The Italian language in Switzerland or Swiss Italian ( it, italiano svizzero) is the
variety of the Italian language taught in the Italian-speaking area of
Switzerland. Italian is spoken natively by about 700,000 people in the canton of
Ticino
Ticino (), sometimes Tessin (), officially the Republic and Canton of Ticino or less formally the Canton of Ticino,, informally ''Canton Ticino'' ; lmo, Canton Tesin ; german: Kanton Tessin ; french: Canton du Tessin ; rm, Chantun dal Tessin . ...
, in the
southern part of Graubünden (Canton Grigioni) and in the rest of the country.
Characteristics
The presence of
calque
In linguistics, a calque () or loan translation is a word or phrase borrowed from another language by literal word-for-word or root-for-root translation. When used as a verb, "to calque" means to borrow a word or phrase from another language w ...
s from
French and
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 ...
means that there are some differences in vocabulary between the standard registers of the Italian language used in Italy and Switzerland. An example would be the words for driving licence: in Italy, it is called a ''patente di guida'' but in Swiss Italian, it becomes ''licenza di condurre'', from the French ''permis de conduire''. Another example is the interurban bus: in Italy it would be ''autobus'' or ''corriera'' but in Switzerland, it is the ''
Autopostale'' or ''posta'' since nearly all interurban lines are run by a subsidiary of the
Swiss Post
Swiss Post (french: La Poste suisse, it, La Posta Svizzera, german: Die Schweizerische Post, rm, La Posta Svizra) is the national postal service of Switzerland. A public company owned by the Swiss Confederation, it is the country's second lar ...
.
Another notable difference is the use of the word ''germanico'' to refer to German people, instead of ''tedesco''. However, as in Italy, the word ''tedesco'' is used to refer to the German language. In Italy, the word ''germanico'' is used in the same sense as the word "Germanic" in English, referring, for example, to
Germanic languages
The Germanic languages are a branch of the Indo-European language family spoken natively by a population of about 515 million people mainly in Europe, North America, Oceania and Southern Africa. The most widely spoken Germanic language, E ...
in general.
Tedesco o Germanico?
''La Repubblica
''la Repubblica'' (; the Republic) is an Italian daily general-interest newspaper. It was founded in 1976 in Rome by Gruppo Editoriale L'Espresso (now known as GEDI Gruppo Editoriale) and led by Eugenio Scalfari, Carlo Caracciolo and Arnol ...
'', 11 February 2016
Radiotelevisione Svizzera di lingua Italiana
Radiotelevisione svizzera di lingua italiana (; RSI, abbreviated as RTSI until 28 February 2009) is a Swiss public broadcasting organisation, part of SRG SSR. RSI handles production and broadcasting of radio and television programs in Italian fo ...
is the main Swiss public broadcasting network in the Italian speaking regions of Switzerland. The University of Lugano
A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...
is the major university of the Italian speaking part of Switzerland.
There are almost no vocal differences between Swiss Italian and mainland Italian. The phonology is very similar to Romansh and Lombard languages.
Examples
Some examples of Ticinese words that are different from Italian are:
As may be seen from this table, as well as the case with the driving licence described above, Swiss Italian has fewer false friends
In linguistics, a false friend is either of two words in different languages that look or sound similar, but differ significantly in meaning. Examples include English ''embarrassed'' and Spanish ''embarazada'' 'pregnant'; English ''parents'' ...
with English than standard Italian does, as calques from French in Swiss Italian match Latin-origin words in English more often than the Standard Italian words do.
See also
*Languages of Switzerland
The four national languages of Switzerland are German, French, Italian, and Romansh. German, French, and Italian maintain equal status as official languages at the national level within the Federal Administration of the Swiss Confederation, ...
*Italian immigration to Switzerland
Italian immigration to Switzerland (unrelated to the indigenous Italian-speaking population in Ticino and Grigioni) is related to the Italian diaspora in Switzerland.
History
It began on a large scale in the late 19th century, although most of t ...
*Italy–Switzerland relations
Diplomatic relations between Italy and Switzerland have traditionally been close and are currently governed by a complex set of treaties (including those with the European Union (EU), of which Italy is a member).
*Swiss French
Swiss French (french: français de Suisse or ') is the variety of French spoken in the French-speaking area of Switzerland known as Romandy. French is one of the four official languages of Switzerland, the others being German, Italian, and ...
* Swiss German
* Swiss Standard German
*Ticinese dialect
The Ticinese dialect is the set of dialects, belonging to the Alpine and Western branch of the Lombard language, spoken in the northern part of the Canton of Ticino ( Sopraceneri); the dialects of the region can generally vary from valley to val ...
References
External links
Dizionario dell'italiano ticinese, grigionese e "federale"
{{Authority control
Languages of Switzerland
Dialects of Italian
Switzerland
Italian language