From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Italian is a Romance language spoken by about 62 million people, most of whom live in Italy. Standard Italian is based on Tuscan dialects and is somewhat intermediate between the languages of Southern Italy and the Gallo-Romance languages of the North. Italian has double (or long) consonants, like Latin (but unlike most modern Romance languages, e.g. French and Spanish). As in most Romance languages (with the notable exception of French), stress is distinctive.
| Italian (Italiano) | |
|---|---|
| Spoken in: | Italy and 29 other countries |
| Region: | Region |
| Total speakers: | 55 Million |
| Ranking: | 27 |
| Genetic classification: |
Indo-European Italic Romance Italo-Western Italo-Dalmatian Italian |
| Official status | |
| Official language of: | Italy, Switzerland, San Marino |
| Regulated by: | Accademia della Crusca |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-1: | it |
| ISO 639-2: | ita |
| SIL: | ITN |
Standard Italian is derived from the dialects of Tuscany.
Of the major Romance languages, which were derived from Latin language, Italian is the closest to Latin, although there are other langauges spoken in Italy which are even closer to Latin, for example Sardo logudorese language.
Italians say that the best spoken Italian is lingua Toscana in bocca Romana - 'the Tuscan tongue, in a Roman mouth.' The formative influence on establishing the Tuscan as the elite speech is generally agreed to have been Dante's Commedia, to which Boccaccio affixed the title Divina in the 14th century.
The economic power that Tuscany had at the time, specially considering Pisa's influence, gave its dialect weight, though Venetian remained widespread in the markets and streets of the Terra Firma. Also, the increasing cultural relevance of Florence in the period of Umanesimo (before Rinascimento) made its vulgare become a standard in art, quickly imported to Rome.
Italian is a member of the Italo-Dalmatian group of languages, which is part of the Italo-Western grouping of the Romance languages, which are a subgroup of the Italic branch of Indo-European.
Italian is the official language of Italy, San Marino and an official language in the Ticino and Grigioni cantons or regions of Switzerland. It is also the second official language in Vatican City and in some areas of Istria in Slovenia and Croatia with Italian minority. It is widely used by immigrant groups in Luxembourg, the United States, and Australia, and is also spoken in neighbouring Malta. It is spoken, to a much lesser extent, in parts of Africa formerly under Italian rule such as Somalia, Libya and Eritrea.
Italian is an official language of Italy, San Marino, Switzerland, and the Vatican.
The dialects of Italian identified by the Ethnologue are Tuscan, Abruzzese, Pugliese, Umbrian, Laziale, Central Marchigiano, Cicolano-Reatino-Aquilano, and Molisano. Many of the so-called "dialects" of Italian spoken in Italy are different enough from standard Italian that they are considered to be separate languages by most linguists.
Description of the sound set of the language. Can include phoneme charts and example words for each phoneme like in French language. If there is significant discussion here, it is probably best to divide the section into vowels and consonants subsections.
{| border=2 cellpadding=2
!
!bilabial
!labiodental
!dental
!alveolar
!palato-alveolar
!palatal
!velar
|-
!plosive
|p b
|
|t d
|
|
|
|k g
|-
!nasal
|m
|
|n
|
|
|ɲ
|ŋ
|-
!trill
|
|
|
|r
|
|
|
|-
!flap
|
|
|
|ɾ
|
|
|
|-
!fricative
|
|f v
|s z
|
|ʃ
|
|
|-
!affricate
|
|
|
|
|tʃ dʒ
|
|
|-
!lateral
|
|
|l
|
|
|ʎ
|
|}
Italian has geminate, or double, consonants, which are distinguished by length. Length is distinctive for all consonants except for the palatals, /z/, and the palato-alveloar fricative /S/. Geminate plosives and affricates are realized as lengthened closures. Geminate fricatives, nasals, and /l/ are realized as lengthened continuants. Geminate /r/ is realized as the trill [r]. ,
History
Classification
Geographic distribution
Official status
Dialects
Sounds
Vowels
Italian has five vowel phonemes: /a/, /e/, /i/, /o/, and /u/. The mid vowels, /e/, and /o/ have lowered allophones [E] and [O] in closed syllables, syllables that end with a consonant and not a vowel. Consonants
| Singular | Plural | |
| 1st Person | io - I | noi - we |
| 2nd Person | tu - you (one person, familiar) | voi - you (plural, familiar) |
| 3rd Person |
lei - she Lei - you (one person, polite) lui - he |
loro - they Loro - you (plural, polite) |
Lei and Loro (sometimes written with a capitalized L) have special meaning in addition to their meanings as "she" and "they". Lei is the polite form of tu (which is only used for individuals one is familiar with, family members, for children, or for praying to a god), and similarly, Loro is the polite form of voi (but voi or Voi too is a polite form).
| -are | Singular | Plural |
| 1st Person | -o | -iamo |
| 2nd Person | -i | -ate |
| 3rd Person | -a | -ano |
Example: mangiare, "to eat".
- Io mangio. (or just Mangio.) I eat.
- Antonio mangia. Antonio eats.
- Antonio mangia? Does Antonio eat?
- Mangia Antonio? Does Antonio eat?
- Noi guardiamo la televisione. (or just Guardiamo la televisione.) We watch television.
| -ere | Singular | Plural |
| 1st Person | -o | -iamo |
| 2nd Person | -i | -ete |
| 3rd Person | -e | -ono |
Example: leggere, "to read"
- Leggono i libri. They read books.
- Leggo il giornale. I read the newspaper.
| -ire (normal form) | Singular | Plural |
| 1st Person | -o | -iamo |
| 2nd Person | -i | -ite |
| 3rd Person | -e | -ono |
Example: partire, "to leave"
- Partite. You leave. (plural; used if talking to two or more persons one is familiar with.)
- Parti. You leave. (singular; used if talking to only one person one is familiar with.)
- Partono. Depending on context, could mean either You leave'\' (if addressing more than one person formally), or could also mean They leave.''
| -ire (-isco form) | Singular | Plural |
| 1st Person | -isco | -iamo |
| 2nd Person | -isci | -ite |
| 3rd Person | -isce | -iscono |
Example: capire, "to understand".
- Io capisco or just Capisco. "I understand."
- Capisci? "Do you understand?"
Italian is written using the Latin alphabet. Italian uses both acute accent and grave accent for marking words with irregular stress.
Writing system
Examples
See Common phrases in different languages and Italian proverbs.
