Piedmontese, an Endangered Language

Perspectives Gianni Davico Piedmontese, Column an endangered language According to research by IRES (an independent in this case it is usually marked with a grave accent, as in tèila — toil) or what is called mesmuta (literally “half mute,” indi- public research institute), Piedmontese — the lan- cated with the dieresis, as in ghërsin — breadstick). In the latter guage of Piedmont, a region in the northwestern case, the sound, though it varies from region to region, is similar area of Italy — is spoken or at least well under- to the vowel in the English the; A ■ Next to the normal o, there is also the eu like in the Eng- stood by over two million people, while another lish girl (example: reusa — rose); million people can understand it at least a bit. As ■ Next to the normal u (marked o for historical reasons), normal for a minority language, the people who there is also the u (like in French, for example, cun-a — cradle); read and write it are fewer. There isn’t a pre- ■ The faucal or velar n-, a consonant that doesn’t exist in Italian. Example: lun-a — moon. cise number, but my guess is a fi gure of around In general, Piedmontese is quite similar to French. This is 100,000 people. These are actually huge numbers, because, as already mentioned, it is a western neo-Latin lan- placing it in the fi rst spots in regional languages guage, which makes it quite different from Italian, an eastern in Italy per number of speakers. It has also to be neo-Latin language. An important point regarding the future of this language: it noted that, depending on defi nitions, Italy has is quite commonly accepted in linguistics that of the roughly from 30 to 300 different languages spoken today. 6,000 languages existing in the world today, half or more of these will fall out of use — without sustained conservation The Piedmontese language derives obviously from Latin, as a efforts — by the end of the century. Clearly, Piedmontese is western neo-Latin language, with later additions of words taken among these endangered languages despite the numbers of its from French, Provençal and German. It has been used in written casual users. So, what are governments, associations and com- form at least from the twelfth century. The fi rst evidence of mon people doing regarding this matter? the language we have is called Sermon Subalpin, today in the On the legislative level, there is a new regional law (dated Biblioteca Nazionale Universitaria of Turin, and over the last April 7, 2009) called Tutela, valorizzazione e promozione del four centuries Piedmontese has been written more or less in patrimonio linguistico del Piemonte (Protection, enhance- the same manner. This means that when a Piedmontese reads a ment and promotion of the linguistic heritage of Piedmont) text written 400 years ago, she or he can understand it without that contributes to protect Piedmontese, giving up to 5,000 much diffi culty. euros to each village that will put Piedmontese toponymy It is important to point out that Piedmontese is a language and in the streets, for example. This is an important step for the not a dialect for at least three reasons. First of all, the phonetics, recognition of Piedmontese on a general level. Also, many morphology and lexicon are suffi ciently differentiated with respect associations organize courses and events to enhance the beau- to the romance reference idioms. Second, it has a koiné, that is, a ties of this culture. The main one is the Ca dë Studi Piemontèis common language overarching the various dialects spoken in the (Center for Piedmontese Studies, www.studipiemontesi.it). region. Lastly, it possesses a huge literature of many genres — nov- els, theater, poetry, magazines and offi cial documents. The spelling of the language is quite similar to Italian, with small Gianni Davico founded the Italian translation agency Tesi & testi but meaningful differences. Here are a few revealing examples: in 1995. In 2005 he published L’industria della traduzione (The ■ The e can be closed or open (like in the English word that; Translation Industry), a book on the translation market in Italy. 26 | MultiLingual December 2009 [email protected] 26-27 Per Davico #108.indd 26 11/4/09 9:43:34 AM Column Barba Tòni and real Piedmontese In order to better understand the structures Piedmontese, this would have been a feminine of Piedmontese, along with the philosophy noun (le paròle), but as happens most of all of the only way to truly keep it and other in the Piedmontese spoken in vast regions of languages like it alive, let’s examine a piece Piedmont, the feminine plural article is not of poetry. The author Barba Tòni (1921–1999) used, substituted by the masculine one (ël, has written one of the best poems, diffi cult contracted in ‘l when the previous word ends and easy at the same time, in our language. with a vowel). The poem is diffi cult because of the use of As previously mentioned, Tòni was a master some quite refi ned nouns, some of them of his craft. We can fi nd an example in the nonexistent in Piedmontese but borrowed following line: from Latin, Provençal, French and who knows Vòle ‘d giòle, sgajòle dë ‘l viòle a baticòle which other languages. Tòni was indeed where the exact signifi cance of the words a master at playing with words. The title (“Flocks of pilot lights, shouts of joy piggy- itself, Ël Pì-a-mont-tèis, it is a pun between backing grannies”) is not so important, the Piemontèis (Piedmontese) and Pì a mont tèis importance being the assonances and the (more at tense mountain), with reference to rhythm of words. Piedmont lies “at the foot of the the fact that Piedmont etymologically means mountains” of northwestern Italy. “at the foot of the mountains.” But this is Për mostrejlo a coj-lì ch’a l’han ël gran’ maleur also an easy poem for native speakers to ëd pa savilo, ahi Dé, argalejne ‘l boneur. Here is a crucial concept to be pointed comprehend because it can be read with the To teach it to the unfortunates who sadly out: the idea that to understand a language heart more than with the mind. It is a laud do not know it, oh God, a gift of good luck. and a culture fully you have to read all kind of love for a mother tongue or, better yet, we of documents, from the bus ticket to a letter may say a “father tongue.” A venta scrivlo, òh già, e pì da-bin ch’as peul, of condolence, from children’s schoolwork to a scòla dl’arsigneul, un reul d’an pare an fi eul, the most epic poems. Ël piemontèis a venta dissionari a la man, sacrelo con la rima, parlelo. Che meisin-a. Mej che la revalenta. sima dla gòj, la prima. A venta ‘dcò subielo: ti canta e mi i subij, Piedmontese has to be It has to be written, oh yes, as best you can, d’àutri an compagneran, ciulucrìe e ciusij. spoken. What fi ne medicine. Better than a It also has to be whistled: you sing and I cure-all. learning from the nightingale, an aura of father to son, whistle, Here a very interesting feature of this holding a dictionary, consecrating it with others will accompany us, birdsong and language has to be noted. The personal rhyme, whispers. pronoun (a in this case) indeed must come a peak of joy, the fi rst. before the verb: a venta = you have to. Another good idea: if you believe in A venta bisodielo: something, begin today to do something ‘Dcò parlelo ‘n pioranda, sangiutenda j’orassion ant la lenga dj’ëstrachin, dij about it. Then if your idea is sound, other (da ràir), crasà, people will naturally join you. con l’ës-ciandor ancreusa dij sant, lus ëd a valo tant ëd pì, an modelo, arnovelo, j’euj ciàir dë-dsà për ël dë-dlà. A venta ‘dcò balelo, tërlelo: tërla e bala Even speaking it crying, hiccupping It has to be whispered: chè l’angel at argala l’ala, al cel at trambala. (sometimes), prayers in the tongue of the poor, the It has to be danced, skipping with joy: with the profound splendor of the saints, oppressed, skip and dance light in bright eyes. are worth much more, they model us, until the angel offers you a wing that takes renewing us you to heaven. An giuganda a ‘l paròle here for the beyond. Playing with words It doesn’t matter which language you A venta leslo, e tant, dai paco ai dissionari speak. The important thing is to speak it Here the masculine gender of the noun It has to be read, a lot, from country folk to the best you can and as often as you can in paròle (words) has to be noted. In standard dictionaries order to let it prosper and survive. But the real responsibility is with the people. The Piedmontese The natural complement to inclusion is music. Piedmont has language will survive only if Piedmontese people speak to their a large number of groups playing folk music and a long children — and, as a matter of fact, to their neighbors — in their tradition of songs, the main one being La bela bergera (The natural language, every time this is possible. What is indeed, in Beautiful Shepherdess). A good performance can be found at extreme essence, a language? A language is a bridge, a means to www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFwV3SsU9Bg.

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