Venetian (vèneto)

Venetian is a Romance language spoken by about 2 million people mainly in Venice and the surrounding area, and also in Trieste, Croatia, Slovenia, Mexico and Brazil. The language is more closely related to French and Spanish than it is to Italian.

When Venice was an independent republic (between the 9th and 18th centuries), the Venetian language enjoyed considerable prestige. However literary Venetian lost out the the Tuscan dialect, which eventually became the national language of Italy.

Today Venetian has no official status.

Venetian alphabet
A a	B b	C c	Ç ç	D d	E e	F f	G g	H h	I i	J j	K k	L l
Ł ł / £	M m	N n	O o	P p	R r	S s	T t	U u	V v	X x	Y y	Z z

Venetian pronunciation

Notes

c = [ʧ] before e or i, [k] elsewhere
ç is only used in some varients of Venetian: in Bellunese, north Trevisan, and in some Central Venetian rural areas around Padua, Vicenza and the mouth of the river Po
g = [ʤ] before e or i, [g] elsewhere
k and y appear only in loan words

Sample text in Venetian (Venice dialect)

Tuti (ł)i eseri umani (i) xe nai (ł)iberi e conpagni par dignità e diriti. I xe dotai de raxon e de cosiensa e i deve conportarse (ł)i uni co (ł)i altri co spirito de fradełansa.

Translation

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
(Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)

Useful phrases in Venetian

Links

An introduction to the Venetian language and culture (in English and Venetian)
http://www.veneto.org

Information about the Venetian language (in Venetian, Italian and English)
http://www.sitoveneto.org

el Galepin - Venetian - Italian - English dictionary
http://www.elgalepin.com/

Raixe Venete - el jornale dei Veneti (online Venetian newspaper)
http://www.raixevenete.net

Short stories in Venetian
http://www.antoniobalsemin.it

Related languages

Aragonese, Aranese, Aromanian, Asturian, Catalan, Corsican, French, Firulian, Galician, Genoese, Italian, Jèrriais, Latin, Lombard, Mirandese, Moldovan, Occitan, Piedmontese, Portuguese, Romanian, Romansh, Sardinian, Sicilian, Spanish, Venetian, Walloon

Other languages written with the Latin alphabet

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