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- The three villages lie approximately 30 km from the Adriatic Sea and 60 km from the provincial capital Campobasso in the hilly Molisian countryside and (Acquaviva lies at 413 m above sea level) between the rivers Biferno and Trigno. They form a compact residential
area.
- They are surrounded by Italian-speaking municipalities, among which Palata, seat of the Comunitŕ Montana Monte Mauro, to which Acquaviva also belongs, is particularly important for all research on language contact. For this reason a description of the Molisian-Italian dialect of Palata is also in the making at the Chair for Slavic Linguistics of the University of Constance.
- Along with the provincial capital, the most important cities in the area are: Larino, the old seat of court, Termoli, port city and seat of the bishop, and the Abruzzian port and commercial city
Vasto.
- From a language-contact perspective, it is also noteworthy that several Albanian-speaking communities also exist in Molise. The closest one is Montecilfone, which lies directly on the border of Palata. We have planned to contrast the changes induced by contact in the Slavic and Albanian-speaking communities in Molise. A description of the verb system of
Montecilfone has already been
published.
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