Friulian is not a dialect of Italian. It is an autonomous language belonging to the Rhaeto-Romanic family,
which developed around the year 1000 AD through the meeting of the Celtic, Latin and Germanic cultures.
Here are a few examples of the phonetic differences between the two languages.
Friulian words drop the final vowel of the corresponding Italian word - except that words which in Italian
end in a, end in e in Friulian.
Italian |
Friulian |
mano |
man
|
fine |
fin |
luna |
lune |
poeta |
poete |
However, the final a is altogether dropped if it is preceded
by mm or st.
Italian |
Friulian |
programma |
program
|
artista |
artist |
Following the loss of the final vowel, the last syllable often becomes longer when accented.
Italian |
Friulian |
vocąle |
vocâl |
Ca and ga in Italian words very often correspond to cja and
gja in Friulian words.
Italian |
Friulian |
cane |
cjan
|
gatto |
gjat |
Friulian words never end with the voiced consonants b, v, g, d .Only the voiceless
consonants p, f, c, t can be found in final position in Friulian.
Examples
Italian |
do not exist |
Friulian |
strambo |
stramb |
stramp
|
drago |
drāg |
drāc |
crudo |
crūd |
crūt |
sportivo |
sportīv |
sportīf |
There are no double consonants in Friulian.
Italian |
Friulian |
programma |
programe
|
Ss is used to represent the voiceless s occuring in intervocalic position.
Italian |
Friulian |
rosa |
rose
|
rossa |
rosse |
Friulian words have preserved the Latin consonant clusters bl, cl,
fl, pl,
gl which have become bi, chi, fi, pi, ghi, in Italian.
|
Italian |
Friulian |
blawd |
biava |
blave |
claudum |
chiodo |
claut |
flasche |
fiasca |
flascje |
plus |
pił |
plui |
glaciem |
ghiaccio |
glace |
Friulian and Italian words which are similar in form, may differ in grammatical gender.
Italian |
Friulian |
miele (m) |
mīl
(f) |
estate (f) |
istāt (m) |
monte (m) |
mont (f) |
sonno (m) |
sium (f) |
They may also have different meanings.
spacā (to shake) |
spaccare (to break) |
bussā (to kiss) |
bussare (to knock) |
|