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Numero 40


 Alessandro Bitonti

Abstract
The paper deals with the linguistic contact between the francoprovençal of Apulia and the italo-romance dialects of the area. Our aim is to verify the state of preservation as well as the geolinguistic and diastratic distribution of some verbal periphrases expressing the deontic modality.
The morpho-sintactic variations of the periphrastic constructs measure the activity of four linguistic communities (Ariano Irpino, Castelluccio Valmaggiore, Celle di San Vito and Faeto), showing both their position of continuity within the macroarea and their loyalty to the local system.

Keywords
Minority Languages; Linguistic Contact; Deontic Modality; Verbal Periphrasis.

 

Federica Cugno

Abstract
Every year approximately one thousand new words and expressions are added to the Italian language, following the three fundamental processes that determine lexical additions: the combining of elements already present in our language; the attribution of new meanings to words and expressions already present; the integration of loan words from other languages. In this article we will analyse the factors involved in the creation of one of these new lexical elements: the word bippare in its meaning of ‘validate a ticket (bus, tram etc.) by swiping it across a machine that makes a beeping sound’. We will then examine the progressive adoption and diffusion of this term in the vocabulary of Turin speakers, with the aim of identifying the complex linguistic and extralinguistic dynamics that can affect the acceptance and stabilizing of a neologism in the language used by a speech community.

Keywords
Italian Lexicology; Neologism.

 

Giovanni Ronco

Abstract
The article explains the scientific activity of G. Bertoni in the years before the publication of the Italia dialettale (1916), its progressive approach to geolinguistics and the harsh controversy with Salvioni who is the ensign of neogrammarians in Italy.
That was in the years of J. Gilliéron’s Atlas Linguistique de la France publication, which will monopolize the scientific debate to create an Italian linguistic atlas based on the French model or methodologically different from the French one. After recurring and inconclusive debates rises the figure of M. Bartoli who will direct with Bertoni the Atlante Linguistico Italiano, in spite of various contrasts between them.

Keywords
Geolinguistics; Bertoni; Atlante Linguistico Italiano.

 

Franco Fanciullo

Abstract
About different uses and meanings, and the pertinent linguistic-historical background, of the expression (L’)Italia Dialettale in Italy between the end of XIX and the beginning of XX century.

Keywords
Italian Dialects; Substratum.

 

Francesco Avolio

Abstract
The author discusses the general outline of Italian dialects written by Giulio Bertoni, particularly in paragraphs concerning the regions of Central and Southern Italy. He draws the attention on four typical phenomena: the general repartition of those dialects, metaphony of middle stressed vowels, centralization of final unstressed vowels, the neuter in articles and demonstrative adjectives and pronouns.
In all these cases, the description provided by Giulio Bertoni in his handbook is generally clear and reliable, based on the most important scientific studies at his disposal in that time. Some little inaccuracies, for instance in the examples as well as in their linguistic diffusion, are not so relevant, and can’t obscure some other important facts, such as the first appearance of the adjective “altomeridionale” ‘upper southern’ or the excellent presentation of the different kinds of metaphony or of the neuter gender.
For these reasons, even today, a century later, Italia dialettale is still a good point of reference for specialists who want to study in deep the problem of Dialect classification.

Keywords
Bertoni; Dialects; Middle and Southern Italy.

 

Stella Retali-Medori, Marie-José Dalbera-Stefanaggi

Abstract
Giulio Bertoni, in his volume «Italia Dialettale», on the basis of some criteria already underlined by Pier Enea Guarnerio, has noticed the presence of two of the dialectal areas in Corsica: the cismontane area, involving two thirds of the isle and defined as the “real Corsican” and the ultramontane area (southern) approached to Sardinian dialect. Moreover, a cismontane subarea, along with Capo Corsican dialects has been identified. This essay will revise, in the light of the studies carried out from Bertoni and, with a specific reference to the creation of the «Nouvel Atlas Linguistique et Ethnographique de la Corse», the Corsica dialectal subdivision.

Keywords
Corsican Dialects; Cismontane Area; Ultramontane Area; Capo Corsican Dialects.

 

Vito Matranga

Abstract
In 1916, Bertoni published his essay Italia dialettale in addition to the fundamental studies of Diez, Meyer-Lübke, D’Ovidio and, of course, Ascoli, on which Bertoni builds his geolinguistic reference framework. In that year a series of essays, specifically dedicated to some phonetic aspects of the Sicilian dialect, had already been written by German linguists on one hand and Sicilian folklorists on the other. The only Sicilian linguist at that time was Giacomo De Gregorio whose Saggio di fonetica siciliana (1890) appears among the bibliographic references of Bertoni’s work along with that of Heinrich Schneegans (Laute und Lautentwickelung des sicilianischen Dialects) published in 1888. This contribution discusses Bertoni’s treatment of the information he draws from the two bibliographic sources he quoted, apropos of the phonetic aspects, which more than any other aspects have determined the placement of the Sicilian varieties within the framework of Italian dialects.
In particular, it is noted that in the work of 1916 ― particularly appreciated for the considerations made on the principles and methods of geolinguistics as well as for the accurate examination of some dialectal areas ― Bertoni does not go into the merits of some aspects of the internal variation within Sicilian linguistics, even if documented in his bibliographic sources. In particular, he disregards those aspects of tonic vocalism (the treatment of Ĕ and Ŏ) on which Giorgio Piccitto based his classification of the Sicilian varieties in 1951. In other contributions along the way on the question of Sicilian pentavocalism (lastly in his Profilo linguistico dell’Italia 1940), Bertoni expressed, instead, different hypotheses regarding the reasons of the closure of ẹ in i and ọ in u. Also with regard to consonant order, the author of Italia dialettale contemplates some internal variants in Sicily but does not always take into account the information available from his bibliographic sources, and particularly from De Gregorio’s essay. The hypothesis is that Bertoni
neglects some data ― and moreover any related explanations ― offered by De Gregorio concerning variation, both of vocalism and consonantism, because the Sicilian scholar had become unreliable having firmly supported the Emilian origin of the Gallo-Italic varieties of the Island.

Keywords
Geolinguistics; Dialectology; Historical Dialectology; Phonetics.

 

Elena Papa, Alda Rossebastiano, Daniela Cacia

Abstract
Based on suggestions from the onomasiological papers by Giulio Bertoni, the aim of this work is to show the strict relationship between lexical and onomastic research, useful in documenting the traces attributable to historical lexicon. Databases set up at the Turin Study Centre of Onomastic are used to provide examples of names having dialectal matrices, followed in their development from the Middle Ages to modern times, without overlooking their role in the evolution of the onomastic system.

Keywords
Dialect; Medieval Onomastic; Lexicon; Last Names; Onymic Systems.

 

Aline Pons

Abstract
The aim of this contribution is to illustrate the project Coltivare Parole, a small online linguistic atlas of the Pinerolese and Waldensian valleys, briefly outlining its evolution and its main elements of linguistic interest, through an example of studying potato names.

Keywords
Italian Linguistics; Geolinguistics; Plant Names; Piedmont.

 

Antonio Romano, Valentina De Iacovo, Elisabetta Carpitelli, Jonathan Bucci, Giovanni Ronco

Abstract
This report aims at describing the basic data and the main results of a research project which has been carried out in 2014-2016. The project had among its goals the collection of soundfiles recorded with speakers of the Corato dialect living in Italy and in France. Thanks to linguistic enquiries and fieldwork, an archive has been created with recordings from speakers residing in Corato and informants belonging to the Italian community of Grenoble. The database is publically available on-line and will allow the migrant community to witness the living status of the native dialect abroad, often many years after their diaspora, and the resident people to share considerations about the conservation of specific dialectal features or the innovations occurred in both varieties. Linguists may account for the slight divergence between the different varieties of this Apulian dialect and appreciate the general interest in the preservation of the linguistic diversity through data collection and speech archives creation.

Keywords
Corato; Apulian Dialects; Speech Archive