Italian Dialect Variety

When dining in Italy, there is one thing you willinability to travel, no radio or TV until the
notice right off la cucina locale, which means thetwentieth century and the attempt to maintain
local cuisine. This is not unlike here in our owntheir cultural heritage and independence.
country. If you live in Texas, you will find on theThe dialects have many distinct qualities, which
menu of most restaurants an entrée calleddistinguish them from others. Just as an example
"Chicken Fried Steak". Once you cross the Texasthe Neapolitan dialect is the most widely known
state border, you will not find "Chicken Friedbecause of its use in popular songs. The speakers
Steak" almost anywhere else in the country. Inof this dialect clip the articles to single vowels. In
Italy every region has their own specialty andRomanesco the letter "r" replaces the letter "l", so
methods of preparing the dish, which will dependinstead of pronouncing the word volta meaning
on the season, the local produce and any otheronce, they would pronounce the word as vorta.
ingredients. So it stands to reason most regionsIn all the regions of Italy schoolchildren learn the
have their own accent, dialect and sometimesstandard Italian and sometimes their regional
their own language.dialect also. What is now known as the standard
The various languages and dialects have evolvedItalian has evolved from the Tuscan dialect. It
over centuries and remained distinct from thestarted from to the common language of Italy.
standard Italian for several reasons, such as the