That’s a lot of languages!This map (even though minimal, since a city can have more than one v

That’s a lot of languages!This map (even though minimal, since a city can have more than one variety of the same dialect, and Trento and Sardinia seem to be left out for whatever reason) is the most precise map of the italian dialects I’ve found to date.And, if you wonder - yes, each is a separate language. It’s not just you say soda, I say pop (you can look at the difference between dialects and accents here, and the difference between dialects and regional varieties here), we’re talking about separate languages with separate grammars. The difference between a dialect and a regional variety of a standard language lies in the fact that a dialect is a completely different language, while a regional variety is a slightly different way to use the standard one.So, going back to the dialects of Italy: each city, town, and village has its own language (not just a different accent), and to make a comparison, Neapolitan and Palermitan are as distant as French and Italian. The colors on the map refer to the group each dialect belongs to. Let us try to shortly summarize the groups,  starting from North to South:Dialects of the Venetian group (the yellow ones)Gallo-Italic dialects (the purple ones)Corsican and Tuscan dialects (the brown ones)Median dialects (the orange ones)Southern dialects (the blue ones)Deep southern dialects (the green ones)So, now a pair of quick Q&A’s…!Do the dialects of Italy come from Italian?No. Just like French, or Spanish, each of the dialects of Italy is a different evolution of Vulgar Latin. Italian, as you might already know, is the evolution of the Tuscan dialect, which, in turn, was the evolution of the Vulgar Latin spoken in Tuscany.Are these dialect mutually understandable?Just whithin the same group. Story time: my dialect belongs to the Southern group and I once was in Veneto, (where dialects belonging to the yellow group are spoken) and my train stopped in the middle of the Venetian countryside because, well, a man was trying to go under it. So I had to catch a plane. I stepped out of the train to talk to a police officer, and guess what? He spoke Venetian only. Which, of course, I couldn’t understand. To add some spice to the matter, he also stuttered. So I kindly asked him please, can you speak Italian (or something that sounds like it)?Are there people who don’t speak the dialect of their city?Yes and no. Chances are, that you’re just not used to using it. But you do understand it - and surely can speak it, if you try to.Are there people who don’t speak Italian?Yes. My grandma, for example, doesn’t speak it. But she does understand it - let’s just say her Italian might sound veeery broken.Are there people who can speak both?Yes - they’re called bilinguals. Just like a person who grew up speaking, say, Portuguese and English, also people who speak Italian and their native dialect are bilingual. I was pretty lucky to have learnt both: a treasure I’ll cherish for ever.Do these dialect have writing systems?No. Everyone writes it the way they think it should be written. And we all understand each other. Spelling is not an issue. Linguists, of course, use the IPA alphabet. This is because such dialects have sounds that are not present in the Latin alphabet. So IPA is the safer way to write them.Is there poetry, literature, or music in such dialects?Luckily - yes! All over the place. Sadly, most of it has never been translated into a major language. But, if you’re curious, just ask away! -- source link
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