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Friulian (friulano in Italian, Furlan in Friulian) is a Romance language belonging to the Rhaetian languages family, spoken in the north-east of Italy (Friuli-Venezia Giulia province) by about 600,000 people. It is also called Eastern Ladin, since it has the same roots of Ladin, although in the centuries it has developed in different ways under the influence of surrounding cultures (German, Italian, Venetian, Slovenian). It has a good cultural background (there were poems and works in Friulian already in 1300, while first documents appear in 11th century) and in the 20th century there was a revival of the language, which continues so far.
The area of diffusion
Today, Friulian language is spoken in the Province of Udine, in the vast majority of the Province of Pordenone, in more than half of the Province of Gorizia and in the eastern part of the Province of Venice.
In the world
Friuli was until the Sixties an area of deep poverty, so lots of people left their homeland to search a job; the main destinations were Canada, Australia, Argentina, Brazil, the United States,
South Africa. Therefore in this countries there are still today associations of Friulian immigrants (their name is Fogolâr furlan), that try to protect the traditions and the language of their origins.
Famous poets and writers
- Ermes di Colloredo (XVI century)
- Pietro Zorutti (XIX century)
- Caterina Percoto (XIX century)
- Pier Paolo Pasolini (XX century)
Phonology
Long vowels are typical of the Friulian language and this has a great influence also on Friulian pronunciation of Italian. The double consonants (ll, rr, and so on), used a lot in Italian, are nearly absent in Friulian
Grammar
- The plural has usually an -s termination
- Friulian verb infinitives have one of four endings, either -â, -ê, -i, -î
Actual condition of Friulian
Road signs in Friulian and Italian Nowadays, Friulian is officially recognized in Italy with the law 482/1999, that protects linguistic minorities; therefore teaching of Friulian was introduced in many primary schools. An online newspaper is active, and there are also a couple of musical groups who use Friulian for their songs, as well as some theatrical companies. In about 40% of the communities in the Province of Udine road signs are both in Friulian and Italian. There is an official translation of the Holy Bible too. A famous beer brand used Friulian for one of the latest advertisements.
The problem of standardisation
A problem, that Friulian shares with other minorities, is to create a standard language and a unique writing system. Usually, Friulian of central areas of Friuli is considered standard, but not everybody agrees.
The variants of Friulian
We can basically find fuor dialects of Friulian, which could be all understood by a native speaker. They are usually distinguished by the last letter of sostantives, following this scheme:
- Friulian of the central Friuli, around Udine
- words ending is -e
- it is used in official documents and generally considered standard
- Friulian of Carnia (northern Friuli)
- several variants, language can vary with the vallies; words ending could be either -o, -e, or -a
- Friulian of Bassa Friulana and isontino (south-eastern Friuli)
- words ending is -a
- some features in the pronounce got lost, this dialect is closer to Italian
- words ending is -a
- deep influence of Venetian dialects
For example, the word home becomes cjase in Central Friuli, cjasa or cjaso in other areas.
Writing systems
Actually there are two main writing systems:
- the most common is that approved by the Province of Udine and used in official documents; it uses the same letters of the French language, so standard latin alphabet plus the cedille (ç) and vowels such as â ê î ô û. This system is the most natural one.
- an alternative system is called Faggin-Nazzi from the names of the scholars by whom it was proposed; it is quite used, but its more difficult for a beginner, because it is composed by letters such as č which are typical of Slavic languages, but comes pretty unnatural for Italian speakers; this in order to reflect more accurately the particular features of Friulian phonology.
Some examples
Mandi, jo o mi clami Jacum!
- Today the weather is really hot!
Vuê al è propite cjalt!
- I have really to go now, see you
O scugni propite lâ cumò, ariviodisi
- I cant go out with you tonight, I have to study
No pues vignî fûr usgnot, o ai di studiâ
External links
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