Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 13.djvu/514

492 ITALY [LANGUAGE. of the dialects is tenaciously retained even by the most cultivated classes of the population. In the present rapid sketch of the forms of speech which occur in modern Italy, before considering the Tuscan or Italian par excellence, the language which has come to be the noble organ of modern national culture, it will be con venient to discuss (A) dialects connected in a greater or less degree with Neo-Latin systems that are not peculiar to Italy ; (B) dialects which are detached from the true and proper Italian system, but form no integral part of any foreign Neo-Latin system ; and (C) dialects which diverge more or less from the true Italian and Tuscan type, but which at the same time can be conjoined with the Tuscan as forming part of a special system of Neo-Latin dialects. A. Dialects which depend in a, greater or less degree on Neo-Latin systems not peculiar to Italy. 1. Franco-Provencal Dialects (see Archivio Glottologico, iii. 61- 120). 1 These occupy at the present time very limited areas at the extreme north-west of the kingdom of Italy. The system stretches from the borders of Savoy and Valais into the upper basin of the Dora Baltea and into the head-valleys of the Oreo, of the northern Stura, and of the Dora Riparia. As this portion is cut off by the Alps from the rest of the system, the type is badly preserved ; in the valleys of the Stura and the Dora Riparia, indeed, it is passing away and everywhere yielding to the Piedmontese. The most salient characteristic of the Franco-Provengal is the phonetic pheno menon by which the Latin a, whether as an accented or as an unac cented final, is reduced to a thin vowel (e, i) when it follows a sound which is or has been palatal, but on the contrary is kept intact when it follows a sound of another sort. The following are examples from the Italian versant of these Alps: AOSTA : travaljl, Fr. travailler ; zarii, Fr. chercher ; enteru&i, Fr. interroger; zcvra, Fr. chevre; zir, Fr. cher; gljdqe, Fr. glace; vdzze, Fr. vache ; alongside of so,, Fr. sel; man, Fr. main ; cpdusa, Fr. epouse ; erba, Fr. herbe. VAL SOANA : tnljer, Fr. tailler ; coci-sse, Fr. se coucher ; ciii, Fr. chien ; civra, Fr. chevre; vacci, Fr. vache ; mdngi, Fr. manche ; alongside of alar, Fr. aller ; porta, Fr. porte ; amdra, Fr. amere ; ne va, Fr. neuve. CHIAMORIO (Val cli Lanzo): la spranssi dla vendcta, sperantia de ilia vindicta. Viu : pansci, pancia. USSEGLIO: la miiragli, muraille. A morphological characteristic is the preservation of that para digm which is legitimately traced back to the Latin pluperfect indi cative, although possibly it may arise from a fusion of this pluper fect with the imperfect subjunctive (amaram, amarem, alongside of habueram, haberem), having in Franco-Provengal as well as in Provengal and in the continental Italian dialects in which it will be met with further on(C. 3, b ; cf. B. 2) the function of the con ditional. VAL SOANA: portdro, portdre, portaret; portdrgnt; AOSTA: riwe = Prov. agra, haberet (see Arch., iii. 31 n). The final t in the third persons of this paradigm in the Val Soana dialect is, or was, constant in the whole conjugation, and becomes in its turn a par ticular characteristic in this section of the Franco-Provengal. VAL SOANA : erct, Lat. erat ; scjt, s,i;p6rtet, portdvet; portynt, portdvgnt; CHIAMORIO: jeret, erat; ant dit, habent dictum; ejssount fet, habuissent factum; VIL T : die s mingct, Ital. che si mangi; GRAVERE (Val di Susa): at pcnsd, ha pensato ; avdt, habebat ; GIAGLIOXE (sources of the Dora Riparia) : macidvont, mangiavano. From the valleys, where, as has just been said, the type is disappearing, a few examples of what is still genuine Franco-rrovencal may be sub joined: C ivrcri (the name of a mountain between the Stura and the Dora Riparia), which, according to the regular course of evolution, presupposes a Latin Capraria (cf. mancri, maniera, even in the Chiamorio dialect) ; carasti (ciarastl), carestia, in the Viu dialect; and cintd, cantare, in that of Usseglio. From CHIAMORIO, li tens, i tempi, and chcjches birbcs, alcune (r|iialehe) birbe, are worthy of mention on account of the final s. Further south, but still in the same western extremity of Piedmont, phenomena continuous with those of the Maritime Alps supply the means of passing from the Franco-Provengal to the Provengal proper, precisely as the same transition takes place beyond the Cottian Alps in Dauphine almost in the same latitude. On the Italian side of the Cottian and the Maritime Alps the Franco-Provengal and the Provengal are connected with each other by the continuity of the phenomenon 6 (a pure explosive) from the Latin c before a. At OULX (sources of the Dora Riparia), which seems, however, to have a rather mixed dialect, there also occurs the important Franco- Provengal phenomenon of the surd interdental (English th in thief) instead of the surd sibilant (for example ithi = Yr. ici). At the same time a0S = avuto, takes us to the Provengal. At FENES- TRELLA (upper basin of the Clusone): agii, vengii, venuto; at ONCINO sources of the Po) : carcstio, I er.o an campagno, with the Provengal 1 References to this journal (A*-ch.) without author s name are to papers by Professor Ascoli. for the final unaccented a; at SAMPEYRE (basin of the Varaita): agii, vengii, volgu, voluto ; Una vicstio la pliis pressioso ; and finally at VINADIO (basin of the southern Stura): tuoccio, tocca; los buonos, le buone, where even the diphthong is Provengal. 2. Ladin Dialects. The purest of the Ladin dialects occur on the northern versant of the Alps in the Orisons (Switzerland), and they form the western section of the system. To this section also belongs both politically and in the matter of dialect the valley of Minister (Monastero) ; it sends its waters to the Adige, and might indeed consequently be geographically considered Italian, but it slopes towards the north. In the central section of the Ladin zone there are two other valleys which likewise drain into tributaries of the Adige, but are also turned towards the north, the valleys of the Gardena and the Gadera, in which occurs the purest Ladin now extant in the central section. The valleys of Minister, the Gardena, and the Gadera may thus be regarded as inter- Alpine, and the ques tion may be left open whether or not they should be included even geographically in Italy. There remain, however, within what are strictly Italian limits, the valleys of the Noce, the Avisio, the Corde- vole, and the Boite, and the upper basin of the Piave (Comelico), in which are preserved Ladin dialects, more or less pure, belonging to the central section of the Ladin zone or belt. To Italy belongs, further, the whole eastern section of the zone composed of the Friu- lian territories. It is by far the most populous, containing about 500,000 inhabitants. The Friulian region is bounded on the north by the Carnic Alps, south by the Adriatic, and west by the eastern rim of the upper basin of the Piave and the Livenza; while on the east it stretches into the eastern versant of the basin of the Isonzo. The Ladin element is further found in greater or less degree throughout an altogether Cis- Alpine " amphizone," and more par ticularly in the head valley of the Ticino and the head valley of the Mera on the Lombardy versant, and in the Val Fiorentina and central Cadore on the Venetian versant. The valleys of Boimio present a special and conspicuous phase of Ladino-Lombard connexions, and the Ladin element is clearly observable in the most ancient ex amples of the dialects of the Venetian estuary (Arch., i. 448-473).- - The main characteristics by which the Ladin type is determined may be summarized as follows : (1) the guttural of the formukc c + a and g + a passes into a palatal; (2) the I of the formulae pi, cl, &c. , is preserved; (3) the s of the ancient terminations is preserved; (4) the accented e in position breaks into a diphthong ; (5) the accented o in position breaks into a diphthong ; (6) the form of the diphthong which comes from short accented o or from the o of position is ue (whence tic, o); (7) long accented e and short accented 1 break into a diphthong, the purest form of which is sounded ci; (8) the accented a tends, within certain limits, to change into e, especially if preceded by a palatal sound ; (9) the long accented u is represented by u. These characteristics are all foreign to true and genuine Italian, darn, came; spehmca, spelunca: clefs, claves; fuormas, formse ; infiern, inferno ; ordi, hordeo ; mod, modo ; plain, pleno ; pail, pilo ; qiisd, quale ; pur, puro may be taken as examples from the Upper Engadine (western section of the zone). The following are examples from the central and eastern sections on the Italian versant : a. Central Section. BASIN OF THE NOCE: examples of the dialect of Fondo : cavil, capillo ; pcscador, piscatore ; pluema, pluvia (plovia); pluma (dial, of Val de Rumo : plmia, pliimo); vecla, ve- tula ; cdntcs, cantas. The dialects of this basin are disappearing. BASIN OF THE Avisio : examples of the dialect of the Val di Fassa: earn, carne; cezcr, cadere (cad-jere) ; vdca, vacca ; forca, furca ; glezia (ge&ia), ecclesia; <glje (ocje), oculi; cans, canes; rdmes, rami; tcila, tela ; neif, nive ; ccessa, coxa,. The dialects of this basin which are further west than Fassa are gradually being merged in the Veneto-Tridentine dialects. BASIN OF THE CORDEVOLE : here the district of Livinal-Lungo (Buchenstein) is Austrian politically, and that of Rocca d Agordo and Laste is Italian. Examples of the dia lect of Livinal-Lungo : carie, Ital. caricare ; cante, cantatus ; 6gle, oculo; cans, canes; caveis, capilli ; vierm, verme;/wdc, foco; avel, habere ; nei, nive. BASIN OF THE BOITE : here the district of Ampezzo (Heiden) is politically Austrian, that of Oltrechiusa Italian. Examples of the dialect of Ampezzo arc c asa, casa; candera, candela; forces, furcre, pi.; sentcs, sentis. It is a decadent form. UPPER BASIN OF THE PIAVE: dialect of the Comelico: cesa, casa ; con (6a,n), cane; calje, caligario ; bos, boves; ncevo, novo ; locgo, loco. b. Eastern Section or Friulian Region. Here there still exists a flourishing " Ladinity," but at the same time it tends towards Ital ian, particularly in the want both of the c from a and of the u (and consequently of the o). Examples of the Udine variety: carr, carro; cavd,,, caballo ; castiel, castello ; force, furca ; clar, claro ; glaq, glacie; plan, piano; colors, colores ; lungs, longi, pi.; devis, debes; vidiel, vitello ; fiestc, festa ; puess, possum ; cuett, cocto ; iitirdi, hordeo. The most ancient specimens of the Friulian dialect belong to the 14th century (see Arch., iv. 188 sqq.). B. Dialects ivhich are detached from the true and proper Italian system, but form no integral part of any foreign Neo-Latin system