The term Lombard (or Lombardic) refers to a group of related dialects spoken in Southern Switzerland (Ticino and the Grisons) and Northern Italy (most of Lombardy and some areas of neighbouring regions).

Lombard is part of the family of Romance languages, and is related to French, Romansh, and Italian. Sometimes the word "Lombard" is used referring to an actually nonexistent common language, but different Lombard varieties may actually not be fully mutually intelligible.

Usage

Lombard dialects are used rarely in Lombardy itself, as a consequence of improved schooling in the second half of the twentieth century. The large quantity of southern-Italian immigrants quickly made it unpractical and politically incorrect to have a language that a large segment of the population could not understand; Milan is sometimes counted as the third apulian city of Italy. Use of Lombard dialects is more common among older people and in rural areas. However, almost everybody below the age of 30 has only passive knowledge, if any at all, of the dialect of his area.

Dialectal expression do survive as interjections, as for example "a mo'?", "again?", but few younger people could hold a conversation completely in Lombard.

Lombard dialects are generally not mutually intelligible with Italian, and it is sometimes claimed that Lombard and Italian belong to different branches of the Romance language family tree (respectively Western Romance and Italo-Dalmatian); however, interpretations differ and are often linked to political issues (see Lega Nord).

Characteristics

Unlike most Romance languages, many Western Lombard dialects have vowel quantity oppositions , e.g. [pa:s] 'peace' vs. [pas] 'step', [tʒa'pa:] 'taken m.' vs. [tʒa'pa] 'to take'. The use of Lombard is usually stigmatized in the Lombard-speaking areas politically belonging to Italy, while it is generally not so in the Swiss areas, where the local Lombard language varieties are generally better preserved and more vital. Some radio and television programmes in Lombard are occasionally broadcast by the Swiss Italian-speaking broadcasting company. The major research institution working on Lombard dialects is located in Bellinzona, Switzerland (CDE - Centro di dialettologia e di etnografia, a governmental (cantonal) institution). In December 2004 the CDE released the LSI, a dictionary in 5 volumes covering all the Lombard varieties spoken in the Swiss areas. This is so far the most comprehensive Lombard resource ever published (more than 4,500 pages and about 57,000 lexemes with over 190,000 spoken variants).

A major distinction is usually made between western and eastern Lombard varieties. All the varieties spoken in the Swiss areas are western, while both western and eastern varieties are found in the Italian areas. The Lombard variety with the oldest literary tradition (dating back to the thirteenth century) is that of Milan, where nowadays Milanese, the native Lombard variety of the area, has almost completely been superseded by Italian.