Gradian dialect

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The Grado dialect is the dialect of the city of Grado in Friuli Venezia Giulia . The dialectal name is graisan . Although the dialect is surrounded by Friulian , a Rhaeto-Romanic idiom, it is part of the Venetian and thus one of the northern Italian dialects. Due to its isolated location, it is rather conservative and quite close to the Venetian and Venetian of the Venetian lagoon. The dialect shows influences from other Venetian dialects and Friulian.

history

Roman times and early Middle Ages

During the Roman period, Latin, imported from Rome by the colonies, was spoken in Grado as well as in Aquileia, a few kilometers away . The so-called paleovenetic-Celtic substratum influenced this Latin. The bishop of Aquileia, Fortunaziano, wrote comments on the gospel in the vernacular in the 4th century after the birth of Christ, so that it could be understood by the people of the church and thus by the common people. This is an indication that at that time people no longer understood classical Latin.

The peoples of Grado and Aquileia were separated as a result of the schism of the 'Three Chapters', when the Lombards came in 568, a further separation of the two places arose: Grado and Aquileia were now ecclesiastically and politically separated, which had a major impact on each should have spoken Latin in both places. Vulgar Latin in Aquileia developed into a variant of Friulian, while Vulgar Latin in Grado changed into a Venetian dialect through Venetian influence.

The influence of Venice

The separation from Aquileia, under the Germanic (Longobardic) influence, resulted in a slowdown in linguistic contacts with the mainland (Grado is an island). Grado later became Byzantine, then came under Venetian influence from around 800 AD. The absolute linguistic differentiation between the Friulian dialect, which emerged from around the 6th century, and the Grades dialect was sealed in the 9th century when the Hungarian invasion determined the complete independence of Grado from the rest of Friuli. When the lagoon sank, the island separated even more from the mainland, so that Grado was isolated and the linguistic influence came only through Venice (shipping traffic). Remnants of the Grades latinity can be recognized in some endings (Latin -anus> -an) or in whole words.

New contact with the Friulian

After the so-called Serenissima, contacts begin again, both politically and in terms of trade with the nearby Friulian mainland. This is how many Friulanisms come into the Grades dialect, such as the masculine article al or the shortened infinitive (Latin - are > - à ).

Other influences

Influences from Trieste or Istria come from speakers of the Grades dialect who emigrated to Trieste or Istria to fish, especially in winter. Influences from other languages ​​are minimal. Few French influences are to be mentioned here, which can be traced back to the short Napoleonic period. Few words in the Grades dialect also come from German, which is due to the contact with tourists, mainly from Austria, during the summer months. Despite the relative proximity to the Slavic-speaking area, there are almost no influences from this area.

Language structure

phonetics

  • Metaphony : O / E> I in the masculine plural: el xórno> i xurni, the day / the days , el vérde> i virdi , the green / the green '
  • no gemination : vulgärlat. ANNU> ano 'year', vulgar lat . NONNU> nóno , grandfather ', DICTU> déto , said'
  • lat. H-> G: vulgar lat. HERI> géri , yesterday '
  • Preserve all unstressed vowels in their final sound, except for nasals:
  • vulgarat. ATU> ào, especially in the past participle: vulgärlat. CONTATU> contào , tells'
  • As in Venetian, the spelling -x- means a sonores s, thus [z]: paexéto [paezeto], little village ', caxa [caza], house'
  • no diphthongization as in Italian with O: Latin HOMO> omo
  • Apheresis in the forms of Latin HABERE: HABEBAT> veva , (he) had '(cf. also the same development in Friulian!), Also in other forms such as ASPECTARE> spetà , (he) wait', ADRIPARE> rivà 'to arrive' and ANDARE> 'ndào , gone', if there is a stressed vowel beforehand as in the compound past: el xe 'ndào , he has gone'. In general, the Grades dialect tends to apheresis (in contrast to Italian) when vowels meet, cf. e 'l xe' ndào , and he's gone '. The apheresis also applies to adverbs such as vulgärlat. AB ANTE> ABANTE> ´vanti 'before'
  • vulgarat. -TR-> -r-: vulgärlat. PATRE (M)> pare , MATRE (M)> mare
  • vulgarat. -CL> [tj]: VECLUS> vecio , alt '
  • lat. CE- / CI-> [s]: CIVITATE> sità , city ', INVICEM> invise , however'
  • lat. -NTI-> [ns]: ABSENTIA> sensa , without '
  • Raising -E- to [i] before the nasal sound: PENSIERI> pinsieri , thoughts ', NE INDE> ninte , nothing'
  • -CLI> [tʃi]: vulgärlat. OCULI> oci (cf. the analogous development in Romanian too!)
  • -CLA> [tʃa]: vulgärlat. CLAMARE> ciamà 'call'

Morphosyntax

  • Plural formation: -o> -i (masculine), -a> -e (feminine): xórno> xurni , day / days ', setemana > setemane , week / weeks'
  • Definitive article: el , la , der ' ,, die'
  • Indefinite article: un, 'well , an' ,, an '
  • The definitive article is placed in front of the possessive except for kinship terms in the singular: mio nóno, sò figi , my grandfather ',' his son 'but , i sò soldi' , his money ', but not always.
  • Demonstrativa: 'sto,' sta 'this', 'this'
  • No pro-drop language , obligatory subject pronoun also with the named subject: Mio nóno el m'ha contào una storia. 'My grandpa told me a story', literally: 'My grandpa he told me a story'
  • Verb classes: Latin ARE> -à , -ERE: -e , -IRE> -i : vulgärlat . ANDARE> andà , go ', vulgärlat . VIVERE> vive ' to live', vulgärlat. MORIRE> morì ' to die'
  • 3. Ps. Sg. Von ESSE, sein 'with [z] suggestion as in Venetian: xe (pronounced: [zɛ]) <EST
  • Reflexive verbs with the continuation of lat. HABERE and not with ESSE: el s' ha prexentào 'he introduced himself'
  • Future tense with the Latin periphrase CANTARE + HABEO, conditional with the Latin periphrase CANTARE + HABUI
  • Different variants of the preposition of vulgar. INTU (S)> t ', int , in / nach' depending on the sound environment

Lexic like in Friulian

là de 'bei', cf. Friuli. là di 'at' massa 'too (much)', cf. Friuli. mass 'too much'

Language example

Thanks to the poet Biagio Marin (1891–1985) there is a small, manageable literature in the Grades dialect. The above description of the language structure is based on the following text example.

“Un ano fa mio nóno […] el m'ha contào a me […] 'sta storia. G'era 'na vólta, t'un picolo paexéto, un omo che' l veva doi figi. Un xórno el pì xoveno di doi fradei el s'ha prexentào a sò pare, e j'ha ditto: "Papà, vogio che tu me dai duto quél che me speta, dame quel che xe mio!" El vecio, che je voleva mundi ben (fòrsi anche massa!) A sò figi, l'ha fato comò che quél ji veva domandào.Dopo pochi xurni, el xovanoto el s'ha tolto duti i sò soldi e 'l xe' ndào via. Int una sità lontana l'ha vissùo sensa pinsieri, 'mbriagandose insieme co sò amis e balando co femenate. Cussì in poche setemane el s'ha magnào duti i soldi, e' l xe restào sensa ninte. Che doveva fà? Comò 'l varave possùo vive? Indove' l varave catà un toco de pan? "

“A year ago my grandfather told me this story. Once upon a time in a small village there was a man who had two sons. One day the younger of the two brothers called on the father and said to him: 'Dad, I want you to give me everything that is due to me, give me everything that is mine.' The old man, who liked him, his son, very much (maybe too much!), Did as he had asked him. After a few days the boy took all his money and left. In a distant city he lived without thinking, getting drunk with his friends and dancing with women. So in a few weeks he squandered all his money and was left without anything. What should he do? How should he have lived? Where should he have found a piece of bread? "