Characteristics of Italian
* Grammar: Italian grammar is complex and structured like other Romance languages, with two grammatical genders (masculine and feminine), two grammatical numbers (singular and plural), and two main grammatical moods (indicative and subjunctive).
* Vocabulary: Many Italian words are derived from Latin, with some influence from Greek, Arabic, French, Germanic languages, and other languages.
* Phonology: Italian phonology is fairly consistent, with a relatively small number of phonemes (31) and a consistent phonetic relationship between spelling and pronunciation.
History
The history of Italian can be divided into several periods, including:
* Latin (c. 200 BCE - 6th century CE): Italian developed as a spoken language from Vulgar Latin, the form of Latin spoken by the common people of Rome.
* Proto-Italian (6th - 10th century): This period saw the development of the first recognizably Italian dialects.
* Early Italian (10th - 14th century): The first written documents in Italian date back to the 10th century, and this period saw the emergence of Italian literature.
* Modern Italian (14th century - present): The Italian language reached its modern form in the 14th century, thanks in no small part to the works of Dante Alighieri, Petrarch, and Giovanni Boccaccio.
Present Day
Italian is the fourth most spoken language of the European Union, with an estimated 65 million native speakers and 120 million total speakers. It is also the official language of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe.