Central Marchigiano dialect explained

Marchigiano
Nativename:Marchiscià
States:Italy
Region:central Marche (provinces of Ancona, Macerata and Fermo)
Speakers:900,000
Date:no date
Familycolor:Indo-European
Fam2:Italic
Fam3:Latino-Faliscan
Fam4:Latin
Fam5:Romance
Fam6:Italo-Western
Fam7:Italo-Dalmatian
Fam8:Italo-Romance
Fam9:Central Italian
Isoexception:dialect
Glotto:none
Linglist:ita-cen
Lingua:51-AAA-okl & 51-AAA-rba
Map:Dialetti italiani centrali.jpg
Notice:IPA

Central Marchigiano refers to a group of Romance varieties spoken in the central part of the Marche region of Italy, in an area that includes the provinces of Ancona, Macerata and Fermo. It is one of the Central Italian dialects and forms part of a continuum that also encompasses Umbrian and Tuscan. There are notable grammatical, lexical and idiomatic differences between Marchigiano and standard Italian, but it is considered, along with the rest of Central Italian dialects, to be fairly intelligible to a speaker of Standard Italian.

According to internal variation, Marchigiano is divided into two main areas:

Common features

Features that distinguish Marchigiano in general from Italian include:

The verbs meaning 'be' and 'have' inflect as follows in the present indicative:

Anconitano Maceratese ItalianTranslation
so so sonoI am
sei (sai) ssi seiyou are
è adè èhe/she/it is
semo simo siamowe are
sete sieteyou (plural) are
è(-ne) adè sonothey are
Anconitano Maceratese ItalianTranslation
ciò ciò hoI have
ciài ci(ài) haiyou have
cià cià hahe/she/it has
ciavémo ciaìmo abbiamowe have
ciavé ciaéte aveteyou (plural) have
cià(-ne) cià hannothey have

Features of the three areas

Ancona dialect

The Ancona dialect is spoken only in Ancona and has only recently spread its influence elsewhere (Falconara, Osimo, Jesi, Chiaravalle, Porto Recanati, Loreto and Senigallia). Of the Marchigiano varieties, it is the one that shows the most Gallo-Italic traits. For instance, the masculine singular definite article is always, without anything comparable to the Italian variation, according to phonetic context, between and . Only the speakers from towns which are closer to Macerata (Osimo, Castelfidardo, Loreto, Porto Recanati) use the form as in Italian.[1] These cities also undergo other influences from the Macerata dialect, due to proximity.[1]

Fabriano dialect

The Fabriano dialect is spoken in Fabriano (closer to Umbria) and nearby towns. Rhotacism of pronounced as //l// occurs in this dialect, such that the local equivalents of Italian 'sock' and 'lightning' are and .

Macerata dialect

The Macerata dialect is spoken in the provinces of Macerata and Fermo. Its speakers use (masculine singular) and (neuter singular) as definite articles. Notable features are rhotacism of pronounced as //l// and various assimilations that are absent from Italian:

!Sound change!Maceratese word!Italian counterpart!Translation
pronounced as //nd// > pronounced as //nn//mettennomettendoputting
pronounced as //mb// > pronounced as //mm//gammagambaleg
pronounced as //nt// > pronounced as //nd//piandapiantaplant
pronounced as //mp// > pronounced as //mb//cambucampofield
pronounced as //ld// > pronounced as //ll//callucaldohot

Vocabulary

The following is a list of Marchigian words; note that the Anconitan forms do not show gemination[3] (, ,, etc.)

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. Massimo Morroni, Vocabolario del dialetto osimano
  2. Carlo Grillantini, Saggi e studi sul dialetto osimano
  3. Book: Loporcaro, Michele. The Dialects of Italy. Routledge. Edited by Martin Maiden, Mair Parry. 1997. 0-415-11104-8. Abingdon. Lengthening and "raddoppiamento fonosintattico". Ancona, as claimed by Rohlfs (1966: 322) is the southernmost outcrop on the Adriatic coast - south of Wartburg's La Spezia-Rimini (or Pellegrini's Carrara-Fano) Line - of Western Romance degemination.