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Although there is little evidence of Ligurian settlements in the area, they are widely thought to have been characterised by the Liguriansubstratum. While Legnanese is closer to the Milanese dialect, Bustocco is especially considered very similar to the modern Ligurian language, for example for the frequent unstressed [u] at the end of masculine nouns and other words is more frequent (e.g. Bustocco gatu "cat", secu "dry", coldu "hot", bücéu "glass", candu "when" = Legnanese gatt, secch, cald, bicér, quand), as well as the elimination of some intervocalic consonants (e.g. Bustocco lauà "to work" = Legnanese lavurà). In both dialects stressed /a/ sounds like a mix between a and o.
A comic theatrical group called I Legnanesi uses Legnanese (with simplified grammar and lexicon heavily based on Italian) in its shows.
"Bustocco: un dialetto ligure?" [Bustocco: a Ligurian dialect?]. Patrimoni Linguistici (in Italian). 28 August 2017. Retrieved 1 November 2018.
Marinoni, Augusto (1957). I dialetti da Saronno al Ticino. Busto Arsizio-Legnano [The dialects from Saronno to the Ticino. Busto Arsizio-Legnano] (in Italian). Rotary Club. pp. 37–50.
Giavini, Luigi (2002). Le origini di Busto Arsizio dai Liguri ai Longobardi [The origins of Busto Arsizio from the Ligurians to the Lombards] (in Italian). Nomos Edizioni. pp. 17–38.
