Bolognese (native name: bulgnaiṡ ) is a dialect of Emilian spoken in the most part in the city of Bologna and its hinterland (except east of the Sillaro stream), but also in the district of Castelfranco Emilia in the province of Modena, and in the towns of Sambuca Pistoiese (Tuscany), Cento, Sant'Agostino, and Poggio Renatico (province of Ferrara).

Terminology

Although the term dialect is commonly used in reference to all minority languages native to Italy, most of them are not mutually intelligible with Italian. Bolognese is no exception and so is an Emilian dialect, not an Italian one.

Classification

Bolognese is a dialect of Emilian, one of the Gallo-Italic languages of the Romance family. It shares many common features with other Gallo-Italic languages such as Piedmontese, Lombard, Venetian, Romagnol and Ligurian, and it is closer to them than to Italian.

History

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Middle Ages

Bolognese evolved a group of Gallo-Romance languages sharing features with neighbouring northern Italian languages. It developed more distinctly into the Middle Ages as a dialect of the Emilian language. During the High Middle Ages, a number of troubadours composing lyrical poetry were active in Bologna, especially during the 13th century. That served to raise cultural awareness to the possibility of composing songs, poems and other works in vernacular languages. One of the first references to Bolognese as a distinct language was made by Dante Alighieri, in his De vulgari eloquentia, written in the beginning of the 14th century.

Modern

During the boom of interest in linguistic diversity during the 19th century, a number of efforts were made to create vocabularies, grammars, and collections of axioms, folk tales, and literature. The first dictionary was compiled in 1901 by Gaspare Ungarelli, who also attempted to create a writing system using the Italian alphabet. A period of stigmatisation followed in the 20th century, where children were punished for speaking the dialect in school, as it was considered to be a sign of poor education and etiquette. In 1964, Alberto Menarini proposed an alphabet with many of the same letters still used. In recent times, Bolognese has enjoyed a period of rebirth with some words, such as umarell, derived from Bolognese umarèl, becoming popular beyond Bologna itself.

Phonology

Here are some prominent features of Bolognese phonology: The phonemes of Bolognese are realized phonetically very differently depending on the area in or around Bologna. Much free variation occurs in words from complex phonological processes.

Consonants

Bolognese has 25 consonant phonemes:

Vowels

Bolognese dialect has 2 diphthongs, namely /ai/ and /ʌu/.

Phonotactics

The general syllable structure of Bolognese syllables is: Thus, Bolognese words can have up to three consonants in the initial group (e.g. ṡżlèr, ṡgrinzlîr, ṡbléṡṡg, spzèr, strén, scrîver, sfrunblè, ftléṅna, ftièri, friulàn, ptrugnàn, pscarî, pznén) and two consonants in the final group (e.g. gnanc, rimôrs, månnd, cunfinànt, pèrt) (impermissible consonant combination will result in anaptyxis). Bolognese only allows 2 diphthongs namely /ai/ and /ʌu/ (e.g. cåurs, intåurn, ataiṡ, raiga). Orthographically, three consonants can exist simultaneously on coda (dåntr, cåntr, nòstr, sänpr as syncopic forms of dånter, cånter, nòster, sänper). However, it must be noted that it arises from -er only when the next word starts with a vowel and in actuality it's pronounced /-ŋ.(C)r(V)./

Orthography

Vowel

Consonant

(1) Followed by a, o, u (2) Followed by i, e (3) End of a syllable (coda) or followed by consonant

Grammar

Noun

Bolognese distinguishes two genders, masculine and feminine, and two numbers, single and plural. In most nouns, the suffix -a is added to the masculine word to indicate femininity: defizänt, defizänta; påndg, påndga. The formation of Bolognese plurals is complicated. Unlike Italian, inflection usually happens not by adding suffixes but rather by apophony: However, when words that end with -èl or -ôl are pluralised, the -èl or -ôl is changed to -î and -û respectively: martèl, "hammer", martî, "hammers"; fiôl, "son", fiû "sons". There are some exceptions to that rule, such as nurmèl, "normal", which is unchanged when made plural, and some others, such as sàntel, "godfather", which are unchanged when made plural because words are not truncated, that is, with a stress that does not fall on è or ô. Masculine words that end in a consonant are unchanged when made plural and so the number can be identified only by the preceding article: al râm, "the branch", i râm, "the branches". In addition, pluralised feminine words that are not constructed from a masculine word do not have an -a: la rôda, "the wheel", äl rôd, "the wheels". The plurals of feminine words constructed from masculine words are formed by using an -i instead of an -a: biånnda, "blonde", biånndi, "blondes"; ziéṅna "aunt", ziéṅni, "aunts". Exception: bån, bôna

Masculine

No observable patterns exist for ô or ò. Sometimes stressed ô or ò turns into û on plural forms for example: al ciôd - i ciûd and al òc' - i ûc'. Other times it is invariable for example: al sôld - i sôld and l òmen - i òmen.

Feminine

Alteration

Alteration is the formation of words from others that are not changed in their fundamental features; instead, the way in which the concept is considered changes. The alterations can be added together to form chains: The alteration suffix is always stressed. Therefore, metaphony occurs: Often alterations change the gender of words:

Adjectives

Adjective become the feminine form by adding -a to masculine, therefore they form plural similar to feminine nouns derived from masculine nouns. Adjective Order:

1. Some adjective (such as the one pertaining to orders) must go before the noun:
2. Other adjectives can go before or after the noun in Italian, while in Bolognese it is preferable to put them after: Exception for vèg = strano
3. Some adjectives are often placed before the noun as in Italian because by putting them after the noun, a slight variation in meaning would be obtained: These adjectives placed before the noun actually very often have a figurative meaning. “Grand” more often expresses quality than size. Brótt does not necessarily express aesthetic ugliness but a generic pejorative “-accio” (“-âz” in Bolognese). Puvràtt does not express little wealth, but an unhappy condition.
4. To express dimensions (both large and small), in Bolognese, it is preferable to use the augmentative –ån, -åna and the diminutive én, éna, àtt, àtta, etc. Therefore, to say “a small house” would be “una caṡlatta” and certainly not “una cén cà”! Even figurative expressions (a little help, a little stylist) should be translated with a few turns of phrase: (un pôc d’ajût, un stiléssta in fâza)

Superlativo

Superlativo Relativo article + pió + noun + ed Special forms meglio / migliore peggio / peggiore

Article

Orthographic rules Combination with preposition Orthographic rules:

Partitive

The plural of the articles un, una, does not exist. Instead, the partitive is used, consisting of the articulated forms of the preposition ed, or the adjective socuànt/socuànti (alcuni/alcune) “some”: In negative sentences, the partitive is used without the article (ed + noun), as in French. In Bolognese, the partitive is used more often than in Italian:

Pronoun

Personal Pronoun

If the conjugated verb starts with unstressed a, the verbal pronoun a(i) is dropped. For example mé arîv, nuèter arivän Formal pronouns are used to replace 2nd person pronoun to indicate politeness or courtesy. Formal pronouns in Bolognese include ló for masculine and lî for feminine.

Demonstrative Pronoun and Adjective

Note: ste and sta elides before words starting with vowels. For example: ''A quest'ora. Che ora è? = Da st’åura. Ch’åur’é?'' Orthographic rules Demonstrative pronouns or adjective are almost always followed by adverbs indicating degrees of distance:

1. (qué) near the speaker
2. (lé) further away from the speaker, often near the listener
3. (là) even further away from the speaker and the listener

Locative

Positive: ai é Negative: an i é

Partitive

(i)n = ne

Verb

To form the interrogative form, euphonic vowels on the verb must be removed including on -en endings. For 3rd and 1st person singular, final unstressed a must also be removed. For example: a dâg > dâghia, a mâgnen > mâgn-ni, l avêva > avêvel

Metaphony

Metaphony happens when the penultimate vowel is stressed in the present indicative and present subjunctive mood. No observable pattern exists. For the type 3 Conjugation, the stressing of the infinitive takes place not on the final syllable. Therefore, the cases of when metaphony happen changes. Example vàdder (a vadd, a vdän). Metaphony never happens on the 4th conjugation (-îr) since the stress never falls on the stem.

Auxiliary

Gerund: esànd Past participle: stè Imperative: séppet (2nd.sg), saggna (1st.pl), siêdi (2nd.pl) Gerund: avànd Past participle: avó Imperative: èvet (2nd.sg), avaggna (1st.pl), avêdi (2nd.pl)

Regular

Gerund: mandànd Past participle: mandè Imperative: manda (2nd.sg), mandän (1st.pl), mandè (2nd.pl) Gerund: parànd Past participle: pèrs Imperative: pèr (2nd.sg), parän (1st.pl), parè (2nd.pl) Gerund: adliżànd Past participle: adlît Imperative: adlîż (2nd.sg), adliżän (1st.pl), adliżî (2nd.pl) Gerund: finànd Past participle: finé Imperative: finéss (2nd.sg), finän (1st.pl), finî (2nd.pl) Cognugaziån dal vêrb magnèr Cognugaziån interugatîva dal vêrb magnèr

Irregular

Special Cases

Reflexive

To construct a reflexive verb, the pronoun es is suffixed into the verb. For example, the reflexive of guardèr is guardères or guardèrs. However, for verbs ending in -er, it's replaced by -res. For example: scrîver – scrîvres (scriversi) and vàdder – vàddres (vedersi). Negation

Imperative

Imperative form in Bolognese only exists for 1st person singular and 2nd person. Imperative formation: For other pronouns, the subjunctive present forms are used. Negative Imperative For 2nd person singular, there are 3 forms:

1. brîṡa + infinitive
2. brîṡa stèr a + infinitive
3. an + infinitive + brîṡa For other pronouns, the subjunctive is used instead:

Past Participle

Past participle is formed using the stem of the verb with unstressed vowel (for example on regular conjugation for 1st person plural). In Bolognese, ONLY the masculine singular form is used for all declension since the past participle of the verbs end in a stressed vowel, the form does not change in the feminine nor plural. However, in the countryside, for example in western and northern province, the feminine and plural form can still be found. The Italian past participle suffix -ato, -uto, -ito generally correspond to the Bolognese -è, -ó, -é respectively. Notable examples include the verb vgnîr (venire) which has the past participle form of vgnó (venuto) and èser (essere) with stè (stato). Irregular forms of verbs fèr, parair, tôr, córrer, adlîżer, dezîder, dîr with past participle such as fât, pèrs, tôlt, cåurs, adlît, dezîṡ, détt forms the feminine form by suffixing -a at the end of the word becoming fâta, pèrsa, tôlta, cåursa, adlîta, dezîṡa, détta and suffixing -i for feminine plural.

Adverb

Modo

bän (bene), cómm (come), acsé (così), mèl (male), giósst (giusto), mé (meglio), insàmm (insieme), pîz (peggio)

Tempo

incû (oggi), ajîr (ieri), dman (domani), åura (ora), adès (adesso), dåpp (dopo), bèle (già), mâi (mai), sänper (sempre), spass (spesso), sóbbit (subito), allåura (allora), anc (ancora), ed nôv (di nuovo)

Luogo

là (là), lé (lì), qué (qui), dóvv (dove), såtta (sotto), żå (giù), såuvra (sopra), fòra (fuori), dänter (dentro), foravî / fòra d vî (altrove), dnanz (davanti), drî (dietro), luntàn (lontano)

Quantità

tant (tanto), pôc (poco), magâra (molto), gnént (niente), manc (meno), pió (più), quant (quanto), quèṡi (quasi), almànc (almeno)

Interrogativi

quand? (quando?), quant? (quanto?), cum? (come?), csa? (cosa?), quèl? (quale?), parché? (perché?), dóvv? (dove?)

Affermazione, Negazione, e Dubbio

chisà (chissà), fôrsi (forse), bèle / żà (già), se (se), an (non), nå / nécca (no), sé / ói (sì)

Numeral

Note the difference between article and pronoun for (ón/un), no distinction exist for other numerals: For numbers higher than 10, the ordinal is formed by adding quall di before the cardinal numeral. For example: Eleven (ónng’) has the ordinal form of Eleventh (quall di ónng’) Higher numbers: Construction: s-santa + sî = s-santsî (without space) setzänt + tränta + nôv = setzänt-träntanôv dåu mélla dòn

Syntax

a n t al dâg brîṡa = non te lo do ch'an t véggna = che tu non venga

Negation

Bolognese dialect, similar to French, uses double negation usually with the particle (a)n before the verb and the word brîṡa after the verb. For verbs beginning with a consonant: Other negation particles include:

Dative construction

The real subject is a complement of the term -> verb always conjugated in the 3rd person singular, even if the real subject is plural:

Soggetto Fittizio

When in a sentence the subject of the 3rd person is moved after the verb, the soggetto fittizio ai is always used in the singular. (subject + verb) mî mèder l’arîva = (verb + subject) ai arîva mî mèder Example: Used with verb of motion: Used with intransitive verbs or used as such when introducing a new subject: It is not used if the subject has already been introduced in the conversation: Example 1: Example 2: It is also used with atmospheric verbs: Using ai with negation: Using ai in interrogative sentence (no interrogative pronouns necessary): Example 1: Example 2:

Adverb of Place "i"

Equivalent to Italian ci. In the western area (mountains and plains, e.g. Lizzano in Belvedere, Castello di Serravalle, San Giovanni in Persiceto) and northern area (e.g. Pieve di Cento, Galliera) “g” is used instead of "i" in continuity with Modenese and Ferrarese [a g vâg, t ig vè, al g và, etc.]

Prepositions

Adjectives not directly connected to a noun or to the verb èser are governed by the preposition ed (possibly in the partitive forms). When the verb piacere or provare governs an infinitive verb, the preposition ed is needed: When verbs of perception (vàdder to see, sénter to feel) follow an infinitive verb, the preposition "a" is needed: dire (conjugated) or parlare (conjugated) + a = dîr (conjugated) or dscårrer (conjugated) + con stare (conjugated) + a = stèr (conjugated) + da (stèr + a carry a different meaning in Bolognese) dietro + a = drî + da (drî + a carry a different meaning in Bolognese) The preposition su = só especially in figurative sense or in vatta especially in material sense.

Special Cases

ecco + noun (declension) = (vít)tal (declension) + adverb of distance (qué, lé, là) + noun (declension) dovere (conjugated) + verb

1. avair (conjugated) + da + verb
2. tgnîr (conjugated) + verb
3. dative pronoun + tuchèr (conjugated) + (e)d + verb (experiencing an external event) stare (conjugated) + verb (gerund)
4. èser (conjugated) + drî a + verb (infinitive)
5. èser (conjugated) + drî che + verb (indicative)
6. stare (conjugated) + per + verb (infinitive) = èser (conjugated) + drî par + verb (infinitive) nessuno = inción
7. as adjective: inción takes a plural form inción (masculine) or inciónni (feminine).
8. as pronoun after a verb: inción takes a plural form.
9. as pronoun preceding a verb: inción takes a singular form. Verbal pronouns are not required. Anc, gnanc = anche / ancora, neanche / non ancora
10. Gnanc replaces anc on negative sentences.
11. anc and gnanc becomes anca and gnanca in front of personal pronouns with the exception of nuèter and vuèter. dove = dóvv or duv
12. Before verbs = duv
13. Elsewhere = dóvv come = cómm or cum
14. Before verbs = cum
15. Elsewhere = cómm pronoun + verb + da solo = pronoun + verb + da par + pronoun The conjunction es indicates contemporaneity or coordination between two actions. It is used between two verbs conjugated with the same subject, instead of e, with the meaning of "and moreover". The adverb mò is used as an exhortative particle, in an urging manner.

Example