Italian language

Italian (Italian: italiano or lingua italiana) is a Romance language of the Indo-European language family. It developed from the spoken Latin of the Italian Peninsula. Standard Italian is based mainly on the Tuscan varieties used around Florence.

Italian is the official language of Italy and San Marino. It is also an official language of Switzerland. In Slovenia, it has official status in designated municipalities inhabited by the recognised Italian national community. Italian is the principal language used for administration and public communication in Vatican City.

Italian is written with the Latin alphabet. Its ISO 639-1 code is it, and its ISO 639-2 code is ita.

History

Italian developed from the regional forms of spoken Latin used after the decline of the Western Roman Empire. These forms gradually became the Italo-Romance languages spoken across the peninsula. Early written examples appeared during the Middle Ages, including the Placiti Cassinesi from the tenth century.

The Tuscan language gained literary prestige during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. The works of Dante Alighieri, Petrarch, and Giovanni Boccaccio established the Florentine variety as an important written form. Dante's Divine Comedy demonstrated that a vernacular language could be used for major literary works instead of Latin.

Printing helped spread a more regular written form during the early modern period. The Accademia della Crusca published its first Italian dictionary in 1612. Tuscan-based literary Italian was increasingly used by writers and educated speakers, although regional languages remained dominant in everyday speech.

The creation of the Kingdom of Italy in 1861 gave Italian a national administrative role. Schools and state institutions expanded its use after Italian unification. Internal migration and national broadcasting later made standard Italian the main shared language across the country.

Geographic distribution

Italian is used throughout Italy in public administration, schools, courts, broadcasting, and national publishing. Regional languages and local varieties remain in use beside standard Italian. Pronunciation and vocabulary differ between regions.

In Switzerland, Italian is one of the official federal languages. It is the main language of the canton of Ticino and is also used in parts of Graubünden. Swiss Italian follows the general standard language while retaining some regional vocabulary.

Italian is the official language of San Marino. In coastal parts of Slovenia, it is used in municipal administration and education where the Italian national community is recognised. Italian-speaking communities also exist outside Europe as a result of migration from Italy.

Writing system

Italian uses the Latin script. The traditional alphabet contains 21 letters. Five additional Latin letters appear mainly in borrowed words and foreign names.

Written Italian uses acute and grave accents in certain words. An accent is normally written when the final syllable carries the stress, as in città and perché. Apostrophes mark the omission of a vowel before another word.

The spelling system usually represents pronunciation consistently. Single and double consonants are distinguished because consonant length can change the meaning of a word. The letters c and g have different pronunciations depending on the vowel that follows them.

Grammar

Italian nouns have masculine or feminine gender. They are also marked for singular or plural number. Articles and adjectives normally agree with the noun.

Italian verbs are conjugated according to the subject. Verb forms also distinguish tense and mood. Subject pronouns are often omitted because the verb ending usually identifies the speaker or subject.

The usual sentence order places the subject before the verb and the object after it. Word order can change to place emphasis on a particular part of the sentence. Prepositions commonly combine with definite articles to form contracted forms.

See also

• Italy
• San Marino
• Switzerland
• Slovenia
• French language
• Latin language
• Romance languages
• List of ISO 639-2 codes