Dizionario dell'italiano regionale di Gravina in Puglia. Inchiesta sul lessico e la morfosintassi del centro murgiano e analisi dei tratti in comune con il Salento

The following text is based on the work developed for the creation of a Dictionary of the regional Italian of Gravina in Puglia. Gravina is a town situated on the border between Puglia and Basilicata and has very ancient origins and a vast territorial extent. Thanks to its geographical position, the city act as a linguistic bridge between Puglia and Basilicata, implementing the linguistic characteristics of both areas in its own: those of the “lucani materani” dialects and those of the “apulo-baresi” dialects. This work focuses on the regional Italian from a more strictly lexical point of view. It not only highlights the major differences existing between Gravina and the neighboring zone, but also the unexpected similarities that it has with the regional Italian of Southern Puglia. This paper contains part of the undertaken research, focusing on the methodologies and the problems of data collection. It also exhibits an analysis of some “gravinesi” (and apulo-baresi) regional terms and those shared with Salento (to that end, meaning and utilization examples of these terms will be specified).