What is the official language in Italy. Between Rome and Sicily: Dialects of the Italian Language. Languages ​​and dialects of southern Italy

Dialect (Greek - “adverb” from Greek “to speak, speak”) is a language system that serves as a means of communication for a small territorially defined group of people, for example: natives of one or more settlements who are native speakers of the language and local dialect. The totality of dialects, united by a common language features, is also a dialect.

Usually, territorial dialects are distinguished - varieties of the language that dominate a certain territory as a means of communication for the local population - and social dialects - varieties of the language that certain social groups of the population communicate. Borders between territorial dialects close related languages occupying adjacent territories is conditional. Territorial dialects dominate mainly in the everyday sphere of use; they have a predominantly oral form of existence, such as works of folklore. There is an opinion that speakers of dialects of one language freely understand each other, but sometimes dialects of one language are mutually incomprehensible, but speakers of different languages ​​can easily understand each other.

The concept of a dialect is focused on the linguistic situation inherent in modern European countries. In them, dialects exist adjacent to the national literary language, both in written and spoken form and stylistic varieties.

Almost every language is rich in dialects, each language has such features - the course of history leaves its mark.

The Italian language belongs to the Romance group of Indo-European languages, i.e. derived from colloquial Latin and has an unbroken oral tradition. The literary language of Italy was formed on the basis of the Tuscan dialect.

The Italian language consists of many dialects that differ from each other. They are divided on a territorial basis:

- the northern group of dialects of the Italian language: Ligurian, Lombard, Venetian, Piedmontese, Emilian dialects, which are called Gallo-Romance;

- the central group of dialects: Roman, Corsican, Tuscan (closer to literary language), Umbrian dialects;

- southern group of dialects: Abruzzi, Apulian, Sicilian, Calabrian, Neapolitan dialects.

Fiction exists in both Sicilian and Neapolitan.

Spoken Italian is a collection of living dialects and regional variants. Despite the variety of dialects, all Italians perfectly understand standard Italian. They speak literary Italian, in which most books and periodicals television and radio broadcasting. Italian websites are also usually created in the standard language.

Indigenous conversations may seem incomprehensible to you at first. The main difficulty of the language is the abundance of dialects and pronunciations that differ from each other. Which is not a problem for Italians. The sound of the Italian language also depends on the difference in temperaments: if in the center and in the north of the country the inhabitants are quite calm, then the southerners are famous for their expressive character. A Sicilian, for example, manages to pronounce several times more words in one minute than a Roman.

The history of the Italian language is rich and fascinating, because it comes from the vernacular Latin, common in the Roman Empire. It has ancient roots, but nevertheless it is considered quite young, since the modern dialect was formed only in the 18-19 centuries.

Unlike other languages Romanesque group, it did not receive such distribution. It is officially recognized in four states - directly in Italy, in the Vatican, San Marino and Switzerland. Total number speakers - almost 64 million people.

However, learning it does not mean understanding everything that is said in Italy. This territory is famous for its dialects, which can differ significantly from each other.

Classical Italian and dialects

Most often in the world they study the so-called lingua italiana. It is spoken by over 60 million people. However, in Italy itself there are a huge number of dialects that are radically different from each other. Their differences reach the point that residents of different regions do not understand each other's speech. This is due to historical events.

1. It is possible to divide all dialects into three geographical groups - central, southern and northern. The central region became a kind of language center - the Tuscan dialect was widespread there, which later became the basis for modern Italian. But already in Rome they speak a colloquial form of Latin with hints of Neapolitan and Tuscan dialects.
2. In the north, Gallo-Italian dialects are common, some of which are considered separate languages. In total, this part of the country is divided into eight regions, each of which has its own dialect. For example, the Valle d'Aosta region borders on France, so Franco-Provençal is spoken here.
3. In the south of the country, Neapolitan used to be spoken, but now it is more Italian with a Neapolitan accent. In some regions, you can find an Albanian accent. By the way, the islands also have their own dialects - Sicilian, for example, is divided into western, eastern and central. A few centuries ago, the Italians different parts countries did not understand each other. Today, the dialects are closer to Italian and have common roots.

After the fall of the Roman Empire, vernacular Latin, a previously unpopular colloquial variant, spread throughout Italy. Of course, its development was affected by the fact that the entire period of the Middle Ages was divided.

Only after the Renaissance was a single dialect created based on Tuscan. We can say that in the 18-19 centuries the language of literature and art was artificially formed on the basis of the dialect used by the greatest Italians - Dante and Petrarch.

Now this option can be heard on television, in cinema, literature and art. But in order to understand the dialects of some regions, you need to study them directly in the places of distribution.

Vatican

In the smallest country in the world, Italian is officially recognized on par with Latin. Of course, only documents can be found on the latter.

The population of the Vatican is only 1,000 people, and half of them are ministers of the Holy See. This tiny state is completely surrounded by the territory of Rome, and has always been part of Italy. The Vatican gained its independence from the country only in 1929.

San Marino

Another small state in Italy is San Marino. Its area is only 60 sq. km. surrounded on all sides by Italian, so it is not surprising that this language is recognized as official here. San Marino has rich history despite its size. The state was founded in 301, and this makes it the oldest in Europe.

Switzerland

In Switzerland, Italian is officially recognized along with three others - French, German and Romansh. This is due ethnic composition country, which was formed due to its location.

Now Switzerland is a stronghold of reliability and stability, but since ancient times this territory has been a tasty morsel. More residents ancient rome wanted to conquer these Alpine valleys. Soon the territory of Switzerland became a transition between Italy and the north of Europe, which made its inhabitants Italian-speaking.

Slovenia

Slovenia has official language Slovenian, however, in some parts of the country, Italian and Hungarian are used as the second state language. This is due geographic location, because the neighbors of the country are Italy and Hungary. On the Istrian peninsula, near the border with Italy, this language is recognized as the second official language. In total, about 2,500 thousand Italians live in Slovenia.

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We all know very well that the Italian language is old, and goes back to the so-called popular Latin, which originated on the territory of the Roman Empire at the dawn of the Middle Ages. Vernacular Latin is the colloquial form of Classical Latin in which all religious books and government documents were written. It follows from this that the Italian language, due to its age, should already have a fairly clear classical structure. But, nevertheless, after Chinese and Arabic, the Italian language is perhaps the first in terms of the number of its dialectic forms, which are even more than the regions in Italy.

If we talk about classical Italian, then you and I should know that we are talking about the Tuscan dialect - it is studied in schools, textbooks have been compiled on it. But, this does not mean at all that the child is from Sicily, will speak with peers on the street in the school Tuscan dialect - of course not, because his family, friends, and the whole of Sicily speak a completely different language, which is Italian, but at the same time not italian :)

For example, if we consider only one region in Italy - Liguria - we will find there more than 10 different dialects: Ligurian, Ligurian-Alpine, Western Ligurian, Genovese Ligurian, Imepian, Eastern Ligurian, Savonian, the dialect of the province of La Spezia and others. And so it is in every region. Thus, we can safely say that in the territory of the Italian language (and this is not only Italy, but also the Vatican, San Marino, Switzerland, Slovenia, Croatia, Monaco) you can find more than two hundred different dialects.

Often, many of these dialects are limited to the city, and sometimes the family. Therefore, there is no exaggeration when you are told that a Roman does not understand a Parmegian, and a Florentine does not understand a Sicilian. But the most interesting thing is that some older people, in principle, do not know the classical version of the Italian language, since they speak their native dialect all their lives.

If at least approximately divide the dialects into groups, then there will be three groups: northern, central and southern dialects. And if within the group the dialects somehow resemble each other, then the dialects from different groups are completely different, which greatly complicates the process of communication between people from different groups. On the this moment according to the most conservative estimates, about 70% of the Italian population uses dialects in the spoken language. But 18% speak only their native dialect and do not know classical Italian.

Let's give a few examples of how different words and phrases can differ depending on the region.