The classical Milanese orthography is the orthography used for the Western Lombard language, in particular for the Milanese dialect, by the major poets and writers of this literature, such as Carlo Porta, Carlo Maria Maggi, Delio Tessa, etc. It was first used in the seventeenth century by Carlo Maria Maggi; Maggi first introduced the trigram oeu, while previous authors, like Bonvesin de la Riva (thirteenth century), used Latinizing orthographies. In 1606 G. A. Biffi with his Prissian de Milan de la parnonzia milanesa began the first codification, incorporating vowel length and the use of ou to represent the sound pronounced as /link/.[1] The classical orthography came as a compromise between the old Tuscan system and the French one; the characteristic that considerably differentiates this orthography from the effective pronunciation is the method for the distinction of long and short vowels. As of today, because it has become more archaic, it is often replaced by simpler methods that use signs ö, ü for front rounded vowels and the redoubling of vowels for long vowels. The classical orthography was regularized in the 1990s by the Circolo Filologico Milanese for modern use.
The classical Milanese orthography (as edited by Circolo Filologico Milanese) has the following conventions that differ from the Italian alphabet.
General use of accents:[2]
indicates a closed sound in e or o ((é) pronounced as /link/ and (ó) pronounced as /link/ respectively, as in Italian)
indicates an open sound in e or o ((è) pronounced as /link/ and (ò) pronounced as /link/ respectively, as in Italian)
indicates a stressed short o when otherwise would be unstressed ((ô) pronounced as /link/; the circumflex is not used in Italian)
Pronunciation of vowels and false diphthongs:
Use of consonants:
| + | |||||||
| Sign | Context | Notes | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| a (à) | unstressed, stressed if followed by double consonant, or accented word-finally | pronounced as /link/ | stress is indicated with grave accent | ||||
| a (à) | elsewhere | pronounced as /link/ | stress is indicated with grave accent | ||||
| aa | word-finally | pronounced as /link/ | always stressed | ||||
| b | always | pronounced as /link/ | devoiced pronounced as /link/ word-finally | ||||
| c | followed by consonant or by a, o, u | pronounced as /link/ | |||||
| ci | followed by a, o, u | pronounced as /link/ | |||||
| c | followed by e, i or word-finally | pronounced as /link/ | |||||
| ch | followed by e, i or word-finally | pronounced as /link/ | |||||
| d | always | pronounced as /link/ | devoiced pronounced as /link/ word-finally | ||||
| e | unstressed | pronounced as /link/ | |||||
| e (è) | followed by double consonant or accented word-finally | pronounced as /link/ | always stressed; stress is sometimes indicated with grave accent | ||||
| e (é) | elsewhere | pronounced as /link/ | always stressed; stress is indicated with acute accent | ||||
| ee | word-finally | pronounced as /link/ | always stressed | ||||
| f | always | pronounced as /link/ | |||||
| g | followed by consonant or by a, o, u | pronounced as /link/ | |||||
| gi | followed by a, o, u | pronounced as /link/ | |||||
| g | followed by e, i or word-finally | pronounced as /link/ | devoiced pronounced as /link/ word-finally | ||||
| gh | followed by e, i or word-finally | pronounced as /link/ | devoiced pronounced as /link/ word-finally | ||||
| i (ì) | followed by double consonant or accented word-finally | pronounced as /link/ | stress is indicated with grave accent | ||||
| i | preceded by consonant and followed by vowel | pronounced as /link/ | |||||
| i (ì) | elsewhere | pronounced as /link/ | stress is indicated with grave accent | ||||
| ii | word-finally | pronounced as /link/ | always stressed | ||||
| j | when not preceded by consonant | pronounced as /link/ | |||||
| l | always | pronounced as /link/ | |||||
| m | followed by consonant | pronounced as /link/ | |||||
| m | elsewhere | pronounced as /link/ | |||||
| n | when it doesn't form a vowel with the preceding vowel or word-finally when last syllable is unstressed | pronounced as /link/ | |||||
| n | elsewhere | pronounced as /link/ | |||||
| nn | word-finally | pronounced as /link/ | |||||
| o | stressed in a non-final open syllable | pronounced as /link/ | |||||
| o | elsewhere | pronounced as /link/ | |||||
| oo | word-finally | pronounced as /link/ | always stressed | ||||
| ò | always | pronounced as /link/ | always stressed | ||||
| ô | word-finally | pronounced as /link/ | always stressed | ||||
| oeu | followed by double consonant | pronounced as /link/ pronounced as /link/ | always stressed | ||||
| oeu | elsewhere | pronounced as /link/ pronounced as /link/ | always stressed | ||||
| p | always | pronounced as /link/ | |||||
| qu | always followed by a vowel other than u | pronounced as /link/ | |||||
| r | always | pronounced as /link/ | |||||
| s | word-finally, followed by voiceless consonant or word-initially | pronounced as /link/ | |||||
| s | intervocalic or followed by voiced consonant | pronounced as /link/ | |||||
| sci | followed by a, o, u | pronounced as /link/ | |||||
| sc | followed by e, i or word-finally | pronounced as /link/ | |||||
| s'ci | followed by a, o, u | /pronounced as /link/pronounced as /link// | |||||
| s'c | followed by e, i | /pronounced as /link/pronounced as /link// | |||||
| sgi | followed by a, o, u | pronounced as /link/ | |||||
| sg | followed by e, i | pronounced as /link/ | |||||
| ss | between vowels | pronounced as /link/ | |||||
| t | always | pronounced as /link/ | |||||
| u (ù) | followed by double consonant or accented word-finally | pronounced as /link/ | stress is indicated with grave accent | ||||
| u | between q or g and a vowel, or as part of a diphthong | pronounced as /link/ | never stressed | ||||
| u (ù) | elsewhere | pronounced as /link/ | stress is indicated with grave accent | ||||
| uu | word-finally | pronounced as /link/ | always stressed | ||||
| v | always | pronounced as /link/ pronounced as /link/ | devoiced pronounced as /link/ word-finally | ||||
| z | always | pronounced as /link/ pronounced as /link/ pronounced as /link/ pronounced as /link/ | variable; always devoiced pronounced as /link//pronounced as /link/ word-finally | ||||