The pronunciation of 3,600 words in the way they were pronounced in Italy, between the years 1924 and 1965, is gathered in the work considered the Italian linguistic Atlas. The work was carried out by researchers of the University of Turin (Torino). The mission: to preserve the local languages spoken in the country.
It was kept in the archives of the university. There are 8,855 photographs taken during the investigations and more than 5 million records with answers in dialect.
According to ISTAT’s last analysis of the Italian language ten years ago, in 72% of cases, Italian is the only language used in the country. However, there is still 20% of the population using the local dialect and 8% who use only their territorial language, especially in regions with special status.
The Italian newspaper La Stampa brings an article about the work done below.
It’s hard to say if the time of their dying will be this. Certainly, in the last century, dialects have changed profoundly, given the influence of the Italian. The talk that we hear summer, on vacation, has been different from the one long ago. “That is why the Atlas has more value: it is the only real picture of our dialects,” explains Ronco.
The 3,630 entries were collected between 1924 and 1965. The first to conduct the inquiries among the speakers was Ugo Pellis who carefully selected the raw material from the native speakers of the study areas, which is about a thousand locations throughout Italy.
There are 8,855 photographs taken during the investigations, over 5 million dialect responses, phonetic transcripts divided by lemma and placed on the cards. Thus, it is discovered, for example, that “hair” in certain areas of the province of Turin is referred to as “kavii”, but is much more widespread “kavei”.
“After so many problems with writing and printing, we could only begin publishing volumes in 1995, divided by topic: body parts, home, food. By the end of the year, the ninth will be released, “says Lorenzo Massobrio, lecturer and director at Atlas. But this time, the publisher of the edition will no longer be the State Polygraphy Institute, but the editors of the University, who will deal with everything from transcription to positioning on the phonetic map. They are the last geographers of an Italy that we will not hear anymore.