Western Lombard and Italian
In Italian-speaking contexts, Western Lombard is often called a dialect of Italian. Western Lombard and Standard Italian are very different. Some speakers of Lombard varieties may have difficulty understanding each other and require a standard to communicate, but all Western Lombard varieties are mutually intelligible. Western Lombard is relatively homogenous (much more so than Eastern Lombard language), though it does present a number of variations, mainly in relation to the vowels /o/, /ɔ/ and the development of /ts/ into /s/.
At the present time, Western Lombard has no official status in Lombardy or anywhere else. The only official language in Lombardy is Italian.
Read more about this topic: Western Lombard Dialects
Famous quotes containing the words western and/or italian:
“It is said that some Western steamers can run on a heavy dew, whence we can imagine what a canoe may do.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“The French courage proceeds from vanity—the German from phlegm—the Turkish from fanaticism & opium—the Spanish from pride—the English from coolness—the Dutch from obstinacy—the Russian from insensibility—but the Italian from anger.”
—George Gordon Noel Byron (1788–1824)