Regional Italian and dialects: standard and local variation

Italian is spoken in many varieties, and an advanced listener needs to tell them apart. Standard Italian («italiano standard») is the codified norm of grammars and dictionaries, historically based on the literary Florentine of Dante, Petrarch and Boccaccio. It became the everyday spoken language of most Italians only during the twentieth century, through schooling, internal migration, radio and television. Before that, most people spoke a local dialect at home.

Today most Italians speak a regional Italian («italiano regionale»): standard Italian with local features of pronunciation, vocabulary and some grammar. Many also speak or understand a dialect («dialetto»). Italian dialects are not corrupted Italian. Neapolitan, Sicilian, Venetian, Lombard, Piedmontese and the others developed from spoken Latin alongside Florentine; they are sister languages of Italian, with their own sound systems and grammar and, in many cases, centuries of literature.

The aim at this level is comprehension without overgeneralisation: recognising common regional features when you hear or read them, labelling them correctly, and never treating one word or one accent as proof of where someone comes from or how educated they are.

Four labels: standard, regional, dialect, colloquial

The four labels describe different things. Standard and regional Italian are both Italian; they differ in how many local features they contain, and almost everyone speaks some regional Italian, newsreaders, teachers and politicians included. A dialect is a different linguistic system: a speaker of standard Italian with no exposure to it may follow little of a conversation in Sicilian, Friulian or Bergamasque. Colloquial Italian is a matter of register, not geography: «un sacco di», «tipo», «figurati» are informal everywhere.

Linguists also speak of «italiano neostandard», the educated spoken norm that has absorbed forms once condemned by school grammar, such as «lui» and «lei» as subjects or «gli» for «a loro». Some varieties have legal status: since 1999 Italian law has protected historical minority languages, among them Sardinian, Friulian and Ladin, as well as German, French and Slovene in their border areas. Where a dialect ends and a language begins is partly a social and political question, not only a linguistic one.

Speakers move between varieties all the time. The same person may use dialect with grandparents, regional Italian with friends and something close to the standard in a job interview, sometimes switching within a single sentence. That switching is a skill, not a lack of education.

• Con i nonni parla dialetto, al lavoro un italiano più controllato. · With his grandparents he speaks dialect; at work, a more careful Italian.
• Il friulano è tutelato dalla legge come lingua minoritaria. · Friulian is protected by law as a minority language.

Pronunciation: the most audible variation

Accent is what listeners notice first, and it varies by area, by city and by speaker. Standard pronunciation distinguishes open and closed e and o: «pèsca» (peach) has an open e, «pésca» (fishing) a closed one, and «bòtte» (blows) differs from «bótte» (barrel). Regional speakers distribute these vowels differently: many northerners say «perché» with an open e, and much of the south follows other patterns again. Context almost always prevents misunderstanding, and outside Tuscany it is mostly trained speakers, such as actors and dubbers, who follow the standard distribution consistently.

Other features are just as widespread. Between vowels, s is voiced, like English z, in most of the north («casa», «cosa»), and voiceless in much of the centre and south. In central and southern Italy, and in standard pronunciation, certain words double the first consonant of the word that follows, so «a casa» sounds like «accasa»; this doubling, called «raddoppiamento fonosintattico», is largely absent in the north. In Tuscany a c between vowels is often pronounced as a breathy h, a feature known as «gorgia toscana».

Recognising these features helps comprehension. Imitating them, especially for comic effect, easily slides into caricature; in your own speech, aim for clear and consistent pronunciation rather than a borrowed accent.

• A Milano si dice casa con la s sonora, a Roma con la s sorda. · In Milan casa is said with a voiced s, in Rome with a voiceless one.
• In italiano standard pèsca e pésca non si pronunciano allo stesso modo. · In standard Italian, pèsca (peach) and pésca (fishing) are not pronounced the same way.

Words and grammar that change from region to region

Regional vocabulary includes geosynonyms («geosinonimi»): different words for the same thing in different areas. The watermelon is traditionally «anguria» in the north and «cocomero» in Tuscany and much of the centre. The bread roll called «michetta» in Milan is a «rosetta» in Rome. Skipping school is «marinare la scuola» in general use, but «bigiare» in Lombardy, «fare sega» in Rome and «fare filone» in Naples. Sicily divides between «arancina», common in the west, and «arancino», common in the east. All these distributions are tendencies with overlaps, and many words have travelled well beyond their home area.

Grammar varies too. Much of the north uses the passato prossimo even for distant events («Mio nonno è nato nel 1930»), while in parts of the south, especially Sicily and Calabria, the passato remoto appears in speech even for recent ones («Stamattina mi alzai presto»); Tuscany keeps both, roughly as grammars describe them. Central and southern regional Italian often uses «stare» for location («Dove sta Luca?»), and in the south also for states where the standard has «essere» («Sto stanco»); in Campania and elsewhere in the south «tenere» often replaces «avere» («Tengo fame»). In the north and in Tuscany an article before a woman’s first name is common («la Giulia»), and «te» often replaces «tu» as subject («Te cosa ne pensi?»). Tuscan speech has «noi si va» for «noi andiamo», and in parts of the south «voi» survives as a respectful form of address to one person, especially to older people.

«Mica», which reinforces a negation («Non è mica facile», “it’s not exactly easy”), is most typical of the north and centre and less frequent in the south, though it belongs to colloquial Italian everywhere.

• Qui come lo chiamate, cocomero o anguria? · What do you call it here, cocomero or anguria?
• Sul menù c’è scritto arancini, ma il cameriere dice arancine. · The menu says arancini, but the waiter says arancine.

Understanding variation without stereotypes

A regional feature tells you about a pattern, not about a person. Many speakers use words from several areas, move between cities or adapt their speech to the listener, so one «anguria» or one open vowel does not reveal anyone’s birthplace, age or education. When you are curious, ask rather than assume: «Come lo chiamate qui?» or «Voi come lo dite?», and accept that the answer may be «dipende».

Regional Italian is not wrong Italian, but it is marked: outside its area, or in formal writing, a feature such as «sto stanco», «tengo fame» or «la Giulia» is noticed as regional or informal. For your own production, the safe default in writing and formal speech is the standard. Regional words are fine, and often the only natural choice, in their own area or when you gloss them for other readers. Dialect phrases are best used only if you actually speak the dialect, or quoted with a translation.

Finally, keep the dimensions apart. Geography (where a form is used), register (how formal it is) and the relationship with the listener (tu or Lei) are separate scales: a formal letter can explain a regional word, and a relaxed chat can be in perfectly standard Italian.