Western Lombard grammar
This article discusses the grammar of the Western Lombard (Insubric) language.
The examples are in Milanese, written according to the Classical Milanese orthography.
General characteristics of Insubric grammar
The phonetical characteristics of Insubric language are the halving of consonants, the voicing of intervocalic consonants, the transformation of Latin "u" into Insubric /y/, Latin short "o" into /œ/ø/, partial transformation of long "o" into /u/, the falling of final vowels except "a", loss of Latin suffix "re" of infinitive, suffix "i" for 1st person, partial falling of intervocalic "d", partial transformation of "a" into "o" when followed by "l" and another consonant, the transformation of Latin groups "pl", "bl", "fl", "gl" into "pi", "bi", "fi", "gi" and of group "ct" into "c", the nasalization of vowels followed by "n" or its transformation into a velar nasal, the falling of final "l" and "r" when followed by a long vowel, the distinction of vowel length, the partial transformation of intervocalic "l" into "r".The etymology of the words is very often derived from Latin. An uncommon feature for a Romance language is the extended use of idiomatic phrasal verbs much in the same way as in English. E.g. "trà", "trà via", "trà sù", "trà foeura" ; "mangià", "mangià foeura".
Unlike most Romance languages, Western Lombard has vowel quantity oppositions. Examples are:
- pas vs. pass
- ciapaa vs. ciapà .
Syntax
The most frequent word order is subject–verb–object, but all the other orders are possible when there isn't any ambiguity: the inversions are commonly used to emphasise the first word.Examples are:Mi voo a scoeula. "I go to school."Voo a scoeula, mi. Again, this sentence means "I go to school" but in this case, the act of going to school wants to be emphasised.
Like the Italian language, when a proclitic pronoun is used, however, this comes before the verb and the auxiliary:Lù la ved. "He sees her".
The singular third person of the verb is preceded by a proclitic word that remind the subject; the singular second person of the verb is preceded by a proclitic word. There might be, but it's optional, other proclitic words, like "a" in all the persons, or "i" in the plural third person:Luu el suguta a cantà. "He keeps singing."Lee la và in gesa. "She goes to the church."Ti te set ingles. "You are English."
As noted before differently from to Italian, the personal pronoun is always followed by the subject pronoun:Mi a voo a scoeula. / * Mi se voo a scoeula.Ti te set ingles.
However, similarly to Italian, in Lombard the personal pronoun can be dropped. Unlike Italian, whenever this happens the subject pronoun must not be dropped:A voo a scoeula. / Se voo a scoeula.Te set ingles.
Articles
Definite article
The Insubric definite article derives from a Latin distal demonstrative, ille.It can vary according to the gender and number of the noun. The definite article takes the following forms:
Like the, the Insubric definite article is used with a noun referring to a specific item when both the speaker and the audience know what the item is. It is necessary in the following cases:
| Use | Example |
| General categories and abstractions | La pascenza a l'è on virtù. Patience is a virtue. |
| Name and adjective clusters | La Londra veggia a l'è bella. Old London is beauty. |
| Languages and academic subjects | Mi a capissi el todesch. I understand German. |
| Countries | Mi se voeuri visità la Franza. I want to visit France. |
| Mountains, rivers and lakes. | L'Ada la traversa el lach de Còmm. The Adda pass through the Como lake. |
| Seasons | La primavera a l'è la mia stagion preferida. Spring is my favourite season. |
| Titles, family names | Te i chì i Brambilla. Here are the Brambillas. |
| Parts of the body | El se lava i man. He washes his hands. |
| Possessive adjectives | El mè pader. My father. |
Unlike the, the definite article is also used with mass nouns and plural nouns with generic interpretation, and with abstract nouns. For example:
- El Giovann m'ha dii. La' Sara stà de cà a Cernusch.
Indefinite article
The Insubric indefinite article is analogous to the English indefinite article a/an. Like a/an, the Insubric indefinite article is used with a noun referring to a non-specific item, or to a specific item when the speaker and audience do not both know what the item is; so, ho spaccaa ona cadrega rossa. Unlike a/an, the Insubric indefinite article has a plural form, often translated as some but usually simply omitted in English; so, gh'hinn di liber laggiò.The indefinite article takes the following forms:
| singular | plural | |
| masculine | on | di |
| feminine | ona | di |
Inflection of nouns and adjectives
Most of the masculine nouns and adjectives terminate without suffix. This is valid both for the singular and the plural form.Examples are:El milanes → I milanes L'amis → I amis
Most of the feminine singular nouns and adjectives are formed by adding an "-a" as a suffix. The plural, instead, is the same than the masculine form.La milanesa → I milanes L'amisa → I amis.
Variants
;Creation of the feminine form:The feminine form is not created by simply adding an "-a" when the word ends with:;Creation of the plural form for masculine nouns:Nouns do not change form when they become plural unless the word terminates with:
;Creation of the plural form for feminine nouns:
Nouns
Every Insubric noun has a grammatical gender, either masculine or feminine. There is no case inflection. Articles and adjectives agree in gender and number with the noun they refer to.Usually, masculine nouns are unmarked whilst feminine nouns carry the suffix "-a"; the plural is unmarked, like the masculine feminine. Thus, the most common declension paradigm for Western Lombard names is the one that follows:
| singular | plural | |
| masculine | gatt | gatt |
| feminine | gatta | gatt |
For exceptions, see Insubric grammar#Variants
Gender inflection
The grammatical gender of a noun referring to a human usually corresponds to the noun's natural gender. For such nouns, there will very often be one noun of each gender, with the choice of noun being determined by the natural gender of the person described; for example, a male writer is a scrittor, while a female writer is a scrittora.Alike other Latin languages, a plural noun that refers to both males and females is masculine.
Alteration
As in Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish, in Western Lombard altered nouns are nouns with particular shades of meaning. They are divided into diminutives, "vezzegiativ", augmentatives, and pejoratives.Pronouns
Personal pronouns
Western Lombard features a sizeable set of pronouns. Personal pronouns are inflected for person, number, case, and, in the third person, gender.Personal pronouns are normally dropped in the subject, as the conjugation is usually enough to determine the grammatical person. They are used when some emphasis is needed, e.g. son lombard vs. mi son lombard.
Verbs
Western Lombard verbs express an action or a state of being of a given subject, and like verbs in most of the Indo-European languages, Insubric verbs undergo inflection according to the following categories:- Tense: past, present or future.
- Mood: indicative, subjunctive, conditional, imperative, infinitive, gerundive or participle.
- Aspect: perfective or imperfective.
- Voice: active or passive.
Auxiliary verbs are combined with past participles of main verbs to produce compound tenses. For most main verbs the auxiliary is avè, but for reflexive verbs and certain intransitive verbs the auxiliary is a form of vess. The participle agrees with the subject when the auxiliary is vess. Forms of vess are also used with the past participles of transitive verbs to form the passive voice.
Unlike other Romance languages, in Western Lombard it does exist the negative form of the imperative.
Insubric has four conjugations:
- The first conjugation class consists of all verbs with infinitives ending in "-à".
- The second conjugation class consists of all verbs with infinitives in "-è".
- The third conjugation class consists of all other verbs terminating with a consonant.
- The fourth conjugation class consists of all verbs with infinitives in "-ì".
Adverbs
Modal adverbs
An adjective can be made into a modal adverb by adding -ment to the ending of the feminine singular form of the adjective. E.g.:- giusta becomes giustament
- vera becomes verament
- fazzil becomes fazzilment
- particolar becomes particolarment
There are also some cases of adverbs that are typically Insubric:abellasi inevid
Adverbial phrase are really common in Western Lombard:in genoggion a tomborlon de balossett
- ''de cativ''
Adverbs of space
davaant ananz / inanz de dree in meś arént luntan de part de sura de surevia de suta derént- ''de foeura''
Adverbs of time
adess poeu incoeu ier doman prima despoeu, depos semper de spess jamò mai ancamò, amò gnancamò, ''nonamò''Prepositions
Western Lombard prepositions link two related parts of a sentence. In word order, they are placed in front of a noun in order to specify the relationship between the noun and the verb, adjective, or other noun that precedes it.The basic Insubric prepositions are:
- de
- a
- da
- in
- cunt, cun when followed by consonant
- su
- per
- intra
- suta
- sura
- surevia
The basic prepositions de, a and su can be combined with an article to create an articulated preposition:
| de | a | su | |
| del | al | sul | |
| de la | a la | su la | |
| di | ai | sui |
To make the basic preposition in an articulated one, the articulated form of the preposition de must be used: in + el forms in del, in + la forms in de la, and in + i forms in di.
Subdivision
Insubric grammar has some geographical mutation. The main sections can be:- Milanese grammar
- Southwestern Lombard grammars
- Brianzoeu, Comasco-Lecchese, Varesino and Ticinese grammars
- Alpine Lombard grammar