Advances in Sociophonetics

176 Rosanna Sornicola and Silvia Calamai

The discussion will be limited here to the behavior of mid-high vowels /e/ and

/o/, both in open and in closed syllables, which diphthongize in /ai/ (/ei/) and /au/

( / ou/), respectively (cf. Freund 1933: 9 and 12; Rohlfs 1966–1969, §62 and §80).

In Rohlfs’ account of Upper Southern Italy diphthongization of mid-high

vowels a one-to-one mapping of variant and place is assumed, as it is shown in

Figures 2 and 3. This representation does not take into account the high polymor-

phism affecting each community.

a (upper Abruzzo, Marche)

ö (Matera, Pescasseroli)

i (Palena, Abruzzo)

i

ei (Lucera)

e (Molfetta)

e

ai

(a few dialects in

Abruzzo, Apulia –

Alberobello,

Canosa, Trani,

Ruvo – and

Campania – Ischia,

Procida, Pozzuoli)

(a few dialects in Abruzzo)

Figure 2. Geographical distribution of the variants of the mid-high front vowel

(source: Rohlfs 1966–1969: 84–85).

o

ou(dialects of Apulia, dialects

of Abruzzo: Barletta, Lucera,

Martina Franca, Fara

S.Martino, Palmoli)

au (Alberobello, Andria, Ruvo, Ischia,

Procida, Pozzuoli)

äu

(Trani)

(Avetrana, Bari)

Figure 3. Geographical distribution of the variants of the mid-high back vowel

(source: Rohlfs 1966–1969: 99).