Tarantino dialect

The Tarantino dialect traces its origins into ancient times, when the territory was dominated by the Messapii. The colonisation by the Greeks founded Taranto not only as the capital of Magna Graecia, but also as a centre of poetry and theatre. Greek maintained extraordinary vitality and left considerable influence on Tarantino, both in vocabulary (with hundreds of Greek terms still attested today across all semantic fields) and morpho-syntax (grammar), as attested, for example, by De Vincentiis (1872) and by more recent studies by Ledgeway (2020), with features such as the loss of the infinitive and the particular system of hypothetical marking that bring Tarantino closer to the other Extreme Southern Italian dialects, and a very peculiar accent that scholars linked to Doric. Some examples are: • Over 700 Greek terms in core lexical domains (e.g. "apele" 'nanghe''" i, ω > u) These influences are still found in many Tarantino words of Greek origin. Subsequently, the city of Taranto became a Roman city, thus introducing much Vulgar Latin vocabulary. The process of Latinization in the Taranto area displayed particular characteristics. The Vulgar Latin that developed here preserved numerous archaisms. At the same time, as highlighted for example by Rohlfs and by Gigante (2002), certain phonetic features, such as the particular treatment of vowels, reveal the influence of the Oscan substratum. Some examples are: • Preservation of archaisms such as the construction "scere + gerund" (e.g. "sce mangienne" for "he is eating") from Latin "ire iendo" • Oscan features in vowel articulation, responsible for later diphthongizations (o > ue) During the Byzantine and Lombard periods, Tarantino acquired diphthongization: the short o changed to ue and the short e changed to ie; moreover, its vocabulary was further enriched with new words. Contrary to what is often maintained in traditional literature, Lombard influences were marginal and limited to a few lexical loans common to the entire Romance area. The characteristic Tarantino diphthongizations, often erroneously attributed to Germanic influence, instead find their explanation in the Oscan substratum, as demonstrated by the recent studies of Loporcaro (2009). Some examples are: • Lombard influence was limited to a few terms (e.g. "guerra", "faida") • Diphthongizations (e.g. "muerte" for "morto") derive from the Oscan substratum • Byzantine Greek further enriched the lexicon (e.g. "zimmere" < τσίμμαρο for "goat") With the arrival of the Normans in 1071, a slow process of realignment of the Tarantino dialect with the other Southern Italian vernaculars began, and with the Angevins all the way through to 1400, the dialect lost much of its Eastern influences and was influenced by the French and Gallo-Italic elements. In 1502, the city went under Catalan-Aragonese rule. In 1801 the city was once again under the dominion of French troops, who left their mark with their Franco-Provençal language. The 20th century represented a period of profound transformations for the Tarantino dialect. Industrialization and massive internal migratory flows accelerated a process of regional standardization, with a progressive attenuation of the most distinctly Salentino features that had characterized the dialect up to the first decades of the 20th century. Taranto has long been linked to the Kingdom of Naples, which would explain some words in common with the Neapolitan dialect. == Classification ==

The complex classification of the Tarantino dialect Over the last two centuries, the debate over the classification of the Tarantino dialect has divided southern Italian dialectology. The fundamental question is whether it should be considered: • An Upper Southern Italian dialect (the "intermediate southern" group) with Salentino influences • An Extreme Southern Italian dialect (the "extreme southern" group) with local peculiarities • An autonomous variety within one of these two groups, given its uniqueness Upper-southern hypotheses Michele De Noto, in the pioneering "Appunti di fonetica del dialetto di Taranto", was the first to note phonetic divergences from Salento. Rosa Anna Greco ("Ricerca sul verbo nel dialetto tarentino") and G.B. Mancarella ("Nuovi contributi per la storia della lingua a Taranto") highlighted features shared with the central-southern area, for example: • Metaphony and conditioned diphthongization (e.g. 'nzore, proche) • Voicing of postnasals (-NT- > -nd-) • Verbal system with double endings (-amme, -emme) Extreme-southern hypotheses Heinrich Lausberg, Gerhard Rohlfs instead argued for membership in the Sicilian-Salentino group, noting, for example: • Open vowel outcomes (cuedde, strette) • Use of the conjunction "cu" + indicative in place of the infinitive • Nearly 1000 Greek loanwords shared with Salento The decisive evidence: deep extreme-southern elements Recent studies show that Tarantino shares with Extreme Southern Italian dialects structural traits which, according to Thomason & Kaufman, and other authors already mentioned, belong to levels 4-5 of the borrowability scale (loans possible only in cases of prolonged bilingualism or substrate): • Salentino syntax: • Loss of the infinitive ("vogghie cu vvoche" = I want to go) • Double conditional marking ("ce aveve, te dave" = if I had, I would give you) • Greco-Salentino periphrastic constructions • Grecanic prosody: • Final stress (as in Griko) • Vowel reduction (eta>i, omega>u) • Syllable-timed "effort" rhythm and "Magna Graecia prosody" • Deep lexicon: • Over 700 Greek loanwords in "resistant" domains (body, kinship, nature) • Lexical calques (e.g. "tremindere" < θωρω for "to look") As shown by Ledgeway and Fanciullo, these elements - especially syntax and prosody - represent the fingerprint of Greek-Latin bilingualism, marginal instead in the Apulian-Barese dialect. The presence of: • Level 5 structural borrowings (morphosyntax) • Greek loanwords in protected lexical domains • Grecanic phonological traits would make it impossible to classify Tarantino as a simple Upper Southern variant, a dialect diasystem in which these elements are virtually absent. Rather, as Katsoyannou suggests, it should be considered a linguistic bridge between the two groups, with an Extreme Southern base enriched by subsequent inputs. == Phonology ==

Vowels In addition to the typical five Italian vowels a e i o u, the Tarantino dialect also has another five: e and o are close vowels, a has a particularly close, almost semi-mute sound, and i and u are called "hard vowels", since they are pronounced with a notable vibration of the vocal cords; vowels with an acute accent are all long and have double value compared to Italian ones. There are also the open vowels e and o (always short) and those with a circumflex accent a e i o u: a word like perebisse, therefore, should be pronounced as [pərəbisse]. In the case where a word ending in mute e forms a syntactic cluster with the following word, the vowel becomes voiced: marange -> marangia ponde (pointed, spoiled orange) Diaeresis Because of the large number of homophones present in the Tarantino dialect, sometimes it is necessary to distinguish them by means of an accent or a diaeresis; the latter is used especially to indicate hiatus between two consonants, for example: • fiure (flowers), fiure (figure); • pesce (fish), pesce (worse), etc. == Grammar ==

Morphology Pronouns The demonstrative pronouns are: • quiste (this); • questa (this), these); • quidde (that). More commonly used in speech are the abbreviated forms: '' 'stu for quiste, 'sta for questa, 'ste for chiste''. The personal pronouns are: The relative pronouns are: • ci, ce (who); • ca (which, who, whom, of which, to whom). For example: • ci si tu? (who are you?); • '' 'a cristiane c'agghie viste aiere'' (the lady whom I saw yesterday); • ''le libbre ca m'he parlate'' (the books you told me about). Adjectives The possessive adjectives are: In the Tarantino dialect, the possessive adjective must always be placed after the noun it refers to: • '' 'a machena meie'' (my car). ca and cu ca (Lat. quia) can have the value of: • relative preposition: ''voche a 'ccatte 'u prime ca jacchie'' (I go to buy the first one I find); • conjunction: • in the declarative clause: ''sacce ca je 'nu bbuene uagnone'' (I know that he is a good boy); • in the consecutive clause: ''ave ca no 'nge 'u veche'' (it has been a long time since I have seen him); • to form the present subjunctive: cu avene aqqua (let him come here); • in the adversative form: cu tutte ca (even though): • Addummannele a ffratte (ask your brother) • He chiamate o dottore? (have you called the doctor?) • Puertete a Marie (take Maria with you) Verbs A typical feature is the frequent use of prothesis of the vowel -a-, which results in a double verbal form: • cogghiere and accogghiere (to gather); • '' 'ndruppecare and attruppecare'' (to stumble). There is also the presence of the inchoative suffix -esce derived from the old -ire: • durmescere (to sleep); • sparescere (to disappear); • scurescere (to get dark). Vowel alternation is very widespread among first-conjugation verbs, due to metaphony. They are subject to diphthongization of the last thematic vowel (-o- to -ue-). For example: • sciucare (to play): ''ije scioche, tu sciuche, jidde scioche, nu' sciucame, vu' sciucate, lore sciochene''; • annegghiare (to disappear): ''ije annigghie, tu annigghie, jidde annigghie, nu' annegghiame, vu' annegghiate, lore annighiane''. Second-conjugation verbs yield o as u: • no sce scenne a scole osce (don't go to school today). Participle mood The past participle is formed by adding the suffix -ate for verbs belonging to the first group, and the suffix -ute for verbs belonging to the second. However, there are also past participles ending in -ste, of Latin derivation ==== Avere == Samples ==

The Tarantino versions are compared to the Italian ones. ''''U 'Mbierne de Dande (Claudio De Cuia)''' '''Mmienze ô camíne nuèstre de 'sta víte '' ''ij' me scè 'cchiève jndr'a 'nu vòsch'uscúre'' ''ca 'a drètta vije addáne havè' sparíte.'' ''Ma ci l'à ddà cundáre le delúre '' ''de 'stu vosche sarvagge e 'a strada stòrte'' ''ca jndr'o penzière me crèsce 'a pavúre.'' ''Ma è tand'amáre ch'è pêsce d'a morte;'' ''ma pe' ccundáre 'u bbéne ca truvéve, '' ''hagghia parlà' de quèdda mala sòrte.'' ''Ije mo' nò ssacce accum'è ca m'acchiève,'' ''tand'assunnáte stáve a qquèdda vanne'' ''ca 'a vije veràce te scè' 'bbandunéve.'' ''Doppe ch'havè' 'rreváte tremelànne'' ''già 'ngocchie a lle fenéte de 'sta chiàne,'' ''ch'angòre ô côre dè' mattáne e affanne,'' ''vedíve 'u cièle tutte a mmane-a-mmane'' ''ca s'ammandáve d'a luce d'u sole'' ''ca 'nzignalèsce 'a strate a ogne crestiáne...'' Inferno – Canto I (Dante Alighieri) Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita mi ritrovai per una selva oscura, ché la diritta via era smarrita. Ahi quanto a dir qual era è cosa dura esta selva selvaggia e aspra e forte che nel pensier rinova la paura! ''Tant' è amara che poco è più morte;'' ''ma per trattar del ben ch'i' vi trovai,'' ''dirò de l'altre cose ch'i' v'ho scorte''. ''Io non so ben ridir com' i' v'intrai,'' ''tant' era pien di sonno a quel punto'' che la verace via abbandonai. ''Ma poi ch'i' fui al piè d'un colle giunto,'' là dove terminava quella valle ''che m'avea di paura il cor compunto,'' guardai in alto e vidi le sue spalle ''vestite già de' raggi del pianeta'' che mena dritto altrui per ogne calle... ''''U 'càndeche de le crijatúre de San Frangísche (Enrico Vetrò)''' ''Altísseme, 'Neputènde, Signóre bbuéne,'' ''Túje so' le làude, 'a glorie e ll’anóre e ogne bbenedizzióne.'' A Tté súle, Altísseme, Te tòcchene, e nnisciún’óme éte dègne de Te menduváre. Lavudáte sije, Signóre mije, appríss’a ttutte le crijatúre Tóve, spéče frátema mije mèstre sóle, ca jé llúče d’u ggiúrne, e nn’allumenìsce a nnúje cu jidde. ''E jìdd’é' bbèlle e allucèsce cu sblennóre granne,'' ''de Téje, Altísseme, annùče 'u valóre.'' ''Lavudáte sije, Signóre mije, pe' ssòrem’a lúne e lle stèdde:'' 'ngíele l’hé crijáte lucénde, sobraffíne e vvalènde, e bbèdde. ''Lavudáte sije, Signóre mije, pe' ffráteme 'u víende,'' ''e ppe' ll’àrie, le nùvele, 'u chiaríme e ogne ttìjembe,'' ca cu chìdde a lle crijatúre Tóve le fáče refiatà. ''Lavudáte sije, Signóre mije, pe' ssòreme l’acque,'' ca jé ùtele asséje, terragnóle, prizziósa e cchiáre. ''Lavudáte sije, Signóre mije, pe' ffráteme 'u fuéche,'' ''ca cu jìdde allumenìsce 'a nòtte:'' ''e jidd’è' bbèlle, allègre, pastecchíne e ffòrte.'' Lavudáte sije, Signóre mije, p’a sóra nòstra màtra tèrre, ''ca ne mandéne e nn’ènghie 'a vèndre,'' e ccàcce numúnne de frùtte e ppúre fiúre d’ogne cculóre e ll’èrve. ''Lavudáte sije, Signóre mije, pe' cchidde ca perdònene p’amóre Túve'' E ssuppòrtene malatíje e ttrìbbule. Vijáte a cchìdde ca l’honna ssuppurtà cu rrassignazzióne, ''ca da Téje, Altísseme, honn’essere 'ngurunáte.'' Lavudáte sije, Signóre mije, p’a sóra nostra morta d’u cuèrpe ''ca da jèdde nisciún’ome ca refiáte po' scambáre:'' ''uàje a cchìdde c’honna murè jind’a' le puccáte murtále;'' ''vijáte a cchìdde ca jedde à dda truvà jind’a' Vulundà' Ttója Sandísseme,'' ''ca a llóre 'a secònna mòrte no 'nge l’à ddà ffa' mále.'' ''Lavudáte e bbenedecíte 'u Signóre mij' e dečíteLe gràzzie'' E sservíteLe cu grànna devuzzióne. Canticle of the Sun (Francis of Assisi) Altissimu, onnipotente bon Signore, ''Tue so' le laude, la gloria e l'honore et onne benedictione.'' Ad Te solo, Altissimo, se konfano, et nullu homo ène dignu te mentovare. ''Laudato sie, mi' Signore cum tucte le Tue creature,'' spetialmente messor lo frate Sole, lo qual è iorno, et allumeni noi per lui. Et ellu è bellu e radiante cum grande splendore: de Te, Altissimo, porta significatione. ''Laudato si', mi Signore, per sora Luna e le stelle:'' ''in celu l'ài formate clarite et pretiose et belle.'' ''Laudato si', mi' Signore, per frate Vento'' et per aere et nubilo et sereno et onne tempo, per lo quale, a le Tue creature dài sustentamento. ''Laudato si', mi' Signore, per sor Aqua,'' la quale è multo utile et humile et pretiosa et casta. ''Laudato si', mi Signore, per frate Focu,'' per lo quale ennallumini la nocte: ed ello è bello et iocundo et robustoso et forte. ''Laudato si', mi' Signore, per sora nostra matre Terra,'' la quale ne sustenta et governa, et produce diversi fructi con coloriti flori et herba. ''Laudato si', mi Signore, per quelli che perdonano per lo Tuo amore'' et sostengono infirmitate et tribulatione. ''Beati quelli ke 'l sosterranno in pace,'' ka da Te, Altissimo, sirano incoronati. ''Laudato si' mi Signore, per sora nostra Morte corporale,'' ''da la quale nullu homo vivente po' skappare:'' guai a quelli ke morrano ne le peccata mortali; beati quelli ke trovarà ne le Tue sanctissime voluntati, ''ka la morte secunda no 'l farrà male.'' Laudate et benedicete mi Signore et rengratiate e serviateli cum grande humilitate.. == See also ==