Western Front
102-684: The National Republican Army ( Italian : Esercito Nazionale Repubblicano ; abbreviated ENR), colloquially called the Army of The North ( Italian : Esercito del Nord ) was the army of the Italian Social Republic ( Italian : Repubblica Sociale Italiana , or RSI) from 1943 to 1945 that fought on the side of Nazi Germany during World War II . The ENR was officially formed 28 October 1943, by merging former Royal Army ( Regio Esercito ) units still loyal to fascist dictator Benito Mussolini and Italian pro-Fascist units raised by
204-668: A RCT under Brigadier General Euclides Zenóbio da Costa . With three U.S. tank companies as reinforcements, the 6th RCT moved to the front in September 1944, pursuing German units that were making a tactical retreat to the Gothic Line . In October–November 1944, the 6th RCT fought several engagements, but were unable to break through the Gothic line positions before the winter snows. The 1st and 11th RCT arrived in November, bringing
306-565: A huge number of civil servants and soldiers recruited from all over the country introduced many more words and idioms from their home languages— ciao is derived from the Venetian word s-cia[v]o ("slave", that is "your servant"), panettone comes from the Lombard word panetton , etc. Only 2.5% of Italy's population could speak the Italian standardized language properly when
408-471: A little over one million people in the United States speak Italian at home. Nevertheless, an Italian language media market does exist in the country. In Canada, Italian is the second most spoken non-official language when varieties of Chinese are not grouped together, with 375,645 claiming Italian as their mother tongue in 2016. Italian immigrants to South America have also brought a presence of
510-657: A local vernacular. These dialects, as they are commonly referred to, evolved from Vulgar Latin over the course of centuries, unaffected by formal standards and teachings. They are not in any sense "dialects" of standard Italian, which itself started off as one of these local tongues, but sister languages of Italian. Mutual intelligibility with Italian varies widely, as it does with Romance languages in general. The Romance languages of Italy can differ greatly from Italian at all levels ( phonology , morphology , syntax , lexicon , pragmatics ) and are classified typologically as distinct languages. The standard Italian language has
612-459: A machine gun platoon from 8th Company, 11th Infantry; and 9th Company, III Battalion, 6th RCT. Major Orlando Gomez Ramagem, commander of II Battalion, 11th Infantry was given command of the Brazilian forces. With the war clearly drawing to a close, the troops may have been reluctant to take unnecessary risks. At first, Major Ramagem was in favor of encamping for the night, but he was dissuaded by
714-403: A mobile force with 606 jeeps and 676 trucks of different types. On the morning of 26 April, Brazilian forces were consolidating the defenses of Parma, when they heard that German units were approaching from the south. On 25 September 1943, General Otto Fretter-Pico took command of the 148th Infantry Division and led it for the rest of the war. In August 1944, the division was in action against
816-658: A poetic and literary origin in the works of Tuscan writers of the 12th century, and, although the grammar and core lexicon are basically unchanged from those used in Florence in the 13th century, the modern standard of the language was largely shaped by relatively recent events. However, Romance vernacular as language spoken in the Italian Peninsula has a longer history. In fact, the earliest surviving texts that can definitely be called vernacular (as distinct from its predecessor Vulgar Latin) are legal formulae known as
918-417: A renewed interest in linguistics in the 16th century, sparked a debate that raged throughout Italy concerning the criteria that should govern the establishment of a modern Italian literary and spoken language. This discussion, known as questione della lingua (i.e., the problem of the language ), ran through the Italian culture until the end of the 19th century, often linked to the political debate on achieving
1020-575: A result. Starting in late medieval times in much of Europe and the Mediterranean, Latin was replaced as the primary commercial language by languages of Italy, especially Tuscan and Venetian. These varieties were consolidated during the Renaissance with the strength of Italy and the rise of humanism and the arts . Italy came to enjoy increasing artistic prestige within Europe. A mark of
1122-417: A seven-vowel system, consisting of /a, ɛ, e, i, ɔ, o, u/ , as well as 23 consonants. Compared with most other Romance languages, Italian phonology is conservative, preserving many words nearly unchanged from Vulgar Latin . Some examples: Battle of Collecchio Invasion of Italy Winter Line Gothic Line 1945 Spring Offensive The Battle of Collecchio-Fornovo (26–29 April 1945)
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#17327656904701224-512: A short distance away, and the guys started shooting. The first thing you have to do is hit the dust, but Zenóbio stood there as if he was a squad leader, and began issuing orders – 'Riflemen, here! Sergeant, go there!'... Like everyone else, I was lying down, with that machine gun firing close. But he didn't move, didn't lie down, did nothing of the sort. More Brazilian troops from 2nd Company, I Battalion, 6th RCT arrived at 21:00, some riding on American and Brazilian, M10 and M4 tanks, to enter
1326-479: A single language is that they have evolved so that they are no longer mutually intelligible ; this diagnostic is effective if mutual intelligibility is minimal or absent (e.g. in Romance, Romanian and Portuguese), but it fails in cases such as Spanish-Portuguese or Spanish-Italian, as educated native speakers of either pairing can understand each other well if they choose to do so; however, the level of intelligibility
1428-527: A tough four-day battle for Montese , which was taken on 16 April. Turning north, in the early morning of 21 April Brazilian forces conquered and occupied Zocca , an important rail terminal in the region, and by 22 April the FEB had broken into the Po Valley , pursuing the fleeing German forces. General Zenóbio da Costa took the vehicles from 10 of his 12 artillery batteries for use in infantry transport, creating
1530-513: A united Italian state. Renaissance scholars divided into three main factions: A fourth faction claimed that the best Italian was the one that the papal court adopted, which was a mixture of the Tuscan and Roman dialects. Eventually, Bembo's ideas prevailed, and the foundation of the Accademia della Crusca in Florence (1582–1583), the official legislative body of the Italian language, led to
1632-427: Is 89% with French, 87% with Catalan , 85% with Sardinian , 82% with Spanish, 80% with Portuguese , 78% with Ladin , 77% with Romanian . Estimates may differ according to sources. One study, analyzing the degree of differentiation of Romance languages in comparison to Latin (comparing phonology , inflection , discourse , syntax , vocabulary , and intonation ), estimated that distance between Italian and Latin
1734-691: Is a Romance language of the Indo-European language family that evolved from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire . Italian is the least divergent language from Latin , together with Sardinian (meaning that Italian and Sardinian are the most conservative Romance languages). Spoken by about 85 million people, including 67 million native speakers (2024), Italian is an official language in Italy , San Marino , Switzerland ( Ticino and
1836-759: Is also spoken by a minority in Monaco and France, especially in the southeastern part of the country. Italian was the official language in Savoy and in Nice until 1860, when they were both annexed by France under the Treaty of Turin , a development that triggered the " Niçard exodus ", or the emigration of a quarter of the Niçard Italians to Italy, and the Niçard Vespers . Giuseppe Garibaldi complained about
1938-534: Is higher than that between Sardinian and Latin. In particular, its vowels are the second-closest to Latin after Sardinian . As in most Romance languages, stress is distinctive. Italian is the official language of Italy and San Marino and is spoken fluently by the majority of the countries' populations. Italian is the third most spoken language in Switzerland (after German and French; see Swiss Italian ), although its use there has moderately declined since
2040-460: Is markedly lower between Italian-Spanish, and considerably higher between the Iberian sister languages of Portuguese-Spanish. Speakers of this latter pair can communicate with one another with remarkable ease, each speaking to the other in his own native language without slang/jargon. Nevertheless, on the basis of accumulated differences in morphology, syntax, phonology, and to some extent lexicon, it
2142-504: Is neither a co-official nor a protected language in these countries. Some speakers of Italian are native bilinguals of both Italian (either in its standard form or regional varieties ) and a local language of Italy , most frequently the language spoken at home in their place of origin. Italian is a major language in Europe, being one of the official languages of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe and one of
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#17327656904702244-462: Is not difficult to identify that for the Romance varieties of Italy, the first extant written evidence of languages that can no longer be considered Latin comes from the ninth and tenth centuries C.E. These written sources demonstrate certain vernacular characteristics and sometimes explicitly mention the use of the vernacular in Italy. Full literary manifestations of the vernacular began to surface around
2346-648: Is the main working language of the Holy See , serving as the lingua franca (common language) in the Roman Catholic hierarchy as well as the official language of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta . Italian has a significant use in musical terminology and opera with numerous Italian words referring to music that have become international terms taken into various languages worldwide. Almost all native Italian words end with vowels , and
2448-549: Is used, and the town of Chipilo near Puebla, Mexico; each continues to use a derived form of Venetian dating back to the 19th century. Other examples are Cocoliche , an Italian–Spanish pidgin once spoken in Argentina and especially in Buenos Aires , and Lunfardo . The Rioplatense Spanish dialect of Argentina and Uruguay today has thus been heavily influenced by both standard Italian and Italian regional languages as
2550-509: The Il Globo (Australia) and the La gazzetta del Sud Africa (South Africa). Italian is widely taught in many schools around the world, but rarely as the first foreign language. In the 21st century, technology also allows for the continual spread of the Italian language, as people have new ways to learn how to speak, read, and write languages at their own pace and at any given time. For example,
2652-991: The La Voce del Popolo ( Croatia ), the Corriere d'Italia (Germany), the L'italoeuropeo (United Kingdom), the Passaparola ( Luxembourg ), the America Oggi (United States), the Corriere Canadese and the Corriere Italiano (Canada), the Il punto d'incontro (Mexico), the L'Italia del Popolo ( Argentina ), the Fanfulla (Brazil), the Gente d'Italia ( Uruguay ), the La Voce d'Italia ( Venezuela ),
2754-502: The 1st Brazilian Division , being forced to surrender after some days of fighting. On 29 April, Graziani surrendered, and was present at Caserta when a representative of German General Heinrich von Vietinghoff-Scheel signed the unconditional instrument of surrender for all Axis forces in Italy. But, possibly as a sign of the low esteem in which the Allies held the RSI, Graziani's signature
2856-522: The 4th Alpini "Monte Rosa" Divisions. The battle was fought around the town of Fornovo di Taro , about 8 miles (13 km) to the southwest of Parma , Italy. The Allies defeated the Axis forces, which were attempting to break through to the north. On 28 April, the Brazilian 6th RCT followed up with an attack on Fornovo , with German General Otto Fretter-Pico surrendering the 148th Division, with almost 15,000 German and Fascist Italian troops at
2958-667: The Army Liguria under Graziani and were placed to guard the western flank of the Gothic Line facing France. The fourth RSI division, the 1st Italian "Italia" Bersaglieri Division, was attached to the German 14th Army in a sector of the Apennine Mountains thought least likely to be attacked. On 26 December 1944, several sizable RSI military units, including elements of the 4th Italian "Monterosa" Alpine Division and
3060-702: The Gallo-Italic linguistic panorama of Northern Italy , the Italo-Dalmatian , Neapolitan and its related dialects were largely unaffected by the Franco- Occitan influences introduced to Italy mainly by bards from France during the Middle Ages, but after the Norman conquest of southern Italy , Sicily became the first Italian land to adopt Occitan lyric moods (and words) in poetry. Even in
3162-671: The Gothic Line . On the Allied side were four Italian groups of volunteers from the old Italian army. These troops (of the Italian Co-Belligerent Army ) were equipped and trained by the British. On the Axis side were four RSI divisions. Three of the RSI divisions, the 2nd Italian "Littorio" Infantry Division, the 3rd Italian "San Marco" Marine Division, and the 4th Italian " Monterosa " Alpine Division, were allocated to
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3264-852: The Grisons ), Corsica , and Vatican City . It has official minority status in Croatia , Slovenian Istria , and the municipalities of Santa Tereza and Encantado in Brazil . Italian is also spoken by large immigrant and expatriate communities in the Americas and Australia . Italian is included under the languages covered by the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages in Bosnia and Herzegovina and in Romania , although Italian
3366-749: The Gulf of Genoa , made a last effort to break out to the north across the Po Valley. On news of the German-Italian forces approach, retreating from Genoa - La Spezia region, which had been liberated by the US 92nd Division, a Brazilian armored reconnaissance squadron moved south from Parma , meeting leading units of the Axis forces in Collecchio. They first met armored cars from the 90th Panzergrenadier Division's reconnaissance unit, and then tanks (of
3468-602: The Italian SS , and 170 members of the Cacciatori degli Appennini Regiment . The ENR consisted of four infantry divisions which were raised, trained, and equipped in Germany: There were also a large number of smaller autonomous units. Italian language Italian ( italiano , pronounced [itaˈljaːno] , or lingua italiana , pronounced [ˈliŋɡwa itaˈljaːna] )
3570-619: The Kingdom of Italy in the Dodecanese ). Italian is widely spoken in Malta , where nearly two-thirds of the population can speak it fluently (see Maltese Italian ). Italian served as Malta's official language until 1934, when it was abolished by the British colonial administration amid strong local opposition. Italian language in Slovenia is an officially recognized minority language in
3672-773: The Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia ), although the masses kept speaking primarily their local vernaculars. Italian was also one of the many recognised languages in the Austro-Hungarian Empire . Italy has always had a distinctive dialect for each city because the cities, until recently, were thought of as city-states . Those dialects now have considerable variety . As Tuscan-derived Italian came to be used throughout Italy, features of local speech were naturally adopted, producing various versions of Regional Italian . The most characteristic differences, for instance, between Roman Italian and Milanese Italian are syntactic gemination of initial consonants in some contexts and
3774-554: The Placiti Cassinesi from the province of Benevento that date from 960 to 963, although the Veronese Riddle , probably from the 8th or early 9th century, contains a late form of Vulgar Latin that can be seen as a very early sample of a vernacular dialect of Italy. The Commodilla catacomb inscription is also a similar case. The Italian language has progressed through a long and slow process, which started after
3876-528: The Western Roman Empire's fall in the 5th century. The language that came to be thought of as Italian developed in central Tuscany and was first formalized in the early 14th century through the works of Tuscan writer Dante Alighieri , written in his native Florentine . Dante's epic poems, known collectively as the Commedia , to which another Tuscan poet Giovanni Boccaccio later affixed
3978-660: The "Littorio" Division, 350 soldiers of the "Tagliamento" Alpini Regiment, 730 soldiers of the 3rd and 8th Bersaglieri regiments, 4,000 troops of miscellaneous units of the Esercito Nazionale Repubblicano (excluding the above-mentioned Divisions and Alpini and Bersaglieri Regiments), 300 members of the Legione Autonoma Mobile "Ettore Muti" , 200 members of the Raggruppamento Anti Partigiani , 550 members of
4080-532: The 111 Italian lecturer sections belonging to foreign schools where Italian is taught as a language of culture. As of 2022, Australia had the highest number of students learning Italian in the world. This occurred because of support by the Italian community in Australia and the Italian Government and also because of successful educational reform efforts led by local governments in Australia. From
4182-410: The 11th Infantry recounts an incident when General Zenóbio da Costa appeared unexpectedly at the church: That Zenóbio was crazy. We were close to the church door, and suddenly Zenóbio appeared, from heaven knows where. It was rather crowded, and I had the mortars in position in front of the church. Suddenly, here comes a German patrol in front of the garden, under cover of the vegetation. They were only
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4284-510: The 13th century in the form of various religious texts and poetry. Although these are the first written records of Italian varieties separate from Latin, the spoken language had probably diverged long before the first written records appeared since those who were literate generally wrote in Latin even if they spoke other Romance varieties in person. Throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, the use of Standard Italian became increasingly widespread and
4386-562: The 1970s. It is official both on the national level and on regional level in two cantons : Ticino and Grisons . In the latter canton, however, it is only spoken by a small minority, in the Italian Grisons . Ticino, which includes Lugano , the largest Italian-speaking city outside Italy, is the only canton where Italian is predominant. Italian is also used in administration and official documents in Vatican City . Italian
4488-407: The 3rd Italian "San Marco" Marine Division, participated in Operation Winter Storm . This was a combined German and Italian offensive against the American 92nd Infantry Division . The battle was fought in the Apennines . While limited in scale, this was a successful offensive and the RSI units did their part. In February 1945, the 92nd Infantry Division again came up against RSI units. This time it
4590-411: The Allied Operation Dragoon , the invasion of southern France. In late October 1944, the division was transferred to northern Italy. In December 1944, the 148th Division struck decisively against the Americans in the Apennine Mountains in Operation Wintergewitter (Winter storm), causing serious disruption despite being out-numbered and inferior in weapons to the allies. However, by the end of March
4692-431: The Allies. The dead break down as: 13,500 members of the Guardia Nazionale Repubblicana and Milizia Difesa Territoriale, 6,200 members of the Black Brigades , 2,800 Aeronautica Nazionale Repubblicana personnel, 1,000 Marina Nazionale Repubblicana personnel, 1,900 X MAS personnel, 800 soldiers of the "Monterosa" Division, 470 soldiers of the "Italia" Division, 1,500 soldiers of the "San Marco" Division, 300 soldiers of
4794-399: The Brazilian armored cars were vulnerable to tanks and anti-tank weapons; Pitaluga said of his vehicles, "The M8 is for recon, not (for heavy) combat.". Like the M10 (another vehicle used then by Brazilian supporting units of Cavalry), M8 had open-topped turrets, which made them more vulnerable (than fully enclosed tanks) to anti-tank infantry close attacks , especially in urban combat , as
4896-434: The Brazilian divisional commander, General Mascarenhas de Moraes . According to one source, "The old general acted with the enthusiasm of a lieutenant." Ramagem ordered some of his troops, supported by the machine guns, to dig in to block Highway 62, which led north to Parma. The 5th company of the 11th RCT was ordered to attack at 19:30. The first attacks were made from the southeast by this company, which quickly captured
4998-439: The FEB up to division strength. At its peak, the Brazilian division had a total of 25,334 men in the 1st, 6th and 11th RCTs. Each RCT had three battalions of four companies . In February 1945, as part of the Battle of Mount Belvedere the Brazilians overcame the German defenders of the strong Monte Castello position. They then moved eastward, fighting at Roncovecchio, Seneveglio and Castelnuovo. The Brazilian division fought
5100-438: The German army was in an impossible situation. It suffered from an acute lack of supplies, total domination of the skies by the Americans, and large and rapidly growing partisan forces. By 23 April, the situation for German forces in Italy was desperate. The partisans had taken Parma, Fiume had been occupied by Tito's Yugoslav forces and French units had entered Italy from the west. The 148th Division, which had been based around
5202-527: The Germans after the occupation of southern Italy . As a consequence of the Allied invasion of Sicily in July 1943, political forces allied to king Victor Emmanuel III took power in Italy, imprisoned dictator Benito Mussolini and negotiated an armistice between Italy and the Allied armed forces that took effect on 8 September 1943. On 12 September 1943, the Germans launched " Operation Oak " ( Unternehmen Eiche ) and rescued Mussolini. The Fascist Italian Social Republic ( Repubblica Sociale Italiana , or RSI)
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#17327656904705304-417: The Italian dialects has declined in the modern era , as Italy unified under Standard Italian and continues to do so aided by mass media from newspapers to radio to television, diglossia is still frequently encountered in Italy and triglossia is not uncommon in emigrant communities among older speakers. Both situations normally involve some degree of code-switching and code-mixing . Notes: Italian has
5406-439: The Italian language into a lingua franca used not only among clerks, nobility, and functionaries in the Italian courts but also by the bourgeoisie . Italian literature's first modern novel, I promessi sposi ( The Betrothed ) by Alessandro Manzoni , further defined the standard by "rinsing" his Milanese "in the waters of the Arno " ( Florence 's river), as he states in the preface to his 1840 edition. After unification,
5508-497: The Mediterranean. The increasing political and cultural relevance of Florence during the periods of the rise of the Medici Bank , humanism , and the Renaissance made its dialect, or rather a refined version of it, a standard in the arts. The Renaissance era, known as il Rinascimento in Italian, was seen as a time of rebirth, which is the literal meaning of both renaissance (from French) and rinascimento (Italian). During this time, long-existing beliefs stemming from
5610-450: The army and the sentence of death was imposed on anyone who opposed being conscripted. Autonomous military forces in the RSI also fought against the Allies, including the Decima Flottiglia MAS under command of Prince Junio Valerio Borghese (National Republican Navy). Borghese held no allegiance to Mussolini and even suggested that he would take him prisoner if he could. During the winter of 1944–1945, armed Italians were on both sides of
5712-469: The battle at Collecchio confirmed partisans and Rebels' reports that the 148th Division had come from the Gulf of Genoa and was in the area surrounding Fornovo di Taro about 9 miles (14 km) to the southwest of Collecchio on Highway 62. The German 148th Infantry Division made an attempt to halt the allies at Fornovo di Taro. The Allied forces attacked this position at 18:00 on 28 April. The defeat at Collecchio and follow-up attacks in Fornovo, convinced
5814-444: The case of Northern Italian languages, however, scholars are careful not to overstate the effects of outsiders on the natural indigenous developments of the languages. The economic might and relatively advanced development of Tuscany at the time ( Late Middle Ages ) gave its language weight, although Venetian remained widespread in medieval Italian commercial life, and Ligurian (or Genoese) remained in use in maritime trade alongside
5916-446: The church. This was followed by attacks from the northeast by a company of the 6th RCT. German infantry defending the outskirts of the town, supported by mortars, responded to the attacks with intense fire. Neither the Brazilians nor the Germans had any regular artillery. The Germans had only mortar and rifle fire. The church was used to hold German prisoners, and the church tower as an observation post. Lt. Jairo Junqueira da Silva of
6018-455: The colonial period. In the early 19th century, Eritrea was the country with the highest number of Italians abroad, and the Italian Eritreans grew from 4,000 during World War I to nearly 100,000 at the beginning of World War II. In Asmara there are two Italian schools, the Italian School of Asmara (Italian primary school with a Montessori department) and the Liceo Sperimentale "G. Marconi" (Italian international senior high school). Italian
6120-405: The country (some 0.42% of the total population). Their numbers dropped dramatically after World War II following the Istrian–Dalmatian exodus , which caused the emigration of between 230,000 and 350,000 Istrian Italians and Dalmatian Italians. Italian was the official language of the Republic of Ragusa from 1492 to 1807. It formerly had official status in Albania due to the annexation of
6222-408: The country to the Kingdom of Italy (1939–1943). Albania has a large population of non-native speakers, with over half of the population having some knowledge of the Italian language. The Albanian government has pushed to make Italian a compulsory second language in schools. The Italian language is well-known and studied in Albania, due to its historical ties and geographical proximity to Italy and to
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#17327656904706324-446: The country. A few hundred Italian settlers returned to Libya in the 2000s. Italian was the official language of Eritrea during Italian colonisation . Italian is today used in commerce, and it is still spoken especially among elders; besides that, Italian words are incorporated as loan words in the main language spoken in the country (Tigrinya). The capital city of Eritrea, Asmara , still has several Italian schools, established during
6426-415: The country. The official census, carried out in 2002, reported 2,258 ethnic Italians ( Istrian Italians ) in Slovenia (0.11% of the total population). Italian language in Croatia is an official minority language in the country, with many schools and public announcements published in both languages. The 2001 census in Croatia reported 19,636 ethnic Italians (Istrian Italians and Dalmatian Italians ) in
6528-464: The design and fashion industries, in some sports such as football and especially in culinary terms. In Italy, almost all the other languages spoken as the vernacular —other than standard Italian and some languages spoken among immigrant communities—are often called " Italian dialects ", a label that can be very misleading if it is understood to mean "dialects of Italian". The Romance dialects of Italy are local evolutions of spoken Latin that pre-date
6630-420: The diffusion of Italian television in the country. Due to heavy Italian influence during the Italian colonial period , Italian is still understood by some in former colonies such as Libya. Although it was the primary language in Libya since colonial rule , Italian greatly declined under the rule of Muammar Gaddafi , who expelled the Italian Libyan population and made Arabic the sole official language of
6732-420: The educated gentlemen was to make the Grand Tour , visiting Italy to see its great historical monuments and works of art. It was expected that the visitor would learn at least some Italian, understood as language based on Florentine. In England, while the classical languages Latin and Greek were the first to be learned, Italian became the second most common modern language after French, a position it held until
6834-409: The establishment of Italian, and as such are sister languages to the Tuscan that was the historical source of Italian. They can be quite different from Italian and from each other, with some belonging to different linguistic branches of Romance. The only exceptions to this are twelve groups considered " historical language minorities ", which are officially recognized as distinct minority languages by
6936-433: The fact that it was linguistically an intermediate between the northern and the southern Italian dialects. Thus the dialect of Florence became the basis for what would become the official language of Italy. Italian was progressively made an official language of most of the Italian states predating unification, slowly replacing Latin, even when ruled by foreign powers (such as Spain in the Kingdom of Naples , or Austria in
7038-505: The fight. The Axis troops made several unsuccessful attempts to break through to the north, but by 02:00 on 27 April, Allied forces had penetrated into the town. The Axis forces, reinforced by artillery and some tanks made a final desperate assault just before dawn. When this failed, their resistance collapsed. By noon Allied forces, with Brazilians ahead, had full control of the town, forcing the Germans and Fascist Italians south toward Fornovo by late afternoon on 27 April. Prisoners taken in
7140-433: The first of these divisions completed training and was sent to the front. Recruiting military forces was difficult for the RSI, as most of the Italian army had been interned by German forces in 1943, many Italians had been conscripted into forced labour in Germany and few wanted to fight on Nazi Germany's side after 8 September 1943. The RSI became so desperate for soldiers that it granted convicts freedom if they would join
7242-410: The free website and application Duolingo has 4.94 million English speakers learning the Italian language. According to the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs , every year there are more than 200,000 foreign students who study the Italian language; they are distributed among the 90 Institutes of Italian Culture that are located around the world, in the 179 Italian schools located abroad, or in
7344-489: The island of Corsica (but not in the neighbouring Sardinia , which on the contrary underwent Italianization well into the late 18th century, under Savoyard sway: the island's linguistic composition, roofed by the prestige of Spanish among the Sardinians , would therein make for a rather slow process of assimilation to the Italian cultural sphere ). The rediscovery of Dante's De vulgari eloquentia , as well as
7446-577: The language has a 7-vowel sound system ('e' and 'o' have mid-low and mid-high sounds). Italian has contrast between short and long consonants and gemination (doubling) of consonants. During the Middle Ages , the established written language in Europe was Latin, although the great majority of people were illiterate, and only few were well versed in the language. In the Italian Peninsula , as in most of Europe, most would instead speak
7548-640: The language to that continent. According to some sources, Italian is the second most spoken language in Argentina after the official language of Spanish, although its number of speakers, mainly of the older generation, is decreasing. Italian bilingual speakers can be found scattered across the Southeast of Brazil as well as in the South. In Venezuela , Italian is the most spoken language after Spanish and Portuguese, with around 200,000 speakers. In Uruguay , people who speak Italian as their home language are 1.1% of
7650-498: The late 18th century when it tended to be replaced by German. John Milton , for instance, wrote some of his early poetry in Italian. Within the Catholic Church , Italian is known by a large part of the ecclesiastical hierarchy and is used in substitution for Latin in some official documents. Italian loanwords continue to be used in most languages in matters of art and music (especially classical music including opera), in
7752-534: The late 19th to the mid-20th century, millions of Italians settled in Argentina, Uruguay, Southern Brazil and Venezuela, as well as in Canada and the United States, where they formed a physical and cultural presence. In some cases, colonies were established where variants of regional languages of Italy were used, and some continue to use this regional language. Examples are Rio Grande do Sul , Brazil, where Talian
7854-567: The law. On the other hand, Corsican (a language spoken on the French island of Corsica ) is closely related to medieval Tuscan , from which Standard Italian derives and evolved. The differences in the evolution of Latin in the different regions of Italy can be attributed to the natural changes that all languages in regular use are subject to, and to some extent to the presence of three other types of languages: substrata, superstrata, and adstrata . The most prevalent were substrata (the language of
7956-415: The morning of 29 April. The Brazilian Expeditionary Division was commanded by General João Baptista Mascarenhas de Morais . The FEB arrived in Italy in the latter part of 1944, at a time when Allied troops were being transferred from Italy to take part in operations in southern France. On 16 July 1944, the 6th RCT reached Naples, the first of five contingents sent by Brazil. These troops were formed into
8058-412: The nation was unified in 1861. Italian is a Romance language , a descendant of Vulgar Latin (colloquial spoken Latin). Standard Italian is based on Tuscan , especially its Florentine dialect , and is, therefore, an Italo-Dalmatian language , a classification that includes most other central and southern Italian languages and the extinct Dalmatian . According to Ethnologue , lexical similarity
8160-408: The number of printing presses in Italy grew rapidly and by the year 1500 reached a total of 56, the biggest number of printing presses in all of Europe. This enabled the production of more pieces of literature at a lower cost and Italian, as the dominant language, spread. Italian became the language used in the courts of every state in the Italian Peninsula , as well as the prestige variety used on
8262-630: The openness of vowels, the length of the consonants, and influence of the local language (for example, in informal situations andà , annà and nare replace the standard Italian andare in the area of Tuscany, Rome and Venice respectively for the infinitive "to go"). There is no definitive date when the various Italian variants of Latin—including varieties that contributed to modern Standard Italian—began to be distinct enough from Latin to be considered separate languages. One criterion for determining that two language variants are to be considered separate languages rather than variants of
8364-584: The original inhabitants), as the Italian dialects were most probably simply Latin as spoken by native cultural groups. Superstrata and adstrata were both less important. Foreign conquerors of Italy that dominated different regions at different times left behind little to no influence on the dialects. Foreign cultures with which Italy engaged in peaceful relations with, such as trade, had no significant influence either. Throughout Italy, regional varieties of Standard Italian, called Regional Italian , are spoken. Regional differences can be recognized by various factors:
8466-458: The other hand, almost everyone still speaks the Corsican idiom , which, due to its linguistic proximity to the Italian standard language, appears both linguistically as an Italian dialect and therefore as a carrier of Italian culture, despite the French government's decades-long efforts to cut Corsica off from the Italian motherland. Italian was the official language in Monaco until 1860, when it
8568-406: The population of Italy could speak Standard Italian. He reports that in 1951 that percentage had risen to 87%. The ability to speak Italian did not necessarily mean it was in everyday use, and most people (63.5%) still usually spoke their native dialects. In addition, other factors such as mass emigration, industrialization, and urbanization, and internal migrations after World War II , contributed to
8670-523: The proliferation of Standard Italian. The Italians who emigrated during the Italian diaspora beginning in 1861 were often of the uneducated lower class, and thus the emigration had the effect of increasing the percentage of literates, who often knew and understood the importance of Standard Italian, back home in Italy. A large percentage of those who had emigrated also eventually returned to Italy, often more educated than when they had left. Although use of
8772-528: The pronunciation of stressed "e", and of "s" between vowels in many words: e.g. va bene "all right" is pronounced [vabˈbɛːne] by a Roman (and by any standard Italian speaker), [vaˈbeːne] by a Milanese (and by any speaker whose native dialect lies to the north of the La Spezia–Rimini Line ); a casa "at home" is [akˈkaːsa] for Roman, [akˈkaːsa] or [akˈkaːza] for standard, [aˈkaːza] for Milanese and generally northern. In contrast to
8874-415: The publication of Agnolo Monosini 's Latin tome Floris italicae linguae libri novem in 1604 followed by the first Italian dictionary in 1612. An important event that helped the diffusion of Italian was the conquest and occupation of Italy by Napoleon in the early 19th century (who was himself of Italian-Corsican descent). This conquest propelled the unification of Italy some decades after and pushed
8976-542: The referendum that allowed France to annex Savoy and Nice, and a group of his followers (among the Italian Savoyards ) took refuge in Italy in the following years. Corsica passed from the Republic of Genoa to France in 1769 after the Treaty of Versailles . Italian was the official language of Corsica until 1859. Giuseppe Garibaldi called for the inclusion of the " Corsican Italians " within Italy when Rome
9078-530: The same division) with infantry from the 281st regimental of the 148th Infantry Division. The reconnaissance squadron called for reinforcements. According to Captain Pitaluga of the reconnaissance troop, "I arrived in Collecchio at noon, and I was alone until 6 pm. I had already occupied almost half the town when the infantry arrived." Pitaluga's unit of M8 cars fought it out against more lightly armored German vehicles, which only had 20 mm cannons. However,
9180-473: The teachings of the Roman Catholic Church began to be understood from new perspectives as humanists —individuals who placed emphasis on the human body and its full potential—began to shift focus from the church to human beings themselves. The continual advancements in technology play a crucial role in the diffusion of languages. After the invention of the printing press in the 15th century,
9282-469: The title Divina , were read throughout the peninsula and his written dialect became the "canonical standard" that all educated Italians could understand. Dante is still credited with standardizing the Italian language. In addition to the widespread exposure gained through literature, the Florentine dialect also gained prestige due to the political and cultural significance of Florence at the time and
9384-542: The total population of the country. In Australia, Italian is the second most spoken foreign language after Chinese, with 1.4% of the population speaking it as their home language. The main Italian-language newspapers published outside Italy are the L'Osservatore Romano ( Vatican City ), the L'Informazione di San Marino ( San Marino ), the Corriere del Ticino and the laRegione Ticino ( Switzerland ),
9486-659: The working languages of the Council of Europe . It is the third-most-widely spoken native language in the European Union (13% of the EU population) and it is spoken as a second language by 13.4 million EU citizens (3%). Including Italian speakers in non-EU European countries (such as Switzerland, Albania and the United Kingdom ) and on other continents, the total number of speakers is approximately 85 million. Italian
9588-539: Was Bersaglieri of the 1st Italian "Italia" Infantry Division. The Italians successfully halted the US division's advance. RSI Minister of Defense Graziani was even able to say that he commanded an entire Army. This was the Italo-German Liguria Army. However, the situation subsequently deteriorated for the Axis forces on the Gothic Line. In late April, at Collecchio , the last remaining RSI troops were bottled up along with two Wehrmacht Divisions by
9690-659: Was a battle of the Second World War between the Brazilian Expeditionary Force ( Força Expedicionária Brasileira – FEB), along with Italian partisans and units from the American 1st Armored and 92nd Infantry Divisions, against the Wehrmacht ' s 148th Infantry Division , 90th Panzergrenadier Divisions and the fascist National Republican Army 's 1st Bersaglieri "Italia" and
9792-561: Was also introduced to Somalia through colonialism and was the sole official language of administration and education during the colonial period but fell out of use after government, educational and economic infrastructure were destroyed in the Somali Civil War . Italian is also spoken by large immigrant and expatriate communities in the Americas and Australia. Although over 17 million Americans are of Italian descent , only
9894-525: Was annexed to the Kingdom of Italy , but King Victor Emmanuel II did not agree to it. Italian is generally understood in Corsica by the population resident therein who speak Corsican , which is an Italo-Romance idiom similar to Tuscan. Francization occurred in Nice case, and caused a near-disappearance of the Italian language as many of the Italian speakers in these areas migrated to Italy. In Corsica, on
9996-483: Was formed as a puppet state in northern Italy with Mussolini as its leader. Marshal Rodolfo Graziani was named as the RSI's Minister of Defense . On 16 October, the Rastenburg Protocol was signed with Nazi Germany. In accordance with this protocol, the RSI was allowed to raise division -sized military formations. This allowed Graziani to raise four RSI divisions totaling 52,000 men. In July 1944,
10098-443: Was mirrored by a decline in the use of the dialects. An increase in literacy was one of the main driving factors (one can assume that only literates were capable of learning Standard Italian, whereas those who were illiterate had access only to their native dialect). The percentage of literates rose from 25% in 1861 to 60% in 1911, and then on to 78.1% in 1951. Tullio De Mauro , an Italian linguist, has asserted that in 1861 only 2.5% of
10200-557: Was not required at Caserta. The surrender was to take effect on 2 May. Graziani ordered the RSI forces under his command to lay down their arms on 1 May. The military of the RSI suffered some 34,770 dead during the war and, given conventional killed-to-wounded and killed-to-missing ratios, probably in excess of 100,000 casualties total. The majority of deaths (≈21,600) were incurred by anti-partisan formations, such as National Guards, Black Brigades, and Territorial Militia. The rest (≈13,170) were incurred by regular military forces mostly facing
10302-658: Was replaced by the French. This was due to the annexation of the surrounding County of Nice to France following the Treaty of Turin (1860) . It formerly had official status in Montenegro (because of the Venetian Albania ), parts of Slovenia and Croatia (because of the Venetian Istria and Venetian Dalmatia ), parts of Greece (because of the Venetian rule in the Ionian Islands and by
10404-482: Was the case at Collecchio. Also, in this first day of the battle, the Brazilians were outnumbered by a German battalion with two or three squadrons. A force of Brazilian infantry was hastily ferried to the town in jeeps , trucks (like M3s ), and the transport sent back for more. By 18:30 on 26 April, the Brazilian infantry was in place and prepared for action. This included 5th Company, II Battalion, 11th Infantry;
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