Neapolitan Napulitano
Spoken in:	Italy
Total speakers:	7.5 million
Ranking:	75-85
Language family:	}}}  Italic   Romance    Italo-Western     Italo-Dalmatian      Neapolitan}}}
Language codes
ISO 639-1:	none
ISO 639-2:	nap
ISO 639-3:	nap

Neapolitan (autonym: napulitano; Italian: napoletano) is a Romance language spoken in the city and region of Naples, Campania (Neapolitan: Nàpule, Italian: Napoli); dialects of Neapolitan are spoken throughout most of southern Italy, including the Gaeta and Sora districts of southern Lazio, the southern part of Marche and Abruzzo, Molise, Basilicata, northern Calabria, and northern and central Apulia. As of 1976, there were 7,047,399 "theoretical" native speakers of this group of dialects ^[1]. The use of dialects in Italy has been rapidly decreasing in recent decades, so these numbers must be seen as overestimated.

Distribution

"Neapolitan" is the name given to the varied Italiano meridionale-interno group of dialects in southern Italy, historically united during the reigns of the Kingdom of Naples and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. The many dialects of this language group include Neapolitan proper (as spoken in and around Naples), Irpino, Cilentano, Laziale Meridionale, Marchigiano Meridionale, Teramano, Abruzzese Orientale Adriatico, Abruzzese Occidentale, Molisano, Dauno-Appenninico, Garganico, Apulo-Barese, Lucano, and Cosentino. The dialects are part of a strong and varied continuum, so the various dialects in Marche, Abruzzo, Molise, Apulia, Lucania and Calabria can typically be recognizable as regional dialects. Many would argue that the term "Neapolitan" is only used for the dialect of Naples and its vicinity. In northern Abruzzo and southern Lazio, the dialects gives way to Italian dialects such as Romanesco. In central Calabria and southern Puglia, the dialects give way to Sicilian dialects.

The Language

Neapolitan is generally considered an Italo-Dalmatian, although some postulate a southern Romance classification. There are notable differences among the various dialects, but they are all generally mutually intelligible. The language as a whole has often fallen victim of its status as a "language without prestige".

Standard Italian and Neapolitan are generally mutually comprehensible, though with notable grammatical differences such as nouns in the neuter form and unique plural formation. Its evolution has been similar to that of Italian and other Romance languages from their roots in Vulgar Latin. It has also developed with a pre-Latin Oscan influence, which is noticeable in the pronunciation of the d sound as an r sound (rhotacism), but only when "d" is at the beginning of a word, or between two vowels (e.g.- "doje" or "duje" (two, respectively feminine and masculine form), pronounced, and often spelled, as "roje"/"ruje", vedé (to see), pronounced as "veré", and often spelled so, same for cadé/caré (to fall), and Madonna/Maronna). Some think that the rhotacism is a more recent phenomenon, though. Other Oscan influence (more likely than the previous one) is considered the pronunciation of the group of consonants "nd" (of Latin) as "nn" (this generally is reflected in spelling more consistently) (e.g.- "munno" (world, compare to Italian "mondo"), "quanno" (when, compare to Italian "quando"), etc.), and the pronunciation of the group of consonants "mb" (of Latin) as "mm" (e.g.- tammuro (drum), cfr. Italian tamburo), also consistently reflected in spelling. Other effects of the Oscan substratum are postulated too. In addition, the language was also affected by the Greek language. Naples was largely Greek-speaking prior to the Eighth Century, and the Greek language remained dominant in much of Southern Italy for many further centuries before finally being fully supplanted by Italian dialects (see: Griko language for remnant traces of Greek on the Italian peninsula). There have never been any successful attempts to standardize the language (eg.- consulting three different dictionaries, one finds three different spellings for the word for tree, arbero, arvero and àvaro).

Neapolitan has enjoyed a rich literary, musical and theatrical history (notably Giambattista Basile, Eduardo de Filippo, Salvatore di Giacomo and Totò).

The language has no official status within Italy and is not taught in schools. The Università Federico II in Naples offers (from 2003) courses in Campanian Dialectology at the faculty of Sociology, whose actual aim is not teaching students to speak the language, but studying its history, usage, literature and social role. There are also ongoing legislative attempts at the national level to have it recognized as an official minority language of Italy. It is however an officially recognized ISO 639 Joint Advisory Committee language with the language code of NAP.

For comparison, The Lord's Prayer is here reproduced in the Neapolitan spoken in Naples and in a northern Calabrian dialect, in contrast with a variety of southern Calabrian (part of Sicilian language), Italian and Latin.

Neapolitan (Naples)	Northern Calabrian	Southern Calabrian	Italian	Latin
Pate nuoste ca staje 'ncielo,	Patre nuorru chi sta ntru cielu,	Patri nostru chi' sini nt'o celu,	Padre Nostro, che sei nei cieli,	Pater noster, qui es in caelis
santificammo 'o nomme tuoje	chi sia santificatu u nume tuoio,	m'esti santificatu u nomi toi,	sia santificato il tuo nome.	sanctificetur nomen tuum:
faje vení 'o regno tuoje,	venisse u riegnu tuoio,	Mù veni u rregnu toi,	Venga il tuo regno,	Adveniat regnum tuum.
sempe c' 'a vuluntà toja,	se facisse a vuluntà tuoia,	ù si facissi a voluntÃ	sia fatta la tua volontà,	Fiat voluntas tua
accussí 'ncielo e 'nterra.	sia nto cielu ca nterra.	com'esti nt'o celu, u stessa sup'a terra.	come in cielo, così in terra.	sicut in caelo et in terra
Fance ave' 'o ppane tutt' 'e juorne	Ranne oje u pane nuorro e tutti i juorni,	Dùnandi ped oji u pani nostru e tutti i jorna	Dacci oggi il nostro pane quotidiano,	Panem nostrum quotidianum da nobis hodie.
lèvece 'e dièbbete	perdunacce i rebita nuorri,	e' perdùnandi i debiti,	e rimetti a noi i nostri debiti,	Et dimitte nobis debita nostra,
comme nuje 'e llevamme all'ate,	cumu nue perdunammu i rebituri nuorri.	comu nù nc'i perdunamu ad i debituri nostri.	come noi li rimettiamo ai nostri debitori.	sicut et nos dimittimus debitoribus nostris.
nun 'nce fa spanteca',	Un ce mannare ntra tentazione,	Non nci dassari nt'a tentazioni,	E non ci indurre in tentazione,	Et ne nos inducas in temptationem;
e llevace 'o mmale 'a tuorno.	ma liberacce e ru male.	ma liberandi d'o mali	ma liberaci dal male.	sed libera nos a malo.
Ammèn.	Ammèn.	Ammèn.	Amen.	Amen.

See also

• Italian dialects
• Languages of Italy
• Sicilian language
• Calabrian languages

External links

• Ethnologue World linguistic classification
• Library of Congress iso639 language code
• Neapolitan language introduction
• Interactive Map of languages in Italy
• Accademia Napulitana
• Neapolitan on-line radio station
• Online weekly in Neapolitan
• Italian-Neapolitan searchable online dictionary
• Grammar primer and extensive vocabulary for the Neapolitan dialect of Torre del Greco
• French-Neapolitan downloadable and searchable online dictionary
• Neapolitan language and culture (in Italian)

References

•  • [ e] Romance languages

Aragonese Aromanian Astur-Leonese (Asturian, Leonese, Mirandese) Catalan (Balearic, Valencian) Ladin Ladino (Haketia, Tetuani) Champenois Corsican (Gallurese, Sassarese) Dalmatian Eastern Lombard Emiliano-Romagnolo Fala Franc-Comtois Franco-Provenal French (incl. Zarphatic) Friulian Galician Gallo Istriot Istro-Romanian Italian (Central Italian, Florentine, Tuscan, Romanesco, Judeo-Italian) Ladin Ladino (Haketia, Tetuani) Ligurian (Genoese, Mongasque) Lorrain Megleno-Romanian Mozarabic Neapolitan Norman (Anglo-Norman, Auregnais, Guernsiais, Jrriais, Sercquiais) Occitan (Auvergnat, Aupenc, Gascon (Aranese), Languedocien, Limousin, Provenal (Niard, Shuadit)) Picard Piedmontese Poitevin-Saintongeais Portuguese Romance Pannonian language Romanian (Moldovan, Vlach) Romansh Sardinian Sicilian (Calabrian) Spanish (Castilian) Venetian (Talian) Walloon Western Lombard