The Forgotten and Now Endangered Languages of Italy
There are hundreds of dying languages in Italy
I grew up in Lombardy, the richest, most populous and productive region in Italy. It is the Italian region with the most UNESCO World Heritage sites, but you have probably heard of it because of A.C. Milan, Inter Milan, Lake Garda, Italian black caviar, or Franciacorta wines.
To be more precise, I spent most of my early life in a small town where almost everyone could speak a variation of the Lombard language, even foreigners. It took me years to realize that what I just described is an extraordinary linguistic context, even for Italian standards. It was not until I turned fifteen and started dealing with students coming from other towns and cities that I truly become aware of how few people were fluent in that language.
Eventually, it turned out that I am part of the 12.2% of the Italian population who actively speaks a local language. Needless to say, this sad statistic makes it clear how endangered those local languages are. You might be wondering why this is happening. But first, let’s delve into Italy’s linguistic heritage.
Introducing the Italian Linguistic Context
As you can see in the image below, the Italian linguistic context is incredibly complex.
Tullio De Mauro, the most famous Italian linguist who ever lived, identified thirteen minor languages in Italy in addition to Italian. Then, each of them consists of dozens of local variations, bringing the number of languages spoken in Italy to a few hundred.
Most of these languages evolved locally from Vulgar Latin and are not directly related to Italian, but they are erroneously called “dialects”. Consequently, you will also hear of them as “Italian dialects”, even though they are languages and not dialects.
According to this study, only 25.2% of Italians use both their local dialect and Italian in their daily lives, while only 12.2% actively speak their local dialect. Furthermore, as discovered by ISTAT in 2006, 55.1% of Italians can only speak the Italian language. This makes those wrongly-called dialects endangered languages that will probably disappear in a few decades.
Why Are These Languages Dying?
Many Italian grandparents have nostalgic memories of the days when they spoke and wrote their true language. Notice that I did not use the term “true” by accident. Keep in mind that the Italian language was imposed on all Italian citizens in 1861, when the Kingdom of Italy was founded.
So, even in the early 1900s, Italian was still a new language to many people, especially those who lived in rural or poor areas. These people never really considered Italian as their language. During those years, the disappearance of those local languages began.
Since the beginning of 1900, nothing really important has been done to stop this phenomenon. On the contrary, the Italian government seemed to have favored the death of these local languages more than once. Perhaps, because these languages represent more an encumbrance and a burden than a cultural heritage to protect. In this sense, only in the last few years has there been a change.
What is for sure is that when all the languages of Italy are gone forever, hundreds of years of Italy’s cultural, social, and human heritage will be lost. This will be a slow process where the Italian linguistic context will become less and less diversified with the unstoppable demise of all the wise Italian elders who are keeping those languages alive.
Many think that the death of these languages is an inevitable effect of globalization, especially considering how most young Italians prefer to learn English instead of their local language as a second language. On the other hand, young people usually stop studying English after graduating and consequently slowly forget it.
Also, people moving abroad for a brighter future tend to forget their native language or abandon it to better integrate into the new culture. Something similar happened in the past when poor families moved to the cities to find fortune. In this case, the “dialects” represented a social barrier because rich families only spoke Italian. So, the newly arrived poor people were pressured to hide their local accent and suppress their language to avoid discrimination.
Is There Hope for These Languages?
According to the UNESCO’s Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger, there are 31 languages classified as endangered in Italy. Each of them has a different level of endangerment, from safe to extinct.
You can get an idea of the adoption of these languages as principal languages by households living in Italy thanks to the following map produced by ISTAT in 2015:
As you can see, there is not much hope for these endangered languages, especially in northeastern and central-northern Italy. As a language learner and someone who is able to speak a local language and who uses it on a daily basis, it is really a shame and a disappointment to see the disappearance of this incredible linguistic heritage.
Conclusion
Here we looked at how diversified and vast the linguistic context in Italy really is. In detail, there are more than 30 endangered languages that might disappear soon, and understanding the reason why this is happening is what drove me to write this article.
Thanks for reading! I hope that you found my story helpful. Feel free to reach out to me with any questions, comments, or suggestions.
