Italian Language
Italian is a Romance language, specifically one of the "Italo-Western" Romance
languages, which include also French, Occitan, Catalan, Spanish, Portuguese
and several others. Italian is natively spoken by approximately 63 million persons
worldwide. It is the official language of Italy and San Marino. It is an official
language of Switzerland, and the main language spoken in Vatican City, a separate
jurisdiction. Italian's closest linguistic cousins are also in the Italo-Dalmatian
branch of the family tree. They are Sicilian and Dalmatian, the latter of which
has become extinct.
Called "Italiano" in Italian, the language derives from Latin as it was spoken until the 4th century CE in Italy, but contains a bit of influence from the Germanic tribes that invaded Italy from the north thereafter. The local "Vulgar Latin" gradually became Italian starting in about the 9th century. Until the 19th century unification of Italy, the languages spoken in the various regions of modern Italy were quite distinct. Even today, many of them have retained their separate histories, vocabulary, pronunciation and grammar, qualifying them as dialects that many linguists consider to be separate languages altogether.
"Standard Italian" in modern times -- the Italian of the national television news broadcasts -- is essentially a created tongue, decreed by the government. It is something of a compromise between Tuscan dialect (from the Northwest), the languages in the south, and the northeastern language of Venice, Verona and beyond, headed towards what is now Slovenia. Swiss Italian is considered a separate language, with considerably more Germanic and French influence than Standard Italian. Sicilian, too, is often classified as a separate language. A number of Italian-related languages (like Marilenghe spoken in Friuli in the northeast) are really local and regional languages that mixed early Italian with the languages of the invading tribes and neighboring peoples, and thus contain elements that sound also like modern German.
Of the Romance languages, Italian is regarded as the most rhythmic and lilting. Since the publication of Dante's Divine Comedy, Italian has been viewed in Europe as a language well suited to poetry and music. The reason is that Italian, unlike the other Romance languages, retained the concept of "long consonants." For example, in Spanish, each syllable is approximately the same length in terms of time or pace, and the stress follows whatever vowel that requires the emphasis. In Italian, syllables may take more or less time to produce, depending on whether there is a long or a short consonant in them. The vowel still determines the stress, as usual. For example, the word for "butterfly" is "farfalla." The vowel stress is on the second of the three "a"'s that appear in the word. However, the double "ell" in the penultimate syllable requires that a longer time be taken with the syllable than with the others, thus making the word lilt, somewhat like the butterfly itself. Linguists call this doubling of consonant length "gemination." Sometimes initial single consonants are pronounced long in the same way, as in "vado a casa" (I go home) in Roman accent, where the "c" in casa is prolonged, giving the sentence the characteristic Italian lilt. Thus, the presence of gemination may be simply aesthetic or decorative. But at times, the clear meaning depends on the pronunciation of the double consonants. For example, "bevve" (he drank) is the simple past (preterit) of "beve" (he drinks).
Italian is thought to be the modern Romance language most closely related to Latin. As such, it has a high degree of lexical similarity with other Romance languages: French, 89%, Catalan, 87%, Sardinian, 85%, and Spanish, 82%. Portuguese, 85% (est.). With a bit of study or experience, speakers of other Romance languages can find Italian intelligible, although the reverse is not always true (for reasons of pronunciation).
Called "Italiano" in Italian, the language derives from Latin as it was spoken until the 4th century CE in Italy, but contains a bit of influence from the Germanic tribes that invaded Italy from the north thereafter. The local "Vulgar Latin" gradually became Italian starting in about the 9th century. Until the 19th century unification of Italy, the languages spoken in the various regions of modern Italy were quite distinct. Even today, many of them have retained their separate histories, vocabulary, pronunciation and grammar, qualifying them as dialects that many linguists consider to be separate languages altogether.
"Standard Italian" in modern times -- the Italian of the national television news broadcasts -- is essentially a created tongue, decreed by the government. It is something of a compromise between Tuscan dialect (from the Northwest), the languages in the south, and the northeastern language of Venice, Verona and beyond, headed towards what is now Slovenia. Swiss Italian is considered a separate language, with considerably more Germanic and French influence than Standard Italian. Sicilian, too, is often classified as a separate language. A number of Italian-related languages (like Marilenghe spoken in Friuli in the northeast) are really local and regional languages that mixed early Italian with the languages of the invading tribes and neighboring peoples, and thus contain elements that sound also like modern German.
Of the Romance languages, Italian is regarded as the most rhythmic and lilting. Since the publication of Dante's Divine Comedy, Italian has been viewed in Europe as a language well suited to poetry and music. The reason is that Italian, unlike the other Romance languages, retained the concept of "long consonants." For example, in Spanish, each syllable is approximately the same length in terms of time or pace, and the stress follows whatever vowel that requires the emphasis. In Italian, syllables may take more or less time to produce, depending on whether there is a long or a short consonant in them. The vowel still determines the stress, as usual. For example, the word for "butterfly" is "farfalla." The vowel stress is on the second of the three "a"'s that appear in the word. However, the double "ell" in the penultimate syllable requires that a longer time be taken with the syllable than with the others, thus making the word lilt, somewhat like the butterfly itself. Linguists call this doubling of consonant length "gemination." Sometimes initial single consonants are pronounced long in the same way, as in "vado a casa" (I go home) in Roman accent, where the "c" in casa is prolonged, giving the sentence the characteristic Italian lilt. Thus, the presence of gemination may be simply aesthetic or decorative. But at times, the clear meaning depends on the pronunciation of the double consonants. For example, "bevve" (he drank) is the simple past (preterit) of "beve" (he drinks).
Italian is thought to be the modern Romance language most closely related to Latin. As such, it has a high degree of lexical similarity with other Romance languages: French, 89%, Catalan, 87%, Sardinian, 85%, and Spanish, 82%. Portuguese, 85% (est.). With a bit of study or experience, speakers of other Romance languages can find Italian intelligible, although the reverse is not always true (for reasons of pronunciation).
