The term Lombard refers to a group of related varieties spoken mainly in Northern Italy (most of Lombardy and some areas of neighbouring regions) and Southern Switzerland (Ticino and Graubünden). Western Lombard is a Romance language spoken in Italy, in the Lombard provinces of Milan, Monza, Varese, Como, Lecco, Sondrio, a little part of Cremona (except Crema and its neighbours), Lodi and Pavia, and the Piedmont provinces of Novara, Verbano-Cusio-Ossola and a small part of Vercelli (Valsesia), and... Eastern Lombard (sometimes also called Orobic) is a group of dialects spoken in the eastern side of Lombardy, mainly in the provinces of Bergamo, Brescia and Mantua and in the area around Crema. ... Motto (Latin) (traditional)[1] One for all, all for one Anthem Swiss Psalm Switzerland() on the European continent() Capital Berne (federal capital) Largest city Zürich Official languages German, French, Italian, Romansh[2] Government Direct democracy Federal republic  -  Federal Council M. Leuenberger P. Couchepin (VP 07) S. Schmid M. Calmy... World map showing the location of Europe. ... Current distribution of Human Language Families A language family is a group of related languages said to have descended from a common proto-language. ... The Indo-European languages comprise a family of several hundred related languages and dialects [1], including most of the major languages of Europe, as well as many spoken in the Indian subcontinent (South Asia), the Iranian plateau (Southwest Asia), and Central Asia. ... The Italic subfamily is a member of the Centum branch of the Indo-European language family. ... The Romance languages (sometimes referred to as Romanic languages) are a branch of the Indo-European language family, comprising all the languages that descend from Latin, the language of the Roman Empire. ... Gallo-Romance languages Gallo-Italian languages Lombard Piedmontese Emilian-Romagnol Venetian Ligurian Gallo-Rhaetian languages Oïl languages(including French) Burgundian Champenois Franc-Comtois French Gallo Lorrain Norman Anglo-Norman Channel Island Norman Auregnais Dgèrnésiais Jèrriais Sercquiais Picard Poitevin-Saintongeais Walloon Rhaetian languages Friulian Ladin Romansh *Franco... The Gallo-Romance branch of Romance languages includes French, Oïl languages, Catalan, and Occitan, among other languages. ... Gallo-Italic is a language_family within the Gallo-Romance languages. ... ISO 639-1 is the first part of the ISO 639 international-standard language-code family. ... ISO 639-2 is the second part of the ISO 639 standard, which lists codes for the representation of the names of languages. ... ISO 639-3 is an international standard for language codes. ... Articles with similar titles include the NATO phonetic alphabet, which has also informally been called the “International Phonetic Alphabet”. For information on how to read IPA transcriptions of English words, see IPA chart for English. ... Unicode is an industry standard allowing computers to consistently represent and manipulate text expressed in any of the worlds writing systems. ... A variety of a language is a form that differs from other forms of the language systematically and coherently. ... For the village of the same name in Ontario, Canada, see Lombardy, Ontario. ... This article is about the Swiss canton Ticino. ... Graubünden or Grisons (German:  ; Italian: Grigioni; Romansh: Grischun, French: Grisons) is the largest and easternmost canton of Switzerland. ...

Lombard belongs to the Gallo-Italic group within the Romance languages. Gallo-Italic is a language_family within the Gallo-Romance languages. ... The Romance languages (sometimes referred to as Romanic languages) are a branch of the Indo-European language family, comprising all the languages that descend from Latin, the language of the Roman Empire. ...

The two main varieties (Western Lombard language and Eastern Lombard language) show remarkable differences and are not always mutually comprehensible even if Western Lombard is generally more easy to understand for an Eastern Lombard speaker than the contrary. The union of Western Lombard or Insubric, Eastern Lombard or Orobic and intermediate varieties under the denomination of "Lombard" is simply conventional and not based on linguistic analysis, but on the prevalent diffusion of both in Lombardy region. Western Lombard is a Romance language spoken in Italy, in the Lombard provinces of Milan, Monza, Varese, Como, Lecco, Sondrio, a little part of Cremona (except Crema and its neighbours), Lodi and Pavia, and the Piedmont provinces of Novara, Verbano-Cusio-Ossola and a small part of Vercelli (Valsesia), and... This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ... Western Lombard is a Lombard language spoken in Italy, in Lombard provinces of Milan, Monza, Varese, Como, Lecco, Sondrio, little part of Cremona (Crema and neighbors), Lodi and Pavia, and Piedmont provinces of Novara, Verbano-Cusio-Ossola and little part of Vercelli (Valsesia), and Switzerland (Canton Ticino and part of... Eastern Lombard (sometimes also called Orobic) is a group of dialects spoken in the eastern side of Lombardy, mainly in the provinces of Bergamo, Brescia and Mantua and in the area around Crema. ... For the village of the same name in Ontario, Canada, see Lombardy, Ontario. ...

Present situation

Status

Lombard is considered as a minority language, structurally separated from Italian by the Ethnologue reference catalogue and by the UNESCO Red Book on Endangered Languages. Although sometimes erroneously referred to as an Italian dialect (even by some of its speakers), Lombard is not closely related to the Italian language. Lombard and Italian belong to different branches of the Romance language family. Ethnologue: Languages of the World is a web and print publication of SIL International (formerly known as the Summer Institute of Linguistics), a Christian linguistic service organization which studies lesser-known languages primarily to provide the speakers with Bibles in their native language. ... UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) is a specialized agency of the United Nations established in 1945. ...

Position on the Romance language tree

From the point of view of language genealogy, Lombard and Italian are in some ways not as closely related, although both are neither Eastern nor Southern Romance. Romansh, Friulian, French, Provençal, and Occitan are closer relatives of Lombard in many aspects than Italian. Romansh (also spelled Rumantsch, Romansch or Romanche) is one of the four national languages of Switzerland, along with German, Italian and French. ... This article includes a list of works cited or a list of external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks in-text citations. ... Provençal (Provençau in Provençal language) is one of several dialects spoken by a minority of people in southern France and other areas of France and Italy. ... Occitan (IPA AmE: ), known also as Lenga dòc or Langue doc (native name: occitan [1], lenga dòc [2]; native nickname: la lenga nòstra [3] i. ...

Varieties

A major distinction is usually made between Western (or Insubric) and Eastern (or Orobic) varieties. The two varieties are considered as two languages, because Western Lombard isn't more similar to Eastern Lombard than to Piedmontese, and Eastern Lombard isn't more similar to Western Lombard than to Venetian. All the varieties spoken in the Swiss areas (both in canton Ticino and canton Graubünden) are Western, while both Western and Eastern varieties are found in the Italian areas. The varieties of the Italian provinces of Milan, Varese, Como, Lecco, etc. belong to the Western subgroup, while the ones of Bergamo, Brescia, etc. are Eastern. The varieties of the Valchiavenna and the Valtellina—together with the four Lombard valleys of Swiss canton Graubünden, although showing some peculiarities of their own and some traits in common with Eastern Lombard—should be considered as Western. Also, dialects from Verbano-Cusio-Ossola province, Novara province and Valsesia (part of Vercelli's province) are more Western Lombard than Piedmont. Western Lombard is a Lombard language spoken in Italy, in Lombard provinces of Milan, Monza, Varese, Como, Lecco, Sondrio, little part of Cremona (Crema and neighbors), Lodi and Pavia, and Piedmont provinces of Novara, Verbano-Cusio-Ossola and little part of Vercelli (Valsesia), and Switzerland (Canton Ticino and part of... Eastern Lombard (sometimes also called Orobic) is a group of dialects spoken in the eastern side of Lombardy, mainly in the provinces of Bergamo, Brescia and Mantua and in the area around Crema. ... A canton is a territorial subdivision of a country, e. ... This article is about the Swiss canton Ticino. ... A canton is a territorial subdivision of a country, e. ... Graubünden or Grisons (German:  ; Italian: Grigioni; Romansh: Grischun, French: Grisons) is the largest and easternmost canton of Switzerland. ... This article is about the city in Italy. ... Varese is a city in north-western Lombardy, northern Italy, 55 km north of Milan. ... Como (Comm in the local dialect of Lombard language) is a city in Lombardy, Italy, 45 km north of Milan. ... Country Italy Region Lombardy Province Lecco (LC) Mayor Antonella Faggi (North League Party) Elevation 214 m Area 45 km² Population  - Total (as of December 31, 2004) 46,477  - Density 1,011/km² Time zone CET, UTC+1 Coordinates Gentilic Lecchesi Dialing code 0341 Postal code 23900 Frazioni Acquate, Belledo, Bonacina... Small street (via della Noca) leading to città alta. ... For the Italian administrative area, see Province of Brescia. ... A view of Valtellina The church of Tresivio Valtellina (German Veltlin) is a valley in the Lombardy region of northern Italy, bordering Switzerland. ... Fljótsdalur in East Iceland, a rather flat valley In geology, a valley is a depression with predominant extent in one direction. ... Graubünden or Grisons (German:  ; Italian: Grigioni; Romansh: Grischun, French: Grisons) is the largest and easternmost canton of Switzerland. ...

The Lombard variety with the oldest literary tradition (dating back to the thirteenth century) is that of Milan, where nowadays Milanese, the native Lombard variety of the area, has almost completely been superseded by Italian. Ticinese is a comprehensive denomination for the Lombard varieties spoken in Swiss Canton Ticino (Tessin), while the Ticinese koiné is the Western Lombard koiné used by speakers of local dialects (particularly those diverging from the koiné itself) when communicating with speakers of other Lombard dialects of Ticino, the Grisons or Italian Lombardy. This koiné is not very unlike Milanese and the varieties of the neighbouring provinces on the Italian side of the border. The more distant Lombard varieties are not readily intelligible with each other. (12th century - 13th century - 14th century - other centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 13th century was that century which lasted from 1201 to 1300. ... This article is about the city in Italy. ... Milanese (milanes, milanées, meneghin, meneghìn) is a variety of Western Lombard spoken in the city of Milan and in its province. ... Ticinese (ticines, ticinées) is a common denomination for Lombard language varieties spoken in Canton Ticino (Tessin). ... This article is about the Swiss canton Ticino. ... The literal meaning of the Greek word koine (κοινή) is common. It is used in several senses: Koiné Greek (Κοινή Ἑλληνική), a Greek dialect that developed from the Attic dialect (of Athens) and became the spoken language of Greece at the time of the Empire of Alexander the Great. ... This article is about the Swiss canton Ticino. ... Grisons or Graubünden (German: Graubünden; Italian: Grigioni; Romansh: Grischun) is the largest and easternmost canton of Switzerland. ... For the village of the same name in Ontario, Canada, see Lombardy, Ontario. ... The literal meaning of the Greek word koine (κοινή) is common. It is used in several senses: Koiné Greek (Κοινή Ἑλληνική), a Greek dialect that developed from the Attic dialect (of Athens) and became the spoken language of Greece at the time of the Empire of Alexander the Great. ... Milanese (milanes, milanées, meneghin, meneghìn) is a variety of Western Lombard spoken in the city of Milan and in its province. ...

Lombard in writing

Lombard-speaking communities (or, more precisely, the exiguous percentage of their members who could read and write) have been using for centuries some form of Latin or Tuscan (later known as Italian) as the language of written communication, not developing a standard written Lombard variety. Latin is an ancient Indo-European language originally spoken in Latium, the region immediately surrounding Rome. ... The Tuscan dialect is a dialect spoken in Tuscany, Italy. ...

A restaurant sign in Lombard, Poschiavo (GR), Switzerland

There is no generally recognised standard orthography, but rather a few well-established conventions (like the one that word-final [ʧ] and [k] should be written as -c and -ch respectively) and some competing traditions (e.g. [ø] and [y] are written oeu and u respectively according to the traditional Milanese orthography (well established in Milanese literature), while in Switzerland and in many Italian areas ö and ü are used respectively; this is also the most generalised trend nowadays). Image File history File links Stüa_Pus'ciavina. ... Image File history File links Stüa_Pus'ciavina. ...

The Town Hall sign in the local Lombard variety of Livigno (SO), Italy

The CDE - Centro di dialettologia e di etnografia of Bellinzona, Switzerland (cf. below) has devised a rather advanced orthographic system used in its publications. This system does not break with the established conventions and at the same time it is able to render the actual pronunciation rather faithfully. The CDE system, however, is flawed by some inherent deficiencies, in particular as far as prosody is concerned, and in some situations it fails to distinguish between long and short vowels (e.g. the coda -asc is written identically in casc [kaʃ] 'leaf-bud' and masc [maːʃ] 'May', although the vowel is actually short in the former case and long in the latter). Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (2592x1944, 2010 KB) Jørgen G. Bosoni File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (2592x1944, 2010 KB) Jørgen G. Bosoni File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Location within Switzerland Bellinzona is the capital city of canton Ticino in Switzerland. ... Look up coda in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

An improved system trying to reconcile the main features of the CDE system with the necessary amendments was published in 2003 (cf. Bibliography). This is the system used in the present article. It is the only system proposed so far featuring a unified set of writing rules meant to cover all the Lombard varieties of both Switzerland and Italy. The term Lombard refers to a group of related dialects spoken mainly in Southern Switzerland (Ticino and Graubünden) and in Northern Italy (most of Lombardy and some areas of neighbouring regions). ...

Features

Note: unless otherwise specified, all examples below are forms common to most Western Lombard varieties, including the Ticinese koiné. The orthography is a compromise between traditional orthographies and a recently proposed unified system for all Lombard varieties, with phonetic transcriptions (when given) in IPA.

Western Lombard is a Lombard language spoken in Italy, in Lombard provinces of Milan, Monza, Varese, Como, Lecco, Sondrio, little part of Cremona (Crema and neighbors), Lodi and Pavia, and Piedmont provinces of Novara, Verbano-Cusio-Ossola and little part of Vercelli (Valsesia), and Switzerland (Canton Ticino and part of... The literal meaning of the Greek word koine (κοινή) is common. It is used in several senses: Koiné Greek (Κοινή Ἑλληνική), a Greek dialect that developed from the Attic dialect (of Athens) and became the spoken language of Greece at the time of the Empire of Alexander the Great. ... The orthography of a language specifies the correct way of writing in that language. ... Transcription is the conversion into written, typewritten or printed form, of a spoken language source, such as the proceedings of a court hearing. ... Articles with similar titles include the NATO phonetic alphabet, which has also informally been called the “International Phonetic Alphabet”. For information on how to read IPA transcriptions of English words, see IPA chart for English. ...

Phonetics and phonology

Unlike most Romance languages, Western Lombard dialects have vowel quantity oppositions, e.g. paas [paːs] 'peace' vs. pass [pas] 'step', 'mountain pass'; ciapaa [ʧaˈpaː] 'caught, got m.' vs. ciapà [ʧaˈpa] 'to catch, get'. The Romance languages (sometimes referred to as Romanic languages) are a branch of the Indo-European language family, comprising all the languages that descend from Latin, the language of the Roman Empire. ... In linguistics, vowel length is the perceived duration of a vowel sound. ...

The phoneme inventory of most Lombard varieties includes the front rounded vowels [y] and [ø]. Vowels See also: IPA, Consonants Near‑close Close‑mid Mid Open‑mid Near‑open Open Where symbols appear in pairs, the one to the right represents a rounded vowel. ... Vowels Near-close Close-mid Mid Open-mid Near-open Open Where symbols appear in pairs, the one to the right represents a rounded vowel. ...

Syntax and lexicon

Another uncommon feature for a Romance language is the extensive use of idiomatic phrasal verbs (verb-particle constructions) much in the same way as in English and other Germanic languages. E.g. trà 'to draw, to pull', trà via 'to waste, to throw away', trà sü 'to vomit, to throw up', trà fö(ra) 'to remove, to take away'; magnà 'to eat', magnà fö(ra) 'to squander'. The Romance languages (sometimes referred to as Romanic languages) are a branch of the Indo-European language family, comprising all the languages that descend from Latin, the language of the Roman Empire. ... An idiom is an expression whose meaning is not compositional — that is, whose meaning does not follow from the meaning of the individual words of which it is composed. ... In the English language, a phrasal verb is a verb combined with a preposition, an adverb, or an adverbial particle, all three of which are uninflected. ... It has been suggested that Verbal agreement be merged into this article or section. ... In linguistics, the term particle is often employed as a useful catch-all lacking a strict definition. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... Proto-Indo-European Indo-European studies The Germanic languages form one of the branches of the Indo-European (IE) language family, spoken by the Germanic peoples who settled in northern Europe along the borders of the Roman Empire. ...

Usage

Standard Italian is widely used in Lombard-speaking areas. However, the status of Lombard is quite different between the Swiss and Italian areas. This justifies the view that nowadays the Swiss areas (sometimes referred to as Swiss Lombardy (Lombardia svizzera)) have become the real stronghold of Lombard.

In Switzerland

The LSI, published in 2004

In the Swiss areas, the local Lombard varieties are generally better preserved and more vital than in Italy. No negative feelings are associated with the use of Lombard in everyday life, even when interacting with complete strangers. Some radio and television programmes in Lombard, particularly comedies, are occasionally broadcast by the Swiss Italian-speaking broadcasting company. Moreover, it is not uncommon for people from the street to answer in Lombard in spontaneous interviews. Even some television ads in Lombard have been reported. The major research institution working on Lombard dialects is located in Bellinzona, Switzerland (CDE - Centro di dialettologia e di etnografia, a governmental (cantonal) institution); there is no comparable institution in Italy. In December 2004, the CDE released the LSI, a dictionary in 5 volumes covering all the Lombard varieties spoken in the Swiss areas. This is so far the most comprehensive Lombard language resource ever published (more than 4,500 pages and about 57,000 lexemes with over 190,000 spoken variants). Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... A variety of a language is a form that differs from other forms of the language systematically and coherently. ... Location within Switzerland Bellinzona is the capital city of canton Ticino in Switzerland. ... Definition A lexeme is an abstract unit of morphological analysis in linguistics, that roughly corresponds to a set of words that are the same in basic meaning. ...

In Italy

The usage of Lombard dialects is generally scarce in present-day Italy. This is due to a number of historical and social reasons: speaking a non-standard variety is considered a sign of poor schooling or low social status, and its usage has been historically discouraged by Italian politicians, probably as it was regarded as an obstacle to the attempt to create a 'national identity'. Such and related issues are also the reason why speaking a dialect of certain non-Italian minority languages is politically controversial in Italy, as presently the political party most supportive of Lombard (and of the varieties of Northern Italy in general) is the Northern League (in the past, on the other hand, the leftist parties were the ones giving support to local varieties). Today, in most areas of Italian Lombardy, people below forty years old speak almost exclusively Standard Italian in their daily lives, because of schooling and television broadcasts in Standard Italian. People who speak a Lombard dialect will almost always speak Standard Italian (or an approximation of it) to an outsider. A certain revival of the use of Lombard has been observed in the last decade, when the use of Lombard has become a way to express one's local identity and to distance oneself from Mediterranean-oriented mainstream Italian culture. Social status is the honor or prestige attached to ones position in society (ones social position). ... The Politics of Italy takes place in a framework of a parliamentary representative democratic republic, whereby the Prime Minister of Italy is the head of government, and of a pluriform multi-party system. ... Political parties Part of the Politics series Politics Portal This box:      A political party is a political organization that seeks to attain political power within a government, usually by participating in electoral campaigns. ... The Northern League (Italian: Lega Nord) is an Italian political party founded in 1991 as a federation of several regional parties in Northern Italy, most of which had arisen, and all of which had expanded their share of the electorate, in the 1980s. ...

The popularity of modern artists singing their lyrics in some Lombard variety (in Italian "rock dialettale") is a relatively new but growing phenomenon involving both the Swiss and Italian areas. The most well-known of such artists is probably Davide Van de Sfroos.

Bibliography

• Jørgen G. Bosoni, «Una proposta di grafia unificata per le varietà linguistiche lombarde: regole per la trascrizione», in Bollettino della Società Storica dell’Alta Valtellina 6/2003, p. 195-298 (Società Storica Alta Valtellina: Bormio, 2003). A comprehensive description of a unified set of writing rules for all the Lombard varieties of Switzerland and Italy, with IPA transcriptions and examples.
• Bernard Comrie, Stephen Matthews, Maria Polinsky (eds.), The Atlas of languages : the origin and development of languages throughout the world. New York 2003, Facts On File. p. 40.
• Stephen A. Wurm, Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger of Disappearing. Paris 2001, UNESCO Publishing, p. 29.
• Glauco Sanga: La lingua Lombarda, in Koiné in Italia, dalle origini al 500 (Koinés in Italy, from the origin to 1500), Lubrina publisher, Bèrghem
• Studi di lingua e letteratura lombarda offerti a Maurizio Vitale, (Studies in Lombard language and literature) Pisa : Giardini, 1983
• Brevini, Franco - Lo stile lombardo : la tradizione letteraria da Bonvesin da la Riva a Franco Loi / Franco Brevini - Pantarei, Lugan - 1984 (Lombard style: literary tradition from Bonvesin da la Riva to Franco Loi )
• G.Hull: the linguistic unity of northern Italy and Rhaetia, PhD thesis, University of Sidney West, 1982
• Letteratura dialettale milanese. Itinerario antologico-critico dalle origini ai nostri giorni - Claudio Beretta - Hoepli, 2003.
• I quatter Vangeli de Mattee, March, Luca E Gioann - NED Editori, 2002.
• Canzoniere Lombardo - a cura di Pierluigi Beltrami, Bruno Ferrari, Luciano Tibiletti, Giorgio D'Ilario - Varesina Grafica Editrice, 1970.

Articles with similar titles include the NATO phonetic alphabet, which has also informally been called the “International Phonetic Alphabet”. For information on how to read IPA transcriptions of English words, see IPA chart for English. ...

See also

• Eastern Lombard
• Western Lombard
• Romance plurals
• Plural inflection in Eastern Lombard
• Languages of Europe
• Padania
• Piedmontese
• Venetian language
• La Spezia-Rimini Line
• Ligurian language (Romance)
• Sicily
• Sicilian language
• Emiliano-Romagnolo
• Gallo-siculo
• Pierre Bec
• List of languages in Europe

External links

Lombard language edition of Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

• Lombard language at Ethnologue (the Ethnologue report for Lombard in Switzerland contains a misprint: it says "Ticinese is the form of Lombard used in the home in Italy" where "in Switzerland" is intended)
• Centro di dialettologia e di etnografia del Cantone Ticino.
• Istituto di dialettologia e di etnografia valtellinese e valchiavennasca.
• LSI - Lessico dialettale della Svizzera italiana.
• VSI - Vocabolario dei dialetti della Svizzera italiana.
• DOSI - Documenti orali della Svizzera italiana.
• RTSI: Acquarelli popolari, some video and audio documents (interviews, recordings, etc. of writers from Ticino) in Ticinese varieties (please notice that the metalanguage of this site is Italian, and that some of the interviews are in Italian rather than in Ticinese Lombard).
• UNESCO Red Book on Endangered Languages: Europe. Potentially endangered languages, where Lombard is classified as a potentially endangered language.
• Il galloitalico di Sicilia, varieties with Gallo-Romance traits spoken in 5 provinces and 24 villages in Sicily by the descendants of Lombard emigrants.