Ligurian / Genoese | |
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lìgure, zeneize/zeneise | |
Pronunciation | ˈliɡyre, zeˈnejze |
Native to | Italy, Monaco, France |
Region | Italy • Liguria • Southern Piedmont • Southwestern Lombardy • Western Emilia-Romagna • Southwestern Sardinia France • Southeastern Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur • Southern Corsica |
Native speakers | 500,000 (2002)[1] |
Indo-European
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Early forms | |
Dialects |
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Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | lij |
Glottolog | ligu1248 |
Linguasphere | 51-AAA-oh & 51-AAA-og |
Ligurian or Genoese (lìgure or zeneize) is a Romance language of the Gallo-Romance branch spoken in the Liguria region in northwestern Italy and in two communes in the Italian island of Sardinia as well as in parts of Alpes-Maritimes and Corsica in southeastern France, and in Monaco.
Ligurian belongs to the Gallo-Italic languages group within the Gallo-Romance branch and therefore differs significantly from standard Italian, which is spoken south of the La Spezia-Rimini language border; the same applies to the other northern Italian languages. They include Piedmontese, Lombard, Emilian and Romagnol.
Ligurian has many dialects, the most widespread of which is Genoese, spoken in Genoa. Another dialect of Ligurian, is Monegasque, which is spoken as a first language by the people of Monaco.