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Languages of Italy
Official language	Italian
Official regional languages	French, German
Officially recognised minority languages	Sardinian, Friulian (Rhaeto-Romance), Occitan, Romany, Albanian, Franco-Provençal, Slovenian, Ladin, Griko, Alguerese (Catalan), Molise Slavic dialect (Croatian)
Unofficial regional and minority languages	Corsican, Sicilian, Eastern Lombard, Emiliano-Romagnolo, Insubric Lombard, Ligurian, Piedmontese, Venetian, Neapolitan, Arbëresh, Sinti
Main immigrant language	Albanian
Main foreign languages	English 29%, French 14%, German 5%Source: [1]

Italy currently has one national language: Standard Italian. Alongside Italian and its inevitable regional varieties are innumerable local Romance languages, many of which pre-date the establishment of Italian. Many of these languages are different enough from Standard Italian to be considered separate languages by most linguists and many speakers. Quite naturally, they are generally not standardized. Thus a distinction can be made between "dialects -- better termed varieties -- of (Standard) Italian" and "dialects and languages of Italy", the latter essentially a geopolitical term, rather than linguistic.

There are generally three groups of Italian languages: Gallo-Italian (or Northern Italian); Italo-Dalmatian (which includes Standard Italian); and Southern Romance. Sicilian is sometimes classified as Extreme Southern Italian. The linguistic frontier between Northern Italian and Italian proper is sometimes called the La Spezia-Rimini line. Other languages spoken in Italy are not closely related to Standard Italian at all.

Since Italian unification, and especially since the Second World War, the Italian language has become the primary language of most Italians and it has undergone a process of homogenisation. Education and mass media, especially television, have rendered the Italian language accessible to all Italian people. Some argue that the same phenomenon has brought about a simplification and banalisation of the language.

Besides the national language, German has official status in the Province of Bolzano-Bozen, and French in the Region of the Aosta Valley.

Contents 1 Languages spoken in Italy 1.1 Romance languages 1.1.1 Gallo-Italian 1.1.2 Gallo-Rhaetian 1.1.3 Ibero-Romance 1.1.4 Italo-Dalmatian 1.1.5 Judeo-Italian 1.1.6 Rhaeto-Romance 1.1.7 Southern Romance 1.2 Albanian languages 1.3 Germanic languages 1.4 Greek languages 1.5 Indo-Aryan languages 1.6 Slavic languages 2 See also 3 External links

• Emiliano-Romagnolo
  • Emiliano
  • Romagnolo
• Ligurian
  • Tabarchino
• Lombard
  • Western Lombard (sometimes also called Insubric or Cisabduano: Lombardo prealpino occidentale, basso Lombardo occidentale, Macromilanese)
  • Eastern Lombard (sometimes also called Orobic or Transabduano: Lombardo prealpino orientale, basso Lombardo orientale)
  • Intermediate Western-Eastern dialects (Lombardo alpino)
• Piedmontese
• Venetian

• Standard French
• Franco-Provençal
  • Faeto
  • Valdôtain (Valdoten)

• Catalan
  • Alguerese
• Occitan
  • Provençal

• Central Italian
  • Tuscan - the base of Standard Italian
  • Laziale
  • Marchigiano
  • Romanesco
  • Umbrian
• Neapolitan (Inner Southern Italian)
  • Neapolitan of Campania
  • Abruzzese
  • Molisano
  • Lucano dialect
  • Pugliese of northern and central Puglia
  • Northern Calabrian (Cosentino)
• Sicilian (Extreme Southern Italian, possibly Southern Romance)
  • Sicilian of Sicily
  • Salentino of southern Puglia
  • Southern Calabrian

• Italkian (Jewish language form; term coined in the mid-20th C. Spoken by a small minority of Jews in Italy.)

• Friulian
• Ladin/Nones
• Solandro

• Corsican
  • Gallurese (considered by some authors as a variety of Sardinian, by some others an indipendent language)
• Sardinian
  • Sardo campidanese
  • Sardo logudorese
  • Sardo nuorese
  • Sardo arborense
• Sassarese (considered by some authors as a variety of Corsican, by some others a variety of Sardinian)

• Arbëresh

• Standard German
  • Bavarian
  • Cimbrian
  • Walser German

• Griko

• Rom
• Sinti

• Molise Slavic dialect
• Slovenian

• Italian dialects
• Demographics of Italy
• European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages
• Regional language

• An interactive map of languages and dialects in Italy
• Ethnologue - Languages of Italy

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Dependencies, autonomies, and other territories	Abkhazia2 · Adjara1 · Akrotiri and Dhekelia · Åland · Azores · Crimea · Faroe Islands · Gagauzia · Gibraltar · Guernsey · Jan Mayen · Jersey · Kosovo · Isle of Man · Madeira4 · Nagorno-Karabakh1 · Nakhchivan1 · South Ossetia2 · Svalbard · Transnistria · Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus1, 5
1 Entirely in Southwest Asia; included here because of cultural, political and historical association with Europe. 2 Partially or entirely in Asia, depending on the definition of the border between Europe and Asia. 3 Mostly in Asia. 4 Entirely in the African Plate, included here because of cultural, political and historical association with Europe. 5 Only recognised by Turkey.