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Western Lombard is a Romance language spoken in Italy
Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia....
, in the Lombard
Lombardy

Lombardy is one of the 20 regions of Italy. The capital is Milan. One-sixth of Italy's population lives in Lombardy and about one fifth of Italy's GDP is produced in this region....
 provinces of Milan
Province of Milan

The Province of Milan is a Provinces of Italy in the Lombardy region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Milan.It has an area of 1,984 km?, and a total population of 3,893,959....
, Monza, Varese
Province of Varese

The Province of Varese is a Provinces of Italy in the Lombardy region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Varese.It has an area of 1,199 km?, and a total population of 812,477 ....
, Como
Province of Como

The Province of Como is a Provinces of Italy in the north of the Lombardy region of Italy and borders the Switzerland cantons of Ticino and Grigioni to the North, the Italian provinces of Province of Sondrio and Province of Lecco to the East, the Province of Milan to the south and the Province of Varese to the West....
, Lecco
Province of Lecco

The Province of Lecco is a Provinces of Italy in the Lombardy region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Lecco.On 1 January 2001 the province had a population of 311,452 on a surface of 816 km? divided in 90 communes ....
, Sondrio
Province of Sondrio

The Province of Sondrio is a Provinces of Italy in the Lombardy region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Sondrio.It has an area of 3,212 km?, and a total population of 176,856 ....
, a little part of Cremona
Province of Cremona

The Province of Cremona is a Provinces of Italy in the Lombardy region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Cremona.The province has an area of 1,771 km? and a population of 335,939 ; communes number 115 ....
 (except Crema
Crema

Crema can refer to:* Crema, Italy, a town in Italy* Crema, a thin layer of foam at the top of a cup of espresso* Crema, Mexican sour cream, more akin to cr?me fra?che...
 and its neighbours), Lodi
Province of Lodi

The Province of Lodi is a Provinces of Italy in the Lombardy region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Lodi, Italy.It has an area of 782 km?, and a total population of 209,874 ....
 and Pavia
Province of Pavia

The Province of Pavia is a Provinces of Italy in the region of Lombardy in Italy. City of Pavia is the capital.It has an area of 2,965 km?, and a total population of 493,829 ....
, and the Piedmont
Piedmont

Piedmont is one of the 20 Regions of Italy. It has an area of 25,399 km? and a population of about 4.4 million. The capital is Turin. The main local dialect is Piedmontese....
 provinces of Novara
Province of Novara

Novara is a Provinces of Italy in the Piedmont region of Italy. Its capital is the city of City of Novara.It has an area of 1,339 km?, and a total population of 362,000 . There are 88 communes in the province ....
, Verbano-Cusio-Ossola
Province of Verbano-Cusio-Ossola

Verbano-Cusio-Ossola is the northernmost Provinces of Italy in the Italy region of Piedmont. It was created in 1996 through the fusion of three distinct regions which had previously been part of the Province of Novara....
 and a small part of Vercelli
Province of Vercelli

Vercelli is a Provinces of Italy in the Piedmont region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Vercelli.It has an area of 2,088 km?, and a total population of 176,829 ....
 (Valsesia
Valsesia

Valsesia is a group of valleys in north-east of Piedmont in the Province of Vercelli, Italy; the principal valley is that of the river Sesia River....
), and Switzerland
Switzerland

Switzerland is a landlocked Swiss Alps country of roughly 7.7 million people in Western Europe with an area of 41,285 km?. Switzerland is a federal republic consisting of 26 states called Cantons of Switzerland....
 (Canton Ticino and part of Grischun). After the name of the region involved, land of the former Duchy of Milan
Duchy of Milan

The Duchy of Milan was a state in northern Italy from 1394 to 1797. It was part of the Holy Roman Empire, by then a decentralised entity, and was ruled by several dynasties, most of them major powers from outside Italy....
, this language is often referred to as Insubric (see Insubria
Insubria

Insubria is a historical-geographical region which corresponds to the area inhabited in the past by the Insubres, a Celtic people which dwelt in the 4th-5th century B.C....
 and Insubres
Insubres

The Insubres or Insubri were a population settled in Insubria, in what is now Lombardy. They were the founders of Milan . Though Celtic at the time of Roman republic conquest, they were most likely the result of the fusion of pre-existing Ligurian and Ancient_Italic_peoples population strata with Gaulish tribes who had come from what is...
) or Milanese, or, after Clemente Merlo, Cisabduano (literally "of this side of Adda River
Adda River

The Adda is a river in North Italy, a tributary of the Po River. It rises in the Alps near the border with Switzerland and flows through Lake Como....
").

In Italian-speaking contexts, Western Lombard is often incorrectly called a dialect
Dialect

A dialect is a variety of a language that is 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, such as social class....
 of Italian language
Italian language

Italian is a Romance languages spoken by about 63 million people as a first language, primarily in Italy. In Switzerland, Italian is one of four Linguistic geography of Switzerlands....
, but actually it is a separate language.






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Western Lombard is a Romance language spoken in Italy
Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia....
, in the Lombard
Lombardy

Lombardy is one of the 20 regions of Italy. The capital is Milan. One-sixth of Italy's population lives in Lombardy and about one fifth of Italy's GDP is produced in this region....
 provinces of Milan
Province of Milan

The Province of Milan is a Provinces of Italy in the Lombardy region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Milan.It has an area of 1,984 km?, and a total population of 3,893,959....
, Monza, Varese
Province of Varese

The Province of Varese is a Provinces of Italy in the Lombardy region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Varese.It has an area of 1,199 km?, and a total population of 812,477 ....
, Como
Province of Como

The Province of Como is a Provinces of Italy in the north of the Lombardy region of Italy and borders the Switzerland cantons of Ticino and Grigioni to the North, the Italian provinces of Province of Sondrio and Province of Lecco to the East, the Province of Milan to the south and the Province of Varese to the West....
, Lecco
Province of Lecco

The Province of Lecco is a Provinces of Italy in the Lombardy region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Lecco.On 1 January 2001 the province had a population of 311,452 on a surface of 816 km? divided in 90 communes ....
, Sondrio
Province of Sondrio

The Province of Sondrio is a Provinces of Italy in the Lombardy region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Sondrio.It has an area of 3,212 km?, and a total population of 176,856 ....
, a little part of Cremona
Province of Cremona

The Province of Cremona is a Provinces of Italy in the Lombardy region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Cremona.The province has an area of 1,771 km? and a population of 335,939 ; communes number 115 ....
 (except Crema
Crema

Crema can refer to:* Crema, Italy, a town in Italy* Crema, a thin layer of foam at the top of a cup of espresso* Crema, Mexican sour cream, more akin to cr?me fra?che...
 and its neighbours), Lodi
Province of Lodi

The Province of Lodi is a Provinces of Italy in the Lombardy region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Lodi, Italy.It has an area of 782 km?, and a total population of 209,874 ....
 and Pavia
Province of Pavia

The Province of Pavia is a Provinces of Italy in the region of Lombardy in Italy. City of Pavia is the capital.It has an area of 2,965 km?, and a total population of 493,829 ....
, and the Piedmont
Piedmont

Piedmont is one of the 20 Regions of Italy. It has an area of 25,399 km? and a population of about 4.4 million. The capital is Turin. The main local dialect is Piedmontese....
 provinces of Novara
Province of Novara

Novara is a Provinces of Italy in the Piedmont region of Italy. Its capital is the city of City of Novara.It has an area of 1,339 km?, and a total population of 362,000 . There are 88 communes in the province ....
, Verbano-Cusio-Ossola
Province of Verbano-Cusio-Ossola

Verbano-Cusio-Ossola is the northernmost Provinces of Italy in the Italy region of Piedmont. It was created in 1996 through the fusion of three distinct regions which had previously been part of the Province of Novara....
 and a small part of Vercelli
Province of Vercelli

Vercelli is a Provinces of Italy in the Piedmont region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Vercelli.It has an area of 2,088 km?, and a total population of 176,829 ....
 (Valsesia
Valsesia

Valsesia is a group of valleys in north-east of Piedmont in the Province of Vercelli, Italy; the principal valley is that of the river Sesia River....
), and Switzerland
Switzerland

Switzerland is a landlocked Swiss Alps country of roughly 7.7 million people in Western Europe with an area of 41,285 km?. Switzerland is a federal republic consisting of 26 states called Cantons of Switzerland....
 (Canton Ticino and part of Grischun). After the name of the region involved, land of the former Duchy of Milan
Duchy of Milan

The Duchy of Milan was a state in northern Italy from 1394 to 1797. It was part of the Holy Roman Empire, by then a decentralised entity, and was ruled by several dynasties, most of them major powers from outside Italy....
, this language is often referred to as Insubric (see Insubria
Insubria

Insubria is a historical-geographical region which corresponds to the area inhabited in the past by the Insubres, a Celtic people which dwelt in the 4th-5th century B.C....
 and Insubres
Insubres

The Insubres or Insubri were a population settled in Insubria, in what is now Lombardy. They were the founders of Milan . Though Celtic at the time of Roman republic conquest, they were most likely the result of the fusion of pre-existing Ligurian and Ancient_Italic_peoples population strata with Gaulish tribes who had come from what is...
) or Milanese, or, after Clemente Merlo, Cisabduano (literally "of this side of Adda River
Adda River

The Adda is a river in North Italy, a tributary of the Po River. It rises in the Alps near the border with Switzerland and flows through Lake Como....
").

In Italian-speaking contexts, Western Lombard is often incorrectly called a dialect
Dialect

A dialect is a variety of a language that is 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, such as social class....
 of Italian language
Italian language

Italian is a Romance languages spoken by about 63 million people as a first language, primarily in Italy. In Switzerland, Italian is one of four Linguistic geography of Switzerlands....
, but actually it is a separate language. It has more than a few similarities to French. Insubric and Italian
Italian language

Italian is a Romance languages spoken by about 63 million people as a first language, primarily in Italy. In Switzerland, Italian is one of four Linguistic geography of Switzerlands....
 are different languages and are not mutually intelligible, because of lexical, phonetic, and grammatical differences. Western Lombard is relatively homogenous (much more so than Eastern Lombard), though it does present a number of variations, mainly in relation to the vowels //, // and the development of // into //).

Western Lombard can be divided into four main classes, called by many Italian linguists lombardo alpino (provinces of Sondrio and of Verbania, Sopraceneri of Canton Ticino and Grigioni in Switzerland), lombardo-prealpino occidentale (provinces of Como, Varese and Lecco, Lugano and its neighbors in Canton Ticino), basso-lombardo occidentale (Pavia and Lodi), and macromilanese (provinces of Milan, Monza, Novara and Valsesia of Vercelli). The boundaries are obviously schematic, since the political division in provinces and municipalities are usually independent from languages spoken.

The linguistic classification of Western Lombard is

Romance languages
Romance languages

The Romance languages are a branch of the Indo-European languages comprising all the languages that descend from Latin language, the language of ancient Rome....
 (derived from Latin
Latin

Latin is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Military history of the Roman Empire, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe....
).

  • Italo-Western group
    Italo-Western languages

    Italo-Western is the largest sub-group of Romance languages. It comprises 38 languages in 2 subsets: Italo-Dalmatian, and Western Romance languages....
     (Hispania-Gallia-Italia; including nearly all Romance languages).
    • Gallo-Iberian group (Hispania-Gallia).
      • Gallo-Romance group
        Gallo-Romance languages

        The Gallo-Romance branch of Romance languages includes French language, Occitan language, Arpitan language, and several other languages spoken in modern France and northern Italy....
         (Gallia; the eastern section of the Gallo-Iberian group).
        • Gallo-Italic group (Gallia Cisalpina; Italy's part of the Gallo-Romance group).
          • Lombard group (part of Langobardia).


At the present time, Western Lombard has no official status in Lombardy
Lombardy

Lombardy is one of the 20 regions of Italy. The capital is Milan. One-sixth of Italy's population lives in Lombardy and about one fifth of Italy's GDP is produced in this region....
 or anywhere else. The only official language
Official language

An official language is a language that is given a special legal status in a particular country, state, or other territory. Typically a nation's official language will be the one used in that nation's courts, parliament and administration....
 in Lombardy is Italian
Italian language

Italian is a Romance languages spoken by about 63 million people as a first language, primarily in Italy. In Switzerland, Italian is one of four Linguistic geography of Switzerlands....
.

Some texts in Western Lombard are available: various dictionaries, a few grammars, extensive literature (see Insubric literature), and a recent translation of the Gospels.

Examples of Western Lombard dialects are:

  • Milanese or Meneghin
    Milanese

    Milanese is the central variety of Western Lombard language spoken in the city of Milan and in its province.In Italian-speaking contexts, Milanese is often generically called a "dialect"....
     (macromilanese)
  • Bustocco and Legnanese
  • Brianzöö
    Brianzöö

    Brianz?? or Brianzoeu is a group of variants of Western Lombard language. It is spoken in Brianza, from Como to Monza and Lecco, in many forms....
     (lombardo-prealpino occidentale - macromilanese)
    • Canzés
      Canzés

      Canz?s is a variety of Western Lombard language spoken in the commune of Canz, Italy....
    • Canturino
    • Monzese
  • Comasco-Lecchese
    Comasco-Lecchese

    The group of dialects Comasco-Lecchese is part of the Western Lombard language and is spoken in the province of Como and province of Lecco, especially around the capital cities and north of them....
     (lombardo-prealpino occidentale)
    • Comasco
      Comasco

      Comasco is a dialect of Western Lombard language spoken in the city and suburbs of Como. It belongs to the Comasco-Lecchese. It has similarities with Milanese dialect, but more precisely consists of a transition between Brianz?? and Ticinese, in fact both the article "ul" and "el" are used....
    • Laghée
      Laghée

      Lagh?? is a dialect of Western Lombard language spoken in the north of province of Como, on the coast of the Como Lake. . It has influences from Ticinese....
    • Intelvese
    • Vallassinese
      Vallassinese

      Vallassinese is variety of Western Lombard language spoken in Vallassina valley . It belongs to the Comasco-Lecchese group and it has many subdialects....
    • Lecchese
      Lecchese

      Lecchese is a dialect of Western Lombard language spoken in the city and suburbs of Lecco . It has the characteristic, in contrast with the other Comasco-Lecchese dialects, to be influenced by Brianz??, Valsassinese, Valtellinese and Bergamasque tongue , for example in the use of verg?t instead of Comasco quajc?ss ....
    • Valsassinese
  • Ticinese
    Ticinese

    Ticinese is a comprehensive denomination for the varieties of Western Lombard language spoken in Ticino.The term Ticinesi refers to the citizens of Ticino or speakers of the language....
     (lombardo alpino)
    • Ossolano
      Ossolano

      Ossolano is the dialect spoken in the Ossola valley in North West Italy. It is an umbrella name for a myriad of dialects spoken in the main Ossola valley and the other seven valleys and their subvalley that spread from it....
  • Varesino or Bosin
    Varesino

    Varesino or Bosin is a dialect of Western Lombard language spoken in the Central province of Varese. The Northern side speaks more Ticinese than Bosin....
     (lombardo-prealpino occidentale)
  • Alpine Lombard (lombardo alpino, strong influence from Eastern Lombard language
    Eastern Lombard language

    Eastern Lombard is a group of related dialects, spoken in the eastern side of Lombardy, mainly in the provinces of Bergamo, Brescia and Mantua, in the area around Crema, Italy and in a part of Trentino....
    )
    • Valtellinese
    • Chiavennasco
  • Southwestern Lombard
    Southwestern Lombard

    Southwestern Lombard is a group of dialects of Western Lombard language spoken in the provinces Province of Pavia, Province of Lodi, Province of Novara, Province of Cremona, in the south of the historic Insubria, and comprises Pavese , Lodigiano, Nuaresat, Cremun?ez and others....
     (basso-lombardo occidentale)
    • Pavese
      Pavese (dialect)

      Pavese is a dialect of Western Lombard language spoken in province of Pavia . In Pavese, differently from most of Western Lombard dialects, the "z" is transformed into "s"....
    • Lodigiano (strong influence from Emiliano-Romagnolo language
      Emiliano-Romagnolo

      Emiliano-Romagnolo is a Romance language mostly spoken in Emilia-Romagna, Italy. It belongs to the Northern Italian group within Romance languages , which is included in the wider group of western Romance languages ....
      )
    • Nuaresat
      Nuaresat

      Nuares is a dialect of Western Lombard language spoken in province of Novara .It's rarely used in the city, where is preferred the use of Italian language because of high immigration from Mezzogiorno; it's much more used in the province....
       (lombardo-prealpino occidentale - macromilanese)
    • Cremunéez
      Cremunéez

      Cremun?ez is a dialect of Western Lombard language spoken in the city and province of Cremona in Lombardy, Italy . It has a high influence from Emiliano-Romagnolo, so that it's considered by someone to be a dialect of this language....
       (strong influence from Emiliano-Romagnolo language
      Emiliano-Romagnolo

      Emiliano-Romagnolo is a Romance language mostly spoken in Emilia-Romagna, Italy. It belongs to the Northern Italian group within Romance languages , which is included in the wider group of western Romance languages ....
      )
  • Slangs
    • Spasell
      Spasell

      Spasell is a slang of Insubric language, spoken until XIX century by inhabitants of Vallassina, when they used to go out from the valley for business and they didn't want to be understood by the people....


The most important orthography in Western Lombard literature is the Classical Milanese orthography
Classical Milanese orthography

The classical Milanese orthography is the orthography used for the Western Lombard language, in particular for Milanese dialect, from the major poets and writers of Insubric literature, such as Carlo Porta, Carlo Maria Maggi, Delio Tessa etc....
. It was used by Carlo Porta
Carlo Porta

Carlo Porta was an Italian poet, the most famous writer in Milanese ....
 (1775-1821) and Delio Tessa
Delio Tessa

Delio Tessa was an Italians poet from Milan. He is the most renowned writer in Milanese dialect after Carlo Porta. The originality of his poetry stands mostly in his obsessional expressionism and his allucinated and satirical way to depict Death....
 (1886-1939). It was perfected by the Circolo Filologico di Milano. Other orthographies
Alternative Insubric orthographies

This is a prospect of Insubric language orthographies others than the Classical Milanese orthography....
 are the Ticinese, the Comasca, the Bosina, the Nuaresat, and the Lecchese.

See also

  • Languages of Italy
  • Dialects of Italy
  • Plural inflection in Western Lombard
    Plural inflection in Western Lombard

    The general lines of diachronics of Western Lombard plural declension are drawn here, with referenceto Milanese orthography:...
  • Milanese dialect
  • Insubric literature


Bibliography

  • Andrea Rognoni, Grammatica dei dialetti della Lombardia, Oscar Mondadori, 2005.
  • AA. VV., Parlate e dialetti della Lombardia. Lessico comparato, Mondadori, Milano 2003.