In Puglia, different linguistic-dialectal areas can be distinguished.
The dialects historically spoken in the current administrative region do not form a homogeneous group: those spoken in the central-northern sectors of the region fall into the intermediate southern group, while the Salento dialects, spoken in the southern part of the region, belong to the extreme southern group.
The main feature that separates the two aforementioned Apulian Italo-Romance groups is the treatment of unstressed vowels, that is, unaccented, especially in post-tonic position: in many of the upper southern dialects these undergo the well-known change into /ə/ (a vowel popularly defined as “indistinct” and usually transcribed as “e”), while this does not happen in the Salento group nor in the other dialects of extreme southern Italo-Romance.
Along the dividing line between intermediate Southern Italo-Romance and extreme Southern Italo-Romance, there may be transitional dialects such as Tarantino, but it is more likely that these (like other “hybrids” distributed here and there across the Italian peninsula) fall within one language or the other.
Finally, in Puglia there are linguistic islands of Arbëreshë, Grecanic and Franco-Provençal, which are however to be considered alloglots (i.e. non-Italic dialects).
To understand the notable differences that exist between the various areas of Puglia, this comic intervention by Pino Compagna may be useful.
Orecchiette Pasta
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