Tarantino dialect

Tarantino
Tarandíne
Region	Italy, United States (California)
Native speakers	~300,000
Language family	Indo-European Kursiv Romance Italo-Western Tarantino
Language codes
ISO 639-3	-

The Tarantino language is a language spoken in the southeastern Italian region of Apulia. Most of the speakers live in the Apulian town of Taranto. The language is also spoken by a few Italian immigrants in the United States, especially in California. Tarantino is closely related to Italian and Sicilian (sometimes Neapolitan).

History

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

The colonization of the Greeks who founded Taranto, not only as the capital of Magna Graecia, but also as a cultural, poetic and theatrical center. The Greeks had left considerable influence on the Tarantino language, both lexical and morpho-syntax, and a very peculiar accent that scholars had to correspond to it with Doric. These influences are still found in many Tarantino words of Greek origin.^[1]

Subsequently, the city of Taranto became a Roman city, thus introducing much vulgar vocabulary.^[2]

During the Byzantine and Lombard periods, the Tarantino language acquired a unique approach to the time period: the o pronunciation changed to ue and the e pronunciation changed to ie; thus Tarantino vocabulary was further enriched with new words.^[3]

With the arrival of the Normans in 1071 and the Angevins all the way through to 1400, the language lost much of its eastern influences and was influenced by French and Gallo-Italic elements.^[4]

By the Middle Ages, the city became a Saracen domain with the consequent introduction of Arabic words.^[5] In 1502, Taranto went under Spanish rule, and for three centuries, Spanish was the official language of the city, and much Tarantino vocabulary can be traced to this Spanish period.^[6]

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

It should be remembered that Taranto has long been linked to the Kingdom of Naples, which would explain some words in common with the Neapolitan language. The Arab influences, combined with the French and Latin, have led to a massive de-sonorisation of voice, turning them into semi-mutations, which can cause a significant increase in phonetics of the consonant links .

Today, the special vocabulary and the lengthening of "harsh voice", gave the Tarantino language an impression reminiscent of an "Arab dialect", though with some reference to the archaic Dorian sounds.

Notes and references

• ^ Tarantino Vocabulary with Greek origins:

celóne < χελώνη (kelóne) [It. tartaruga, Eng. tortoise];

cèndre < κέντρον (kèntron) [It. chiodo, Eng. nail];

ceráse < κεράσιον (keròsion) [It. ciliegia, Eng. cherry];

mesále < μεσάλον (mesálon) [It. tovaglia, Eng. tablecloth];

àpule < απαλός (apalós) [It. molle, Eng. soft];

tràscene < δράκαινα (drákaina) [tipo di pesce/ kind of fish].

• ^ Tarantino Vocabulary with Latin origins:

dìleche < delicus [It. mingherlino, Eng. skinny];

descetáre < oscitare [It. svegliare, Eng. to wake up];

gramáre < clamare [It. lamentarsi, Eng. to bemoan];

'mbise < impensa [It. cattivo, malvagio, Eng. bad, cruel];

sdevacáre < devacare [It. svuotare, Eng. to empty, deprive];

aláre < halare [It. sbadigliare, Eng. to yawn].

• ^ Tarantino Vocabulary of Germanic Lombard origin:

sckife < skif [It. piccola barca, Eng. skiff];

ualáne < gualane [It. bifolco, Eng. yokel].

• ^ Tarantino Vocabulary of French origin:

fesciùdde < fichu [It. coprispalle, Eng. fichu];

accattáre < acheter [It. comprare, Eng. to buy];

pote < poche [It. tasca, Eng. pocket];

'ndráme < entrailles [It. interiora, Eng. guts].

• ^ Tarantino Vocabulary of Arabic origin:

chiaúte < tabut [It. bara, Eng. coffin];

masckaráte < mascharat [It. risata, Eng. laughter].

• ^ Tarantino Vocabulary of Spanish origin:

marànge < naranja [It. arancia, Eng. orange];

suste < susto [It. tedio, uggia, Eng. boredom, moroseness].