Italy language
The Italian Republic is a country belonging to Europe, whose capital is Rome. It has a population of 61 million inhabitants (23rd) and an area of 301,340 km 2 (71st). Its human development index is very high (28th) and its official currency is the euro. And what language is spoken in Italy?
What language do they speak in Italy?
Italy has one official language, Italian.
However, the Italian country enjoys a wide variety of minority languages (many of them regional autochthonous); 12 are recognized and 4 of them are co-official at the regional level since 1999:
- Albanian (arbëreshë dialect) (100,000 speakers): present in Calabria, Campania, Sicily, Molise, Basilicata, Pulla and Abruzzo.
- German (315,000): officer in South Tyrol (or Alto Aldige).
- Catalan (20,000): present in Alghero.
- Croatian (1,000): present in Molise.
- Slovene (100,000) – officer in the provinces of Trieste, Gorizia and Udine.
- French (100,000): officer in the Aosta Valley.
- Franco-Provencal (or Arpitan) (70,000): present in Aosta, Turin, Foggia, Calabria.
- Friulian (600,000): present in Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Veneto.
- Greek (Griko variety) (20,000): present in Reggio Calabria, Grecia Salentina, province of Syracuse (Sicily), province of Ragusa, Girgenti Valley.
- Ladino (31,000): officer in some parts of South Tyrol and Trento. Present in Belluno (Veneto).
- Occitan (100,000): present in Cuneo, Turin, Imperia, Piedmont Guard.
- Sardinian (1,200,000): present in Sardinia.
All these languages must have the same use on a par with Italian in the mentioned regions; they must be included in the teaching of schools and used by RAI in local broadcasts.
By regions, regional recognition is as follows:
- Apulia: Griko, Arbëreshë and Franco-Provençal are recognized.
- Sardinia: Catalan, Sardinian, Tabarquin, Sassarés and Gallurés are recognized and promoted.
- Friuli-Venezia Giulia: Friulian and Slovene are promoted (but not recognized).
- Lombardia: Lombard is recognized.
- Piedmont: Piedmontese is recognized; Occitan, Franco-Provençal, French and Walser are promoted (but not recognized).
- Sicily: Sicilian is recognized.
- South Tyrol (or Alto Aldige): German is co-official.
- Trento: ladino, cimbriano and mócheno are recognized.
- Aosta Valley: French is co-official; German is recognized.
- Veneto: Veneto is recognized.
In addition to the 12 recognized languages, Italy is home to Romance languages with more than a million speakers: Neapolitan (5.7 million), Sicilian (4.7 million), Venetian (3.8 million) and Lombard (3.6 million).
The most common immigrant languages are Romanian (798,364), Arabic (476,721), Albanian (380,361), Spanish (255,459), Italian (162,148), Chinese (159,597), Russian (126,849), Ukrainian (119,883), French (116,287).), Serbo-Croatian (87,283), and Polish (87,283).
The Italian language
Italian (lingua italiano) is the official state language, and is spoken by 95% of the population as their first language. However, the official status of Italian is not included in any article of the constitution; but this one is written in Italian. Furthermore, in art. 99 of the Trentino-Alto Adige/South Tyrol statute (it is considered a constitutional law of the country) indicates that the official language of the State is Italian.
The Italian language has distinct regional varieties (regional Italian), with phonological and lexical differences. The dialect areas closest to today’s standard Italian and its characteristics are: Tuscan dialect (base of modern Italian), Corsican, Gallurés and Sassarés (northern Sardinia) and Central Italian (Romanesque) dialects.
Share which languages are spoken in Italy.
