Italian languages

Languages spoken in Italy.

The Italian language is a romance language spoken in modern Italy. The modern nation of Italy dates back approximately 200 years.

In the early classical period Italy was governed by dozens of independent city-states, representing different cultures. Approximately 800 years before the common era the city-state that would eventually evolve into ancient Rome was dominated by the Etruscans. Over the next several hundred years the Roman military enabled it to dominate its neighbors, until the powerful Roman republic dominated all of what is now Italy, and numerous provinces in the rest of the Mediterranean region. The Latin language replaced the languages of all the once independent city-states.

However, due to problems with Governance the Western Roman empire collapsed, and invaders speaking different dialects of the Germanic language carved up the former empire. In some former Roman provinces, including Britain, and what is now The Netherlands, the languages spoken there retain a primarily Germanic heritage. In the former Roman provinces that are now the nations of Portugal, Spain, France, Italy and Romania the primary languages spoken are all derived from the Roman's language, Latin.

During the millenium and a half between the collapse of ancient Rome, and the rise of the modern Italian state, there were dozens of regional languages and dialects used in what is now Italy. Linguists distinguish between a dialect and a language by looking to see whether there is a written record, a literature. When people wrote documents then the call the local speech a language. In 1540 Vannocio Birungucio published his Pirotechnia, considered the first book in Europe to cover metallurgy, in the language of Siena, the city where he lived.

After the creation of the modern Italian state, many regional languages fell into disuse. However, the Sicilian language and the Sardinian languages remain robust.