Italo-Western languages explained

Italo-Western
Region:	Italian Peninsula, Switzerland, France, Istria, Channel Islands, Iberia
Familycolor:	Indo-European
Fam2:	Italic
Fam3:	Latino-Faliscan
Fam4:	Latin
Fam5:	Romance
Ancestor:	Old Latin
Ancestor2:	Vulgar Latin
Ancestor3:	Proto-Romance
Child1:	Italo-Dalmatian
Child2:	Western Romance
Glotto:	ital1285
Glottorefname:	Italo–Western Romance
Map:	Romance-lg-classification-en.svg

Italo-Western is, in some classifications, the largest branch of the Romance languages. It comprises two of the branches of Romance languages: Italo-Dalmatian and Western Romance. It excludes the Sardinian language and Eastern Romance.

Italo-Dalmatian languages

See main article: Italo-Dalmatian languages. Based on the criterion of mutual intelligibility, Dalby lists four languages: Italian (Tuscan), Corsican, Neapolitan–Sicilian-Central Italian, and Dalmatian.^[1]

Dalmatian Romance

• The Dalmatian language was spoken in the Dalmatia region of Croatia. It became extinct in the 19th century.
• The Istriot language is a moribund variety spoken in the southwestern part of Istrian peninsula in Croatia.

Venetian

The Venetian language is sometimes added to Italo-Dalmatian when excluded from Gallo-Italic, and then usually grouped with Istriot. However, Venetian is not grouped into the Italo-Dalmatian languages by Ethnologue^[2] and Glottolog,^[3] unlike Istriot.^{[4] [5]}

Tuscan

• Tuscan-Corsican: group of dialects spoken in the Italian region of Tuscany, and the French island of Corsica.
  • Northern Tuscan dialects:
    • Florentine is spoken in the city of Florence, and was the basis for Standard Italian.
    • Other dialects: Pistoiese; Pesciatino or Valdinievolese; Lucchese; Versiliese; Viareggino; Pisano-Livornese.
  • Southern Tuscan dialects:
    • Dialects of Aretino-Chianaiolo, Senese, Grossetano.
  • Corsican, spoken on Corsica, is thought to be descended from Tuscan.^[6]
    • Gallurese and Sassarese, spoken on the northern tip of Sardinia, can be considered either dialects of Corsican or Corso-Sardinian transitional varieties.

Italian

Italian is an official language in Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City and western Istria (in Slovenia and Croatia). It used to have official status in Albania, Malta and Monaco, where it is still widely spoken, as well as in former Italian East Africa and Italian North Africa regions where it plays a significant role in various sectors. Italian is also spoken by large expatriate communities in the Americas and Australia. The Italian language was initially and primarily based on Florentine: it has been then deeply influenced by almost all regional languages of Italy while its received pronunciation (known as Pronuncia Fiorentina Emendata, Amended Florentine Pronunciation) is based on the accent of the Roman dialect; these are the reasons why Italian differs significantly from Tuscan and its Florentine variety.^[7]

Central Italian

Central Italian, or in Italian linguistics "Median Italian", is spoken in the regions of Lazio, Umbria, Central Marche, and in small parts of Abruzzo and Tuscany. It is mainly split across the Roma-Ancona line, which divides the Central dialects into a Northwestern Perimedian group and a Southeastern Median one. Romanesco, the historical dialect of Rome, has lost most of its Central peculiarities and is not a regular part of Central, as it historically is the product of the implantation of Florentine on Old Romanesco, the ancient Median dialect which was spoken in Rome prior to the 1500s.

Neapolitan

The Neapolitan language, or known in Italian linguistics as the "intermediate southern dialect group", is spoken in: southern Marche; southernmost Lazio; Abruzzo; Molise; Campania (including Naples); Basilicata; and the north of both Apulia and Calabria.

• The Campano dialects of Neapolitan, Irpino, Southern Laziale: spoken in Naples and Campania; and southern Lazio.
• Abruzzese-Southern Marchigiano: spoken in the Abruzzo region and southern Marche region.
• Molisan

spoken in the Molise region.

• Basilicatine (Lucanian): spoken in the region of Basilicata, also known as Lucania.
• Pugliese or Apulian: spoken in the northern region of Apulia.
• Cosentino, also known as or Northern Calabrian: spoken in the Province of Cosenza, in northern Calabria.
• Vastese, spoken in the town of Vasto.

Sicilian

• The Sicilian language, known in Italian linguistics as the "extreme southern dialect group", is spoken on the island of Sicily; and in the south of both Calabria and Apulia; and in Cilento, in the southernmost of Campania.
  • Sicilian proper, spoken on the island of Sicily: Western Sicilian; Central Metafonetica; Southeast Metafonetica; Ennese; Eastern Nonmetafonetica; Messinese.
  • Sicilian dialects on other islands: Isole Eolie, on the Aeolian Islands; Pantesco, on the island of Pantelleria.
  • Calabro,^[8] or Central-Southern Calabrian: dialects are spoken in the central and southern areas of the region of Calabria.
  • Salentino, spoken in the Salento region of southern Apulia.
  • Southern Cilentan: spoken in Roccagloriosa and Rofrano in southern tip of Cilento, which is southern Province of Salerno, in the Campania region.
• Cilentan

spoken in Cilento, influenced by both Neapolitan language and Sicilian language.In addition, some Gallo-Italic languages are spoken in Central-Southern Italy.

Judeo-Italian

See main article: Judeo-Italian language. The Judeo-Italian languages are varieties of Italian used by Jewish communities, between the 10th and the 20th centuries, in Italy and Greece (Corfu and Zakinthos).

Western Romance languages

See main article: Western Romance languages. Based on mutual intelligibility, Dalby lists a dozen languages: Portuguese, Spanish, Asturian-Leonese, Aragonese, Catalan, Gascon, Provençal, Gallo-Wallon, Piedmontese, Ligurian, Lombard, French, Arpitan (or Franco-Provençal), Romansh, and Ladin.

Gallo-Romance

See main article: Gallo-Romance languages. Gallo-Romance includes:

• The Langues d'oïl, or Oïl languages. These include Standard French, Picard, Walloon, Lorrain and Norman.
• The Arpitan language, also known as Franco-Provençal. It shares features of both French and the Provençal dialect of Occitan. Sometimes included in the Oïl languages.

Gallo-Romance can include:

• The Rhaeto-Romance languages. They include Romansh of Switzerland, Ladin of the Dolomites area, Friulian of Friuli. Rhaeto-Romance languages can be classified as Gallo-Romance, or as an independent branch of the Western Romance languages.
• The Occitano-Romance languages of Southern France and East Iberia, includes Occitan and Catalan. Occitano-Romance languages can be classified as Gallo-Romance, Iberian-Romance, or as an independent branch of the Western Romance languages.
  • The Occitan language, or langue d'oc, has dialects such as Provençal dialect, and Gascon-Aranese dialect.
  • The Catalan language has standard forms of Catalan and Valencian. Can be classified as East Iberian.
• The Gallo-Italic languages. They include Piedmontese, Ligurian, Lombard, Emiliano-Romagnolo, Gallo-Italic of Sicily and Gallo-Italic of Basilicata. Gallo-Italic languages can be classified as Gallo-Romance or as Northern Italian dialects. The Venetian language is sometimes included in Gallo-Italic, but it has several characteristics that set it apart from it.^[9]

The Oïl languages, Arpitan, Occitano-Romance and Rhaeto-Romance languages are sometimes called Gallo-Rhaetian.

Iberian-Romance

See main article: Iberian Romance languages.

• The West Iberian languages:
  • The Castilian languages: includes Spanish and Judaeo-Spanish.
  • The Galician-Portuguese languages: includes Portuguese, Galician, and Fala.
  • The Astur-Leonese languages: they are, from east to west, Cantabrian, central-eastern Asturian and Leonese proper. Going from north to south, they are Leonese proper, Mirandese, and Extremaduran.
• The Pyrenean–Mozarabic languages: includes Aragonese, and the extinct Mozarabic. Can be classified as West Iberian.
• The East Iberian language, or Catalan language: usually classified as part of Occitano-Romance, see Gallo-Romance above.

Notes and References

1. David Dalby, 1999/2000, The Linguasphere register of the world's languages and speech communities. Observatoire Linguistique, Linguasphere Press. Volume 2. Oxford.http://www.linguasphere.info/?page=chain&id_chain=1017077http://www.linguasphere.info/lcontao/tl_files/pdf/part1/P1-1-TitlePagesAndContent.pdfhttp://www.linguasphere.info/lcontao/tl_files/pdf/master/OL-SITE%201999-2000%20MASTER%20ONE%20Sectors%205-Zones%2050-54.pdf
2. Web site: Venetian. Ethnologue.
3. Web site: Venetian . Glottolog .
4. Web site: Istriot. Ethnologue.
5. Web site: Istriot . Glottolog.
6. Harris, Martin; Vincent, Nigel (1997). Romance Languages. London: Routlegde. .
7. http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/pronuncia_(Enciclopedia_dell'Italiano)/ La pronuncia italiana (Italian)
8. Calabrian in Italian: Calabrese (pl. Calebresi). Synonyms: Calabro, Calabra, Calabri, calabre (m., f., m.pl., f.pl.). Sicilian: calabbrìsi, calavrìsi.
9. Lorenzo Renzi, Nuova introduzione alla filologia romanza, Bologna, Il Mulino, 1994, p. 176 «I dialetti settentrionali formano un blocco abbastanza compatto con molti tratti comuni che li accostano, oltre che tra loro, qualche volta anche alla parlate cosiddette ladine e alle lingue galloromanze [...] Alcuni fenomeni morfologici innovativi sono pure abbastanza largamente comuni, come la doppia serie pronominale soggetto (non sempre in tutte le persone)[...] Ma più spesso il veneto si distacca dal gruppo, lasciando così da una parte tutti gli altri dialetti, detti gallo-italici.»