This past summer while going to school in Perugia, Umbria I tried to find out all about

dialects of Italian that I could. Dialects rather they be in Italian, Spanish or English fascinate me.

We speak of dialects of Italian but a dialect is defined as a change in a language that

still permits understanding. So Neopolitano e Siciliano per esempio are really differente languages rather

than dialects of standard Italian. Non e vero?

The people of Perugia for example have their own language which is quite different than standard Italian. Then again

everybody in Perugia speaks standard Italian but they speak it with a different accent(different being a realative term in this case)

which is very noticable I might add. So the way they speak standard Italian is the dialect and the so called Perugian dialect is their

language.(when I first arrived in Perguia I noticed their accent right off but got use to it in no time. One of my teachers was from Perugia

and the other 3 were from different parts of Italy but not that far away from Perugia.

They all spoke with a very noticable different accent. (I was loving it of course)

I don't claim to be an expert on anything let alone dialects of Italian or anyother language. Infatte I've got more questions than

answers about dialects of Itallian. For example how different are the following basic every day standard Italian words from Neopolitano,

Siciliano or anyother dialect or language of Italy?

Another question. How is it that Spanish is closer to standard Italian than say Neopolitano or Siciliano or other dialect/languagges of Italy?

Spain ruled southern Italy for 60 years so why would standard Italian be so close or closer to standard Italian that comes from the north of Italy?

Consider anche that Catalan is a language from Spain but it even closer to Italian than Spanish is. Catalan is spoken in parts of Sardegna a proposito.


An interesting side note is that one of my Italian teachers in Perugia that wasn't from Perugia told us that we could notice

how much better she spoke Italian than the other 3 teachers. According to her she spoke much clearer, with a better accent e cosi via.

Of course she told us this quite modestly I might add. LOL!


At any rate how different are the following words from other languages or so called dialects of standard Italian?

sempre- always, mai- never, (my) oggi- today, domani- tomorrow, ieri- yesterday, (YEER-ree)adesso- now, ora-now, allora- then, poi-then, (owl-OH-rah)

dopo- after, prima(di)- before, ancora- still,yet, non ancora-not yet (an-CORE-rah) spesso(frequentemente)- often, stasera- tonight,

presto- early,soon, tardi- late, a tempo- on time, gia- already, subito & immediatamente- immediately, (SUE-be-toe)di quando in quando- from time to time,

di solito- usually, fa-ago, tre giorni fa- 3 days ago, fino a- until, frattanto- meanwhile, raramente- rarely,seldom, ecentemente- recently, (ray-chin-tay-MINT-tay)

ultimo- last, una volta- once,

Adverbs of Place:

Dove?-Where?,
lontano-far,
vicino-near, (vee-CHEE-no)
dietro-behind, (dee-EH-tro)
davanti-in front of,
avanti-forward, (ah-VAHN-tee)
indietro-backward,
dentro-inside,
fuori-outside,
qua,qui-here,
li,la-there
giu-down (jew)
laggiu-down there (lah-jew)
lassu-up there (lah-sue)
accanto a - beside
sopra-above
sotto-below
tra,fra-between
via-away (vada via!-get out of here!)
attraverso- through
intorno,attorno - around
da nessuna parte - nowhere
da qualche parte - somewhere
dappertutto- everywhere
a destra - to the right
a sinistra to the left

Adverbs of quantity:

Quanto?- How much?
molto-much
troppo-too much
poco-little
tanto-so much
abbastanza-enough
quasi-almost
piu-more
meno-less
circa-nearly, about
soltanto, solo, solamente-only
assai-much
piuttosto- rather Piuttosto caro. - Rather expensive.
probabilmente- probably
piu o meno- more or less
veramente- indeed, really
purtroppo- unfortunately

Le Domande - Questions

Come?- How
Quanto? How much
Quanti? Quante? How many?
Come mai?- How come?
Che? What?
Che cosa? What?
Quale? Which?
Chi?(key) Who?
Perche? Why?
Perche -because
Che tipo di...? What kind of...?
Dove? Where
Dove ci vediamo? Where shall we meet?

Aggettivi importante

buono- good
buffo- funny
caldo- hot
fredo- cold
caro- costly
cattivo- bad
celibe (CHAY-lee-bay) single male
aperto- open
chniuso- closed
corto- short
debole- weak
forte- strong
difficile- difficult
facile- easy
gentile- nice
giovane- young
grande- big
piccolo- little
grasso- fat
magro- skinny
innocente
lento- slow
libero- free, availiable
malato- sick
meschio- mean
morbido- soft
nubile- single female
nuovo- new
occupato- busy
pesante- heavy
piacevole- pleasant
piccante- spicy hot
pieno- full
pigro- lazy
primo - first
profondo- deep
sbagliato- mistaken
scuro- dark
secco- dry
sordo- deaf
sporco- dirty
pulito- clean
umido- humid
vecchio- old
vivace- active
vuoto- empty
zitto- quiet

Dear Villa
Me too!
I love the diversity of language and the connections between them.
There is no definitive answer to your questions.
Consider the Romance languages, that is the languages which have derived from the Empire of Rome. Latin, the language of a small area of the Italian peninsula, became the Lingua Franca for the Empire because of its staus as the language of administration and authority. That didn't stop the ordinary people from adapting it, in daily usage, to their own ends and in the process creating French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, etc. Over the process of time, and history, fresh vocabulary being invented.
This is of course a simple view of things, but is generally how things must have unfolded. Remember that Italian is the Tuscan Dialect used by Florentines, such as Dante Alighieri in their literature, and taken up as luck would have it, as the Standard.

If you compare the adoption of the language of the Angles, Saxons and Danes, now known as English, although it is stretching things a bit, you can see a similar thing.
The invasion of the British Isles by foreigners, eager for land, overcomes the existing people, and eventually their language. The new tongue adopting some of the vocabulary of the inhabitants and being adapted over time to a commonly understood, language with strong regional variations.
Eventually through the process of colonialism, empire, commonwealth, trade, immigration, and lots of luck English became a world wide concept.
Its adaptability and facility for exact and precise expression, gave it a head start. But look at the varieties of English throughout the world, Pidgen English could be described as Dialect.

Finally, I think that human kind itself is responsible for such diversity, being sapient, and adapting language and knowledge, to suit place and time.

Does that help??

[quote=Peter nLeonard;10341]Dear Villa
Remember that Italian is the Tuscan Dialect used by Florentines, such as Dante Alighieri in their literature, and taken up as luck would have it, as the Standard. quote]

What is fascinating is that Dante advocated the use of a single language enriched by the best dialect that each Italian region had to offer. This, he believed, would not only bring unity and peace to Italy but also create a truly national culture, an end to which Dante passionately believed in and aspired to throughout his life.

__________________
CJ
Magical Marche &
Luchetti & Partners Studio Legale Tributario

Somebody posted a real good video on Piemontese dialect :

http://my.lifeinitaly.com/vbtube_sho...t=3519&p=10330


In any case I wanted to point out a trend maybe not so obvious to non Italian born: I have a really hard time here in the US to understand descendents of Italian immigrant - They do tend to speak a very strict dialect that was populat 50 years ago - For me to understand a Sicilian-American for example is quite a challenge. It is very often a shock however when I talk to a young Sicilian in Sicily - His / her Italian is almost perfect and I can talk to them easily. - The dialect is fading due to TV audio Cinema and movement of people within Italy. Italy is a young country ( 1870 ca ) so the union is very recent - the trend is however not in favor of dialects - My parents where speaking dialect at home when I was very young but it was also confusing my Gradmother side being from Naples and my father side from Lumbardy - after moving to Rome they did only speak Italian. I can understand dialect but I cannot speak any so I guess that dialects will be fading.
Maybe in a distant future Europe will consider Spanish Italian English French German as dialects of the future Euro language ...

This is such a fascinating subject! My Italian professor told our class that, back in Dante's time, a bunch of the intellectuals of the time got together in Florence to decide what the correct Italian would be. They paid a lot of attention to how it sounds. That is why Italian is one of the most melodious languages in the world. I absolutely love to speak Italian. It tastes good!!!

Molto interesante.

More on dialects.

The Dialects of ItalianThere are two major groups of Italian dialects, excepting the Sardinian group which is considered another language entirely. These two groups are separated ...
www.evolpub.com/Italiandialects/ITALdial.html - 9k - Cached - Similar pages

Very interesting, indeed!! It's a good thing for those of us learning Italian that there is one form that is understood pretty much everywhere.

What's molto interessante e ironico is Italian speakers can learn Spanish molto facile e visa versa. Just about
every Italian speaker that I've ever met in California has learned Spanish. Even io after 2 years
learning Italian in Italy came back to California, learned Spanish and became a high school Spanish teacher.(18 classes of Spanish)

So if any Italian can learn Spanish easily why couldn't any
Italian speaker learn other dialects of Italy anche facile?
And for that matter Spanish speakers learn other dialects of Italian tambien.
In fatti there is a Mexican lady in my class who married a man from Sicily.
She speaks standard Italian and Siciliano. Non e meraviglioso!?

Was looking up some unrelated things about Italian and came across this little interesting bit on dialects.

Although every region has its own dialect with unique words and grammatical usages, the ability to
speak 'good' standard Italian is regarded throughout Italy as an important mark of education. Italians are
very sensitive to how their language is used and are prone to mock regional accents (other than their own) -
these are considered more appropriate for private use than for public communication. When speaking to a
foreigner, native Italian speakers will usually do their best to 'standardise' their speech.

I agree Paolo. We are friends with a couple here in the US whose families are from southern Italy. When we started learning Italian we thought it would be great to work on our understanding, grammer and accent with them. Well. As you already know, they were NOT speaking l'Italiano. It wasn't even a southern dialect any more. Over three generations the dialect had morphed into a new Ameri-Italian dialect. I have no idea how they do when in Italy...