Language

Introduction to Piedmontese Language Study

By Gerald Fabian

There has to be indisputable value in the study of cultural roots and origins. All great and vital civilizations may attest to this. The current New York World Almanac lists Piedmontese (Piemontese) as one of the languages with three million speakers, spoken in three countries. Presumably Italy, France and Argentina. This might appear to remove it from the category of seriously endangered languages. Such languages as Basque, Breton, Welsh and Erse (Irish) have far fewer speakers. We might assume that Piedmontese is in the clear then? Wrong! Everywhere we find a pessimistic outlook as to chances of survival of this ancient and remarkable language. Sometimes this attitude even extends to high academic circles. Nevertheless, since the early l8th century Piedmontese culture has produced a solid literature and numbers of distinguished writers. Curious that it should remain such a well-kept secret among its European neighbors and within Italy itself. Piedmontese really began its ascendancy with two poets of the l8th century: Padre Isler of the Crocetta and Eduardo Calvo. But a certain Dr. Pippino who spanned both the l8th and 19th centuries laid a firm basis for the accepted phonology and grammatical rules of the present day idiom.

Barely had the impetus toward linguistic acceptance begun when the Enlightenment arrived. Soon followed the collapse and extinction of the House of Savoy. Further development, such as adoption to official status, came to a halt. With the Napoleonic invasion French became the new contender, but it inevitably had to defer to the language of Dante, Italian.

With regard to the vicissitudes of Piedmontese historically, we cannot refrain from quoting Carlo Denina's Key to Languages:

"If the Piedmontese dialect had only been cultivated starting with the reign of Duke Amedeus VIII, or even with that of Emmanuel Philibert, it would already be an illustrious language. At least as much as Portuguese or Holland Dutch. The former relating to Spanish and the latter to German in the same way that Piedmontese relates to Italian."

From Luciano Gibelli's Notebooks on Piedmontese Culture here is another cogent observation:

"Rapport with the young shows in a particular way the language gap which separates generations. From this reality which has motivated a desire to learn on part of the younger generation these notebooks were born. They would refute the concept to which many ascribe-both the young and those no longer so-that to express oneself in Piedmontese might no longer be appropriate." Quite the contrary! Each Piedmontese vowel contains in itself the essence of an incredibly remote ancestry. This heritage was acquired over thousands of years with the founding of the languages of all peoples. To speak Piedmontese is not racism. To speak Piedmontese is to extol the races that have formed it."

A Brief Introduction to Piemontèis

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"Ij Bogianen"

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Ij Bogianen - Piemontese version
Ij Bogianen (The Unbudgeables) - English translation