PART 1. Let’s take a break from all the recent news reports about vehicle accidents and turn to nature. In Friulian, a butterfly is identified by the feminine noun pavee. Example: lis paveis a son coloradis (butterflies are colourful). In the videoclip below, the speaker, just after the two-minute mark, describes the metamorphosis (la metamorfosi) of butterflies.
Just after the two-minute mark:
Dal ûf deponût di une pavee e nas la ruie. Cuant che la ruie e je cressude avonde, si trasforme in pupe che al è l’ultin stadi de ruie prime di deventâ crisalide, o ben cuant che si plate inte galete par completâ la metamorfosi. In cirche dîs dìs o varìn la pavee, dute colorade e sflandorose, pronte par vivi la ultime tape de sô vite.
Dal ûf (from the egg) deponût di une pavee (deposited by a butterfly) e nas la ruie (the caterpillar is born). Cuant che la ruie (when the caterpillar) e je cressude avonde (has grown enough), si trasforme in pupe (it transforms into a pupa) che al è l’ultin stadi de ruie (which is the final stage of the caterpillar) prime di deventâ crisalide (before becoming a chrysalis), o ben cuant che si plate inte galete (or when it hides in the cocoon) par completâ la metamorfosi (to complete the metamorphosis). In cirche dîs dìs (in about ten days) o varìn la pavee (we will have the butterfly), dute colorade e sflandorose (all colourful and brilliant), pronte par vivi (ready to live) la ultime tape de sô vite (the final stage of its life).
Rather than: e nas la ruie, the speaker in fact says: a nas la ruie. The unstressed subject pronoun of the feminine, third-person singular is said by many Friulians as: a, rather than: e. I leave you now with a few other sentences said by the speaker, which you can listen for in the videoclip on your own:
(i) Lis paveis di dì si ricognossin pes antenis a forme di matarusse: Daytime butterflies are recognised by their antennae in the form of a club. / The speaker in fact says: a si ricognossin, which is a variant grammatical formation.
(ii) Lis paveis di gnot a àn lis antenis a forme di pietin: Nighttime butterflies have antennae in the form of a comb.
(iii) Lis alis a son doi pârs e si doprin par svolâ in maniere lizere: There are two pairs of wings and they are used to fly lightly.
(iv) L’aparat de bocje al è formât di une trombe: Its mouth apparatus is formed of a trumpet. / In Friulian, the proboscis (la probosside, la spiritrombe) of a butterfly, which is used for sucking nectar (supâ il netar), can be called a trumpet (une trombe). This is why a musical trumpet appears, and the speaker says: no, no è migo chê! (no, not that one! {i.e., no, not that kind of trumpet}).
PART 2: Understand what the speaker says in Friulian at the beginning of this videoclip. PART 3: Understand what the speaker says in Friulian at the end of this videoclip.