L.O.T.E.

ltalian!! Italian derives diachronically from Latin and is one of the closest languages to Latin. Unlike most other Romance languages, Italian has retained the contrast between short and [|long consonants] which existed in Latin. As in most [|Romance languages], [|stress] is distinctive. In particular, among the Romance languages, Italian is considered to be the closest to [|Latin] in terms of [|vocabulary]. [|Lexical similarity] is 96% with [|French], 87% with [|Catalan], 85% with [|Sardinian] 78% with [|Rhaeto-Romance], 77% with [|Romanian], 51% with [|Spanish] and 50% with [|Maltese].
 * Italian** (  [|//italiano//] ( [|help] · [|info] ), or //lingua italiana//) is a [|Romance language] spoken by about 60 million people in [|Italy], and by a total of around 70 million in the world. In [|Switzerland], Italian is one of four [|official languages]. It is also the official language of [|San Marino], as well as the primary language of [|Vatican City]. Standard Italian, adopted by the state after the [|unification of Italy], is based on [|Tuscan] (in particular on the dialects of the city of [|Florence]) and is somewhat intermediate between the [|Italo-Dalmatian languages] of the [|South] and the [|Gallo-Romance] [|Northern Italian languages]. Its development was also influenced by the other [|Italian dialects] and by the Germanic language of the [|post-Roman invaders].

[|Rome] [|Milan] ||
 * ~  ||~ [|Rank] ||~ [|City] ||~ [|Location] ||~ [|Pop.] ||~ [|Rank] ||~ [|City] ||~ [|Location] ||~ [|Pop.] ||~ [|view] • [|talk] • [|edit]
 * ^  || 1 || **[|Rome]** || [|Lazio] || 2,722,907 || 11 || **[|Venice]** || [|Veneto] || 270,055 ||^   ||
 * ^  || 2 || **[|Milan]** || [|Lombardy] || 1,294,797 || 12 || **[|Verona]** || [|Veneto] || 265,795 ||^   ||
 * ^  || 3 || **[|Naples]** || [|Campania] || 963,522 || 13 || **[|Messina]** || [|Sicily] || 243,315 ||^   ||
 * ^  || 4 || **[|Turin]** || [|Piedmont] || 909,193 || 14 || **[|Padua]** || [|Veneto] || 211,632 ||^   ||
 * ^  || 5 || **[|Palermo]** || [|Sicily] || 659,623 || 15 || **[|Trieste]** || [|Friuli-Venezia Giulia] || 205,466 ||^   ||
 * ^  || 6 || **[|Genoa]** || [|Liguria] || 611,556 || 16 || **[|Taranto]** || [|Apulia] || 194,042 ||^   ||
 * ^  || 7 || **[|Bologna]** || [|Emilia-Romagna] || 374,561 || 17 || **[|Brescia]** || [|Lombardy] || 190,809 ||^   ||
 * ^  || 8 || **[|Florence]** || [|Tuscany] || 365,744 || 19 || **[|Reggio Calabria]** || [|Calabria] || 185,602 ||^   ||
 * ^  || 9 || **[|Bari]** || [|Apulia] || 320,676 || 18 || **[|Prato]** || [|Tuscany] || 185,193 ||^   ||
 * ^  || 10 || **[|Catania]** || [|Sicily] || 296,816 || 20 || **[|Modena]** || [|Emilia-Romagna] || 181,704 ||^   ||
 * 2008 [|ISTAT] estimates ||

  [|Switzerland]   [|San Marino]   [|Vatican City]   [|Malta]   [|Slovenia]   [|Croatia]   [|Libya] <span style="display: inline-block; dximagetransform.microsoft.alphaimageloader(src='http: //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/29/Flag_of_Eritrea.svg/22px-Flag_of_Eritrea.svg.png'); height: 1px; width: 1px;">  [|Eritrea] <span class="thumbborder" style="background-image: none; border-bottom: #dddddd 1px solid; border-left: #dddddd 1px solid; border-right: #dddddd 1px solid; border-top: #dddddd 1px solid; display: inline-block; font-size: 0px; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="display: inline-block; dximagetransform.microsoft.alphaimageloader(src='http: //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c3/Flag_of_France.svg/22px-Flag_of_France.svg.png'); height: 1px; width: 1px;">  [|France] (esp. [|Corsica]) <span class="thumbborder" style="background-image: none; border-bottom: #dddddd 1px solid; border-left: #dddddd 1px solid; border-right: #dddddd 1px solid; border-top: #dddddd 1px solid; display: inline-block; font-size: 0px; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="display: inline-block; dximagetransform.microsoft.alphaimageloader(src='http: //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5c/Flag_of_Greece.svg/22px-Flag_of_Greece.svg.png'); height: 1px; width: 1px;">  [|Greece] (esp.[|Dodecanese]) and among emigrants' communities and descendants in [|Canada], [|United States], [|Argentina], [|Australia], [|Uruguay], [|Venezuela], [|Brazil], [|Germany], [|France], [|Belgium], [|United Kingdom], [|Luxembourg] and [|Monaco]. || <span class="thumbborder" style="background-image: none; border-bottom: #dddddd 1px solid; border-left: #dddddd 1px solid; border-right: #dddddd 1px solid; border-top: #dddddd 1px solid; display: inline-block; font-size: 0px; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="display: inline-block; dximagetransform.microsoft.alphaimageloader(src='http: //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/03/Flag_of_Italy.svg/22px-Flag_of_Italy.svg.png'); height: 1px; width: 1px;">  [|Italy] <span class="thumbborder" style="background-image: none; border-bottom: #dddddd 1px solid; border-left: #dddddd 1px solid; border-right: #dddddd 1px solid; border-top: #dddddd 1px solid; display: inline-block; font-size: 0px; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="display: inline-block; dximagetransform.microsoft.alphaimageloader(src='http: //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f3/Flag_of_Switzerland.svg/17px-Flag_of_Switzerland.svg.png'); height: 1px; width: 1px;">  [|Switzerland] <span class="thumbborder" style="background-image: none; border-bottom: #dddddd 1px solid; border-left: #dddddd 1px solid; border-right: #dddddd 1px solid; border-top: #dddddd 1px solid; display: inline-block; font-size: 0px; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="display: inline-block; dximagetransform.microsoft.alphaimageloader(src='http: //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b1/Flag_of_San_Marino.svg/22px-Flag_of_San_Marino.svg.png'); height: 1px; width: 1px;">  [|San Marino] <span class="thumbborder" style="background-image: none; border-bottom: #dddddd 1px solid; border-left: #dddddd 1px solid; border-right: #dddddd 1px solid; border-top: #dddddd 1px solid; display: inline-block; font-size: 0px; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="display: inline-block; dximagetransform.microsoft.alphaimageloader(src='http: //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/00/Flag_of_the_Vatican_City.svg/20px-Flag_of_the_Vatican_City.svg.png'); height: 1px; width: 1px;">  [|Vatican City] <span style="background-image: none; border-bottom-color: #0000ff; border-bottom-width: 2px; border-left-color: #0000ff; border-left-width: 2px; border-right-color: #0000ff; border-right-width: 2px; border-top-color: #0000ff; border-top-width: 2px; cursor: hand; display: inline-block; dximagetransform.microsoft.alphaimageloader(src='http: //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8e/Flag_of_the_Sovereign_Military_Order_of_Malta.svg/22px-Flag_of_the_Sovereign_Military_Order_of_Malta.svg.png'); font-size: 0px; height: 1px; vertical-align: middle; width: 1px;"> [|Sovereign Military Order of Malta] <span class="thumbborder" style="background-image: none; border-bottom: #dddddd 1px solid; border-left: #dddddd 1px solid; border-right: #dddddd 1px solid; border-top: #dddddd 1px solid; display: inline-block; font-size: 0px; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="display: inline-block; dximagetransform.microsoft.alphaimageloader(src='http: //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1b/Flag_of_Croatia.svg/22px-Flag_of_Croatia.svg.png'); height: 1px; width: 1px;">  [|Croatia] ([|Istria County]) <span class="thumbborder" style="background-image: none; border-bottom: #dddddd 1px solid; border-left: #dddddd 1px solid; border-right: #dddddd 1px solid; border-top: #dddddd 1px solid; display: inline-block; font-size: 0px; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="display: inline-block; dximagetransform.microsoft.alphaimageloader(src='http: //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f0/Flag_of_Slovenia.svg/22px-Flag_of_Slovenia.svg.png'); height: 1px; width: 1px;">  [|Slovenia] ([|Istria]) ||
 * ~ Italian ||
 * ~ //Italiano// ||
 * ~ [|Pronunciation] |||| /itaˈljano/  ||
 * ~ Spoken in |||| <span class="thumbborder" style="background-image: none; border-bottom: #dddddd 1px solid; border-left: #dddddd 1px solid; border-right: #dddddd 1px solid; border-top: #dddddd 1px solid; display: inline-block; font-size: 0px; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="display: inline-block; dximagetransform.microsoft.alphaimageloader(src='http: //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/03/Flag_of_Italy.svg/22px-Flag_of_Italy.svg.png'); height: 1px; width: 1px;">  [|Italy]
 * ~ Region |||| [|Southern Europe] ||
 * ~ Total speakers |||| 70 million native ||
 * ~ [|Ranking] |||| 20 ||
 * ~ [|Language family] ||||< [|Indo-European]* [|Italic]
 * [|Romance]
 * [|Italo-Western]
 * Italo-Dalmatian
 * Italian ||
 * ~ [|Writing system] |||| [|Latin alphabet] ||
 * ~ Official status ||
 * ~ Official language in |||| <span class="thumbborder" style="background-image: none; border-bottom: #dddddd 1px solid; border-left: #dddddd 1px solid; border-right: #dddddd 1px solid; border-top: #dddddd 1px solid; display: inline-block; font-size: 0px; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="display: inline-block; dximagetransform.microsoft.alphaimageloader(src='http: //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b7/Flag_of_Europe.svg/22px-Flag_of_Europe.svg.png'); height: 1px; width: 1px;">  [|European Union]
 * ~ [|Regulated by] |||| not officially by [|Accademia della Crusca] ||
 * ~ Language codes ||
 * ~ [|ISO 639-1] |||| ||
 * ~ [|ISO 639-2] |||| 🇮🇹 ||
 * ~ [|ISO 639-3] |||| – Italian (generic) ||
 * **Note**: This page may contain [|IPA] phonetic symbols in [|Unicode]. ||