VRL

Introduction

VRL (Volgar Romano Lustro, “Illustrious Roman Vernacular”) is a controlled literary language composed of various elements drawn from the vernacular historically spoken in Rome. It is not intended to be naturalistic; rather, it is deliberately artificial in its design. It does not attempt to answer the question “what if the vernacular of Rome had been adopted as the official language of Italy instead of a Florentine-based standard?”, as it significantly incorporates elements brought from both popular and literary Tuscan on Roman speech. The language itself heavily draws from major authors such as Anonimo Romano, Cristoforo Castelletti, Giuseppe Berneri, Benedetto Micheli, Giuseppe Gioachino Belli, Giggi Zanazzo, Cesare Pascarella, Trilussa and Pier Paolo Pasolini, with their major works being the Cronica, Stravaganze d’Amore, Meo Patacca, Povesie in Lengua Romanesca, Sonetti romaneschi, Usi, Costumi e Pregiudizi del Popolo di Roma, Quaranta sonetti romaneschi, Trilussa’s various works, Ragazzi di vita, and in conclusion Fernando Ravaro’s Dizionario romanesco and the Vocabolario del Romanesco Contemporaneo by Paolo d’Achille and Claudio Giovanni. The project does not establish a hierarchy among its sources: forms may be adopted from literary texts, spoken usage, or contemporary media (such as Instagram and TikTok, or street graffiti) whenever they are attested and compatible with the system, even if hapax. Some other forms may be reconstructed or speculated on the basis of irregular dialectal phenomena that become generalised in the selection or even neighbouring dialects which are historically proven to have influenced the Capital’s language (for example Perugine or Lucchese).

Here is an example sentence (“I have begun to spill the beans, although we are forbidden by our mistresses, and we must never tell it, if not to those who want to learn”, with the 1527-1528 versions originally spoken and recorded respectively) translated in sundry variants of the vernacular of the corresponding time:

XIV century

Io aio comenzato a sciogliere lo sacco, anco se simo vetate dalle noste patrone, e nollo possemo dire se nnon a chi imparamo.

About 1527-1528

Witch: Io aio cumenzato a scioiere lu sacco, de che semo vetate dale nostre patrone, e nollo possemo dire se non a chi imparamo.

Notary: Io ho comenziato ad sciogliere el sacco, benché siamo vetate dalle nostre patrone, che no lo habiamo mai a dire, se non a chi el volesse imparare.

XVIII century

Io ho cominzato a sgnaccherane, sibbè semo vetate da le nostre padrone, e no’ lo potemo dine si non a chi imparamo.

XIX century

Io ho incominciato a sgnaccherà, sibbè semo vietate da le padrone nostre, e nu lo potemo dì sinnò a chi imparamo.

2000>

Io ho ncominciato a parlà, pure se ’e padrone nostra ncio’o fanno fà, e no’o potemo dì se no a chi j’’o mparamo.

And here is a more refined version, which condenses all the previous material:

Io ajo comenzato a sgnaccherane, sibbè semo vetate da le patrone nostra, che avemollo mai a dine, sinnò a chi volessi impararesello.

where j can be read as both the archaic glide (as in “yes”) and the modern affricate (as in “joy”).