Editing Lombardy (section)

===Languages===
{{Main|Lombard language||}}
[[File:Lombard_Language_distribution.png|thumb|[[Lombard language]] distribution in Europe:{{legend|#01987c|Areas where Lombard is spoken}}
{{legend|#01f0c4|Areas where Lombard is spoken alongside other languages ([[Alemannic German|Alemannic]], [[Ladin language|Ladin]] and [[Romansh language|Romansh]]) and areas of linguistic transition (with [[Piedmontese language|Piedmontese]], with [[Emilian language|Emilian]] and with [[Venetian language|Venetian]])}}
{{legend|#a6feee|Areas of influence of Lombard (Tridentine dialect)}}]]

[[Lombard language]] is widely used in Lombardy, in [[diglossia]] with Italian. Lombard is a language<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www-01.sil.org/iso639-3/documentation.asp?id=LMO|title=Documentation for ISO 639 identifier: LMO|quote=Identifier: LMO / Name: Lombard / Status: Active / Code set: 639-3 / Scope: Individual / Type: Living|access-date=6 February 2024}}</ref> belonging to the [[Gallo-Italic]] group within the [[Romance languages]] characterized by a [[Celtic language|Celtic]] [[linguistic substratum]] and a [[Lombardic language|Lombardic]] [[Superstratum|linguistic superstratum]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=v-ZBCgAAQBAJ&q=lombard+cluster+of+homogeneous&pg=PA130|title=Policy and Planning for Endangered Languages|last1=Jones|first1=Mary C.|last2=Soria|first2=Claudia|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]|year=2015|isbn=9781316352410|location=Cambridge, UK|pages=130|chapter=Assessing the effect of official recognition on the vitality of endangered languages: a case of study from Italy|quote=Lombard (Lumbard, ISO 639-9 lmo) is a cluster of essentially homogeneous varieties (Tamburelli 2014: 9) belonging to the Gallo-Italic group. It is spoken in the Italian region of Lombardy, in the Novara province of Piedmont, and in Switzerland. Mutual intelligibility between speakers of Lombard and monolingual Italian speakers has been reported as very low (Tamburelli 2014). Although some Lombard varieties, Milanese in particular, enjoy a rather long and prestigious literary tradition, Lombard is now mostly used in informal domains.  According to Ethnologue, Piedmontese and Lombard are spoken by between 1,600,000 and 2,000,000 speakers and around 3,500,000 speakers, respectively. These are very high figures for languages that have never been recognised officially nor systematically taught in school}}</ref> It is a [[Dialect#Dialect and language clusters|cluster of homogeneous varieties]] used by at least 3,500,000 native speakers in Lombardy and some areas of neighbouring regions, such as the eastern part of [[Piedmont]] and the southern Switzerland cantons of [[Ticino]] and [[Grisons]].<ref name=":0" /> The language is also spoken in [[Santa Catarina (state)|Santa Catarina]] in [[Brazil]] by Lombard immigrants from the [[Province of Bergamo]], in [[Italy]].<ref>Spoken in [[Botuverá]], in [[Brazil]], municipality established by Italian migrants coming from the valley between [[Treviglio]] and [[Crema, Lombardy|Crema]]. A thesis of [[Leiden University]] about ''Brasilian Bergamasque'': [https://openaccess.leidenuniv.nl/bitstream/handle/1887/52581/Thesis.pdf?sequence=1].</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Bonfadini |first=Giovanni |title=Dialetti lombardi |trans-title=Lombard dialects |url=http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/dialetti-lombardi_%28Enciclopedia-dell%27Italiano%29/ |work=[[Enciclopedia Treccani]] |language=it|access-date=8 February 2024}}</ref>

The Celtic [[linguistic substratum]] of modern Lombard and the neighbouring languages of Northern Italy is self-evident and so the Lombard language is classified as a [[Gallo-Italic languages|Gallo-Italic language]] (from the ancient Roman name for the Celts, [[Gauls]]).<ref name="auto2">{{cite book |last=Agnoletto |first=Attilio |title=San Giorgio su Legnano - storia, società, ambiente |year=1992 |id=[[Servizio bibliotecario nazionale|SBN]]&nbsp;[http://opac.sbn.it/bid/CFI0249761 IT\ICCU\CFI\0249761]|page=120|language=it}}</ref> [[Roman Empire|Roman domination]] shaped the dialects spoken in the area, which was called [[Cisalpine Gaul]] by the Romans, and much of the [[lexicon]] and [[grammar]] of the Lombard language have their origin in [[Latin]].<ref>{{cite book |last=D'Ilario |first=Giorgio |title=Dizionario legnanese |publisher=Artigianservice |year=2003 |id=[[Servizio bibliotecario nazionale|SBN]]&nbsp;[http://opac.sbn.it/bid/MIL0625963 IT\ICCU\MIL\0625963]|page=29|language=it}}</ref> However, that influence was not homogeneous<ref name="auto2"/> since idioms of different areas were influenced by previous linguistic substrata, and each area was marked by a stronger or weaker Latinisation or the preservation of ancient Celtic characteristics.<ref name="auto2"/>

The main varieties of the Lombard language are [[Western Lombard]] (spoken in the provinces of [[Province of Varese|Varese]], [[Province of Como|Como]], [[Province of Lecco|Lecco]], [[Province of Sondrio|Sondrio]], [[Province of Monza and Brianza|Monza and Brianza]], [[Metropolitan City of Milan|Milan]], [[Province of Lodi|Lodi]] and [[Province of Pavia|Pavia]]), [[Eastern Lombard]] (in the provinces of [[Province of Bergamo|Bergamo]] and [[Province of Brescia|Brescia]], in [[Crema, Italy|Cremasco]], in [[Upper Mantua]] and in the [[Province of Lecco|Lecco]] municipalities of Val San Martino), the Alpine Lombard (in [[Ticino]] and in [[Italian Grisons]], in the north of Lombardy and [[Piedmont]] and in some areas of [[Trentino]]) and the Southern Lombard, in transition with the [[Emilian language]] (in the provinces of [[Province of Cremona|Cremona]] and [[Province of Mantua|Mantua]]); in the southern part of the [[province of Mantua]] and in Casalasco (south-eastern area of the [[province of Cremona]]) Emilian language is spoken.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.archive.org/stream/saggiosuidialet02biongoog#page/n8/mode/1up|title=Saggi sui dialetti Gallo-Italici|access-date=1 July 2012|language=it}}</ref>

The Lombard language should not be confused with that of the [[Lombards]] – [[Lombardic language]], a [[Germanic languages|Germanic language]] extinct since the Middle Ages. Lombard is considered a [[minority language]] that is structurally separate from [[Italian language|Italian]] by both [[Ethnologue]] and the [[UNESCO]] ''Red Book on Endangered Languages''. However, [[Italy]] and [[Switzerland]] do not recognize Lombard speakers as a linguistic minority. Traditionally, the Lombard dialects have been classified into the Eastern, Western, Alpine and Southern Lombard dialects.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.lingualombarda.it/index.php/lingua-lombarda-lato.html |title=Lingua lombarda |trans-title=Lombard language |publisher=Circolo Filologico Milanese |website=Lingua Lombarda|language=it|access-date=6 February 2024}}</ref>