Bolognese (native name: ) is a dialect of Emilian spoken for the most part in the city of Bologna and its hinterland (except east of the Sillaro stream), but also in the district of Castelfranco Emilia in the province of Modena, and in the towns of Sambuca Pistoiese (Tuscany), Cento, Sant'Agostino, and Poggio Renatico (province of Ferrara).
Terminology Although the term dialect is commonly used in reference to all minority languages native to Italy, most of them are not mutually intelligible with Italian. Bolognese is no exception and so is an Emilian dialect, not an Italian one.
Classification Bolognese is a dialect of Emilian, one of the Gallo-Italic languages of the Romance family. It shares many common features with other Gallo-Italic languages such as Piedmontese, Lombard, Romagnol and Ligurian, and it is closer to them than to Italian.
The Bolognese dialect presents a rather rich variety of vernacular forms within its area of diffusion. The linguist Daniele Vitali distinguishes six main subvariants which, although presenting grammatical unity, differ in phonetic and lexical traits: Dialetto bolognese cittadino; Dialetti bolognesi montani medi; Dialetti bolognesi montani alti; Dialetti bolognesi della pianura occidentale; Dialetti bolognesi della pianura orientale; Dialetti bolognesi della pianura settentrionale.
History
"… I say, then, that perhaps those are not wrong who claim that the Bolognese speak a more beautiful language than most, especially since they take many features of their own speech from that of the people who live around them, in Imola, Ferrara and Modena I believe that everybody does this with respect to his own neighbours.... So the above-mentioned citizens of Bologna take a soft, yielding quality from those of Imola, and from the people of Ferrara and Modena, on the other hand, a certain abruptness which is more typical of the Lombards.... If, then, the Bolognese take from all sides, as I have said, it seems reasonable to suggest that their language, tempered by the combination of opposites mentioned above, should achieve a praiseworthy degree of elegance; and this, in my opinion, is beyond doubt true." (Dante Alighieri, De vulgari eloquentia - Liber I, xv, 2-5)
Middle Ages Bolognese evolved a group of Gallo-Romance languages sharing features with neighbouring northern Italian languages. It developed more distinctly into the Middle Ages as a dialect of the Emilian language. During the High Middle Ages, a number of troubadours composing lyrical poetry were active in Bologna, especially during the 13th century. That served to raise cultural awareness to the possibility of composing songs, poems and other works in vernacular languages. One of the first references to Bolognese as a distinct language was made by Dante Alighieri, in his De vulgari eloquentia, written in the beginning of the 14th century.
Modern During the boom of interest in linguistic diversity during the 19th century, a number of efforts were made to create vocabularies, grammars, and collections of axioms, folk tales, and literature. The first dictionary was compiled in 1901 by Gaspare Ungarelli, who also attempted to create a writing system using the Italian alphabet. A period of stigmatisation followed in the 20th century, where children were punished for speaking the dialect in school, as it was considered to be a sign of poor education and etiquette.
In 1964, Alberto Menarini proposed an alphabet with many of the same letters still used. In recent times, Bolognese has enjoyed a period of rebirth with some words, such as , derived from Bolognese umarèl, becoming popular beyond Bologna itself.
Phonology Here are some prominent features of Bolognese phonology: centralized vowels , , , , , , and rather than , , , , , , or phonemic distinction between short vowels and corresponding long vowels/diphthongs nucleus vowel and coda consonant length having an inverse relationship realisation of labio–alveolar consonants syncopation resulting in complex consonant clusters frequent slacking of word-final voiceless obstruents more exaggerated intonation than in Italian
The phonemes of Bolognese are realized phonetically very differently depending on the area in or around Bologna. Much free variation occurs in words from complex phonological processes.
Consonants Bolognese has 25 consonant phonemes:
+Consonant phonemes of BologneseBilabialLabio-dentalDentalAlveolarLabio-alveolarPalatalVelarLabio-velar Nasal Plosive Affricate Fricative Approximant Trill
The consonant [ʎ] only occurs allophonically or on Italian loanwords.
Vowels +Monophthong phonemes of Bolognese Front Central Back RoundedUnrounded short long short short long short Close Close-mid () Open-mid Open
Bolognese dialect has 2 stressed diphthongs, namely /ai/ and /ʌu/.
Bolognese only allows the vowels /a/, /e/, /i/, /o/, /u/ on unstressed syllables.
Phonotactics
The general syllable structure of Bolognese syllables is: (S)(C)(C)(V)V(C)(C)
S – either s or ṡ, and rarely f or p C – consonant V – vowel
Thus, Bolognese words can have up to three consonants in the initial group (e.g. ṡżlèr, ṡgrinzlîr, ṡbléṡṡg, spzèr, strén, scrîver, sfrunblè, ftléṅna, ftièri, friulàn, ptrugnàn, pscarî, pznén) and two consonants in the final group (e.g. gnanc, rimôrs, månnd, cunfinànt, pêrdga) (impermissible consonant combination will result in anaptyxis). Bolognese only allows 2 diphthongs namely /ai/ and /ʌu/ (e.g. cåurs, intåurn, ataiṡ, raiga). Orthographically, three consonants can exist simultaneously on coda (dåntr, cåntr, nòstr, sänpr as syncopic forms of dånter, cånter, nòster, sänper). However, it arises from -er only when the next word starts with a vowel and in actuality it's pronounced /-ŋ.(C)r(V)./
Orthography
Vowel Letter Name IPA Examplea - à a cûrta /a/ lażż, casàttâ a lónga /aː/ pajâz, râtaå a srè /ʌ/ Bulåggna, bån, tåurtaä e dimónndi avêrta e cûrta /æ/ bäne - é e srè /e/ economî - pén è e avêrta lónga /ɛː/ lèder, mèder ê e lónga /eː/ ṡvêlt, mêder, mêteri - í i /i/ dṡvilópp - chíllo î i lónga /iː/ Flîṡ, lîberò o avêrta /ɔː/ inbariagòt, còl, tòro - ó o srè /o/ mói, tóffô o lónga /oː/ fiôl, fiôl, nôv, côl, tôru - ú u /u/ sugabått, carbúrroû u lónga /uː/ balûṡ, ligûr
On monosyllabic words, accents are not marked if a word ends in a consonant: can, sacc. However, it is marked if it ends in a vowel pà, rà. The vowel å and ä are always stressed including the diphthong åu and ai (or ou and äi in the countryside). If another vowel is accented alongside ai, then the diphthong ai is not stressed, for example: maicàtt. This rule doesn't apply on the article äl(i) (since articles are never stressed) and compound words such as såuranómm where the stress falls on ó. The vowel í and ú are only used for loanwords to indicate stressed short i and u. For example: chíllo, carbúrro
Consonant Letter Name IPA Examplec (1)(3) - ch (2) c dûra /k/ calè, pchèr, ch'as, bajûc, tróccc (2) - ci (1) - c' (3) c dåulz /ts/ cén, ciâpa, inbac'lèr, uràcc'g (1)(3) - gh (2) g dûra /g/ ṡganbilèr, zighèla, brèg, déggg (2) - gi (1) - g' (3) g dåulza /dz/ ṡgâget, giósst, curâg', dågg' gn gn dåulza /ɲ/ sgnåur, Raggn gli gl dåulza /ʎ/ ṡbaglièr, incâglia, Emégglian (1)(2) - nn (3) n /n/ anâdra, scaldénn, månnd, cânn (3) n vlèr /ŋ/ canvèr, scaldén, mand, påndgṅ (ṅn) n vlèr /ŋ.n/ curéṅna, ftléṅnis s såurda /s/ sôrbel, papóssṡ s sunôra /z/ cûṡer, armàṡṡdz z såurda /θ/ aziån, znèr, siucarézzi, ṡbózzż z sunôra /ð/ żûg, żnèr, ancóżżen, ṡmanàżżj j /j/ tâja, tajjas-ci /sts/ s-ciavvd, s-ciôṡ, s-ciuptèṡ-gi /zdz/ ṡ-giazèr, ṡ-girundlèr, ṡ-giusèrg-li /g.li/ neg-ligiänt, żug-linèr
(1) Followed by a, o, u (2) Followed by i, e (3) End of a syllable (coda) or followed by consonant
The letter n is pronounced /n/ before vowels and after long vowels. nn digraph is pronounced /n/. The letter n is pronounced /ŋ/ finally or before consonants (including n however, in this case it is represented ṅn orthographically). /ŋ/ is lengthened after stressed vowel. The letter q is only used in the beginning of words. Therefore, it is written quâter but âcua. The letter j is only used between vowels. Therefore, it is written tâja, tajja but tâi, tai. The digraph ṅn is only used for feminine nouns. The trigraph gli is never found on native Bolognese words as Italian gli corresponds to j in Bolognese. They are found in Italian loanwords for example: butigliéṅna (bottiglina), sêglier (scegliere), bigliàtt (biglietto) and names such as Itâglia (Italia), Emégglia (Emilia), Giógglia (Giulia). A "-" is sometimes added to disambiguate separate syllables, for example: mâgn-ni? the interrogative form of mâgnen. Short vowels are always followed by a long consonant, and vice versa. For example: sacc and sâc, méll and mêl, córr and côr. This rule doesn't apply on compound words such as peppacûl. In some words, /ts/ and /dz/ can be written as ts/ds and dṡ thus reflecting its etymology and pronunciation. For example: tstón = c'tón, dscårrer = c'cårrer, dṡdétta = g'détta Palatization of l and n frequently occurs before the pronoun i and on articles such as äli ôv, däli ôv [æʎ.ʎi]. Example: al i à détt ch'a n i vâg pió is pronounced /aʎ.ʎi.adˈdetː kaɲ.ɲiˈvaːg ˈpjo/ The dropping of the last vowel in a word is indicated with an apostrophe. For example: ch'al séppa, s'a l savêva, l'ôca, lî l'é, sått'âcua (apocopic forms of che, se, la, la, såtta). However, if the vowel is located at the beginning of a word, it is generally unmarked. For example: d avréll, l èṡen, ló l é, csa vût (apheresis forms of ed, al, al, syncopic forms of cusa).
Grammar
Noun Bolognese distinguishes two genders, masculine and feminine, and two numbers, single and plural. In most nouns, the suffix -a is added to the masculine word to indicate femininity: defizänt, defizänta; påndg, påndga.
The formation of Bolognese plurals is complicated. Unlike Italian, inflection usually happens not by adding suffixes but rather by apophony:
å → ó: , "blond", , "blonds" ô → û: , "knee", , "knees"
However, when words that end with or are pluralised, the or is changed to and respectively: , "hammer", , "hammers"; , "son", "sons". There are some exceptions to that rule, such as , "normal", which is unchanged when made plural, and some others, such as , "godfather", which are unchanged when made plural because words are not truncated, that is, with a stress that does not fall on è or ô.
Masculine words that end in a consonant are unchanged when made plural and so the number can be identified only by the preceding article: , "the branch", , "the branches". In addition, pluralised feminine words that are not constructed from a masculine word do not have an -a: , "the wheel", , "the wheels". The plurals of feminine words constructed from masculine words are formed by using an instead of an : , "blonde", , "blondes"; "aunt", , "aunts".
Suffix Example Meaning Masculine Feminine Masculine Feminine -én -éṅna cinén cinéṅna piccolo -ån -åṅna padrån padråṅna padrone -ói -ójja mói mójja bagnato -an -èna san sèna sano -tåur -trîz atåur atrîz attore C+el C+la dàbbel dabbla debole C+en C+na intêren intêrna interno C+er C+ra naigher naigra nero c' cia vèc' vècia vecchio
Exception: bån, bôna
For masculine nouns whose feminine prefix is -assa, it will undergo vowel reduction due to different stress placement.
Bolognese Italian Meaning Masculine Feminine Masculine Feminine pränzip prinzipassa principe principessa prince presidänt presidentassa presidente presidentessa president poêta poetassa poeta poetessa poet dócca ducassa duca duchessa duke leån leonassa leone leonessa lion cånt cuntassa conte contessa count profesåur profesorassa professore professoressa professor dutåur duturassa dottore dottoressa doctor
Masculine