presumably developed after 1870, as it was not present in the classical 19th century Romanesco of Belli; becomes before another consonant: , Italian "money"; in Romanesco, as in most Central and Southern Italian languages and dialects, and are always geminated where permissible: e.g. for Standard Italian "book", for "diary, agenda". the dropping of vowels at the beginning of a word when followed by a nasal consonant (m, n, gn), for example 'nzomma (Standard Italian ), 'n (Standard Italian ), 'mparà (Standard Italian ), gni (Standard Italian ). assimilation with different consonant groups. (typically a Central-Southern phenomenon) For example, turns into (Standard Italian turns into ), turns into (Standard Italian turns into ), turns into (Standard Italian turns into ). Noteworthy figures Today, Romanesco is generally considered more of a regional idiom than a true language. Classical Romanesco, which reached high literature with Giuseppe Gioachino Belli, has disappeared. External forces such as immigration and the dominance of Italian are playing a role in the transformation. Notable artists using Romanesco Ettore Petrolini, actor Elena Fabrizi, actor and cook Antonello Venditti, singer Aldo Fabrizi, actor and director Alberto Sordi, actor and director Nino Manfredi, actor Anna Magnani, actress Gabriella Ferri, singer Tomas Milian, actor Mario Brega, actor and comedian Gigi Proietti, actor, director and comedian Enrico Montesano, actor and comedian Carlo Verdone, actor and director Sabrina Ferilli, actress Trilussa, poet (Carlo Alberto Salustri's pen name) Giuseppe Gioacchino Belli, poet Cesare Pascarella, poet Lando Fiorini, actor and singer Franco Califano, lyricist, musician, Ferruccio Amendola, voice actor The anonymous writers of the Pasquinades posted on the talking statues of Rome use Italian, Romanesco or a mixture of both. See also Belli's The Sovrans of the Old World (1831) References Sources External links A description of the Roman dialect Lucio Felici, Le vicende del dialetto romanesco, in "Capitolium", 1972 (XLVII), n° 4, pp. 26–33 (it is a summary of the history of Romanesco from the origin to nowadays). Dialects of Italian Culture in Rome Languages of Vatican City City colloquials