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Venetish[8][9] (łéngoa vèneta or vèneto), is a Romanish tung spoken as a first tung by Venetish folk, almost four thousand-thousand folk in the northeast of Italy,[12] mostly in the Veneto landship of Italy, where most of the five thousand-thousand indwellers can understand it, centered in and around Venice, which carries the prestige undertung. It is sometimes spoken and often well understood outside Veneto, in Trentino, Friuli, Venezia Giulia, Istria, and some towns of Slovenland and Dalmatia (Croatia) by a surviving autochthonous Venetish befolking, and Brazil, Argentina, and Mexico by Venetish folk in the yondseedings.

Although referred to as an Italish undertung (Venetish dialeto, Italish dialetto) even by its speakers, Venetish is a separate tung with many local varieties. Its precise place within the Romanish tung family remains controversial.

Like all Italish undertungs in the Romanish tung family, Venetish is descended from Folkleeden and influenced by the Italish tung. Venetish is attested as a written tung in the 13th yearhundred. There are also influences and parallelisms with Greekish and Albanish in words such as pirón (fork), inpiràr (to fork), caréga (chair) and fanèla (T-shirt).

The tung enjoyed substantial prestige in the days of the Venetish Ledewealth, when it attained the status of a bridge tung in the Wendle Sea. Notable Venetish-tung writers include the playwrights Ruzante (1502–1542), Carlo Goldoni (1707–1793) and Carlo Gozzi (1720–1806). Following the old Italish theatre tradition (Commedia dell'Arte), they used Venetish in their comedies as the speech of the common folk. They are ranked among the foremost Italish theatrical writers of all time, and plays by Goldoni and Gozzi are still performed today all over the world.

Other notable works in Venetish are the oversettings of the Iliad by Casanova (1725–1798) and Francesco Boaretti, the oversetting of the Divine Comedy (1875) by Giuseppe Cappelli and the poems of Biagio Marin (1891–1985). Notable too is a handwrit titled Dialogue of Cecco di Ronchitti of Brugine about the New Star attributed to Girolamo Spinelli, perhaps with some supervision by Galileo Galilei for witshippy details.[13]

Several Venetish-Italish wordbooks are available in print and online, including those by Boerio,[14] Contarini,[15] Nazari[16] and Piccio.[17]

As a bookly tung, Venetish was overshadowed by Dante's Tuscanish "bytung" (the best known writers of the Renaissance, such as Petrarch, Boccaccio and Machiavelli, were Tuscanish and wrote in the Tuscanish tung) and tungs of Frankland like Occitanish and the Oïl tungs.

Even before the demise of the Ledewealth, Venetish gradually ceased to be used for administrative purposes in favor of the Tuscanish-derived Italish tung that had been proposed and used as a vehicle for a common Italish couth, strongly supported by eminent Venetish humanists and poets, from Pietro Bembo (1470–1547), a crucial figure in the growth of the Italish tung itself, to Ugo Foscolo (1778–1827).

Virtually all latterday Venetish speakers are twitongued with Italish. The present situation raises questions about the tung's medium term survival. Despite recent steps to recognize it, Venetish remains far below the threshold of inter-generational transfer with younger generations preferring mean Italish in many situations. The dilemma is further complicated by the ongoing large-scale arrival of incomers, who only speak or learn mean Italish.

Venetish spread to other continents as a result of mass migration from the Veneto landship between 1870 and 1905, and 1945 and 1960. This itself was a by-product of the 1866 Italish annexation and heavy taxations (tassa sul macinato/mill tax), because the latter underthrew the poorest sectors of the befolking to the vagaries of a newly integrated, developing national industrial economy centered on north-western Italy. Tens of thousands of starving peasants and craftsmen were thrown off their lands or out of their workshops, forced to seek better fortune overseas.

Venetish migrants created large Venetish-speaking communities in Argentina, Brazil (see Talian), and Mexico (see Chipilo Venetish undertung), where the tung is still spoken today. Internal migrations under the Bundlerike regime also deported many Venetish speakers to other landships of Italy, like southern Lazio.

Currently, some firms have chosen to use the Venetish tung in advertising as a famous beer did some years ago[clarification needed] (Xe foresto solo el nome, "only the name is foreign").[18] In other cases advertisements in Veneto are given a "Venetish tang" by adding a Venetish word to mean Italish: for instance an airline used the deedword xe (Xe sempre più grande, "it is always bigger") into an Italish sentence (the correct Venetish being el xe senpre più grando)[19] to advertise new flights from Marco Polo Airport[citation needed].

In 2007, Venetish was given recognition by the Regional Council of Veneto with regional law no. 8 of 13 April 2007 "Protection, enhancement and promotion of the linguistic and cultural heritage of Veneto".[20] Though the law does not explicitly grant Venetish any official status, it provides for Venetish as ware of protection and enhancement, as an essential component of the cultural, social, historical and civil identity of Veneto.

Geographic distribution[]

Venetish is spoken mainly in the Italish landships of Veneto and Friuli-Venezia Giulia and in both Slovenland and Croatia (Istria, Dalmatia and the Kvarner Gulf).[citation needed] Smaller communities are found in Lombardy (Mantua), Trentino, Emilia-Romagna (Rimini and Forlì), Sardiny (Arborea, Terralba, Fertilia), Lazio (Pontine Marshes), and formerly in Romania (Tulcea).

It is also spoken in North and South America by the descendants of Italish incomers. Notable examples of this are Argentina and Brazil, particularly the stead of São Paulo and the Talian undertung spoken in the Brazilian states of Espírito Santo, São Paulo, Paraná, Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina.

In Mexico, the Chipilo Venetish undertung is spoken in the state of Puebla and the town of Chipilo. The town was settled by incomers from the Veneto landship, and some of their descendants have preserved the tung to this day. Folk from Chipilo have gone on to make satellite colonies in Mexico, especially in the states of Guanajuato, Querétaro, and State of Mexico. Venetish has also survived in the state of Veracruz, where other Italish migrants have settled from the late 1800s. The folk of Chipilo preserve their landspeech and call it chipileño, and it has been preserved as a variant since the 19th yearhundred. The variant of Venetish spoken by the Cipiƚàn (Chipileños) is northern Trevisàn-Feltrìn-Belumàt.

In 2009, the Brazilian stead of Serafina Corrêa, in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, gave Talian a shared official status alongside Portuguese.[21][22] Until the middle of the 20th yearhundred, Venetish was also spoken on the Greekish Island of Corfu, which had long been under the rule of the Ledewealth of Venice. Moreover, Venetish had been adopted by a large proportion of the befolking of Cephalonia, one of the Ionian Islands, because the island was part of the Stato da Màr for almost three yearhundreds.[23]

Classification[]

Venetish is a Romanish tung and thus descends from Folkleeden. According to Tagliavini, it is one of the Italo-Dalmatish tungs and most closely related to Istriot on the one hand and Tuscanish–Italish on the other.[24] Some writers include it among the Gallo-Italish tungs,[25] but by most writers, it is treated as separate from such Northern Italish group.[26] Typologically, Venetish has little in common with the Gallo-Italish tungs of northwestern Italy, but shows some affinity to nearby Istriot.

Although the language region is surrounded by Gallo-Italic tungs, Venetish does not share traits with these immediate neighbors. Scholars stress Venetish's characteristic lack of Gallo-Italish traits (agallicità)[27] or traits found further afield in Gallo-Romanish tungs (e.g. Occitanish, French, Franco-Provençal)[28] or the Rhaeto-Romanish tungs (e.g. Friulish, Romansh). Namely, Venetish did not undergo clipple rounding or nasalization, roofen /kt/ and /ks/, or develop rising twithedins /ei/ and /ou/, and it preserved final syllables, whereas, as in Italish, Venetish twithedining occurs in historically open syllables.

Latterday Venetish is not a close relative of the extinct Venetic tung spoken in Veneto before Romish expansion, although both are Indo-Europish, and Venetic may have been an Italic tung, like Leeden, the forebearers of Venetish and most other tungs of Italy. The earlier Venetic folk gave their name to the stead and region, which is why the latterday tung has a similar name.

Land variants[]

The main regional kinds and underkinds of the Venetish tung outside of Venice are:

  • Middle (Padua, Vicenza, Polesine), with about 1,500,000 speakers
  • Eastern/Coastal (Trieste, Grado, Istria, Fiume)
  • Western (Verona, Trentino)
  • Northern Sinistra Piave of the Landshare of Treviso, most of the Landshare of Pordenone)
  • North-Middle Destra Piave of the Landshare of Treviso, (Belluno, comprising Feltre, Agordo, Cadore, and Zoldo Alto)

All these variants are evenways intelligible, with at least 92% in common among the most diverging ones (Middle and Western). Latterday speakers reportedly can still understand Venetish texts from the 14th yearhundred to some extent.

Other noteworthy variants are:

  • the kind spoken in Chioggia
  • the kind spoken in the Pontine Marshes
  • the kind spoken in Dalmatia
  • the Talian undertung of Antônio Prado, Entre Rios, Santa Catarina and Toledo, Paraná, among other southern Brazilian steads
  • the Chipilo Venetish undertung (Spanish: Chipileño) of Chipilo, Mexico
  • Peripheral creole tungs along the southern border (nearly extinct)

Speechcraft[]

A street sign (nizioléto) in Venice using Venetish calle, as opposed to the Italish via

Lasa pur dir (Let them speak), an inscription on the Venetish House in Piran, southwestern Slovenland

Like most Romanish tungs, Venetish has mostly abandoned the Leeden case layout, in favor of prepositions and a more rigid underthrow–deedword–ware sentence structure. It has thus become more analytic, if not quite as much as English. Venetish also has the Romanish lithwords, both definite (derived from the Leeden atewingly forename ille) and indefinite (derived from the rimeword unus).

Venetish also kept the Leeden begrips of kin (werely and wifely) and atell (onefold and morefold). Unlike the Gallo-Iberish tungs, which form morefolds by adding -s, Venetish forms morefolds in a manner similar to mean Italish. Namewords and mark-words can be modified by suffixes that indicate several qualities such as size, endearment, deprecation, etc. Mark-words (usually postfixed) and lithwords are abyed to agree with the nameword in kin and atell, but it is important to mention that the suffix might be deleted because the lithword is the part that suggests the atell. However, Italish is influencing Venetish speech:

Venetish Veneto undertungs Italish English
el gato graso el gato graso il gatto grasso the fat (male) cat
la gata grasa ƚa gata grasa la gatta grassa the fat (female) cat
i gati grasi i gati grasi i gatti grassi the fat (male) cats
le gate grase ƚe gate grase le gatte grasse the fat (female) cats

In recent studies on Venetish variants in Veneto, there has been a tendency to write the so-called "evanescent L" as ⟨ƚ⟩. While it may help novice speakers, Venetish was never written with this bookstaff. In this writ, this token is used only in Veneto undertungs of Venetish speech. It will suffice to know that in the Venetish tung the bookstaff L in word-initial and intervocalic positions usually becomes a "roof allomorph", and is barely outspoken.[29]

No inborn Venetic words seem to have survived in present Venetish, but there may be some traces left in the morphology, such as the morpheme -esto/asto/isto for the forthwitten dealnimmer, which can be found in Venetic inscriptions from about 500 BC:

  • Venetish: Mi a go fazesto ("I have done")
  • Venetish Italish: Mi a go fato
  • Mean Italish: Io ho fatto

Redundant underthrow bynames[]

A peculiarity of Venetish speechcraft is a "semi-analytical" verbal abying, with a compulsory "clitic underthrow byname" before the deedword in many sentences, "echoing" the underthrow as an ending or a weak byname. Independent/emphatic bynames (e.g. ti), on the contrary, are optional. The clitic underthrow byname (te, el/la, i/le) is used with the 2th and 3rd hoad onefold, and with the 3rd hoad morefold. This feature may have arisen as a compensation for the fact that the 2th- and 3rd-hoad abying for most deedwords, which are still distinct in Italish and many other Romanish tungs, are identical in Venetish.

Venetish Italish English
Mi a go Io ho I have
Ti te ga Tu hai You have
Venetish Italish English
Mi so Io sono I am
Ti xe Tu sei You are

The Piedmontese tung also has clitic underthrow bynames, but the rules are somewhat different. The function of clitics is particularly visible in long sentences, which do not always have clear intonational breaks to easily tell apart chyingly and biddingly shapes in sharp commands from exclamations with "shouted beckoningly mood". For instance, in Venetish the clitic el marks the beckoningly deedword and its werely onfoldly underthrow, otherwise there is a biddingly shape preceded by a chyingly shape. Although some speechcrafts regard these clitics as "redundant", they actually provide specific additional information as they mark atell and kin, thus providing atell-/kin- agreement between the underthrow(s) and the deedword, which does not necessarily show this information on its endings.

Askingly abying[]

Venetish also has a special askingly verbal abying used for direct questions, which also incorporates a redundant byname:

Venetish Veneto undertungs Italish English
Ti geristu sporco? (Ti) jèristu onto?

or (Ti) xèrito spazo?

(Tu) eri sporco? Were you dirty?
El can, gerilo sporco? El can jèreƚo onto?

or Jèreƚo onto el can ?

Il cane era sporco? Was the dog dirty?
Ti te gastu domandà? (Ti) te sito domandà? (Tu) ti sei domandato? Did you ask yourself?

Auxiliary deedwords[]

Reflexive tides use the auxiliary deedword avér ("to have"), as in English, Scandinavian, Spanish and Romanian; instead of èssar ("to be"), which would be normal in Italish. The forthwitten dealnimmer is invariable, unlike Italish:

Venetish Veneto undertungs Italish English
Ti ti te ga lavà (Ti) te te à/gà/ghè lavà (Tu) ti sei lavato You washed yourself
(Lori) i se ga desmissià (Lori) i se gà/à svejà (Loro) si sono svegliati They woke up

Continuing action[]

Another peculiarity of the tung is the use of the phrase eser drìo (literally, "to be behind") to indicate continuing action:

Venetish Veneto undertungs Italish English
Me pare, el xe drìo parlàr Mé pare 'l xe drìo(invià) parlàr Mio padre sta parlando My father is speaking

Another progressive form in some Venetish undertungs uses the construction essar là che (lit. "to be there that"):

  • Venetish undertung: Me pare 'l è là che 'l parla (lit. "My father he is there that he speaks").

The use of progressive tides is more pervasive than in Italish; e.g.

  • English: "He wouldn't have been speaking to you".
  • Venetish: No 'l saria miga sta drio parlarte a ti.

That construction does not occur in Italish: *Non sarebbe mica stato parlandoti is not syntactically valid.

Subordinate clauses[]

Subordinate clauses have double introduction ("whom that", "when that", "which that", "how that"), as in Old English:

Venetish Veneto undertungs Italish English
Mi so de chi che ti parli So de chi che te parli So di chi parli I know who you are talking about

As in other Romanish tungs, the undertheedingly mood is widely used in subordinate clauses.

Venetish Veneto undertungs Italish English
Mi credeva che 'l fusse ... Credéa/évo che 'l fusse ... Credevo che fosse ... I thought he was ...

Phonology[]

Withlides[]

Venetish withlide phonemes
Lips Between-

teeth

Toothly/

Behind-teeth

After

behind-teeth

Roof Back-roof
Nosely m n ɲ (ŋ)
Plosive unrearded p t k
rearded b d ɡ
Affricate unrearded (t͡s) t͡ʃ
rearded (d͡z) d͡ʒ
Rubclank unrearded f (θ) s
rearded v (ð) z
Approximant middle j (ɰ)
sided l
Trill r

Some undertungs of Venetish have certain sounds not present in Italish, such as the intoothly unrearded rubclank [θ], often spelled with ⟨ç⟩, ⟨z⟩, ⟨zh⟩, or ⟨ž⟩, and similar to English th in thing and thought. This sound occurs, for example, in çéna ("supper", also written zhena, žena), which is outspoken the same as Castilish Spanish cena (which has the same meaning). The unrearded intoothly rubclank occurs in Bellunese, north-Trevisan, and in some Middle Venetish rural areas around Padua, Vicenza and the mouth of the river Po.

Because the outspeech variant [θ] is more typical of older speakers and speakers living outside of major steads, it has come to be socially stigmatized, and most speakers now use [s] or [ts] instead of [θ]. In those bytungs with the outspeech [s], the sound has fallen together with ordinary ⟨s⟩, and so it is not uncommon to simply write ⟨s⟩ (or ⟨ss⟩ between clipples) instead of ⟨ç⟩ or ⟨zh⟩ (such as sena).

Similarly some undertungs of Venetish also have a rearded intoothly rubclank [ð], often written ⟨z⟩ (as in el pianze 'he cries'); but in most undertungs this sound is now outspoken either as [dz] (Italish rearded-Z), or more typically as [z] (Italish rearded-S, written ⟨x⟩, as in el pianxe); in a few undertungs the sound appears as [d] and may therefore be written instead with the bookstaff ⟨d⟩, as in el piande.

Some kinds of Venetish also undershed an ordinary [l] vs. a weakened or lenited ("evanescent") ⟨l⟩, which in some spellingcraftly norms is indicated with the bookstaff ⟨ƚ⟩;[30] in more conservative undertungs, however, both ⟨l⟩ and ⟨ƚ⟩ are merged as ordinary [l]. In those undertungs that have both types, the precise phonetic realization of ⟨ƚ⟩ depends both on its phonological environment and on the undertung of the speaker. Typical realizations in the land of Venice include a rearded back-roof approximant or glide [ɰ] (usually described as nearly like an "e" and so often spelled as ⟨e⟩), when ⟨ƚ⟩ is adjacent (only) to back clipples (⟨a o u⟩), vs. a null realization when ⟨ƚ⟩ is adjacent to a front clipple (⟨i e⟩). A trill withlide sound frequently becomes a flap sound [ɾ] when occurring intervocalically.

In bytungs further inland ⟨ƚ⟩ may be realized as a partially vocalised ⟨l⟩. Thus, for example, góndoƚa 'gondola' may sound like góndoea [ˈɡoŋdoɰa], góndola [ˈɡoŋdola], or góndoa [ˈɡoŋdoa]. In bytungs having a null realization of intervocalic ⟨ƚ⟩, although pairs of words such as scóƚa, "school" and scóa, "broom" are homophonous (both being outspoken [ˈskoa]), they are still undershed rightspellingwise.

Venetish, like Spanish, does not have the twin withlides characteristic of mean Italish, Tuscanish, Neapolitish and other tungs of southern Italy; thus Italish fette ("slices"), palla ("ball") and penna ("pen") match fétebaƚa, and péna in Venetish. The werely onfoldly nameword ending, corresponding to -o/-e in Italish, is often unsaid in Venetish after continuants, particularly in outborough kinds: Italish pieno ("full") matches Venetish pien, Italish altare to Venetish altar. The extent to which final clipples are deleted varies by landspeech: the middle–southern kinds delete clipples only after /n/, whereas the northern variety delete clipples also after toothly stops and velars; the eastern and western varieties are in between these two extremes.

The back-roof nose [ŋ] (the final sound in English "song") occurs frequently in Venetish. A word-final /n/ is always velarized, which is especially obvious in the outspeech of many local Venetish last names that end in ⟨n⟩, such as Marin [maˈɾiŋ] and Manin [maˈniŋ], as well as in common Venetish words such as man ([ˈmaŋ] "hand"), piron ([piˈɾoŋ] "fork"). Moreover, Venetish always uses [ŋ] in withlide clusters that begin with a nose, whereas Italish only uses [ŋ] before back-roof stops: e.g. [kaŋˈtaɾ] "to sing", [iŋˈvɛɾno] "winter", [ˈoŋzaɾ] "to anoint", [ɾaŋˈdʒaɾse] "to cope with".[31]

Speakers of Italish generally lack this sound and usually outtrade a dental [n] for final Venetish [ŋ], changing for example [maˈniŋ] to [maˈnin] and [maˈɾiŋ] to [maˈrin].

Clipples[]

The clipple sounds in Venetish are identical to the seven clipple sounds of mean Italish:

Front Middle Back
Close i u
Close-mid e o
Open-mid ɛ ɔ
Open a

Prosody[]

While written Venetish looks similar to Italish, it sounds very different, with a distinct lilting cadence, almost musical. Compared to Italish, in Venetishsyllabic rhythms are more evenly timed, accents are less marked, but on the other hand tonal modulation is much wider and melodic curves are more intricate. Stressed and unstressed syllables sound almost the same; there are no long clipples, and there is no withlide lengthening. Compare the Italish sentence "va laggiù con lui" [go there with him] (long-short-long-short-long syllables) with Venetish "va là zo co lu" (all short syllables).[32]

Sample etymological lexicon[]

As a direct descent of regional spoken Leeden, Venetish lexicon derives its vocabulary substantially from Leeden and (in more recent times) from Tuscanish, so that most of its words are sibwords of the corresponding words of Italish. Venetish includes however many words derived from other sources (such as Greekish, Gothic, and Theech), and has preserved some Leeden words not used to the same extent in Italish, resulting in many words that are not sibwords of their equivalent words in Italish, such as:

Venetish English Italish Venetish word origin
uncò, 'ncò, incò, ancò, ancùo, incoi today oggi from Leeden hunc + hodie
apotèca pharmacy farmacia from Ancient Greekish ἀποθήκη (apothḗkē)
trincàr to drink bere from Theech trinken "to drink"
armelìn apricot albicocca from Leeden armenīnus
astiàr to bore dare noia, seccare from Gothic 𐌷𐌰𐌹𐍆𐍃𐍄𐍃, haifsts meaning "contest"
bagìgi peanuts arachidi from Arabish habb-ajiz
becàr to be spicy hot essere piccante from Italish beccare, literally "to peck"
bìgolo spaghetti vermicello, spaghetti from Leeden (bom)byculus
bisàto, bisàta eel anguilla from Leeden bestia "wilder", compare also Italish biscia, a kind of snake
bìssa, bìsso snake serpente from Leeden bestia "wilder", compare also Ital. biscia, a kind of snake
bìsi peas piselli related to the Italish word
isarda, risardola lizard lucertola from Leeden lacertus, same origin as English lizard
trar via to throw tirare local sibword of Italish tirare
calìgo fog nebbia foschia from Leeden caligo
cantón corner/side angolo/parte from Leeden cantus
catàr find trovare from Leeden *adcaptare
caréga, trón chair sedia from Leeden cathedra and thronus (borrowings from Greekish)
ciao hello, goodbye ciao from Venetish s-ciao "thew", from Mid Eld Leeden sclavus
ciapàr to catch, to take prendere from Leeden capere
co when (non-interr.) quando from Leeden cum
copàr to kill uccidere from Old Italish accoppare, originally "to behead"
carpéta miniskirt minigonna compare English carpet
còtoƚa skirt sottana from Leeden cotta, "coat, dress"
fanèla T-shirt maglietta borrowing from Greekish
gòto drinking glass bicchiere from Leeden guttus, "cruet"
insìa exit uscita from Leeden in + exita
mi I io from Leeden me ("me", wrayingly case); Italish io is derived from the Leeden nemmeningly form ego
massa too much troppo from Greekish μᾶζα (mâza)
morsegàr, smorsegàr to bite mordere derverbal derivative, from Leeden morsus "bitten", compare Italish morsicare
mustaci moustaches baffi from Greekish μουστάκι (moustaki)
munìn, gato, gateo cat gatto perhaps onomatopoeic, from the sound of a cat's meow
meda big sheaf grosso covone from messemietere, compare English meadow
musso donkey asino from Leeden almutia "horses eye binders (cap)" (compare Provençal almussa, French aumusse)
nòtoƚa, notol, barbastrìo, signàpoƚa bat pipistrello derived from not "night" (compare Italish notte)
pantegàna rat ratto from Slovene podgana
pinciàr beat, cheat, sexual intercourse imbrogliare, superare in gara, amplesso from French pincer (compare English pinch)
pirón fork forchetta from Greekish πιρούνι (piroúni)
pisalet dandelion tarassaco from French pissenlit
plao far truant marinare scuola from Theech blau machen
pomo/pón apple mela from Leeden pomus
sbregàr to break, to shred strappare from Gothic 𐌱𐍂𐌹𐌺𐌰𐌽 (brikan), related to English to break and Theech brechen
schèi money denaro soldi from Theech Scheidemünze
saltapaiusc grasshopper cavalletta from salta "hop" + paiusc "grass" (Italish paglia)
sghiràt, schirata, skirata squirrel scoiattolo Related to Italish word, probably from Greekish σκίουρος (skíouros)
sgnapa spirit from grapes, brandy grappa acquavite from Theech Schnaps
sgorlàr, scorlàr to shake scuotere from Leeden 'ex + crollare'
sina rail rotaia from Theech Schiene
straco tired stanco from Lombard strak
strica line, streak, stroke, strip linea, striscia from the Or-Theedish root *strik, related to English streak, and stroke (of a pen). Example: Tirar na strica "to draw a line".
strucàr to press premere, schiacciare from Or-Theedish *þrukjaną ('to press, crowd') through the Gothic or Langobardic tung, related to Middle English thrucchen ("to push, rush"), Theech drücken ('to press'), Swedish trycka. Example: Struca un tasto / boton "Strike any key / Press any button".
supiàr, subiàr, sficiàr, sifolàr to whistle fischiare from Leeden sub + flare, compare French siffler
tòr su to pick up raccogliere from Leeden tollere
técia, téia, tegia pan pentola from Leeden tecula
tosàt(o) (toxato), fio lad, boy ragazzo from Italish tosare, "to cut someone's hair"
puto, putèƚo, puteƚeto, butèl lad, boy ragazzo from Leeden 'puer, putus'
matelot lad, boy ragazzo perhaps from French matelot, "sailor"
vaca cow mucca, vacca from Leeden vacca
s-ciop, s-ciòpo, s-ciopàr, s-ciopón gun fucile-scoppiare from Leeden scloppum (onomatopoeic)
troi track path sentiero from Leeden trahere, "to draw, pull", compare English track
zavariàr to worry preoccuparsi, vaneggiare from Leeden variare

Spelling systems[]

Traditional system[]

Venetish does not have an official writing system, but it is traditionally written using the Leeden script — sometimes with certain additional bookstaves or diacritics. The basis for some of these conventions can be traced to Old Venetish, while others are purely newfangled innovations.

Mid eld texts, written in Old Venetish, include the bookstaves ⟨x⟩, ⟨ç⟩ and ⟨z⟩ to represent sounds that do not exist or have a different distribution in Italish. Specifically:

  • The bookstaff ⟨x⟩ was often employed in words that nowadays have a rearded /z/-sound (compare English xylophone); for instance ⟨x⟩ appears in words such as raxonCroxecaxa ("reason", "(holy) Cross" and "house"). The precise phonetic value of ⟨x⟩ in Old Venetish texts remains unknown, however.
  • The bookstaff ⟨z⟩ often appeared in words that nowadays have a varying rearded outspeech ranging from /z/ to /dz/ or /ð/ or even to /d/; even in today's spelling zo "down" may represent any of /zo, dzo, ðo/ or even /do/, depending on the landspeech; similarly zovena "young woman" could be any of /ˈzovena/, /ˈdzovena/ or /ˈðovena/, and zero "zero" could be /ˈzɛro/, /ˈdzɛro/ or /ˈðɛro/.
  • Likewise, ⟨ç⟩ was written for an unrearded sound which now varies, depending on the undertung spoken, from /s/ to /ts/ to /θ/, as in for example dolçe "sweet", now /ˈdolse ~ ˈdoltse ~ ˈdolθe/, dolçeça "sweetness", now /dolˈsesa ~ dolˈtsetsa ~ dolˈθeθa/, or sperança "hope", now /speˈransa ~ speˈrantsa ~ speˈranθa/.

The usage of bookstaves in mid eld and early latterday texts was not, however, entirely consistent. In particular, as in other northern Italish tungs, the bookstaves ⟨z⟩ and ⟨ç⟩ were often used interchangeably for both rearded and unrearded sounds. Differences between earlier and latterday outspeech, divergences in outspeech within the latterday Venetish-speaking land, differing attitudes about how closely to model spelling on Italish norms, as well as personal preferences, some of which reflect sub-regional identities, have all hindered the adoption of a single unified spelling system.[33]

Nevertheless, in practice, most spelling conventions are the same as in Italish. In some early latterday texts bookstaff ⟨x⟩ becomes limited to word-initial position, as in xe ("is"), where its use was unavoidable because Italish spelling cannot represent /z/ there. In between clipples, the distinction between /s/ and /z/ was ordinarily indicated by doubled ⟨ss⟩ for the former and single ⟨s⟩ for the latter. For example, basa was used to represent /ˈbaza/ ("he/she kisses"), whereas bassa represented /ˈbasa/ ("low"). (Before withlides there is no contrast between /s/ and /z/, as in Italish, so a single ⟨s⟩ is always used in this circumstance, it being understood that the ⟨s⟩ will agree in voicing with the following withlide. For example, ⟨st⟩ represents only /st/, but ⟨sn⟩ represents /zn/.)

Traditionally the bookstaff ⟨z⟩ was ambiguous, having the same values as in Italish (both rearded and unrearded affricates /dz/ and /ts/). Nevertheless, in some books the two outspeeches are sometimes undershed (in between clipples at least) by using doubled ⟨zz⟩ to indicate /ts/ (or in some undertungs /θ/) but a single ⟨z⟩ for /dz/ (or /ð/, /d/).

In more recent practice the use of ⟨x⟩ to represent /z/, both in word-initial as well as in intervocalic contexts, has become increasingly common, but no entirely uniform convention has emerged for the representation of the rearded vs. unrearded affricates (or intoothly rubclanks), although a return to using ⟨ç⟩ and ⟨z⟩ remains an option under consideration.

Regarding the spelling of the clipple sounds, because in Venetish, as in Italish, there is no contrast between tide and lax clipples in unstressed syllables, the spellingcraftly grave and acute accents can be used to mark both stress and clipple quality at the same time: à /a/, á /ɐ/, è /ɛ/, é /e/, ò /ɔ/, ó /o/, ù . Different spellingcraftly norms prescribe slightly different rules for when stressed clipples must be written with accents or may be left unmarked, and no single system has been accepted by all speakers.

Venetish allows the withlide cluster /stʃ/ (not present in Italish), which is sometimes written ⟨s-c⟩ or ⟨s'c⟩ before i or e, and ⟨s-ci⟩ or ⟨s'ci⟩ before other clipples. Examples include s-ciarir (Italish schiarire, "to clear up"), s-cèt (schietto, "plain clear"), s-ciòp (schioppo, "gun") and s-ciao (schiavo, "[your] servant", ciao, "hello", "goodbye"). The hyphen or apostrophe is used because the combination ⟨sc(i)⟩ is conventionally used for the /ʃ/ sound, as in Italish spelling; e.g. scèmo (scemo, "stupid"); whereas ⟨sc⟩ before ao and u represents /sk/: scàtoƚa (scatola, "box"), scóndar (nascondere, "to hide"), scusàr (scusare, "to forgive").

Proposed systems[]

Recently there have been attempts to stocken and simplify the script by reusing older bookstaves, e.g. by using ⟨x⟩ for [z] and a single ⟨s⟩ for [s]; then one would write baxa for [ˈbaza] ("[third hoad onefold] kisses") and basa for [ˈbasa] ("low"). Some writers have continued or resumed the use of ⟨ç⟩, but only when the resulting word is not too different from the Italish spellingcraft: in latterday Venetish writings, it is then easier to find words as çima and çento, rather than força and sperança, even though all these four words display the same phonological variation in the position marked by the bookstaff ⟨ç⟩. Another recent convention is to use ⟨ƚ⟩ (in place of older ⟨ł⟩ ) for the "soft" l, to allow a more unified spellingcraft for all variants of the tung. However, in spite of their theoretical advantages, these proposals have not been very successful outside of outhwitly circles, because of regional variations in outspeech and incompatibility with existing literature.

More recently, on Ereyule 14, 2017, the Latterday Worldwide Manual of Venetish Spelling has been approved by the new Commission for Spelling of 2010. It has been overset in three tungs (Italish, Venetish and English) and it exemplifies and explains every single bookstaff and every sound of the Venetish tung. The graphic accentuation and punctuation systems are added as corollaries. Overall, the layout has been greatly simplified from previous ones to allow both Italish and foreign speakers to learn and understand the Venetish spelling and staffrow in a more straightforward way.[34]

The Venetish speakers of Chipilo use a layout based on Spanish spellingcraft, even though it does not contain bookstaves for [j] and [θ]. The Americanish speechlorester Carolyn McKay proposed a writing layout for that variant based entirely on the Italish staffhoard. However, the layout was not very popular.

Sample texts[]

Ruzante coming back from war[]

The following sample, in the old undertung of Padua, comes from a play by Ruzante (Angelo Beolco), titled Parlamento de Ruzante che iera vegnù de campo ("Dialogue of Ruzante who came from the battlefield", 1529). The character, a peasant returning home from the war, is expressing to his friend Menato his relief at being still alive:

Orbéntena, el no serae mal

star in campo per sto robare,
se 'l no foesse che el se ha pur
de gran paure. Càncaro ala roba!
A' son chialò mi, ala segura,
e squase che no a' no cherzo
esserghe gnan. [...]
Se mi mo' no foesse mi?
E che a foesse stò amazò in campo?
E che a foesse el me spirito?
Lo sarae ben bela.
No, càncaro, spiriti no magna.

"Really, it would not be that bad

to be in the battlefield looting, were it not that one gets also big scares. Damn the loot! I am right here, in safety, and almost can't believe I am. [...] And if I were not me? And if I had been killed in battle? And if I were my ghost? That would be just great. No, damn, ghosts don't eat."

Discorso de Perasto[]

The following sample is taken from the Perasto Speech (Discorso de Perasto), given on August 23, 1797 at Perasto, by Venetish Captain Giuseppe Viscovich, at the last lowering of the flag of the Venetish Ledewealth (nicknamed the "Ledewealth of Saint Mark").

Par trezentosetantasete ani

le nostre sostanse, el nostro sangue,
le nostre vite le xè sempre stàe
par Ti, S. Marco; e fedelisimi
senpre se gavemo reputà,
Ti co nu, nu co Ti,
e sempre co Ti sul mar
semo stài lustri e virtuosi.
Nisun co Ti ne gà visto scanpar,
nisun co Ti ne gà visto vinti e spaurosi!

"For three hundred and seventy seven years

our bodies, our blood our lives have always been for You, St. Mark; and very faithful we have always thought ourselves, You with us, we with You, And always with You on the sea we have been illustrious and virtuous. No one has seen us with You flee, No one has seen us with You defeated and fearful!"

Francesco Artico[]

The following is a tidely text by Francesco Artico. The elderly narrator is recalling the church choir singers of his youth, who, needless to say, sang much better than those of today:

Sti cantori vèci da na volta,

co i cioéa su le profezie,
in mezo al coro, davanti al restèl,
co'a ose i 'ndéa a cior volta
no so 'ndove e ghe voéa un bèl tóc
prima che i tornésse in qua
e che i rivésse in cao,
màssima se i jèra pareciàdi onti
co mezo litro de quel bon
tant par farse coràjo.

"These old singers of the past,

when they picked up the Prophecies, in the middle of the choir, in front of the gate, with their steven they went off who knows where, and it was a long time before they came back and landed on the ground, especially if they had been previously 'oiled' with half a litre of the good one [wine] just to make courage."

Venetish lexical exports to English[]

Many words were exported to English, either directly or via Italish or French.[35] The list below shows some examples of imported words, with the date of first appearance in English according to the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary.

Venetish English Year Origin, notes
arsenal arsenal 1506 Arabish دار الصناعة‎ dār al-ṣināʻah "house of manufacture, factory"
articioco artichoke 1531 Arabish الخرشوف‎ al-kharshūf; simultaneously entered French as artichaut
balota ballot 1549 ball used in Venetish elections; cf. English to "black-ball"
casin casino 1789 "little house"; adopted in Italishened form
contrabando contraband 1529 illegal traffic of goods
gazeta gazette 1605 a small Venetish shat; from the price of early newssheets gazeta de la novità "a penny worth of news"
gheto ghetto 1611 from Gheto, the area of Canaregio in Venice that became the first district confined to Youdishmen; named after the foundry or gheto once sited there
gnochi gnocchi 1891 lumps, bumps, gnocchi; from Theedish knokk- 'knuckle, lith'
gondola gondola 1549 from Mid Eld Greekish κονδοῦρα
laguna lagoon 1612 Leeden lacunam "mere"
lazareto lazaret 1611 through French; a quarantine station for maritime travellers, ultimately from the Biblical Lazarus of Bethany, who was raised from the dead; the first one was on the island of Lazareto Vechio in Venice
lido lido 1930 Leeden litus "shore"; the name of one of the three islands enclosing the Venetish lagoon, now a beach resort
loto lotto 1778 Theedish lot- "orlay, wird"
malvasìa malmsey 1475 ultimately from the name μονοβασία Monemvasia, a small Greekish island off the Peloponnese once owned by the Venetish Ledewealth and a source of strong, sweet white wine from Greece and the eastern Mediterranean
marzapan marzipan 1891 from the name for the porcelain container in which marzipan was transported, from Arabish موثبان‎ mawthabān, or from Mataban in the Bay of Bengal where these were made (these are some of several proposed etymologies for the English word)
Montenegro Montenegro "black barrow"; a rich on the Eastern side of the Adriatic Sea
Negroponte Negroponte "black bridge"; Greekish island called Euboea or Evvia in the Aegean Sea
Pantalon pantaloon 1590 a character in the Commedia dell'arte
pestachio pistachio 1533 ultimately from Middle Persish pistak
quarantena quarantine 1609 forty day isolation period for a ship with infectious diseases like plague
regata regatta 1652 originally "fight, contest"
scampi scampi 1930 Greekish κάμπη "caterpillar", lit. "curved (deer)"
schiao ciao 1929 sibword of Italish schiavo "thew"; used originally in Venetish to mean "your servant", "at your service"; original word outspoken "s-ciao"
Zani zany 1588 "Johnny"; a character in the Commedia dell'arte
zechin sequin 1671 Venetish gold ducat; from Arabish سكّة‎ sikkah "shat, minting die"
ziro giro 1896 "circle, turn, spin"; adopted in Italishened form; from the name of the bank Banco del Ziro or Bancoziro at Rialto
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