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920: Re: Abruzzese Dialect Heritage Forums - January 2002

Posted by EVANGALIS  --  NAME: VINCE EVANGELISTA on 09/07/03 at 7:49 PM Subject:   Re: Abruzzese Dialect In Reply to: Re: Abruzzese Dialect posted by Luigi Camplese on 01/01/02 at 9:53 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 : Hey stefanie, I was born in Abruzzi, lived in Pescara for 16 years, the dialect is very unique, the letter J dont exist along with the letters W & Y, when u say the letter J it would sound just like the letter G.......if you were born here u might have a lil difficulty saying the letters as they are cut off half the time.......one way to practice the dialect is by y pronunciating a very sharp letter R let the tongue slap up and down fastyour palate while saying the letter R......just dont trip over that tongue of yours u hear me?...hehehehehe.......that is a one way to start learning the abbruzzese lingua, Io son nato a' Vestea provincia di Pescara........... Follow Ups: