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Genoese, locally called or , is the main Ligurian dialect, spoken in and around the Italian city of
Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian census, the Province of ...
, the capital of
Liguria Liguria (; lij, Ligûria ; french: Ligurie) is a Regions of Italy, region of north-western Italy; its Capital city, capital is Genoa. Its territory is crossed by the Alps and the Apennine Mountains, Apennines Mountain chain, mountain range and is ...
, in Northern
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 ...
. A majority of remaining speakers of Genoese are elderly. Several associations are dedicated to keeping the dialect alive, examples of which are in
Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian census, the Province of ...
and in
Chiavari Chiavari (; lij, Ciävai ) is a comune (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Genoa, in Italy. It has about 28,000 inhabitants. It is situated near the river Entella. History Pre-Roman and Roman Era A pre-Roman necropolis, which dates ...
. Written literature has been produced in Genoese since the 13th century, and the orthography has evolved in-step with the language. There are currently two spelling systems in common use, with varying degrees of standardisation. One, proposed in 2008 by the cultural association ''A Compagna'', attempts to closely match in writing the pronunciation of the now-extinct variant of Genoese which used to be spoken in the ''Portoria'' neighbourhood of
Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian census, the Province of ...
. Another spelling system was proposed by a group of writers, journalists and academics by standardising the traditional orthography of 19th- and 20th-century Genoese newspapers. This is the spelling used, amongst others, by the academic world as well as by
Il Secolo XIX ''Il Secolo XIX'' ( ) is an Italian newspaper published in Genoa, Italy, founded in March 1886, subsequently acquired by Ferdinando Maria Perrone in 1897 from Ansaldo. It is one of the first Italian newspapers to be printed in colour. On 16 J ...
, the largest print newspaper in the region. Genoese has had an influence on the
Llanito ''Llanito'' or ''Yanito'' () is a form of Andalusian Spanish heavily laced with words from English and other languages, such as Ligurian; it is spoken in the British overseas territory of Gibraltar. It is commonly marked by a great deal o ...
vernacular of
Gibraltar ) , anthem = " God Save the King" , song = "Gibraltar Anthem" , image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg , map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe , map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green , mapsize = , image_map2 = Gibr ...
.


Phonology

Genoese
phonology Phonology is the branch of linguistics that studies how languages or dialects systematically organize their sounds or, for sign languages, their constituent parts of signs. The term can also refer specifically to the sound or sign system of a ...
includes a number of similarities with
French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
, one being the heavily nasalized vowels before nasal consonants (in VN(C) sequences), also occurring when Genoese speakers speak
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 ...
. There used to be an
alveolar approximant The voiced alveolar approximant is a type of consonantal sound used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents the alveolar and postalveolar approximants is , a lowercase letter ''r'' rotated 180 ...
(English-like) opposed to an
alveolar trill The voiced alveolar trill is a type of consonantal sound used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents dental, alveolar, and postalveolar trills is , and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is ...
(using the 18th century spelling: "dear" vs. "cart"), but it is no longer heard in the city. It may still survive in some rural areas of Liguria, such as
Calizzano Calizzano ( lij, Carizan or ) is a '' comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Savona in the Italian region Liguria, located about southwest of Genoa and about west of Savona. Calizzano borders the following municipalities: Bagnasco, Bardi ...
and
Sassello Sassello ( lij, Sascello; locally ) is a '' comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Savona in the Italian region Liguria, located about west of Genoa and about north of Savona in the northern side of the Ligurian Apennines. It is the birth ...
. By far the most widespread type of today is the
alveolar tap Alveolus (; pl. alveoli, adj. alveolar) is a general anatomical term for a concave cavity or pit. Uses in anatomy and zoology * Pulmonary alveolus, an air sac in the lungs ** Alveolar cell or pneumocyte ** Alveolar duct ** Alveolar macrophage * M ...
(very similar, or identical, to unstressed Standard Italian ). There are several distinctive local accents of Genoese: those of
Nervi Nervi is a former fishing village 12 miles (19 km) northwest of Portofino on the Riviera di Levante, now a seaside resort in Liguria, in northwest Italy. Once an independent '' comune'', it is now a ''quartiere'' of Genoa. Nervi is 4 miles ...
, Quinto and
Quarto Quarto (abbreviated Qto, 4to or 4º) is the format of a book or pamphlet produced from full sheets printed with eight pages of text, four to a side, then folded twice to produce four leaves. The leaves are then trimmed along the folds to produc ...
to the east of Genoa,
Voltri Voltri is a quartiere of the Italian city of Genoa, located west of the city centre. It was formerly an independent comune. In 2015, Voltri and the nearby hamlets included in Genoa's VII Municipio (Crevari, Acquasanta, Vesima, Fabbriche) had a ...
, Prà,
Pegli Pegli is a neighbourhood in the west of Genoa, Italy. With a mild climate and a sea promenade, Pegli is mainly a residential area with four public parks and several villas and mansions. It is also known as a tourist resort with some hotels, campi ...
and Sestri to the west. There are also accents of the central
Polcevera Valley Val Polcevera is one of the main valleys crossing Genoa, taking its name from the eponymous river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a ri ...
and
Bisagno Bisagno is an Italian surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Gilio Bisagno (1903–1987), Italian swimmer * Tommaso Bisagno Tommaso Bisagno (5 April 1935 – 18 January 2014) was an Italian academic and politician. Biography Bisa ...
. Genoese has eight vowels, twenty consonants, and three semivowels. ;Vowels * as in ''barba'' ("uncle"; "beard") * as in ''tésta'' ("head") * as in ''ægoa'' ("water") * as in ''bibin'' ("turkey") * as in ''cöse'' ("what?") * as in ''anchêu'' ("today") * as in ''comme'' ("how?") * as in ''fugassa'' (
focaccia Focaccia ( , , ; lij, fugassa ; nap, label= Barese, fecazze ) is a flat leavened oven-baked Italian bread, similar in style and texture to pizza; in some places, it is called ("white pizza"). Focaccia can be served as a side dish or as san ...
, a kind of Italian bread)


Orthography

* ^ is a circumflex accent placed above a vowel and doubles its length. * ao is read as the Italian “au” or the genovese “ou” or a long Italian “o”. * è is read as a brief open e. The symbol ''æ'', made up of vowels ''a'' ed ''e'', is read as an open long "e"; in groups ''ænn-a'' and ''æn'' it is read as an open short “e”. * e and é are read as a closed short “e”; ê is read as a long closed “e”. * eu is read as if it were read in French: in ''eu'' and ''éu'' the sound is short in êu the sound is long. * j is used infrequently and indicates that ''i'' should be heard in words such as: ''gjêmo'' (giriamo), ''mangjâ'' (mangerà), ''cacjæ'' (getterei), ''lascjâ'' (lascerà), ''socjêtæ'' (società). * o, ó and ô are read as an Italian ''u'' like in the word ''muso''; the length of ô is double the length of o and ó. * ò and ö are read as ''o'' in Italian like in the word ''cosa''; the length of ''ö'' is double ''ò''. * u is read as a French ''u'' with the exception in groups qu, òu and ou where the ''u'' is read as the ''u'' in the Italian word ''guida''. * ç always has a voiceless sound () like ''s'' in the Italian word ''sacco''. * Word-final n and groups ''nn-'' , ''n-'' (written with a hyphen) indicate a velar n (, such as the ''n'' in the Italian word ''vengo'') and are therefore pronounced nasally. The same goes for when ''n'' precedes a consonant (including ''b'' and ''p''). * s followed by a vowel, ''s'' followed by a voiceless consonant, and ''s'' between vowels is always a voiceless , sound like the ''s'' in the Italian word sacco. ''s'' followed by a voiced consonant becomes voiced , as in Italian. * scc is pronounced , like ''sc'' of the Italian word ''scena'' followed sonorously by ''c'' of the Italian word ''cilindro''. * x is read like the French ''j'' (e.g. ''jambon, jeton, joli''). * z, even when it is doubled as ''zz'', is always pronounced as the ''s'' in the Italian word ''rosa''.


Tongue twisters

* = I don't have a clue whether the salt is going to be enough to salt the sausage. * = Ski, madam, skying you fly on skis. * = At the new pier there are nine new ships; the newest of the nine new ships doesn't want to go. * = Do angels have eyes, ears, and (finger)nails like everyone else? (variant of the Cogorno ''comune'')


Expressions

* = "I'm Genoese, I seldom laugh, I grind my teeth, and I say what I mean" (literally, "speak clearly"). * The child complains: = I'm hungry. The mother answers: = Scratch your knees and make lasagna. * = "If you want to live as a good Christian, stay away from those who pretend to be devout" (a traditional warning to beware of fanatics and hypocrites). * = You can't have or do two contradicting things at the same time (literally, "you can't inhale and exhale"). * = Wow! or Damn! (very informal) (literally the word means "
penis A penis (plural ''penises'' or ''penes'' () is the primary sexual organ that male animals use to inseminate females (or hermaphrodites) during copulation. Such organs occur in many animals, both vertebrate and invertebrate, but males d ...
", but it lost its obscene meaning and is currently used as an
intensifier In linguistics, an intensifier ( abbreviated ) is a lexical category (but ''not'' a traditional part of speech) for a modifier that makes no contribution to the propositional meaning of a clause but serves to enhance and give additional emotional ...
in a lot of different expressions, acting almost as an equivalent of the English " Fuck!" or "Fuck it!").


Songs

One of the most famous folk songs written in the Genoese dialect is called (or ) written by Mario Cappello. Towards the end of the 20th century, artist
Fabrizio De André Fabrizio Cristiano De André (; 18 February 1940 – 11 January 1999) was an Italian singer-songwriter, the most prominent ''cantautore'' of his time. His 40-year career reflects his interests in concept albums, literature, poetry, political pr ...
wrote an entire album called in the Genoese dialect.


References


External links


Genoese phonology


* * Audio samples of many Italian dialects. * Official website of the
Academia Ligustica do Brenno The Academia Ligustica do Brenno ("Ligurian Academy of the Bran") is an Italian society founded in Genoa in 1970 with the aim of maintaining the purity of the Genoese dialect and other variants of Ligurian language. The name of the society is some ...
. *
A Compagna

Genoves.com.ar – Bilingual website in Spanish and Genoese, with resources to learn Genoese, Ligurian literature with Spanish version, texts, photos, etc.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Genoese Dialect Ligurian language (Romance)
Dialect The term dialect (from Latin , , from the Ancient Greek word , 'discourse', from , 'through' and , 'I speak') can refer to either of two distinctly different types of linguistic phenomena: One usage refers to a variety of a language that is ...
City colloquials it:Dialetto genovese