{"id":13855,"date":"2017-04-18T12:47:52","date_gmt":"2017-04-18T10:47:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/?p=13855"},"modified":"2017-04-18T12:50:51","modified_gmt":"2017-04-18T10:50:51","slug":"parliamo-romanesco","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/parliamo-romanesco\/","title":{"rendered":"Parliamo Romanesco!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last week I wrote an article based on the poem La Margherita<\/a><\/strong><\/span> (The Daisy) by the Italian writer Trilussa. The poem is written in the musical Romanesco dialect which was Trilussa’s preferred means of expressing himself.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Roma, Piazza della Repubblica di sera. Photo CC by Pasgabriele.<\/em><\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

If you have a reasonable grounding in the Italian language, Romanesco isn’t too difficult to read. You just need to be able to recognise its basic traits. Let’s take another look at the poem and focus on the Romanesco elements. I’ve highlighted these in purple<\/span>, and given explanations below, including a general overview of the dialect’s basic characteristics. <\/span><\/p>\n

La Margherita – The Daisy<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Una bella Margherita
\nche fioriva in mezzo a un prato
\nfu acciaccata da un serpente,
\nda un serpente avvelenato.
\n\u2014 Se sapessi \u2014 disse er <\/span><\/strong>fiore \u2014
\ntutto er <\/span><\/strong>male che me <\/span><\/strong>fai!
\nE er <\/span><\/strong>dolore che me <\/span><\/strong>dai
\nquanta gente lo risente!
\nCertamente nu’<\/strong><\/span> lo sai!
\nOgni donna innammorata<\/strong><\/span>,
\nche v\u00f4 legge<\/strong><\/span> la fortuna,
\nner vedemme m’ariccoje
\npe’ decide da le foje<\/span><\/strong>,
\nche me <\/strong><\/span>strappa una per una,
\ns’\u00e8 infelice o fortunata:
\ne v\u00f4 vede<\/strong><\/span> se l’amore
\nse <\/strong><\/span>conserva sempre eguale,
\ne me <\/strong><\/span>chiede se l’amante
\nje v\u00f4<\/span><\/strong> bene o je v\u00f4<\/span><\/strong> male…
\nIo, pe’ falla<\/span><\/strong> pi\u00f9 felice,
\npe’ levalla da le<\/span><\/strong> pene,
\nfo der<\/span><\/strong> tutto che la foja<\/strong><\/span>
\nche je<\/span><\/strong> dice “Me v\u00f4<\/strong><\/span> bene”
\nsia quell’urtima<\/span><\/strong> che sfoja<\/span><\/strong>.
\nDove c’\u00e8 la Margherita
\nc’\u00e8 er bon<\/span> core<\/strong><\/span> e la speranza,
\nc’\u00e8 la fede, c’\u00e8 l’amore
\nch’\u00e8 er<\/strong> <\/span>pi\u00f9 bello<\/span> de la<\/strong><\/span> vita… \u2014
\nOgni fiore a ‘ste <\/span><\/strong>parole
\nrispettoso la guard\u00f2,
\ne perfino er <\/strong><\/span>Girasole
\npiant\u00f2 er <\/strong><\/span>sole e s’inchin\u00f2<\/span><\/td>\n		A beautiful Daisy
\nflowering in a meadow
\nwas crushed by a snake,
\nby a poisonous snake.
\n“If you only knew – said the flower –
\nall the harm you do to me!
\nThe pain you give me
\nand how many people will be affected by it!
\nCertainly you don’t know!
\nEvery woman in love,
\nwho wants to read her fortune,
\npicks me when she sees me
\nso as to decide from my petals,
\nwhich she pulls one by one,
\nwhether she’s unhappy or lucky:
\nand wants to see if love
\nremains unchanged,
\nand she asks me if her lover
\nloves her or hates her \u2026
\nI, to make her happier,
\nto take away her pain,
\ndo all I can to ensure that the petal
\nwhich says “He loves me”
\nis the last one she pulls.
\nWhere the Daisy is
\nthere’s kindness and hope,
\nthere’s faith, there’s love
\nwhich is the best of life … ”
\nEvery flower at these words
\nlooked at her with respect,
\nand even the Sunflower
\nturned from the sun and bowed down. <\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

—-<\/span><\/p>\n

The Basics of Romanesco<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Romanesco has a very specific tonality that distinguish it from the other dialects of central Italy. Here’s a brief guide to the main characteristics of ‘er Romano de Roma<\/strong>‘ (the Roman from Rome) as the Romans say.<\/span><\/p>\n

Two main traits of this dialect are the transformation of the consonant ‘l<\/strong>‘ into an ‘r<\/strong>‘, and of the vowel ‘i<\/strong>‘ into an ‘e<\/strong>‘. The Italian definite article ‘il<\/strong>‘ (the) perfectly illustrates this, becoming ‘er<\/strong>‘ in Romanesco.<\/p>\n

Another specific characteristic of Romanesco is the way in which words tend to be truncated, particularly the ‘-re<\/strong>‘ endings in infinitives such as leggere<\/strong> (to read) which becomes legge<\/strong>, and vedere<\/strong> (to see) which becomes vede<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

In certain cases the Romans add an extra consonant, such as the double ‘m’ in the word innammorata<\/strong> below.<\/p>\n

Finally, the sound ‘gli<\/strong>‘ becomes ‘je<\/strong>‘ (pronounced ye<\/em> as in ‘ye<\/em>s’)<\/p>\n

Vocabulary<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

er<\/span> = il<\/strong> (the)<\/p>\n

me<\/span> = mi<\/strong> (me)<\/p>\n

nu’<\/span> = non<\/strong> (not)<\/p>\n

innammorata<\/span> = innamorata<\/strong> (in love, n.b. the double ‘m’ in Romanesco<\/em>)<\/p>\n

v\u00f4 legge<\/span> = vuole leggere <\/strong>(wants to read)<\/p>\n

ner vedemme m’ariccoje\/pe’ decide da le foje<\/span>= nel vedermi mi raccoglie per decidere dalle foglie<\/strong> (picks me when she sees me
\nso as to decide from my petals<\/span>)<\/p>\n

v\u00f4<\/span> vede<\/span> = vuole vedere<\/strong> (wants to see)<\/p>\n

se<\/span> = si<\/strong> (itself)<\/p>\n

se l’amante <\/span>je v\u00f4<\/span><\/span> bene o je v\u00f4<\/span> male = se l’amante<\/span> gli vuole bene o gli vuole male<\/strong> (if her lover loves her or hates her \u2026<\/span> technically, this should be ‘le vuole bene<\/strong>‘ ‘he loves her’ instead of ‘gli vuole bene<\/strong>‘ ‘he loves him’. This is another typical characteristic of the dialect<\/em>).<\/p>\n

pe’ falla<\/span> = per farla<\/strong> (to make her)<\/p>\n

pe’<\/span> levalla da le<\/span> pene = per levarla dalle pene<\/strong> (to take away her pain)<\/p>\n

fo der<\/span> tutto che la foja<\/span> = faccio di tutto che la foglia<\/strong> (do all I can to ensure that the petal<\/span>)<\/p>\n

che je <\/span>dice “Me v\u00f4<\/span> bene” = che le dice “Mi vuole bene”<\/strong> (which says to her<\/em> “He loves me”<\/span>)<\/p>\n

urtima<\/span> = ultima<\/strong> (last)<\/p>\n

sfoja<\/span> = sfoglia<\/strong> (to pull the leaves off, literally: ‘unleaf’<\/em>)<\/p>\n

er bon core<\/span> = il buon cuore<\/strong> (kindness, literally: ‘the good heart’<\/em>)<\/p>\n

er<\/span> <\/span>pi\u00f9 bello<\/span> de la<\/span> vita = il pi\u00f9 bello della vita<\/strong> (the best of life<\/span>)<\/p>\n

‘ste<\/span> = queste<\/strong> (these)<\/p>\n

Let’s finish with a Roman proverb: L\u2019amore nunn’\u00e8 bbello si nun’\u00e8 litigarello<\/strong> = in Italian: l’amore non \u00e8 bello se non \u00e8 un po’ litigioso<\/strong> (love is not beautiful unless it’s a bit argumentative).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

Last week I wrote an article based on the poem La Margherita (The Daisy) by the Italian writer Trilussa. The poem is written in the musical Romanesco dialect which was Trilussa’s preferred means of expressing himself. If you have a reasonable grounding in the Italian language, Romanesco isn’t too difficult to read. You just need…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":13866,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[619],"tags":[59093,474241],"class_list":["post-13855","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-italian-language","tag-italian-dialect","tag-romanesco-dialect"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t