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20: Re: Abruzzese Dialect Heritage Forums - January 2002

Posted by info- AT - abruzzo2000  -- NAME: abruzzo2000 on 01/05/02 at 11:30 AM Subject:   Re: Abruzzese Dialect In Reply to: Abruzzese Dialect posted by Stefanie Kressaty on 01/01/02 at 7:44 PM: : A post in the December list prompted me to write. : I discovered on a recent trip that Abruzzi boasts it's own dialect of Italian. This didn't hit home for me until I returned to the US and had to sing a Christmas piece in Italian (no big deal, right? WRONG). The piece originated in Abruzzi and the Italian in the music was "weird" -- mostly because of the occurrence of the letter "J" -- which doesn't exist in the traditional Italian alphabet. : Is there a pronunciation guide somewhere for this dialect? If not, can someone tell me how the J figures in pronunciation? Is it pronounced aspirated like ZSH or is it treated like in spanish as a Y? Or is it really treated just like an American J? : I asked my father, whose mother might have known, but he told me when his grandparents came over, they never used their own language in an attempt to "assimilate" (I'm so sad!!) : Thanks! : Stefanie The "j" in many Abruzzese dialects is pronounced like the "y" in the English word "yet". It is very common still today to write "Majella". The "j" was still used in the 19th century in Italian, mostly as a semi-vowel sound, that is, a sound "i" before another vowel. Since it was never accented, the sound was weaker than in a regular "i". Follow Ups: Re: Abruzzese Dialect Domenic Gentile   Posted at: 01/12/02 (0 replies)