Council for Ligurian Linguistic Heritage

Ligurian Council

DEIZE

Italian-Ligurian (Genoese) dictionary

americano

m. n.
  1. nativo o abitante dell’America

    american [ameriˈkaŋ]1

    gli americani festeggiano il 4 luglio

    i americhen festezzan i 4 de luggio

adj.
  1. dell’America

    american [ameriˈkaŋ]1

    d’America [d aˈmerika]

    merican coll. [meriˈkaŋ]

    state uscendo dal settore americano

    sei apreuvo à sciortî d’into settô american

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1. Pronunciation of plurals of words in -an

In Genoese the plural of words in -an results in -en (artexan “artisan” > artexen “artisans,” can “dog” > chen “dogs,” italian “Italian” > italien “Italians”). The pronunciation of the ending is -[ˈeŋ] (with a close vowel) in urban Genoese (hence also the spelling, compared to the “etymological” -æn); in many peripheral varieties it is -[ˈɛŋ], with an open vowel. The Genoese orthography makes it possible to represent both pronunciations through a single spelling. On pronunciation alternations in contemporary Genoese shared by the speaker community, and on their lexicographic representations (partly taken up in DEIZE), see in particular Lusito (2025, § 6).

Declensions

m. s m. p f. s f. p
american americhen americaña americañe

Bibliography

  • S. Lusito, Aspetti teorici e pratici della redazione di un dizionario genovese-italiano della lingua contemporanea. Metalessicografia di una varietà romanza di koinè, Edizioni dell’Orso, 2025