178 Rosanna Sornicola and Silvia Calamai
Although the two areas show common features (e.g. a strong tendency to
diphthongize stressed vowels, an evident instability of each diphthong), apparent
differences also exist:a. Adriatic diphthongization is limited to open syllables, whereas Phlegraean
diphthongization occurs regardless of syllable structures;
b. Adriatic diphthongization is stress-sensitive (it is blocked when the word is a
proparoxytone, and sometimes when it is an oxytone; Rohlfs 1966–1969: 53–54),
whereas Phlegraean diphthongization occurs regardless of stress pattern;
c. Adriatic diphthongization involves all the vowels which are not affected by
metaphony, whereas Phlegraean diphthongization is limited to the mid (and
sometimes high) vowels.To summarize, in the Adriatic area the process appears to be more regular and to
have a more pervasive effect on the inventory, involving a high number of vowels
(including the central-low vowel) and few contexts (open syllables, paroxytones).
On the contrary, it involves a lower number of vowels and a wider range of con-
texts in most of the places of the Phlegraean area.
It is still unclear whether the Phlegrean diphthongs originated as spontane-
ous developments within the different speech communities or caused by popula-
tion mixing. Undoubtedly, there is proof of various waves of migrations from the
Adriatic coast and inner areas of Campania to the islands of Ischia and Procida.
Ancient and modern historical sources attest that there was contact between the
Phlegraean area and Apulia from ancient times up to the midpoint of the 18th cen-
tury, because of traditional fishing activities in the area, such as the cultivation of
oysters and mussels. Other sources attest demographic movements of non-exactly
specified dimensions towards the Phlegraean islands from the inland regions of
Campania and the coast of Abruzzo and Marche and even Romagna especially
from the 16th and 17th centuries onwards. A study of the documents in the Libri
delle nascite, matrimoni e morti in the Abbey of San Michele in Procida shows that
in the period 1750–1799 34 individuals overall came to the island, 20 of whom
were from the Adriatic coast; in the period 1800–1859 a total of 65 individuals
came to the island, 29 of whom were from the Adriatic coast and the rest was from
the inland regions of Campania. Significant Apulian immigration is registered in
the Libro dei Matrimoni for the period 1873–1908: out of approximately 490 mar-
riages, we find 85 in which at least one of the spouses (and in some cases both) is
of Apulian origin (compared with 50 involving people from Gaeta and 27 from
Sicilia). Trani, Alberobello, Andria, Monopoli and especially Molfetta are the cities
of origin most frequently recorded (Sornicola 2006b). Nevertheless, this does not
seem to provide sufficient evidence that in the Phlegraean dialects the diphthongs
are not an indigenous development.