Memoria e Lingua Grumentina is a collaborative project in cultural heritage preservation between Serapis, the Centro Internazionale di Dialettologia at the Universita per gli Studi della Basilicata, the Circolo Silvio Spaventa Filippi, and the University of Massachusetts Public History Program. We seek to create and preserve a digital record of Saponarese, the language of Grumento Nova, Italy. Because Saponarese is primarily an oral tradition, we use the Alphabetto dei Dialitti Lucani (ADL), which was developed by the Centro Internazionale di Dialettologia.
Marajha Bonsera is studying linguistics and foreign languages at the University of Salerno. She is an active contributor and translator for this project.
Dr. Santino Bonsera is a historian and the President of the Silvio Spaventa Filippi Cultural Center and the Basilicata Literature Award. He is a historical consultant of this project.
Ross Caputi is the principle researcher and web developer. He is a PhD student of history at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. His contributions to this project were possible due to the support of the Fulbright "Con il Sud" Award, the Dr. Charkes K. Hyde Public History Intern Fellowship, and the Marvin Ogilvie Memorial Award for Foreign Language Study.
Vittoria Caputi is a teacher, as well as a cofounder and Vice President of the Serapis Association, which organizes cultural programming and promotes tourism. She was also the first Councilwoman and female Vice-Mayor in the history of Grumento Nova. She is the main coordinator of this project.
Dr. Patrizia Del Puente is a professor of linguistics at the University of Basilicata and the Directer of the International Center for Dialectology. Her book Il dialetto di Grumento was the first to contribute a linguistic analysis of Saponarese grammar.
Antonio Lombardi is a local tour guide and native speaker consultant of this project.