Franco-Italian , also known as Franco-Venetian or Franco-Lombard , in Italy as lingua franco-veneta " Franco-Venetan language", was a literary language used in parts of northern Italy, from the mid-13th century to the end of the 14th century. It was employed by writers including Brunetto Latini and Rustichello da Pisa and was presumably only a written language, and not a spoken one.
38-499: Absent a standard form for literary works of the Gallo-Italic languages at the time, writers in genres including the romance employed a hybrid language strongly influenced by the French language (at this period, the group called langues d'oïl ). They sometimes described this type of literary Franco-Italian simply as French. Franco-Italian literature began to appear in northern Italy in
76-497: A Celtic substratum and a Germanic , mostly Lombardic , superstrate , Gallo-Italian descends from the Latin spoken in northern part of Italia (former Cisalpine Gaul ). The group had for part of late antiquity and the early Middle Ages a close linguistic link with Gaul and Raetia , west and north to the Alps . From the late Middle Ages , the group adopted various characteristics of
114-474: A substrate from the Etruscan language of the original inhabitants prior to Romanization. The Etruscan language influence is found most saliently in the toponyms of Tuscany , as well as some parts of neighbouring Umbria and Lazio . The Tuscan gorgia affects the voiceless stop consonants /k/ , /t/ , and /p/ . They are usually pronounced as fricatives in post-vocalic position when not blocked by
152-487: A direct offshoot from medieval Tuscan, even though they now constitute a distinct linguistic group. Excluding the inhabitants of Province of Massa and Carrara , who speak an Emilian dialect, and people in the area of Tuscan Romagna, speaking Romagnol , around 3.5 million people speak Tuscan. Tuscan as a whole has certain defining features, with subvarieties that are distinguished by minor details. A Romance language variety descending from Vulgar Latin , it also contains
190-467: A normal lengthening of the consonant preceding /j/ . What seems to have taken place is a realignment of the paradigm in accordance with the statistically-minor but highly-frequent paradigms of dare (give) and stare (be, stay). Thus so, sai, sa, sanno (all singulars and the third-person plural of 'know') has come to fit the template of do, dai, dà, danno ('give'), sto, stai, sta, stanno ('be, stay'), and fo, fai, fa, fanno ('make, do') has followed
228-429: A stage / ɔ / , the vowel has then developed as a diphthong [wɔ] . The phenomenon never gained universal acceptance, however, and so forms with the diphthong have come to be accepted as Standard Italian (e.g. fuoco , buono , nuovo , duomo ), but the monophthong remains in popular speech ( foco , bono , novo , domo ). A characteristic of Tuscan dialect is the use of the accusative pronoun te in emphatic clauses of
266-508: A synthetic pronoun form, mi (to me). The Tuscan dialect makes use of both in the same sentence as a kind of intensification of the dative/indirect object: This usage is widespread throughout the central regions of Italy, not only in Tuscany, and is often considered redundant and erroneous by language purists. It is also a standard feature in Spanish: a mí me gusta ("I like it") In some dialects,
304-599: Is a dialect complex composed of many local variants, with minor differences among them. The main subdivisions are between Northern Tuscan dialects, the Southern Tuscan dialects, and Corsican. The Northern Tuscan dialects are (from east to west): The Southern Tuscan dialects are (from east to west): Corsican on the island of Corsica and the Corso-Sardinian transitional varieties spoken in northern Sardinia ( Gallurese and Sassarese ) are classified by scholars as
342-730: Is also more widely spoken than these two languages, thus the borders of Piedmontese have reached the western alps watershed that is the border with France. The speaking area of Ligurian or Genoese cover the territory of the former Republic of Genoa , which included much of nowadays Liguria, and some mountain areas of bordering regions near the Ligurian border, the upper valley of Roya river near Nice , in Carloforte and Calasetta in Southern Sardinia , and Bonifacio in Corsica . Emilian
380-683: Is based on Tuscan, specifically on its Florentine dialect , and it became the language of culture throughout Italy because of the prestige of the works by Dante Alighieri , Petrarch , Giovanni Boccaccio , Niccolò Machiavelli , and Francesco Guicciardini . It later became the official language of all the Italian states and of the Kingdom of Italy when it was formed. In De vulgari eloquentia ( c. 1300), Dante Alighieri distinguishes four main subdialects: fiorentino ( Florence ), senese ( Siena ), lucchese ( Lucca ) and aretino ( Arezzo ). Tuscan
418-513: Is due to their phonology. The Gallo-Italic languages differ somewhat in their phonology from one language to another, but the following are the most important characteristics, as contrasted with Italian : Tuscan dialect Tuscan ( Italian : dialetto toscano [djaˈlɛtto tosˈkaːno; di.a-] ; locally: vernacolo ) is a set of Italo-Dalmatian varieties of Romance spoken in Tuscany , Corsica , and Sardinia . Standard Italian
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#1732845204892456-481: Is not pronounced and so anar is pronounced /ə'na/. A phenomenon similar in origin in French has led to loss of both /r/ and final /e/ in the - are class of infinitives at an early stage and so the final syllable of Modern French aimer , chanter etc. is pronounced as stressed [e] . The most important differences among dialects is in the lexicon , which also distinguishes the different subdialects. The Tuscan lexicon
494-613: Is pronounced as a voiceless post-alveolar fricative between two vowels: The sequence /la ˈtʃena/ la cena , 'the dinner', in Standard Italian is pronounced [la ˈtʃeːna] , but in Tuscan, it is [la ˈʃeːna] . As a result of the weakening rule, there are a few minimal pairs distinguished only by length of the voiceless fricative (e.g. [laʃeˈrɔ] lacerò 'it/he/she ripped' vs. [laʃʃeˈrɔ] lascerò 'I will leave/let'). A less common phonetic phenomenon
532-555: Is realized as voiced post-alveolar fricative (s and z in the English mea s ure and a z ure ): This phenomenon is very evident in daily speech (common also in Umbria and elsewhere in Central Italy): the phrase la gente , 'the people', in Standard Italian is pronounced [la ˈdʒɛnte] , but in Tuscan it is [la ˈʒɛnte] . Similarly, the voiceless post-alveolar affricate
570-525: Is some debate over the proper grouping of the Gallo-Italic languages. They are sometimes grouped with Gallo-Romance, but other linguists group them in Italo-Dalmatian. Most Gallo-Italic languages have to varying degrees given way in everyday use to regional varieties of Italian . The vast majority of current speakers are diglossic with Italian. Among the regional languages of Italy, they are
608-620: Is spoken in the historical-cultural region of Emilia , which forms part of Emilia-Romagna , but also in many areas of the bordering regions, including southern Lombardy, south-eastern Piedmont, around the town of Tortona , province of Massa and Carrara in Tuscany and Polesine in Veneto, near the Po delta . With Romagnol , spoken in the historical region of Romagna , forms the Emilian-Romagnol linguistic continuum . Gallo-Piceno ( gallo-italic of
646-493: Is the realization of "voiceless s" ( voiceless alveolar fricative /s/ ) as the voiceless alveolar affricate [ts] when preceded by /r/ , /l/ , or /n/ . For example, il sole (the sun), pronounced in Standard Italian as [il ˈsoːle] , would be in theory pronounced [il ˈtsoːle] in Tuscan. However, since assimilation of the final consonant of the article to the following consonant tends to occur in exactly such cases (see "Masculine definite articles" below)
684-408: Is universal in some subtypes such as Pisano-Livornese, but in the vicinity of Florence , alternations are regular and so the full infinitive (e.g. vedere 'to see') appears before a pause , and the clipped form ( vedé ) is found otherwise. The consonant of an enclitic is lengthened if it is preceded by stressed vowel ( vedéllo 'to see it', portàcci 'to bring us') but not when the preceding vowel of
722-633: The Italo-Dalmatian branch, both Ethnologue and Glottolog group it into the Gallo-Italic languages. The languages are spoken also in the departement of Alpes-Maritimes in France and in Ticino and southern Grisons , both in Switzerland , and the microstates of Monaco and San Marino . They are still spoken to some extent by the Italian diaspora in countries with Italian immigrant communities. Having
760-577: The Italo-Dalmatian languages of the south. As a result, the Gallo-Italic languages have characteristics of the Gallo-Romance languages to the northwest (including French and Franco-Provençal ), the Occitano-Romance languages to the west (including Catalan and Occitan ) and the Italo-Dalmatian languages to the north-east , central and south Italy ( Venetian , Dalmatian , Tuscan , Central Italian , Neapolitan , Sicilian ). For this there
798-484: The double accusative pronoun me mi vedi (lit: Me you see me ) can be heard, but that is considered to be an archaic form. The singular and plural masculine definite articles can both be realized phonetically as [i] in Florentine varieties of Tuscan but are distinguished by their phonological effect on following consonants. The singular causes the lengthening of the following consonant: [i kkaːne] 'the dog'. However,
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#1732845204892836-462: The province of Catania that developed large Lombard communities during this period, namely Randazzo , Paternò and Bronte . However, the Northern Italian influence in the local varieties of Sicilian are marked. In the case of San Fratello, some linguists suggested that the nowadays dialect has Provençal as its basis, having been a fort manned by Provençal mercenaries in the early decades of
874-425: The reflexive si ), as the first-person plural. That is basically the same as the use of on in French . It is possible to use the construction si + third-person in singular verb , which can be preceded by the first-plural person pronoun noi . The phenomenon is found in all verb tenses, including compound tenses. In those tenses, the use of si requires a form of essere ( to be ) as auxiliary verb. If
912-593: The Marches or gallico-marchigiano ) is spoken in the province of Pesaro and Urbino and in the northern part of the province of Ancona ( the Marches ). Once classified as a dialect of Romagnol, now there is a debate about considering it a separated Gallo-Italic language. Varieties of Gallo-Italic languages are also found in Sicily , corresponding with the central-eastern parts of the island that received large numbers of immigrants from Northern Italy, called Lombards , during
950-638: The Norman conquest (bearing in mind that it took the Normans 30 years to conquer the whole of the island). Other dialects, attested from 13th and 14th century, are also found in Basilicata , more precisely in the province of Potenza ( Tito , Picerno , Pignola and Vaglio Basilicata ), Trecchina , Rivello , Nemoli and San Costantino . Gallo-Italic languages are often said to resemble Western Romance languages like French, Spanish, or Portuguese, and in large part it
988-598: The actual pronunciation will be usually [is ˈsoːle] . Affrication of /s/ can more commonly be heard word-internally, as in falso (false) /ˈfalso/ → [ˈfaltso] . It is a common phenomenon in Central Italy but is not exclusive to that area; for example, it also occurs in Switzerland ( Canton Ticino ). It does not occur in a small area including Florence (except Rifredi [ it ] ) and Prato. There are two Tuscan historical outcomes of Latin ŏ in stressed open syllables. Passing first through
1026-569: The canton of the Grisons . Piedmontese refers to the languages spoken in the region of Piedmont and the north west corner of Liguria . Historically, the Piedmontese-speaking area is the plain at the foot of the Western Alps , and ends at the entrance to the valleys where Occitan and Franco-Provençal are spoken . In recent centuries, the language has also spread into these valleys, where it
1064-451: The competing phenomenon of syntactic gemination : A similar phonological alternation is the intervocalic weakening of the Italian "soft" g , the voiced affricate /dʒ/ ( g as in j ud g e ) and "soft" c , the voiceless affricate /tʃ/ ( ch as in ch ur ch ), known as attenuation , or, more commonly, as deaffrication . Between vowels, the voiced post-alveolar affricate consonant
1102-559: The decades following the Norman conquest of Sicily (around 1080 to 1120). Given the time that has lapsed and the influence from the Sicilian language itself, these dialects are best generically described as Southern Gallo-Italic . The major centres where these dialects can still be heard today include Piazza Armerina , Aidone , Sperlinga , San Fratello , Nicosia , and Novara di Sicilia . Northern Italian dialects did not survive in some towns in
1140-911: The first half of the 13th century, with the Livre d'Enanchet . Its vitality was exhausted around the 15th century with the Turin copy of the Huon d'Auvergne (1441). Prominent masterpieces include two versions of the Chanson de Roland , the very first version of The Travels of Marco Polo and the Entrée d'Espagne . The last original text of the Franco-Italian tradition is probably Aquilon de Bavière by Raffaele da Verona, who wrote it between 1379 and 1407 . Gallo-Italic languages The Gallo-Italic , Gallo-Italian , Gallo-Cisalpine or simply Cisalpine languages constitute
1178-516: The infinitive is unstressed ( lèggelo 'to read it', pèrdeti 'to lose you'). A similar process is found in Romanian , with infinitives cited as a ("to") + the verb, and the -re has been dropped. As in Tuscan, the stress is on the same syllable that had it before the loss of -re . In Catalan and its dialects, in Campidanese Sardinian and for some Portuguese-speakers, final infinitive -r
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1216-508: The majority of the Romance languages of northern Italy : Piedmontese , Lombard , Emilian , Ligurian , and Romagnol . In central Italy they are spoken in the northern Marches (Gallo-Italic of the Marches); in southern Italy in some language islands in Basilicata ( Gallo-Italic of Basilicata ) and Sicily ( Gallo-Italic of Sicily ). Although most publications define Venetian as part of
1254-471: The most endangered, since in the main cities of their area ( Milan , Turin , Genoa , Bologna ) they are mainly used by the elderly. Within this sub-family, the language with the largest geographic spread is Lombard , spoken in the Italian region of Lombardy , in eastern Piedmont and western Trentino . Outside Italy it is widespread in Switzerland in the canton of Ticino , and some southern valleys of
1292-469: The plural permits consonant weakening: [i haːni] 'the dogs'. As in Italian, the masculine singular lo occurs before consonants long by nature or not permitting /l/ in clusters ( lo zio 'the uncle', lo studente 'the student'), but forms such as i zio can be heard in rustic varieties. A morpholosyntactic phenomenon that is found throughout Tuscany is the personal use of the particle identical to impersonal si (not to be confused with passive si or
1330-426: The present tense of fare ( to do , to make ) and andare ( to go ). These forms have two origins. Natural phonological change alone can account for loss of /d/ and reduction of /ao/ to /o/ in the case of /vado/ > * /vao/ > /vo/ . A case such as Latin sapio > Italian so (I know), however, admits no such phonological account since the expected outcome of /sapio/ would be * /sappjo/ , with
1368-623: The same pattern. The form vo , while quite possibly a natural phonological development, seems to have been reinforced by analogy in this case. A phonological phenomenon that might appear to be morphological is the loss of the infinitival ending -re of verbs. Stress remains on the same vowel that is stressed in the full form and so the infinitive may coincide with various conjugated singulars: pèrde 'to lose', pèrde 's/he loses'; finì 'to finish', finì 's/he finished'. This homophony seldom, if ever, causes confusion, as they usually appear in distinct syntactic contexts. The infinitive without -re
1406-428: The type "You! What are you doing here?". A morphological phenomenon, cited also by Alessandro Manzoni in his masterpiece " I promessi sposi " (The Betrothed), is the doubling of the dative pronoun . For the use of a personal pronoun as indirect object ( to someone, to something ), also called dative case , the standard Italian makes use of a construction preposition + pronoun a me (to me), or it makes use of
1444-417: The verb is one that otherwise selects auxiliary avere in compound constructions, the past participle does not agree with the subject in gender and number: If the verb normally requires essere , the past participle is marked as plural: Usually, si contracts before è : si è → s'è . Another morphological phenomenon present in Tuscan is what might appear to be shortening of first singular verb forms in
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