Western Lombard is a group of dialects of Lombard, 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 language fa ...

spoken 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 is widespread in the Lombard provinces of Milan, Monza, Varese,

Como Como (, ; lmo, Còmm, label=Comasco , or ; lat, Novum Comum; rm, Com; french: Côme) is a city and ''comune'' in Lombardy, Italy. It is the administrative capital of the Province of Como. Its proximity to Lake Como and to the Alps has m ...

, Lecco, Sondrio, a small part of Cremona (except Crema and its neighbours), Lodi and

Pavia Pavia (, , , ; la, Ticinum; Medieval Latin: ) is a town and comune of south-western Lombardy in northern Italy, south of Milan on the lower Ticino river near its confluence with the Po. It has a population of c. 73,086. The city was the cap ...

, and the

Piedmont it, Piemontese , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

provinces of Novara, Verbano-Cusio-Ossola, the eastern part of the Province of Alessandria ( Tortona), a small part of Vercelli ( Valsesia), and Switzerland (the Canton of

Ticino Ticino (), sometimes Tessin (), officially the Republic and Canton of Ticino or less formally the Canton of Ticino,, informally ''Canton Ticino'' ; lmo, Canton Tesin ; german: Kanton Tessin ; french: Canton du Tessin ; rm, Chantun dal Tessin . ...

and part of the Canton of Graubünden). After the name of the region involved, land of the former

Duchy of Milan The Duchy of Milan ( it, Ducato di Milano; lmo, Ducaa de Milan) was a state in northern Italy, created in 1395 by Gian Galeazzo Visconti, then the lord of Milan, and a member of the important Visconti family, which had been ruling the city sinc ...

, this language is often referred to as Insubric (see Insubria and Insubres) or Milanese, or, after Clemente Merlo, (literally "of this side of Adda River").

Western Lombard and Italian

In Italian-speaking contexts, Western Lombard is often incorrectly called a

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 ...

of Italian. Western Lombard and Standard Italian are very different. Some speakers of Lombard varieties may have difficulty understanding one another and require a standard to communicate, but all Western Lombard varieties are mutually intelligible. Western Lombard is relatively homogeneous (much more so than Eastern Lombard), but it has a number of variations, mainly in relation to the

vowel A vowel is a syllabic speech sound pronounced without any stricture in the vocal tract. Vowels are one of the two principal classes of speech sounds, the other being the consonant. Vowels vary in quality, in loudness and also in quantity (l ...

s , and the development of into . Western Lombard has no official status in Lombardy or anywhere else. The only

official language An official language is a language given supreme status in a particular country, state, or other jurisdiction. Typically the term "official language" does not refer to the language used by a people or country, but by its government (e.g. judiciary, ...

in Lombardy is Italian.

Grammar

The general lines of diachronics of Western Lombard plural declension are drawn here, with reference to Milanese orthography:

Feminine

Most feminine words end with the inflection ''-a''; the feminine plural is non-inflected (''la legora'' / ''i legor'' ; ''la cadrega'' / ''i cadregh''). The final vowel keeps its original length (non-final syllables have no difference), which is often long when it is followed by a voiced consonant and short when it is followed by a voiceless consonant. When the stem ends with a particular consonant cluster, there can be the addition of a final ''-i'' or of a schwa between consonants (for example: in Milanese sing. ''scendra'', plur. ''scendr'' > ''scender''). For adjectives, the plural form and masculine form are often the same.

Masculine

Most masculine nouns lack inflections, and the plural masculine is always non-inflected (''el tramvaj''/''i tramvaj''; ''el lett''/''i lett'' ). When the word stem ends with a particular group of consonants, both singular and plural forms can add a schwa between consonants; otherwise, a final ''-o'' (pron. /u/) is added to singular nouns, ''-i'' for plurals. Masculine words ending in ''-in'' or, less commonly, in ''-ett'', have plurals in ''-itt'' (''fiolin''/''fiolitt''). Those ending in ''-ll'' have plurals in ''-j'', (''el sidell''/''i sidej'' ; ''el porscell''/''i porscej'' ; ''el cavall'' / ''i cavaj''). The same occurs in the determinate article: singular ''ell'' > ''el'', plural ''elli'' > ''ej'' > ''i''. Masculine words ending in ''-a'' are invariable and are proper nouns, words from Ancient Greek or idiomatic words such as ''pirla'', a derogatory term for a person.

Varieties

Western Lombard can be divided into four main varieties: ''lombardo alpino'' (spoken in the provinces of Sondrio and of Verbania, Sopraceneri of Canton Ticino and Grigioni in Switzerland), ''lombardo-prealpino occidentale'' (spoken in the provinces of Como, Varese and Lecco, Lugano and its neighbors in Canton Ticino), ''basso-lombardo occidentale'' (Pavia and Lodi), and ''macromilanese'' (provinces of Milan, Monza, Novara and Valsesia of Vercelli). The boundaries are obviously schematic, since the political division in provinces and municipalities are usually independent from languages spoken. Examples of Western Lombard language are: * Milanese or Meneghin (''macromilanese'') *

Bustocco and Legnanese Bustocco and Legnanese (natively and ) are two dialects of Western Lombard, spoken respectively in the cities of Busto Arsizio (Province of Varese) and Legnano ( Province of Milan), Lombardy. Although there is little evidence of Ligurian settl ...

* Brianzöö (''lombardo-prealpino occidentale'' - ''macromilanese'') *Monzese * Comasco-Lecchese (''lombardo-prealpino occidentale'') ** Comasco ** Laghée **Intelvese ** Vallassinese ** Lecchese **Valsassinese ** Ossolano * Varesino or Bosin (''lombardo-prealpino occidentale'') *Alpine Lombard (''lombardo alpino'', influence from

Ladin_language Ladin (, also ; autonym: , it, ladino; german: Ladinisch) is a Romance language of the Rhaeto-Romance subgroup, mainly spoken in the Dolomite Mountains in Northern Italy in the provinces of South Tyrol, Trentino, and Belluno, by the ...

) **Valtellinese **Chiavennasco * Ticinese (''lombardo alpino'') (influence from

) * Southwestern Lombard (''basso-lombardo occidentale'') **

Paves Paves or Pavese was a Lombard troubadour of the first half of the 13th century, only a single ''cobla'' of whose work survives. The work is preserved in one chansonnier of late 13th-century Italian provenance, now known as "troubadour manuscript ...

(influences from Emiliano-Romagnolo language, Piedmontese language, and

Ligurian_language Ligurian () or Genoese () (locally called or ) 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 Fran ...

) **Ludesan (influence from Emilian_dialects) ** Nuaresat (''lombardo-prealpino occidentale'' - ''macromilanese'') ** Cremunéez (influence from Emiliano-Romagnolo language) *Slangs ** Spasell

Phonology

The following information is based on the Milanese dialect:

Consonants

* occurs only as a nasal sound before velar stops. * The central approximant sounds are mainly heard as allophones of when preceding vowels. * is not typically pronounced, and only occurs in a few words from Italian.

Vowels

* A double vowel ''aa'' is pronounced as or . may also be pronounced as .

Orthography

The most important orthography in Western Lombard literature is the Classical Milanese orthography. It was used by Carlo Porta (1775–1821) and Delio Tessa (1886–1939). It was perfected by the Circolo Filologico di Milano. Other orthographies are the Ticinese, the Comasca, the Bosina, the Nuaresat, and the Lecchese.

Literature

An extensive

Western Lombard literature The Insubric poet Caecilius Statius came from Milan, capital city of Insubres, and wrote in Latin, being one of the best Latin comedians, with Plautus and Terence. Throughout the 13th century, the activity of Cisalpine poets in Langue d'oc contin ...

is available. Texts include various dictionaries, a few grammars, and a recent translation of the Gospels.

References

Bibliography

* Andrea Rognoni, ''Grammatica dei dialetti della Lombardia'', Oscar Mondadori, 2005. * AA. VV., ''Parlate e dialetti della Lombardia. Lessico comparato'', Mondadori, Milano 2003. {{Romance languages Western Lombard language Endangered Romance languages