Western Lombard language

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Western Lombard
Milanes/Milanées, Insubrigh/Insübrich
Spoken in: Italy (Province of Milan, Province of Monza, Province of Como, Province of Lecco, Province of Lodi, little part of Province of Cremona, Province of Novara, Province of Pavia, Province of Sondrio, Province of Varese, Province of Verbano Cusio Ossola, little part of Province of Vercelli) and Switzerland (Canton Ticino and some valleys of Canton Grigioni)
Total speakers: ~2,500,000
Language family: Indo-European
 Italic
  Romance
   Italo-Western
    Gallo-Iberian
     Gallo-Romance
      Gallo-Italic
       Lombard
        Western Lombard
Language codes
ISO 639-1: none
ISO 639-2: roa
ISO 639-3: lmo — Lombard group

Western Lombard is a Romance language spoken in Italy, in the Lombard provinces of Milan, Monza, Varese, Como, Lecco, Sondrio, a little part of Cremona (Crema and its neighbours: Cremona and its neighbours talk a more Venetian-Emilian-like dialect, like Mantua), Lodi and Pavia, and the Piedmont provinces of Novara, Verbano-Cusio-Ossola and a small part of Vercelli (Valsesia), and Switzerland (Canton Ticino and part of Grischun). After the name of the region involved, land of the former Duchy of Milan, this language is often referred to as Insubric (see Insubria and Insubres) or Milanese, or, after Clemente Merlo, Cisabduano (literally "of this side of Adda River").

In Italian-speaking contexts, Western Lombard is often incorrectly called a dialect of Italian language, but actually it is a separate language. It has more than a few similarities to French. Insubric and Italian are different languages and are not mutually intelligible, because of lexical, phonetic, and grammatical differences. Western Lombard, more than many other languages spoken in Italy, has many varieties, because of the mountain geography and history of various political divisions.

Western Lombard is divided into four main classes, called by many Italian linguists lombardo alpino (provinces of Sondrio and of Verbania, Sopraceneri of Canton Ticino, Grigioni), lombardo-prealpino occidentale (provinces of Como, Varese and Lecco), basso-lombardo occidentale (Pavia and Lodi), and macromilanese (provinces of Milan, Monza and Novara and the territory of Crema).

The linguistic classification of Western Lombard is

Romance languages (derived from Latin).

At the present time, Western Lombard has no official status in Lombardy or anywhere else. The only official language in Lombardy is Italian.

Some texts in Western Lombard are available: various dictionaries, a few grammars, extensive literature (see Insubric literature), and a recent translation of the Gospels.

Examples of Western Lombard dialects are:

The most important orthography in Western Lombard literature is the Classical Milanese orthography. It was used by Carlo Porta (1775-1821) and Delio Tessa (1886-1939). It was perfected by the Circolo Filologico di Milano. Other orthographies are the Ticinese, the Comasca, the Bosina, the Nuaresat, and the Lecchese.



  • Andrea Rognoni, Grammatica dei dialetti della Lombardia, Oscar Mondadori, 2005.
  • AA. VV., Parlate e dialetti della Lombardia. Lessico comparato, Mondadori, Milano 2003.
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