iPedia Free Information Center

Information about Genoese Dialect

Genoese (Zeneize) is the dialect of the Ligurian language spoken in Genoa, the principal city of the Liguria region in Italy.

Ligurian is listed by Ethnologue as a language in its own right, of the Romance branch, and not to be confused with the ancient Ligurian language. Like the languages of Lombardy, Piedmont, and surrounding regions, it is of Gallo-Italic derivation.

In its differences from standard Italian, Genoese is somewhat similar to French. The language is dying out. Most remaining speakers of it are elderly.

Written literature has been produced in Genoese since the 13th century, but the spelling has never been regularized.

Genoese phonology includes a few likenesses with French. One similarity is heavily nasalized vowels before nasal consonants (i.e. in VN(C) sequences). This also occurs when Genoese speakers speak standard Italian. There used to be an alveolar approximant (English-like) /ɹ/ opposed to an alveolar trill /r/ (using the 18th century genoese spelling: caro ['kaːɹu] "dear" vs. carro ['kaːru] "cart"), but it is no longer heard in the city. It may still survive in some rural areas of Liguria, such as Calizzano and Sassello. Audio samples may be heard here. By far the most widespread type of /r/ today is the alveolar tap [ɾ] (identical to unstressed Standard Italian /r/). There are several distinctive local accents of Genoese. Nervi, Quinto, and Quarto are heard to the east of Genoa. Voltri, Prà, Pegli, and Sestrito are heard to the west. There are also accents of the central Polcevera Valley and Bisagno.

Tongue twisters

  • So asæ s'a sâ a sä asæ pe sâ a säsissa. = I don't have a clue whether the salt is going to be enough to salt the sausage.
  • Sciâ scïe scignua, sciando sciâ xœa in scî scï. = Ski, madam, skying you fly on skis.
  • Ao mœ nœo gh'è nœe nae nœe; a ciû nœa de nœe nae nœe a n'œ anâ. = At the new pier there are nine new ships; the newest of the nine new ships doesn't want to go.
  • Gi'angiai g'han gi'oggi gi'uegge gi'unge cume gi'atri? = Do angels have eyes, ears, and (finger)nails like everyone else? (variant of the Cogorno comune)

Expressions

  • Son zeneize, rizo ræo, strenzo i dentim, e parlo ciæo. = "I'm Genoese, I seldom laugh, I grind my teeth, and I say what I mean" (literally, "speak clearly").
  • The child complains: Ho famme. = I'm hungry. The mother answers: Grattite e zenugge e fatte e lasagne. = Scratch your knees and make lasagna.
  • Pòsci-to ëse alûghetòu
  • Chi veû vive da bon cristian, da-i begghin o stagghe lôntan. = If you want to live as a good Christian, stay away from those who pretend to be devout; a traditional warning to beware of fanatics and hypocrites.
  • L'è megio e braghe sguaræ 'nt'o cû, che-o cû sguaròu int'e braghe. = It is better to have trousers that are torn in the ass, than to have an ass that is torn in trousers.

Phonology

Genoese has 8 vowels, 20 consonants, and 3 semivowels.

Vowels:
  • /a/ barba /'barba/ (uncle, beard)
  • /e/ tésta /'testa/ (head)
  • /ɛ/ ægua /'ɛ:gwa/ (water)
  • /i/ bibin /bi'biN/ (turkey)
  • /o/ côse /'ko:se/ (what?)
  • /ø/ frisciœ /fri'ʃø:/ (pancake)
  • /u/ cumme /'kumme/ (how?)
  • /y/ fügassa /fy'gassa/ (bread)

External links

 •  • [ e]
Romance languages
Aragonese Aromanian Astur-Leonese (Asturian, Leonese, Mirandese) Catalan (Balearic, Valencian) Ladin Ladino (Haketia, Tetuani) Champenois Corsican (Gallurese, Sassarese) Dalmatian Eastern Lombard Emiliano-Romagnolo Fala Franc-Comtois Franco-Provenal French (incl. Zarphatic) Friulian Galician Gallo Istriot Istro-Romanian Italian (Central Italian, Florentine, Tuscan, Romanesco, Judeo-Italian) Ladin Ladino (Haketia, Tetuani) Ligurian (Genoese, Mongasque) Lorrain Megleno-Romanian Mozarabic Neapolitan Norman (Anglo-Norman, Auregnais, Guernsiais, Jrriais, Sercquiais) Occitan (Auvergnat, Aupenc, Gascon (Aranese), Languedocien, Limousin, Provenal (Niard, Shuadit)) Picard Piedmontese Poitevin-Saintongeais Portuguese Romance Pannonian language Romanian (Moldovan, Vlach) Romansh Sardinian Sicilian (Calabrian) Spanish (Castilian) Venetian (Talian) Walloon Western Lombard
Ligurian is a Romance language, currently spoken in Liguria, northern Italy, and parts of the Mediterranean coastal zone of France, and Monaco. Genoese (Zeneize or Zeneise) is one of the most well-known dialects, spoken in Genoa, the principal city of Liguria.
..... Click the link for more information.
Comune di Genoa

Coat of arms

..... Click the link for more information.
Regione Liguria


Map highlighting the location of Liguria in Italy

Capital Genoa (Genova)
President Claudio Burlando
(DS-Union)
Provinces 4
Comuni 235
Area 5,420 km
 - Ranked 18th (1.8 %)
Population (2006 est.
..... Click the link for more information.
Anthem
Il Canto degli Italiani
(also known as Fratelli d'Italia)


..... Click the link for more information.
Ligurian is a Romance language, currently spoken in Liguria, northern Italy, and parts of the Mediterranean coastal zone of France, and Monaco. Genoese (Zeneize or Zeneise) is one of the most well-known dialects, spoken in Genoa, the principal city of Liguria.
..... Click the link for more information.
Ethnologue: Languages of the World is a web and print publication of SIL International (formerly known as the Summer Institute of Linguistics), a Christian linguistic service organization which studies lesser-known languages primarily to provide the speakers with Bibles in
..... Click the link for more information.
Romance languages (sometimes referred to as Romanic languages) are a branch of the Indo-European language family that comprisies all the languages that descend from Latin, the language of the Roman Empire.
..... Click the link for more information.
Ligurian language was spoken in pre-Roman times and into the Roman era by an ancient people of north-western Italy and south-eastern France known as the Ligures. Very little is known about this language (mainly place names and personal names remain) which is generally believed to
..... Click the link for more information.
Regione Lombardia


Map highlighting the location of Lombardy in Italy

Capital Milan
President Roberto Formigoni
(Forza Italia-House of Freedoms)
Provinces 12
Comuni 1546
Area 23,861 km
 - Ranked 4th (7.
..... Click the link for more information.
Regione Piemonte (it)


Map highlighting the location of Piedmont (en), Piemont (pie), Piemonte (it), Piémont (fr) in Italy

Capital Turin
President Mercedes Bresso
(DS-Union)
Provinces 8
Comuni 1,206
Area 25,399 km
..... Click the link for more information.
Northern Italian (traditional name in Romance linguistics) or Padanian (recent name) or Cisalpine (rare name) is a linguistic set with different definitions. It can be viewed:
  • as a Romance language (according to linguist Geoffrey Hull)

..... Click the link for more information.
Italian}}} 
Official status
Official language of:  European Union
 European Union
 Switzerland
 San Marino
Vatican City
Sovereign Military Order of Malta

The template is . Please use instead.

..... Click the link for more information.
French (français, pronounced [fʁɑ̃ˈsɛ]) is a Romance language originally spoken in France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and Switzerland, and today by about 300 million people around the world as either
..... Click the link for more information.
As a means of recording the passage of time, the 13th century was that century which lasted from 1201 to 1300. In the history of European culture, this period is considered part of the High Middle Ages, and after its conquests in Asia the Mongol Empire stretched from Korea to
..... Click the link for more information.
For the journal, see .
Phonology (Greek φωνή (phōnē), voice, sound + λόγος (lógos), word, speech, subject of discussion), is a subfield of linguistics which studies the sound system of a
..... Click the link for more information.
The alveolar approximant is a type of consonantal sound used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents dental, alveolar, and postalveolar approximants is ɹ
..... Click the link for more information.
The alveolar trill is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents dental, alveolar, and postalveolar trills is r
..... Click the link for more information.
Country Italy
Region Liguria
Province Province of Savona (SV)
Mayor

Area km
Population
 - Total (as of Dec.
..... Click the link for more information.
Country Italy
Region Liguria
Province Province of Savona (SV)
Mayor

Area km
Population
 - Total (as of Dec.
..... Click the link for more information.
accent is a pronunciation characteristic of a particular group of people relative to another group. Accents should not be confused with dialects which are varieties of language differing in vocabulary and syntax as well as pronunciation.
..... Click the link for more information.
Romance languages (sometimes referred to as Romanic languages) are a branch of the Indo-European language family that comprisies all the languages that descend from Latin, the language of the Roman Empire.
..... Click the link for more information.
Aragonese}}} 
Official status
Official language of: none
Regulated by: Academia de l'Aragonés
Language codes
ISO 639-1: an
ISO 639-2: arg
ISO 639-3: arg  

Aragonese
..... Click the link for more information.
Aromanian (also known as Macedo-Romanian, Arumanian or Vlach in most other countries; in Aromanian: limba armãneascã, armãneshce or armãneashti) is an Eastern Romance language spoken in Southeastern Europe.
..... Click the link for more information.
Astur-Leonese is a Romance language group of the West Iberian group, spoken in the Spanish provinces of Asturias (Asturian Language, asturianu, or Bable), León, Zamora and Salamanca (Leonese language, Llïonés).
..... Click the link for more information.
Asturian (Asturian: Asturianu or Bable) is a Romance language of the West Iberian group, Astur-Leonese Subgroup, spoken in the Spanish province of Asturias by the Asturian people.
..... Click the link for more information.
The Leonese language (Llïonés in Leonese) was developed from Vulgar Latin with contributions from the pre-Roman languages which were spoken in the territory of the Spanish provinces of León, Zamora, and Salamanca and in some villages in the District of Bragança,
..... Click the link for more information.
The Mirandese language (autonym: lhéngua mirandesa; Portuguese: língua mirandesa) is a Romance language sparsely spoken in a small area of northeastern Portugal, in Miranda do Douro municipality.
..... Click the link for more information.
In Spain: Catalonia, Valencian Community, Balearic Islands, Aragon (in La Franja), Murcia (in El Carxe). In France: Northern Catalonia. In Italy: The city of L'Alguer. In Andorra.
Total speakers: 9.
..... Click the link for more information.
In Spain: Catalonia, Valencian Community, Balearic Islands, Aragon (in La Franja), Murcia (in El Carxe). In France: Northern Catalonia. In Italy: The city of L'Alguer. In Andorra.
Total speakers: 9.
..... Click the link for more information.
This page deals with language. For other uses of Valencian, see Valencia (disambiguation).


Valencian,Catalan
Valencià,Català
Spoken in: Spain, France, Italy, Andorra.
..... Click the link for more information.


This article is copied from an article on Wikipedia.org - the free encyclopedia created and edited by online user community. The text was not checked or edited by anyone on our staff. Although the vast majority of the wikipedia encyclopedia articles provide accurate and timely information please do not assume the accuracy of any particular article. This article is distributed under the terms of GNU Free Documentation License.
Herod_Archelaus


page counter