Lombard/Orthography and pronunciation rules

Orthographies overview Since Lombard language consists of different varieties with a separate literary tradition, it has no spoken standard. In times past, different local spellings were used, especially for the main dialects. A first attempt to give a written standard to the Lombard language was that of the singer-songwriter Lissander Brasca in 2014 with his orthography “Scriver Lombard” (literally “Lombard Writing”). This was followed in 2020, with the establishment of the Academia Bonvesin de la Riva, by a new pan-Lombard writing system, the New Lombard Orthography. They range from local orthographies, specifically designed for dialects but often inconsistent with each other, to the Scriver Lombard (Write Lombard) which claims to write the same word in the same way in all dialectal variants, and it will then be the reader to read it differently based on his dialect , the New Lombard Orthography is a bit of a middle ground, which at the same time guarantees spelling comprehension and consistency between the different variants of the language. In this book the New Lombard Orthography will be used. For the classical Milanese orthography refer instead to the book on Insubric language (also known as Western Lombard), which precisely it is the western branch of the Lombard language, with the Milanese dialect in the historical centre. + Pan-Lombard orthographiesName of the orthography Year when the orthography was born Importanceof the orthographyin the past(before 1950)the importance of the orthography depends on the usage Importanceof the orthography today " New Lombard Orthography"2020 - " Scriver Lombard"2014 - " Modern Orthography "1979 - + Local orthographies Name of the orthography dialects written with this orthography Year when the orthography was bornImportanceof the orthographyin the past(before 1950)Importanceof the orthography today 30px "classical Milanese orthography " 1630 20px "Ticinese orthography"1907 20px "unified Insubric orthography "2003 - 20px "Oriental insubric orthography"??? - 20px "Duchy orthoghraphy"??? 20px " orthography of Brescia "??? - 20px "Classical Cremish orthography"??? 20px "Lodesan orthography"??????? 20px "Classical Cremonese orthographyby Angelo Peri"??? Note = fundamental importance = medium importance = rarely used New Lombard Orthography The New Lombard Orthography (NOL) is an orthography derived from the graphic tradition of various Lombard variants and designed for the entirety of Lombard language Features NOL was born as a polynomial orthography, i.e. with the possibility of writing in the same way for everyone, with the specific aim of involving all local variants and at the same time maintaining and showing local differences. This is achieved thanks to the flexibility of the handwriting: in fact, it is possible to write in a more standard or local way depending on the need of the person using it. The spelling choices were made on the basis of past spelling proposals and the local spellings of Lombard, to try to make them more consistent with each other and not stray too far from traditional orthographies. Spelling choices Grapheme Phonology (pronounce IPA) ExamplesTranslation into English a /a/, /ɐ/ articioch artichoke b /b/ Desonorization at the end of the word basell step c /t͡ʃ/ before e, i or at the end of the word after consonant /k/ before a, o, oeu, u or any consonant ciciarada canchat dog ch /k/ before e, i and at the end of the word chicheracoffee cup cc /t͡ʃ/ at the end of the word (also after consonant for the eastern Lombard plurals of words that end in "t" or "d" in the singular) rarely in the middle of the word for reasons of derivation tucclombarcclaccera(derived from lacc)allLombardsmilkwoman d /d/, /ð/ ∅ intervocalic in some word in some variant dent radistooth root e /e/, /ɛ/Ø only for western feminine plurals excluding Lodesan dialect temptime, weather f /f/, /θ/ fioeulson g /d͡ʒ/ before e, i /g/ before a, o, oeu, u or any consonant gesa magonchurch dejection gh /g/ before e, i and a t the end of the word ghellcent gg /d͡ʒ/ alla fine della parola rarely in the middle of the word for reasons of derivation oeugg veggia(derived from vegg)eyeold (feminine)gn/ɲ/tegnìto keep, to hold h ∅ gh'hoo have i /i/ after consonant before vowel ∅ tra sc, sg, s'c, s'g, g, c e vocale∅ in some dialects in plurals ending in <l> after "oeu" intreghariaciamàfioeuientire, wholeairto call, to asksons j /j/, /ʎ/ always intravocalic (∅ tra "e" e "a" in the last syllable, in some eastern variant) tajà famejato cut family l /l/, /r/ - long preceding vowel lassàto leave, to let ll/l/ - short preceding vowel ballaball m /m/ murwall n /n/ at the end of the word, in some variant nasalization of the vowel (can [kã]) or not-pronounce of the final "n". (can [ka]) o /ŋ/. /ŋ/ before a velar consonant /k/ e /g/. (∅ in some variant before consonant) nigola montcloud mountainnn/n/ (always) – at the end of the wordrarely in the middle of the word for reasons of derivationdannanniversari(derived from "ann")damage o /o/, /ɔ/, /u/ tosagirloeu/ø/, /œ/poeuthen, later p /p/ paspeace q /k/ before u + vowel quatàto cover r /r/ May not be pronounced at the end of the word (senter [sen'te:], mal [ma:]).∅ intravocalic in the suffixes of the verb “vesser” (to be) in the Legnano dialect; for example "sara" - long preceding vowel ferafierarr/r/ - short preceding vowelcarr (vs. car)wagon s /s/ at the beginning of the word Aspiration /h/ in some variant /z/ intravocalic or at the end of the word (before consonant /ʃ/ o /ʒ/ depending on the consonant, in some variant) setàss nas stria (/ʃ/) | basla (/ʒ/)sit nose witch|bowl sh ( possible only in words derived from English for reasons of etymology) /ʃ/ marshalles Marshallese ss /s/ fusswaspast perfect subjunctive of the verb “vesser” third person singular in Milanese dialectsc/ʃ/, /s/, /t͡ʃ/ - before e, i scernìchooses'c/ʃt͡ʃ/mes'ciàto mixsg/d͡ʒ/, /z/, /ʒ/ - before e, isgiornadadaytimes'g/ʃd͡ʒ/s'giafonslapt/t/tolincrown corku/y/ /w/ after <q> e between vowel and consonant cuna aqua | Europacrib water | Europev/v/ (∅intravocalic, in some variant)vun tavolone tablez/t͡s/, /s/ at the beginning of the word and after a consonant /d͡z/, /z/ intravocalic or at the end of the word zuca mez ghez pumpkin means, half, middle green lizardzz/t͡s/, /s/ mazzàto kill Compound words For compound words, a dash is used between the two words that make up the compound: (per exemple: mazza-pioeugg, ...). Verbs Infinitive +conjugation1°2°3°4°desinence -à -é -er -ìpronounce[a(r)][ɛ(r)], [e(:)(r)], [i(r)][Ø], [er][i(r)] There are some verbs that have an irregular ending in the infinitive and that do not follow the rules just explained (for example: prodù, toeu, …). The infinitive verbs of the 1st, 2nd and 4th conjugation used with an enclitic maintain the graphic accent, instead they lose the -r in the 3rd. Even verbs with an irregular ending in the infinitive have the same ending (and sometimes also the graphic accent). conjugation1°2°3°4°irregularexamples compràll vedéll scrivell sentìllprodùll, toeull, ... Participle The participle suffix is orthographically fixed: +conjugation1°2°3°4°desinence -ad -ud -ud/-id -ud/-idpronounce[a:], [at], [ai][y:], [yt][y:], [yt] / [i:], [it][y:], [yt] / [i:], [it]exampleparladvedudscrivud/idsentud/id For monosyllabic verbs of the first conjugation and the verb vesser there is the possibility of two endings: forms1° form2° formdesinence -ad -aitpronounce[a:], [at][ai(t)]examplesstadstait Imperative The monosyllabic forms of the imperative of the second person singular are always written with the graphic accent (for example: fà, dà, stà, scrìv, bév, ...). Note Local pronunciations and Wiktionary As can be seen, the pronunciation of the New Lombard orthography is not unique for all the letters; the reader should know the correct pronunciation a priori, it may be useful to consult the Wiktionary. However, some more information can be obtained if one knows in which dialect the text was written, see for example: Phonology of the New Lombard Orthography in Milanese dialect Phonology of the New Lombard Orthography in Bergamasque dialect Phonology of the New Lombard Orthography in Laghee dialect In the year 2021 a Lombard-language wikictionary was born, available on the site https://lmo.wiktionary.org/ which contains: definitions in Lombard; ways of writing the same word in different dialects and orthographies; etymology of the word; pronunciation, as far as pronunciation is concerned, it has also been specially designed to provide the pronunciation IPA of the same word in different dialects. This will be discussed in more detail in the module about dictionaries References New Lombard Orthography - History External links Official web site