Comparison of Venetan with the other Romance languages

by Michele Brunelli

Venetan, whith its variants, shows some phonetic features which differentiate it from the other Romance languages:

1. Absence of [] and [] sounds; they are replaced with /ss/ and /s/ (often but not always, they are written "s / x" in Venetan).
2. Absence of the typical Italian sounds [dz] and [ts]. The softened [] (Italian gli) is replaced with j pronounced like j in the word ‘joy’ or like y in ‘yard’.
3. The unstressed o vowel is not reduced and is pronounced [o], not [u].
4. In Venetan, as well as in Italian, there are broad vowels /ò è/ and narrow vowels /ó é/.
5. Intervocalic l can represent a particular semivocalic sound, similarly (but not the same) to [w] as the Brasilian l and Polish l. However, in many places it sounds just like an l. It’s written "l".

(Venetan: la bala = [‘a baea]. Polish: pisalem = [pisawem]).
6. Unlike in Italian, there are no double consonants.
7. The absence of final vowels depends on the Venetan variant.

Notes on the Morphosintactic features

The purpose of this work is to help students to give Venetan its own place among the other Romance languages. For this reason, most of the explanations are replaced with tables.

There are Venetan words similar to Italian ones and others which resemble more to French, Catalan or Spanish ones.
 

It.		abbiamo	parlato	col		professore
Cat.		hem	parlat	amb	el	professor
Ven.		ghémo	parlà	col		profesór
Sp.		hemos	hablado	con	el	profesor
F.	Nous	avons	parlé	avec	le	professeur
Port.		temos	falado	com	o	professor
Rum.		am	vorbit	cu		profesorul

( In Rumanian the article comes after the noun: profesorul )
 

It.		abbiamo	parlato	con	due	professori
Cat.		hem	parlat	amb	dos	professors
Ven.		ghémo	parlà	co	do	profesuri
Sp.		hemos	hablado	con	dos	profesores
F.	Nous	avons	parlé	avec	deux	professeurs
Port.		temos	falado	com	dois	professores
Rum.		am	vorbit	cu	doi	profesori

See the Final notes.

Some words  exist in Venetan and Catala nonly, but no in the other languages. (Consider the pronunciation, too).
 

It.

Prendi

il

bicchiere!

padre / madre

vuole

cantiamo

troppo

forte

Cat.

Agafa

el

got!

pare / mare

vol

cantem

massa

fort

Ven.

Ciapa

el

gòto!

pare / mare

el

vol

cantémo

masa

fòrte

Sp.

?Coge

el

vaso!

padre / madre

quiere

cantamos

demasiado

fuerte

F.

Prend

le

verre!

père / mère

il

veux

Nous

chantons

trop

fort

Port.

Pega

o

copo!

pai / mãe

quere

cantamos

demasiado

forte

Rum.

Ia

paharul!

tatå / mamå

vrea

cântam

prea

tare

However, questions share something with French:
 

It.	Come	parli?		Cosa	volete?		Cosa	mangiano?
Cat.	Com	parles?		Què	voleu?		Què	mengen? (ells)
Ven.	Come	pàrlito?		‘Sa (cósa)	volío?		‘Sa (cósa)	màgneli?
Sp.	Cómo	hablas?		Qué	queréis?		Qué	comen?
F.	Comment	parles-tu?		Que	voulez-vous?		Que	mangent-ils? est-ce qu’ils mangent?
Port.	Como	falas?		Que	quereis?		Que	comem?
Rum.	Cum	vorbesti?		Ce	vreti?		Ce	mînîncå?

Note: Rumanian s = [] and t = [ts].

Even the endings of 2nd conjugation resemble those of Catalan-Spanish-Portuguese (-éa vs. –ia) :
 

It.		volevo	dormire			avevo	detto
Cat.		volia	dormir			havia	dit
Ven.		voléa	dormir			gavéa	dito
Sp.		queria	dormir			había	dicho
F.	Je	voulais	dormir		J’	avais	dit
Port.		queria	dormir			dissera
Rum.		vream	så dorm			zisesem

Though the 3rd p. sing. (like the 2nd sing. and the 3rd plur.) needs an obligatory pronoun like in French:
 

It.		voleva	dormire
Cat.		volia	dormir
Ven.	El	voléa	dormir
Sp.		queria	dormir
F.	Il	voulait	dormir
Port.		queria	dormir
Rum.		vrea	så doarmå

This pronoun never disappears, though the subject is already expressed:
 

It.	Il	ragazzo		voleva	dormire
Cat.	El	noi		volia	dormir
Ven.	El	tóxo	‘l	voléa	dormir
Sp.	El	chico		quería	dormir
F.	Le	garçon		voulait	dormir
Port.	O	moço		queria	dormir
Rum.		Båiatul		vrea	så doarmå

The conditional, sometimes, behaves as in Catalan, Spanish and Portuguese:
 

It.		penserei			penserebbe
Cat.		pensaria			pensaria
Ven.		pensarìa		el	pensarìa
Sp.		pensaría			pensaría
F.	je	penserais		il	pensarait
Port.		pensaria			pensaria
Rum.		a$ gîndi			ar gîndi

Sometimes, it’s just similar to them, and other times it’s different:
 

It.		penseremmo			saprei
Cat.		pensaríem			sabria
Ven.		pensarìsimo			savarìa
Sp.		pensaríamos			sabria
F.	nous	penserions		je	savrais
Port.		pensaríamos			saberia
Rum.		am gîndi			as stie

And possessives? They can be used without article:
 

It.		ho	visto		tua	sorella
Cat.		he	vist	la	ta	germana
				--	teva
Ven.		gò	visto		tó	sorèla
Sp.		he	visto		a tu	hermana
F.	J’	ai	vu		ta	sœur
Port.		tenho	visto	a	tua	irmã
Rum.		am	våzut		pe	sora	ta

In Roumanian the article and the possessive come after the noun: sorå + a + ta = sora ta.

Prepositions a in Spanish and pe in Rumanian introduce the object and are not articles; on the other hand in Portuguese, a is an art.: a tua = "the" your.

Even in the plural the article can be omitted, differently from Italian:
 

It.		ho	visto	i	miei	fratelli
Cat.		he	vist	els	meus	germans
				--	mos
Ven.		gò	visto	i	mé	fradèli
				--	mé
Sp.		he	visto		a tu	hermanos
F.	J’	ai	vu		mes	frères
Port.		tenho	visto	os	meus	irmãos
Rum.		am	våzut		pe	fratii	mei

However, generally the article is used :
 

It.

ho

visto

i

suoi

amici

conoscono

la

mia

città

Cat.

he

vist

els

seus

amics

coneixen

la

meva

ciutat

Ven.

gò

visto

i

só

amisi [a'misi]

I

conóse

la

mé

sità

Sp.

he

visto

a sus

amigos

conocen

mi

ciudad

F.

J’

ai

vu

ses

amis

Ils

connaissent

ma

ville

Port.

tenho

visto

os

seus

amigos

conhecem

a

minha

cidade

Rum.

am

våzut

pe

prietenii

såi

cunosc

orasul

meu

In Spanish and Rumanian, the prepositions a and pe introduce the object.

Respect to tonic pronouns, Venetan, like French, does not distinguish complements and subjects (Catalan only makes difference between jo / mi):
 

It.	io		penso	a ti		tu		pensi	a me
Cat.	jo		penso	en tu		tu		penses	en mi
Ven.	mi		pènso	a ti		ti	te	pènsi	a mi
Sp.	yo		pienso	en ti		tú		piensas	en mi
F.	moi	je	pense	a toi		toi	tu	penses	a moi
Port.	eu		penso	en ti		tu		pensas	en mi
Rum.	eu		gîndesc	la tine		tu		gîndesti	la mine

Unaccented pronouns, too, show many features similar to those of Catalan, Spanish, French, Rumanian and Portuguese:
 

It.

ti

ascolto

ci

ha

parlato

di

te

ti

ascolti

Cat.

t’

escolto

ens

ha

parlat

de

tu

t’

escoltes

Ven.

te

scólto

el

ne

gà

parlà

de

ti

te

te

sculti

Sp.

te

escucho

nos

ha

hablado

de

ti

te

escuchas

F.

je

t’

écoute

il

nous

a

parlé

de

toi

tu

t’

écoutes

Port.

te

escuto

nos

tem/ha

falado

de

ti

te

escutas

Rum.

te

ascult

ne

a

spus

de

tine

te

asculti

See the Final notes.

Only in two cases, Venetan has its own forms: the indirect obj. of 3rd pers. sing/plur (ghe) and the reflexive of 1st plural (se) which is the same of the reflexive of 3rd pers. sing /plur. :
 

It.		gli	parlate			ci	guardiamo			si	guardano
Cat.		li	parleu			ens	mirem			es	miren (elles)
Ven.		ghe	parlè			se	vardémo		Le	se	varda
Sp.		le	habláis			nos	miramos			se	miran
F.	Vous	lui	parlez		Nous	nous	regardons		Elles	se	regardent
Port.		lhe	falais			nos	miramos			se	miram
Rum.		îi	vorbîti			ne	privim			se	privesc

All these languages show similar structures, respect to subordinate clauses:
 

It.		so	che		hai	mangiato
Cat.		sé	que		has	menjat
Ven.		so	che	te	ghè	magnà
Sp.		sé	que		has	comido
F.	je	sais	que	tu	as	mangé
Port.		sei	que		tens/has	comido
Rum.		stiu	cå		ai	mînîncat

However, Venetan is more regular and never omitts che but needs this particle even in the other subordinate clauses (come che / quando che / chi che…)

Italian speakers often think this is an error because they base themselves upon the Italian grammar. From a linguistic point of view, the particle che (called complementizer) is always present in the deep structure of every language, and some idioms "suppress" it when speaking:
 

It.		so	dove			hai	mangiato
Cat.		sé	on			has	menjat
Ven.		so	‘ndo	che	te	ghè	magnà
Sp.		sé	donde			has	comido
F.	je	sais	ou		tu	as	mangé
Port.		sei	onde			tens/has	comido
Rum.		stiu	unde			ai	mînîncat

Respect to auxiliaries, Italian and French use verb to be with reflexives and agree the past participle with the subject (masc./ fem./ sing./ plur). On the contrary, Catalan, Spanish and Venentan, retain the auxiliary to have:
 

It.		si	è	svegliata
Cat.		s’	ha	despertat (ella)
Ven.	la	se	gà	svejà
Sp.		se	ha	despertado
F.	elle	s’	est	reveillée
Port.		se	tem	despertado
Rum.		s’	a	trezit

No doubts, however, that some sentences can vary very much according to the language:
 

It.	Il	negozio		è	chiuso
Cat.	La	botiga		està	tancada
Ven.	La	botéga	la	xè	sarà
Sp.	La	tienda		està	cerrada
F.	Le	magasin		est	fermé
Port.	A	loja		esta	fechada
Rum.		magazinul		este	închis

And with regard to some sintactic constructions near every language follows its own rules:
 

It.	Non	ridere!		(no + inf.)
Cat.	No	riguis!		(no + Subj.)
Ven.	No	stà	rìdar(e)!	(no + aux. + inf.)
Sp.	¡No	rias!		(no + Subj.)
F.	Ne	rie	pas!	(ne + imp. + pas )
Port.	Não	rias!		(no + Subj.)
Rum.	Nu	rîde!		(nu + inf.)

Continuous actions are expressed as follow:
 

It.		state		scrivendo	molte / tante	lettere!
Cat.		esteu		escrivint	moltes	cartes!
Ven.		sì	drio	scrìvar(e)	tante / un saco de	létare!
Sp.		¡estáis		escribiendo	muchas	cartas!
F.	Vous	ètes	en train de	écrire	beaucoup de	lettres!
Port.		estais	a	escrever	muitas	cartas!
Rum.