grammar of the dialect sanmartinese

ARTICLES

[...] Ah Maste Lé mî!... ('lluqquanne dénd 'i récchie dell'àsene che stâve spaparanzât' a 'ndèrre) e tu sènze ca rejèjje, bruttu sfaccimme ca mo' ca revejènghe facéme neccôn 'i cunde.
Mèndre l'àsene stave pe' jî e ne jî, 'a quocchie d'i cumbare ce 'ngammìnene verz 'a massarîj' e chemènzen' a parlà, a ddice e a 'qquendà, ma 'rrevâte che sònne vèrz' a 'na cèrquela grosse, sèndene d'i lamejènde ...

Articles are written in boldface. The article is the varying part of the discourse that is accompanied to the noun specifying the gender, the number and the determined sense of it (determinative article) or the indeterminate sense (indeterminate article). The article in Sanmartinese dialect (as in Italian) it is: determinative, indeterminative and partitive.

- determinate articles: 'u, 'a, 'i, l' (the)
- indeterminative articles: 'nu, 'na (a, an, one)
- partitive articles: d'i, d'a, dell' (some, any)

The initial apostrophe could indicated an apheresis of the presumed article that doesn't exist in the Sanmartinese dialect but in others of the Center-South; or it could directly derive from the apheretic forms of the demonstrative adjectives 'llu, 'lla, 'lli.

SANMARTINESE ARTICLES	presumed articles	demonstrative adjectives

'u	< lu	< 'llu
'a	< la	< 'lla
'i	< li	< 'lli

The article l' is used with both genders for the plural and singular.

- l'àrbere (the tree, trees)
- l'àneme (the soul, souls).

The indeterminative 'nu and 'na could be particular hypothetical and apheretic forms of (u)nu and (u)na (from une). In fact we say:

- una sôle (feminine revealed gender)
- unu vôte (masculine revealed gender).

They aren't properly articles but numeral adjectives or indefinite pronouns.

ART. INDETERM.	ADJ. NUMERAL	PRON. INDEFINITE

'na câse bèlle.	una câse soltande	un(a) 'a vo vedé
'nu vôte pèrze	unu vôte soltande	un(u) 'u vo vedé

From Latin numerals unu(s) and una were derived the Italian indeterminative articles and, possibly, also those dialectal 'nu and 'na. The sign of the apostrophe (indicating apheresis) it is therefore more justified.

SUMMARIZING TABLE

TYPE	FUNCTION	SANM.	ITALIAN	ENGLISH

DEFINITE	sing. m.	'u, l'	il, lo, l'	the
	sing. f.	'a, l'	la, l'	the
	pl. of common gender	'i, l'	i, gli, le	the

INDETERMINATIVE	sing. m.	'nu	un, uno	a, an, one
INDETERMINATIVE	sing. f.	'na	una, un'	a, an, one

PARTITIVE	sing. m. and f.	d'i	dei, degli, delle	some, any

EXAMPLES

ARTICLE		GENDER	SINGULAR		PLURAL

DEFINITE	{	m.	'u	câne marîte	'i	câne marîte
			'l	óme àrbere	'l	uòmmene àrbere

		f.	'a	câse vótte	'i	câse vutte
			l'	àneme âghe	l'	àneme âghe

INDETERMINATIVE	{	m.	'nu	câne marîte	the plural of the indeterminative article doesn't exist.
			n'	óme àrbere

		f.	'na	câse vótte
			n'	àneme âghe

PARTITIVE [1]

'i
m.
d'i d'i cane, d'i marite

de + 'u
d'u

d'u spaghe

de + l'
dell'
dell'acce, dell'ajje

de + 'i
f.
d'i d'i fràguele, d'i fojje

de + 'a d'a d'a corde, d'a paste

de + l' dell'

dell'acque, dell'uve

As we see on the table, the article is fundamental to know the masculine and feminine gender of nouns (when they are singular) but it don't specify the gender (when they are plural). Plural nouns have an unique form for the gender. Ex.: câse in dialect means house, houses; câne means dog, dogs [m. and f.]

[1] - We often prefers to use an adjective or an adjectival locution instead of the partitive article. Ex.: cacche, 'nu póche de, neccône de, etc...

It is used du' [and not d'u] in partitive sense. Ex.: Mo' me coce du' pesille, where du' means (besides two) a certain quantity.

By the article we can substantivize other parts of the discourse.

- Ci'ada èsse pure 'nu pecché (adverb)
- Pu jî 'nnanze ch'i ma e ch'i sé (conjunctions)
- Ce chièmbe c'u magnà? (verb)
- 'U bell' ada 'ngôre menì (adjective)

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'i	m.	d'i		d'i cane, d'i marite
de + 'u		d'u	d'u spaghe
de + l'		dell'	dell'acce, dell'ajje

de + 'i	f.	d'i		d'i fràguele, d'i fojje
de + 'a		d'a		d'a corde, d'a paste
de + l'		dell'		dell'acque, dell'uve