Everyone who has been to Italy knows that this a varied country with 20 regions, each one with different traditions, cuisine and customs. But did you know that every region and even every town in Italy has a dialect?
Although Italian is the official language of Italy, it's not widely known that the country boasts some 34 spoken languages and related dialects. The majority of these languages are Romance-based, meaning that they evolved from Vulgar Latin. Most notably, these include Sicilian, Neapolitan, and Sardinian.
A dialect is usually only spoken and not written and it is used in informal contexts or from people who did not learn standard Italian. It has reached us thanks to the verbal communication of our ancestors.
The dialects are from North, Central and South Italy. The Northern dialects are Piedmontese, Emilian-Romagnol, Ligurian, Lombard, Venetian, Trentinian, Ligurian and Emilian-Romagnol and the Venetian dialects, while Ladin and Friulan are part of the Rhaeto-Romance languages.
Central Italy has the Tuscan dialect Marchigiano (central part of Marche) · Umbrian dialects (Umbria) · Sabino (L'Aquila and Province of Rieti) · Tuscia dialect (Tuscia, northern part of Latium), Romanesco or Roman dialect, and Abruzzese.
Southern Dialects include Sicilian, Calabrian, Neapolitan, and Apulian dialects. Sardinian, however, is considered a language, not a dialect. Even the Divina Commedia, a famous Italian narrative poem written by Dante Alighieri, was translated into Sardinian!
Origins of Italian
Italian has its origins in the Latin language as with all Neo-Latin idioms. However, the Italian spoken today is based on the Florentine dialect (a variety of the Tuscan language spoken in Florence) which, in the 19th century, was considered a pure language.
Alessandro Manzoni, the famous Italian writer of the 19th century, based his masterpiece Promessi sposi (The Betrothed) on Florentine as he thought that “the vocabulary of Italy couldn’t be other than that of the living florentine language”.
According to the UNESCO's Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger, there are 31 endangered languages in Italy, which include Cimbrian, Sardinian, and Friulian.
Italian Local languages
In the Northern part of Italy in Trentino Alto Adige, German is widely spoken due to its history as part of the Austro-Hungarian empire in the 19th century. It is often the first language people will address
you in when you first meet them! German is also a co-official language in South Tyrol, enjoying the same dignity and standing as Italian, as well as in Lys Valley (Lystal) where it remains an unofficial yet recognised language.
In Trentino Ladin, Cimbrian and Mòcheno are unofficial yet recognised languages in the Statuto speciale per il Trentino-Alto Adige. The regional dialect in the Veneto region, known as Venetian, is also an unofficial but recognised language.
French is another European language that has co-official status in regions of Italy. This is the case in the whole region of the Aosta Valley, while the Franco-Provençal group of dialects belonging to the Gallo-Romance are also unofficial yet protected and promoted according to federal and regional laws.
In Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Friulian and Slovene are "promoted", but not recognised by the region. Lombard is unofficial but recognised as the regional language in Lombardy.
In Piedmont, Piedmontese is also unofficial but recognised as the regional language, yet the region "promotes", without recognising, the Occitan, Franco-Provençal, French and Walser languages.
Apulia has got two languages; Griko, Arbëresh (the Albanian language spoken by the Arbëreshë people of Italy or Italo-Albanians). This language, which is part of the Albanian language, is closely related to the Albanian Tosk spoken in Albania.
In Sardinia, the region considers the cultural identity of the Sardinian people as a primary asset in relation to the Regional minorities and the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities.
All the languages indigenous to the island (Sardinian, Catalan, Tabarchino, Sassarese, and Gallurese) are recognised and promoted as "enjoying the same dignity and standing of Italian". Sicilian spoken in the autonomous region, is unofficial but recognised as the regional language of the area.
Comments