Tuscan as a whole has certain defining features, with subvarieties that are distinguished by minor details. A Romance language variety descending from
Vulgar Latin, it also contains a
substrate from the
Etruscan language of the original inhabitants prior to Romanization. The Etruscan influence is found most saliently in the
toponyms of
Tuscany, as well as some parts of neighbouring
Umbria and
Lazio.
Phonology Tuscan gorgia The
Tuscan gorgia affects the
voiceless stop consonants , , and . They are usually pronounced as
fricatives in
post-vocalic position when not blocked by the competing phenomenon of
syntactic gemination: • → • → • →
Weakening of G and C A similar
phonological alternation is the intervocalic weakening of the Italian "soft"
g, the voiced affricate (
g as in
judge) and "soft"
c, the voiceless affricate (
ch as in
church), known as
attenuation, or, more commonly, as
deaffrication. Between vowels, the
voiced postalveolar affricate consonant is realized as
voiced postalveolar fricative (s and z in the English
measure and
azure): This phenomenon is very evident in daily speech (common also in
Umbria and elsewhere in Central Italy): the phrase
la gente 'the people' in Standard Italian is pronounced , but in Tuscan, it is . Similarly, the
voiceless postalveolar affricate is pronounced as a
voiceless postalveolar fricative between two vowels: The sequence
la cena, 'the dinner', in Standard Italian is pronounced , but in Tuscan, it is . As a result of the weakening rule, there are a few minimal pairs distinguished only by length of the voiceless fricative (e.g.
lacerò 'it/he/she ripped' vs.
lascerò 'I will leave/let').
Affrication of S A less common phonetic phenomenon is the realization of "voiceless s" (
voiceless alveolar fricative ) as the
voiceless alveolar affricate when preceded by , , or . For example,
il sole (the sun), pronounced in Standard Italian as , would be in theory pronounced in Tuscan. However, since assimilation of the final consonant of the article to the following consonant tends to occur in exactly such cases (see
Masculine definite articles), the actual pronunciation is usually . Affrication of can more commonly be heard word-internally, as in
falso (false) → . It is a common phenomenon in Central Italy but is not exclusive to that area; for example, it also occurs in
Switzerland (
Canton Ticino). It does not occur in a small area including Florence (except ) and Prato.
No diphthongization of There are two Tuscan historical outcomes of Latin
ŏ in stressed open syllables. Passing first through a stage , the vowel has then developed as a diphthong . The phenomenon has never gained universal acceptance, however, and so forms with the diphthong have come to be accepted as Standard Italian (e.g.
fuoco,
buono,
nuovo,
duomo), but the monophthong remains in popular speech (
foco,
bono,
novo,
domo).
Morphology Accusative "te" for "tu" A characteristic of Tuscan is the use of the accusative pronoun
te in emphatic clauses of the type "You! What are you doing here?". • Standard Italian: '
You'll do it, won't you?' • Tuscan:
Te lo farai, no? • Standard Italian: '
You, come here!' • Tuscan:
Te, vieni qua! Double dative pronoun A morphological phenomenon, cited also by
Alessandro Manzoni in his novel
I promessi sposi (
The Betrothed), is the
doubling of the dative pronoun. For the use of a personal pronoun as
indirect object (
to someone, to something), also called
dative case, Standard Italian makes use of a construction
preposition + pronoun a me (to me), or it makes use of a synthetic pronoun form,
mi (to me). Tuscan frequently makes use of both in the same utterance as a kind of intensification of the dative/indirect object: • In Standard Italian:
a me piace or
mi piace ("I like it"; literally, "it pleases me") • In Tuscan:
a me mi piace or
a me mi garba ("I like it") This usage is widespread throughout the central regions of Italy, not only in Tuscany, and is often considered redundant and erroneous by language purists. It is also a standard feature in Spanish:
a mí me gusta ("I like it") In some dialects, the
double accusative pronoun me mi vedi (lit:
Me you see me) can be heard, but that is considered to be an archaic form.
Masculine definite articles Both the singular and the plural masculine definite articles can be realized phonetically as in Florentine varieties of Tuscan but are distinguished by their phonological effect on following consonants. The singular causes the lengthening of the following consonant: 'the dog'. However, the plural permits consonant weakening: 'the dogs'. As in Italian, the masculine singular
lo occurs before consonants long by nature or not permitting in clusters (
lo zio 'the uncle',
lo studente 'the student'), but forms such as
i zio can be heard in rustic varieties.
Noi + impersonal si A morpholosyntactic phenomenon that is found throughout Tuscany is the personal use of the particle identical to
impersonal si (not to be confused with
passive si or the
reflexive si), as the first-person plural. That is basically the same as the use of
on in
French. It is possible to use the construction
si +
third-person in singular verb, which can be preceded by the first-plural person pronoun
noi. • Standard Italian:
Andiamo a mangiare (We're going to eat),
Noi andiamo là (We go there) • Tuscan:
Si va a mangià (We're going to eat),
Noi si va là (We go there) The phenomenon is found in all verb tenses, including compound tenses. In those tenses, the use of
si requires a form of
essere (
to be) as auxiliary verb. If the verb is one that otherwise selects auxiliary
avere in compound constructions, the past participle does not agree with the subject in gender and number: • Italian:
Abbiamo mangiato al ristorante. • Tuscan: ''S'è mangiato al ristorante.'' If the verb normally requires
essere, the past participle is marked as plural: • Italian:
Siamo andati al cinema. • Tuscan: ''S'è andati al cinema.'' Usually,
si contracts before
è: ''si è → s'è''.
Fo (faccio) and vo (vado) Another morphological phenomenon present in Tuscan is what might appear to be
shortening of first singular verb forms in the present tense of
fare (
to do,
to make) and
andare (
to go). • Fare: It.
faccio Tusc.
fo (I do, I make) • Andare: It.
vado Tusc.
vo (I go) These forms have two origins. Natural phonological change alone can account for loss of and reduction of to in the case of > * > . A case such as Latin
sapio > Italian
so (I know), however, admits no such phonological account since the expected outcome of would be *, with a normal lengthening of the consonant preceding . What seems to have taken place is a realignment of the paradigm in accordance with the statistically minor but highly-frequent paradigms of
dare (give) and
stare (be, stay). Thus,
so, sai, sa, sanno (all singulars and the third-person plural of 'know') have come to fit the template of
do, dai, dà, danno ('give'),
sto, stai, sta, stanno ('be, stay'), and
fo, fai, fa, fanno ('make, do'), which have followed the same pattern. The form
vo, while quite possibly a natural phonological development, seems to have been reinforced by analogy in that case.
Loss of infinitival "-re" A phonological phenomenon that might appear to be morphological is the loss of the infinitival ending
-re of verbs. •
andàre →
andà •
pèrdere →
pèrde •
finìre →
finì Stress remains on the same vowel that is stressed in the full form and so the infinitive may coincide with various conjugated singulars:
pèrde 'to lose',
pèrde 's/he loses';
finì 'to finish',
finì 's/he finished'. This homophony seldom, if ever, causes confusion, as they usually appear in distinct syntactic contexts. The infinitive without
-re is universal in some subtypes such as Pisano-Livornese, but in the vicinity of
Florence, alternations are regular and so the full infinitive (e.g.
vedere 'to see') appears before a
pause, and the clipped form (
vedé) is found otherwise. The consonant of an enclitic is lengthened if it is preceded by stressed vowel (
vedéllo 'to see it',
portàcci 'to bring us') but not when the preceding vowel of the infinitive is unstressed (
lèggelo 'to read it',
pèrdeti 'to lose you'). A similar process is found in
Romanian, with infinitives cited as
a ("to") + the verb, and the
-re has been dropped. As in Tuscan, the stress is on the same syllable that had it before the loss of
-re. In Catalan and its dialects, in Campidanese Sardinian and for some Portuguese-speakers, final infinitive
-r is not pronounced and so
anar is pronounced /ə'na/. A phenomenon similar in origin in French has led to loss of both /r/ and final /e/ in the -
are class of infinitives at an early stage and so the final syllable of Modern French
aimer,
chanter etc. is pronounced as stressed .
Lexicon The most important differences among dialects is in the
lexicon, which also distinguishes the different subdialects. The Tuscan lexicon is almost entirely shared with Standard Italian, but many words may be perceived as obsolete or literary by non-Tuscans. There are also many strictly-regional words and expressions. Characteristically-Tuscan words: •
accomodare (which means "to arrange" in Standard Italian) for
riparare (to repair) •
babbo for
papà (dad), also in Umbria, Marche •
billo for
tacchino (turkey), found also in Umbria and Lazio •
bove (literary form in Standard Italian) for
bue (ox), also in Umbria •
cacio for
formaggio (cheese), especially for Pecorino •
calzoni (literary form in Standard Italian) for
pantaloni (trousers) •
camiciola for
canottiera (undervest) •
cannella (literary form in Standard Italian) for
rubinetto (tap), widespread in Central and Southern Italy •
capo (literary form in Standard Italian) and
chiorba for
testa (head) •
cencio for
straccio (rag, tatters) (but also
straccio is widely used in Tuscany) •
chetarsi (literary form in Standard Italian) or
chetassi for
fare silenzio (to be silent) •
codesto (literary form in Standard Italian) is a pronoun which specifically identifies an object far from the speaker but near the listener (corresponding in meaning to Latin
iste). •
costì or
costà is a locative adverb that refers to a place far from the speaker but near the listener. It relates to
codesto as
qui/qua relates to
questo and
lì/là to
quello •
desinare (literary form in Standard Italian) for
pranzare (to have lunch) •
diaccio for
ghiacciato,
freddo (frozen, cold) •
essi for
sii (second-person singular imperative form of 'to be') •
furia (which means "fury" in Standard Italian) for
fretta (hurry) •
golpe or
gorpe for
volpe (fox), also in Umbria, Marche, but also found in Anonimo Romano's
Cronica (written in Romanesco Vulgar Latin) •
garbare for
piacere (to like) (but also
piacere is sometimes used in Tuscany) •
gota (literary form in Standard Italian) for
guancia (cheek) •
ire for
andare (to go) (only some forms as
ito (gone), not unique to Tuscany) •
lapis for
matita (pencil), common throughout Italy •
popone for
melone (cantaloupe) •
punto for
per nulla or
niente affatto (not at all) in negative sentences (cf. French
ne ... point) •
rigovernare for
lavare i piatti (to do/wash the dishes) •
sciocco (which means "silly" or "stupid" in Standard Italian) for
insipido (insipid) •
sistola for
tubo da giardinaggio (garden hose) •
sortire for
uscire (to exit) (compare
French sortir) •
sudicio for
spazzatura (garbage) as a noun and for
sporco (dirty) as an adjective •
termosifone or
radiatore for
calorifero (radiator) •
tocco for
le 13 (one p.m.), lunch time ==See also==