Lombard Alphabet at a Glance
- 28 letters total: 5 vowels, 7 accented vowels, and 21 consonants from Latin script
- Spoken by approximately 3.5 million people in Lombardy region of northern Italy
- Gallo-Italic Romance language closely related to Piedmontese, Emilian, and Ligurian
- Features double consonants and digraphs (ch, gh, gl, gn, sc) characteristic of northern Italian languages
- Uses accented vowels (à, è, é, ì, ò, ó, ù) to indicate stress and open/closed vowel sounds
- Recognized as regional minority language with cultural protection
- Preserves ancient Gallo-Romance linguistic features [2]
Lombard Vowel Letters
The Lombard alphabet has 5 basic vowel letters: a, e, i, o, u. Lombard vowels are pure sounds and are pronounced consistently, making Lombard pronunciation relatively straightforward.
Italian Vowels (Lowercase)
Italian Vowels (Uppercase)
Lombard Accented Vowel Letters
Lombard uses 7 accented vowel letters: à, è, é, ì, ò, ó, ù (and their uppercase forms). These accents indicate stress and help distinguish words with different meanings. The grave accent (`) is most common.
Italian Accented Vowels (Lowercase)
Italian Accented Vowels (Uppercase)
Lombard Double Consonants
Lombard uses double consonants (consonanti doppie) which significantly affect pronunciation and meaning. Examples include bb, cc, dd, ff, gg, ll, mm, nn, pp, rr, ss, tt.
The difference between single and double consonants can change word meanings entirely.
Lombard Digraphs
Lombard uses digraphs (two-letter combinations) that represent single sounds: ch (sounds like "k"), gh (hard "g"), gl (palatalised "l"), gn (like Spanish "ñ"), and sc (can be "sk" or "sh").
These digraphs are essential for proper Lombard pronunciation.
Lombard Consonant Letters
Lombard has 16 native consonant letters. The letters J, K, W, X, Y are used mainly in loan words from other languages.
Lombard consonants are generally pronounced as written, contributing to the language's phonetic nature.
Italian Consonants (Lowercase)
Italian Consonants (Uppercase)
Special Characters in Lombard
Lombard writing uses punctuation marks and symbols including period (.), comma (,), question mark (?), exclamation (!), apostrophe ('), and Lombard quotation marks (« »). The Euro symbol (€) is also commonly used.
Lombard punctuation follows similar rules to other Romance languages.
Digits in Lombard
Lombard uses the standard Arabic numerals 0–9, with Lombard number names: zero, uno, due, tre, quattro, cinque, sei, sette, otto, nove.
Like many European languages, Lombard uses a comma (,) as the decimal separator.
Complete Lombard Alphabet
The complete Lombard alphabet with all 21 letters (A-Z excluding J, K, W, X, Y) used in this Gallo-Italic language of Lombardy, Italy.
Complete Lombard Alphabet
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
The Lombard alphabet has 21 native letters, but including accented letters and foreign letters used in loanwords, there are 28 letters total: 5 vowels, 7 accented vowels, and 16-21 consonants (depending on whether you count foreign letters).
Lombard double consonants are two identical consonant letters written together (such as bb, cc, dd, ff, gg, ll, mm, nn, pp, rr, ss, tt). They are pronounced longer and can completely change word meanings. For example: "pala" (shovel) vs "palla" (ball).
Lombard digraphs are two-letter combinations that represent single sounds: ch (sounds like "k"), gh (hard "g"), gl (palatalised "l"), gn (like Spanish "ñ"), and sc (can be "sk" or "sh" sound).
Lombard is spoken primarily in Lombardy, northern Italy, San Marino, Vatican City, and parts of Switzerland. It is also spoken by Lombard communities in Slovenia, Croatia, and around the world.
Lombard is spoken by approximately 65 million native speakers and about 85 million total speakers worldwide, making it one of the major Romance languages.
References:
- [1] Unicode Consortium. "Latin Extended-B Block". Retrieved from Unicode Latin Extended-B
- [2] UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger. "Lombard Language Status". Retrieved from UNESCO Languages Atlas
Sambhu Raj Singh · 
