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Information about List Of Languages Of Italy

Languages of Italy
Official languageItalian
Official regional languagesFrench, German
Officially recognised minority languagesSardinian, Friulian (Rhaeto-Romance), Occitan, Romany, Albanian, Franco-Provençal, Slovenian, Ladin, Griko, Alguerese (Catalan), Molise Slavic dialect (Croatian)
Unofficial regional and minority languagesCorsican, Sicilian, Eastern Lombard, Emiliano-Romagnolo, Insubric Lombard, Ligurian, Piedmontese, Venetian, Neapolitan, Arbëresh, Griko, Romany, Sinti
Main immigrant languageAlbanian
Main foreign languagesEnglish 29%, French 14%, German 5%Source: [1]
Enlarge picture
Map of languages and dialects of Italy
Italy currently has one national language: Standard Italian. Alongside Italian and its inevitable regional varieties are innumerable local Romance languages, many of which pre-date the establishment of Italian. Many of these languages are different enough from Standard Italian to be considered separate languages by most linguists and many speakers. Quite naturally, they are generally not standardized. Thus a distinction can be made between "dialects -- better termed varieties -- of (Standard) Italian" and "dialects and languages of Italy", the latter essentially a geopolitical term, rather than linguistic.

There are generally three groups of Italian languages: Gallo-Italian (or Northern Italian); Italo-Dalmatian (which includes Standard Italian); and Southern Romance. Sicilian is sometimes classified as Extreme Southern Italian. The linguistic frontier between Northern Italian and Italian proper is sometimes called the La Spezia-Rimini line. Other languages spoken in Italy are not closely related to Standard Italian at all.

Since Italian unification, and especially since the Second World War, the Italian language has become the primary language of most Italians and it has undergone a process of homogenisation. Education and mass media, especially television, have rendered the Italian language accessible to all Italian people. Some argue that the same phenomenon has brought about a simplification and banalisation of the language.

Besides the national language, German has official status in the Province of Bolzano-Bozen, and French in the Region of the Aosta Valley.

Languages spoken in Italy

Romance languages

Gallo-Italian

Gallo-Rhaetian

Ibero-Romance

Italo-Dalmatian

Judeo-Italian

  • Italkian (Jewish language form; term coined in the mid-20th C. Spoken by a small minority of Jews in Italy.)

Rhaeto-Romance

Southern Romance

Albanian languages

Germanic languages

Greek languages

Indo-Aryan languages

Slavic languages

See also

External links

 •  • [ e]
Languages of Europe
Sovereign statesAlbania Andorra Armenia1 Austria Azerbaijan2 Belarus Belgium Bosnia and Herzegovina Bulgaria Croatia Cyprus1 Czech Republic Denmark Estonia Finland France Georgia2 Germany Greece Hungary Iceland Ireland Italy Kazakhstan2 Latvia Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Republic of Macedonia Malta Moldova Monaco Montenegro Netherlands Norway Poland Portugal Romania Russia3 San Marino Serbia Slovakia Slovenia Spain Sweden Switzerland Turkey3 Ukraine United Kingdom Vatican City
Dependencies,
autonomies, and
other territories		Abkhazia2 Adjara1 Akrotiri and Dhekelia land Azores Basque CountryCataloniaCrimea Faroe Islands Gagauzia Gibraltar Guernsey Jan Mayen Jersey Kosovo Man, Isle of Madeira4 Nagorno-Karabakh1 Nakhchivan1 Northern IrelandScotland South Ossetia2 Svalbard Transnistria Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus1, 5 Wales
1 Entirely in West Asia; included here because of cultural, political and historical association with Europe. 2 Partially or entirely in Asia, depending on the definition of the border between Europe and Asia. 3 Partially in Asia. 4 Entirely in the African Plate, included here because of cultural, political and historical association with Europe. 5 Only recognised by Turkey.
Italian}}} 
Official status
Official language of:  European Union
 European Union
 Switzerland
 San Marino
Vatican City
Sovereign Military Order of Malta

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French (français, pronounced [fʁɑ̃ˈsɛ]) is a Romance language originally spoken in France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and Switzerland, and today by about 300 million people around the world as either
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German language (Deutsch, ] (help info ) ) is a West Germanic language and one of the world's major languages.
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Sardinian}}} 
Official status
Official language of: Sardinia
Regulated by: no official regulation
Language codes
ISO 639-1: sc
ISO 639-2: srd
ISO 639-3: variously:
srd  — Sardinian (macrolanguage)
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Friulian (  (help) or affectionately marilenghe in Friulian, friulano
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Rhaeto-Romance languages are a Romance language sub-family which includes multiple languages spoken in North-Eastern Italy and Switzerland.

Some of the varieties are:
  • Friulian: Friuli-Venezia Giulia region, Italy

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Occitan}}} 
Official status
Official language of: Officially recognised in Catalonia, Spain, as Occitan.
Regulated by: Conselh de la Lenga Occitana
Language codes
ISO 639-1: oc
ISO 639-2: oci
ISO 639-3: oci

Occitan
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Romani or Romany (native name: rromani ćhib) is the language of the Roma and Sinti. The Indo-Aryan Romani language should not be confused with either Romanian (spoken by Romanians), or Romansh (spoken in parts of southeastern Switzerland), both of which
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Albanian (gjuha shqipe IPA /ˈɟuˌha ˈʃciˌpɛ/
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Franco-Provençal (Francoprovençal) or Arpitan or Romand (Vernacular: francoprovençâl, arpitan, patouès; Italian: francoprovenzale, arpitano, dialetto, patoà
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Slovenian/Slovene}}} 
Official status
Official language of: Slovenia, European Union
Regional or local official language in: Austria, Hungary, Italy
Regulated by: Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts
Language codes
ISO 639-1: sl
ISO 639-2:
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Ladin}}} 
Official status
Official language of: none
Regulated by: The office for Ladin language planning
Ladin Cultural Centre Majon di Fascegn
Istitut Ladin Micurà de Rü
Language codes
ISO 639-1: none
ISO 639-2: roa
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Griko, sometimes spelled Grico, is a Modern Greek dialect which is spoken by people in the Magna Graecia region in southern Italy and Sicily, and it is otherwise known as the Grecanic language.
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Alguerese or Algherese is the variant of the Catalan language spoken in the city of Alghero, in the northwest of Sardinia. Catalan invaders repopulated the town after expelling the indigenous Sardinian population in 1372, following several revolts.
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In Spain: Catalonia, Valencian Community, Balearic Islands, Aragon (in La Franja), Murcia (in El Carxe). In France: Northern Catalonia. In Italy: The city of L'Alguer. In Andorra.
Total speakers: 9.
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Molise Croatian dialect (also: Molise Slavic, Slavisano, na-našo) is spoken in the Campobasso Province in the Molise Region of Italy, in three villages — Montemitro (Mundimitar), Aquaviva Collercroce (Živavoda Kruč
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Croatian}}} 
Official status
Official language of:
Burgenland (Austria)
Caraşova in Caraş-Severin County (Romania)
 Croatia
Molise (Italy)
Vojvodina (Serbia)
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Corsican}}}
Language codes
ISO 639-1: co
ISO 639-2: cos
ISO 639-3: cos

Corsican (Corsu or Lingua Corsa
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Sicilian}}}
Language codes
ISO 639-1: none
ISO 639-2: scn
ISO 639-3: scn  

Sicilian (lu sicilianu, Italian: lingua siciliana
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Eastern Lombard (occasionally also called Orobic or Transabduano) is a group of related varieties, spoken in the eastern side of Lombardy, mainly in the provinces of Bergamo, Brescia and Mantua and in the area around Crema.
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Emiliano-Romagnolo}}}
Language codes
ISO 639-1: none
ISO 639-2: roa
ISO 639-3: eml Emiliano-Romagnolo (also known as Emilian-Romagnolo) is a Romance language mostly spoken in Emilia-Romagna.
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Western Lombard is a Romance language spoken in Italy, in the Lombard provinces of Milan, Monza, Varese, Como, Lecco, Sondrio, a little part of Cremona (except Crema and its neighbours), Lodi and Pavia, and the Piedmont provinces of Novara, Verbano-Cusio-Ossola and a small
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Ligurian is a Romance language, currently spoken in Liguria, northern Italy, and parts of the Mediterranean coastal zone of France, and Monaco. Genoese (Zeneize or Zeneise) is one of the most well-known dialects, spoken in Genoa, the principal city of Liguria.
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Piedmontese (in Piedmontese: Piemontèis) is a Romance language spoken by over 2 million people in Piedmont, northwest Italy. It is geographically and linguistically included in the Northern Italian group (with Lombard, Emiliano-Romagnolo, Ligurian and Venetian).
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Venetian or Venetan is a Romance language spoken by over five million people,[1] mostly in the Veneto region of Italy. The language is called vèneto in Venetian, veneto in Italian; the variant spoken in Venice is called
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Neapolitan may refer to:
  • Neapolitan, a resident of Naples, Italy
  • Neapolitan language, a language of Naples and environs in southern Italy
  • Neapolitan ice cream, a mixture of chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry ice cream side-by-side in the same container

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Arbëresh}}} 
Writing system: Arvanitic alphabet
Latin alphabet
Language codes
ISO 639-1: sq
ISO 639-2: alb (B)  sqi (T)
ISO 639-3: aae |total population=2,000,000

Arbëresh (or Arbërishte
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Griko, sometimes spelled Grico, is a Modern Greek dialect which is spoken by people in the Magna Graecia region in southern Italy and Sicily, and it is otherwise known as the Grecanic language.
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Romani or Romany (native name: rromani ćhib) is the language of the Roma and Sinti. The Indo-Aryan Romani language should not be confused with either Romanian (spoken by Romanians), or Romansh (spoken in parts of southeastern Switzerland), both of which
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Sinti or Sinte (Singular masc.=Sinto; sing. fem.=Sintisa) is the name some communities of the nomadic people usually called "Gypsies" in English prefer for themselves. This includes communities known in German and Dutch as Zigeuner and in Italian as .
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