ABSTRACT
Ligurian dialects form part of the Gallo-Italian system (Ascoli (1876)), while constituting a bridgehead to central Italian (Diez (1836: 85)). Gallo-Italian features include:
fronting of *[u] (e.g., *['mulu] > [myː] ‘mule’) and subsequent developments: raising of non-palatal vowels (*[o], *[ɔ], *[a] > *[u], *[o], *[ɔ], e.g., *['ora] > ['uː(ɹ)a] ‘hour’), fronting of *[wɔ] (> [ɥœ / ɶ], e.g., *['wɔvu] > ['œ (v)u] ‘egg’);
shortening and voicing of intervocalic consonants: -tt- > [t], t > *[d] > *[ð] > 0 (e.g., rete > [ræː] ‘net’).
palatalization of C[l] clusters ([kl], [tl], [gl]): e.g., clamat > ['ʧama] ‘he calls’; Ligurian also has pl > [ʧ], bl > [ʤ], fl > [ʃ]) and of implosive [k] (e.g., *['lakte] > ['lajte, ‘laʧe] ‘milk’).
