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 te ...
, in its standard and
regional forms, as well as numerous local and
regional languages, 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 counterpa ...
. 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, Du ...
branches, such as
Cimbrian
Cimbrian ( cim, zimbar, links=no, ; german: Zimbrisch; it, cimbro) refers to any of several local Upper German varieties spoken in northeastern Italy. The speakers of the language are known as ''Zimbern'' in German.
Cimbrian is a Germanic ...
(Germanic),
Arbëresh (Albanian),
Slavomolisano (Slavic) and
Griko (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
A minority language is a language spoken by a minority of the population of a territory. Such people are termed linguistic minorities or language minorities. With a total number of 196 sovereign states recognized internationally (as of 2019) and ...
:
Albanian,
Catalan
Catalan may refer to:
Catalonia
From, or related to Catalonia:
* Catalan language, a Romance language
* Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia
Places
* 13178 Catalan, asteroid #1 ...
,
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ge ...
,
Greek,
Slovene,
Croatian,
French
French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to France
** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents
** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
,
Franco-Provençal,
Friulian,
Ladin
Ladin may refer to:
*Ladin language, a language in northern Italy, often classified as a Rhaeto-Romance language
*Ladin people, the inhabitants of the Dolomite Alps region of northern Italy
See also
*Laden (disambiguation)
*Ladino (disambiguati ...
,
Occitan 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 counterpa ...
, 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 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
isoglosses 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's and
Cielo d'Alcamo's
Sicilian,
Guido Guinizelli's
Bolognese,
Jacopone da Todi'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
Neapolitan means of or pertaining to Naples, a city in Italy; or to:
Geography and history
* Province of Naples, a province in the Campania region of southern Italy that includes the city
* Duchy of Naples, in existence during the Early and Hig ...
,
Carlo Goldoni's
Venetian
Venetian often means from or related to:
* Venice, a city in Italy
* Veneto, a region of Italy
* Republic of Venice (697–1797), a historical nation in that area
Venetian and the like may also refer to:
* Venetian language, a Romance language s ...
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 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 policies promoted earlier because of
nationalism
Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a in-group and out-group, group of peo ...
, especially during
Fascism
Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, ultra-nationalist political ideology and movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and political and cultural liberalism, a belief in natural social hierarchy and t ...
.
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, 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 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 th ...
) 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 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, Corsican and Tabarchino ; sc, Sardigna , sdc, Sardhigna; french: Sardaigne; sdn, Saldigna; ca, Sardenya, label= Algherese and Catalan) is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, aft ...
, 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 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. 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 and
Romani
Romani may refer to:
Ethnicities
* Romani people, an ethnic group of Northern Indian origin, living dispersed in Europe, the Americas and Asia
** Romani genocide, under Nazi rule
* Romani language, any of several Indo-Aryan languages of the Roma ...
-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, 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, wh ...
, the
Sardinians, the
Occitans, the
Ladins etc., with the addition of the
Romani
Romani may refer to:
Ethnicities
* Romani people, an ethnic group of Northern Indian origin, living dispersed in Europe, the Americas and Asia
** Romani genocide, under Nazi rule
* Romani language, any of several Indo-Aryan languages of the Roma ...
.
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's
cabinet
Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to:
Furniture
* Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers
* Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets
* Filin ...
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 populous ...
,
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
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, and ...
) 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, th ...
, 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:
**Griko, Arbëresh and Franco-Provençal are recognized and safeguarded (Legge regionale 5/2012).
*
Calabria:
**
Calabrian Greek,
Arbëresh and
Occitan are officially recognized and safeguarded.
*
Friuli-Venezia Giulia:
**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:
**
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 =
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:
**
Piedmontese 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 Pro ...
,
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 ...
and
Gallurese) are recognised and promoted as "enjoying the same dignity and standing of Italian" (l.r. N.26/97)
in their respective linguistic areas.
*
Sicily
(man) it, Siciliana (woman)
, population_note =
, population_blank1_title =
, population_blank1 =
, demographics_type1 = Ethnicity
, demographics1_footnotes =
, demographi ...
:
**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:
**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 List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international coope ...
's
Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger, there are 31 endangered languages in Italy.
The
degree of endangerment
Degree of endangerment is an evaluation assigned by UNESCO to the languages in the Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger. 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 and the
Gardena Valley in South Tyrol, the
Fascia Valley in Trentino, and
Livinallongo in the
Province of Belluno
*Sicilian: Sicily, southern and central
Calabria 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,
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 as well as eastern fringes of
Umbria
*
Romanesco:
Metropolitan City of Rome 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 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,
Pinerolo,
Sestrieres)
*Arbëresh: (i) Adriatic zone:
Montecilfone,
Campomarino
Campomarino ( Arbërisht: ''Këmarini'') is an Arbëreshë '' comune'' in the Province of Campobasso, in the Italian region Molise, located about northeast of Campobasso, and about southeast of Termoli.
The Campomarino comune includes the ...
,
Portocannone
Portocannone ( Arbërisht: ''Portkanuni'') (gate of the law) is an Arbëreshë '' comune'' in the Province of Campobasso, in the Italian region Molise, located about northeast of Campobasso.
Transportation
Portocannone was served by a railway s ...
and
Ururi in Molise as well as
Chieuti
Chieuti ( aae, Qefti) is an Arbëreshë town and '' comune'' 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 ...
and
Casalvecchio di Puglia
Casalvecchio ( aae, Kazallveqi) is an Arbëreshë '' comune'' and village in the Province of Foggia, Apulia, southern Italy. Mostly originating from a 15th-century migration of Albanians, the residents have subsisted by family farming. Of those n ...
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
Frascineto ( aae, Frasnita) is a town and '' comune'' in the province of Cosenza
The province of Cosenza ( it, provincia di Cosenza) is a province in the Calabria region of southern Italy. Its capital is the city of Cosenza. It contains 150 '' ...
,
San Demetrio Corone
San Demetrio Corone (Arbëreshë: ''Shën Mitri'') is a town and municipality in the Calabria region of Italy, at an altitude of 521 meters and with 3,387 inhabitants. The town is among the most important cultural centers of the Albanian communit ...
,
Lungro
Lungro ( aae, Ungra) is a town and (municipality) in the Province of Cosenza in the Calabria region of Italy.
Lungro is one of the most prominent centers of the Arbëreshë people and the seat of the Eparchy of Lungro. This jurisdiction of the ...
,
Acquaformosa
Acquaformosa ( aae, Firmosa) is a town and '' comune'' in the province of Cosenza in the Calabria region of Italy. Since the Middle Ages it is home to an Arbëresh minority, which is reflected in the presence of Skanderbeg's heraldic eagle in th ...
etc.) as well as
San Costantino Albanese
San Costantino Albanese ( aae, Shën Kostandinit i Arbëreshëvet) is an Arbëreshë town and '' comune'' in the province of Potenza, in the Southern Italian region of Basilicata.
Geography
San Costantino Albanese sits on a hilltop overlooking t ...
and San Paolo Lucano in southern Basilicata; (vi) settlements in southern Calabria, e.g.
San Nicola dell'Alto
San Nicola dell'Alto ( aae, Shën Koll) is a village and '' comune'' (municipality) in the province of Crotone, in the Calabria region of southern Italy. It is an Arbëreshë Arbën/Arbër, from which derived Arbënesh/Arbëresh originally meant ...
and Vena di Maida; (vii) Sicilian zone:
Piana degli Albanesi and two nearby villages near
Palermo; (viii) formerly also Villabadessa in Abruzzo; an outlying dialect of Albanian
*Cimbrian: vigorously spoken in
Luserna
Luserna ( Cimbrian: ''Lusérn'', german: Lusern) is a '' comune'' (municipality) in Trentino in the northern Italian region Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol, located about southeast of Trento. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 284 and ...
in Trentino; disappearing in Giazza (part of the commune
Selva di Progno) in the
Province of Verona and in
Roana
Roana ( Cimbrian: ''Robàan'') is a commune in the province of Vicenza, Veneto, Italy. It is west of SP249 road.
The commune consists of six villages or ''frazioni'', spread over a total area of 7,838 hectares: Camporovere, Canove, Cesuna, Mezza ...
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 a ...
; 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
Emilian-Romagnol is a linguistic continuum part of the Gallo-Romance languages spoken in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna. It is divided into two main varieties: Emilian and Romagnol.
While first registered under a single code ...
:
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 ...
,
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, ...
, 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 Eur ...
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 long ...
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 ...
and eastern part of the
Province of Arezzo, the
Province of Pesaro-Urbino
The Province of Pesaro and Urbino ( it, Provincia di Pesaro e Urbino, ) is a province in the Marche region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Pesaro. It also borders the state of San Marino. The province is surrounded by San Marino and E ...
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:
Faeto and
Celle San Vito in the
Province of Foggia 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 rep ...
) 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 so ...
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 in Veneto
*
Gallo-Italic of Sicily:
Nicosia,
Sperlinga,
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) develop ...
,
Valguarnera Caropepe 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 town.
...
in the
province of Enna, and
San Fratello,
Acquedolci,
San Piero Patti
San Piero Patti ( Sicilian: ''San Pieru Patti'') 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.
San Piero Patti borders the follo ...
,
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 bor ...
,
Novara di Sicilia and
Fondachelli-Fantina 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 percen ...
; 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
Liguria (; lij, Ligûria ; french: Ligurie) is a Regions of Italy, region of north-western Italy; its Capital city, capital is Genoa. Its territory is crossed by the Alps and the Apennine Mountains, Apennines Mountain chain, mountain range and is ...
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 Sar ...
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. ...
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 16th ...
on the Sant'Antioco Island off the southwest coast of Sardinia
*Lombard: Lombardy (except the southernmost border areas) and the
Province of Novara in Piedmont
*
Mòcheno:
Palù
Palù is a '' comune'' 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 t ...
,
Fierozzo
Fierozzo ( Mócheno: ''Vlarotz'') is a '' comune'' (municipality) in Trentino in the northern Italian region Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol, located about northeast of Trento. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 456 and an area of .A ...
and
Frassilongo
Frassilongo ( Mocheno: ''Garait'') is a '' comune'' (municipality) in Trentino in the northern Italian region Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol, located about east of Trento. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 354 and an area of .All d ...
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
Campidanese Sardinian ( sc, sardu campidanesu, it, sardo campidanese) is one of the two written standards of the Sardinian language, which is often considered one of the most, if not the most conservative of all the Romance languages. The ort ...
(southern Sardinia) and
Logudorese (central Sardinia) dialects
*Sassarese: northwestern Sardinia; a transitional language between Corsican and Sardinian
*
Yiddish: spoken by parts of the
Jewish community in Italy
Severely endangered
*Walser German: the village of
Issime
Issime ( Issime wae, Éischeme; german: Einsimmen; Valdôtain: (locally )Obsolete. Recent works in German indicate the official French name only - cfLiederbuch von Gressoney und Issime and Peter Zürrer, ''Sprachkontakt in Walser Dialekten: Gre ...
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 ou ...
in southern Molise; a mixed
Chakavian–
Shtokavian dialect of
Serbo-Croatian
Serbo-Croatian () – also called Serbo-Croat (), Serbo-Croat-Bosnian (SCB), Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian (BCS), and Bosnian-Croatian-Montenegrin-Serbian (BCMS) – is a South Slavic language and the primary language of Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia an ...
not listed separately by the SIL. It is considered by Glottolog to be a separate language.
*
Griko: the
Salento peninsula in the
Province of Lecce 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 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 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, which runs through the northern
Apennine Mountains 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
The Italo-Dalmatian languages, or Central Romance languages, are a group of Romance languages spoken in Italy, Corsica ( France), and formerly in Dalmatia ( Croatia).
Italo-Dalmatian can be split into:Hammarström, Harald & Forkel, Robert & ...
to the south and the
Gallo-Romance languages to the northwest.
One common classification divides these languages into four groups:
*The Italian
Rhaeto-Romance languages, including Ladin and Friulian.
*The poorly researched
Istriot language.
*The Venetian language (sometimes grouped with the majority Gallo-Italian languages).
*The
Gallo-Italian languages, 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).
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" 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 Bellunese Institution to study and preserve the Ladin culture in 35 municipalities of Agordino, Cadore
Cadore (; lld, Ciadòre; vec, italic=yes, Cadór or, rarely, ''Cadòria''; german: italic=yes, Cadober or ''Kadober''; Sappada German: ''Kad ...
;
* 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
*
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 ...
*
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 ItalyRivista Etnie, linguistica
{{DEFAULTSORT:Languages of Italy