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Languages of Italy

Gallo-Rhaetian and Ibero-Romance
Many of the Romance languages spoken within Italian territory are defined as Dialects by Italian academics. Some of them are mentioned in the table above.

It has to be pointed out that the category "italian dialects", structured as a homogeneous group, is not correct from a linguistic perspective, considering the many differences between the different groups. These languages can actually be considered as languages, like Italian itself, resulting from an independent evolution from Latin.

Some of the languages in this group are part of a sub-category, defined as Rhaeto-Romance languages. Languages included in this group are Romansh, which is spoken in Switzerland, Ladin and Friulan.

Friulan is spoken in the areas of Gorizia, Pordenone and Udine and in some areas around Venezia. Besides the protection guaranteed under the Italian Constitution, it is also recognized by the autonomous region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia.

Ladin is spoken in the dolomitic area, in the region of Trentino Alto-Adige. Recognized as a co-official language in the autonomous province of Bolzano, it is also recognized in the autonomous province of Trento and has recently been protected also in the province of Belluno.

Italo-Dalmatian languages
Not included is Corsican, which is mainly spoken on the French island of Corsica. Istriot is only spoken in Croatia. Judeo-Italian is moribund.

Central Italian languages
Central Italian languages are difficult to classify, as the different languages spoken strongly influenced each other in a non-linear way. The following sub-groups can be identified:
 * Umbrian Dialects, hardly systematized, are generally belonging to the group from the region of  Umbria even if within the same area there are often many differences;
 * Marchigiano dialects; spoken in the region of Marche, are connected to the main families of Italian dialects. Dialects spoken in the central part of the region (provinces of Ancona, Macerata and Fermo) belong to the Central Italian group; dialects connected to the Gallo-Italic languages are spoken in the provinces of Pesaro and Urbino and finally in the southern part of the region, the province of Ascoli Piceno, the dialect in use is connected to the Neapolitan language;
 * Romanesco dialect, which is spoken in the Metropolitan City of Rome Capital, has been strongly influenced by Tuscan dialect causing a differentiation from other Central dialects. Roman dialect is still alive and evolving in its expressions, causing the increased distance between classic literature and the contemporary spoken dialect ;
 * Tuscia dialects are spoken in the area of Viterbo and are a mix of southern Tuscan dialects and Central ones;
 * Sabino dialect, spoken in the areas of Rieti and some parts of the provinces of Aquila and Rome;

Sardinian language
Sardinian is a distinct language group with significant phonological and lexical differences among its varieties. Ethnologue, not without controversy, even goes as far as considering Sardinian to be four separate languages, all being included along with Corsican and the Corso-Sardinian varieties in a hypothetical subgroup (Southern Romance ), which has gained little support from linguists. UNESCO, while seeming to share the same opinion of Ethnologue by calling Gallurese and Sassarese alternately "Sardinian", considers them to be dialects of Corsican rather than Sardinian. As is commonly the case in such controversies, the linguistic landscape of Sardinia is in principle most accurately described as being, for the most part, a dialect continuum.