Linguistic map of Italy (2011)

This map, created by Susana Freixeiro for Wikimedia Commons in 2011, shows the languages and dialects of Italy.

In Italy, despite the standardisation of the use of standard Italian, there is still great linguistic diversity among speakers from different regions. In this map, the author shows the main variants, which are those with the largest number of speakers:

  • Napolitano (dark blue, Slt): 11,000,000 speakers.
  • Sicilian (Grenada, Si): 8,000,000 speakers.
  • Lombard (green, LO): 7,000,000 speakers.
  • Veneto (light green, LG): 3,300,000 speakers.
  • Sardinian (orange, SA): 1,350,000 speakers.
  • Emilian-Romagnol (green, ER): 1,250,000 speakers.
  • Friulian (light blue, FU): 650,000 speakers.
  • Tyrolean (purple, ST): 250,000 speakers.

The vast majority of languages are either Gallo-Italic languages (Piedmontese, Lombard, Veneto, Emilian-Romagnol) or Italo-Romance languages (Tuscan, Central Italian, Neapolitan, Sicilian). Both groups are considered a dialect continuum, although the languages at the extremes are not mutually intelligible.

Italy also has many linguistic islands, such as the Catalan of Alghero, the Corsican of northern Sardinia, the Slovene of the area bordering Slovenia and the Franco-Provençal of the area bordering France. The most extreme case is the many Albanian- and Greek-speaking islands located mainly in the southern part of the country.

Sources


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