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Italian language

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Romance language
This article is about the Italian language. For the regional varieties of standard Italian, seeRegional Italian.
"Italiano" redirects here. For other uses, seeItaliano (disambiguation).

Italian
italiano,lingua italiana
Pronunciation[itaˈljaːno]
Native to
EthnicityItalians
SpeakersL1: 65 million (2022)[1]
L2: 3.1 million[1]
Total: 68 million[1]
Early forms
Dialects
Latin script (Italian alphabet)
Italian Braille
Italiano segnato "(Signed Italian)"[2]
italiano segnato esatto "(Signed Exact Italian)"[3]
Official status
Official language in


Recognised minority
language in
Regulated byAccademia della Crusca (de facto)
Language codes
ISO 639-1it
ISO 639-2ita
ISO 639-3ita
Glottologital1282
Linguasphere51-AAA-q
Geographical distribution of the Italian language in the world:
  Areas where it is the majority language
  Areas where it is a minority language or where it was the majority in the past
  Areas where Italian-speaking communities are present
This article containsIPA phonetic symbols. Without properrendering support, you may seequestion marks, boxes, or other symbols instead ofUnicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, seeHelp:IPA.
This article is part ofthe series on the
Italian language
History
Literature and other
Grammar
Alphabet
Phonology

Italian (italiano,pronounced[itaˈljaːno], orlingua italiana,pronounced[ˈliŋɡwaitaˈljaːna]) is aRomance language of theIndo-European language family that evolved from theColloquial Latin of theRoman Empire.[6] Italian is the least divergent language fromLatin, together withSardinian (meaning that Italian and Sardinian are the mostconservative Romance languages).[7][8][9][10] Spoken by about 85 million people, including 67 million native speakers (2024), Italian statistically ranks 21st as the most spoken language in the world, but depending on the year it ranks fourth or fifth as the most studied cultural language, especially in higher cultural institutes, academies, and universities.[11][12][13]

Italian is an official language inItaly,San Marino,Switzerland (Ticino and theGrisons), andVatican City; it has official minority status inCroatia,Slovenian Istria,Romania,[5][14]Bosnia and Herzegovina,[5] and the municipalities ofSanta Tereza,Encantado, andVenda Nova do Imigrante inBrazil.[15][16] Italian is also spoken by largeimmigrant and expatriate communities in theAmericas andAustralia.[1] Some speakers of Italian are native bilinguals of both Italian (either in its standard form orregional varieties) and alocal language of Italy, most frequently the language spoken at home in their place of origin.[1]

Italian is a majorlanguage in Europe, being one of the official languages of theOrganization for Security and Co-operation in Europe and one of the working languages of theCouncil of Europe. It is the third-most-widely spoken nativelanguage in the European Union (13% of the EU population) and it is spoken as a second language by 13.4 million EU citizens (3%).[17][18][19] Including Italian speakers in non-EU European countries (such as Switzerland,Albania,Monaco, and theUnited Kingdom) and on other continents, the total number of speakers is approximately 85 million.[20] Italian is the main working language of theHoly See, serving as thelingua franca (common language) in theRoman Catholic hierarchy and the official language of theSovereign Military Order of Malta. Italian has a significant use inmusical terminology andopera with numerous Italian words referring to music that have become international terms taken into various languages worldwide.[21] Almost all native Italian words end withvowels, and the language has a 7-vowelsound system ('e' and 'o' have mid-low and mid-high sounds).[22] Italian has contrast between short andlong consonants andgemination (doubling) of consonants.

History

[edit]
"History of Italian" redirects here. For the history of the Italian people, seeItalians. For the history of the Italian culture, seeculture of Italy.

Origins

[edit]
The Veronese Riddle (c. 8th or early 9th century), a riddle reflecting either a form of Medieval Latin or the earliest extant example of a vernacular Romance language in Italy

The Italian language has developed through a long and slow process, which began after theWestern Roman Empire's fall and the onset of theMiddle Ages in the 5th century.[23]

Latin, the predominant language of the western Roman Empire, remained the established written language in Europe during the Middle Ages, although most people were illiterate. Over centuries, theVulgar Latin popularly spoken in various areas of Europe—including theItalian Peninsula—evolved into local varieties, or dialects, unaffected by formal standards and teachings. These varieties are not in any sense "dialects" of standard Italian, which itself started off as one of these local tongues, butsister languages of Italian.[24][25]

The linguistic and historical demarcations between late Vulgar Latin and early Romance varieties in Italy are imprecise. The earliest surviving texts that can definitely be called vernacular (as distinct from its predecessor Vulgar Latin) are legal formulae known as thePlaciti Cassinesi from theprovince of Benevento that date from 960 to 963, although theVeronese Riddle, probably from the 8th or early 9th century, contains a late form of Vulgar Latin that can be seen as a very early sample of a vernacular dialect of Italy.[26] TheCommodilla catacomb inscription likewise probably dates to the early 9th century and appears to reflect a language somewhere between late Vulgar Latin and early vernacular.

Six Tuscan Poets, byGiorgio Vasari (1544). From left to right:Cristoforo Landino,Marsilio Ficino,Francesco Petrarca,Giovanni Boccaccio,Dante Alighieri, andGuido Cavalcanti. Dante, Boccaccio, and Petrarca were influential in establishing theirTuscan dialect as the most prominent literary language in all of Italy in theLate Middle Ages.[27]

The language that came to be thought of as Italian developed in central Tuscany and was first formalized in the early 14th century through the works of Tuscan writerDante Alighieri, written in his nativeFlorentine. Dante'sepic poems, known collectively as theCommedia, to which another Tuscan poetGiovanni Boccaccio later affixed the titleDivina, were read throughout the Italian peninsula. His written vernacular became the touchstone for elaborating a "canonical standard" that all educated Italians could understand. The poetry ofPetrarch was also widely admired and influential in the development of the literary language, and would be identified as a model for vernacular writing by Pietro Bembo in the 16th century.

In addition to the widespread exposure gained through literature, Florentine also gained prestige due to the political and cultural significance of Florence at the time and the fact that it was linguistically a middle way between the northern and the southern Italian dialects.

Italian was progressively made an official language of most of the Italian states predating unification, slowly replacing Latin, even when ruled by foreign powers (such as Spain in theKingdom of Naples, or Austria in theKingdom of Lombardy–Venetia), although the masses kept speaking primarily their local vernaculars. Italian was also one of the many recognised languages in theAustro-Hungarian Empire.

Italy has always had a distinctive dialect for each city because the cities, until recently, were thought of ascity-states. Those dialects now have considerablevariety. As Tuscan-derived Italian came to be used throughout Italy, features of local speech were naturally adopted, producing various versions ofRegional Italian. The most characteristic differences, for instance, betweenRoman Italian andMilanese Italian aresyntactic gemination of initialconsonants in some contexts and the pronunciation of stressed "e", and of "s" between vowels in many words: e.g.va bene "all right" is pronounced[vabˈbɛːne] by a Roman (and by any standard Italian speaker),[vaˈbeːne] by a Milanese (and by any speaker whose native dialect lies to the north of theLa Spezia–Rimini Line);a casa "at home" is[akˈkaːsa] for Roman,[akˈkaːsa] or[akˈkaːza] for standard,[aˈkaːza] for Milanese and generally northern.[28]

In contrast to theGallo-Italic linguistic panorama of northern Italy, theItalo-Dalmatian,Neapolitan and its related dialects were largely unaffected by the Franco-Occitan influences introduced to Italy mainly bybards from France during the Middle Ages, but after theNorman conquest of southern Italy, Sicily became the first Italian land to adopt Occitan lyric moods (and words) in poetry. Even in the case of northern Italian languages, however, scholars are careful not to overstate the effects of outsiders on the natural indigenous developments of the languages.

The economic might and relatively advanced development of Tuscany at the time (Late Middle Ages) gave its language weight, althoughVenetian remained widespread in medieval Italian commercial life, andLigurian (or Genoese) remained in use in maritime trade alongside the Mediterranean. The increasing political and cultural relevance of Florence during the periods of the rise of theMedici Bank,humanism, and theRenaissance made its dialect, or rather a refined version of it, a standard in the arts.

Renaissance

[edit]

TheRenaissance era, known asil Rinascimento in Italian, was seen as a time of rebirth, which is the literal meaning of bothrenaissance (from French) andrinascimento (Italian). Among its many manifestations, the Renaissance saw a reinvigorated interest in both classical antiquity and vernacular literature.[29]

Portrait of Pietro Bembo byTitian,c. 1540. Bembo, a Venetian cardinal, was an influential figure in the codification of a Tuscan-based standard based principally on the works of Boccaccio and Petrarca.

Advancements in technology played a crucial role in the diffusion of the Italian language. Theprinting press was invented in the 15th century, and spread rapidly. By the year 1500, there were 56 printing presses in Italy, more than anywhere else in Europe. The printing press enabled the production of literature and documents in higher volumes and at lower cost, further accelerating the spread of Italian.[30]

Italian became the language used in the courts of every state in theItalian Peninsula, and theprestige variety used on the island ofCorsica[31] (but not in the neighbouringSardinia, which on the contrary underwentItalianization well into the late 18th century, underSavoyard sway: the island's linguistic composition, roofed by the prestige of Spanish among theSardinians, would therein make for a rather slow process ofassimilation to the Italian cultural sphere[32][33]). The rediscovery of Dante'sDe vulgari eloquentia, and a renewed interest in linguistics in the 16th century, sparked a debate that raged throughout Italy concerning the criteria that should govern the establishment of a modern Italian literary and spoken language. This discussion, known asquestione della lingua (i.e., theproblem of the language), ran through the Italian culture until the end of the 19th century, often linked to the political debate on achieving a united Italian state. Renaissance scholars divided into three main factions:

A fourth faction claimed that the best Italian was the one that the papal court adopted, which was a mixture of theTuscan andRoman dialects.[34] Eventually, Bembo's ideas prevailed, and the foundation of theAccademia della Crusca in Florence (1582–1583), the official legislative body of the Italian language, led to the publication ofAgnolo Monosini's Latin tomeFloris italicae linguae libri novem in 1604 followed by the first Italian dictionary in 1612.

Modern era

[edit]

An important event that helped the diffusion of Italian was the conquest and occupation of Italy byNapoleon (himself of Italian-Corsican descent) in the early 19th century. This conquest propelled the unification of Italy some decades after and pushed the Italian language into the status of alingua franca, used not only among clerks, nobility, and functionaries in the Italian courts, but also by thebourgeoisie.

Contemporary times

[edit]
Alessandro Manzoni contributed to the nationwide use of the Italian language.[35]

The publication of Italian literature's first modern novel,I promessi sposi (The Betrothed) byAlessandro Manzoni, both reflected and furthered the growing trend towards Italian as a national standard language. Manzoni, a Milanesian, chose to write the book in the Florentine dialect, describing this choice, in the preface to his 1840 edition, as "rinsing" his Milanese "in the waters of theArno" (Florence's river). The novel is commonly described as "the most widely read work in the Italian language".[36] It became a model for subsequent Italian literary fiction,[36] helping to galvanize national linguistic unity around the Florentine dialect.

This growth was relative; linguistic diversity continued during theunification of Italy (1848–1871). The Italian linguistTullio De Mauro estimated that only 2.5% of Italy's population could speak the Italian standardized language properly in 1861,[37] while Arrigo Castellani estimated the same value as 10%.[38][39]

After Unification, a huge number of civil servants and soldiers recruited from all over the country introduced many more words and idioms from their home languages. For example,ciao is derived from theVenetian words-cia[v]o ("slave", that is "your servant"), andpanettone comes from theLombard wordpanetton.

Classification

[edit]

Italian is aRomance language, a descendant ofVulgar Latin (colloquial spoken Latin). Standard Italian is based onTuscan, especially itsFlorentine dialect, and is, therefore, anItalo-Dalmatian language, a classification that includes most other central and southern Italian languages and the extinctDalmatian. As in most Romance languages,stress is distinctive in Italian.[40]

According toEthnologue,lexical similarity is 89% with French, 87% withCatalan, 85% withSardinian, 82% with Spanish, 82% withPortuguese, 78% withLadin, 77% withRomanian.[1] Estimates may differ according to sources.[41]

A 1949 study by the linguistMario Pei concluded that out of seven Romance languages, Italian's stressed vowel phonology was the second-closest to that of Vulgar Latin (after Sardinian).[42] The study emphasized, however, that it represented only "a very elementary, incomplete and tentative demonstration" of how statistical methods could measure linguistic change, assigned "frankly arbitrary" point values to various types of change, and did not compare languages in the sample with respect to any characteristics or forms of divergence other than stressed vowels, among other caveats.[43][44]

Geographic distribution

[edit]
See also:Geographical distribution of Italian speakers
Italian language in Switzerland

Italian is the official language of Italy andSan Marino and is spoken fluently by the majority of the countries' populations. Italian is the third most spoken language inSwitzerland (after German and French; seeSwiss Italian), although its use there has moderately declined since the 1970s.[45] It is official both on the national level and on regional level in twocantons:Ticino andGrisons. In the latter canton, however, it is only spoken by a small minority, in theItalian Grisons.[b] Ticino, which includesLugano, the largest Italian-speaking city outside Italy, is the only canton where Italian is predominant.[46] Italian is also used in administration and official documents inVatican City.[47]

Italian is also spoken by a minority inMonaco and France, especially in the southeastern part of the country.[48][1] Italian was the official language inSavoy and inNice until 1860, when they were both annexed by France under theTreaty of Turin, a development that triggered the "Niçard exodus", or the emigration of a quarter of theNiçard Italians to Italy,[49] and theNiçard Vespers.Giuseppe Garibaldi complained about the referendum that allowed France to annex Savoy and Nice, and a group of his followers (among theItalian Savoyards) took refuge in Italy in the following years.Corsica passed from theRepublic of Genoa to France in 1769 after theTreaty of Versailles. Italian was the official language ofCorsica until 1859.[50] Giuseppe Garibaldi called for the inclusion of the "Corsican Italians" within Italy whenRome was annexed to theKingdom of Italy, but KingVictor Emmanuel II did not agree to it. Italian is generally understood in Corsica by the population resident therein who speakCorsican, which is an Italo-Romance idiom similar to Tuscan.[51]Francization occurred in Nice case, and caused a near-disappearance of the Italian language as many of the Italian speakers in these areas migrated to Italy.[52][53] In Corsica, on the other hand, almost everyone still speaks theCorsican idiom, which, due to its linguistic proximity to the Italian standard language, appears both linguistically as an Italian dialect and therefore as a carrier of Italian culture, despite the French government's decades-long efforts to cut Corsica off from the Italian motherland. Italian was the official language inMonaco until 1860, when it was replaced by the French.[54] This was due to the annexation of the surroundingCounty of Nice to France following theTreaty of Turin (1860).[54]

Percent of inhabitants with Italian native tongue inCroatia's andSlovenia'sIstria

It formerly had official status inMontenegro (because of theVenetian Albania), parts ofSlovenia andCroatia (because of theVenetian Istria andVenetian Dalmatia), parts ofGreece (because of theVenetian rule in the Ionian Islands and by theKingdom of Italy in the Dodecanese). Italian is widely spoken inMalta, where nearly two-thirds of the population can speak it fluently (seeMaltese Italian).[55] Italian served as Malta's official language until 1934, when it was abolished by the British colonial administration amid strong local opposition.[56]Italian language in Slovenia is an officially recognizedminority language in the country.[57] The official census, carried out in 2002, reported 2,258 ethnic Italians (Istrian Italians) inSlovenia (0.11% of the total population).[58]Italian language in Croatia is an official minority language in the country, with many schools and public announcements published in both languages.[57] The 2001 census inCroatia reported 19,636 ethnic Italians (Istrian Italians andDalmatian Italians) in the country (some 0.42% of the total population).[59] Their numbers dropped dramatically afterWorld War II following theIstrian–Dalmatian exodus, which caused the emigration of between 230,000 and 350,000 Istrian Italians and Dalmatian Italians.[60][61] Italian was the official language of theRepublic of Ragusa from 1492 to 1807.[62]

Italy andits colonial possessions in 1940

It formerly had official status inAlbania due to theannexation of the country to the Kingdom of Italy (1939–1943). Albania has a large population of non-native speakers, with over half of the population having some knowledge of the Italian language.[63] The Albanian government has pushed to make Italian a compulsory second language in schools.[64] The Italian language is well-known and studied in Albania,[65] due to its historical ties and geographical proximity to Italy and to the diffusion of Italian television in the country.[66]

Due to heavy Italian influence during theItalian colonial period, Italian is still understood by some in former colonies such as Libya.[1] Although it was the primary language inLibya sincecolonial rule, Italian greatly declined under therule of Muammar Gaddafi, who expelled theItalian Libyan population and madeArabic the sole official language of the country.[67] A few hundred Italian settlers returned to Libya in the 2000s.

Italian was the official language ofEritrea duringItalian colonisation. Italian is today used in commerce, and it is still spoken especially among elders; besides that, Italian words are incorporated as loan words in the main language spoken in the country (Tigrinya). The capital city of Eritrea,Asmara, still has several Italian schools, established during the colonial period. In the early 19th century, Eritrea was the country with the highest number of Italians abroad, and theItalian Eritreans grew from 4,000 during World War I to nearly 100,000 at the beginning of World War II.[68] In Asmara there are two Italian schools, theItalian School of Asmara (Italian primary school with aMontessori department) and theLiceo Sperimentale "G. Marconi" (Italian international senior high school).

Italian was also introduced toSomalia through colonialism and was the sole official language of administration and education during thecolonial period but fell out of use after government, educational and economic infrastructure were destroyed in theSomali Civil War.

Italian language in the United States

Italian is also spoken by largeimmigrant and expatriate communities in the Americas and Australia.[1] Although over 17 millionAmericans are of Italian descent, only a little over one million people in the United States speak Italian at home.[69] Nevertheless, an Italian language media market does exist in the country.[70] In Canada, Italian is the second most spoken non-official language whenvarieties of Chinese are not grouped together, with 375,645 claiming Italian as theirmother tongue in 2016.[71]

Italian immigrants to South America have also brought a presence of the language to that continent. According to some sources, Italian is the second most spoken language inArgentina[72] after the official language of Spanish, although its number of speakers, mainly of the older generation, is decreasing. Italian bilingual speakers can be found scattered across the southeast of Brazil and in the south.[1] InVenezuela, Italian is the most spoken language after Spanish and Portuguese, with around 200,000 speakers.[73] InUruguay, people who speak Italian as their home language are 1.1% of the total population of the country.[74] In Australia, Italian is the second most spoken foreign language after Chinese, with 1.4% of the population speaking it as their home language.[75]

The main Italian-language newspapers published outside Italy are theL'Osservatore Romano (Vatican City), theL'Informazione di San Marino (San Marino), theCorriere del Ticino and thelaRegione Ticino (Switzerland), theLa Voce del Popolo (Croatia), theCorriere d'Italia (Germany), theL'italoeuropeo (United Kingdom), thePassaparola (Luxembourg), theAmerica Oggi (United States), theCorriere Canadese and theCorriere Italiano (Canada), theIl punto d'incontro (Mexico), theL'Italia del Popolo (Argentina), theFanfulla (Brazil), theGente d'Italia (Uruguay), theLa Voce d'Italia (Venezuela), theIl Globo (Australia) and theLa gazzetta del Sud Africa (South Africa).[76][77][78]

Education

[edit]
Italian Secondary School in Rijeka/Fiume,Croatia

Italian is widely taught in many schools around the world, but rarely as the first foreign language. In the 21st century, technology also allows for the continual spread of the Italian language, as people have new ways to learn how to speak, read, and write languages at their own pace and at any given time. For example, the free website and applicationDuolingo has 4.94 million English speakers learning the Italian language.[79]

According to theItalian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, every year there are more than 200,000 foreign students who study the Italian language; they are distributed among the 90Institutes of Italian Culture that are located around the world, in the 179 Italian schools located abroad, or in the 111 Italian lecturer sections belonging to foreign schools where Italian is taught as a language of culture.[80]

As of 2022, Australia had the highest number of students learning Italian in the world. This occurred because of support by the Italian community in Australia and the Italian Government and also because of successful educational reform efforts led by local governments in Australia.[81]

Influence and derived languages

[edit]
See also:Italian diaspora
Municipalities whereTalian is co-official inRio Grande do Sul, Brazil
Trilingual sign inSan Francisco, Argentina, in Spanish, Italian, andPiedmontese

From the late 19th to the mid-20th century, millions of Italians settled in Argentina, Uruguay, southern Brazil, and Venezuela, and in Canada and the United States, where they formed a physical and cultural presence.

In some cases, colonies were established where variants of regionallanguages of Italy were used, and some continue to use this regional language. Examples areRio Grande do Sul, Brazil, whereTalian is used, and the town ofChipilo near Puebla, Mexico; each continues to use a derived form ofVenetian dating back to the 19th century. Other examples areCocoliche, an Italian–Spanishpidgin once spoken inArgentina and especially inBuenos Aires, andLunfardo. TheRioplatense Spanish dialect of Argentina and Uruguay today has thus been heavily influenced by both standard Italian and Italian regional languages as a result.

Lingua franca

[edit]
See also:Mediterranean Lingua Franca

Starting in latemedieval times in much of Europe and the Mediterranean, Latin was replaced as the primary commercial language by languages of Italy, especially Tuscan and Venetian. These varieties were consolidated during theRenaissance with the strength of Italy and the rise ofhumanism andthe arts.

Italy came to enjoy increasing artistic prestige within Europe. A mark of the educated gentlemen was to make theGrand Tour, visiting Italy to see its great historical monuments and works of art. It was expected that the visitor would learn at least some Italian, understood as language based on Florentine. In England, while the classical languagesLatin andGreek were the first to be learned, Italian became the second most common modern language after French, a position it held until the late 18th century when it tended to be replaced by German.John Milton, for instance, wrote some of his early poetry in Italian.

Within theCatholic Church, Italian is known by a large part of the ecclesiastical hierarchy and is used in substitution for Latin in some official documents.

Italianloanwords continue to be used in most languages in matters of art and music (especially classical music including opera), in the design and fashion industries, in some sports such asfootball[82] and especially in culinary terms.

Languages and dialects

[edit]
See also:Languages of Italy andRegional Italian
Linguistic map of Italy according to Clemente Merlo and Carlo Tagliavini (1937)
Italy's ethno-linguistic minorities[83]

In Italy, almost all theother languages spoken as the vernacular—other than standard Italian and some languages spoken among immigrant communities—are often called "Italian dialects", a label that can be very misleading if it is understood to mean "dialects of Italian". The Romance dialects of Italy are local evolutions of spoken Latin that pre-date the establishment of Italian, and as such aresister languages to the Tuscan that was the historical source of Italian. They can be quite different from Italian and from each other, with some belonging to different linguistic branches of Romance. The only exceptions to this are twelve groups considered "historical language minorities", which are officially recognized as distinctminority languages by the law. On the other hand,Corsican (a language spoken on the French island ofCorsica) is closely related to medievalTuscan, from which standard Italian derives and evolved.

The differences in the evolution of Latin in the different regions of Italy can be attributed to the naturalchanges that all languages in regular use are subject to, and to some extent to the presence of three other types of languages:substrata, superstrata, and adstrata. The most prevalent were substrata (the language of the original inhabitants), as the Italian dialects were most probably simply Latin as spoken by native cultural groups. Superstrata and adstrata were both less important. Foreign conquerors of Italy that dominated different regions at different times left behind little to no influence on the dialects. Foreign cultures with which Italy engaged in peaceful relations with, such as trade, had no significant influence either.[24]: 19–20 

Throughout Italy, regional varieties of standard Italian, calledRegional Italian, are spoken. Regional differences can be recognized by various factors: the openness of vowels, the length of the consonants, and influence of the local language (for example, in informal situationsandà,annà andnare replace the standard Italianandare in the area of Tuscany, Rome and Venice respectively for the infinitive "to go").

There is no definitive date when the various Italian variants of Latin—including varieties that contributed to modern standard Italian—began to be distinct enough from Latin to be considered separate languages. One criterion for determining that two language variants are to be considered separate languages rather than variants of a single language is that they have evolved so that they are no longermutually intelligible; this diagnostic is effective if mutual intelligibility is minimal or absent (e.g. in Romance, Romanian and Portuguese), but it fails in cases such as Spanish-Portuguese or Spanish-Italian, as educated native speakers of either pairing (particularly Spanish-Portuguese) can understand each other well if they choose to do so; however, the level of intelligibility is markedly lower between Italian-Spanish, and considerably higher between the Iberian sister languages of Portuguese-Spanish. Speakers of this latter pair can communicate with one another with remarkable ease, each speaking to the other in his own native language, without slang/jargon.

Nevertheless, on the basis of accumulated differences in morphology, syntax, phonology, and to some extent lexicon, it is not difficult to identify that for the Romance varieties of Italy, the first extant written evidence of languages that can no longer be considered Latin comes from the 9th and 10th centuries CE. These written sources demonstrate certain vernacular characteristics and sometimes explicitly mention the use of the vernacular in Italy.

Full literary manifestations of the vernacular began to surface around the 13th century in the form of various religious texts and poetry.[24]: 21 Although these are the first written records of Italian varieties separate from Latin, the spoken language had probably diverged long before the first written records appeared since those who were literate generally wrote in Latin even if they spoke other Romance varieties in person.

Throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, the use of standard Italian became increasingly widespread and was mirrored by a decline in the use of the dialects. An increase in literacy was one of the main driving factors (one can assume that only literates were capable of learning standard Italian, whereas those who were illiterate had access only to their native dialect). The percentage of literates rose from 25% in 1861 to 60% in 1911, and then on to 78.1% in 1951.Tullio De Mauro, an Italian linguist, has asserted that in 1861, only 2.5% of the population of Italy could speak standard Italian. He reports that in 1951, that percentage had risen to 87%. The ability to speak Italian did not necessarily mean that it was in everyday use, and most people (63.5%) still usually spoke their native dialects. In addition, other factors such as mass emigration, industrialization, and urbanization, and internal migrations afterWorld War II, contributed to the proliferation of standard Italian. The Italians who emigrated during theItalian diaspora beginning in 1861 were often of the uneducated lower class, and thus the emigration had the effect of increasing the percentage of literates, who often knew and understood the importance of standard Italian back home in Italy. A large percentage of those who had emigrated also eventually returned to Italy, often more educated than when they had left.[24]: 35 

Although use of the Italian dialects has declined in themodern era, as Italy unified under standard Italian and continues to do so aided by mass media from newspapers to radio to television,diglossia is still frequently encountered in Italy andtriglossia is not uncommon in emigrant communities among older speakers. Both situations normally involve some degree ofcode-switching andcode-mixing.[84]

Phonology

[edit]
Main article:Italian phonology
Luke 2, 1–7 of the Bible being read by a speaker of Italian fromMilan
This section is an excerpt fromItalian phonology § Consonants.[edit]
Consonant phonemes
LabialDental/
alveolar
Post-
alveolar
/
palatal
Velar
Nasalmn ɲ
Stoppbtdkɡ
Affricatet͡sd͡zt͡ʃd͡ʒ
Fricativefvszʃ(ʒ)
Approximant jw
Laterall ʎ
Trillr

Notes:

  • Between two vowels, or between a vowel and an approximant (/j,w/) or a liquid (/l,r/), consonants can be both singleton orgeminate. Geminate consonants shorten the preceding vowel (or block phonetic lengthening) and the first element of the geminate isunreleased. For example, compare/fato/[ˈfaːto] ('fate') with/fatto/[ˈfat̚to] ('fact' or 'did'/'done').[85] However,/ɲ/,/ʃ/,/ʎ/,/d͡z/,/t͡s/ are always geminate intervocalically, including across word boundaries.[86] Similarly, nasals, liquids, and sibilants are pronounced slightly longer in medial consonant clusters.[87]
  • /j/,/w/, and/z/ are the only consonants that cannot be geminated.
  • /t,d/ arelaminaldenti-alveolar[,],[88][89][86] commonly called "dental" for simplicity.
  • /k,ɡ/ are pre-velar before/i,e,ɛ,j/.[89]
  • /t͡s,d͡z,s,z/ have two variants:
    • Dentalized laminalalveolar[t̪͡s̪,d̪͡z̪,,][88][90] (commonly called "dental" for simplicity), pronounced with the blade of the tongue very close to the upper front teeth, with the tip of the tongue resting behind lower front teeth.[90]
    • Non-retractedapical alveolar[t͡s̺,d͡z̺,,].[90] The stop component of the "apical" affricates is actually laminal denti-alveolar.[90]
  • /n,l,r/ are apical alveolar[,,] in most environments.[88][86][91]/n,l/ are laminal denti-alveolar[,] before/t,d,t͡s,d͡z,s,z/[86][92][93] andpalatalized laminalpostalveolar[n̠ʲ,l̠ʲ] before/t͡ʃ,d͡ʒ,ʃ/.[94][95][dubiousdiscuss]/n/ is velar[ŋ] before/k,ɡ/.[96][97]
  • /m/ and/n/ do not contrast before/p,b/ and/f,v/, where they are pronounced[m] and[ɱ], respectively.[96][98]
  • /ɲ/ and/ʎ/ arealveolo-palatal.[99] In a large number of accents,/ʎ/ is a fricative[ʎ̝].[100]
  • Intervocalically, single/r/ is realised as a trill with one or two contacts.[101] Some literature treats the single-contact trill as atap[ɾ].[102][103] Single-contact trills can also occur elsewhere, particularly in unstressed syllables.[104] Geminate/rr/ manifests as a trill with three to seven contacts.[101]
  • The phonemic distinction between/s/ and/z/ is neutralized before consonants and at the beginning of words: the former is used before voiceless consonants and before vowels at the beginning of words; the latter is used before voiced consonants. The two can contrast only between vowels within a word, e.g.fuso/ˈfuzo/ 'melted' versusfuso/ˈfuso/ 'spindle'. According to Canepari,[103] although, thetraditional standard has been replaced by a modernneutral pronunciation which always prefers/z/ when intervocalic, except when the intervocalics is the initial sound of a word, if the compound is still felt as such: for example,presento/preˈsɛnto/[105] ('I foresee', withpre- meaning 'before' andsento meaning 'I perceive') vspresento/preˈzɛnto/[106] ('I present'). There are many words for which dictionaries now indicate that both pronunciations, either[z] or[s], are acceptable. Word-internally between vowels, the two phonemes have merged in many regional varieties of Italian, as either/z/ (northern-central) or/s/ (southern-central).

Italian has a seven-vowel system, consisting of/a,ɛ,e,i,ɔ,o,u/, and 23 consonants. Compared with most other Romance languages, Italian phonology is conservative, preserving many words nearly unchanged fromVulgar Latin. Some examples:

  • Italianquattordici "fourteen" < Latinquattuordecim (cf. Spanishcatorce, Frenchquatorze/katɔʁz/,Catalan andPortuguesecatorze)
  • Italiansettimana "week" < Latinseptimāna (cf. Romaniansăptămână, Spanish and Portuguesesemana, Frenchsemaine/səmɛn/,Catalansetmana)
  • Italianmedesimo "same" < Vulgar Latin *medi(p)simum (cf. Spanishmismo,Portuguesemesmo, Frenchmême/mɛm/,Catalanmateix; Italian usually prefers the shorterstesso)
  • Italianguadagnare "to win, earn, gain" < Vulgar Latin *guadaniāre <Germanic/waidanjan/ (cf. Spanishganar, Portugueseganhar, Frenchgagner/ɡaɲe/,Catalanguanyar).

The conservative nature of Italian phonology is partly explained by its origin. Italian stems from a literary language that is derived from the 13th-century speech of the city ofFlorence in the region ofTuscany, and has changed little in the last 700 years or so. Furthermore, the Tuscan dialect is the most conservative of allItalian dialects, radically different from theGallo-Italian languages less than 160 kilometres (100 mi) to the north (across theLa Spezia–Rimini Line).

The following are some of the conservative phonological features of Italian, as compared with the commonWestern Romance languages (French, Spanish,Portuguese,Galician,Catalan). Some of these features are also present inRomanian.

  • Little or nophonemiclenition of consonants between vowels, e.g.vīta >vita "life" (cf. Romanianviață, Spanishvida[ˈbiða], Frenchvie),pedem >piede "foot" (cf. Spanishpie, Frenchpied/pje/).
    • Words that are an exception to this rule exist, such as:scvtella >scodella "bowl",recipere >ricevere "receive",lacvs >lago "lake",acvs >ago "needle", (only in theTuscan accent and historical standard Italian)vīsus >viso/vizo/ "face".[107]
  • Preservation of geminate consonants, e.g.annum >/ˈanːo/anno "year" (cf. Spanishaño/ˈaɲo/, Frenchan/ɑ̃/, Romanianan, Portugueseano/ˈɐnu/).
  • Preservation of allProto-Romance final vowels, e.g.pacem >pace "peace" (cf. Romanianpace, Spanishpaz, Frenchpaix/pɛ/),octō >otto "eight" (cf. Romanianopt, Spanishocho, Frenchhuit/ɥi(t)/),fēcī >feci "I did" (cf. Romanian dialectalfeci, Spanishhice, Frenchfis/fi/).
  • Preservation of most intertonic vowels (those between the stressed syllable and either the beginning or ending syllable). This accounts for some of the most noticeable differences, as in the formsquattordici andsettimana given above.
  • Slower consonant development, e.g.folia > Italo-Western/fɔʎʎa/ >foglia/ˈfɔʎʎa/ "leaf" (cf. Romanianfoaie/ˈfo̯aje/, Spanishhoja/ˈoxa/, Frenchfeuille/fœj/; but note Portuguesefolha/ˈfoʎɐ/).

Compared with most other Romance languages, Italian has many inconsistent outcomes, where the same underlying sound produces different results in different words, e.g.laxāre >lasciare andlassare,captiāre >cacciare andcazzare,(ex)dēroteolāre >sdrucciolare,druzzolare andruzzolare,rēgīna >regina andreina. Although in all these examples the second form has fallen out of usage, the dimorphism is thought to reflect the several-hundred-year period during which Italian developed as a literary language divorced from any native-speaking population, with an origin in 12th/13th-century Tuscan but with many words borrowed fromlanguages farther to the north, with different sound outcomes. (TheLa Spezia–Rimini Line, the most importantisogloss in the entire Romance-language area, passes only about 30 kilometres or 20 miles north of Florence.) Dual outcomes of Latin/ptk/ between vowels, such aslŏcvm >luogo butfŏcvm >fuoco, was once thought to be due to borrowing of northern voiced forms, but is now generally viewed as the result of early phonetic variation within Tuscany.

Some other features that distinguish Italian from the Western Romance languages:

  • Latince-,ci- becomes/tʃe,tʃi/ rather than/(t)se,(t)si/.
  • Latin-ct- becomes/tt/ rather than/jt/ or/tʃ/:octō >otto "eight" (cf. Spanishocho, Frenchhuit, Portugueseoito).
  • Vulgar Latin-cl- becomescchi/kkj/ rather than/ʎ/:oclum >occhio "eye" (cf. Portugueseolho/ˈoʎu/, Frenchœil/œj/ </œʎ/); but Romanianochi/okʲ/.
  • Final/s/ is not preserved, and vowel changes rather than/s/ are used to mark the plural:amico,amici "male friend(s)",amica,amiche "female friend(s)" (cf. Romanianamic,amici andamică,amice; Spanishamigo(s) "male friend(s)",amiga(s) "female friend(s)");trēs, sextre, sei "three, six" (cf. Romaniantrei,șase; Spanishtres,seis).

Standard Italian also differs in some respects from most nearby Italian languages:

  • Perhaps most noticeable is the total lack ofmetaphony, although metaphony is a feature characterizing nearly every otherItalian language.
  • No simplification of original/nd/,/mb/ (which often became/nn/,/mm/ elsewhere).

Assimilation

[edit]

Italianphonotactics do not usually permit verbs and polysyllabic nouns to end with consonants, except in poetry and song, so foreign words may receiveextra terminal vowel sounds.

Writing system

[edit]
Main article:Italian orthography
An Italian handwriting script, taught in primary school

Italian has ashallow orthography, meaning very regular spelling with an almost one-to-one correspondence between letters and sounds. In linguistic terms, the writing system is close to being aphonemic orthography.[108] The most important of the few exceptions are the following (see below for more details):

  • The letter c represents the sound/k/ at the end of words and before the letters a, o, and u but represents the sound// (as the first sound in the English wordchair) before the letters e and i.
  • The letter g represents the sound/ɡ/ at the end of words and before the letters a, o, and u but represents the sound// (as the first sound in the English wordgem) before the letters e and i.
  • The letter n represents the phoneme/n/, which is pronounced[ŋ] (as in the English wordsing) before the letters c and g when these represent velar plosives/k/ or/ɡ/, as inbanco[ˈbaŋko],fungo[ˈfuŋɡo]. The letter q represents/k/ pronounced [k], thus n also represents[ŋ] in the position preceding it:cinque[ˈt͡ʃiŋkwe]. Elsewhere the letter n represents/n/ pronounced[n], including before theaffricates/tʃ/ or/dʒ/ spelt with c or g before the letters i and e :mancia[ˈmant͡ʃa],mangia[ˈmand͡ʒa].
  • The letterh is always silent:hotel/oˈtɛl/;hanno 'they have' andanno 'year' both represent/ˈanno/. It is used to form adigraph withc org to represent/k/ or/ɡ/ beforei ore:chi/ki/ 'who',che/ke/ 'what';aghi/ˈaɡi/ 'needles',ghetto/ˈɡetto/.
  • The spellingsci andgi before another vowel represent only/tʃ/ or/dʒ/ with no /i/ sound (ciuccio/ˈtʃuttʃo/ 'pacifier',Giorgio/ˈdʒordʒo/) unlessc org precede stressed/i/ (farmacia/farmaˈtʃi.a/ 'pharmacy',biologia/bioloˈdʒi.a/ 'biology'). Elsewhereci andgi represent/tʃ/ and/dʒ/ followed by/i/:cibo/ˈtʃibo/ 'food',baci/ˈbatʃi/ 'kisses';gita/ˈdʒita/ 'trip',Tamigi/taˈmidʒi/ 'Thames'.*

The Italian alphabet is typically considered to consist of 21 letters. The letters j, k, w, x, y are traditionally excluded, although they appear in loanwords such asjeans,whisky,taxi,xenofobo,xilofono. The letter⟨x⟩ has become common in standard Italian with the prefixextra-, although(e)stra- is traditionally used; it is also common to use the Latin particleex(-) to mean "former(ly)" as in:la mia ex ("my ex-girlfriend"), "Ex-Jugoslavia" ("Former Yugoslavia"). The letter⟨j⟩ appears in the first nameJacopo and in some Italian place-names, such asBajardo,Bojano,Joppolo,Jerzu,Jesolo,Jesi,Ajaccio, among others, and inMar Jonio, an alternative spelling ofMar Ionio (theIonian Sea). The letter⟨j⟩ may appear in dialectal words, but its use is discouraged in contemporary standard Italian.[109] Letters used in foreign words can be replaced withphonetically equivalent native Italian letters anddigraphs:⟨gi⟩,⟨ge⟩, or⟨i⟩ for⟨j⟩;⟨c⟩ or⟨ch⟩ for⟨k⟩ (including in the standard prefixkilo-);⟨o⟩,⟨u⟩ or⟨v⟩ for⟨w⟩;⟨s⟩,⟨ss⟩,⟨z⟩,⟨zz⟩ or⟨cs⟩ for⟨x⟩; and⟨e⟩ or⟨i⟩ for⟨y⟩.

  • Theacute accent is used over word-final⟨e⟩ to indicate a stressedfront close-mid vowel, as inperché "why, because". In dictionaries, it is also used over⟨o⟩ to indicate a stressedback close-mid vowel (azióne). Thegrave accent is used over word-final⟨e⟩ and⟨o⟩ to indicate afront open-mid vowel and aback open-mid vowel respectively, as in "tea", andpuò "(he) can". The grave accent is used over any vowel to indicate word-final stress, as ingioventù "youth". Unlike⟨é⟩, which is aclose-mid vowel, a stressed final⟨o⟩ is almost always aback open-mid vowel (andrò), with a few exceptions, such asmetró, with a stressed finalback close-mid vowel, making⟨ó⟩ for the most part unnecessary outside of dictionaries. Most of the time, the penultimate syllable is stressed. But if the stressed vowel is the final letter of the word, the accent is mandatory, otherwise, it is virtually always omitted. Exceptions are typically either in dictionaries, where all or most stressed vowels are commonly marked. Accents can optionally be used to disambiguate words that differ only by stress, as forprìncipi "princes" andprincìpi "principles", oràncora "anchor" andancóra "still/yet". For monosyllabic words, the rule is different: when two orthographically identical monosyllabic words with different meanings exist, one is accented and the other is not (example:è "is",e "and").
  • The letter⟨h⟩ distinguishesho,hai,ha,hanno (present indicative ofavere "to have") fromo ("or"),ai ("to the"),a ("to"),anno ("year"). In the spoken language, the letter is always silent. The⟨h⟩ inho additionally marks the contrasting open pronunciation of the⟨o⟩. The letter⟨h⟩ is also used in combinations with other letters. Nophoneme/h/ exists in Italian. In nativized foreign words, the⟨h⟩ is silent. For example,hotel andhovercraft are pronounced/oˈtɛl/ and/ˈɔverkraft/ respectively. (Where⟨h⟩ existed in Latin, it either disappeared or, in a few cases before a back vowel, changed to[ɡ]:traggo "I pull" ← Lat.trahō.)
  • The letters⟨s⟩ and⟨z⟩ can symbolizevoiced orvoiceless consonants.⟨z⟩ symbolizes/dz/ or/ts/ depending on context, with few minimal pairs. For example:zanzara/dzanˈdzara/ "mosquito" andnazione/natˈtsjone/ "nation".⟨s⟩ symbolizes/s/ word-initially before a vowel, when clustered with a voiceless consonant (⟨p, f, c, ch⟩), and when doubled; it symbolizes/z/ when between vowels and when clustered with voiced consonants. Intervocalic⟨s⟩ varies regionally between/s/ and/z/, with/z/ being more dominant in northern Italy and/s/ in the south.
  • The letters⟨c⟩ and⟨g⟩ vary in pronunciation betweenplosives andaffricates depending on following vowels. The letter⟨c⟩ symbolizes/k/ when word-final and before the back vowels⟨a, o, u⟩. It symbolizes// as inchair before the front vowels⟨e, i⟩. The letter⟨g⟩ symbolizes/ɡ/ when word-final and before the back vowels⟨a, o, u⟩. It symbolizes// as ingem before the front vowels⟨e, i⟩. Other Romance languages and, to an extent, English have similar variations for⟨c, g⟩. Comparehard and soft C,hard and soft G. (See alsopalatalization.)
  • Thedigraphs⟨ch⟩ and⟨gh⟩ indicate (/k/ and/ɡ/) before⟨i, e⟩. The digraphs⟨ci⟩ and⟨gi⟩ indicate "softness" (/tʃ/ and/dʒ/, theaffricate consonants of Englishchurch andjudge) before⟨a, o, u⟩. For example:
Before back vowel (A, O, U)Before front vowel (I, E)
PlosiveCcaramella/karaˈmɛlla/candyCHchina/ˈkina/India ink
Ggallo/ˈɡallo/roosterGHghiro/ˈɡiro/edible dormouse
AffricateCIciambella/tʃamˈbɛlla/donutCCina/ˈtʃina/China
GIgiallo/ˈdʒallo/yellowGgiro/ˈdʒiro/round,tour
Note:⟨h⟩ issilent in the digraphs⟨ch⟩,⟨gh⟩; and⟨i⟩ is silent in the digraphs⟨ci⟩ and⟨gi⟩ before⟨a, o, u⟩ unless the⟨i⟩ is stressed. For example, it is silent inciao/ˈtʃa.o/ and cielo/ˈtʃɛ.lo/, but it is pronounced infarmacia/ˌfar.maˈtʃi.a/ andfarmacie/ˌfar.maˈtʃi.e/.[28]

Italian has geminate, or double, consonants, which are distinguished bylength and intensity. Length is distinctive for all consonants except for/ʃ/,/dz/,/ts/,/ʎ/,/ɲ/, which are always geminate when between vowels, and/z/, which is always single.Geminate plosives and affricates are realized as lengthened closures. Geminate fricatives, nasals, and/l/ are realized as lengthenedcontinuants. There is only one vibrant phoneme/r/ but the actual pronunciation depends on the context and regional accent. Generally one can find a flap consonant[ɾ] in an unstressed position whereas[r] is more common in stressed syllables, but there may be exceptions. Especially people from the northern part of Italy (Parma, Aosta Valley,South Tyrol) may pronounce/r/ as[ʀ],[ʁ], or[ʋ].[110]

Of special interest to the linguistic study ofRegional Italian is thegorgia toscana, or "Tuscan Throat", the weakening orlenition ofintervocalic/p/,/t/, and/k/ in theTuscan language.

Thevoiced postalveolar fricative/ʒ/ is present as a phoneme only in loanwords: for example,garage[ɡaˈraːʒ]. Phonetic[ʒ] is common in central and southern Italy as an intervocalic allophone of/dʒ/:gente[ˈdʒɛnte] 'people' butla gente[laˈʒɛnte] "the people",ragione[raˈʒoːne] "reason".

Grammar

[edit]
Main article:Italian grammar
See also:Italian verbs

Italiangrammar is typical of the grammar ofRomance languages in general.Cases exist for personal pronouns (nominative,oblique,accusative,dative), but not for nouns.

There are two basic classes of nouns in Italian, referred to asgenders, masculine and feminine. Gender may benatural (ragazzo 'boy',ragazza 'girl') or simply grammatical with no possible reference to biological gender (masculinecosto 'cost', femininecosta 'coast'). Masculine nouns typically end in-o (ragazzo 'boy'), with plural marked by-i (ragazzi 'boys'), and feminine nouns typically end in-a, with plural marked by-e (ragazza 'girl',ragazze 'girls'). For a group composed of boys and girls,ragazzi is the plural, suggesting that-i is a general neutral plural. A third category of nouns isunmarked for gender, ending in-e in the singular and-i in the plural:legge 'law, f. sg.',leggi 'laws, f. pl.';fiume 'river, m. sg.',fiumi 'rivers, m. pl.', thus assignment of gender is arbitrary in terms of form, enough so that terms may be identical but of distinct genders:fine meaning 'aim', 'purpose' is masculine, whilefine meaning 'end, ending' (e.g. of a movie) is feminine, and both arefini in the plural, a clear instance of-i as a non-gendered default plural marker. These nouns often, but not always, denoteinanimates. There are a number of nouns that have a masculine singular and a feminine plural, most commonly of the pattern m. sg.-o, f. pl.-a (miglio 'mile, m. sg.',miglia 'miles, f. pl.';paio 'pair, m. sg.',paia 'pairs, f. pl.'), and thus are sometimes considered neuter (these are usually derived fromneuter Latin nouns). An instance of neuter gender also exists in pronouns of the third person singular.[111]

Examples:[112]

DefinitionGenderSingular FormPlural Form
SonMasculineFiglioFigli
HouseFeminineCasaCase
LoveMasculineAmoreAmori
ArtFeminineArteArti

Nouns, adjectives, and articlesinflect for gender and number (singular and plural).

Like in English, common nouns are capitalized when occurring at the beginning of a sentence. Unlike English, nouns referring to languages (e.g. Italian), speakers of languages, or inhabitants of an area (e.g. Italians) are not capitalized.[113]

There are three types ofadjectives: descriptive, invariable and form-changing. Descriptive adjectives are the most common, and their endings change to match the number and gender of the noun they modify. Invariable adjectives are adjectives whose endings do not change. The form-changing adjectives "buono (good), bello (beautiful), grande (big), and santo (saint)" change in form when placed before different types of nouns. Italian has three degrees for comparison of adjectives: positive, comparative, and superlative.[113]

The order of words in the phrase is relatively free compared to most European languages.[109] The position of the verb in the phrase is highly mobile. Word order often has a lesser grammatical function in Italian than in English. Adjectives are sometimes placed before their noun and sometimes after. Subject nouns generally come before the verb. Italian is anull-subject language, so nominative pronouns are usually absent, with subject indicated by verbalinflections (e.g.amo 'I love',ama '(s)he loves',amano 'they love'). Noun objects normally come after the verb, as do pronoun objects after imperative verbs, infinitives and gerunds, but otherwise, pronoun objects come before the verb.

There are both indefinite and definitearticles in Italian. There are four indefinite articles, selected by the gender of the noun they modify and by the phonological structure of the word that immediately follows the article.Uno is masculine singular, used beforez (/ts/ or/dz/),s+consonant,gn (/ɲ/),pn orps, while masculine singularun is used before a word beginning with any other sound. The nounzio 'uncle' selects masculine singular, thusuno zio 'an uncle' oruno zio anziano 'an old uncle,' butun mio zio 'an uncle of mine'. The feminine singular indefinite articles areuna, used before any consonant sound, and its abbreviated form, writtenun', used before vowels:una camicia 'a shirt',una camicia bianca 'a white shirt',un'altra camicia 'a different shirt'. There are seven forms for definite articles, both singular and plural. In the singular:lo, which corresponds to the uses ofuno;il, which corresponds to the uses with the consonant ofun;la, which corresponds to the uses ofuna;l', used for both masculine and feminine singular before vowels. In the plural:gli is the masculine plural oflo and l';i is the plural ofil; andle is the plural of femininela andl'.[113]

There are numerouscontractions ofprepositions with subsequentarticles. There are numerous productivesuffixes fordiminutive,augmentative, pejorative, attenuating, etc., which are also used to createneologisms.

There are 27 pronouns, grouped inclitic and tonic pronouns. Personal pronouns are separated into three groups: subject, object (which takes the place of both direct and indirect objects), and reflexive. Second-person subject pronouns have both a polite and a familiar form. These two different types of addresses are very important in Italian social distinctions. All object pronouns have two forms: stressed and unstressed (clitics). Unstressed object pronouns are much more frequently used, and come before a verb conjugated for subject-verb (La vedi. 'You see her.'), after (in writing, attached to) non-conjugated verbs (vedendola 'seeing her'). Stressed object pronouns come after the verb, and are used when the emphasis is required, for contrast, or to avoid ambiguity (Vedo lui, ma non lei. 'I see him, but not her'). Aside from personal pronouns, Italian also has demonstrative, interrogative, possessive, and relative pronouns. There are two types of demonstrative pronouns: relatively near (this) and relatively far (that); there exists a third type of demonstrative denoting vicinity only to the listener, but it has fallen out of use. Demonstratives in Italian are repeated before each noun, unlike in English.[113]

There are three regular sets of verbalconjugations, and various verbs are irregularly conjugated. Within each of these sets of conjugations, there are four simple (one-word) verbal conjugations by person/number in theindicative mood (present tense;past tense withimperfective aspect, past tense withperfective aspect, andfuture tense), two simple conjugations in thesubjunctive mood (present tense and past tense), one simple conjugation in theconditional mood, and one simple conjugation in theimperative mood. Corresponding to each of the simple conjugations, there is a compound conjugation involving a simple conjugation of "to be" or "to have" followed by apast participle. "To have" is used to form compound conjugation when the verb is transitive ("Ha detto", "ha fatto": he/she has said, he/she has made/done), while "to be" is used in the case of verbs of motion and some other intransitive verbs ("È andato", "è stato": he has gone, he has been). "To be" may be used with transitive verbs, but in such a case it makes the verb passive ("È detto", "è fatto": it is said, it is made/done). This rule is not absolute, and some exceptions do exist.

Words

[edit]

Conversation

[edit]

Note: the plural form of verbs could also be used as an extremely formal (for example tonoble people in monarchies) singular form (seeroyal we).

English (inglese)Italian (italiano)Pronunciation
Yes(listen)/ˈsi/
NoNo(listen)/ˈnɔ/
Of course!Certo! /Certamente! /Naturalmente!/ˈtʃɛrto//ˌtʃertaˈmente//naturalˈmente/
Hello!Ciao! (informal) /Salve! (semi-formal)/ˈtʃao/
Cheers!Salute!/saˈlute/
How are you?Come stai? (informal) /Come sta? (formal) /Come state? (plural) /Come va? (general, informal)/ˌkomeˈstai/;/ˌkomeˈsta//ˌkomeˈstate//ˌkomeva/
Good morning!Buongiorno! (= Good day!)/ˌbwɔnˈdʒorno/
Good evening!Buonasera!/ˌbwɔnaˈsera/
Good night!Buonanotte! (for a good night sleeping) /Buona serata! (for a good night awake)/ˌbwɔnaˈnɔtte//ˌbwɔnaseˈrata/
Have a nice day!Buona giornata! (formal)/ˌbwɔnadʒorˈnata/
Enjoy the meal!Buon appetito!/ˌbwɔn‿appeˈtito/
Goodbye!Arrivederci (general) /Arrivederla (formal) /Ciao! (informal)(listen)/arriveˈdertʃi/
Good luck!Buona fortuna! (general)/ˌbwɔnaforˈtuna/
I love youTi amo (between lovers only) /Ti voglio bene (in the sense of "I am fond of you", between lovers, friends, relatives etc.)/tiˈamo/;/tiˌvɔʎʎoˈbɛne/
Welcome [to...]Benvenuto/-i (for male/males or mixed)/ Benvenuta/-e (for female/females) [a / in...]/benveˈnuto//benveˈnuti//benveˈnuta//benveˈnute/
PleasePer favore /Per piacere /Per cortesia(listen)/perfaˈvore//perpjaˈtʃere//perkorteˈzia/
Thank you!Grazie! (general) /Ti ringrazio! (informal) /La ringrazio! (formal) /Vi ringrazio! (plural)/ˈɡrattsje//tirinˈɡrattsjo/
You are welcome!Prego!/ˈprɛɡo/
Excuse me / I am sorryMi dispiace (only "I am sorry") /Scusa(mi) (informal) /Mi scusi (formal) /Scusatemi (plural) /Sono desolato ("I am sorry", if male) /Sono desolata ("I am sorry", if female)/ˈskuzi/;/ˈskuza/;/midisˈpjatʃe/
Who?Chi?/ki/
What?Che cosa? /Cosa? /Che?/kekˈkɔza/ or/kekˈkɔsa//ˈkɔza/ or/kɔsa//ˈke/
When?Quando?/ˈkwando/
Where?Dove?/ˈdove/
How?Come?/ˈkome/
Why / BecausePerché/perˈke/
AgainDi nuovo /Ancora/diˈnwɔvo/;/anˈkora/
How much? / How many?Quanto? /Quanta? /Quanti? /Quante?/ˈkwanto/
What is your name?Come ti chiami? (informal) /Qual è il suo nome? (formal) /Come si chiama? (formal)/ˌkometiˈkjami//kwalˈɛilˌsu.oˈnome/
My name is...Mi chiamo.../miˈkjamo/
This is...Questo è... (masculine) /Questa è... (feminine)/ˌkwestoˈɛ//ˌkwestaˈɛ/
Yes, I understand.Sì, capisco. /Ho capito./sikaˈpisko//ɔkkaˈpito/
I do not understand.Non capisco. /Non ho capito.(listen)/nonkaˈpisko//nonˌɔkkaˈpito/
Do you speak English?Parli inglese? (informal) /Parla inglese? (formal) /Parlate inglese? (plural)(listen)/parˌlateinˈɡleːse/ (listen)/ˌparlainˈɡlese/
I do not understand Italian.Non capisco l'italiano./nonkaˌpiskolitaˈljano/
Help me!Aiutami! (informal) /Mi aiuti! (formal) /Aiutatemi! (plural) /Aiuto! (general)/aˈjutami//ajuˈtatemi//aˈjuto/
You are right/wrong!(Tu) hai ragione/torto! (informal) /(Lei) ha ragione/torto! (formal) /(Voi) avete ragione/torto! (plural)
What time is it?Che ora è? /Che ore sono?/keˌoraˈɛ//keˌoreˈsono/
Where is the bathroom?Dov'è il bagno?(listen)/doˌvɛilˈbaɲɲo/
How much is it?Quanto costa?/ˌkwantoˈkɔsta/
The bill, please.Il conto, per favore./ilˌkontoperfaˈvore/
The study of Italian sharpens the mind.Lo studio dell'italiano aguzza l'ingegno./loˈstudjodellitaˈljanoaˈɡuttsalinˈdʒeɲɲo/
Where are you from?Di dove sei? (general, informal)/Di dove è? (formal)/didovessˈɛi//didoveˈɛ/
I likeMi piace (for one object) /Mi piacciono (for multiple objects)/mipjatʃe//mipjattʃono/

Question words

[edit]
EnglishItalian[113][112]IPA
what (adj.)che/ke/
what (standalone)cosa/ˈkɔza/, /ˈkɔsa/
whochi/ki/
howcome/ˈkome/
wheredove/ˈdove/
why, becauseperché/perˈke/
whichquale/ˈkwale/
whenquando/ˈkwando/
how muchquanto/ˈkwanto/

Time

[edit]
EnglishItalian[113][112]IPA
todayoggi/ˈɔddʒi/
yesterdayieri/ˈjɛri/
tomorrowdomani/doˈmani/
secondsecondo/seˈkondo/
minuteminuto/miˈnuto/
hourora/ˈora/
daygiorno/ˈdʒorno/
weeksettimana/settiˈmana/
monthmese/ˈmeze/, /ˈmese/
yearanno/ˈanno/

Numbers

[edit]
EnglishItalianIPA
oneuno/ˈuno/
twodue/ˈdue/
threetre/ˈtre/
fourquattro/ˈkwattro/
fivecinque/ˈtʃinkwe/
sixsei/ˈsɛi/
sevensette/ˈsɛtte/
eightotto/ˈɔtto/
ninenove/ˈnɔve/
tendieci/ˈdjɛtʃi/


EnglishItalianIPA
elevenundici/ˈunditʃi/
twelvedodici/ˈdoditʃi/
thirteentredici/ˈtreditʃi/
fourteenquattordici/kwatˈtorditʃi/
fifteenquindici/ˈkwinditʃi/
sixteensedici/ˈseditʃi/
seventeendiciassette/ditʃasˈsɛtte/
eighteendiciotto/diˈtʃɔtto/
nineteendiciannove/ditʃanˈnɔve/
twentyventi/ˈventi/


EnglishItalianIPA
twenty-oneventuno/venˈtuno/
twenty-twoventidue/ˌventiˈdue/
twenty-threeventitré/ˌventiˈtre/
twenty-fourventiquattro/ˌventiˈkwattro/
twenty-fiveventicinque/ˌventiˈtʃinkwe/
twenty-sixventisei/ˌventiˈsɛi/
twenty-sevenventisette/ˌventiˈsɛtte/
twenty-eightventotto/venˈtɔtto/
twenty-nineventinove/ˌventiˈnɔve/
thirtytrenta/ˈtrenta/

EnglishItalianIPA
one hundredcento/ˈtʃɛnto/
one thousandmille/ˈmille/
two thousandduemila/ˌdueˈmila/
two thousand (and) twenty-five (2025)duemilaventicinque/dueˌmilaˈventitʃinkwe/
one millionun milione/miˈljone/
one billionun miliardo/miˈljardo/
one trillionmille miliardi/ˈmilleˈmiˈljardi/

Days of the week

[edit]
EnglishItalianIPA
Mondaylunedì/luneˈdi/
Tuesdaymartedì/marteˈdi/
Wednesdaymercoledì/ˌmerkoleˈdi/
Thursdaygiovedì/dʒoveˈdi/
Fridayvenerdì/venerˈdi/
Saturdaysabato/ˈsabato/
Sundaydomenica/doˈmenika/

Months of the year

[edit]
EnglishItalianIPA
Januarygennaio/dʒenˈnajo/
Februaryfebbraio/febˈbrajo/
Marchmarzo/ˈmartso/
Aprilaprile/aˈprile/
Maymaggio/ˈmaddʒo/
Junegiugno/ˈdʒuɲɲo/
Julyluglio/ˈluʎʎo/
Augustagosto/aˈɡosto/
Septembersettembre/setˈtɛmbre/
Octoberottobre/otˈtobre/
Novembernovembre/noˈvɛmbre/
Decemberdicembre/diˈtʃɛmbre/[114]

Example text

[edit]
Italian pronunciation

Article 1 of theUniversal Declaration of Human Rights in Italian:

Tutti gli esseri umani nascono liberi ed eguali in dignità e diritti. Essi sono dotati di ragione e di coscienza e devono agire gli uni verso gli altri in spirito di fratellanza.[115]

Article 1 of theUniversal Declaration of Human Rights in English:

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.[116]

Nobel Prizes for Italian language literature

[edit]
Giosuè Carducci, the first Italian to receive theNobel Prize in Literature[117]
YearWinnerContribution
1906Giosuè Carducci"not only in consideration of his deep learning and critical research, but above all as a tribute to the creative energy, freshness of style, and lyrical force which characterize his poetic masterpieces."[118]
1926Grazia Deledda"for her idealistically inspired writings which with plastic clarity picture the life on her native island and with depth and sympathy deal with human problems in general."[119]
1934Luigi Pirandello"for his bold and ingenious revival of dramatic and scenic art."[120]
1959Salvatore Quasimodo"for his lyrical poetry, which with classical fire expresses the tragic experience of life in our own times."[121]
1975Eugenio Montale"for his distinctive poetry which, with great artistic sensitivity, has interpreted human values under the sign of an outlook on life with no illusions."[122]
1997Dario Fo"who emulates the jesters of the Middle Ages in scourging authority and upholding the dignity of the downtrodden."[123]

See also

[edit]
Italian edition ofWikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Notes

[edit]
  1. ^abRecognized as a minority language by theEuropean Charter for Regional or Minority Languages.[5]
  2. ^Italian is the main language of the valleys ofCalanca,Mesolcina,Bregaglia andval Poschiavo. In the village ofMaloja, it is spoken by about half the population. It is also spoken by a minority in the village ofBivio.

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