When people think of Italy, the first language that comes to mind is undoubtedly Italian, but did you know that there are several dialects and regional languages spoken throughout the peninsula to this day? This is because, until 1861, Italy was not a unified country, but a group of countries, each with its own culture, history and local language.This event is called revival (literally “revival”) Italian.
In this article, we’ll look specifically at the Neapolitan language and how it compares to standard Italian in terms of vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation, and more.
Introduction to Naples
Widely used in southern Italy, mainly in Campania, Molise, Basilicata, Abruzzo and Northern Apulia and Calabria, Neapolitan Still used in many small communities, but not recognized as an official language.According to Unesco, it is marked along with Sicily as endangered language.
Likewise, Naples also appeared in Atlas of the World’s Endangered Languages. This is a directory of over 2000 languages that lists the most endangered languages in the world. Each language is accompanied by an ISO code issued by the International Organization for Standardization.For example, the Neapolitan language is displayed with the code ISO 639-3 days.
Therefore, we can say that tongues are considered to be Interregional Languages in Italy, but nothing more. In fact, the only official language of the Italian peninsula is Italian.
Historical and Ethnolinguistic Background
Neapolitan along with Sicilian and Italian are part of one major language family: Romance languages. But unlike other dialects, Southern dialects belong to Italy-Dalmatian groupwhich is a variety of Romance languages spoken in the past in southern Italy, Corsica, and Croatia.
called in linguistics Intermediate southern dialect group, the Neapolitan language varies according to the geographical area in which it is used.In fact, it stretches from southern Marche to northern Calabria, including More than four Italian regions.
Historically, the motherland was located in Naplesor more specifically, in Naples rule. During Spanish rule, especially after the unification of Spain Kingdom of the Two SiciliesAfter that, Neapolitan began to replace official Latin documents and began to be the main language for court rallies.
Meanwhile, at the beginning of the sixteenth century, catholic king ferdinand Bringing Castellane, the main language of Spain, to the court of Naples. But it was never imposed on its citizens and never became the official language of the kingdom.
two languages common language features, such as vocabulary and language structure. And, whether due to common roots, the fact that both are derived from Romance languages, or influenced by centuries of Spanish rule, the dialect bears a clear resemblance to Castellan in Spain.
Schwa: Germanic vowels in romantic dialects
The main difference between Neapolitan and Italian is that Schwarzin which International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) Written as an inverted e: One. In Italian it doesn’t exist, Naples uses it like English. And, in particular, its usage has to do with word endings. E.g, need (In English, “us”) will be pronounced /’nu:jə/.
need
“we” (English) – “noi” (Italian)
schwa is a vowel sound that is pronounced without much impact on the muscles of the mouth and tongue.In English it is used in words like “work”er” or “employmenter”.
Likewise, the Neapolitan language consistently uses schwa, making it a truly unique feature. Here are some examples:
- Lievas /l’lje:veʃə/ – (take us away in Italian) “take it (from us)”
- Opane /op ‘pa:what/ -(bread Italian) “bread”
- Ujirat /u dʒe’latə/ – (ice cream Italian) “ice cream”
But this is just the first of many differences between Naples and Italy.
Rhotacism and Consonant Doubling
Another characteristic of the Neapolitan language is the use of r instead of d, when the latter is at the beginning of a word or between two vowels.For example, “to see” in Neapolitan is Check pronounced as I’ll take a look. This phenomenon is called reflextypical of northern countries and Germanic languages.
Check
“Look” (English) – “vedere” (Italian)
Also, /nd/ and /nn/ are generally extended: /n:/. E.g, water (“vattene” in Italian, “go away” in English) is /vatten:/ and in some places /vattən:/.
water!
“Leave!” (English) – “Vattene!” (Italian)
Consonant doubling also occurs in things such as melonNeapolitan is Omelon (In Italian: melon) or Opane (“bread“) is simple in Italian pane.
This has absolutely nothing to do with Italian.
language difference
Neapolitan has only one auxiliary verb For the active form, i.e. “owning”: and. By contrast, in Italian, “to be” (become) is also used for intransitive and reflexive verbs.
For example, “I went to Rome yesterday”, in Neapolitan:
Aggio juto of l’at ajere in Rome.
“I went to Rome yesterday.” (Italian) – “I went to Rome yesterday.” (English)
In Italian you would say “i went“use verb”become“. On the other hand, Naples uses “have” From the conjugation it can be seen that: High quality.
In this southern Italian dialect, omitting Subjunctive Also very common.Most of the time, like imperfect nervous.
We can see the difference between the two in these examples:
If he was in Norway, he could see the Northern Lights.
“If I were in Norway, I would be able to see the Northern Lights. ” (English)
“If I were in Norway, I could see the Northern Lights.” (Italian)
Yes, I’m still young if he climbs chella muntagn.
“If I were young, I would have climbed that mountain. ” (English)
“If I were young, I would climb that mountain.” (Italian)
In the first example, we can observe conditional tense changed, became Subjunctive. what is italian I could have become could havewhich is a conversion between the two languages.
Italy vs Naples – Conclusion
Although Italian and Neapolitan share the same linguistic roots, the unique pronunciation of certain sounds, unfamiliar vowels (such as schwa), and differences in conjugation make the dialect difficult to understand, even for people from different parts of southern Italy. Said the same.
Nonetheless, it remains a unique linguistic entity that deserves to be cherished and studied. But as standard Italian creeps into every aspect of Italian daily life, Neapolitans may be in danger of perpetual silence.
