| Parmigiano | |
|---|---|
| pramzàn | |
| Native to | Italy |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | – |
| Glottolog | None |
| Linguasphere | 51-AAA-okd |
| IETF | egl-u-sd-itpr |
TheParmigiano dialect, sometimes anglicized as theParmesan dialect, (al djalètt pramzàn) is avariety of theEmilian language spoken in theProvince of Parma, the western-central portion of theEmilia-Romagna administrative region.
The termdialetto, usually translated asdialect in English, is commonly used in reference to all localRomance languages native to Italy, many of which are notmutually intelligible withStandard Italian and all of which have developed fromVulgar Latin independently. Parmigiano is no exception and is a variety ofEmilian, not of Italian.
Parmigiano is a dialect ofEmilian, which is identified as "seriously endangered" by UNESCO.[1]
Emilian is part of theGallo-Italic family, which also includesRomagnol,Piedmontese,Ligurian, andLombard. Among these, Ligurian in particular has influenced Parmigiano.[citation needed]
Parmigiano has much of the history asEmilian, but at some point, it diverged from other versions of that linguistic group. It now lies somewhere between Western Emilian, which includes Piacentino, and Central Emilian, which includes Reggiano and Modenese. Like the other Emilian dialects, it has fewer speakers than ever because of political, social and economic factors, butLa Repubblica has suggested that it is changing.[2] It is still declining but more slowly, as parents are keen to preserve their ancestral roots.[3]
Its origins are withGauls, who occupied the Parma area in around 400BC, who had stayed there after the invasion of theRomans. Thelexicon was therefore a type ofLatin influenced byGaulish. The Gauls, orCelts, left their mark on modern Parmigiano in some words today, such asgozèn "pig",scrana "chair" andsôga "rope". As a result of Spanish and especially French invasions, Parmigiani began to use words which came from a French language that had Latin roots. That is seen intirabusòn "corkscrew" (similar toModern French'stire-bouchon)vert "open" (French:ouvert),pòmm da téra "potato" (French:pomme de terre) and many other words.
Parmigiano is mainly spoken in theprovince of Parma. The vocabulary and vowels vary across the region, particularly between the urban and rural dialects, as there was once little mobility from within to outside thecity walls.[2] The dialect spoken outside Parma is often called Arioso or Parmense within the city itself, but variation is less pronounced than it once was. The dialect spoken inCasalmaggiore in theProvince of Cremona to the north of Parma is closely related to Parmigiano. Parmigiano subdialects have three forms:
An example of the variation is the wordbombèn "very well". In 1861, the popular forms weremoltbein andmonbén, but it has also taken these forms:montben,mondbén,moltbén,moltbein,monbén, andmombén.[2][4] In the "Western Parmigiano" it's used a variety of locutions with the same meaning ofbombèn, such asbèn a bota orbèn da bòn.
Like other varieties ofEmilian, Parmigiano is not recognised as a minority dialect in theEuropean Union or inItaly. Since 27 June 2000, Italy has been a signatory of theCouncil of Europe'sEuropean Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, which aims to protect and promote historicalregional andminority languages in Europe, but it has not ratified it.
Parmigiano is written using theLatin alphabet, but spelling can vary within a dialect. It has never been standardised, and the language is rarely written.[2]
Still, a number of Parmigani-Italian dictionaries have been published.[citation needed]Angelo Mazza andtranslatorClemente Bondi were prolific writers of poetry in Parmigiano. Most of the works were first published in the late 1700s or the early to mid-1800s.
Parmigiano is asynthetic language likeItalian andFrench (but much less so thanClassical Latin) and shares several notable features with most otherRomance languages:
Nouns and most pronouns are inflected fornumber (singular or plural);adjectives, for the number and gender (masculine or feminine) of their nouns;personal pronouns, forperson, number, gender, andcase; andverbs, formood,tense, and the person and number of theirsubjects. Case is primarily marked usingword order andprepositions, and certain verb features are marked usingauxiliary verbs.
Parmigiano expresses negation in two parts, with theparticlen attached to the verb (often adding the pleonastic particle "gh") and one or more negative words (connegatives) that modify the verb or one of itsarguments. Negation encircles a conjugated verb withn after the subject and the negative adverb after the conjugated verb, For example, the simple verbal negation is expressed byn before the finite verb (and any object pronouns) and the adverbmiga after the finite verb. That is a feature it has in common withFrench, which usesne andpas.Pas derives from theLatinpassus "step", andmiga "breadcrumb" also signifies a small quantity (Ex. "A n'gh'o miga vist Zvan incó", meaning "I have not seen John today").[5]
Here is a sample of Parmigiano, compared to Italian and English, but even within a dialect, there is variation.
| Language | Sample |
|---|---|
| English | The crow stole from the window a piece of cheese; perched on a treetop, he was ready to eat it when a fox saw him; he was absolutely starving. |
| Italian | Il corvo aveva rubato da una finestra un pezzo di formaggio; appollaiato sulla cima di un albero, era pronto a mangiarselo, quando la volpe lo vide; era davvero affamato. |
| Parmigiano | Al corv l'äva robè da 'na fnéstra 'n tòch äd formàj; pozè insimma a 'na pianta, l'éra lì lì par magnärsol/magnärsel, quand la volpa l'al vèdda; al gh'äva fama dabón. |
| English | Parmigiano |
|---|---|
| And | E |
| Emilia | Emilja |
| Romagna | Römagnä |
| Italy | Italja |
| |||||||||||||||||||||||
