	Velar
Stop	voiceless	p	t			k
	voiced	b	d			ɡ
Affricate	voiceless			t͡ʃ
	voiced			d͡ʒ
Fricative	voiceless	f	s	ʃ
	voiced	v	z	ʒ
Nasal		m	n		ɲ	ŋ
Trill			r
Approximant			l		j	w

Semivowels occur as allophones of /i/ and /u/, as well as in diphthongs. /u/ is realized as a semivowel [w] after a consonant, or before a vowel (i.e poeivan [pwejvaŋ]), as well as after /k/, when the sequence is spelled ⟨qu⟩.

Vowels

	Front		Central	Back
Close	i iː	y yː		u uː
Mid	e eː	ø øː
	ɛ ɛː			ɔ ɔː
Open			a aː

Diphthong sounds include ei [ej] and òu [ɔw].^[8]

Alphabet

No universally accepted orthography exists for Ligurian. Genoese, the prestige dialect, has two main orthographic standards.

One, known as grafia unitäia (unitary orthography), has been adopted by the Ligurian-language press – including the Genoese column of the largest Ligurian press newspaper, Il Secolo XIX – as well as a number of other publishing houses and academic projects.^{[9][10][11][12]} The other, proposed by the cultural association A Compagna [it; lij] and the Academia Ligustica do Brenno is the self-styled grafia ofiçiâ (official orthography).^[13][14] The two orthographies mainly differ in their usage of diacritics and doubled consonants.

The Ligurian alphabet is based on the Latin alphabet, and consists of 25 letters: ⟨a⟩, ⟨æ⟩, ⟨b⟩, ⟨c⟩, ⟨ç⟩, ⟨d⟩, ⟨e⟩, ⟨f⟩, ⟨g⟩, ⟨h⟩, ⟨i⟩, ⟨l⟩, ⟨m⟩, ⟨n⟩, ⟨ñ⟩ or ⟨nn-⟩, ⟨o⟩, ⟨p⟩, ⟨q⟩, ⟨r⟩, ⟨s⟩, ⟨t⟩, ⟨u⟩, ⟨v⟩, ⟨x⟩, ⟨z⟩.

The ligature ⟨æ⟩ indicates the sound /ɛː/, as in çit(t)æ 'city' /siˈtɛː/. The c-cedilla ⟨ç⟩, used for the sound /s/, generally only occurs before ⟨e⟩ or ⟨i⟩, as in riçetta 'recipe' /riˈsɛtta/. The letter ⟨ñ⟩, also written as ⟨nn-⟩ (or more rarely ⟨n-n⟩, ⟨n-⟩, ⟨nh⟩, or simply ⟨⟩), represents the velar nasal /ŋ/ before or after vowels, such as in canpaña 'bell' /kɑŋˈpɑŋŋɑ/, or the feminine indefinite pronoun uña /ˈyŋŋɑ/.

There are five diacritics, whose precise usage varies between orthographies. They are:

• The acute accent ⟨´⟩, can be used for ⟨é⟩ and ⟨ó⟩ to represent the sounds /e/ and /u/.
• The grave accent ⟨`⟩, can be used on the stressed vowels ⟨à⟩ /a/, ⟨è⟩ /ɛ/, ⟨ì⟩ /i/, ⟨ò⟩ /ɔ/, and ⟨ù⟩ /y/.
• The circumflex ⟨ˆ⟩, used for the long vowels ⟨â⟩ /aː/, ⟨ê⟩ /eː/, ⟨î⟩ /iː/, ⟨ô⟩ /uː/, and ⟨û⟩ /yː/ at the end of a word.
• The diaeresis ⟨¨⟩, used analogously to the circumflex to mark long vowels, but within a word: ⟨ä⟩ /aː/, ⟨ë⟩ /eː/, ⟨ï⟩ /iː/, and ⟨ü⟩ /yː/. It is also used to mark the long vowel ⟨ö⟩ /ɔː/, in any position.

The multigraphs are:

• ⟨cs⟩, used for the sound /ks/ as in bòcs 'box' /bɔks/.
• ⟨eu⟩, for /ø/.
• ⟨ou⟩, for /ɔw/.
• ⟨scc⟩ (written as ⟨sc-c⟩ in older orthographies) which indicates the sound /ʃtʃ/.

Vocabulary

Some basic vocabulary, in the spelling of the Genoese Academia Ligustica do Brenno:

Ligurian vocabulary with multiple translations

Ligurian	English	Italian	French	Spanish	Romanian	Catalan
péi or péia, pl. péie	pear, pears	pera, pere	poire, poires	pera, peras	pară, pere	pera, peres
mei or méia, pl. méie	apple, apples	mela, mele	pomme, pommes	manzana, manzanas	măr, mere	poma, pomes
çetrón	lemon	limone	citron	limón	lămâie	llimona/llima
fîgo	fig	fico	figue	higo	smochină	figa
pèrsego	peach	pesca	pêche	melocotón	piersică	préssec/bresquilla
frambôasa	raspberry	lampone	framboise	frambuesa	zmeură	gerd
çêxa	cherry	ciliegia	cerise	cereza	cireașă	cirera
meréllo	strawberry	fragola	fraise	fresa	căpșună	maduixa, fraula
nôxe	(wal)nut	noce	noix	nuez	nucă	nou
nissêua	hazelnut	nocciola	noisette	avellana	alune	avellana
bricòccalo	apricot	albicocca	abricot	albaricoque	caisă	albercoc
ûga	grape	uva	raisin	uva	strugure	raïm
pigneu	pine nut	pinolo	pignon de pin	piñón	sămânță de pin	pinyó
tomâta	tomato	pomodoro	tomate	tomate	roșie	tomàquet, tomata
articiòcca	artichoke	carciofo	artichaut	alcachofa	anghinare	escarxofa, carxofa
êuvo	egg	uovo	œuf	huevo	ouă	ou
cà or casa	home, house	casa	maison, domicile	casa	casă	casa or ca
ciæo	clear or light	chiaro	clair	claro	clar	clar
éuggio	eye	occhio	œil	ojo	ochi	ull
bócca	mouth	bocca	bouche	boca	gură	boca
tésta	head	testa	tête	cabeza	cap	cap
schénn-a	back	schiena	dos	espalda	spate	esquena
bràsso	arm	braccio	bras	brazo	braț	braç
gànba	leg	gamba	jambe	pierna	picior	cama
cheu	heart	cuore	cœur	corazón	inimă	cor
arvî	to open	aprire	ouvrir	abrir	deschidere	obrir
serrâ	to close	chiudere	fermer	cerrar	închidere	tancar

References

1. Ligurian / Genoese at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
2. "Ligurian". Dictionary.com Unabridged (Online). n.d.
3. "Genoese". Dictionary.com Unabridged (Online). n.d.
4. . Omniglot. Archived from the original on 2020-11-15.
5. Legge 482, voted on Dec 15, 1999 does not mention Ligurian as a regional language of Italy.
6. "L'uso della lingua italiana, dei dialetti e di altre lingue in Italia". Istituto Nazionale di Statistica (in Italian). 2018-03-09. from the original on 2018-08-23. Retrieved 2018-08-22.
7. Duberti, Nicola. "L'Alta Val Tanaro: inquadramento linguistico" (in Italian). from the original on 2020-02-22. Retrieved 2021-10-09 – via Academia.edu.
8. Toso, Fiorenzo (1997). Grammatica del genovese: varietà urbana e di koiné. Recco: Le Mani.
9. Acquarone, Andrea (13 December 2015). "O sciòrte o libbro de Parlo Ciæo, pe chi gh'è cao a nòstra lengua" [The anthology of Parlo Ciæo is now out, for those who love our language]. Il Secolo XIX (in Ligurian). Genoa, Italy. from the original on 11 August 2020. Retrieved 11 August 2020.
10. . GEPHRAS. University of Innsbruck. Archived from the original on 14 August 2020. Retrieved 11 August 2020.
11. [Catalogue of poetry] (in Italian). Editrice Zona. Archived from the original on 2 March 2020. Retrieved 11 August 2020.
12. "Biblioteca zeneise" [Genoese library] (in Italian and Ligurian). De Ferrari editore. from the original on 11 August 2020. Retrieved 11 August 2020.
13. "Grafîa ofiçiâ" [Official orthography] (in Ligurian). Academia Ligustica do Brenno. from the original on 4 October 2018. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
14. Bampi, Franco (2009). Grafîa ofiçiâ. Grafia ufficiale della lingua genovese. Bolezùmme (in Ligurian and Italian). Genoa, Italy: S.E.S. – Società Editrice Sampierdarenese. ISBN 978-8889948163.

Further reading

• Sivèro, Dàvide, The Ligurian Dialect of the Padanian Language: A Concise Grammar (PDF), Romania Minor
• Dalbera, Jean-Philippe (1984). Les parlers des Alpes Maritimes : étude comparative, essai de reconstruction (Thesis). Université de Toulouse 2.
  • Dalbera, Jean-Philippe (1994). Les parlers des Alpes Maritimes : étude comparative, essai de reconstruction. Londres: Association Internationale d'Études Occitanes.
• Werner Forner, "Le mentonnais entre toutes les chaises ? Regards comparatifs sur quelques mécanismes morphologiques" [Caserio & al. 2001: 11–23]
• Intemelion (revue), No. 1, Sanremo, 1995.

External links

 

Ligurian language edition of Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

   Wikisource has original text related to this article: Ligurian language wikisource

• Associazione O Castello (in Italian and Ligurian)
• Académia Ligùstica do Brénno (in Ligurian)
• "Official Orthography and Alphabet" proposed by the Académia Ligùstica do Brénno (in Ligurian)
• A Compagna (in Italian)
• (in English)
• (in Spanish)
• Ligurian basic lexicon at the Global Lexicostatistical Database
• The Firefox browser in Ligurian