The Italian Language

Learn about the Italian language, grammar, vocabulary and culture

The Latin Languages of Italy

The distinction between language and dialect tends to be more political than linguistic, with every minor language classified by speakers of the official parlance of the land as being “dialect” and not worthy of consideration. In matter of fact the distinction is purely technical and does not at all have any bearing on the importance or not of any given language or dialect. A dialect is a variant of an existing language which can still be understood by speakers of the parent tongue and by speakers of other dialects of the same language. As most of the languages of Italy derive not from Tuscan, which is the standard Italian language, but directly from Latin, it follows they cannot be dialects of Italian. They are, however, sufficiently distinct from Latin not to be considered as dialects of Latin either; so they cannot be classified other than as separate languages. These, like the Italian language itself, have development parallel to Latin and many have their own dialects.
		Some of the Latin Languages, distinct from Italian, spoken in Italy

No one would dare call French a dialect! It is, as we know, a major language, spoken in France, in the west of Switzerland and in Wallonia, in Belgium. It has official status, together with Italian, in the Aosta Valley. However, it is more of an administrative and formal language, as most of the population actually uses Arpitan for in their daily lives. The Aosta Valley, formerly a province of the region of Piedmont, changed continuously between French and Italian hands over the centuries. It was first part first of Burgundy, then of Savoy, then passing into Piedmontese dominion. French was officially recognised by special statute in 1948. This allows for bilingual schooling and use of both languages in the administration.

Catalan is the the official language, together with Castilian, of Catalonia, the Balearic Islands and Valencia. The speakers in Alghero, Sardinia, are a legacy of the Aragonese invasion of the 14th century. There is a body of literature written in the language.

Sicilian can also claim to be a literary language, though of lesser importance than Tuscan. Sicilian was, incidentally, the first educated Italian language to take shape, being later supplanted by Tuscan.

Ladin (not to be confused with the Ladino spoken by the Sephardic Jews) is related to the Rhaeto-Romansh languages spoken in Switzerland and in some other provinces in Italy. There are many variants of it, Among them Romancio and Ladino-Dolomitico: It is spoken in the Dolomites, in Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol and in Friuli-Venezia Giulia.

Occitan (generally, if erroneously, known as Provençal, which is in reality the Occitan dialect of Provence, in France) is the language of Southern France, parts of Spain and Switzerland. It is best-known as the language of the troubadours. It is also spoken in Piedmont, particularly in the provinces of Cuneo and Turin.