The characteristics of the Arianese dialect appear rather atypical compared to the usual Irpinia vernacular canons by virtue of the geographical position of the town, located along the northern edge ofIrpinia at the height of the main pass of theCampanian Apennines (the so-calledsaddle of Ariano), therefore in the extreme hinterland ofCampania and immediately close to theDauno-Apulian side.[1] The Arianese dialect was able to resist relatively better the contamination of the lower Campania region in general and theNeapolitan one in particular (Naples became the capital ofthe Kingdom since the 13th century),[2] but it remained exposed in some measure to theApulian (and more precisely Daunian) dialectal influences,[1] rather evident above all at a phonetic level.[3] For similar reasons, there is also a certain influence of theIrpinia dialects, and especially for the Arianese dialect, on the vernaculars spoken along the Apulian side of theDaunia mountains (the so-called Dauno-Irpinia dialects)[4] and even, albeit only superficially, on thelinguistic islands present there.[5][6] It should also be noted the presence of a certain contact with the largeBenevento dialect area,[7] mainly attributable to the geographical proximity as well as to theEarly Medieval historical events.[8][9][10] Since the first half of the 19th century, however, Arianese has been considered one of the main dialects of the entire Campanian group.[11]
TheVia Francigena in the direction of Puglia on theSprinia plateau, near the homonymousmasseria in the upperMiscano valley.
In the context of the Kingdom of Naples, the town was then nicknamed "la chiave delle puglie" (the key to Apulia) as it was an essential key in the connections between the capitalNaples and the nearby Apulian provinces,[17] with which there were intense contacts and exchanges:[18] in addition to this, in the 15th century there was a massive influx of refugees fromTrani, who settled in the extramural village which took its name from them ("Tranìsi", i.e. "Tranesi", people from Trani);[19] this rock quarter would later house the numerousAriano Irpino ceramics kilns,[20] and it is precisely on some locally produced glazed ceramic tiles (dated 1772 and depictingbig-game hunting scenes) that we find the first written attestations of the Arianese dialect, consisting in a complex series of covertly licentious or allusive slang expressions and as such not always easily interpretable.[21] However, dialectal inflections, already significantly permeated by elements of Apulian origin, emerge from much more ancient times and even in documents of the early Middle Ages written in the localvulgar Latin.[22][23]
It should also be considered that thediocese of Ariano, from the moment of its establishment and until thegreat schism, followed theByzantine Rite similarly to the Apulian dioceses, although it depended on aLongobard archbishopric such as that of Benevento.[24] And it is also significant that until 1930 the city was known under the eloquent denomination ofAriano di Puglia,[25] made official starting from 1868[26] but already in use for many centuries by writers[27] (even in themedieval Latin formArianum in Apulia)[28] although the local vernacular has always favored the simple original form Ariano, attested as far back as 782.[29][30]
Among the salient features of the local dialect is the pronunciation of the tonice /o vowels which, due to a partial syllabic isochronism of clear Adriatic origin,[31] are generally closed in a free syllable in plain words,[32] unlike than in the rest of Irpinia where the open stamp prevails.[33] Therefore in Ariano it's said: "la mugliéra téne nóve sóre" (= "the wife has nine sisters"), whereas in the standard Irpinia it's have "(l) a muglièra tene nòve sòre". On the other hand, inslippery words the local pronunciation of the tonic vowels tends to reopen, as is well evident in the case of nouns combined withenclitic possessives: "muglièrima" (="my wife"), "sòreta" (="your sister").[34]
Peculiar, and likely attributable to an Apulian influence,[32] is also the way of pronouncing the tonic vowel a which in Ariano[35] tends towardse[36] while elsewhere in Irpinia it tends rather towardso,[31] especially in a free or final syllable; thus, for example, the word "fare" is pronounced/fæ:/ in Arianese,/fɑː/ in standard Irpino.
Consider also, in compound tenses, the anomalous vowel alternation in the different persons of the auxiliary verb:
à ritto (="hai detto", "you said")
è dditto (="ha detto", "he/she/it said");
actually, while the first construct probably derives from the trivial truncation of a primitive *ài ritto (this can be deduced from the lack ofsyntactic gemination of the following syllable), the second would instead have originated from an ancient *à dditto.[37] In other cases the local use of the stressed vowelsa /e in the pronunciation of an auxiliary verb is instead freely interchangeable and independent of external factors: thus, for example, one can say "àggiu capito" or "èggiu capito" (="ho capito", "i understood" ), without there being any difference in meaning between the two expressions.[38]
At a purely orthographic level, in addition to the almost systematic omission of the etymologicalh in the conjugated forms of the auxiliary verb "avere", we note the frequent use of the letterj (and sometimes also of thew) to indicate asemiconsonant in initial or intervocalic position, while the graphemesš andẓ (or similar ones) are often used to signal respectively the possiblepalatalization ofs (in a preconsonantal position) and the rather infrequent sonorization ofz.[39][40][41][42]
Overall, however, the differences between the Arianese dialect and the various vernaculars widespread in the small neighboring towns are quite evident (although not excessively profound), where the typical Irpinia cadences tend to be preserved in an even more genuine way,in fact in the rest of Irpinia it is said everywhereà dditto.[43] although even these appear more or less dissimilar from each other, sometimes altered by a usually inconspicuous slang component but in some cases very well marked (an example is given by the slangciaschino, once spoken in the nearbyBaronia [it]).[44]
The Sambuco district (Saùco in dialect), full of caves populated since the time of theNormans or theAngevins by a smallFranco-Provençal community, whoseGallo-Romance linguistic traits were still recognizable in the nineteenth-century local vernacular
Radically different, despite the continuous and frequent interchanges,[6][45] are instead the idioms used by the communities belonging to the territorial linguistic minorities, such as theAlbanians ofGreci (once also present in Ariano),[13][46][47] theFranco-Provençal ofValmaggiore [it] (also infiltrated as far as the city of Ariano,[48] where conspicuous traces of their presence remain)[49][50][51][52][53] as well as the ancient Schiavoni[47] (also present in Ariano and surroundings);[54] the latter, unlike the relatedMolise Croats, have lost their linguistic individuality after however having had a decisive influence on the history and culture ofGinestra degli Schiavoni,Sant'Arcangelo Trimonte (formerly known as Montemale or Montemalo) andVillanova del Battista (the ancient Polcarino degli Schiavoni),[55] three communities linked since the very beginning to the diocese of Ariano (although since 1997 the parish of Sant'Arcangelo Trimonte has been transferred to thearchdiocese of Benevento in exchange forSavignano Irpino and the already cited Greeks).[56]
Moreover, some vernacular differences, albeit small, are even felt between one area and another of the same municipality: thus, for example, the word "dietro" (behind) is translated into dialect asaddréto in some sectors of the Arianese territory, whilearréto in others (from note, however, how both forms present the typical closed tonic); such a variety of nuances is attributable to the wide diffusion of rural settlements scattered over a very vast (the largest inCampania)[57] and somewhat impervious countryside.[58] Added to this is a certain sociolinguistic differentiation between a "cultured" and a "peasant" vernacular, the latter characterized by more altered but at the same time more colorful forms and cadences, with a greater propensity forrhotacism andbetacism (for example, "due o tre volte" (two or three times) will be pronounced "doj-tre vvote" in the "cultured" variant, but "roj-tre bbote" in the "peasant" one).[59] Not infrequently the subtle vernacular differences between the various localities of the countryside, as well as between the different social classes, have offered easy starting points for local political satire.[60][61]
Italian:
Tutti abbracciano il contadino: "Tu sei il miglior compare mio; Ti darò la libertà, ma porta sempre roba qua"
Arianese:
Tutti abbràzzano lu cafone: "Tu si lu meglio cumparone; T'aggia rà la libertà, ma porta sàrcine sempe qua"
English:
Everyone hugs the farmer: "You are my best friend; I will give you freedom, but always bring stuff here"
^Kattenbusch, Dieter (1982).Das Frankoprovenzalische in Süditalien : Studien zur synchronischen und diachronischen Dialektologie. Tübingen: G. Narr.ISBN3-87808-997-X.OCLC9539237.
^Suggestions coming from theBenevento area can be attributed, for example, to the widespread diffusion of the myth of thejanara, a sort of evil witch who, unlike themazzamurello (a benevolent goblin), struck terror among the populations.
^Donatone, Guido (1980).La Maiolica di Ariano Irpino.Cava de' Tirreni. p. 202.
^For example, note the following deed (signed in Ariano in the year 1062) "Declaro me abere undecim trophe de olibe in loco Balle", where the wordtrophe (="young plants") is an ancient word ofGreek origin now disappeared everywhere , but very common in medieval writings albeit in the exclusively Apulian area.
^Giuliani, Mariafrancesca (2007).Saggi di stratigrafia linguistica dell'Italia meridionale (2nd ed.).Pisa: PLUS-Pisa University Press.ISBN978-88-8492-469-8.OCLC227016916.
^Stanco, Gianfranco (2012).Gli statuti di Ariano : diritto municipale e identità urbana tra Campania e Puglia. Ariano Irpino: Centro europeo di studi normanni. p. 2.ISBN978-88-98028-08-5.OCLC883623241.
^This phenomenon is also found inLacedonia, another Irpinia municipality located on the border with Apulia.Del Donno, Manfredi (1965).Idiomi dialettali della Campania. Montemurro. p. 19.
^As in various othercentral-southern andSicilian dialects, the palatalization ofs derives from ancient links-squ- /-scl- /-spl- /-stl- (with contextual drop of the phonemesu /l), or fromloanwords fromNeapolitan. The sonorization of thez is instead found only in loanwords fromProvençal, French or Italian.
^Note, for example, the difference in pronunciation betweenscasà (="to move") andšcascià (="to break down"), where the monogramš- actually has the same sound as the subsequent trigram-sci-; or betweenspitazzà (="to break") andsmiẓẓà (="to halve"), in this case analogously to Italian. Furthermore, consonant doublings are constantly transcribed, even at the beginning of the word (for examplessuppilà, "to uncork").
^Mario, Sicuranza (1988).Prima Lingua – Piccolo Dizionario del Dialetto Arianese.Foggia: Centro Grafico Meridionale.
^Russo, Aniello (2004).Grammatica del dialetto irpino.Avellino: International Printing Editore.
^Bitonti, Alessandro (2012).Luoghi, lingue, contatto : Italiano, dialetti e Francoprovenzale in Puglia. Galatina: Congedo Editore.ISBN978-88-8086-982-5.OCLC809971928.
^This information is confirmed in 1788 by Abbot Francesco Antonio Vitale, infra,pp. 27–28.
^abAround 1500 the feudal lords of Ariano used to keep Albanian and Schiavoni winemakers at their service.Proceedings of the Pontaniana Academy (1825), Giannini, 1920, p. 60. See also T. Vitale, infra,p. 112.
^Touring club italiano (1978).Puglia (4. ed. Con 13 carte geografiche, 14 piante di città, 28 piante di antichità ed edifici e 21 stemmi ed.). Milano: Touring club italiano. p. 62.ISBN88-365-0020-X.OCLC5172282.
^The Franco-Provençal presence must have concentrated in the Sambuco district (Saùco in dialect), and in particular in the caves that are part of it, since in that district the vernacular had a markedGallo-Romance cadence (in both phonetic and lexical terms) at least until the first half of the 18th century.
^According to a local popular legend, the Arianese dialect itself derives from a hypothetical Provençal idiom (="franco-provençal") which penetrated the territory following theNormans.
^D'Antuono, Ottaviano; Guardabascio, Raffaele, eds. (1989)."Poeti a la scuria e... poeti alluttrinati" – La satira politica ad Ariano dal 1889 al 1989 (in Italian). Associazione circoli culturali – Ariano Irpino. Lioni: Poligrafica Irpina.
^Di Gruttola, Nicola (1982).Lu llorgio di tatone (in Italian). Lioni: Melito.
^"Otantonio Lappazzo", pseudonym of di Gruttola, Nicola (1946).Puvisia sciolda a pere di ranogna (in Italian). Ariano Irpino.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^Venetian is either grouped with the rest of the Italo-Dalmatian or the Gallo-Italic languages, depending on the linguist, but the major consensus among linguists is that in the dialectal landscape of northern Italy, Veneto dialects are clearly distinguished from Gallo-Italic dialects.
