Genoese dialect

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Genoese (Zeneize or Zena) is a dialect of Italy. It belongs in the Ligurian group, which is listed in Ethnologue as a language in its own right (not to be confused with the ancient Ligurian language). It is spoken in Genoa, the principal city of Liguria. Along with the languages of Lombardy, Piedmont, and surrounding regions, it is of Gallo-Italic Romance derivation.

In terms of differences from Standard Italian, Genoese exhibits some similarities with French, and there are also influences from German. The language is dying out, but is still spoken by much of the elderly population.

There was a small-scale prominence of Genoese vernacular literature, especially in the 19th century; this was not sufficient enough, however, to see the development of regularization of spelling or grammar.

Genoese phonology includes but very few likenesses with French, for instance heavily nasalized vowels before nasal consonants (i.e. in VN(C) sequences), which also occur when Genoese speakers speak Standard Italian. There used to be a uvular /ʀ/ opposed to an apical /r/, but the former is to be considered vestigial if not completely extinct. There is also no (English-like) contracted approximant for /r/ (as mistakenly indicated by Forner). By far the most widespread type of /r/ today is the alveolar tap [ɾ] (identical to unstressed Standard Italian /r/).

Accents include those to the east of Genoa (Nervi, Quinto, Quarto), to the west (Voltri, Prà, Pegli, Sestri), and in the central Polcevera Valley and Bisagno.

Contents

1 Tongue twisters
2 Expressions
3 Phonology
4 External links

Tongue twisters

So asæ se a sâ a l'e asæ pe saâ a säsissa = I don't know if the salt is enough to salt the sausage

(Non so se il sale basta per salare la salciccia)

Scia scie scignua, sciando scia xoa in sci scï = Ski, madam, skying you fly on skis

(Scii, signora, sciando vola sugli sci)

In sciô 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 won't move)

(Sul molo nuovo ci sono nove navi nuove; la più nuova delle nove navi nuove non vuole andare)

Giangiai ghan gioggi giuegge giunge cume giatri? = Do angels have eyes, ears, and (finger)nails like everyone else?

(Gli angeli hanno occhi orecchie ed unghie come gli altri?) [variant of the Cogorno comune].

Expressions

Sun zeneize, rizo rêo, strenzo i denti e parlo cêo (Sono genovese, rido poco e stringendo i denti dico ciò che penso [parlo chiaro]) = "I'm Genoese, I seldom laugh, grin my teeth, and say what I mean" (lit. "speak clearly)

also

*Sun zeneise risou reu, strinsu i denti e parlo cheu (Sono genovese, rido di rado, stringo i denti e parlo chiaro.)

Al bambino che si lamenta Ho famme, facilmente la mamma gli risponde: Grattite e zenugge e fatte e lasagne (grattati le ginocchia e fatti le lasagne) = Grate your knees and make lasagna
puscito ese alûghetôo (Possa tu essere portato via (?): è una imprecazione con cui si manda a quel paese qualcuno che l'ha fatta grossa.)
Chi veû vive da bôn cristian, da-i begghin u stagghe lôntan (Chi vuole vivere da buon cristiano, dai beghini (i falsi devoti) stia lontano) = 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.
A l'è meggiû e braghe sguarèe 'ntô cû, che ô cû sguarôu in t'e braghe. (Meglio avere i pantaloni aperti nel sedere, che il sedere aperto nei pantaloni) = It is better to have trousers that are torn in the ass, than to have ass that is torn in trousers.

Phonology

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

Vowels:

a barba /'barba/ (zio=uncle; It. barba=beard)
e tésta /'testa/ (testa=head)
ɛ ægua /'ɛ:gwa/ (acqua=water)
i bibin /bi'biN/ (tacchino)
o côse /'ko:se/ (che cosa?=what?)
ø frisciœ /fri'ʃø:/ (frittella)
u cumme /'kumme/ (come?=how?)
a fügassa /fy'gassa/ (focaccia, a bread)

External links

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