Yeah, it's a lot of words, but I thought it would be better to put them all in one place rather than in different posts, so that you have only one place where you know you can look when you need those words.
For what regards the "dialects":
-No, I can't understand Sardinian. That's actually quite strange, isn't it? I can't understand Neapolitan, either.
-Yes, a Tuscan would understand my dialect, but just because Tuscany and Emilia-Romagna are very close (Google translates this verb,
confinare, in a way I don't think is correct - what I want to say is that they touch each other) so they're kind of "used" to hearing people speaking in EML. However, I'm pretty sure they don't understand Sardinian or Neapolitan, like I do.
-As far as I know, yes, it's the same as German.
Are you really interested in Emilian (let's just call it like this, otherwise it takes hours to write the full name every time)? Well, it's mostly a spoken language, so it's difficult to write in it, that's mainly why I gave up the idea of starting an Emilian course eventually. Moreover, each province - if not each town - has its own dialect (this time I mean the official meaning dialect, but dialects of Emilian, not of Italian). Fortunately I live near Modena, the capital of my province, and also not very far from Bologna, the capital of Emilia-Romagna, so my dialect is quite standard. What I'm sure applies to all the dialects of Emilian is:
-The presence of nasal vowels indicated with <ń> after the vowel (especially in Bolognese, I've seen pages on the Emilian wikipedia where they just leave out the acute in other dialects);
-The phonemic distinction between short and long vowels, indicated with a circumflex, whereas in Italian vowel length is applied to some vowels but not distinctive;
-A strong lenition, reminding of Spanish;
-The absence of /ts/ and /dz/ but the presence of /s̪/ and /z̪/ instead (in facts, I tend to realize /ts/ as [s̪] myself; the precise Tuscan realization is [t̪s̪], so basically I leave out the [t]);
-The absence of /ʃ/ but the presence of /stʃ/ (absent in Italian) instead;
-Especially in the Romagna (Forlì-Ravenna-Rimini-eastern Bologna-eastern Ferrara) varieties of the accent, the realization of /ʃ/ as [ʂ], a thing that made them famous all around Italy, and by far the most known "speech impediment" of Emilian speakers.
Grammatically, there is a comitative case for pronouns (that comes directly from Latin: meco, teco, seco → mêg, têg, sêg) and a special feature that I call
double subject: there are two sets of subject pronouns, one tonic (mè, tè, ló...) and one atone (a, et, al). While the tonic pronouns can be implied like in Italian, the atone can't and must always be present, even if the corresponding tonic pronoun is already present in the sentence.
Most of the lexicon is derived from Italian and French (I'd say 50%-40%), where a 10% is derived from different languages like German, Celtic, Etruscan (that, as far as they tell us, had a big influence on the grammar; I don't know Etruscan so I can't but trust them), old Lombard and even old Latin (a quite famous example is
incô, today, derived from Latin
in hac die, in this day). Emilian is considered a
gallic language (Gallo-Italic), and not a romance language.
If you're interested in Emiliâń e Rumagnôl, you can find a page on the Italian wikipedia (also on the English one, but it's shorter) at the URL
http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lingua_emiliano-romagnola. Below, in the section "Dialetti", you can pick one and learn a lot about it in its dedicated page. I'm surprised how detailed those pages are myself. The writing they adopt is just one of the many varieties one can come across, but it's the one I prefer. Enjoy! ;)
Last answer: yes, we all learn the same language, although there were many proposal to teach, alongside with Italian, the local language to children, choosing the variety spoken in the provincial capital. Unfortunately it didn't happen; even if I was younger back then, I strongly agreed, as our culture is unique and our dialect is the only way to preserve it.
Back to Italian! Today it's Sunday, so a short lesson will be enough. I'll introduce the
comparatives.
As you know, adjectives (and even adverbs) can have three degrees: positive, comparative and superlative. Then, there are three comparatives (majority, minority and equality) and two superlatives (relative and absolute).
To form a majority comparative, always use the word
più, more. Introduce the second term of the comparison with
di, which will merge with articles normally.
Sono
più bello
di te. - I'm more beautiful than you.
Il mio cane è
più bello
del tuo. - My dog is more beautiful than yours.
If the two terms have different genders, the adjective must agree with the first term.
Lui è più bell
o di lei. - He's more beautiful than her.
Minority comparatives are quite rare. To form there, use the word
meno /meːno/, less.
Sono
meno bello di te. - I'm less beautiful than you.
In place of a minority comparative, you'll generally find either a majority comparative, using the opposite of the adjective, or a negative equality comparative, as in English. To form an affirmative equality comparative, there are mainly two ways: with
tanto... quanto (
tanto can be implied; lit.
much... as much), and with
come (
how, like).
Sono (
tanto) bello
quanto te.
Sono bello
come te.
Generally,
come is used with a slightly different meaning; it sounds more like a paragon thing, one you'd use in sentences like "you're beautiful just like the sun". Both forms are correct, though.
Needless to say, you can form a negative equality comparative just by negating the verb.
Non sono bello quanto te. - I'm not as beautiful as you (= I'm less beautiful).
Some majority comparatives are irregular.
Buono (good) → migliore /miʎ'ʎoːre/ (better)
Cattivo (bad) → peggiore /ped'dʒoːre/ (worse)
Bene (well) → meglio /'mεʎːo/ (better [adverb])
Male (badly) → peggio /'pεddʒo/ (worse [adverb])
Presto /'prεsto/ (soon, early) → prima (sooner, earlier)
Grande (big) → maggiore /mad'dʒoːre/ (bigger) --------> "più grande" is possible and by far more common.
Piccolo (small) → minore /mi'noːre/ (smaller) --------> "più piccolo" is possible and by far more common.
WATCH OUT! Maggiore ≠ major and minore ≠ minor! They can only be used as majority comparatives, not as positive adjectives.
Enough for today! Exercises!
Complete these comparatives. Don't forget the particles needed to introduce the second term, and watch out for articles.
1. Il mio inglese è __________ (cattivo) il tuo. - My English is worse than yours.
2. Un topo è ____________ (grande) una pantegana. - A mouse is less big than a sewer rat.
3. Erica ____ è ____________ (bella) te. - Heather is not as beautiful as you.
4. I ghepardi sono _______________ (veloci) i leoni. - Cheetahs are faster than lions.
5. Un arancio è ________________ (aspro) un limone. - An orange is less sour than a lemon.
6. Reggio nell'Emilia è __________________ (popolata) Modena. - Reggio nell'Emilia is as populated as Modena.
7. Per vincere, dovrai arrivare _________________ (presto) me. - In order to win, you'll have to arrive [to the goal] earlier than me.
8. Come stai oggi? ___________ (bene) ieri! - How are you today? Better than yesterday! (notice: IT. "how do you stay")