Many still call it a dialect, but Lombard is a true language, recognized and protected due to its cultural importance in a vast region that also includes our Canton of Ticino, demonstrating that languages create unity and sharing.
My father often spoke to me in Ticinese, and for me this has always been a privilege, just as I enjoy communicating in this rich language with people who share my roots.
In an age where origins and culture seem to no longer count for anything, we must react to defend ourselves, thus avoiding the risk of no longer recognizing ourselves, of no longer existing.
Speaking our local language is therefore a demonstration of high culture, not vulgarity. Moreover, in everyday speech, "our dialect," which is not a dialect, includes a vast array of words and expressions that would be impossible to express in another language.
Dante wrote the Divine Comedy in the Florentine vernacular, and so did many other poets and writers who left behind written works in the language that best allowed them to express themselves and be understood.
I consider myself a citizen of the world, and, not counting dialect, I speak five languages. Speaking dialect has never felt like a barrier to me. In fact, I've often met Milanese and Lombards abroad who were delighted to hear an expression that sounded like home.
Not to mention the number of jokes I've told in every kind of conversation: when told in Ticinese, they have a much more comical and entertaining flavour, due to the particular colour of the words that compose it.
Our Swiss-German compatriots have gone much further, making Schwitzer-German the sole language of their linguistic subdivision.
As always, we shouldn't be fundamentalists in supporting our own theories, but we can all make a small effort to prevent the decline of a historic and precious language.
