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Where is Italian spoken?

From a linguistic viewpoint Italian belongs to the group of Romance or Neo-latin languages, which includes French, Spanish, Portuguese and Romanian. It is spoken mainly in Italy, but it is also one of the four official languages in Switzerland, in the Ticino and Grigioni Cantons, also known as Italian Switzerland. It is also the official language of Vatican City, San Marino and some areas of Slovenia, Croatia and Albania. In Brazil, it is the second official language of Villa Veha and Santa Teresa, and is also spoken in the former Italian colonies in Africa, such as Libya, Somalia and Eritrea and also within the immigrants’ communities in the United States, Canada, Australia and Latin America.

Early days of Italian…

Despite its halo of poesy and refinement, the Italian language finds its cradle on the lips of common people. It has such a long and complex history, where different cultures and populations made their contribution to the development of a language that still today is one of the most intricate and fascinating ones.

Like all romance languages it has its roots in the Latin language, which was the official language of the Roman Empire. Close to classical Latin which was the language of literature, the one used by Lucretius, Catullus, Ovid, Julius Caesar and Cicero, there was the Latin of common people, so-called Vulgar. This is an umbrella term covering all dialects as well as geographical and social variations of the language spoken by the people.

Among the most important influences worth mentioning are the pre-italic languages such as Osco-Umbrian, Etruscan and Greek, from which most of the scientific, philosophical and medical vocabulary is derived. An interesting example of this is the word tribolo which is a Graecism introduced by Christianity, which initially referred to a spiky plant. It then came to be used in everyday language with the meaning of physical and psychological sorrow. Later influences came from the barbarian populations, mainly from Longobards, with words such as palla, balcone, panca, bosco, foresta, guerra, stambecco, schiena.

Official Italian Language

The first official document ever written into Italian belongs to a series of four documents written between 960 and 963 known as the Placito Capuano. It is an official court proceeding relating to a quarrel where the monks from Montecassino monastery were reclaiming their land from a local feudatory.

Although this is considered the first official text in Italian, there is another fragment which dates back as early as 9th century, which is known as Indovinello Veronese (Veronese Riddle), written by a catholic monk from Verona.

Se pareba boves

alba pratalia araba

albo versorio teneba

negro semen seminaba

(In front of him he led cows

white fields he ploughed

a white plough he held

a black seed he sowed)

The explanation is quite interesting. “Him” is the person who is writing, cows symbolise his fingers drawing a quill (the white plow) on a white paper (white fields), leaving black ink marks (black seed). The verse is then a metaphor for the act of writing and it is related to the monks’ activity of copying old manuscripts.

…Straight from the heart

The roots of Italian literature date back to the 13th century in Sicily and a number of writers who belonged to the court of Frederick II. They drew inspiration from the troubadour poetry in Langue d’Oc from the south of France and they produced more than three-hundred poems chiefly dealing with courtly love.

Influenced by both Tuscan and Sicilian poetry, the most important literary movement of 13th century is the well-known Dolce Stil Novo, whose main poets are Guinizzelli, Cavalcanti and Dante Alighieri. The Dolce Stil Novo is characterised by a superior quality and a more intellectual style than the previous literary movements, and the female beauty is refinedly depicted through the use of metaphors and symbolisms.

Tanto gentile e tanto onesta pare

la donna mia quand’ella altrui saluta,

ch’ogne lingua deven tremando muta,

e li occhi no l’ardiscon di guardare

Ella si va, sentendosi laudare,

benignamente d’umiltà vestuta;

e par che sia una cosa venuta

da cielo in terra a miracol mostrare

(Such sweet decorum and such gentle grace

attend my lady’s greeting as she moves

that lips can only tremble into silence,

and eyes dare not attempt to gaze at her.

Moving benignly, clothed in humility,

untouched by all the praise along her way,

she seems to be a creature come from Heaven

to earth, to manifest a miracle.)

Thanks to the works of Dante Alighieri, Francesco Petrarca and Boccaccio, the Florentine dialect reached the status of official literary language and it soon became the official national language.

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