The Calabrian dialects are the regional varieties of Italian, Extreme Southern Italian, and Neapolitan spoken across Calabria, the region forming the toe of the Italian peninsula, a region that is also home to speakers of Arberesh Albanian, Calabrian Greek, and Occitan. The dialects split into two main groups separated by the Amantea-Ciro line, which roughly follows old administrative boundaries: Central-Southern Calabrian, spoken across the southern two thirds of the region and classified within Extreme Southern Italian, and Northern or Cosentian Calabrian, spoken in the northern third and typologically closer to Neapolitan. The Central-Southern varieties form a strong dialect continuum and carry substantial influence from Greek, alongside vocabulary rooted in Latin, Greek, French, Norman, Spanish, Catalan, and Occitan, a mix that reflects centuries of successive rule and trade contact across the region.
Facts
RegionSpoken across Calabria, Italy, as a strong dialect continuum divided into Central-Southern Calabrian in the southern two-thirds of the region and Northern Calabrian (Cosentian) in the northern third, with the Amantea-Ciro line as the approximate boundary. 1 Speaker CommunityRooted in Latin, Central and Southern Calabrian dialects are strongly influenced by a Greek substratum, with further imprints left by French, Occitan and Spanish through successive periods of foreign rule. 1 Distinguishing FeaturesThe dialects of Calabria have been extensively studied, catalogued and commented upon by German philologist Gerhard Rohlfs, who traveled the region from the mid-1920s to the mid-1970s and assembled a very extensive, multi-volume dictionary of them. 1 Classification
Variety Kind Sources
1. Wikipedia: Calabrian Dialects
Wikimedia FoundationCalabrian (calabrese) section
The dialects of Calabria have been extensively studied, catalogued and commented upon by German philologist Gerhard Rohlfs. From the mid-1920s to the mid-1970s, he traveled the region extensively and assembled a very extensive, multi-volume dictionary.
Central-Southern Calabrian section
Southern and Central Calabrian dialects are strongly influenced by a Greek substratum and ensuing levels of Latin influence and other external Southern Italian superstrata, in part hindered by geography, resulted in the many local variations found between the idioms of Calabria...French, Occitan and Spanish have left an imprint.
Variety kind, Calabrian Dialects entity page
The Calabrian dialects are the regional varieties of Italian, Extreme Southern Italian, and Neapolitan spoken across Calabria, the region forming the toe of the Italian peninsula, a region that is also home to speakers of Arberesh Albanian, Calabrian Greek, and Occitan.
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