Swiss Italian

The Italian language in the Italian Switzerland or Swiss Italian (Italian: italiano svizzero) is the variety of the Italian language taught in the Italian-speaking area of Switzerland. While this variety is mainly spoken in the canton of Ticino and in the southern part of Graubünden (Canton Grigioni) (about 270,000 native speakers), Italian is spoken natively in the whole country by about 700,000 people: Swiss Italians, Italian immigrants and Swiss citizens with Italian citizenship.[2][3]

This article is about the language. For the Swiss Italian people, see Swiss people.
Swiss Italian
varietà svizzera dell'Italiano
Native toSwitzerland
EthnicitySwiss
Native speakers
720,000 (2019 census)[1]
Official status
Official language in
Switzerland
Language codes
ISO 639-3–
GlottologNone
This article is part of the series on the
Italian language
History
Literature and other
Grammar
Alphabet
Phonology

The Swiss variety of Italian is distinct from the traditional vernaculars of the Italian-speaking area, which are classified as varieties of the Gallo-Italic Lombard language.

Characteristics

The presence of calques from French and German means that there are some differences in vocabulary between the standard registers of the Italian language used in Italy and Switzerland. An example would be the words for driving licence: in Italy, it is called a patente di guida but in Swiss Italian, it becomes licenza di condurre, from the French permis de conduire. Another example is the interurban bus: in Italy it would be autobus or corriera but in Switzerland, it is the Autopostale or posta since nearly all interurban lines are run by a subsidiary of the Swiss Post.

Another notable difference is the use of the word germanico to refer to German people, instead of tedesco.[4] However, as in Italy, the word tedesco is used to refer to the German language.[5] In Italy, the word germanico is used in the same sense as the word "Germanic" in English, referring, for example, to Germanic languages in general.[6]

Radiotelevisione Svizzera di lingua Italiana is the main Swiss public broadcasting network in the Italian speaking regions of Switzerland. The University of Lugano is the major university of the Italian speaking part of Switzerland.

There are almost no differences in the vowels of Swiss Italian and mainland Italian.

Examples

Some examples of Ticinese words that are different from Italian are:

Swiss Italian Standard Italian English Translation Notes
azione promozione, offerta speciale special offer, sale from German Aktion
comandare ordinare to order (i.e. in a restaurant, bar, etc.) from French commander
evidente facile easy from French évident
grippe influenza flu, influenza from both German Grippe and French grippe
medicamento medicinale, farmaco drug, medicine from French médicament
licenziato laureato graduated (from a university) false friend: in Italian licenziato means dismissed from a job, fired
messa a giorno aggiornamento update from French mise à jour
nota voto grade (accomplishment in school) false friend: in Italian nota means school reprimand, notice or note (music)
pigione moderata equo canone rent control from French loyer modéré
riservare prenotare to book, reserve from French réserver
vignetta bollino, contrassegno tag (a label to exhibit, typically in a car) from French vignette

As may be seen from this table, as well as the case with the driving licence described above, Swiss Italian has fewer false friends with English than standard Italian does, as calques from French in Swiss Italian match Latin-origin words in English more often than the Standard Italian words do.

See also

References
  1. Discover Switzerland – Language – facts and figures
  2. "Languages". Federal Statistical Office. 2020. Retrieved 2022-07-07.
  3. "Anzahl der Doppelbürger in der Schweiz nach zweiter Staatsangehörigkeit im Jahr 2020" (in German). Retrieved 2023-01-10.
  4. Donna morta a Muralto, un fermo, RSI, 9 April 2019
  5. Lingue nazionali, si parla di meno in tedesco e italiano, La Regione, 28 March 2018
  6. Tedesco o Germanico?, La Repubblica, 11 February 2016
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.