Lombard/Phonology of the Milanese dialect in the New Lombard Orthography

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Phonology of Lombard language

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Orthography and pronunciation rulesMilanese dialect - Laghee dialect - Bergamasque dialect - Pavese dialect

Grapheme Phonology Examples Translation into English
a /a/ articioch artichoke
b /b/

/p/ at the end of the word

basell

goeub

step

hunchbacked

c /t͡ʃ/ before "e" or "i" or at the end of the word after consonant

/k/ before "a", "o", "oeu", "u" or any consonant

ciciarada

can

chat

dog

ch /k/ before e, i or at the end of the word chichera coffee cup
cc /t͡ʃ/ at the end of the word
rarely in the middle of the word for reasons of derivation
tucc
mucc
(derived from mucc)
all
accumulate


d /d/

/t/ at the end of the word
/ː/ at the end of past participles...or...
/i/ at the end of past pasrticiples in some dialectal variant outside Milan

dent

mond
mangiad

tooth

world
ate

e /e/
/ɛ/

Ø for feminine plurals
-er is not pronounced at the end of the word for verbs in the infinitive of the third conjugation

temp

insema
montagne
vesser

time

together
mountains
to be

f /f/ fioeul son
g /d͡ʒ/ before "e" or "i"

/ɡ/ before "a", "o", "oeu", "u" or any consonant

gesa

magon

church

dejection

gh /ɡ/ before e or "i"

/k/ at the end of the word

ghell cent
gg /d͡ʒ/ at the end of the word;
rarely in the middle of the word for reasons of derivation
oeugg
veggia
(derivato da vegg)
eye
old (feminine)

gn /ɲ/ tegnì to keep, to hold
h ∅ (attention: it is used at the beginning of all forms of the verb “havé”) gh'hoo have
i /i/
/j/ after consonant, before vowel

∅ between "sc", "sg", "s'c", "s'g", "g", "c" and vowel
/:/ at the end of plurals that end with "l" in the singular after "oeu"

intregh
aria
ciamà
fioeui
entire, whole
air
to call, to ask
sons
j /ʎ/ between "i" and "a", not always between "e" e "a"

/j/ in the other cases

famija

tajà

family

to cut

l /l/

∅ at the end of the word after oeu

lassà

pedrioeul

to leave,to let

funnel

ll /ll/ in the middle of the word

/l/ even at the end of the word (the double "l" is written at the end of the word when the accent is on the last syllable and the vowel that precedes is short)

balla

basell

ball

step

m /m/

before bound consonant, nasalization of the preceding vowel

mur

comprà

wall

to buy

n /n/

At the end of the word or before bound consonant, nasalization of the preceding vowel (can [kãː]))
(except for the pronominal particle "en" in the form of a suffix and after "e")
/ŋ/ before the velar consonants /k/ e /ɡ/

nivola

mont

parlamen
conca

cloud

mount
to tell me about it
hollow

nn /n/ - at the end of the word
rarely in the middle of the word for reasons of derivation
dann
anniversari
(derived from "ann")
damage
anniversary


o /ɔ/

/u/, /o/

comod

tosa

comfortable

girl

oeu /ø/ poeu then
p /p/ pas peace
q /k/ before u + vowel quatà to cover
r /r/

(/ː/ sometimes at the end of the word after "e" (senter [senˈteː])
-er is not pronounced at the end of the word for the verbs of the third conjugation in the infinitive form

ceregh

senter

vesser

cleric

path

to be

rr /r/ - short preceeding vowel carr (vs. car) wagon
s /s/ at the beginnig of the world

/z/ intravocalic or at the end of the word

setàss

nas

to sit

nose

sh [1] /ʃ/ marshalles Marshallese
ss /s/ pess fish
sc /t͡ʃ/ - before e, i scernì to choose
s'c /ʃt͡ʃ/ mes'c to mix
sg /d͡ʒ/ before e or i often and in any case always at the beginning of the word

/ʒ/ before e or i rarely in the middle of the world
/d͡ʒ/ o /ʒ/ depending on the word at the end of the word (more often /ʒ/)

sgiornada

resgiora
lesg / lavesg

daytime

landlady
legge / small puddle

s'g /ʃd͡ʒ/ s'giafon slap
t /t/ tollin crown cork
u /y/

/w/ dopo <q>

cuna

aqua

crib

water

v /v/

∅ intravocalic between "a" and "o", "o" and "a", "o" and "e" or "u" and "i"

vun

tavol
Mantova
ruvina

one
table
Mantova
ruin
z /s/ or /z/ depending on the word at the beginning of the word or after consonant

/z/ intravocalic or at the end of the word

zuca

mez
ghez

pumpkin

means, half, middle
green lizard

zz /s/ mazzà to kill
  1. (possible only in words derived from English for reasons of etymology)