, altname =
, states =
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...
, region =
Abruzzo
Abruzzo (, , ; nap, label=Neapolitan language, Abruzzese Neapolitan, Abbrùzze , ''Abbrìzze'' or ''Abbrèzze'' ; nap, label=Sabino dialect, Aquilano, Abbrùzzu; #History, historically Abruzzi) is a Regions of Italy, region of Southern Italy wi ...
,
Apulia
it, Pugliese
, population_note =
, population_blank1_title =
, population_blank1 =
, demographics_type1 =
, demographics1_footnotes =
, demographics1_title1 =
, demographics1_info1 =
, demographic ...
,
Basilicata
it, Lucano (man) it, Lucana (woman)
, population_note =
, population_blank1_title =
, population_blank1 =
, demographics_type1 =
, demographics1_footnotes =
, demographics1_title1 =
, demographics1_info1 =
...
,
Calabria
, population_note =
, population_blank1_title =
, population_blank1 =
, demographics_type1 =
, demographics1_footnotes =
, demographics1_title1 =
, demographics1_info1 =
, demographics1_title2 ...
,
Campania
Campania (, also , , , ) is an administrative Regions of Italy, region of Italy; most of it is in the south-western portion of the Italian peninsula (with the Tyrrhenian Sea to its west), but it also includes the small Phlegraean Islands and the i ...
,
Lazio
it, Laziale
, population_note =
, population_blank1_title =
, population_blank1 =
, demographics_type1 =
, demographics1_footnotes =
, demographics1_title1 =
, demographics1_info1 =
, demographics1_title2 ...
,
Marche
Marche ( , ) is one of the twenty regions of Italy. In English, the region is sometimes referred to as The Marches ( ). The region is located in the central area of the country, bordered by Emilia-Romagna and the republic of San Marino to the ...
,
Molise
Molise (, , ; nap, label=Neapolitan language, Neapolitan, Mulise) is a Regions of Italy, region of Southern Italy. Until 1963, it formed part of the region of Abruzzi e Molise, alongside the region of Abruzzo. The split, which did not become effe ...
, ethnicity = ''
Mezzogiorno
Southern Italy ( it, Sud Italia or ) also known as ''Meridione'' or ''Mezzogiorno'' (), is a macroregion A macroregion is a geopolitical subdivision that encompasses several traditionally or politically defined regions or countries. The meaning ...
''
Ethnic Italians
, flag =
, flag_caption = The national flag of Italy
, population =
, regions = Italy 55,551,000
, region1 = Brazil
, pop1 = 25–33 million
, ref1 =
, region2 ...
, speakers = 5.7 million
, date = 2002
, ref = e18
, familycolor = Indo-European
, fam2 =
Italic
, fam3 =
Romance
Romance (from Vulgar Latin , "in the Roman language", i.e., "Latin") may refer to:
Common meanings
* Romance (love), emotional attraction towards another person and the courtship behaviors undertaken to express the feelings
* Romance languages, ...
, fam4 =
Italo-Dalmatian
The Italo-Dalmatian languages, or Central Romance languages, are a group of Romance languages spoken in Italy, Corsica (France), and formerly in Dalmatia (Croatia).
Italo-Dalmatian can be split into:Hammarström, Harald & Forkel, Robert & Haspe ...
, iso2 = nap
, iso3 = nap
, glotto = neap1235
, glottorefname = Continental Southern Italian
, glottoname = Continental Southern Italian
, glotto2 = sout3126
, glottorefname2 = South Lucanian
, glottoname2 = South Lucanian =
(Vd)
Lausberg
, map = Neapolitan_languages-it.svg
, mapcaption = Intermediate Neapolitan dialects
, map2 = Romance_languages.png
, mapcaption2 = Neapolitan as part of the European Romance languages
Neapolitan (
autonym
Autonym may refer to:
* Autonym, the name used by a person to refer to themselves or their language; see Exonym and endonym
* Autonym (botany), an automatically created infrageneric or infraspecific name
See also
* Nominotypical subspecies, in zo ...
: ; it, napoletano) is a
Romance language
The Romance languages, sometimes referred to as Latin languages or Neo-Latin languages, are the various modern languages that evolved from Vulgar Latin. They are the only extant subgroup of the Italic languages in the Indo-European languages, I ...
of the
Italo-Dalmatian group spoken across much of mainland
Southern Italy
Southern Italy ( it, Sud Italia or ) also known as ''Meridione'' or ''Mezzogiorno'' (), is a macroregion of the Italian Republic consisting of its southern half.
The term ''Mezzogiorno'' today refers to regions that are associated with the peop ...
(except for southern
Calabria
, population_note =
, population_blank1_title =
, population_blank1 =
, demographics_type1 =
, demographics1_footnotes =
, demographics1_title1 =
, demographics1_info1 =
, demographics1_title2 ...
and southern
Apulia
it, Pugliese
, population_note =
, population_blank1_title =
, population_blank1 =
, demographics_type1 =
, demographics1_footnotes =
, demographics1_title1 =
, demographics1_info1 =
, demographic ...
),
[The Guardian for the list of languages in the Unesco site.]
/ref> and spoken in a small part of Central Italy
Central Italy ( it, Italia centrale or just ) is one of the five official statistical regions of Italy used by the National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT), a first-level NUTS region, and a European Parliament constituency.
Regions
Central It ...
(the province of Ascoli Piceno
The province of Ascoli Piceno ( it, Provincia di Ascoli Piceno) is a province in the Marche region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Ascoli Piceno, and the province is bordered by the Adriatic Sea to the east, the Province of Fermo to the north ...
in the Marche
Marche ( , ) is one of the twenty regions of Italy. In English, the region is sometimes referred to as The Marches ( ). The region is located in the central area of the country, bordered by Emilia-Romagna and the republic of San Marino to the ...
). It is named after the Kingdom of Naples
The Kingdom of Naples ( la, Regnum Neapolitanum; it, Regno di Napoli; nap, Regno 'e Napule), also known as the Kingdom of Sicily, was a state that ruled the part of the Italian Peninsula south of the Papal States between 1282 and 1816. It was ...
, which once covered most of the area, since the city of Naples
Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...
was its capital. On 14 October 2008, a law by the Region of Campania
Campania (, also , , , ) is an administrative Regions of Italy, region of Italy; most of it is in the south-western portion of the Italian peninsula (with the Tyrrhenian Sea to its west), but it also includes the small Phlegraean Islands and the i ...
stated that Neapolitan was to be protected.["Tutela del dialetto, primo via libera al Ddl campano"]
("Bill to protect dialect green-lighted") from ''Il Denaro'', economic journal of South Italy, 15 October 2008 Re Franceschiello. L'ultimo sovrano delle Due Sicilie
The term "Neapolitan language" is used broadly in this article to refer to the group of closely-related Romance dialects found in southern continental Italy, as described above. However, as the term itself implies, in contexts ranging from colloquial speech to academic linguistics, ''Neapolitan'', ''napulitano'' or ''napoletano'' may refer instead to the specific Romance varieties
Variety may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats
* Variety (radio)
* Variety show, in theater and television
Films
* ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont
* ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
spoken natively in Naples
Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...
and the immediately surrounding Naples metropolitan area
The Naples metropolitan area ( it, Area metropolitana di Napoli), or Greater Naples, is a metropolitan area in Campania, Italy, centered on the city of Naples.
Overview
Naples urban area and metropolitan area is the second most populous in Ita ...
.
Distribution
In the broad view adopted here, the Neapolitan dialects are distributed throughout most of continental southern Italy
Southern Italy ( it, Sud Italia or ) also known as ''Meridione'' or ''Mezzogiorno'' (), is a macroregion of the Italian Republic consisting of its southern half.
The term ''Mezzogiorno'' today refers to regions that are associated with the peop ...
, historically united during the Kingdom of Naples
The Kingdom of Naples ( la, Regnum Neapolitanum; it, Regno di Napoli; nap, Regno 'e Napule), also known as the Kingdom of Sicily, was a state that ruled the part of the Italian Peninsula south of the Papal States between 1282 and 1816. It was ...
and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies
The Kingdom of the Two Sicilies ( it, Regno delle Due Sicilie) was a kingdom in Southern Italy from 1816 to 1860. The kingdom was the largest sovereign state by population and size in Italy before Italian unification, comprising Sicily and a ...
, specifically southern Lazio
it, Laziale
, population_note =
, population_blank1_title =
, population_blank1 =
, demographics_type1 =
, demographics1_footnotes =
, demographics1_title1 =
, demographics1_info1 =
, demographics1_title2 ...
(Gaeta
Gaeta (; lat, Cāiēta; Southern Laziale: ''Gaieta'') is a city in the province of Latina, in Lazio, Southern Italy. Set on a promontory stretching towards the Gulf of Gaeta, it is from Rome and from Naples.
The town has played a consp ...
and Sora districts), southern Marche
Marche ( , ) is one of the twenty regions of Italy. In English, the region is sometimes referred to as The Marches ( ). The region is located in the central area of the country, bordered by Emilia-Romagna and the republic of San Marino to the ...
, Abruzzo
Abruzzo (, , ; nap, label=Neapolitan language, Abruzzese Neapolitan, Abbrùzze , ''Abbrìzze'' or ''Abbrèzze'' ; nap, label=Sabino dialect, Aquilano, Abbrùzzu; #History, historically Abruzzi) is a Regions of Italy, region of Southern Italy wi ...
, Molise
Molise (, , ; nap, label=Neapolitan language, Neapolitan, Mulise) is a Regions of Italy, region of Southern Italy. Until 1963, it formed part of the region of Abruzzi e Molise, alongside the region of Abruzzo. The split, which did not become effe ...
, Basilicata
it, Lucano (man) it, Lucana (woman)
, population_note =
, population_blank1_title =
, population_blank1 =
, demographics_type1 =
, demographics1_footnotes =
, demographics1_title1 =
, demographics1_info1 =
...
, Campania
Campania (, also , , , ) is an administrative Regions of Italy, region of Italy; most of it is in the south-western portion of the Italian peninsula (with the Tyrrhenian Sea to its west), but it also includes the small Phlegraean Islands and the i ...
(Naples), northern and central Apulia
it, Pugliese
, population_note =
, population_blank1_title =
, population_blank1 =
, demographics_type1 =
, demographics1_footnotes =
, demographics1_title1 =
, demographics1_info1 =
, demographic ...
, and northernmost Calabria
, population_note =
, population_blank1_title =
, population_blank1 =
, demographics_type1 =
, demographics1_footnotes =
, demographics1_title1 =
, demographics1_info1 =
, demographics1_title2 ...
. The dialects are part of a varied dialect continuum
A dialect continuum or dialect chain is a series of Variety (linguistics), language varieties spoken across some geographical area such that neighboring varieties are Mutual intelligibility, mutually intelligible, but the differences accumulat ...
, so the varieties in southern Lazio, Marche, Abruzzo, Molise, Apulia, Lucania and Calabria can typically be recognizable as regional groups of dialects. In western Abruzzo and Lazio, the dialects give way to Central Italian
Central Italian (Italian: ''dialetti mediani'') refers to Italo-Romance varieties 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 ...
dialects such as Romanesco. The dialects in central Calabria and southern Apulia give way to the Sicilian language
Sicilian ( scn, sicilianu, link=no, ; it, siciliano) is a Romance language that is spoken on the island of Sicily and its satellite islands. A variant, ''Calabro-Sicilian'', is spoken in southern Calabria, where it is called Southern Calabro ...
.
Largely due to massive Southern Italian migration in the late 19th century and 20th century, there are also a number of Neapolitan speakers in Italian diaspora
, image = Map of the Italian Diaspora in the World.svg
, image_caption = Map of the Italian diaspora in the world
, population = worldwide
, popplace = Brazil, Argentina, United States, France, Colombia, Canada, P ...
communities in the United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
, Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
, Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
, Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
, Argentina
Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
, Mexico
Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
, and Venezuela
Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...
. However, in the United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
, traditional Neapolitan has had considerable contact with English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
and the Sicilian language
Sicilian ( scn, sicilianu, link=no, ; it, siciliano) is a Romance language that is spoken on the island of Sicily and its satellite islands. A variant, ''Calabro-Sicilian'', is spoken in southern Calabria, where it is called Southern Calabro ...
s spoken by Sicilian and Calabrian immigrants living alongside Neapolitan-speaking immigrants and so the Neapolitan in the US is now significantly different from the contemporary Neapolitan spoken in Naples
Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...
. English words are often used in place of Neapolitan words, especially among second-generation speakers. On the other hand, the effect of Standard Italian
Italian (''italiano'' or ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European language family that evolved from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire. Together with Sardinian, Italian is the least divergent language from Latin. Spoken by about 85 m ...
on Neapolitan in Italy has been similar because of the increasing displacement of Neapolitan by Standard Italian in daily speech.
The following dialects constitute Neapolitan; numbers refer to the map:
The southernmost regions of Italy—most of Calabria, southern Apulia, and southern Salerno (Cilento
Cilento is an Italian geographical region of Campania in the central and southern part of the Province of Salerno and an important Tourism, tourist area of southern Italy.
Cilento is known as one of the centers of Mediterranean diet.
Geograph ...
region) as well as Sicily—are home to Sicilian rather than Neapolitan.
Classification
Neapolitan is a Romance language
The Romance languages, sometimes referred to as Latin languages or Neo-Latin languages, are the various modern languages that evolved from Vulgar Latin. They are the only extant subgroup of the Italic languages in the Indo-European languages, I ...
and is generally considered one of the Italo-Romance branch of the Italo-Dalmatian languages
The Italo-Dalmatian languages, or Central Romance languages, are a group of Romance languages spoken in Italy, Corsica (France), and formerly in Dalmatia (Croatia).
Italo-Dalmatian can be split into:Hammarström, Harald & Forkel, Robert & Hasp ...
.[Hammarström, Harald & Forkel, Robert & Haspelmath, Martin & Nordhoff, Sebastian. 2014]
"Italo-Dalmatian" Glottolog 2.3
Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. There are notable differences among the various dialects, but they are all generally mutually intelligible.
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
and Neapolitan are of variable mutual comprehensibility, depending on affective and linguistic factors. There are notable grammatical differences, such as Neapolitan having nouns in the neuter form and a unique plural formation, as well as historical phonological developments, which often obscure the cognacy of lexical items.
Its evolution has been similar to that of Italian and other Romance languages from their roots in Vulgar Latin
Vulgar Latin, also known as Popular or Colloquial Latin, is the range of non-formal Register (sociolinguistics), registers of Latin spoken from the Crisis of the Roman Republic, Late Roman Republic onward. Through time, Vulgar Latin would evolve ...
. It may reflect a pre-Latin Oscan
Oscan is an extinct Indo-European language of southern Italy. The language is in the Osco-Umbrian or Sabellic branch of the Italic languages. Oscan is therefore a close relative of Umbrian.
Oscan was spoken by a number of tribes, including th ...
substratum
In linguistics, a stratum (Latin for "layer") or strate is a language that influences or is influenced by another through contact. A substratum or substrate is a language that has lower power or prestige than another, while a superstratum or sup ...
, as in the pronunciation of the ''d'' sound as an ''r'' sound (rhotacism
Rhotacism () or rhotacization is a sound change that converts one consonant (usually a voiced alveolar consonant: , , , or ) to a rhotic consonant in a certain environment. The most common may be of to . When a dialect or member of a language ...
) at the beginning of a word or between two vowels: e.g. ''doje'' (feminine) or ''duje'' (masculine), meaning "two", is pronounced, and often spelled, as ''roje''/''ruje''; ''vedé'' ("to see") as ''veré'', and often spelled so; also ''cadé''/''caré'' ("to fall") and ''Madonna
Madonna Louise Ciccone (; ; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer-songwriter and actress. Widely dubbed the " Queen of Pop", Madonna has been noted for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, songwriting, a ...
''/''Maronna''). Another purported Oscan influence is the historical assimilation of the consonant cluster as , pronounced (this is generally reflected in spelling more consistently: vs Italian "world"; vs
Italian "when"), along with the development of as ~ ( vs Italian "drum"), also consistently reflected in spelling. Other effects of the Oscan substratum
In linguistics, a stratum (Latin for "layer") or strate is a language that influences or is influenced by another through contact. A substratum or substrate is a language that has lower power or prestige than another, while a superstratum or sup ...
are postulated, but substratum claims are highly controversial. As in many other languages in the Italian Peninsula, Neapolitan has an adstratum
In linguistics, a stratum (Latin for "layer") or strate is a language that influences or is influenced by another through contact. A substratum or substrate is a language that has lower power or prestige than another, while a superstratum or sup ...
greatly influenced by other Romance languages
The Romance languages, sometimes referred to as Latin languages or Neo-Latin languages, are the various modern languages that evolved from Vulgar Latin. They are the only extant subgroup of the Italic languages in the Indo-European language fam ...
(Catalan
Catalan may refer to:
Catalonia
From, or related to Catalonia:
* Catalan language, a Romance language
* Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia
Places
* 13178 Catalan, asteroid #1 ...
, Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries
**Spanish cuisine
Other places
* Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...
and Franco-Provençal
Franco-Provençal (also Francoprovençal, Patois or Arpitan) is a language within Gallo-Romance originally spoken in east-central France, western Switzerland and northwestern Italy.
Franco-Provençal has several distinct dialects and is separ ...
above all), Germanic languages
The Germanic languages are a branch of the Indo-European language family spoken natively by a population of about 515 million people mainly in Europe, North America, Oceania and Southern Africa. The most widely spoken Germanic language, Engli ...
and Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
(both ancient and modern). The language had never been standardised, and the word for ''tree'' has three different spellings: , and .
Neapolitan has enjoyed a rich literary, musical
Musical is the adjective of music.
Musical may also refer to:
* Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance
* Musical film and television, a genre of film and television that incorporates into the narr ...
and theatrical history (notably Giambattista Basile
Giambattista Basile (February 1566 – February 1632) was an Italian poet, courtier, and fairy tale collector. His collections include the oldest recorded forms of many well-known (and more obscure) European fairy tales. He is chiefly remembere ...
, Eduardo Scarpetta
Eduardo Scarpetta (13 March 1853 – 12 November 1925) was an Italian actor and playwright from Naples.
Biography
Although not from a theatrical family, he was on the stage by the age of four and is today best remembered as the creator of a c ...
, his son Eduardo De Filippo
Eduardo De Filippo (; 24 May 1900 – 31 October 1984), also known simply as ''Eduardo'', was an Italian actor, director, screenwriter and playwright, best known for his Neapolitan works ''Filumena Marturano'' and '' Napoli Milionaria''. Consid ...
, Salvatore Di Giacomo
Salvatore Di Giacomo (12 March 1860 – 5 April 1934) was an Italian poet, songwriter, playwright and fascist, one of the signatories to the Manifesto of the Fascist Intellectuals.
Di Giacomo is credited as being one of those responsible for r ...
and Totò
Antonio Griffo Focas Flavio Angelo Ducas Comneno Porfirogenito Gagliardi de Curtis di Bisanzio (15 February 1898 – 15 April 1967), best known by his stage name Totò (), or simply as Antonio de Curtis, and nicknamed ''il Principe della risata ...
). Thanks to this heritage and the musical work of Renato Carosone
Renato Carosone (; born Renato Carusone; 3 January 1920 – 20 May 2001) was an Italian musician.
He was a prominent figure of the Italian music scene in the second half of the 20th century. He was also a modern performer of the so-called ' ...
in the 1950s, Neapolitan is still in use in popular music, even gaining national popularity in the songs of Pino Daniele
Giuseppe Daniele (19 March 1955 – 4 January 2015), known as Pino Daniele, was an Italian singer, songwriter and musician. His influences covered a wide number of genres, including pop, blues, jazz, and Italian and Middle Eastern music.
Biograp ...
and the Nuova Compagnia di Canto Popolare
The Nuova Compagnia di Canto Popolare (literally "New Company of Folk Song"), also known by the acronym NCCP, is an Italian folk group, founded in Naples in 1969.
History
The musical project was founded by musicians Eugenio Bennato, Carlo D’A ...
.
The language has no official status within Italy and is not taught in schools. The University of Naples Federico II
The University of Naples Federico II ( it, Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II) is a public university in Naples, Italy. Founded in 1224, it is the oldest public non-sectarian university in the world, and is now organized into 26 depar ...
offers (from 2003) courses in Campanian Dialectology at the faculty of Sociology, whose actual aim is not to teach students to speak the language but to study its history, usage, literature and social role. There are also ongoing legislative attempts at the national level to have it recognized as an official minority language
A minority language is a language spoken by a minority of the population of a territory. Such people are termed linguistic minorities or language minorities. With a total number of 196 sovereign states recognized internationally (as of 2019) and ...
of Italy. It is a recognized ISO
ISO is the most common abbreviation for the International Organization for Standardization.
ISO or Iso may also refer to: Business and finance
* Iso (supermarket), a chain of Danish supermarkets incorporated into the SuperBest chain in 2007
* Iso ...
639 Joint Advisory Committee language with the language code of ''nap''.
Here is the IPA
IPA commonly refers to:
* India pale ale, a style of beer
* International Phonetic Alphabet, a system of phonetic notation
* Isopropyl alcohol, a chemical compound
IPA may also refer to:
Organizations International
* Insolvency Practitioners ...
pronunciation of the Neapolitan spoken in the city of Naples:
Alphabet and pronunciation
Neapolitan orthography consists of 22 Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
letters. Much like Italian orthography
Italian orthography (writing) uses a variant of the Latin alphabet consisting of 21 letters to write the Italian language. This article focuses on the writing of Standard Italian, based historically on the Florentine dialect.
Italian orthography ...
, it does not contain ''k,'' ''w,'' ''x,'' or ''y'' even though these letters might be found in some foreign words; unlike Italian, it does contain the letter ''j''. The following English pronunciation guidelines are based on General American
General American English or General American (abbreviated GA or GenAm) is the umbrella accent of American English spoken by a majority of Americans. In the United States it is often perceived as lacking any distinctly regional, ethnic, or so ...
pronunciation, and the values used may not apply to other dialects. (See also: International Phonetic Alphabet chart for English dialects
This chart shows the most common applications of the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) to represent English language pronunciations.
See Pronunciation respelling for English for phonetic transcriptions used in different dictionaries.
*AmE, A ...
.)
All Romance languages are closely related. Although Neapolitan shares a high degree of its vocabulary with Italian, the official language of Italy, differences in pronunciation often make the connection unrecognizable to those without knowledge of Neapolitan. The most striking phonological difference is the Neapolitan weakening of unstressed vowels into schwa
In linguistics, specifically phonetics and phonology, schwa (, rarely or ; sometimes spelled shwa) is a vowel sound denoted by the IPA symbol , placed in the central position of the vowel chart. In English and some other languages, it rep ...
(''schwa'' is pronounced like the ''a'' in ''about'' or the ''u'' in ''upon''). However, it is also possible (and quite common for some Neapolitans) to speak standard Italian with a "Neapolitan accent"; that is, by pronouncing un-stressed vowels as schwa or by pronouncing the letter s as (like the ''sh'' in ''ship'') instead of (like the ''s'' in ''sea'' or the ''ss'' in ''pass'') when the letter is in initial position followed by a consonant, but not when it is followed by a dental occlusive or (at least in the purest form of the language) but by otherwise using only entirely standard words and grammatical forms. This is not Neapolitan properly, but rather a mere difference in Italian pronunciation.
Therefore, while pronunciation presents the strongest barrier to comprehension, the grammar of Neapolitan is what sets it apart from Italian. In Neapolitan, for example, the gender and number of a word is expressed by a change in the accented vowel, whereas in Italian it is expressed by a change in the final vowel (e.g. ''luongo'' , ''longa'' ; Italian ''lungo'', ''lunga''; masc. "long", fem. "long"). These and other morpho-syntactic differences distinguish the Neapolitan language from the Italian language and the Neapolitan accent.
Neapolitan has had a significant influence on the intonation of Rioplatense Spanish
Rioplatense Spanish (), also known as Rioplatense Castilian, is a variety of Spanish spoken mainly in and around the Río de la Plata Basin of Argentina and Uruguay. It is also referred to as River Plate Spanish or Argentine Spanish. It is the ...
, of the Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...
region of Argentina
Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
, and the whole of Uruguay
Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...
.[Colantoni, Laura, and Jorge Gurlekia]
"Convergence and intonation: historical evidence from Buenos Aires Spanish"
''Bilingualism: Language and Cognition'', Volume 7, Issue 02, August 2004, pp. 107–119, Cambridge Journals Online
Vowels
While there are only five graphic vowels in Neapolitan, phonemically, there are eight. Stressed vowels ''e'' and ''o'' can be either " closed" or "open
Open or OPEN may refer to:
Music
* Open (band), Australian pop/rock band
* The Open (band), English indie rock band
* ''Open'' (Blues Image album), 1969
* ''Open'' (Gotthard album), 1999
* ''Open'' (Cowboy Junkies album), 2001
* ''Open'' (YF ...
" and the pronunciation is different for the two. The grave accent (''à'', ''è'', ''ò'') is used to denote open vowels, and the acute accent (''é'', ''í'', ''ó'', ''ú'') is used to denote closed vowels, with alternative ''ì'' and ''ù''. However, accent marks are not commonly used in the actual spelling of words except when they occur on the final syllable of a word, such as ''Totò'', ''arrivà'', or ''pecché'', and when they appear here in other positions, it is only to demonstrate where the stress, or accent, falls in some words. Also, the circumflex
The circumflex () is a diacritic in the Latin and Greek scripts that is also used in the written forms of many languages and in various romanization and transcription schemes. It received its English name from la, circumflexus "bent around"a ...
is used to mark a long vowel where it wouldn't normally occur (e.g. ''sî'' "you are").
Consonants
Digraphs and trigraphs
The following clusters are always geminated
In phonetics and phonology, gemination (), or consonant lengthening (from Latin 'doubling', itself from ''gemini'' 'twins'), is an articulation of a consonant for a longer period of time than that of a singleton consonant. It is distinct from s ...
if vowel-following.
Grammar
Definite articles
The Neapolitan classical definite article
An article is any member of a class of dedicated words that are used with noun phrases to mark the identifiability of the referents of the noun phrases. The category of articles constitutes a part of speech.
In English, both "the" and "a(n)" ar ...
s (corresponding to the English word "the") are ''la'' (feminine singular), ''lo'' (masculine singular) and ''li'' (plural for both), but in reality these forms will probably only be found in older literature (along with ''lu'' and even ''el''), of which there is much to be found. Modern Neapolitan uses, almost entirely, shortened forms of these articles:
Before a word beginning with a consonant:
These definite articles are always pronounced distinctly.
Before a word beginning with a vowel, ''l’'' or ''ll’'' are used
for both masculine and feminine, singular and plural. Although both forms can be found, the ''ll’'' form is by far the most common.
It is well to note that in Neapolitan, the gender
Gender is the range of characteristics pertaining to femininity and masculinity and differentiating between them. Depending on the context, this may include sex-based social structures (i.e. gender roles) and gender identity. Most cultures u ...
of a noun is not easily determined by the article, so other means must be used. In the case of ''’o'', which can be either masculine singular or neuter singular (there is no neuter plural in Neapolitan), the initial consonant of the noun is doubled when it is neuter. For example, the name of a language in Neapolitan is always neuter, so if we see ''’o nnapulitano'' we know it refers to the Neapolitan language, whereas ''’o napulitano'' would refer to a Neapolitan man.
Likewise, since ''’e'' can be either masculine or feminine plural, when it is feminine plural, the initial consonant of the noun is doubled. For example, consider ''’a lista'', which in Neapolitan is feminine singular for "list." In the plural, it becomes ''’e lliste''.
There can also be problems with nouns whose singular form ends in ''e''. Since plural nouns usually end in ''e'' whether masculine or feminine, the masculine plural is often formed by orthographically changing the spelling. As an example, consider the word ''guaglione'' (which means "boy" or "girl" in the feminine form):
More will be said about these orthographically changing nouns in the section on Neapolitan nouns.
A couple of notes about consonant doubling:
*Doubling is a function of the article (and certain other words), and these same words may be seen in other contexts without the consonant doubled. More will be said about this in the section on consonant doubling.
*Doubling only occurs when a vowel follows the consonant. No doubling occurs if it is followed by another consonant, such as in the word ''spagnuolo (Spanish)''.
Indefinite articles
The Neapolitan indefinite articles, corresponding to the English ''a'' or ''an'', are presented in the following table:
Verbal conjugation
In Neapolitan there are four finite moods: indicative
A realis mood (abbreviated ) is a grammatical mood which is used principally to indicate that something is a statement of fact; in other words, to express what the speaker considers to be a known state of affairs, as in declarative sentences. Most ...
, subjunctive
The subjunctive (also known as conjunctive in some languages) is a grammatical mood, a feature of the utterance that indicates the speaker's attitude towards it. Subjunctive forms of verbs are typically used to express various states of unreality ...
, conditional and imperative, and three non-finite modes: infinitive
Infinitive (abbreviated ) is a linguistics term for certain verb forms existing in many languages, most often used as non-finite verbs. As with many linguistic concepts, there is not a single definition applicable to all languages. The word is deri ...
, gerund
In linguistics, a gerund ( abbreviated ) is any of various nonfinite verb forms in various languages; most often, but not exclusively, one that functions as a noun. In English, it has the properties of both verb and noun, such as being modifiable ...
and participle
In linguistics, a participle () (from Latin ' a "sharing, partaking") is a nonfinite verb form that has some of the characteristics and functions of both verbs and adjectives. More narrowly, ''participle'' has been defined as "a word derived from ...
. Each mood has an active
Active may refer to:
Music
* ''Active'' (album), a 1992 album by Casiopea
* Active Records, a record label
Ships
* ''Active'' (ship), several commercial ships by that name
* HMS ''Active'', the name of various ships of the British Royal ...
and a passive
Passive may refer to:
* Passive voice, a grammatical voice common in many languages, see also Pseudopassive
* Passive language, a language from which an interpreter works
* Passivity (behavior), the condition of submitting to the influence of on ...
form. The only auxiliary verbs used in the active form is (Eng. "to have", It. ''avere''), which contrasts with Italian, in which the intransitive and reflexive verbs take ''èssere'' for their auxiliary. For example, we have:
Doubled initial consonants
In Neapolitan, many times the initial consonant of a word is doubled. This is called '' raddoppiamento sintattico'' in Italian as it also applies to the Italian phonology
The phonology of Italian describes the sound system—the phonology and phonetics—of Standard Italian and its geographical variants.
Consonants
Notes:
* Between two vowels, or between a vowel and an approximant () or a liquid (), co ...
.
* All feminine plural nouns, preceded by the feminine plural definite article, ''’e'', or any feminine plural adjective, have their initial consonant doubled.
* All neuter singular nouns, when preceded by the neuter singular definite article, ''’o'', or by a neuter singular adjective, have their initial consonant doubled.
* In addition, other words also trigger this doubling. Below is a list of words that trigger the doubling of the initial consonant of the following word.
However, when there is a pause after the "trigger" word, the phonological doubling does not occur (e.g. ''tu sî (g)guaglione'', ou are a boy where ''sî'' is a "trigger" word causing doubling of the initial consonant in ''guaglione'' but in the phrase ''’e do sî, guaglió?'' here are you from, boy?no doubling occurs). Neither does doubling occur when the initial consonant is followed by another consonant (e.g. ''’o ttaliano'' he Italian language
He or HE may refer to:
Language
* He (pronoun), an English pronoun
* He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ
* He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets
* He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' i ...
but ''’o spagnuolo'' he Spanish language where ''’o'' is the neuter definite article).
This is what happens phonologically, and no orthographic change is required. The same thing happens in Italian, where multiple words trigger first-consonant doubling, e.g. ''la casa'' but ''a (c)casa'', ''io e (t)te'', etc.
Words that trigger doubling in pronunciation
* The conjunctions ''e'' and ''né'' but not ''o'' (e.g. ''pane e ccaso''; ''né (p)pane né (c)caso''; but ''pane o caso'')
* The prepositions ''a'', ''pe'', ''cu'' (e.g. ''a (m)me''; ''pe (t)te''; ''cu (v)vuje'')
* The negation ''nu'', short for ''nun'' (e.g. ''nu ddicere niente'')
* The indefinites ''ogne'', ''cocche'' (e.g. ''ogne (c)casa''; ''cocche (c)cosa'')
* Interrogative ''che'' and relative ''che'' but not ''ca'' (e.g. ''che (p)piense?'' ''che (f)femmena!'' ''che (c)capa!'')
* ''accussí'' (e.g. ''accussí (b)bello'')
* From the verb "essere," ''so’''; ''sî''; ''è'' but not ''songo'' (e.g. ''je so’ (p)pazzo''; ''tu sî (f)fesso''; ''chella è (M)Maria''; ''chilli so’ (c)cafune'' but ''chilli songo cafune'')
* ''chiú'' (e.g. ''chiú (p)poco'')
* The number ''tre'' (e.g. ''tre (s)segge'')
* The neuter definite article ''’o'' (e.g. ''’o (p)pane'', but ''nu poco ’e pane'')
* The neuter pronoun ''’o'' (e.g. ''’o (t)tiene ’o (p)pane?'')
* Demonstrative adjectives ''chistu'' and ''chillu'' which refer to neuter nouns in indefinite quantities (e.g. ''chistu (f)fierro''; ''chillu (p)pane'') but not in definite quantities (e.g. ''Chistu fierro''; ''chillu pane'')
* The feminine plural definite article ''’e'' (e.g. ''’e (s)segge''; ''’e (g)guaglione'')
* The plural feminine pronoun ''’e'' (''’e (g)guaglione ’e (c)chiamme tu?'')
* The plural masculine pronoun ''’e'' preceding a verb, but not a noun (''’e guagliune ’e (c)chiamme tu?'')
* The locative ''lloco'' (e.g. ''lloco (s)sotto'')
* From the verb ''stà'': ''sto’'' (e.g. ''sto’ (p)parlanno'')
* From the verb ''puté'': ''può''; ''pô'' (e.g. ''isso pô (s)sapé'')
* Special case '' Spiritu (S)Santo''
See also
*Languages of Italy
The languages of Italy include Italian, which serves as the country's national language, in its standard and regional forms, as well as numerous local and regional languages, most of which, like Italian, belong to the broader Romance group ...
*Sicilian language
Sicilian ( scn, sicilianu, link=no, ; it, siciliano) is a Romance language that is spoken on the island of Sicily and its satellite islands. A variant, ''Calabro-Sicilian'', is spoken in southern Calabria, where it is called Southern Calabro ...
*Languages of Calabria The primary languages of Calabria are the Italian language as well as regional varieties of the Neapolitan language, Neapolitan and Extreme Southern Italian, all collectively known as Calabrian ( it, calabrese, link=no). In addition, there are 100,0 ...
References
Additional sources
*
*
*
* First Course of Neapolitan Language according to the QCER CEFR with the Patronage of City of Naples realized by Dr.Massimiliano Verde "Corso di Lingua e Cultura Napoletana" with a document of study in Neapolitan Language by Dr.Verde
First public document in Neapolitan Language of the XXI century according to a text of Dr.Verde; the touristic Map of the III Municipality of Naples in Neapolitan Language:
*
*
External links
Neapolitan recognized by UNESCO
Websters Online Dictionary Neapolitan–English
Neapolitan on-line radio station
* Neapolitan glossary on Wiktionary
Italian-Neapolitan searchable online dictionary
Neapolitan basic lexicon at the Global Lexicostatistical Database
* ttps://www.napoletanita.it/ Neapolitan language and culture
Prosodic detail in Neapolitan Italian
by Francesco Cangemi. Berlin: Language Science Press. pp. 187 Free download.
{{Authority control
Italo-Dalmatian languages
Languages of Campania
Languages of Calabria
Languages of Molise
Languages of Apulia
Languages of le Marche
Languages of Abruzzo