The
Lausberg area is a part of
southern Italy, covering much of
Basilicata and the northern edge of
Calabria, where Southern Italian dialects are spoken that show vowel developments atypical of Italo-Romance. The area is named after Heinrich Lausberg, who brought it to the attention of scholarship in 1939.
Stressed vowel outcomes
There are three main subdivisions, as can be seen on the map to the right.
Romanian-like
Dubbed the Vorposten (“outpost”) by Lausberg, this area encompasses the towns of
Castelmezzano,
Potenza, and
Picerno. Here the Latin vowel merged with , while merged with . The same asymmetric vowel development characterizes Balkan Romance languages such as Romanian.
Transitional
The western part of Lausberg's Mittelzone (“central area”) encompasses the towns of
Lauria,
Maratea,
Scalea, Diamante, and
Verbicaro. Here the majority of words show a stressed vowel development similar to that of Sicilian, although many words show Sardinian-like outcomes as well.
Sardinian-like
The eastern part of the Mittelzone encompasses the towns of
Senise,
Tursi, and
Oriolo. Here the tonic vowels developed approximately as in Sardinian. There is evidence, however, of an earlier distinction between Latin and . In the variety spoken in Senise, for instance, the outcomes of Latin and were subject to diphthongization when stressed and followed by a syllable containing a close vowel (namely or ), while the outcomes of and were not. Cf. Latin > > .
Selected lexical comparisons
Below are the (non-metaphonic) stressed vowel outcomes in the three regions,
each represented here by one dialect.
Here is a comparison of the present indicative conjugations of the verb meaning “to die” in the Mittelzone.
Asterisks indicate forms that induce syntactic doubling.
Notes
Bibliography
