Genoese dialect

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Genoese (Zeneize) is the variety of the ligurian language spoken in Genoa, the capital city of Liguria (Italy) .

The Ligurian is listed by Ethnologue as a language in its own right (not to be confused with the ancient Ligurian language). Along with the languages of Lombardy, Piedmont, and surrounding regions, it is of Gallo-Italic Romance derivation.

In terms of differences from Standard Italian, Genoese exhibits some similarities with French. The language is dying out, being still widely spoken by the elderly population only.

Starting from the 13th century, there has been a continuous literary production in Genoese; this was not sufficient, however, to see the development of a regularized spelling.

Genoese phonology includes but very few likenesses with French, for instance heavily nasalized vowels before nasal consonants (i.e. in VN(C) sequences), which also occur when Genoese speakers speak Standard Italian. There used to be an alveolar approximant (English-like) /ɹ/ opposed to an alveolar trill /r/, (e.g. using the 18th century genoese spelling: caro ['kaːɹu] "dear" vs. carro ['kaːru] "cart"), but the former is to be considered completely extinct within the city precinct, whereas it may still survive in peripheral areas of the Liguria region (Calizzano , Sassello etc. , for audio samples check this web page ) . By far the most widespread type of /r/ today is the alveolar tap [ɾ] (identical to unstressed Standard Italian /r/). Accents include those to the east of Genoa (Nervi, Quinto, Quarto), to the west (Voltri, Prà, Pegli, Sestri), and in the central Polcevera Valley and Bisagno.

1 Tongue twisters
2 Expressions
3 Phonology
4 External links

[edit] Tongue twisters

So asæ s'a sâ a sä asæ pe sâ a säsissa = I don't have a clue whether the salt is going to be enough to salt the sausage
Sciâ scïe scignua, sciando sciâ xœa in scî scï = Ski, madam, skying you fly on skis
Ao mœ nœo gh'è nœe nae nœe; a ciû nœa de nœe nae nœe a n'œ anâ = At the new pier there are nine new ships; the newest of the nine new ships doesn't want to go)
Gi'angiai g'han gi'oggi gi'uegge gi'unge cume gi'atri? = Do angels have eyes, ears, and (finger)nails like everyone else? [variant of the Cogorno comune].

[edit] Expressions

Son zeneize, rizo ræo, strenzo i denti e parlo ciæo = "I'm Genoese, I seldom laugh, I grind my teeth, and I say what I mean" (lit. "speak clearly)

The child complains: Ho famme = I'm hungry. The mother answers: Grattite e zenugge e fatte e lasagne = Scratch your knees and make lasagna
Pòsci-to ëse alûghetòu
Chi veû vive da bon cristian, da-i begghin o stagghe lôntan = If you want to live as a good Christian, stay away from those who pretend to be devout; a traditional warning to beware of fanatics and hypocrites.
L'è megio e braghe sguaræ 'nt'o cû, che-o cû sguaròu int'e braghe. = It is better to have trousers that are torn in the ass, than to have ass that is torn in trousers.