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The languages of Italy include Italian, which serves as the country's
national language A national language is a language (or language variant, e.g. dialect) that has some connection— de facto or de jure—with a nation. There is little consistency in the use of this term. One or more languages spoken as first languages in the ...
, in its standard and regional forms, as well as numerous local and
regional languages * A regional language is a language spoken in a region of a sovereign state, whether it be a small area, a federated state or province or some wider area. Internationally, for the purposes of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Lan ...
, most of which, like Italian, belong to the broader Romance group. The majority of languages often labeled as regional are distributed in a continuum across the regions' administrative boundaries, with speakers from one locale within a single region being typically aware of the features distinguishing their own variety from one of the other places nearby. The official and most widely spoken language across the country is Italian, which started off as the medieval Tuscan of
Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico ...
. In parallel, many Italians also communicate in one of the local languages, most of which, like Tuscan, are indigenous evolutions of
Vulgar Latin Vulgar Latin, also known as Popular or Colloquial Latin, is the range of non-formal registers of Latin spoken from the Late Roman Republic onward. Through time, Vulgar Latin would evolve into numerous Romance languages. Its literary counterpar ...
. Some local languages do not stem from Latin, however, but belong to other
Indo-European The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the overwhelming majority of Europe, the Iranian plateau, and the northern Indian subcontinent. Some European languages of this family, English, French, Portuguese, Russian, Dutc ...
branches, such as Cimbrian (Germanic), Arbëresh (Albanian),
Slavomolisano ''Slavomolisano'', also known as Molise Slavic or Molise Croatian, is a variety of Shtokavian Serbo-Croatian spoken by Italian Croats in the province of Campobasso, in the Molise Region of southern Italy, in the villages of Montemitro (), A ...
(Slavic) and
Griko Griko, sometimes spelled Grico, is the dialect of Italiot Greek spoken by Griko people in Salento (province of Lecce) and (also called Grecanic) in Calabria. Some Greek linguists consider it to be a Modern Greek dialect and often call it ( el, Κ ...
(Greek). Other non-indigenous languages are spoken by a substantial percentage of the population due to
immigration Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents or naturalized citizens. Commuters, tourists, ...
. Of the indigenous languages, twelve are officially recognized as spoken by linguistic minorities: Albanian, Catalan, German,
Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
, Slovene, Croatian, French,
Franco-Provençal Franco-Provençal (also Francoprovençal, Patois or Arpitan) is a language within Gallo-Romance originally spoken in east-central France, western Switzerland and northwestern Italy. Franco-Provençal has several distinct dialects and is sepa ...
, Friulian, Ladin,
Occitan Occitan may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the Occitania territory in parts of France, Italy, Monaco and Spain. * Something of, from, or related to the Occitania administrative region of France. * Occitan language, spoken in parts ...
and Sardinian; at the present moment, Sardinian is regarded as the largest of such groups, with approximately one million speakers, even though the Sardophone community is overall declining. However, full
bilingualism Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolingual speakers in the world's population. More than half of all ...
(''bilinguismo perfetto'') is legally granted only to the three national minorities whose mother tongue is German, Slovene or French, and enacted in the regions of Trentino-Alto Adige,
Friuli Venezia Giulia (man), it, Friulana (woman), it, Giuliano (man), it, Giuliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_t ...
and the Aosta Valley, respectively.


Language or dialect

Almost all of the Romance languages spoken in Italy are native to the area in which they are spoken. Apart from Standard Italian, these languages are often referred to as ''dialetti'' "
dialect The term dialect (from Latin , , from the Ancient Greek word , 'discourse', from , 'through' and , 'I speak') can refer to either of two distinctly different types of linguistic phenomena: One usage refers to a variety of a language that is ...
s", both colloquially and in scholarly usage; however, the term may coexist with other labels like "minority languages" or "
vernacular A vernacular or vernacular language is in contrast with a "standard language". It refers to the language or dialect that is spoken by people that are inhabiting a particular country or region. The vernacular is typically the native language, n ...
s" for some of them. The label "dialect" may be understood erroneously to imply that the native languages spoken in Italy are "dialects" of Standard Italian in the prevailing English-language sense of " varieties or variations of a
language Language is a structured system of communication. The structure of a language is its grammar and the free components are its vocabulary. Languages are the primary means by which humans communicate, and may be conveyed through a variety of ...
". This is not the case in Italy, as the country's long-standing linguistic diversity does not actually stem from Standard Italian. Most of Italy's variety of Romance languages predate Italian and evolved locally from
Vulgar Latin Vulgar Latin, also known as Popular or Colloquial Latin, is the range of non-formal registers of Latin spoken from the Late Roman Republic onward. Through time, Vulgar Latin would evolve into numerous Romance languages. Its literary counterpar ...
, independently of what would become the standard national language, long before the fairly recent spread of Standard Italian throughout Italy. In fact, Standard Italian itself can be thought of as either a continuation of, or a dialect heavily based on, the
Florentine dialect The Florentine dialect or vernacular ( or ) is a variety of Tuscan, a Romance language spoken in the Italian city of Florence and its immediate surroundings. A received pedagogical variant derived from it historically, once called (literall ...
of Tuscan. The indigenous Romance languages of Italy are therefore classified as separate languages that evolved from Latin just like Standard Italian, rather than "dialects" or variations of the latter. Conversely, with the spread of Standard Italian throughout Italy in the 20th century, local varieties of Standard Italian have also developed throughout the peninsula, influenced to varying extents by the underlying local languages, most noticeably at the phonological level; though regional boundaries seldom correspond to
isogloss An isogloss, also called a heterogloss (see Etymology below), is the geographic boundary of a certain linguistic feature, such as the pronunciation of a vowel, the meaning of a word, or the use of some morphological or syntactic feature. Major d ...
es distinguishing these varieties, these variations of Standard Italian are commonly referred to as
Regional Italian Regional Italian ( it, italiano regionale) is any regional"Regional" in the broad sense of the word; not to be confused with the Italian endonym , for Italy's administrative units. variety of the Italian language. Such vernacular varieties and ...
(''italiano regionale''). Twelve languages have been legally granted official recognition as of 1999, but their selection to the exclusion of others is a matter of some controversy. Daniele Bonamore argues that many regional languages were not recognized in light of their communities' historical participation in the construction of the Standard Italian language:
Giacomo da Lentini Giacomo da Lentini, also known as Jacopo da Lentini or with the appellative Il Notaro, was an Italian poet of the 13th century. He was a senior poet of the Sicilian School and was a notary at the court of the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II. Gia ...
's and Cielo d'Alcamo's Sicilian, Guido Guinizelli's Bolognese,
Jacopone da Todi Jacopone da Todi, O.F.M. (ca. 1230 – 25 December 1306) was an Italian Franciscan friar from Umbria. He wrote several ''laude'' (songs in praise of the Lord) in the local vernacular. He was an early pioneer in Italian theatre, being one of ...
's
Umbrian Umbrian is an extinct Italic language formerly spoken by the Umbri in the ancient Italian region of Umbria. Within the Italic languages it is closely related to the Oscan group and is therefore associated with it in the group of Osco-Umbrian ...
, Neapolitan,
Carlo Goldoni Carlo is a given name. It is an Italian form of Charles. It can refer to: *Carlo (name) *Monte Carlo *Carlingford, New South Wales, a suburb in north-west Sydney, New South Wales, Australia *A satirical song written by Dafydd Iwan about Prince Char ...
's Venetian and
Dante Dante Alighieri (; – 14 September 1321), probably baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri and often referred to as Dante (, ), was an Italian poet, writer and philosopher. His ''Divine Comedy'', originally called (modern Italian: ...
's Tuscan are considered to be historical founders of the Standard Italian linguistic majority; outside of such epicenters are, on the other hand, Friulian, Ladin, Sardinian, Franco-Provençal and Occitan, which are recognized as distinct languages. Michele Salazar found Bonamore's explanation "new and convincing".


Legal status of Italian

Italian was first declared to be Italy's official language during the Fascist period, more specifically through the R.D.l., adopted on 15 October 1925, with the name of'' Sull'Obbligo della lingua italiana in tutti gli uffici giudiziari del Regno, salvo le eccezioni stabilite nei trattati internazionali per la città di Fiume''. The original Italian constitution does not explicitly express that Italian is the official national language. Since the constitution was penned, there have been some laws and articles written on the procedures of criminal cases passed that explicitly state that Italian should be used: *Statute of the Trentino-South Tyrol, (constitutional law of the northern region of Italy around Trento) – " .." (Statuto Speciale per il Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol, Art. 99, " .. he languageItalian ..is the official language of the State.") *Code for civil procedure – " (Codice di procedura civile, Art. 122, "In all procedures, the use of the Italian language is required.") *Code for criminal procedure – "" (Codice di procedura penale, Art. 109 69-3; 63, 201 att. "The acts of the criminal proceedings are carried out in the Italian language.") *Article 1 of law 482/1999 – "La lingua ufficiale della Repubblica è l'italiano." (Legge 482/1999, Art. 1 Comma 1, "The official language of the Republic is Italian.")


Historical linguistic minorities


Recognition by the Italian state

Art. 6 of the
Italian Constitution The Constitution of the Italian Republic ( it, Costituzione della Repubblica Italiana) was enacted by the Constituent Assembly on 22 December 1947, with 453 votes in favour and 62 against. The text, which has since been amended sixteen times, ...
was drafted by the Founding Fathers to show sympathy for the country's historical linguistic minorities, in a way for the newly founded Republic to let them become part of the national fabric and distance itself from the
Italianization Italianization ( it, italianizzazione; hr, talijanizacija; french: italianisation; sl, poitaljančevanje; german: Italianisierung; el, Ιταλοποίηση) is the spread of Italian culture, language and identity by way of integration or a ...
policies promoted earlier because of
nationalism Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: T ...
, especially during
Fascism Fascism is a far-right, Authoritarianism, authoritarian, ultranationalism, ultra-nationalist political Political ideology, ideology and Political movement, movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and pol ...
. Since 1934, Minister Francesco Ercole had excluded in fact from the school curriculum any language other than Italian, in accordance with the policy of linguistic nationalism. For the Constitutional Court of the Italian Republic, Article 6 of the Constitution represents "the overcoming of the closed notion of the 19th-century national State and a reversal of great political and cultural significance, compared to the nationalistic attitude manifested by Fascism" as well as being "one of the fundamental principles of the current constitutional system". However, more than a half century passed before the Art. 6 was followed by any of the above-mentioned "appropriate measures". Italy applied in fact the Article for the first time in 1999, by means of the national law N.482/99. According to the linguist
Tullio De Mauro Tullio De Mauro (31 March 1932 – 5 January 2017) was an Italian linguist, a professor emeritus of general linguistics at the Faculty of Humanities of the University of Rome "La Sapienza" and an Italian politician. Biography He was the you ...
, the Italian delay of over 50 years in implementing Article 6 was caused by "decades of hostility to multilingualism" and "opaque ignorance". Before said legal framework entered into force, only four linguistic minorities (the French-speaking community in the Aosta Valley; the German-speaking community and, to a limited extent, the Ladin one in the Province of Bolzano; the Slovene-speaking community in the
Province of Trieste The Province of Trieste ( it, Provincia di Trieste, sl, Tržaška pokrajina; fur, provinzia di Triest) was a province in the autonomous Friuli-Venezia Giulia region of Italy. Its capital was the city of Trieste. It had an area of and it had a t ...
and, with less rights, the
Province of Gorizia The Province of Gorizia ( it, Provincia di Gorizia, fur, Provincie di Gurize; sl, Goriška pokrajina) was a province in the autonomous Friuli–Venezia Giulia region of Italy, which was disbanded on 30 September 2017. Overview Its capital was t ...
) enjoyed some kind of acknowledgment and protection, stemming from specific clauses within international treaties. The other eight linguistic minorities were to be recognized only in 1999, including the Slovene-speaking minority in the
Province of Udine The province of Udine ( it, provincia di Udine, fur, provincie di Udin, sl, videmska pokrajina, Resian: , german: Provinz Weiden) was a province in the autonomous region Friuli-Venezia Giulia of Italy, bordering Austria and Slovenia. Its capit ...
and the Germanic populations ( Walser, Mocheni and Cimbri) residing in provinces different from Bolzano. Some now-recognized minority groups, namely in Friuli-Venezia Giulia and
Sardinia Sardinia ( ; it, Sardegna, label=Italian language, Italian, Corsican language, Corsican and Tabarchino ; sc, Sardigna , sdc, Sardhigna; french: Sardaigne; sdn, Saldigna; ca, Sardenya, label=Algherese dialect, Algherese and Catalan languag ...
, already provided themselves with regional laws of their own. It has been estimated that less than 400.000 people, out of the two million people belonging to the twelve historical minorities (with Sardinian being the numerically biggest one), enjoyed state-wide protection. Around the 1960s, the
Italian Parliament The Italian Parliament ( it, Parlamento italiano) is the national parliament of the Italian Republic. It is the representative body of Italian citizens and is the successor to the Parliament of the Kingdom of Italy (1861–1943), the transition ...
eventually resolved to apply the previously neglected article of the country's fundamental Charter. The Parliament thus appointed a "Committee of three Sages" to single out the groups that were to be recognized as linguistic minorities, and further elaborate the reason for their inclusion. The nominated people were Tullio de Mauro, Giovan Battista Pellegrini and Alessandro Pizzorusso, three notable figures who distinguished themselves with their life-long activity of research in the field of both
linguistics Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Ling ...
and
legal theory Jurisprudence, or legal theory, is the theoretical study of the propriety of law. Scholars of jurisprudence seek to explain the nature of law in its most general form and they also seek to achieve a deeper understanding of legal reasoning a ...
. Based on linguistic, historical as well as anthropological considerations, the experts eventually selected thirteen groups, corresponding to the currently recognized twelve with the further addition of the
Sinti The Sinti (also ''Sinta'' or ''Sinte''; masc. sing. ''Sinto''; fem. sing. ''Sintesa'') are a subgroup of Romani people mostly found in Germany and Central Europe that number around 200,000 people. They were traditionally itinerant, but today o ...
and Romani-speaking populations. The original list was approved, with the only exception of the nomadic peoples, who lacked the territoriality requisite and therefore needed a separate law. However, the draft was presented to the law-making bodies when the legislature was about to run its course, and had to be passed another time. The bill was met with resistance by all the subsequent legislatures, being reluctant to challenge the widely-held myth of "Italian linguistic homogeneity", and only in 1999 did it eventually pass, becoming a law. In the end, the historical linguistic minorities have been recognized by the Law no. 482/1999 (''Legge 15 Dicembre 1999, n. 482, Art. 2, comma 1''). Some interpretations of said law seem to divide the twelve minority languages into two groups, with the first including the non-Latin speaking populations (with the exception of the Catalan-speaking one) and the second including only the Romance-speaking populations. Some other interpretations state that a further distinction is implied, considering only some groups to be "national minorities". Regardless of the ambiguous phrasing, all the twelve groups are technically supposed to be allowed the same measures of protection; furthermore, the
Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities The Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities (FCNM) is a multilateral treaty of the Council of Europe aimed at protecting the rights of minorities. It came into effect in 1998 and by 2009 it had been ratified by 39 membe ...
, signed and ratified by Italy in 1997, applies to all the twelve groups mentioned by the 1999 national law, therefore including the
Friulians Friulians, also called Friulans or Furlans are an ethnolinguistic minority living primarily in Italy, with a significant diaspora community. Friulians primarily inhabit the region of Friuli and speak the Rhaeto-Romantic language Friulian, whi ...
, the
Sardinians The Sardinians, or Sards ( sc, Sardos or ; Italian and Sassarese: ''Sardi''; Gallurese: ''Saldi''), are a Romance language-speaking ethnic group native to Sardinia, from which the western Mediterranean island and autonomous region of Italy de ...
, the
Occitans The Occitans ( oc, occitans) are a Romance-speaking ethnic group originating in the historical region of Occitania (southern France, northeastern Spain, and northwestern Italy). They have been also called Gascons, Provençals, and Auvergnats.Th ...
, the Ladins etc., with the addition of the Romani. In actual practice, not each of the twelve historical linguistic minorities is given the same consideration. All of them still bear strong social pressure to assimilate to Italian, and some of them do not even have a widely acknowledged standard to be used for official purposes. In fact, the discrimination lay in the urgent need to award the highest degree of protection only to the French-speaking minority in the Aosta Valley and the German one in
South Tyrol it, Provincia Autonoma di Bolzano – Alto Adige lld, Provinzia Autonoma de Balsan/Bulsan – Südtirol , settlement_type = Autonomous province , image_skyline = , image_alt ...
, owing to international treaties. For example, the institutional websites are only in Italian with a few exceptions, like a French version of the Italian Chamber of Deputies. A bill proposed by former prime minister
Mario Monti Mario Monti, (born 19 March 1943) is an Italian economist and academic who served as the Prime Minister of Italy from 2011 to 2013, leading a technocratic government in the wake of the Italian debt crisis. Monti served as a European Commiss ...
's cabinet formally introduced a differential treatment between the twelve historical linguistic minorities, distinguishing between those with a "foreign mother tongue" (the groups protected by agreements with
Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populou ...
, France and
Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, a ...
) and those with a "peculiar dialect" (all the others). The bill was later implemented, but deemed unconstitutional by the Constitutional Court.


Recognition at the European level

Italy is a signatory of the
European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages The European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages (ECRML) is a European treaty (CETS 148) adopted in 1992 under the auspices of the Council of Europe to protect and promote historical regional and minority languages in Europe. However, the ...
, but has not ratified the treaty, and therefore its provisions protecting regional languages do not apply in the country. The Charter does not, however, establish at what point differences in expression result in a separate language, deeming it an "often controversial issue", and citing the necessity to take into account, other than purely linguistic criteria, also "psychological, sociological and political considerations".


Regional recognition of the local languages

* Aosta Valley: **French is co-official (enjoying the same dignity and standing of Italian) in the whole region (Le Statut spécial de la Vallée d'Aoste, Title VIe, Article 38); **Franco-Provençal is unofficial, but protected and promoted according to federal and regional laws. **German is unofficial but recognised in the Lys Valley (Lystal) (Le Statut spécial de la Vallée d'Aoste, Title VIe, Art. 40 - bis). *
Apulia it, Pugliese , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographic ...
: **Griko, Arbëresh and Franco-Provençal are recognized and safeguarded (Legge regionale 5/2012). *
Calabria , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...
: **
Calabrian Greek The Calabrian dialect of Greek, or Arbëresh and
Occitan Occitan may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the Occitania territory in parts of France, Italy, Monaco and Spain. * Something of, from, or related to the Occitania administrative region of France. * Occitan language, spoken in parts ...
are officially recognized and safeguarded. *
Friuli-Venezia Giulia (man), it, Friulana (woman), it, Giuliano (man), it, Giuliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_t ...
: **Friulian and Slovene are "promoted", but not recognised, by the region (Legge regionale 18 dicembre 2007, n. 29, Art. 1, comma 1); (Legge regionale 16 novembre 2007, n. 26, Art. 16). *
Lombardy (man), (woman) lmo, lumbard, links=no (man), (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , ...
: ** Lombard is unofficial but recognised as the regional language (Legge regionale 25/2016). *
Piedmont it, Piemontese , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...
: **
Piedmontese Piedmontese (; autonym: or , in it, piemontese) is a language spoken by some 2,000,000 people mostly in Piedmont, northwestern region of Italy. Although considered by most linguists a separate language, in Italy it is often mistakenly regard ...
is unofficial but recognised as the regional language (Consiglio Regionale del Piemonte, Ordine del Giorno n. 1118, Presentato il 30 November 1999); **the region "promotes", without recognising, the Occitan, Franco-Provençal, French and Walser languages (Legge regionale 7 aprile 2009, n. 11, Art. 1). *Sardinia: **The region considers the cultural identity of the Sardinian people as a primary asset (l.r. N.26/97, l.r. N.22/18), in accordance with the values of equality and linguistic pluralism enshrined in the Italian Constitution and the European treaties, with particular reference to the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages and the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities (l.r. N.26/97). All the languages indigenous to the island (Sardinian, Catalan,
Tabarchino Tabarchino is a dialect of the Ligurian language spoken in Sardinia. Tabarchino is spoken in the communities of Carloforte on San Pietro Island and Calasetta on Sant'Antioco Island, which are located in the Archipelago of Sulcis in the Provinc ...
,
Sassarese Sassarese (natively ''sassaresu'' or ''turritanu''; sc, tataresu ) is an Italo-Dalmatian language and transitional variety between Sardinian and Corsican. It is regarded as a Corso–Sardinian language because of Sassari's historic ties wi ...
and
Gallurese Gallurese () is a Romance language from the Italo-Dalmatian family spoken in the region of Gallura, northeastern Sardinia. It is sometimes considered a dialect of southern Corsican or a transitional language between Corsican and Sardinian. ...
) are recognised and promoted as "enjoying the same dignity and standing of Italian" (l.r. N.26/97) in their respective linguistic areas. *
Sicily Sicily ( it, Sicilia , ) is the list of islands in the Mediterranean, largest island in the Mediterranean Sea and one of the 20 regions of Italy, regions of Italy. The Strait of Messina divides it from the region of Calabria in Southern Italy. I ...
: **Sicilian is unofficial but recognised as the regional language (Legge regionale 9/2011). *South Tyrol: **German is co-official (enjoying the same dignity and standing of Italian) in the province of South Tyrol (Statuto speciale per il Trentino-Alto Adige, Titolo XI, Articolo 99); Ladin is the third co-official language of South Tirol *
Trentino Trentino ( lld, Trentin), officially the Autonomous Province of Trento, is an autonomous province of Italy, in the country's far north. The Trentino and South Tyrol constitute the region of Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol, an autonomous region ...
: **Ladin, Cimbrian, and Mòcheno are unofficial but recognised in (Statuto speciale per il Trentino-Alto Adige, Titolo XI, Articolo 102). *
Veneto it, Veneto (man) it, Veneta (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = ...
: **Venetan is unofficial but recognised and promoted (Legge regionale 13 aprile 2007, n. 8, Art. 2, comma 2).


Conservation status

According to the
UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...
's
Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger The UNESCO ''Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger'' is an online publication containing a comprehensive list of the world's endangered languages. It originally replaced the ''Red Book of Endangered Languages'' as a title in print after a ...
, there are 31 endangered languages in Italy. The degree of endangerment is classified in different categories ranging from 'safe' (safe languages are not included in the atlas) to 'extinct' (when there are no speakers left). The source for the languages' distribution is the Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger unless otherwise stated, and refers to Italy exclusively.


Vulnerable

* Alemannic: spoken in the Lys Valley of the Aosta Valley and in Northern Piedmont * Bavarian: South Tyrol *Ladin: several valleys, comunes and villages in the
Dolomites The Dolomites ( it, Dolomiti ; Ladin: ''Dolomites''; german: Dolomiten ; vec, Dołomiti : fur, Dolomitis), also known as the Dolomite Mountains, Dolomite Alps or Dolomitic Alps, are a mountain range located in northeastern Italy. They form pa ...
, including the
Val Badia The Val Badia ( en, Badia Valley, Ladin: ''Val Badia''; it, Val Badia; german: Gadertal) is the valley of the Gran Ega river in South Tyrol, Italy. It stretches from the Sella massif northwards to the Puster Valley. The villages in the Val Bad ...
and the Gardena Valley in South Tyrol, the
Fascia Valley The Fassa Valley ( Ladin: ''Fascia'', it, Val di Fassa, german: Fassatal) is a valley in the Dolomites in Trentino, northern Italy. As an administrative valley community (Italian: ''Comunità di valle'', German: ''Talgemeinschaft'') of Trentino, ...
in Trentino, and Livinallongo in the Province of Belluno *Sicilian: Sicily, southern and central
Calabria , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...
and southern Apulia *Neapolitan:
Campania (man), it, Campana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demog ...
,
Basilicata it, Lucano (man) it, Lucana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = ...
,
Abruzzo , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1 ...
,
Molise it, Molisano (man) it, Molisana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 ...
, northern Calabria, northern and central Apulia, southern
Lazio it, Laziale , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...
and
Marche Marche ( , ) is one of the twenty regions of Italy. In English, the region is sometimes referred to as The Marches ( ). The region is located in the central area of the country, bordered by Emilia-Romagna and the republic of San Marino to the ...
as well as eastern fringes of
Umbria it, Umbro (man) it, Umbra (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , ...
* Romanesco:
Metropolitan City of Rome Metropolitan City of Rome Capital ( it, Città metropolitana di Roma Capitale) is an area of local government at the level of metropolitan city in the Lazio region of the Republic of Italy. It comprises the territory of the city of Rome and 120 o ...
in Lazio and in some communes of southern
Tuscany it, Toscano (man) it, Toscana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Citizenship , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = Italian , demogra ...
*Venetian: Veneto, parts of Friuli-Venezia Giulia


Definitely endangered

* Algherese Catalan: the town of
Alghero Alghero (; ca, label= Alguerese, L'Alguer ; sc, S'Alighèra ; sdc, L'Aliera ) is a city of about 45,000 inhabitants in the Italian insular province of Sassari in northwestern Sardinia, next to the Mediterranean Sea. The city's name comes from ...
in northwestern Sardinia; an outlying dialect of Catalan language not listed separately by the SIL International. *Occitan Alpine Provençal: the upper valleys of Piedmont (Val Mairo, Val Varacho, Val d'Esturo, Entraigas, Limoun,
Vinai Vinai (stylizised as VINAI) is an Italian EDM production and DJ duo, formed in 2011 consisting of brothers Alessandro Vinai (born 25 January 1990) and Andrea Vinai (born 10 January 1994). Career After working on individual projects, they ...
,
Pinerolo Pinerolo (; pms, Pinareul ; french: Pignerol; oc, Pineròl) is a town and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Turin, Piedmont, northwestern Italy, southwest of Turin on the river Chisone. The Lemina torrent has its source at the boundary ...
,
Sestriere Sestriere (/se'strjɛre/) ( oc, Sestrieras, pms, Ël Sestrier, french: Sestrières) is a ski resort in Piedmont, Italy, a ''comune'' (municipality) of the Metropolitan City of Turin. It is situated in Val Susa, from the French border. Its nam ...
s) *Arbëresh: (i) Adriatic zone: Montecilfone, Campomarino, Portocannone and Ururi in Molise as well as Chieuti and Casalvecchio di Puglia in Apulia; (ii) San Marzano in Apulia; (iii) Greci in Campania; (iv) northern Basilicata: Barile, Ginestra and Maschito; (v) North Calabrian zone: ca. 30 settlements in northern Calabria ( Plataci, Civita, Frascineto, San Demetrio Corone, Lungro, Acquaformosa etc.) as well as San Costantino Albanese and San Paolo Lucano in southern Basilicata; (vi) settlements in southern Calabria, e.g. San Nicola dell'Alto and Vena di Maida; (vii) Sicilian zone: Piana degli Albanesi and two nearby villages near
Palermo Palermo ( , ; scn, Palermu , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital of both the autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan province. The city is noted for its ...
; (viii) formerly also Villabadessa in Abruzzo; an outlying dialect of Albanian *Cimbrian: vigorously spoken in Luserna in Trentino; disappearing in Giazza (part of the commune Selva di Progno) in the
Province of Verona The Province of Verona ( it, Provincia di Verona) is a province in the Veneto administrative region of Italy. On its northwestern border, Lake GardaItaly's largestis divided between Verona and the provinces of Brescia (Lombardy region) and Trenti ...
and in Roana in the
Province of Vicenza The Province of Vicenza ( it, Provincia di Vicenza) is a province in the Veneto region in northern Italy. Its capital city is Vicenza. The province has an area of 2,722.53 km², and a total population of 865,082 (as of 2017). There are 1 ...
; recently extinct in several other locations in the region; an outlying dialect of Bavarian * Corsican: spoken on Maddalena Island off the northeast coast of Sardinia * Emilian-Romagnol:
Emilia-Romagna egl, Emigliàn (man) egl, Emiglièna (woman) rgn, Rumagnòl (man) rgn, Rumagnòla (woman) it, Emiliano (man) it, Emiliana (woman) or it, Romagnolo (man) it, Romagnola (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title ...
, parts of the provinces of
Pavia Pavia (, , , ; la, Ticinum; Medieval Latin: ) is a town and comune of south-western Lombardy in northern Italy, south of Milan on the lower Ticino river near its confluence with the Po. It has a population of c. 73,086. The city was the capit ...
,
Voghera The Castle of Voghera in a 19th-century etching. Voghera ( Vogherese dialect of Emilian: ''Vughera''; Latin: ''Forum Iulii Iriensium'') is a town and ''comune'' in the Province of Pavia in the Italian region Lombardy. The population was 39,374 ...
, and
Mantua Mantua ( ; it, Mantova ; Lombard and la, Mantua) is a city and '' comune'' in Lombardy, Italy, and capital of the province of the same name. In 2016, Mantua was designated as the Italian Capital of Culture. In 2017, it was named as the Euro ...
in southern Lombardy, the
Lunigiana The Lunigiana () is a historical territory of Italy, which today falls within the provinces of Massa Carrara, Tuscany, and La Spezia, Liguria. Its borders derive from the ancient Roman settlement, later the medieval diocese of Luni, which no lon ...
district in northwestern Tuscany, the Alta Valle del Tevere district in northern part of the
Province of Perugia The Province of Perugia ( it, Provincia di Perugia) is the larger of the two provinces in the Umbria region of Italy, comprising two-thirds of both the area and population of the region. Its capital is the city of Perugia. The province covered a ...
and eastern part of the Province of Arezzo, the Province of Pesaro-Urbino in the Marche, and in a zone called Traspadana Ferrarese in the
Province of Rovigo The Province of Rovigo (''Provincia di Rovigo'') is a province in the Veneto region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Rovigo. It borders on the north with the provinces of Verona, Padua and Venice, on the south with the province of Ferrara, ...
in Veneto *
Faetar Faetar, fully known as Faetar-Cigliàje ( Italian: ) is a Franco-Provençal language that is spoken in two small communities in Foggia, Italy: Faeto and Celle di San Vito, as well as émigré communities in Ontario, Canada (primarily Toronto ...
:
Faeto Faeto ( frp, Fayéte, ) is a town and '' comune'' in the province of Foggia in the Apulia region of southeast Italy. It is a mountain village lying astride the Apennines and renowned for its prosciutto, an Italian dry-cured ham known as . Resident ...
and Celle San Vito in the
Province of Foggia The Province of Foggia ( it, Provincia di Foggia ; Foggiano: ) is a province in the Apulia (Puglia) region of southern Italy. This province is also known as Daunia, after the Daunians, an Iapygian pre-Roman tribe living in Tavoliere plain, a ...
in Apulia; a variety of Franco-Provençal not listed separately by the SIL *Franco-Provençal: spoken in the Aosta Valley (
Valdôtain dialect Valdôtain (; local dialect: ''Valdotèn'', ''Valdŏtèn'', ''Valdouhtan'') is a dialect of Arpitan (Franco-Provençal) spoken in the Aosta Valley in Italy. It is commonly known as '' patois'' or ''patoué''. Diffusion The Aosta Valley repre ...
) and the Alpine valleys to the north and east of the
Susa Valley The Susa Valley ( it, Val di Susa; pms, Valsusa; french: Val de Suse; oc, Val d'Ors) is a valley in the Metropolitan City of Turin, Piedmont region of northern Italy, located between the Graian Alps in the north and the Cottian Alps in the south ...
in Piedmont *Friulan: Friuli-Venezia Giulia except the Province of Trieste and western and eastern border regions, and Portogruaro area in the
Province of Venice The Province of Venice (''Provincia di Venezia'') was a province in the Veneto region of northern Italy. Its capital was the city of Venice. It had an area of 2,467 km2, and a total population of 846,962 (2011). The province became the M ...
in Veneto *
Gallo-Italic of Sicily Gallo-Italic of Sicily ( it, Gallo-italico di Sicilia) is a group of Gallo-Italic languages found in about 15 isolated communities of central eastern Sicily. Forming a language island in the otherwise Sicilian language area, it dates back to mig ...
:
Nicosia Nicosia ( ; el, Λευκωσία, Lefkosía ; tr, Lefkoşa ; hy, Նիկոսիա, Romanization of Armenian, romanized: ''Nikosia''; Cypriot Arabic: Nikusiya) is the largest city, Capital city, capital, and seat of government of Cyprus. It is ...
,
Sperlinga Sperlinga is a comune in the province of Enna, in the central part of the island of Sicily, in southern Italy. It is one of I Borghi più belli d'Italia ("the prettiest villages in Italy"). Geography Sperlinga is at about above sea level, o ...
,
Piazza Armerina Piazza Armerina (Gallo-Italic of Sicily: ''Ciazza''; Sicilian: ''Chiazza'') is a ''comune'' in the province of Enna of the autonomous island region of Sicily, southern Italy. History The city of Piazza (as it was called before 1862) developed d ...
,
Valguarnera Caropepe Valguarnera Caropepe (; Sicilian: ''Carrapipi'') is a ''comune'' in Province of Enna, Sicily, southern Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is locate ...
and
Aidone Aidone (Gallo-Italic of Sicily: ''Aidungh'' or ''Dadungh''; scn, Aiduni) is a town and '' comune'' in the province of Enna, in region of Sicily in southern Italy. The extensive archaeological site of Morgantina is on a ridge close to the tow ...
in the
province of Enna Enna ( it, Provincia di Enna; Sicilian: ''Pruvincia di Enna''; officially ''Libero consorzio comunale di Enna'') is a province in the autonomous island region of Sicily in Italy. It was created in 1927, out of parts of the Provinces of Caltanis ...
, and
San Fratello San Fratello (Gallo-Italic: San Frareau, Sicilian: ''Santu Frateddu'', Greek and Latin: ''Apollonia'', Medieval Latin ''Castrum S. Philadelphi''), formerly San Filadelfo, is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Messina in the ...
,
Acquedolci Acquedolci ( Sicilian: ''Acquaduci'') is an Italian town and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Messina in Sicily. Its name, that can be translated in English as "sweet waters", probably came from the fresh water springs which are part of th ...
, San Piero Patti,
Montalbano Elicona Montalbano Elicona ( Sicilian: ''Muntarbanu'') is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Messina in the Italian region Sicily, located about east of Palermo and about southwest of Messina on the Nebrodi mountains at the bord ...
, Novara di Sicilia and
Fondachelli-Fantina Fondachelli-Fantina is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Messina, Sicily, southern Italy. Situated between Novara and Francavilla di Sicilia, in the southern Peloritani mountains, it is above sea level. The community borde ...
in the
province of Messina Messina (, ) was a province in the autonomous island region of Sicily in Italy. Its capital was the city of Messina. It was replaced by the Metropolitan City of Messina. Geography Territory It had an area of , which amounts to 12.6 percent o ...
; an outlying dialect of Lombard not listed separately by the SIL; other dialects were formerly also spoken in southern Italy outside Sicily, especially in Basilicata *Gallurese: northeastern Sardinia; an outlying dialect of Corsican * Ligurian:
Liguria it, Ligure , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...
and adjacent areas of Piedmont, Emilia and Tuscany; settlements in the towns of
Carloforte Carloforte (''U Pàize'' in Ligurian, literally: ''the village, the town'') is a fishing and resort town located on Isola di San Pietro (Saint Peter's Island), approximately off the southwestern coast of Sardinia, in the Province of South Sard ...
on the
San Pietro Island San Pietro Island ( Italian: ''Isola di San Pietro'', Ligurian Tabarchino: ''Uiza de San Pé'', Sardinian: ''Isula 'e Sàntu Pèdru'') is an island approximately off the South western Coast of Sardinia, Italy, facing the Sulcis peninsula. Wit ...
and
Calasetta Calasetta ( Ligurian: ''Câdesédda'') is a small town (population 2,919) and '' comune'' located on the island of Sant'Antioco, off the Southwestern coast of Sardinia, Italy. History While the town itself dates to 1770. In the middle of the 16t ...
on the Sant'Antioco Island off the southwest coast of Sardinia *Lombard: Lombardy (except the southernmost border areas) and the
Province of Novara Novara (It. ''Provincia di Novara'') is a province in the Piedmont region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Novara. In 1992, the new Province of Verbano-Cusio-Ossola was created through the fusion of three geographical areas which had previou ...
in Piedmont * Mòcheno: Palù, Fierozzo and Frassilongo in the Fersina Valley in Trentino; an outlying dialect of Bavarian *Piedmontese: Piedmont except the Province of Novara, the western Alpine valleys and southern border areas, as well as minor adjacent areas * Resian: Resia in the northeastern part of the Province of Udine; an outlying dialect of Slovene not listed separately by the SIL *Romani: spoken by the Roma community in Italy *Sardinian, consisting of both the Campidanese (southern Sardinia) and Logudorese (central Sardinia) dialects *Sassarese: northwestern Sardinia; a transitional language between Corsican and Sardinian *
Yiddish Yiddish (, or , ''yidish'' or ''idish'', , ; , ''Yidish-Taytsh'', ) is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated during the 9th century in Central Europe, providing the nascent Ashkenazi community with a ve ...
: spoken by parts of the Jewish community in Italy


Severely endangered

*Walser German: the village of Issime in the upper Lys Valley/Lystal in the Aosta Valley; an outlying dialect of Alemannic not listed separately by the SIL. It is considered by Glottolog to be a separate language. * Molise Croatian: the villages of Montemitro, San Felice del Molise, and Acquaviva Collecroce in the
Province of Campobasso A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions outsi ...
in southern Molise; a mixed
Chakavian Chakavian or Čakavian (, , , sh-Latn, čakavski proper name: or own name: ''čokovski, čakavski, čekavski'') is a South Slavic regiolect or language spoken primarily by Croats along the Adriatic coast, in the historical regions of Dalm ...
Shtokavian dialect Shtokavian or Štokavian (; sh-Latn, štokavski / sh-Cyrl, italics=no, штокавски, ) is the prestige dialect of the pluricentric Serbo-Croatian language and the basis of its Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian and Montenegrin standards. I ...
of Serbo-Croatian not listed separately by the SIL. It is considered by Glottolog to be a separate language. *
Griko Griko, sometimes spelled Grico, is the dialect of Italiot Greek spoken by Griko people in Salento (province of Lecce) and (also called Grecanic) in Calabria. Some Greek linguists consider it to be a Modern Greek dialect and often call it ( el, Κ ...
: the
Salento Salento (Salentino: ''Salentu'', Salentino Griko: ''Σαλέντο'') is a cultural, historical and geographic region at the southern end of the administrative region of Apulia in Southern Italy. It is a sub-peninsula of the Italian Peninsula, ...
peninsula in the
Province of Lecce The Province of Lecce ( it, Provincia di Lecce; Salentino: ) is a province in the Apulia region of Italy whose capital is the city of Lecce. The province is called the "Heel of Italy". Located on the Salento peninsula, it is the second most-po ...
in southern Apulia; an outlying dialect of Greek not listed separately by the SIL. It is considered by Glottolog to be a separate language known as Apulia-Calabrian Greek. * Gardiol Occitan:
Guardia Piemontese Guardia Piemontese (Occitan: ''La Gàrdia'') is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Cosenza and the region of Calabria in southern Italy. Location and language Guardia Piemontese is located about 55 km northwest of Cosenza on th ...
in Calabria; an outlying dialect of Occitan Alpine Provençal. It is considered by Glottolog to be a separate language. * Griko (Calabria): a few villages near
Reggio di Calabria Reggio di Calabria ( scn, label= Southern Calabrian, Riggiu; el, label=Calabrian Greek, Ρήγι, Rìji), usually referred to as Reggio Calabria, or simply Reggio by its inhabitants, is the largest city in Calabria. It has an estimated popul ...
in southern Calabria; an outlying dialect of Greek not listed separately by the SIL. It is considered by Glottolog to be a separate language known as Apulia-Calabrian Greek.


Classification

All living languages indigenous to Italy are part of the Indo-European language family. They can be divided into Romance languages and non-Romance languages. The classification of the Romance languages of Italy is controversial, and listed here are two of the generally accepted classification systems.


Romance languages

proposes a classification of Romance languages of Italy based on , who groups different Romance languages according to areal and some typological features. The following five linguistic areas can be identified: * Northern (''dialetti settentrionali''): ** Gallo-Italic (Emilian, Piedmontese, Lombard, and Ligurian). ** Venetian. * Friulian. * Tuscan. * Mid-Southern (''dialetti centro-meridionali''): ** Middle (''dialetti mediani''; Central Marchigiano, Umbrian, Laziale). ** Upper Southern (''dialetti alto-meridionali''; Marchigiano-Abruzzese, Molisano, Apulian, Southern Laziale and Campanian including Neapolitan, Northern Lucano-Calabrese). ** Extreme Southern (''dialetti meridionali estremi''; Salentino, Calabrian, Sicilian). * Sardinian. The following classification is proposed by : * Northern varieties: ** Northern Italo-Romance: *** 'Gallo-Italian' (Piedmont, Lombardy, Liguria and Emilia-Romagna). *** Venetan. ** Ladin. ** Friulian. * Central and Southern: ** Tuscan (with Corsican). ** 'Middle Italian' (Marche, Umbria, Lazio). ** Upper Southern (Abruzzo, northern Puglia, Molise, Campania, Basilicata). ** Extreme Southern (Salento, southern Calabria and Sicily). * Sardinian.


Non-Romance languages


Albanian, Slavic, Greek and Romani languages


High German languages


Geographic distribution


Northern Italy

The Northern Italian languages are conventionally defined as those Romance languages spoken north of the
La Spezia–Rimini Line The La Spezia–Rimini Line (also known as the ''Massa–Senigallia Line''), in the linguistics of the Romance languages, is a line that demarcates a number of important isoglosses that distinguish Romance languages south and east of the line fr ...
, which runs through the northern
Apennine Mountains The Apennines or Apennine Mountains (; grc-gre, links=no, Ἀπέννινα ὄρη or Ἀπέννινον ὄρος; la, Appenninus or  – a singular with plural meaning;''Apenninus'' (Greek or ) has the form of an adjective, which wou ...
just to the north of Tuscany; however, the dialects of Occitan and Franco-Provençal spoken in the extreme northwest of Italy (e.g. the Valdôtain in the Aosta Valley) are generally excluded. The classification of these languages is difficult and not agreed-upon, due both to the variations among the languages and to the fact that they share isoglosses of various sorts with both the Italo-Romance languages to the south and the
Gallo-Romance languages The Gallo-Romance branch of the Romance languages includes in the narrowest sense the Langues d'oïl and Franco-Provençal. However, other definitions are far broader, variously encompassing the Occitano-Romance, Gallo-Italic, and Rhaeto-Rom ...
to the northwest. One common classification divides these languages into four groups: *The Italian
Rhaeto-Romance languages Rhaeto-Romance, Rheto-Romance, or Rhaetian, is a purported subfamily of the Romance languages that is spoken in south-eastern Switzerland and north-eastern Italy. The name "Rhaeto-Romance" refers to the former Roman province of Raetia. The ques ...
, including Ladin and Friulian. *The poorly researched
Istriot language The Istriot language () is a Romance language of the Italo-Dalmatian branch spoken by about 400 people in the southwestern part of the Istrian peninsula in Croatia, particularly in Rovinj and Vodnjan. It should not be confused with the Istri ...
. *The Venetian language (sometimes grouped with the majority Gallo-Italian languages). *The
Gallo-Italian languages The Gallo-Italic, Gallo-Italian, Gallo-Cisalpine or simply Cisalpine languages constitute the majority of the Romance languages of northern Italy. They are Piedmontese, Lombard, Emilian, Ligurian, and Romagnol. Although most publications de ...
, including all the rest (although with some doubt regarding the position of Ligurian). Any such classification runs into the basic problem that there is a dialect continuum throughout northern Italy, with a continuous transition of spoken dialects between e.g. Venetian and Ladin, or Venetian and Emilio-Romagnolo (usually considered Gallo-Italian). All of these languages are considered innovative relative to the Romance languages as a whole, with some of the Gallo-Italian languages having phonological changes nearly as extreme as standard French (usually considered the most phonologically innovative of the Romance languages). This distinguishes them significantly from standard Italian, which is extremely conservative in its
phonology Phonology is the branch of linguistics that studies how languages or dialects systematically organize their sounds or, for sign languages, their constituent parts of signs. The term can also refer specifically to the sound or sign system of a ...
(and notably conservative in its
morphology Morphology, from the Greek and meaning "study of shape", may refer to: Disciplines *Morphology (archaeology), study of the shapes or forms of artifacts *Morphology (astronomy), study of the shape of astronomical objects such as nebulae, galaxies, ...
).


Southern Italy and islands

Approximate distribution of the regional languages of Sardinia and Southern Italy according to the UNESCO's Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger: One common classification divides these languages into two groups: *The Italo-Dalmatian languages, including Neapolitan and Sicilian, as well as the Sardinian-influenced Sassarese and Gallurese which are sometimes grouped with Sardinian but are actually of southern Corsican origin. *The Sardinian language, usually listed as a group of its own with two main Logudorese and Campidanese orthographic forms. All of these languages are considered conservative relative to the Romance languages as a whole, with Sardinian being the most conservative of them all.


Mother tongues of foreigners


Standardised written forms

Although " lost all Italian dialects were being written in the Middle Ages, for administrative, religious, and often artistic purposes," use of local language gave way to stylized Tuscan, eventually labeled Italian. Local languages are still occasionally written, but only the following regional languages of Italy have a standardised written form. This may be widely accepted or used alongside more traditional written forms: * Piedmontese: traditional, definitely codified between the 1920s and the 1960s by Pinin Pacòt and Camillo Brero * Ligurian: "Grafîa ofiçiâ" created by the Académia Ligùstica do Brénno; * Sardinian: "
Limba Sarda Comuna (LSC) is an orthography for the Sardinian language, created with the aim of transcribing the many variants of spoken Sardinian, with their distinctive characteristics, in the same way, and adopted experimentally in 2006 by the Autonomous Region of ...
" was experimentally adopted in 2006; * Friulian: "Grafie uficiâl" created by the Osservatori Regjonâl de Lenghe e de Culture Furlanis; * Ladin: "Grafia Ladina" created by the Istituto Ladin de la Dolomites; * Venetian: "Grafia Veneta Unitaria", the official manual published in 1995 by the Regione Veneto local government, although written in Italian. It has been recently updated on 14 December 2017, under the name of "Grafia Veneta Ufficiale".


Gallery

File:Minoranze linguistiche it.svg, Officially recognised ethno-linguistic minorities of Italy File:Dialetti Italia 1939.png, Regional languages of Italy according to Clemente Merlo and Carlo Tagliavini in 1939 File:Linguistic_map_of_Italy.png, Languages and language islands of Italy File:Dialetti e lingue in Italia.png, Languages of Italy File:Languages spoken in Italy.svg, Main dialectal groups of Italy File:Italy - Forms of Dialect.jpg, Main linguistic groups of Italy File:Use of regional languages.png, Percentage of people in Italy having a command of a regional language (Doxa, 1982; Coveri's data, 1984)


See also

*
Bilingual sign A bilingual sign (or, by extension, a multilingual sign) is the representation on a panel (sign, usually a traffic sign, a safety sign, an informational sign) of texts in more than one language. The use of bilingual signs is usually reserved for ...
*
Language geography Language geography is the branch of human geography that studies the geographic distribution of language(s) or its constituent elements. Linguistic geography can also refer to studies of how people talk about the landscape. For example, toponymy i ...
*
Regional Italian Regional Italian ( it, italiano regionale) is any regional"Regional" in the broad sense of the word; not to be confused with the Italian endonym , for Italy's administrative units. variety of the Italian language. Such vernacular varieties and ...


Notes


References

* * * * * * *


External links


NavigAIS
Online version of the ''Sprach- und Sachatlas Italiens und der Südschweiz (AIS) (Linguistic and Ethnographic Atlas of Italy and Southern Switzerland)''


Ethnologue - Languages of Italy

Rivista Etnie, linguistica
{{DEFAULTSORT:Languages of Italy