Ligurian language

Ligurian or Genoese (lìgure or zeneize) is a Romance language of the Gallo-Romance branch spoken in the Liguria region in northwestern Italy and in two communes in the Italian island of Sardinia as well as in parts of Alpes-Maritimes and Corsica in southeastern France, and in Monaco.

Ligurian / Genoese
lìgure, zeneize/zeneise
Pronunciation	ˈliɡyre, zeˈnejze
Native to	Italy, Monaco, France
Region	Italy  • Liguria  • Southern Piedmont  • Southwestern Lombardy  • Western Emilia-Romagna  • Southwestern Sardinia France  • Southeastern Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur  • Southern Corsica
Native speakers	500,000 (2002)
Language family	Indo-European Italic Romance Western Gallo-Romance Gallo-Italic Ligurian / Genoese
Early forms	Old Latin Classical Latin Vulgar Latin
Dialects	Genoese Monégasque Intemelio Brigasc
Language codes
ISO 639-3	lij
Glottolog	ligu1248
Linguasphere	51-AAA-oh & 51-AAA-og

Ligurian belongs to the Gallo-Italic languages group within the Gallo-Romance branch and therefore differs significantly from standard Italian, which is spoken south of the La Spezia-Rimini language border; the same applies to the other northern Italian languages. They include Piedmontese, Lombard, Emilian and Romagnol.

Ligurian has many dialects, the most widespread of which is Genoese, spoken in Genoa. Another dialect of Ligurian, is Monegasque, which is spoken as a first language by the people of Monaco.

Status

The Ligurian language, like many minority languages, is an endangered language which is disappearing more and more in recent years and may be threatened with extinction.

Only around 500,000 out of the 2,000,000 Ligurians, speak Ligurian, who are mostly older people. Because the Ligurian language is rarely passed on to the younger generations, fewer younger people speak it. That is why like the other minority languages, it is slowly being replaced by standard Italian or standard French.

Ligurian does not enjoy an official status in Italy. Hence, it is not protected by law.

Ligurian also does not enjoy an official status in France.

In Monaco, where it is known as Monégasque, it is not an official language, but it enjoys an official status and is taught in schools, where it is compulsory.

Dialects

Dialects of the Ligurian language are:

• Bonifacino (bunifazzin, in Bonifacio, Corsica, France)
• Brigasc (brigašc, in La Brigue, Alpes-Maritimes, France and Briga Alta, Liguria, Italy)
• †Figoun (in Provence, France)
• Genoese (zeneize or zeneise, main Ligurian dialect, spoken in Genoa, Liguria, Italy), see below
• †Genoese of Gibraltar (lìgure de Gibiltæra in Gibraltar)
• †Genoese of Tabarca (ligüre de Néùva Tabòrka, in Tabarca, Valencia, Spain)
• †Genoese of Portoria (zeneize pörtoriàn, in Genoa, Liguria, Italy)
• Intemelio (in Sanremo -sanremàscu- and Ventimiglia -ventemigliusu-, Liguria, Italy)
• Monégasque (munegascu, in Monaco)
• Novi dialect, part of Oltregiogo Ligurian (nuvàize, north of Genoa, mainly in Val Borbera and Novi Ligure, Piedmont, Italy)
• Royasc (ruiascu, in Upper Roya Valley, between Liguria, Italy and Alpes-Maritimes, France)
• Savonese (savuneise, in Savona, Liguria, Italy)
• Spezzino (spezin, in La Spezia and its province, Liguria, Italy)
• Tabarchino (tabarkin, in Calasetta and Carloforte, Sardinia, Italy)
• Tendasc (tendašc, in Tende, Alpes-Maritimes, France)

The † sign means that this dialect is extinct, meaning it has no speakers.

Genoese dialect

Genoese (locally called zeneize or zeneise), is the Ligurian dialect spoken in Genoa, the capital of Liguria. It is the main Ligurian dialect. There are two ways to spell it: A Compagna (from Genoa) and O Castello (from Chiavari).

One famous Genoese folk song is "Ma se ghe penso". It was written in 1925.

Other websites

  Wikisource has original text related to this article: Ligurian language wikisource

• Associazione O Castello (in Italian and Ligurian)
• Académia Ligùstica do Brénno (in Ligurian)
• "Official Orthography and Alphabet" proposed by the Académia Ligùstica do Brénno (in Ligurian)
• GENOVÉS.com.ar (English version) – Ligurian language & culture, literature, photos and resources to learn Ligurian (in English)
• Ligurian basic lexicon at the Global Lexicostatistical Database Archived 2020-06-01 at the Wayback Machine
• The Firefox browser in Ligurian
• The Opera browser in Ligurian