Italian language

Italian
Italian
Standard Italian
italiano, lingua italiana;
Pronunciation	[itaˈljaːno] ⓘ
Native to	Italy, San Marino, Vatican City, Switzerland, Slovenia (Istria), Croatia (Istria)
Region	Italian peninsula
Ethnicity	Italians
Speakers	L1: 65 million (2022); L2: 3.1-21 million; Total: 85 million
Language family	Indo-European Italic Latino-Faliscan Latin Romance Italo-Western Italo-Dalmatian Italo-Romance Tuscan Northern Tuscan Florentine Italian; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;
Early forms	Old Latin Vulgar Latin Tuscan Florentine ; ; ;
Dialects	Maltese Italian; Swiss Italian; Various forms of regional Italian;
Writing system	Latin script (Italian alphabet); Italian Braille
Signed forms	Italiano segnato "(Signed Italian)" ; italiano segnato esatto "(Signed Exact Italian)"
Official status
Official language in	4 countries Italy ; San Marino ; Switzerland ; Vatican City ; ; 2 regions Slovene Istria (Slovenia) ; Istria County (Croatia) ; ; Various organisations and orders Sovereign Military Order of Malta ; European Union ; FAO ; Holy See ; OSCE ; IDLO ; IIHL ; Mediterranean Universities Union ; UNICRI ; UNIDROIT ; and others ;
Recognised minority; language in	6 countries Argentina ; Bosnia and Herzegovina ; Brazil (6 municipalities) ; Croatia ; Romania ; Slovenia;
Regulated by	Accademia della Crusca (de facto)
Language codes
ISO 639-1	it
ISO 639-2	ita
ISO 639-3	ita
Glottolog	ital1282
Linguasphere	51-AAA-q
	Geographical distribution of the Italian language in the world: Areas where it is the majority language Areas where it is a minority language or where it was a former colonial language Areas where notable Italian-speaking communities are present
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Italian (italiano, pronounced [itaˈljaːno] ^ⓘ, or lingua italiana, pronounced [ˈliŋɡwa itaˈljaːna]) is a Romance language of the Indo-European language family. It is a standardised form of literary Florentine Tuscan^[7]^[8]^[9]^[10] and, together with Sardinian, is the least differentiated language from Latin.^[11] Current estimates indicate that between 68 and 85 million people speak Italian, including approximately 64 million native speakers as of 2024.

Italian is an official language in Italy, San Marino, Switzerland (Ticino and part of the Grisons), and Vatican City, and it has official minority status in Croatia, Slovenia (Istria), Romania,^[6]^[12] Bosnia and Herzegovina,

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