Il ladino e i suoi idiomi

This chapter discusses the internal divisions within the Ladin group. After pointing out the special position of Ampezzano (which belongs - from a purely internal linguistic point of view - to the Cadore varieties), I show that the rest of the Ladin area is crossed by three different lines: an older one, running from North to South and dividing Fassa and Gardena from Badia and Fodom. The second and more recent one goes from West to East and groups together Northern Ladin (Gardena and Badia) vs. Southern Ladin. Finally, the third line is circular and puts together the central vs. the peripheral varieties. The second part of the chapter discusses the phonological, morphological, syntactical and lexical properties that are peculiar to each valley, as well as the properties of one or the other subgroup (which may consist of the variety spoken just in one village or in a section of the valley). The chapter concludes with a short discussion of the recent dialectometric approach to the internal classification of Ladin.