Southern Italian

"South Italian" redirects here. For ancient Greek pottery fabricated in Magna Graecia, see South Italian Ancient Greek pottery.

Southern Italian
Napoletano-Calabrese Italiano Meridionale
Spoken in	Italy
Region	Abruzzo, Apulia, Basilicata, Calabria, Campania, Lazio, Marche, Molise.
Native speakers	(7.05 million cited 1976) Est. 11 millioncitation needed
Language family	Indo-European Italic Romance Italo-Dalmatian Southern Italian
Standard forms	Neapolitan
Language codes
ISO 639-2	nap
ISO 639-3	nap
Dialects

Southern Italian (Dialetti italiani meridionali), or Napoletano-Calabrese, is a group of Italo-Dalmatian Romance dialects spoken in Southern Lazio, Southern Marche, Abruzzo, Molise, Campania, Basilicata, Apulia, and Northern Calabria. Part of a language continuum, they are all mutually intelligible and are often referred to as the Neapolitan language, from being largely coterminous with the old Kingdom of Naples and from Naples' historic role as capital of the region. Ethnologue groups the dialects as Napoletano-Calabrese and gives them the status of a language. Some consider the dialects simply as Italian dialects affected by a Samnite substratum.

The following are considered Southern Italian dialects:

• Eastern Abruzzese and Southern Marchigiano
  • Southern Marchigiano (Ascoli Piceno)
  • Teramano (province of Teramo, northern province of Pescara: Atri)
  • Abruzzese adriatico (Southern province of Pescara: (Penne, Francavilla al Mare), province of Chieti
• Western Abruzzese (southern part of province of L'Aquila: Pescina, Sulmona, Pescasseroli, Roccaraso)
• Molisan (Molise)
• Campanian (Campania)
  • Southern Laziale (southern part of province of Frosinone: Sora, Cassino; southern part of Province of Latina: Gaeta, Formia)
  • Neapolitan (as spoken in (Naples and the Gulf of Naples)
  • Irpino (province of Avellino)
  • Cilentano (southern part of province of Salerno: Vallo della Lucania- often considered part of the Sicilian language group)
• Apulian (Pugliese)
  • Dauno (western province of Foggia: Foggia, Bovino)
  • Garganico (eastern province of Foggia: Gargano, Vieste, Manfredonia)
  • Barese (province of Bari, western province of Taranto: Gioia del Colle).
• Lucanian and Northern Calabrian
  • North-western Lucanian (northern province of Potenza: Potenza, Melfi).
  • North-eastern Lucanian (province of Matera: Matera, Gravina di Puglia)
  • Central Lucanian (province of Potenza: Lagonegro, Pisticci, Laurenzana)
  • “Lausberg Area” (archaic forms of Lucanian with Sardinian vocalism), between Calabria and Basilicata (Chiaromonte, Oriolo)
  • Northern Calabrian (Cosentino) (province of Cosenza: Rossano, Diamante, Castrovillari with transitional dialects to south of Cosenza, where they give way to Sicilian group dialects).

Northern border of Southern Italian in magenta.

External links

• Pellegrini's map