Italian Italiano
Pronunciation:	/itaˈljano/
Spoken in:	Italy, San Marino, Slovenia, Switzerland, Croatia, Vatican City. Italy (Italia officially the Italian Republic, (Repubblica Italiana is located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe, and on the two largest The Most Serene Republic of San Marino (Serenissima Repubblica di San Marino is a country in the Apennine Mountains. Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia (Republika Slovenija) is a Country in southern Central Europe bordering Italy to the west Switzerland (English pronunciation; Schweiz Swiss German: Schwyz or Schwiiz Suisse Svizzera Svizra officially the Swiss Confederation Croatia (Hrvatska ˈxȓvatska officially the Republic of Croatia ( Republika Hrvatska) is a southern Central European country at the crossroads between Vatican City, officially the State of the Vatican City (Stato della Città del Vaticano is a Landlocked sovereign City-state whose territory Used by a significant part of population in: Monaco, Albania, France (Corsica and Nice), Croatia (Istria), Slovenia (Kars Littoral),Malta, Montenegro , Libya, Eritrea and Somalia. For other uses see Monaco (disambiguation Monaco, officially the Principality of Monaco ( French: Principauté de Monaco; Monégasque This article is about the country in southern Europe For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Albania topics. This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. Corsica (Corse Corsican and Italian: Corsica) is the fourth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea (after Sicily The County of Nice or Niçard Country ( French: Comté de Nice / Pays Niçois, Italian: Contea di Nizza / Paese Nizzardo, Niçard Croatia (Hrvatska ˈxȓvatska officially the Republic of Croatia ( Republika Hrvatska) is a southern Central European country at the crossroads between This article is about a geographical region bordering the Adriatic Sea Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia (Republika Slovenija) is a Country in southern Central Europe bordering Italy to the west The Slovenian Littoral (Primorska Litorale Küstenland is a historical region of Slovenia. Malta, officially the Republic of Malta (Repubblika ta' Malta is a European Microstate, comprising an Archipelago of three islands Albania Veneta ( English: Venetian Albania) was the name for the possessions of the Republic of Venice in southern Dalmatia that existed from 1420 Libya ( ليبيا ar-Latn Lībiyā; Libyan vernacular: Lībya; Amazigh:) officially the Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Eritrea () ( Ge'ez: ኤርትራ ʾErtrā, Arabic: إرتريا Iritriya) officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in Somalia ( Soomaaliya; الصومال) officially the Somali Republic ( Jamhuuriyadda Soomaaliya, جمهورية الصومال) and formerly known Significant immigrant communities are found throughout the Americas (primarily Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Uruguay, United States and Venezuela), Australia, and Western Europe (primarily in Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg, and the United Kingdom). The Americas are the lands of the Western hemisphere or New World, consisting of the Continents of North America and South America For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Argentina topics. |utc_offset = -2 to -4 |time_zone_DST = BRST |utc_offset_DST = -2 to -5 |cctld Country to "Dominion of Canada" or "Canadian Federation" or anything else please read the Talk Page Uruguay.(official full name in República Oriental del Uruguay;, Oriental Republic of Uruguay) is a country located in the southeastern part of South America The United States of America —commonly referred to as the Venezuela (ˌvɛnəˈzweɪlə) officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela (Spanish República Bolivariana de Venezuela) is a country on the For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Australia topics. Western Europe at its most general meaning means 'all the countries in the West of Europe ' The Kingdom of Belgium is a Country in northwest Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts its headquarters as well as those This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe. Luxembourg (Groussherzogtum Lëtzebuerg Grand-Duché de Luxembourg Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small Landlocked country in Western Europe, bordered by Italian Britons also known as Britalians, are British citizens whose ancestry originates in Italy.
Total speakers:	as maternal language between 60 [1] and 70 million [2]; as cultural language around 110-120 million [3]
Ranking:	19
Language family:	Indo-European  Italic   Romance    Italo-Western     Italo-Dalmatian      Italian
Official status
Official language in:	European Union  Italy  Switzerland  San Marino  Somalia (as secondary language) Vatican City Sovereign Military Order of Malta  Croatia (Istria)  Slovenia (Pirano, Isola d'Istria and Capodistria)
Regulated by:	Accademia della Crusca
Language codes
ISO 639-1:	it
ISO 639-2:	ita
ISO 639-3:	ita – Italian (generic)
Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. This is a list of languages, ordered by the number of native-language speakers, with some data for second-language use List of language familiesA language family is a group of Languages related by descent from a common ancestor called the Proto-language of that family The Italic subfamily is a member of the Indo-European language family's Centum branch The Romance languages (sometimes referred to as Romanic languages, or Neolatin languages) are a branch of the Indo-European language family comprising all The European Union ( EU) is a political and economic union of twenty-seven member states, located primarily in Italy (Italia officially the Italian Republic, (Repubblica Italiana is located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe, and on the two largest Switzerland (English pronunciation; Schweiz Swiss German: Schwyz or Schwiiz Suisse Svizzera Svizra officially the Swiss Confederation The Most Serene Republic of San Marino (Serenissima Repubblica di San Marino is a country in the Apennine Mountains. Somalia ( Soomaaliya; الصومال) officially the Somali Republic ( Jamhuuriyadda Soomaaliya, جمهورية الصومال) and formerly known Vatican City, officially the State of the Vatican City (Stato della Città del Vaticano is a Landlocked sovereign City-state whose territory The Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta (known as the Sovereign Military Order of Malta ( SMOM) Order of Malta Croatia (Hrvatska ˈxȓvatska officially the Republic of Croatia ( Republika Hrvatska) is a southern Central European country at the crossroads between Istria County (Istarska Županija Italian: Regione Istriana) is the westernmost county of Croatia which includes the biggest part of the Istrian Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia (Republika Slovenija) is a Country in southern Central Europe bordering Italy to the west Piran ( Italian Pirano) is a Town and Municipality in southwestern Slovenia on the Adriatic coast along the Izola ( Italian: Isola or Isola d'Istria) is an old fishing Town and a Municipality in southwestern Slovenia on the This is a list of bodies that regulate Standard languages Natural languages Auxiliary languages Interlingua The auxiliary language The Accademia della Crusca is an Italian institution that brings together scholars and experts in Italian linguistics and Philology. ISO 639-1 is the first part of the ISO 639 international-standard language-code family ISO 639-2 is the second part of the ISO 639 standard, which lists codes for the representation of the names of languages ISO 639 -3 (ISO 639-32007 is an international standard for Language codes The standard describes three‐letter codes for identifying languages In Computing, Unicode is an Industry standard allowing Computers to consistently represent and manipulate text expressed in most of the world's

Italian language
Accademia della Crusca Alphabet Dialects Grammar Literature Pronunciation Profanity
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Italian (italiano (help·info), or lingua italiana) is a Romance language spoken by about 63 million people,^[4] primarily in Italy. The Accademia della Crusca is an Italian institution that brings together scholars and experts in Italian linguistics and Philology. The Italian alphabet is a variant of the Latin alphabet used by the Italian language. The Italian people generally indicates as Italian dialects all Vernacular Idioms spoken in Italy other than Italian and other Italian grammar is the study of Grammar of the Italian language. See also Italian language For assistance in making phonetic transcriptions of Italian for Wikipedia articles see HelpIPA chart for Italian. The definition Italian Profanity (" parolacce " refers to a set of words considered blasphemous or inflammatory in the Italian language. The Romance languages (sometimes referred to as Romanic languages, or Neolatin languages) are a branch of the Indo-European language family comprising all Italy (Italia officially the Italian Republic, (Repubblica Italiana is located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe, and on the two largest In Switzerland, Italian is one of four official languages. Switzerland (English pronunciation; Schweiz Swiss German: Schwyz or Schwiiz Suisse Svizzera Svizra officially the Swiss Confederation The Linguistic geography of Switzerland is on the main tripartite with the Swiss German region ( Deutschschweiz) in the northeast It is also the official language of San Marino. The Most Serene Republic of San Marino (Serenissima Repubblica di San Marino is a country in the Apennine Mountains. It is also widely spoken in Vatican City, although Latin is the official language. Vatican City, officially the State of the Vatican City (Stato della Città del Vaticano is a Landlocked sovereign City-state whose territory Latin ( lingua Latīna, laˈtiːna is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Standard Italian, adopted by the state after the unification of Italy, is based on Tuscan and is somewhat intermediate between Italo-Dalmatian languages of the South and Northern Italian dialects of the North. Italian Unification ( Italian: il Risorgimento, or "The Resurgence" was the political and social movement that unified different states of the Italian The Tuscan Dialect ( dialetto toscano) or the Tuscan Language ( lingua toscana) is an Italian dialect spoken in Geography Southern Italy forms the lower "boot" of the Italian peninsula containing the ankle (Abruzzo and Molise and southern Lazio the toe (Calabria and the heel Northern Italian (traditional name in Romance linguistics Padanian (recent name or Cisalpine (rare name is a linguistic set with different definitions Related categories Central Italy Southern Italy Insular Italy Northeast Italy

Unlike most other Romance languages, Italian has retained the contrast between short and long consonants which existed in Latin. In Phonetics, gemination happens when a spoken Consonant is pronounced for an audibly longer period of time than a short Consonant. As in most Romance languages, stress is distinctive. The Romance languages (sometimes referred to as Romanic languages, or Neolatin languages) are a branch of the Indo-European language family comprising all In Linguistics, stress is the relative emphasis that may be given to certain Syllables in a word Of the Romance languages, Italian is considered to be one of the closest resembling Latin in terms of vocabulary,^[5] though Romanian most closely preserves the noun declension system of Classical Latin, and Spanish the verb conjugation system (see Old Latin), while Sardinian is the most conservative in terms of phonology. Latin ( lingua Latīna, laˈtiːna is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. The vocabulary of a person is defined either as the set of all Words that are understood by that person or the set of all words likely to be used by that person when constructing Romanian or Daco-Romanian ( dated: Rumanian or Roumanian; self designation limba română, ˈlimba roˈmɨnə is a Romance In Linguistics, declension (or declination) is the occurrence of Inflection in Nouns Pronouns and Adjectives indicating Classical Latin is the form of the Latin language used by the ancient Romans in what is usually regarded as "classical" Latin literature. For English usage of verbs see the wiki article English verbs. Old Latin (also called Early Latin or Archaic Latin) refers to the Latin language in the period before the age of Classical Latin; that is all Sardinian ( Sardu, Saldu) is after Italian the main language spoken in the island of Sardinia, Italy, remarkable for being the most conservative Phonology ( Greek φωνή (phōnē voice sound + λόγος (lógos word speech subject of discussion is the systematic use of sound to encode meaning

It is affectionately called il parlar gentile (the gentle language) by its speakers.

Writing system

Main article: Italian alphabet

Example of Italian

Italian is written using the Latin alphabet. The Italian alphabet is a variant of the Latin alphabet used by the Italian language. The letters J, K, W, X and Y are not considered part of the standard Italian alphabet, but appear in loanwords (such as jeans, whisky, taxi). The Italian alphabet is a variant of the Latin alphabet used by the Italian language. X has become a commonly used letter in genuine Italian words with the prefix extra-. J in Italian is an old-fashioned orthographic variant of I, appearing in the first name "Jacopo" as well as in some Italian place names, e. g. , the towns of Bajardo, Bojano, Joppolo, Jesolo, Jesi, among numerous others, and in the alternate spelling Mar Jonio (also spelled Mar Ionio) for the Ionian Sea. Bajardo is a Comune (municipality in the Province of Imperia in the Italian region Liguria, located about 110 km southwest of Bojano or Boiano is a town and Comune in the Province of Campobasso, Molise, south central Italy. For the Italian town in the province of Agrigento see Joppolo Giancaxio. Jesolo (or Iesolo) is a town and Comune in the Province of Venice, Italy. Jesi aka Iesi is a town and Comune of the Province of Ancona in the Marche, Italy. The Ionian Sea is an arm of the Mediterranean Sea, south of the Adriatic Sea. J may also appear in many words from different dialects, but its use is discouraged in contemporary Italian, and it is not part of the standard 21-letter contemporary Italian alphabet. Each of these foreign letters had an Italian equivalent spelling: gi for j, c or ch for k, u or v for w (depending on what sound it makes), s, ss, or cs for x, and i for y.

• Italian uses the acute accent over the letter E (as in perché, why/because) to indicate a front mid-close vowel, and the grave accent (as in tè, tea) to indicate a front mid-open vowel. History An early precursor of the acute accent was the apex, used in Latin inscriptions to mark long vowels. Pitch The grave accent was first used in the polytonic orthography of Ancient Greek, where it occurred only on the last syllable of a word in cases where the The grave accent is also used on letters A, I, O, and U to mark stress when it falls on the final vowel of a word (for instance gioventù, youth). Pitch The grave accent was first used in the polytonic orthography of Ancient Greek, where it occurred only on the last syllable of a word in cases where the In Linguistics, stress is the relative emphasis that may be given to certain Syllables in a word Typically, the penultimate syllable is stressed. If syllables other than the last one are stressed, the accent is not mandatory, unlike in Spanish, and, in virtually all cases, it is omitted. In some cases, when the word is ambiguous (as principi), the accent mark is sometimes used in order to disambiguate its meaning (in this case, prìncipi, princes, or princìpi, principles). This is however not compulsory. Rare words with three or more syllables can confuse Italians themselves, and the pronunciation of Istanbul is a common example of a word in which placement of stress is not clearly established. Istanbul (historically Byzantium and later Constantinople; see the other Names of Istanbul) is the largest city of Turkey Turkish, like French, tends to put the accent on ultimate syllable, but Italian doesn't. So we can hear "Istànbul" or "Ìstanbul". Another instance is the American State of Florida: the correct way to pronounce it in Italian is like in Spanish, "Florìda", but since there is an Italian word meaning the same ("flourishing"), "flòrida", and because of the influence of English, most Italians pronounce it that way. Florida ( is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States, bordering Alabama to the northwest and Georgia to the

• The letter H at the beginning of a word is used to distinguish ho, hai, ha, hanno (present indicative of avere, 'to have') from o ('or'), ai ('to the'), a ('to'), anno ('year'). In the spoken language this letter is always silent for the cases given above. H is also used in combinations with other letters (see below), but no phoneme [h] exists in Italian. The phoneME project is Sun Microsystems reference implementation of Java virtual machine and associated libraries of Java ME with source licensed under the GNU In foreign words entered in common use, like "hotel" or "hovercraft", the H is commonly silent, so they are pronounced as /oˈtɛl/ and /ˈɔverkraft/

• The letter Z represents /ʣ/, for example: Zanzara /dzan'dzaɾa/ (mosquito), or /ʦ/, for example: Nazione /naˈttsjone/ (nation), depending on context, though there are few minimal pairs. In Phonology, minimal pairs are pairs of Words or phrases in a particular Language, which differ in only one phonological element such as a Phone The same goes for S, which can represent /s/ or /z/. However, these two phonemes are in complementary distribution everywhere except between two vowels in the same word, and even in such environment there are extremely few minimal pairs, so that this distinction is being lost in many varieties. Complementary distribution in Linguistics is the relationship between two different elements where one element is found in a particular environment and the other element is

• The letters C and G represent affricates: /ʧ/ as in "chair" and /ʤ/ as in "gem", respectively, before the front vowels I and E. Affricate Consonants begin as stops (most often an alveolar, such as or) but release as a fricative (such as or or occasionally into The voiceless palato-alveolar affricate or domed postalveolar affricate is a type of Consonantal sound used in some spoken Languages It is The voiced palato-alveolar affricate, also described as voiced domed postalveolar affricate, is a type of Consonantal sound used in some spoken Languages A front vowel is a type of Vowel sound used in some spoken Languages The defining characteristic of a front vowel is that the tongue is positioned as far forward They are pronounced as plosives /k/, /g/ (as in "call" and "gall") otherwise. A stop, plosive, or occlusive is a Consonant sound produced by stopping the airflow in the Vocal tract. Front/back vowel rules for C and G are similar in French, Romanian, Spanish, and to some extent English (including Old English). French ( français,) is a Romance language spoken around the world by 118 million people as a native language and by about 180 to 260 million people Romanian or Daco-Romanian ( dated: Rumanian or Roumanian; self designation limba română, ˈlimba roˈmɨnə is a Romance English is a West Germanic language originating in England and is the First language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States Swedish and Norwegian have similar rules for K and G. Swedish ( is a North Germanic language spoken by more than nine million people predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland, especially along the Norwegian ( norsk) is a North Germanic Language spoken primarily in Norway, where it is an official language (See also palatalization. Palatalization or palatalisation (ˌpælətəlɨˈzeɪʃən generally refers to two phenomena As a process or the result of a process )

• However, an H can be added between C or G and E or I to represent a plosive, and an I can be added between C or G and A, O or U to signal that the consonant is an affricate. For example:

	Before back vowel (A, O, U)		Before front vowel (I, E)
Plosive	C	caramella /kaɾaˈmɛlla/	CH	china /ˈkina/
	G	gallo /ˈgallo/	GH	ghiro /ˈgiro/
Affricate	CI	ciaramella /ʧaɾaˈmɛlla/	C	Cina /ˈʧina/
	GI	giallo /ˈʤallo/	G	giro /ˈʤiro/

Note that the H is silent in the digraphs CH and GH, as also the I in cia, cio, ciu and even cie is not pronounced as a separate vowel, unless it carries the primary stress. In an alphabetic writing system, a silent letter is a letter that in a particular word does not correspond to any sound in the word's Pronunciation. Ch is a digraph in the Roman alphabet. It is treated as a letter of its own in the Gh is a digraph found in many languages In Latin-based orthographies English In English, gh historically represented (the For example, it is silent in ciao /ˈʧa. The word ciao (pronounced "chaow" /tʃao/ is an informal Italian verbal salutation or Greeting, meaning either " goodbye " o/ and cielo /ˈʧɛ. lo/, but it is pronounced in farmacia /ˌfaɾ. ma. ˈʧi. a/ and farmacie /ˌfaɾ. ma. ˈʧi. e/.

• There are three other special digraphs in Italian: GN, GL and SC. A digraph, bigraph, or digram is a pair of characters used to write one Phoneme (distinct sound or a sequence of phonemes that does not correspond Gn is a Digraph of the Latin Alphabet found in many languages GN represents /ɲ/. The palatal nasal is a type of Consonant, used in some spoken Languages The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this GL represents /ʎ/ only before i, and never at the beginning of a word, except in the personal pronoun and definite article gli. The palatal lateral approximant is a type of Consonantal sound used in some spoken Languages The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet Personal pronouns are Pronouns used as substitutes for proper or common Nouns. (Compare with Spanish ñ and ll, Portuguese nh and lh. Portuguese ( or língua portuguesa) is a Romance language that originated in what is now Galicia (Spain and northern Portugal. ) SC represents fricative /ʃ/ before i or e. The voiceless palato-alveolar fricative or domed postalveolar fricative ( IPA) is a type of Consonantal sound used in some spoken Languages Except in the speech of some Northern Italians, all of these are normally geminate between vowels. In Phonetics, gemination happens when a spoken Consonant is pronounced for an audibly longer period of time than a short Consonant.

• In general, all letters or digraphs represent phonemes rather clearly, and in standard varieties of Italian, there is little allophonic variation. The most notable exceptions are assimilation of /n/ in point of articulation before consonants, assimilatory voicing of /s/ to following voiced consonants, and vowel length (vowels are long in stressed open syllables, and short elsewhere) — compare with the enormous number of allophones of the English phoneme /t/. In Phonetics, an allophone is one of several similar speech sounds ( Phones that belong to the same Phoneme. Spelling is clearly phonemic and difficult to mistake given a clear pronunciation. Exceptions are generally only found in foreign borrowings. There are fewer cases of dyslexia than among speakers of languages such as English, and the concept of a spelling bee is strange to Italians. Dyslexia is considered to be a Learning disability. It manifests primarily as a difficulty with written language particularly with Reading and Spelling

History

The history of the Italian language is long, but the modern standard of the language was largely shaped by relatively recent events. The earliest surviving texts which can definitely be called Italian (or more accurately, vernacular, as opposed to its predecessor Vulgar Latin) are legal formulae from the region of Benevento dating from 960-963. Vulgar Latin (in Latin sermo vulgaris, "folk speech" is a Blanket term covering the popular Dialects and Sociolects of the Latin The Province of Benevento (Provincia di Benevento is a province in the Campania region of Italy. ^[6] What would come to be thought of as Italian was first formalized in the first years of the 14th century through the works of Dante Alighieri, who mixed southern Italian languages, especially Sicilian, with his native Tuscan in his epic poems known collectively as the Commedia, to which Giovanni Boccaccio later affixed the title Divina. Sicilian (scn '''''lu sicilianu''''' lingua siciliana, also known as Siculu or Calabro-Sicilian) is a Romance language. The Divine Comedy Dante's much-loved works were read throughout Italy and his written dialect became the "canonical standard" that all educated Italians could understand. Dante is still credited with standardizing the Italian language and, thus, the dialect of Tuscany became the basis for what would become the official language of Italy. Tuscany (Toscana is a region in Italy. It has an area of 22990 km² and a population of about 3

Italy has always had a distinctive dialect for each city since the cities were until recently thought of as city-states. A city-state is a Region controlled exclusively by a City, usually having Sovereignty. The latter now has considerable variety, however. As Tuscan-derived Italian came to be used throughout the nation, features of local speech were naturally adopted, producing various versions of Regional Italian. The most characteristic differences, for instance, between Roman Italian and Milanese Italian are the gemination of initial consonants and the pronunciation of stressed "e", and of "s" in some cases (e. Romanesco is a Romance language spoken in Rome, Italy. It is one of the Central Italian dialects, and considered close to Tuscan Milanese ( milanes, milanées, meneghin, meneghìn) is the central variety of Western Lombard language spoken in the In Phonetics, gemination happens when a spoken Consonant is pronounced for an audibly longer period of time than a short Consonant. g. va bene "all right": is pronounced [va ˈbːɛne] by a Roman, [va ˈbene] by a Milanese; a casa "at home": Roman [a ˈkːasa], Milanese [a ˈkaza]).

In contrast to the dialects of northern Italy, southern Italian dialects were largely untouched by the Franco-Occitan influences introduced to Italy, mainly by bards from France, during the Middle Ages. Northern Italian (traditional name in Romance linguistics Padanian (recent name or Cisalpine (rare name is a linguistic set with different definitions Geography Southern Italy forms the lower "boot" of the Italian peninsula containing the ankle (Abruzzo and Molise and southern Lazio the toe (Calabria and the heel Occitan ( IPA BrE: /ˈɒksɪtn/ AmE: /ˈɑksəˌtɑn/ known also as Lenga d'òc or Langue d'oc (native name occitan Etymology The word is a Loanword from descendant languages of Proto-Celtic *bardos, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gwerh2 This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. Even in the case of Northern Italian dialects, however, scholars are careful not to overstate the effects of outsiders on the natural indigenous developments of the languages. (See La Spezia-Rimini Line. The La Spezia - Rimini Line (sometimes also referred to as the Massa - Senigallia Line in the Linguistics of the Romance languages )

The economic might and relative advanced development of Tuscany at the time (Late Middle Ages), gave its dialect weight, though Venetian remained widespread in medieval Italian commercial life. Tuscany (Toscana is a region in Italy. It has an area of 22990 km² and a population of about 3 The Late Middle Ages is a term used by historians to describe European history in the period of the 14th and 15th centuries (AD 1300–1499 Also, the increasing cultural relevance of Florence during the periods of 'Umanesimo (Humanism)' and the Rinascimento (Renaissance) made its volgare (dialect), or rather a refined version of it, a standard in the arts. Florence ( Italian: Firenze Florentia and Fiorenza) is the Capital City of the Italian region of Tuscany Humanism is a broad category of ethical philosophies that affirm the dignity and worth of all people based on the ability to determine right and wrong by appealing to universal The Renaissance (from French Renaissance, meaning "rebirth" Italian: Rinascimento, from re- "again" and nascere The re-discovery of Dante's De vulgari eloquentia and a renewed interest in linguistics in the 16th century sparked a debate which raged throughout Italy concerning which criteria should be chosen to establish a modern Italian standard to be used as much as a literary as a spoken language. De vulgari eloquentia ( On Eloquence in the vernacular) is the title of an essay by Dante Alighieri, written in Latin and initially meant to consist Scholars were divided into three factions: the purists, headed by Pietro Bembo who in his Gli Asolani claimed that the language might only be based on the great literary classics (notably, Petrarch, and Boccaccio but not Dante as Bembo believed that the Divine Comedy was not dignified enough as it used elements from other dialects), Niccolò Machiavelli and other Florentines who preferred the version spoken by ordinary people in their own times, and the Courtesans like Baldassarre Castiglione and Gian Giorgio Trissino who insisted that each local vernacular must contribute to the new standard. This article is about an art style There is also another meaning for purism namely Linguistic purism. Pietro Bembo ( May 20, 1470 - either 11 January or 18 January, 1547 was an Italian scholar poet literary theorist and Gli Asolani (the people of Asolo) are dialogues in 3 books written between 1497 and 1504 by Pietro Bembo in the language Francesco Petrarca ( July 20, 1304 – July 19, 1374) known in English as Petrarch, was an Italian scholar Florence ( Italian: Firenze Florentia and Fiorenza) is the Capital City of the Italian region of Tuscany A courtesan in mid-16th century usage referred to a mistress or trained artisan of dance and singing especially one associated with wealthy powerful or upper-class Baldasare Castiglione, count of Novellata ( December 15, 1478 &ndash February 28, 1529) was an Italian Courtier, Gian Giorgio Trissino ( July 8, 1478 - December 8, 1550) was an Italian Renaissance humanist, poet dramatist Eventually Bembo's ideas prevailed, the result being the publication of the first Italian dictionary in 1612 and the foundation of the Accademia della Crusca in Florence (1582-3), the official legislative body of the Italian language. The Accademia della Crusca is an Italian institution that brings together scholars and experts in Italian linguistics and Philology.

Italian literature's first modern novel, I Promessi Sposi (The Betrothed), by Alessandro Manzoni further defined the standard by "rinsing" his Milanese 'in the waters of the Arno" (Florence's river), as he states in the Preface to his 1840 edition. The Betrothed (orig I Promessi Sposi is an Italian Historical novel by Alessandro Manzoni, first published in 1827, in Alessandro Francesco Tommaso Manzoni ( March 7, 1785 May 22, 1873) was an Italian Poet and Novelist. Florence ( Italian: Firenze Florentia and Fiorenza) is the Capital City of the Italian region of Tuscany

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 dialects ("ciao" is Venetian, "panettone" is Milanese etc. The word ciao (pronounced "chaow" /tʃao/ is an informal Italian verbal salutation or Greeting, meaning either " goodbye " Venetian or Venetan is a Romance language spoken by over two million people mostly in the Veneto region of Italy. Panettone ( Milanese: panetton classical orthography panetùn other orthography is a typical Bread of Milan Milanese ( milanes, milanées, meneghin, meneghìn) is the central variety of Western Lombard language spoken in the ).

Classification

Italian is most closely related to the other two Italo-Dalmatian languages, Sicilian and the extinct Dalmatian. Sicilian (scn '''''lu sicilianu''''' lingua siciliana, also known as Siculu or Calabro-Sicilian) is a Romance language. Dalmatian is an extinct Romance language formerly spoken in the Dalmatia region of Croatia, and as far south as Kotor in Montenegro The three are part of the Italo-Western grouping of the Romance languages, which are a subgroup of the Italic branch of Indo-European. The Romance languages (sometimes referred to as Romanic languages, or Neolatin languages) are a branch of the Indo-European language family comprising all The Italic subfamily is a member of the Indo-European language family's Centum branch

Geographic distribution

The geographic distribution of the Italian language in the World: in green are signed large Italian-speaking communities; in light blue are painted the former Italian colonies, where Italian was taught and spoken until their independence, and it is understood to some extent today.

The total speakers of Italian as maternal language are between 60 and 70 million. The speakers who use Italian as second or cultural language are estimated around 110-120 million ^[7].

Italian is the official language of Italy and San Marino, and one of the official languages of Switzerland, spoken mainly in Ticino and Grigioni cantons, a region referred to as Italian Switzerland. Italy (Italia officially the Italian Republic, (Repubblica Italiana is located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe, and on the two largest The Most Serene Republic of San Marino (Serenissima Repubblica di San Marino is a country in the Apennine Mountains. Switzerland (English pronunciation; Schweiz Swiss German: Schwyz or Schwiiz Suisse Svizzera Svizra officially the Swiss Confederation Canton Ticino or Ticino ( Italian: tiˈtʃiːno French and German: Tessin and) is the southernmost canton of Graubünden or Grisons ( German:, gʁaʊˈbyndən Italian: Grigioni; Romansh: Grischun) is the largest and easternmost The Linguistic geography of Switzerland is on the main tripartite with the Swiss German region ( Deutschschweiz) in the northeast It is also the second official language in the Vatican City and in some areas of Istria in Slovenia and Croatia with an Italian minority. Vatican City, officially the State of the Vatican City (Stato della Città del Vaticano is a Landlocked sovereign City-state whose territory This article is about a geographical region bordering the Adriatic Sea Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia (Republika Slovenija) is a Country in southern Central Europe bordering Italy to the west Croatia (Hrvatska ˈxȓvatska officially the Republic of Croatia ( Republika Hrvatska) is a southern Central European country at the crossroads between It is widely used and taught in Monaco and Malta. For other uses see Monaco (disambiguation Monaco, officially the Principality of Monaco ( French: Principauté de Monaco; Monégasque Malta, officially the Republic of Malta (Repubblika ta' Malta is a European Microstate, comprising an Archipelago of three islands ^[8] It is also widely understood in France with over one million speakers ^[9] (especially in Corsica and the County of Nice, areas that historically spoke Italian dialects before annexation to France), and in Albania. Corsica (Corse Corsican and Italian: Corsica) is the fourth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea (after Sicily The County of Nice or Niçard Country ( French: Comté de Nice / Pays Niçois, Italian: Contea di Nizza / Paese Nizzardo, Niçard The Italian people generally indicates as Italian dialects all Vernacular Idioms spoken in Italy other than Italian and other This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. This article is about the country in southern Europe For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Albania topics.

Italian is also spoken by some in former Italian colonies in Africa (Libya, Somalia and Eritrea). Libya ( ليبيا ar-Latn Lībiyā; Libyan vernacular: Lībya; Amazigh:) officially the Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Somalia ( Soomaaliya; الصومال) officially the Somali Republic ( Jamhuuriyadda Soomaaliya, جمهورية الصومال) and formerly known Eritrea () ( Ge'ez: ኤርትራ ʾErtrā, Arabic: إرتريا Iritriya) officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in However, its use has sharply dropped off since the colonial period. In Eritrea Italian is widely understood ^[10]. Eritrea () ( Ge'ez: ኤርትራ ʾErtrā, Arabic: إرتريا Iritriya) officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in Italian ( or lingua italiana) is a Romance language spoken by about 63 million people as a First language, primarily in Italy. In fact, for fifty years, during the colonial period, Italian was the language of instruction, but as of 1997, there is only one Italian language school remaining, with 470 pupils. Year 1997 ( MCMXCVII) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full 1997 Gregorian calendar ^[11] In Somalia Italian used to be a major language but due to the civil war and lack of education only the older generation still uses it. Somalia ( Soomaaliya; الصومال) officially the Somali Republic ( Jamhuuriyadda Soomaaliya, جمهورية الصومال) and formerly known

Italian and Italian dialects are widely used by Italian immigrants and many of their descendants (see Italians) living throughout Western Europe (especially France, Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and Luxembourg), the United States, Canada, Australia, and Latin America (especially Uruguay, Brazil, Argentina, and Venezuela). The Italian people generally indicates as Italian dialects all Vernacular Idioms spoken in Italy other than Italian and other The' Italian people' are a Southern European Ethnic group located primarily in Italy, Switzerland, France and by virtue of a wide-ranging Western Europe at its most general meaning means 'all the countries in the West of Europe ' This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe. The Kingdom of Belgium is a Country in northwest Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts its headquarters as well as those Switzerland (English pronunciation; Schweiz Swiss German: Schwyz or Schwiiz Suisse Svizzera Svizra officially the Swiss Confederation Italian Britons also known as Britalians, are British citizens whose ancestry originates in Italy. Luxembourg (Groussherzogtum Lëtzebuerg Grand-Duché de Luxembourg Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small Landlocked country in Western Europe, bordered by An Italian American is an American of Italian descent and/or dual citizenship An Italian Canadian' is a Canadian of Italian descent or heritage Italian Australians are one of the largest Ethnic groups in Australia. Uruguay.(official full name in República Oriental del Uruguay;, Oriental Republic of Uruguay) is a country located in the southeastern part of South America An Italian Brazilian ( Italian: Ítalo-Brasiliano, Portuguese: Ítalo-Brasileiro) is a Brazilian citizen of full or partial Italian For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Argentina topics. Venezuela (ˌvɛnəˈzweɪlə) officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela (Spanish República Bolivariana de Venezuela) is a country on the

In the United States, Italian speakers are most commonly found in four cities: Boston (7,000)^[12], Chicago (12,000)^[13], New York City (140,000)^[14], and Philadelphia (15,000)^[15]. Chicago (ʃɪˈkɑːgoʊ is the largest City by population in the state of Illinois and the American Midwest of the United States. The City of New York Philadelphia (ˌfɪləˈdɛlfiə In Canada there are large Italian-speaking communities in Montreal (120,000) and Toronto (195,000). Montreal, or Montréal in French ( pronounced in French, in English) is the largest city in the Canadian province of Quebec Toronto (təˈrɒntoʊ colloquially pronounced or) is the largest city in Canada and is the provincial capital of Ontario Italian is the second most commonly-spoken language in Australia, where 353,605 Italian Australians, or 1. Italian Australians are one of the largest Ethnic groups in Australia. 9% of the population, reported speaking Italian at home in the 2001 Census. The Australian census is administered by the Australian Bureau of Statistics every five years ^[16] In 2001 there were 130,000 Italian speakers in Melbourne,^[17] and 90,000 in Sydney. Melbourne ( is the second most populous city in Australia, with a Metropolitan area population of approximately 3 Sydney (ˈsɪdniː is the most populous city in Australia, with a Metropolitan area population of approximately 4 ^[18]

Italian language education

Italian is widely taught in many schools around the world, but rarely as the first non-native language of pupils; in fact, Italian generally is the fourth or fifth most taught second-language in the world. ^[19]

In anglophone parts of Canada, Italian is, after French, the third most taught language. An Anglophone (or anglophone) is someone who speaks the English language. Country to "Dominion of Canada" or "Canadian Federation" or anything else please read the Talk Page French ( français,) is a Romance language spoken around the world by 118 million people as a native language and by about 180 to 260 million people In francophone Canada it is third after English. The adjective francophone (alternately Francophone) means French -speaking typically as primary language whether referring to individuals groups or places English is a West Germanic language originating in England and is the First language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States In the United States and the United Kingdom, Italian ranks fourth (after Spanish-French-German and French-German-Spanish respectively). The United States of America —commonly referred to as the The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located The German language (de ''Deutsch'') is a West Germanic language and one of the world's major languages. Throughout the world, Italian is the fifth most taught non-native language, after English, French, Spanish, and German. English is a West Germanic language originating in England and is the First language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States ^[20]

In the European Union, Italian is spoken as a mother tongue by 13% of the population (64 million, mainly in Italy itself) and as a second language by 3% (14 million); among EU member states, it is most likely to be desired (and therefore learned) as a second language in Malta (61%), Croatia (14%), Slovenia (12%), Austria (11%), Romania (8%), France (6%), and Greece (6%). The European Union ( EU) is a political and economic union of twenty-seven member states, located primarily in Malta, officially the Republic of Malta (Repubblika ta' Malta is a European Microstate, comprising an Archipelago of three islands Croatia (Hrvatska ˈxȓvatska officially the Republic of Croatia ( Republika Hrvatska) is a southern Central European country at the crossroads between Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia (Republika Slovenija) is a Country in southern Central Europe bordering Italy to the west Austria (Österreich ( officially the Republic of Austria (Republik Österreich Romania ( dated: Rumania, Roumania This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. Greece (Ελλάδα transliterated: Elláda, historically, Ellás,) officially the Hellenic Republic (Ελληνική Δημοκρατία ^[21] It is also an important second language in Albania and Switzerland, which are not EU members or candidates. This article is about the country in southern Europe For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Albania topics. Switzerland (English pronunciation; Schweiz Swiss German: Schwyz or Schwiiz Suisse Svizzera Svizra officially the Swiss Confederation

Influence and derived languages

See also: Italians

From the late 19th to the mid 20th century, thousands of Italians settled in Argentina, Uruguay and southern Brazil, where they formed a very strong physical and cultural presence (see the Italian diaspora). The' Italian people' are a Southern European Ethnic group located primarily in Italy, Switzerland, France and by virtue of a wide-ranging The term Italian Diaspora refers to the large-scale migration of Italians away from Italy in the period roughly between the unification of Italy in 1861 and the beginning of

In some cases, colonies were established where variants of Italian dialects were used, and some continue to use a derived dialect. The Italian people generally indicates as Italian dialects all Vernacular Idioms spoken in Italy other than Italian and other An example is Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, where Talian is used and in the town of Chipilo near Puebla, Mexico each continuing to use a derived form of Venetian dating back to the 19th century. (ʁiu ˈgɾɐ̃de do ˈsuɫ lit "Large River of the South" is the southernmost State of Brazil, and the State with the fourth highest Human Development |utc_offset = -2 to -4 |time_zone_DST = BRST |utc_offset_DST = -2 to -5 |cctld Talian is a Dialect of the Venetian language spoken mainly in the wine-producing area of the state of Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil. The United Mexican States ( or commonly Mexico (ˈmɛksɪkoʊ () is a federal constitutional Republic in North America. Venetian or Venetan is a Romance language spoken by over two million people mostly in the Veneto region of Italy. Another example is Cocoliche, an Italian-Spanish pidgin once spoken in Argentina and especially in Buenos Aires, and Lunfardo. Cocoliche is an Italian - Spanish Pidgin that was spoken by Italian immigrants in Argentina (especially in Greater Buenos Aires A pidgin is a simplified language that develops as a means of communication between two or more groups that do not have a language in common in situations such as Trade For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Argentina topics. Buenos Aires is the Capital and largest city of Argentina. It is geographically located on the southern shore of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern Lunfardo is an Argot of the Spanish language which developed at the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th century in the lower classes in and around

Rioplatense Spanish, and particularly the speech of the city of Buenos Aires, has intonation patterns that resemble those of Italian dialects,^[22] due to the fact that Argentina had a constant, large influx of Italian settlers since the second half of the nineteenth century; initially primarily from Northern Italy then, since the beginning of the twentieth century, mostly from Southern Italy. Rioplatense Spanish ( Spanish: Español rioplatense, although locally known as castellano rioplatense ^{Superscript text}

Lingua Franca

See also: Mediterranean Lingua Franca

Starting in late medieval times, Italian language variants replaced Latin to become the primary commercial language for much of Europe and Mediterranean Sea (especially the Tuscan and Venetian variants). The Lingua franca of the Mediterranean or Sabir ("know" was a Pidgin language used as a Lingua franca in the Mediterranean Basin from This became solidified during the Renaissance with the strength of Italian banking and the rise of humanism in the arts. The Renaissance (from French Renaissance, meaning "rebirth" Italian: Rinascimento, from re- "again" and nascere Renaissance Humanism was a European intellectual movement beginning in Florence in the last decades of the 14th century

During the period of the Renaissance, Italy held artistic sway over the rest of Europe. All educated European gentlemen were expected to make the Grand Tour, visiting Italy to see its great historical monuments and works of art. The Grand Tour was the traditional travel of Europe undertaken by mainly upper-class European young men of means It thus became expected that educated Europeans would learn at least some Italian; the English poet John Milton, for instance, wrote some of his early poetry in Italian. John Milton ( 9 December, 1608 – 8 November, 1674) was an English Poet, Prose Polemicist and In England, Italian became the second most common modern language to be learned, after French (though the classical languages, Latin and Greek, came first). French ( français,) is a Romance language spoken around the world by 118 million people as a native language and by about 180 to 260 million people Latin ( lingua Latīna, laˈtiːna is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Greek (el ελληνική γλώσσα or simply el ελληνικά — "Hellenic" is an Indo-European language, spoken today by 15-22 million people mainly However, by the late eighteenth century, Italian tended to be replaced by German as the second modern language on the curriculum. The German language (de ''Deutsch'') is a West Germanic language and one of the world's major languages. Yet Italian loanwords continue to be used in most other European languages in matters of art and music. A loanword (or loan word) is a word directly taken into one Language from another with little or no translation Most of the many Languages of Europe belong to the Indo-European Language family.

Today, the Italian language continues to be used as a lingua franca in some environments, for example within the Catholic ecclesiastic hierarchy, Italian is known by a large part of members and is used in substitution of Latin in some official documents as well (the presence of Italian as the second official language in the Vatican City indicates not only use in the seat in Rome, but also in the whole world where an episcopal seat is present). A lingua franca (from Italian, literally meaning Frankish language, see etymology under Sabir and Italian below is any Language widely Catholic is an Adjective derived from the Greek adjective '' / 'katholikos' meaning "whole" or "complete". Latin ( lingua Latīna, laˈtiːna is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Vatican City, officially the State of the Vatican City (Stato della Città del Vaticano is a Landlocked sovereign City-state whose territory Other examples can be found in the sports (football, motor race) and arts (music, opera, visual arts, design, fashion industry). Football is the word given to a number of similar Team sports all of which involve (to varying degrees kicking a Ball with the foot in an attempt to score a Music is an Art form in which the medium is Sound organized in Time. Opera is an art form in which Singers and Musicians perform a Dramatic work (called an opera which combines a text (called a Libretto The visual arts are art forms that focus on the creation of works which are primarily Visual in nature such as Painting, Photography Design is used both as a Noun and a Verb. The term is often tied to the various Applied arts and Engineering (See design disciplines Fashion refers to styles of dress (but can also include cuisine literature art architecture and general comportment that are popular in a culture at any given time

Dialects

Main article: Italian dialects

In Italy, all Romance languages spoken as the vernacular, other than standard Italian and other unrelated, non-Italian languages, are termed "Italian dialects". The Italian people generally indicates as Italian dialects all Vernacular Idioms spoken in Italy other than Italian and other The Romance languages (sometimes referred to as Romanic languages, or Neolatin languages) are a branch of the Indo-European language family comprising all Many Italian dialects are, in fact, historical languages in their own right^[23]. These include recognized language groups such as Friulian, Neapolitan, Sardinian, Sicilian, Venetian, and others, and regional variants of these languages such as Calabrian. Friulian ( or affectionately marilenghe in Friulian friulano in Italian) (also Eastern Ladin) is a Romance language belonging Neapolitan (autonym napulitano; napoletano is the name given to the varied Italo-Western group of dialects of Southern Italy or more specifically the Sardinian ( Sardu, Saldu) is after Italian the main language spoken in the island of Sardinia, Italy, remarkable for being the most conservative Sicilian (scn '''''lu sicilianu''''' lingua siciliana, also known as Siculu or Calabro-Sicilian) is a Romance language. Venetian or Venetan is a Romance language spoken by over two million people mostly in the Veneto region of Italy. The primary languages of the Calabria region are Standard Italian and many regional dialects of the Italo-Dalmatian group collectively known as Calabrian The division between dialect and language has been used by scholars (such as by Francesco Bruni) to distinguish between the languages that made up the Italian koine, and those which had very little or no part in it, such as Albanian, Greek, German, Ladin, and Occitan, which are still spoken by minorities. Francesco Bruni was an Italian engraver born c 1660 at Genoa. Koine Greek (Κοινὴ Ἑλληνική, "common Greek" or, ciˈni ðiˈale̞kto̞s "the common dialect" is the popular form of Greek which emerged in Albanian (sq ''Gjuha shqipe'' ˈɟuha ˈʃcipɛ is an Indo-European language spoken by nearly 6 million peoplewhile others claim that it derives from Daco - Greek (el ελληνική γλώσσα or simply el ελληνικά — "Hellenic" is an Indo-European language, spoken today by 15-22 million people mainly The German language (de ''Deutsch'') is a West Germanic language and one of the world's major languages. Ladin ( Ladino in Italian Ladin in Ladin Ladinisch in German is a Rhaeto-Romance language spoken in the Dolomite mountains Occitan ( IPA BrE: /ˈɒksɪtn/ AmE: /ˈɑksəˌtɑn/ known also as Lenga d'òc or Langue d'oc (native name occitan

Dialects are generally not used for general mass communication and are usually limited to native speakers in informal contexts. In the past, speaking in dialect was often deprecated as a sign of poor education. Younger generations, especially those under 35 (though it may vary in different areas), speak almost exclusively standard Italian in all situations, usually with local accents and idioms. Regional differences can be recognized by various factors: the openness of vowels, the length of the consonants, and influence of the local dialect (for example, annà replaces andare in the area of Rome for the infinitive "to go").

Sounds

Main article: Italian phonology

Vowels

Italian has seven vowel phonemes: /a/, /e/, /ɛ/, /i/, /o/, /ɔ/, /u/. See also Italian language For assistance in making phonetic transcriptions of Italian for Wikipedia articles see HelpIPA chart for Italian. In Phonetics, a vowel is a Sound in spoken Language, such as English ah! or oh!, pronounced with an open Vocal tract The pairs /e/-/ɛ/ and /o/-/ɔ/ are seldom distinguished in writing and often confused, even though most varieties of Italian employ both phonemes consistently. Compare, for example: "perché" [perˈkɛ] (why, because) and "senti" [ˈsenti] (you listen, you are listening, listen!), employed by some northern speakers, with [perˈke] and [ˈsɛnti], as pronounced by most central and southern speakers. As a result, the usage is strongly indicative of a person's origin. The standard (Tuscan) usage of these vowels is listed in vocabularies, and employed outside Tuscany mainly by specialists, especially actors and very few (television) journalists. These are truly different phonemes, however: compare /ˈpeska/ (fishing) and /ˈpɛska/ (peach), both spelled pesca (listen (help·info)). The phoneME project is Sun Microsystems reference implementation of Java virtual machine and associated libraries of Java ME with source licensed under the GNU Similarly /ˈbotte/ ('barrel') and /ˈbɔtte/ ('beatings'), both spelled botte, discriminate /o/ and /ɔ/ (listen (help·info)).

In general, vowel combinations usually pronounce each vowel separately. Diphthongs exist (e. In Phonetics, a diphthong (also gliding vowel) (from Greek grc δίφθογγος "diphthongos" literally "with two sounds" or "with g. uo, iu, ie, ai), but are limited to an unstressed u or i before or after a stressed vowel.

The unstressed u in a diphthong approximates the English semivowel w, the unstressed i approximates the semivowel y. E. g. : buono [ˈbwɔno], ieri [ˈjɛri].

Triphthongs exist in Italian as well, like "continuiamo" ("we continue"). In Phonetics, a triphthong (from Greek τρίφθογγος, "triphthongos" literally "with three sounds" or "with three Three vowel combinations exist only in the form semiconsonant (/j/ or /w/), followed by a vowel, followed by a desinence vowel (usually /i/), as in miei, suoi, or two semiconsonants followed by a vowel, as the group -uia- exemplified above, or -iuo- in the word aiuola. ^[24]

Mobile diphthongs

Many Latin words with a short e or o have Italian counterparts with a mobile diphthong (ie and uo respectively). When the vowel sound is stressed, it is pronounced and written as a diphthong; when not stressed, it is pronounced and written as a single vowel.

So Latin focus gave rise to Italian fuoco (meaning both "fire" and "optical focus"): when unstressed, as in focale ("focal") the "o" remains alone. Latin pes (more precisely its accusative form pedem) is the source of Italian piede (foot): but unstressed "e" was left unchanged in pedone (pedestrian) and pedale (pedal). From Latin iocus comes Italian giuoco ("play", "game"), though in this case gioco is more common: giocare means "to play (a game)". From Latin homo comes Italian uomo (man), but also umano (human) and ominide (hominid). From Latin ovum comes Italian uovo (egg) and ovaie (ovaries). (The same phenomenon occurs in Spanish: juego (play, game) and jugar (to play), nieve (snow) and nevar (to snow)).

Consonants

Two symbols in a table cell denote the voiceless and voiced consonant, respectively.

Nasals undergo assimilation when followed by a consonant, e. In Phonetics, a bilabial consonant is a Consonant articulated with both Lips The bilabial consonants identified by the International Phonetic Alphabet In Phonetics, labiodentals are Consonants articulated with the lower Lip and the upper Teeth. Alveolar consonants are articulated with the tongue against or close to the superior Alveolar ridge, which is called that because it contains the alveoli (the sockets Postalveolar consonants are Consonants articulated with the tongue near or touching the back of the Alveolar ridge, placing them a bit further back in the Palatal consonants are Consonants articulated with the body of the tongue raised against the Hard palate (the middle part of the roof of the mouth A nasal consonant (also called nasal stop or nasal continuant) is produced with a lowered velum in the mouth allowing air to escape freely through the A stop, plosive, or occlusive is a Consonant sound produced by stopping the airflow in the Vocal tract. Affricate Consonants begin as stops (most often an alveolar, such as or) but release as a fricative (such as or or occasionally into Fricatives are Consonants produced by forcing air through a narrow channel made by placing two articulators close together In Phonetics, a trill is a Consonantal sound produced by vibrations between the articulator and the Place of articulation. Laterals are "L"-like Consonants pronounced with an occlusion made somewhere along the axis of the tongue while air from the lungs escapes at one side or both Approximants are speech sounds ( Phonemes) that could be regarded as intermediate between Vowels and typical Consonants In the articulation of approximants g. , when preceding a velar (/k/ or /g/) only [ŋ] appears, etc.

Italian has geminate, or double, consonants, which are distinguished by length. In Phonetics, gemination happens when a spoken Consonant is pronounced for an audibly longer period of time than a short Consonant. Length is distinctive for all consonants except for /ʃ/, /ʦ/, /ʣ/, /ʎ/ /ɲ/, which are always geminate, and /z/ which is always single. Geminate plosives and affricates are realised as lengthened closures. Geminate fricatives, nasals, and /l/ are realized as lengthened continuants. A continuant is a Sound produced with an incomplete closure of the Vocal tract. The flap consonant /ɾː/ is typically dialectal, and it is called erre moscia. The correct standard pronunciation is [r].

Of special interest to the linguistic study of Italian is the Gorgia Toscana, or "Tuscan Throat", the weakening or lenition of certain intervocalic consonants in Tuscan dialects. The Tuscan gorgia (Italian Gorgia toscana, "Tuscan throat" is a phonetic phenomenon which characterizes the Tuscan dialects in Lenition is a kind of Consonant mutation that appears in many Languages Along with assimilation, it is one of the primary sources of historical change The Tuscan Dialect ( dialetto toscano) or the Tuscan Language ( lingua toscana) is an Italian dialect spoken in See also Syntactic doubling. Syntactic doubling is an External sandhi phenomenon in Italian and some other Italo-Western languages.

Assimilation

Italian has few diphthongs, so most unfamiliar diphthongs that are heard in foreign words (in particular, those beginning with vowel "a", "e", or "o") will be assimilated as the corresponding diaeresis (i. In Linguistics, diaeresis, or dieresis, is the pronunciation of two adjacent Vowels in two separate Syllables rather than as a Diphthong e. , the vowel sounds will be pronounced separately). Italian phonotactics do not usually permit polysyllabic nouns and verbs to end with consonants, excepting poetry and song, so foreign words may receive extra terminal vowel sounds. Phonotactics (in Greek phone = voice and tactic = course is a branch of Phonology that deals with restrictions in a Language on the

Grammar

Main article: Italian grammar

Common variations in the writing systems

Some variations in the usage of the writing system may be present in practical use. Italian grammar is the study of Grammar of the Italian language. These are scorned by educated people, but they are so common in certain contexts that knowledge of them may be useful.

• Usage of x instead of per: this is very common among teenagers and in SMS abbreviations. Text messaging, or texting is the common term for the sending of "short" (160 characters or fewer including spaces text messages from Mobile phones The multiplication operator is pronounced "per" in Italian, and so it is sometimes used to replace the word "per", which means "for"; thus, for example, "per te" ("for you") is shortened to "x te" (compare with English "4 U"). Words containing per can also have it replaced with x: for example, perché (both "why" and "because") is often shortened as xché or xké or x' (see below). This usage might be useful to jot down quick notes or to fit more text into the low character limit of an SMS, but it is considered unacceptable in formal writing.
• Usage of foreign letters such as k, j and y, especially in nicknames and SMS language: ke instead of che, Giusy instead of Giuseppina (or sometimes Giuseppe). This is curiously mirrored in the usage of i in English names such as Staci instead of Stacey, or in the usage of c in Northern Europe (Jacob instead of Jakob). Northern Europe is a term for the northern part of Europe. The United Nations defines Northern Europe as (Finland The use of "k" instead of "ch" or "c" to represent a plosive sound is documented in some historical texts from before the standardization of the Italian language; however, that usage is no longer standard in Italian. Possibly because it is associated with the German language, the letter "k" has sometimes also been used in satire to suggest that a political figure is an authoritarian or even a "pseudo-nazi": Francesco Cossiga was famously nicknamed Kossiga by rioting students during his tenure as minister of internal affairs. The German language (de ''Deutsch'') is a West Germanic language and one of the world's major languages. Francesco Cossiga (born July 26, 1928) is an Italian politician and former President of the Italian Republic. [Cf. the politicized spelling Amerika in the USA. Names and words are sometimes intentionally and satirically misspelled for a Rhetorical purpose ]
• Usage of the following abbreviations is limited to the electronic communications media and is deprecated in all other cases: nn instead of non (not), cmq instead of comunque (anyway, however), cm instead of come (how, like, as), d instead of di (of), (io/loro) sn instead of (io/loro) sono (I am/they are), (io) dv instead of (io) devo (I must/I have to) or instead of dove (where), (tu) 6 instead of (tu) sei (you are).
• Inexperienced typists often replace accents with apostrophes, such as in perche' instead of perché. Uppercase È is particularly rare, as it is absent from the Italian keyboard layout, and is very often written as E' (even though there are several ways of producing the uppercase È on a computer). È can be The letter E with a Grave accent. 鄂 or È is an abbreviation for the Hubei province of the QWERTY keyboardjpg|thumb|right|300px|QWERTY keyboard on a Laptop of 2007]]A keyboard layout is any specific mechanical, visual, or functional This never happens in books or other professionally typeset material.

Samples

Examples

• Cheers: "Salute!"
• English: inglese /iŋˈglese/
• Good-bye: arrivederci /arriveˈdertʃi/
• Hello: ciao /ˈtʃao/
• Good day: buon giorno /bwɔnˈdʒorno/
• Good evening: buona sera /bwɔnaˈsera/
• Yes: sì /si/
• No: no /nɔ/
• How are you? : Come stai /ˈkome ˈstai/ (informal); Come sta /ˈkome 'sta/ (formal)
• Sorry: mi dispiace /mi disˈpjatʃe/
• Excuse me: scusa /ˈskuza/ (informal); scusi /ˈskuzi/ (formal)
• Again: di nuovo, /di ˈnwɔvo/; ancora /aŋˈkora/
• Always: sempre /ˈsɛmpre/
• When: quando /ˈkwando/
• Where: dove /'dove/
• Why/Because: perché /perˈke/
• How: come /'kome/
• How much is it?: quanto costa? /ˈkwanto/
• Thank you!: grazie! /ˈgrattsie/
• Bon appetit: buon appetito /ˌbwɔn appeˈtito/
• You're welcome!: prego! /ˈprɛgo/
• I love you: Ti amo /ti ˈamo/, Ti voglio bene /ti ˈvɔʎʎo ˈbɛne/. The word ciao (pronounced "chaow" /tʃao/ is an informal Italian verbal salutation or Greeting, meaning either " goodbye " The difference is that you use "Ti amo" when you are in a romantic relationship, "Ti voglio bene" in any other occasion (to parents, to relatives, to friends. . . )

Counting to twenty:

• One: uno /ˈuno/
• Two: due /ˈdue/
• Three: tre /tre/
• Four: quattro /ˈkwattro/
• Five: cinque /ˈʧiŋkwe/
• Six: sei /ˈsɛi/
• Seven: sette /ˈsɛtte/
• Eight: otto /ˈɔtto/
• Nine: nove /ˈnɔve/
• Ten: dieci /ˈdjɛʧi/
• Eleven: undici /ˈundiʧi/
• Twelve: dodici /ˈdodiʧi/
• Thirteen: tredici /ˈtrediʧi/
• Fourteen: quattordici /kwat'tordiʧi/
• Fifteen: quindici /ˈkwindiʧi/
• Sixteen: sedici /ˈsediʧi/
• Seventeen: diciassette /diʧas'sɛtte/
• Eighteen: diciotto /di'ʧɔtto/
• Nineteen: diciannove /diʧan'nɔve/
• Twenty: venti /'venti/

The days of the week:

• Monday: lunedì /lune'di/
• Tuesday: martedì /marte'di/
• Wednesday: mercoledì /merkole'di/
• Thursday: giovedì /dʒove'di/
• Friday: venerdì /vener'di/
• Saturday: sabato /ˈsabato/
• Sunday: domenica /do'menika/

Sample texts

There is a recording of Dante's Divine Comedy read by Lino Pertile available at http://etcweb.princeton.edu/dante/pdp/

References and notes

Bibliography

• Rogers, Derek & Luciana d'Arcangeli (2004), "Italian", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 34 (1): 117-121

See also

External links

• Swadesh list in English and Italian
• Italian proverbs
• "Learn Italian," BBC
• Italian Grammar Primer