Vastese

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Vastese
Lu Vastarol
Lu Uâʃtaréule
RegionItaly
Language codes
ISO 639-2nap
ISO 639-3nap (Neapolitan)
A book of Vastese popular phrases

Vastese (Vastese: Lu Uâʃtaréule or Lu indialett di lu Uašt, meaning "the dialect of Vasto") is a Romance language spoken in the town of Vasto. It is considered its own language based upon the mutual unintelligibility[citation needed] of it and Italian.[1][unreliable source?] It is not spoken by any other town, even the nearby town of Cupello, which is only 9 kilometres (5.6 mi) away.[2]

History[]

Vastese's endonym — the name its speakers use for the language — is Lu Uâʃtaréule. This term is known to have originated in the sixth century AD.[1]

Demography[]

Today Vastese is spoken monolingually only by residents of Vasto in their 80s and 90s, bilingually by many residents in their 70s, and many middle-aged residents are passive speakers, while most younger residents have no comprehension.[1]

The Vasto Club in Australia is a club organized for migrants to Australia from Vasto.[2]

Phonology[]

Vastese has more vowel distinctions than Tuscan, Italy's official and standard language. It has vowels that are not in Italian, such as the open front unrounded vowel /æ/. Vastese uses an open back rounded vowel /ɒ/ for the start of the word uâʃtə. It also uses the mid central vowel /ə/. Vastese also uses several diphthongs not used in italian such as /aʊ/, /eʊ/, and /aɪ/.[1]

The influence of /i/, /u/, /Ī/, or /Ū/ upon /æ/, turns it into either /e/ or /je/.[3]

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b c d "Vastesi Language - Vastesi in the World". Vastesi in the World. Retrieved 20 November 2016.
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b Iuliano, Susanna (2010). Vite italiane : Italian lives in Western Australia. Crawley, W.A.: UWA Pub. p. 133. ISBN 9781921401503.
  3. ^ Torres-Tamarit, Francesc; van Oostendorp, Marc; Linke, Kathrin (2016). Approaches to Metaphony in the Languages of Italy. Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. p. 151. ISBN 9783110366310.

See also[]



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