Origins

Characteristics

1. The presence of verbal pronouns, which give a Piedmontese phrase the following form: (subject) + verbal pronoun + verb, as in (mi) i von [Igo]. Verbal pronouns are absent only in the imperative form and in the “Piedmontese interrogative form”.
2. The agglutinating form of verbal pronouns, which can be connected to dative and locative particles (a-i é [thereis], i-j diso [Isay to him]).
3. The interrogative form, which adds an enclitic interrogative particle at the end of the verbal form (Veus-to? [Doyou want to…])
4. The absence of ordinal numerals, starting from the seventh place on (so that seventh will be Col che a fà set [Theone which makes seven]).
5. The co-presence of three affirmative interjections (that is, three ways to say yes): Si, sè (from the Latin form sic est, as in Italian); É (from the Latin form est, as in Brazilian Portuguese); Òj (from the Latin form hoc est as in Occitan, or maybe illud est, as in Franco-Provençal and French).
6. The absence of the voiceless postalveolar fricative /ʃ/ (as in sheep), for which an alveolar S sound (as in sun) is usually substituted.
7. The presence of a S-C combination (pronounced as you'd in this-church).
8. The presence of a velar nasal N-sound (pronounced as the gerundive termination in going), which usually precedes a vowel, as in lun-a [moon].
9. The presence of the third piedmontese vowel Ë, which is read as a very short sound (somehow close to the half-mute sound in sir).
10. The absence of the phonological alternation that exists in Italian between short (single) and long (double) consonants, for example, it. fata [fairy] and fatta [done].
11. The existence of a prosthetic Ë sound, that's interposed when two consonantal sounds collide and are hard to pronounce. So stèila [star] becomes set ëstèile [sevenstars].

Current status

Links and References