Ligurian language


Ligurian or Genoese 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, 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, spoken in Genoa, the capital of Liguria, is the language's prestige dialect on which the standard is based.
There is a long literary tradition of Ligurian poets and writers that goes from the 13th century to the present, such as Luchetto,, and.

Geographic extent and status

Status

The Italian Government does not consider Ligurian a language, but rather a dialect of Italian. Hence, it is not protected by law. Historically, Genoese 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 says that in 2012 only 9% of the population used a language other than standard Italian with friends and family, which decreased 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.

Geographic extent

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, western extremes of Emilia-Romagna, and in Carloforte on San Pietro Island and Calasetta on Sant'Antioco Island off Southwest Sardinia, where its use is ubiquitous and increasing. It is also spoken in the department of the Alpes-Maritimes of France, in the town of Bonifacio at the southern tip of the French island of Corsica. It was spoken by a large community in Gibraltar until about 1970. It has been adopted formally in Monaco under the name Monégasque – locally, Munegascu – but without the status of official language. Monaco is the only place where a variety of Ligurian is taught in school, being mandatory in ground 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

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, thus far, 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. Very little is known about ancient Ligurian itself due to the lack of inscriptions and the unknown origin of the Ligurian people. Only onomastics and toponyms are known to have survived from ancient Ligurian, the name Liguria itself being the most obvious example.

Variants

The most important variants of the Ligurian language are:

Phonology

Consonants

Semivowels occur as allophones of and, as well as in diphthongs. is realized as a semivowel after a consonant, or before a vowel, as well as after, when the sequence is spelled.

Vowels

Diphthong sounds include and .

Alphabet

No universally accepted orthography exists for Ligurian. Genoese, the prestige dialect, has two main orthographic standards.
One, known as grafia unitäia, 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. The other, proposed by the cultural association A Compagna and the Academia Ligustica do Brenno is the self-styled grafia ofiçiâ. 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:,,,,,,,,,,,,,, or,,,,,,,,,,.
The ligature indicates the sound, as in çitæ 'city'. The c-cedilla, used for the sound, generally only occurs before or, as in riçetta 'recipe'. The letter, also written as, represents the velar nasal before or after vowels, such as in canpaña 'bell', or the feminine indefinite pronoun uña.
There are five diacritics, whose precise usage varies between orthographies. They are:
The multigraphs are:
  • , used for the sound as in bòcs 'box'.
  • , for.
  • , for.
  • which indicates the sound.

Sample Text

Sources:

Ligurian

Articolo 1

Tutte e personn-e nascian libere e pæge in dignitæ e driti. Son dotæ de raxon e coscensa e gh'an da agî l

Articolo 2

Ògni personn-a a gh'à tutti i driti e e libertæ proclamæ inte questa Diciaraçion, sensa nisciunn-a distinçion de razza, cô, sesso, lengoa, religion, òpinion politica ò d

English

Article 1

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

Article 2

Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty.

Vocabulary

Some basic vocabulary, in the spelling of the Genoese Academia Ligustica do Brenno:
LigurianEnglishItalianFrenchSpanishRomanianCatalanPortuguese
péi or péia, pl. péiepear, pearspera, pl. perepoire, pl. poirespera, pl. peraspară, pl. perepera, pl. perespera, pl. peras
mei or méia, pl. méieapple, applesmela, pl. melepomme, pl. pommesmanzana, pl. manzanasmăr, pl. merepoma, pl. pomesmaçã, pl. maçãs
çetrónlemonlimonecitronlimónlămâiellimona/llimalimão
fîgofigficofiguehigosmochinăfigafigo
pèrsegopeachpescapêchemelocotónpiersicăpréssec/bresquillapêssego
frambôasaraspberrylamponeframboiseframbuesa zmeurăgerdframboesa
çêxacherryciliegiacerisecerezacireașăcireracereja
meréllostrawberryfragolafraisefresacăpșunămaduixa, fraulamorango
nôxenutnocenoixnueznucănounoz
nissêuahazelnutnocciolanoisetteavellanaalunăavellanaavelã
bricòccaloapricotalbicoccaabricotalbaricoquecaisăalbercocdamasco
ûgagrapeuvaraisinuvastrugureraïmuva
pigneupine nutpinolopignon de pinpiñónsămânță de pinpinyópinhão
tomâtatomatopomodorotomatetomateroșietomàquet, tomatatomate
articiòccaartichokecarciofoartichautalcachofaanghinareescarxofa, carxofaalcachofra
êuvoegguovoœufhuevoouăouovo
cà or casahome, housecasamaison, domicilecasacasăcasa or cacasa
ciæoclear or lightchiaroclairclaroclarclarclaro
éuggioeyeocchioœilojoochiullolho
bóccamouthboccabouchebocagurăbocaboca
téstaheadtestatêtecabezacapcapcabeça
schénn-abackschienadosespaldaspateesquenacostas
bràssoarmbracciobrasbrazobrațbraçbraço
gànbaleggambajambepiernapiciorcamaperna
cheuheartcuorecœurcorazóninimăcorcoração
arvîto openaprireouvrirabrira deschideobrirabrir
serrâto closechiuderefermercerrar a închidetancarfechar