The dialect of Castelmezzano is a Romance variety spoken in
Castelmezzano in the
Province of Potenza in
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 ...
. It constitutes a dialect of the
Neapolitan language that differs from the rest (and from neighbouring imported
Gallo-Italic
The Gallo-Italic, Gallo-Italian, Gallo-Cisalpine or simply Cisalpine languages constitute the majority of the Romance languages of northern Italy. They are Piedmontese, Lombard, Emilian, Ligurian, and Romagnol. Although most publications de ...
varieties) in its treatment of Latin back vowels, showing an evolution more reminiscent of
Balkan Romance: Latin /ŭ/ merges with /ū/ rather than with /ō/.
Castelmezzano is but the kernel of an
area
Area is the quantity that expresses the extent of a region on the plane or on a curved surface. The area of a plane region or ''plane area'' refers to the area of a shape or planar lamina, while '' surface area'' refers to the area of an ope ...
, dubbed the () by
Lausberg, which shares the same vowel development. It includes
Castronuovo di Sant'Andrea
Castronuovo di Sant'Andrea is a town and ''comune
The (; plural: ) is a local administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions ('' re ...
,
Sant'Arcangelo
Sant'Arcangelo is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Potenza, in the southern Italian region of Basilicata
it, Lucano (man) it, Lucana (woman)
, population_note =
, population_blank1_title =
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, d ...
,
Roccanova,
San Martino d'Agri,
Aliano (and
Alianello),
Gallicchio,
Missanello
Missanello ( Lucano: ) is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Potenza, in the Southern Italian region of Basilicata
it, Lucano (man) it, Lucana (woman)
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,
Armento
Armento ( Lucano: ) is a town and '' comune'' in the province of Potenza, in the Southern Italian region of Basilicata. The Armento Rider was found in the vicinity of Armento and is now in the British Museum. The Kritonios Crown, a 4th-century BC ...
,
Pietrapertosa,
Anzi,
Campomaggiore,
Albano di Lucania,
Trivigno,
Brindisi di Montagna,
Corleto Perticara and
Guardia Perticara.
This type of vocalism may once have been characteristic of most of southern Italy and possibly even other areas that now have
Italo-Western
Italo-Western is, in some classifications, the largest branch of the Romance languages. It comprises two of the branches of Romance languages: Italo-Dalmatian and Western Romance. It excludes the Sardinian language and Eastern Romance.
Italo ...
vowel outcomes.
It can be viewed as a compromise, in that it has a Sardinian-like treatment of the back vowels, as is also observed in the
southern part of the Lausberg area, while also having an Italo-Western-like treatment of the front vowels (merging Latin /ĭ/ with /ē/), as found in other varieties of Neapolitan.
Comparison of vowel changes
A comparison of vowel changes shows only limited relatability of the languages and the dialect yet Dalmatian sound changes may sometimes differ from the usual phonological development that can be ascertained.
References
Italo-Dalmatian languages
Eastern Romance languages
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