Bergamasque dialect

Western variant of the Lombard language
the Renaissance and early Baroque chord progression

The Bergamasque dialect is the western variant of the Eastern Lombard group of the Lombard language. It is mainly spoken in the province of Bergamo and in the area around Crema, in central Lombardy. Bergamasque has official status in the province of Bergamo, according to the Regional Law 25/2016.

Bergamasque is a Romance language and belongs to the Gallo Italic branch. Its position on the language family is genetically closer to Occitan, Catalan, French, etc. than to Italian.

Bergamasque is primarily spoken in the province of Bergamo and in the area around Crema, in central Lombardy. Bergamasque is generally mutually intelligible for speakers of Eastern Lombard's variants of neighbouring areas (i. e. from Brescia) but this is not always true for distant peripheric areas, especially in alpine valleys. Differences include either lexical, grammatical and phonetic aspects. Bergamasque is often referred to as a dialect of the Italian language; this is not correct, as Bergamasque and Italian are not mutually intelligible. Following the migrations of the 19th and 20th centuries, the Bergamo dialect was transplanted and is spoken in various communities of southern Brazil, for example in the municipality of Botuverá.

Monolingual Bergamasque speakers are now virtually non existent. All Lombard speakers also speak Italian, and their command of each of the two languages varies according to their geographical position as well as their socio economic situation, the most reliable predictor being the speakers' age.