Tarantino dialect

Tarantino (; Tarantino: dialètte tarandíne [taranˈdiːnə]; Italian: dialetto tarantino, pronounced [taranˈtiːno]), spoken in the southeastern Italian region of Apulia, is a transitional language, most of whose speakers live in the Apulian city of Taranto. The dialect is also spoken by a few Italian immigrants in the United States, especially in California.

History

The Tarantino dialect traces its origins into ancient times, when the territory was dominated by the Messapii.

The colonisation by the Greeks founded Taranto not only as the capital of Magna Graecia but as a centre of poetry and theatre. The Greeks had left considerable influence on Tarantino, both in vocabulary and morpho-syntax, and a very peculiar accent that scholars corresponded to Doric. These influences are still found in many Tarantino words of Greek origin.

Subsequently, the city of Taranto became a Roman city, thus introducing much Vulgar Latin vocabulary.

During the Byzantine and Lombard periods, Tarantino acquired diphthongization: the short o changed to ue and the short e changed to ie; moreover, its vocabulary was further enriched with new words.

With the arrival of the Normans in 1071 and the Angevins all the way through to 1400, the dialect lost much of its Eastern influences and was influenced by the French and Gallo-Italic elements. In 1502, the city went under Catalan-Aragonese rule.

In 1801 the city was once again under the dominion of French troops, who left their mark with their Franco-Provençal language.

Taranto has long been linked to the Kingdom of Naples, which would explain some words in common with the Neapolitan dialect.

Samples

The Tarantino versions are compared to the Italian ones.

See also

• Salentino dialect
• Neapolitan language

Notes

References