Bari dialect or dialetto barese is a variety of Romance languages

Romance languages

The Romance languages are a branch of the Indo-European language family, more precisely of the Italic languages subfamily, comprising all the languages that descend from Vulgar Latin, the language of ancient Rome...

 which has developed over time, changing with the numerous linguistic influences in the Apulia

Apulia

Apulia is a region in Southern Italy bordering the Adriatic Sea in the east, the Ionian Sea to the southeast, and the Strait of Òtranto and Gulf of Taranto in the south. Its most southern portion, known as Salento peninsula, forms a high heel on the "boot" of Italy. The region comprises , and...

 region of Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 due to invasion and occupation throughout the centuries http://home.att.net/~l.bonaffini/puglia.htm. Influences range from Old French

Old French

Old French was the Romance dialect continuum spoken in territories that span roughly the northern half of modern France and parts of modern Belgium and Switzerland from the 9th century to the 14th century...

 because of the historical Norman

Norman conquest of southern Italy

The Norman conquest of southern Italy spanned the late eleventh and much of the twelfth centuries, involving many battles and many independent players conquering territories of their own...

 rule and the Angevin

House of Valois-Anjou

The Valois House of Anjou, or the Younger House of Anjou, was a noble French family, deriving from the royal family, the House of Valois. They were monarchs of Naples, as well as various other territories....

 sovereignty to an ancient pre-Roman Illyrian substratum

Substratum

In linguistics, a stratum or strate is a language that influences, or is influenced by another through contact. A substratum is a language which has lower power or prestige than another, while a superstratum is the language that has higher power or prestige. Both substratum and superstratum...

, lending a characteristic inflection

Inflection

In grammar, inflection or inflexion is the modification of a word to express different grammatical categories such as tense, grammatical mood, grammatical voice, aspect, person, number, gender and case...

 to the dialect

Dialect

The term dialect is used in two distinct ways, even by linguists. One usage refers to a variety of a language that is a characteristic of a particular group of the language's speakers. The term is applied most often to regional speech patterns, but a dialect may also be defined by other factors,...

, and placing it amongst the most distinct of Italian dialects

Italian dialects

Dialects of Italian are regional varieties of the Italian language, more commonly and more accurately referred to as Regional Italian. The dialects have features, most notably phonological and lexical, percolating from the underlying substrate languages...

 both from the point of view of phonetics and lexis.

Where Bari dialect is spoken

As assigning local dialects to strict geographical areas is often problematic, Barese may be seen, as with other local dialects, as a dynamic and changing language with regional differences determined by a range of geographical, historical and social factors. Nevertheless, Bari

Bari

Bari is the capital city of the province of Bari and of the Apulia region, on the Adriatic Sea, in Italy. It is the second most important economic centre of mainland Southern Italy after Naples, and is well known as a port and university city, as well as the city of Saint Nicholas...

 dialect may be identified predominantly within the province of Bari

Province of Bari

The Province of Bari is a province in the Apulia region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Bari.It has an area of 5,138 km², and a total population of 1,594,109 . There are 48 comuni in the province, see Comuni of the Province of Bari...

 in central Puglia, and in the region of Barletta-Andria-Trani, which is characterized by variants such as Barlettano, Tranese and Andriese. The north of the Puglia region in the province of Foggia

Province of Foggia

The Province of Foggia is a province in the Apulia region of Italy.This province is also known as Capitanata, originally Catapanata, because during the Middle Ages it was governed by a catapan, as part of the Catapanate of Italy...

, where Foggian dialect is spoken, may be seen as a variant of Bari dialect, albeit heavily influenced by Naples

Naples

Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...

 dialects.

In Italian cinema of the Commedia all'Italiana

Commedia all'italiana

Commedia all'italiana or Italian-style comedy is an Italian film genre. It is widely considered to have started with Mario Monicelli's I soliti ignoti in 1958 and derives its name from the title of Pietro Germi's Divorzio all'italiana .-Stars:Vittorio Gassman, Ugo...

, Barese has been made famous by actors such as Lino Banfi

Lino Banfi

Lino Banfi is an Italian film actor and presenter. He has appeared in over 100 films since 1960.-Biography:...

, Sergio Rubini

Sergio Rubini

- Biography :He was born in Grumo Appula but soon moved to Rome to study acting. After some roles in theater, he debuted in a feature film with Figlio mio infinitamente caro , which was followed by Desiderando Giulia and Il caso Moro...

, Gianni Ciardo, Dino Abbrescia, and Emilio Solfrizzi. There are also numerous films shot exclusively in Bari dialect: amongst the most notable including LaCapaGira which was recognised by critics at the Berlin Film Festival. Many local theatre companies produce light comedy shows in dialect, often focusing on the comic linguistic opportunities presented by the millions who left Puglia during the last century in search of work abroad.

Linguistic features

Within the Province of Bari many dialects exist which, while similar to Bari dialect, have various vocal differences. For example, the expression Che c'è? in standard Italian

Italian language

Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...

, meaning What's the matter? or What's up? is variously produced as:

Ci jié? (Barese)

Ciobbà? (Andriese)

Ce je? (Bitettese)

Ce d'è? (Grumese and Palese)

Ce jièy? (Bitontino)

Ce da? (Terlizzese)

Ci iò? (Barlettano)

Ce d'è? (Molfettese)

Meanwhile, the conjugation of verbs sees changes such as:

Essere (to be in standard Italian)

Person	io	tu	lui	noi	voi	loro
Indicative
Present	sono	sei	è	siamo	siete	sono

Essere (to be in Barese)

Person	ji	tu	cudde	nu	vu	chidd
Indicative
Present	sò	sì	jè	sim	sit	sò/sond (rare)

Fare (to do/make in standard Italian)

Person	io	tu	lui	noi	voi	loro
Indicative
Present	faccio	fai	fa	facciamo	fate	fanno

Fare (to do/make in Barese)

Person	ie	tu	cudde	nu	vu	chidde
Indicative
Present	fazzche	fasc	fasc	facime	facite	fascn