The Italian language or the Italian languages?
The linguistic richness of Italy
Italian, as all national languages, presents different varieties. Many people have heard about Standard Italian and Italian dialects, but there are many other Italian varieties spoken in the Bel Paese. Indeed, Italian can vary according to the area in which it is spoken, the social class of the speakers, the medium of communication, the situation in which it is used and many other factors.
Read this article until the end to find a surprise! š
The linguistic continuum of Italian
It is not a secret that the linguistic landscape of contemporary Italy is complex. As a matter of fact, Italy is a young country unified only in 1861. Until then, its territory was divided into several regional states. The consequences of this recent political division can still be seen today in the linguistic richness of the country. After the unification, great effort was invested in creating a national language, as each region had its own dialect and very few people could speak Italian, the language used in literature and by intellectuals. It was through school, public administration, urbanization and means of communication that Italians learnt Italian. As a result, while in the past Italian and dialects were more neatly differentiated, nowadays there is a higher number of varieties which are more difficult to define.
According to scholars, Italian and dialect (each dialect spoken in the Italian peninsula) can be placed at the two extremes of the linguistic continuum of Italy. In between, one can find various intermediate varieties. The linguistic repertoire of the typical native Italian speaker contains all the varieties of the continuum.
The national language: Standard Italian
Standard Italian is the āofficialā variety of Italian, the one taught in schools and spoken by educated people. It is used mainly in formal writing and in certain spoken contexts, for example by television presenters, journalists, and certain public figures. For these reasons, this is the variety of Italian with the highest prestige.
The local languages: Italian dialects
Instead, Italian dialects are the languages that have been spoken for centuries in Italian regions. Dialects have lower prestige than Standard Italian, as they are acquired naturally by children. Indeed, the only adults who can speak exclusively dialect are those with a low degree of education. However, some Italian dialects have a rich literary and artistic tradition and are being rediscovered in the arts.
The everyday Italian: italiano regionale
A variety identified by numerous scholars is āitaliano regionaleā (regional Italian), which changes according to geographical location and is influenced by dialects in different degrees. Italiano regionale presents a stronger influence of dialect proportionately to the informality of the situation, the degree of education of the speaker, the age of the speaker, the expressiveness that the speaker wants to achieve and the strength of local identity. The main types of italiano regionale are the Northern, the Central, the Roman, the Southern, the Extreme Southern and the Sardinian one.
Another layer of linguistic complexity: code-switching and code-mixing
On top of that, the definition of language varieties becomes more complicated when ācode-switchingā and ācode-mixingā are brought into the discussion. They are common phenomena arising in situations of bilingualism. Code-switching consists of utterances containing elements of two different codes. Code-mixing happens when a speaker alternates sentences belonging to two linguistic codes.
To conclude, the linguistic landscape of Italy looks very similar to a colourful mosaic. The history behind it has been deeply influenced by political and social events happened over the centuries. To learn more visit the Wikipedia page about the languages of Italy.
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