Italian Dialect Classifications

This paper provides a historical overview and a critical analysis of Italian dialect classifications. After various empirically-based classifications proposed since the 14th century, five scientific classifications were formulated. Ascoli (1882/1885) adopted a genealogical classification, arranging Italian dialects in three macrogroups (Gallo-Italic dialects and Sardinian; Venetian, dialects of central Italy, southern dialects and Corsican; Tuscan). This distribution, with some adjustments regarding the position of Veneto, Sardinian and Corsican dialects, also returns in Merlo’s ethnic classification (1924; 1933), that underlines the effects of substrates. Rohlfs (1937) proposes a similar three-part classification using a geolinguistic approach based on the areal diffusion of eighteen linguistic phenomena. Devoto’s proposal (1970) follows a quantitative model, by measuring the structural affinity between eleven dialectal systems. Pellegrini’s classification (1973, 1977), accepted by most contemporary scholars, is based on the contextual application of sociolinguistic and geolinguistic criteria. He subdivides Italian dialects in five systems (northern dialects, Friulian, Tuscan, central-south dialects, Sardinian), each of which is further divided into subsections.