Overview of the Italian Language
Italian is a member of the Italo-Dalmatian group of languages, which is part of the Italo-Western grouping of the Romance languages, which are a subgroup of the Italic branch of Indo-European.
Italian is the official language of Italy, San Marino and an official language in the Ticino and Grigioni cantons or regions of Switzerland.
It is also the second official language in Vatican City and in some areas of Istria in Slovenia and Croatia with an Italian minority.
It is widely used by immigrant groups in Luxembourg, the United States, Venezuela, Brazil, Argentina and Australia, and is also spoken in neighbouring Malta and Albania. It is spoken, to a much lesser extent, in parts of Africa formerly under Italian rule such as Somalia, Libya and Eritrea.
The dialects of Italian identified by the Ethnologue are Tuscan, Abruzzese, Pugliese (Apulian), Umbrian, Laziale, Central Marchigiano, Cicolano-Reatino-Aquilano, and Molisan. Other dialects are Milanese, Brescian, Bergamasc, Venetian, Modenese, Bolognese, Sicilian, Sardian, and so on, essentially one per city.
Many of the so-called dialects of Italian spoken around the country are different enough from standard Italian to be considered separate languages by most linguists.
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