What languages are spoken in Italy

 How many languages are spoken in Italy?

official Language of Italy?

Italy is European country that is located in Western Europe, where it juts out into the Mediterranean Sea. Italy has a multi-cultural population of over 60 million inhabitants, who speaks a diverse range of all world languages from minority languages to regional dialects. Italian is official language spoken in Italy. Throughout the World Italian language is spoken by around 85 million people and serves as one of the working languages of the Council of Europe. Italian is considered as a Romance language and is more closely related to Latin than any other Romance language. Italian language has its roots in the Tuscan dialect of the Italo-Dalmatian subgroup, which belongs to the Indo-European language family. This dialect was used by the upper class and by the writers of Florentine society during the 1100’s. In fact, the famous author Dante Alighieri is often given credit for standardizing language. Today, Italian is not listed by the constitution as the official language, although several courts have made legal decisions identifying the language as such.

Minority Languages of Italy

There are a number of minority languages that are also spoken in Italy. By the Government of the Italy many of them have been classified as historical language minorities, including the French, Sardinian, Greek, German, Croatian, Albanian, Occitan, Slovene, Ladin, Franco-Provencal Friulian and Catalan.

Of these languages, Sardinian is a language that belongs to its own group within the Romance languages. Around 1 million people speak Sardinian language, the majority of which live on the island of the Sardinia. It is considered an indigenous language and has been influenced by Byzantine Greek, Catalan, Spanish, Italian, and pre-Latin languages. Like the Italian language, it is very closely related to the Latin. Sardinian language is divided into two principal varieties: Cmapidanese and Logudorese. According to UNESCO, both varieties are endangered, as the Italian language is becoming more prominent. Around 68.4 percent of the population of Sardinia can speak this language, while only 13 percent of children are considered fluent.

Other Languages Spoken In Italy

There are a number of other languages are spoken in Italy as well, According to UNESCO 31 of which are considered to have varying degrees of vulnerability. Severely endangered languages of this country include Griko (in both Salento and Calabria), Gardiol, Vastese, Toitschu, and Molise Croatian.

Griko Language

Griko is the language that is the language of Griko people, who are believed to be descendants of the Ancient Greek communities in the Southern Italy. Because of this, the Griko language is considered as a living artifact of Magna Graecia. Griko language has between 40,000 and 50,000 second language speakers and belongs to the Hellenic language group, under the Italiot Greek sub-category.

Gardiol Language

Gardiol language is considered a dialect of the Occitan language, in the Calabria region Gardiol language is spoken in the town of Guardia Piemontese.

Vastese Language

Vastese language is the so rare language that is only spoken by the inhabitants of the town of the Vasto. Most of the native speakers of the Vastese language are between the ages of 80 to 90, while middle-aged adults have only auditory command of Vastese language. Most children have little to no comprehension of Vastese language. It is considered as a separate language and not a dialect of the Italian langauge.

Toitschu Language

Toitschu language is a language that is a dialect of the Alemmanic and is spoken throughout the Aosta and Piedmont Valley of Italy. And that dialect is also known as a Walser German, and is not mutually intelligible with the Swiss or Standard German.

Molise Croatian Language

Molise Croatian language is a language that is a dialect of the Serbo-Croatian. It is spoken throughout the Campo-basso province of Italy by the Italian Croats population. Today, Molise Croatian language has less than 1,000 native speakers.

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