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Wow, see that was very unfamiliar to me. If I visited your home town and no one spoke Italian only Cerignola, I would be totally lost and unable to communicate whatsoever, LOL. I occasionally heard a word here or there that sounded a little familiar but that was it.
Yeah, it isn't the most beautiful sounding dialect either. That one was really broad dialect, the one spoken from people who are really practical with it and sang fastly as in a rap song so that might have made harder to understand.
This is Barese instead (Bari is 90 kms from here), i understand most of it but there are already a few differences. The song is called Japr L'Ekk and is sang by Il Nano
Aquitanian was related to Basque, though said to have disappeared in the Middle Ages. I guess that couldn't have been what your mother heard, but there are dialects in the south that are different from the northern half of the country.
All I remember is that the place was in between Paris and Marseille (more towards Marseille). Maybe it was Provencal, or one of the Oc languages?
As a side note, the inscription relating what the Virgin said to the children at the famous shrine in Lourdes, France is written in the local language. It starts out as: "Que soy era Immaculada Conceptiou.... .,” I can see the Spanish influences, but it is not Spanish. Catatlan maybe?
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Originally Posted by Ruth4Truth
Do you have any info on that non-Indo-Euro language from northern Italy? I wonder if there were isolated remnants of the Vasconic languages that survived around Europe until then?
I will try to find the name of the language again. Languages used to be one of my reading interests, and I remember seeing references to it. Have you ever heard of this group?: http://www.endangeredlanguagefund.org/ They are a great group working to document and when possible, to save endangered languages.
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Originally Posted by marino760
My grandmothers cousin was born in 1898. I remember she had a difficult time speaking Italian and mixed up Romagnolo with Italian often when she spoke. The old timers that could only speak their local languages and very little Italian are long gone, I'm pretty certain.
I would think so as well. Then again, elderly people who speak only local languages could still be alive in Italy.
During Hurricane Katrina, one elderly woman from a rural area west of New Orleans only spoke Cajun French and could not speak any (or very little English). Cajun French started fading in Louisiana since the 1920s. By the 1970s, the younger generation had largely stopped speaking it. The fact that she only spoke French was amazing and some newspapers even had stories about her.
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Originally Posted by improb
This is Barese instead (Bari is 90 kms from here), i understand most of it but there are already a few differences. The song is called Japr L'Ekk and is sang by Il Nano
One must remember that Italy had no national language until it became a nation only about 150 years ago. The Church was the only unifying factor before that and everything of importance was still written in Latin. I have family documents that are church related all in Latin from the mid 1700s.
Most people were born, lived and died in one town or one small area. People did not move around much so languages developed independently from each other even if towns were only 100 km apart.
As a side note, the inscription relating what the Virgin said to the children at the famous shrine in Lourdes, France is written in the local language. It starts out as: "Que soy era Immaculada Conceptiou.... .,” I can see the Spanish influences, but it is not Spanish. Catatlan maybe?
Thanks for the great find. The apparition was in 1858. Lourdes is not an extremely isolated area. This appears to indicate that despite an industrializing France, local languages were still dominant for many years.
Thanks for the great find. The apparition was in 1858. Lourdes is not an extremely isolated area. This appears to indicate that despite an industrializing France, local languages were still dominant for many years.
I have been in Barcelona several times over recent years for medical reasons, and I am usually shepherded by the doctor's female assistant. She is Catalan. Once when we were talking about the Catalan language she mentioned that she had a friend in southern France who was teaching Occitan.
Thanks for the great find. The apparition was in 1858. Lourdes is not an extremely isolated area. This appears to indicate that despite an industrializing France, local languages were still dominant for many years.
Gascon is one of the Oc languages, and apparently is still alive and kicking. Monaco's language is Occitan.
My girlfriend speaks and undertands the dialect from her area (North of Bologna) and when her family members speak to each other they still use it. She also has several friends of her generation (i.e., people under 40) who speak it, but it's mostly something you might encounter when you leave the city center. Many Italians say it's similar to French because of some sounds like the semi-vowels which do not exist in standard Italian, but aside from some words I can't say i understand much of it.
In France dialects are pretty much extinct as an everyday means of communication unfortunately, yet they are being taught in the areas where they are very different from standard French, but it's a bit late. It's more like keeping someone alive artificially.
Urania, the words you wrote in Franco-provençal are similar to "nos gens" in french (nostra gente). This is actually the language which was spoken in my area of France, and it still reflects in the way people speak there (from Savoie to Saint-Etienne, mostly, Lyon being more Standard-French sounding because it is a bigger city), but I don't think it's been actively spoken by real people since at least pre-WWII.
Italy is fascinating for its dialects and accents. I wish France hadn't destroyed hers.
My girlfriend speaks and undertands the dialect from her area (North of Bologna) and when her family members speak to each other they still use it. She also has several friends of her generation (i.e., people under 40) who speak it, but it's mostly something you might encounter when you leave the city center. Many Italians say it's similar to French because of some sounds like the semi-vowels which do not exist in standard Italian, but aside from some words I can't say i understand much of it.
In France dialects are pretty much extinct as an everyday means of communication unfortunately, yet they are being taught in the areas where they are very different from standard French, but it's a bit late. It's more like keeping someone alive artificially.
Urania, the words you wrote in Franco-provençal are similar to "nos gens" in french (nostra gente). This is actually the language which was spoken in my area of France, and it still reflects in the way people speak there (from Savoie to Saint-Etienne, mostly, Lyon being more Standard-French sounding because it is a bigger city), but I don't think it's been actively spoken by real people since at least pre-WWII.
Italy is fascinating for its dialects and accents. I wish France hadn't destroyed hers.
Bologna is the Capital of the Emilia-Romagna region so chances are they are probably speaking a form of Romagnolo. You might ask her what her local language is. Romagnolo can vary from area to area some being only a few miles apart. For example in Pesaro-Urbino area although in the Marche region now, speak a version of Romagnolo called Pesarese which is a little different than that spoken only about 30 miles away in Rimini. Historically, Pesaro and Urbino were part of Romagna. I have a map of the Romagna region dating back from the 1400s showing Pesaro and Urbino included.
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