Attribute Details
Geographical Distribution   Italian is primarily spoken in Italy and is also an official language in San Marino and the Swiss canton of Ticino and Grisons. It has a significant number of speakers in Slovenia and Croatia near their border with Italy, and in communities in the United States, Canada, Australia, and Argentina due to immigration.  
Alphabet   Uses the Latin alphabet, consisting of 21 letters: A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, Z.  
Vowels   Italian has seven vowel sounds: A, E, I, O, U. Each vowel can have a short or long sound depending on its position and stress.  
Consonants   Italian consonants include: B, C, D, F, G, H, L, M, N, P, Q, R, S, T, V, Z. Notable are the sounds C and G, which can be soft (like 'ch' and 'j' in English) or hard depending on the following vowel.  
Phonetics   Features 21 phonemes: 7 vowels and 14 consonants. Italian is characterized by its clear vowel sounds and the rhythmic use of pitch accent.  
Grammar and Syntax   Subject-Verb-Object (SVO) order predominates. Italian uses a rich system of inflection and verb conjugation to convey tense, mood, person, and number. Nouns and adjectives agree in gender and number.  
Loanwords   Includes many words from Latin, French, German, Spanish, and English, reflecting Italy's historical interactions and cultural influences.  
Language Family   Part of the Romance group within the Indo-European language family, directly descended from Latin.  
Writing Systems   Primarily uses the Latin script. Historically, Italian developed from Vulgar Latin and evolved through various regional dialects.  
Writing System History   Italian writing has been influenced significantly by the Dante Alighieri's 'Divine Comedy,' which standardized many elements of the language in the early 14th century.  
Total Number of Speakers   Approximately 67 million native speakers. As a major European language, it is also widely taught as a second language.