Swiss Italian

Swiss Italian
svizzero italiano
Native to	Switzerland
Native speakers	545,274 (2011 census)
Language family	Indo-European Italic Romance Italo-Dalmatian Italian Swiss Italian
Official status
Official language in	Switzerland (as Italian)
Language codes
ISO 639-3	–
Glottolog	None

Swiss Italian (Italian: svizzero italiano) is the name used for the variety of the Italian language spoken in the Italian-speaking area of Switzerland. Swiss Italian is spoken as natively by about 350,000 people in the canton of Ticino and in the southern part of Graubünden (Canton Grigioni). Swiss-Italian also refers to the Italian speaking population in this region (southern Switzerland) close to the border with Italy. Swiss Italian dialects are spoken in emigrant communities around the world, including in Australia.

Spoken in Ticino is also the Ticinese, a comprehensive name for the dialects of Western Lombard spoken in the same area of Switzerland.

Despite being like standard Italian, Italian spoken in the Italian-speaking region of Switzerland presents some regional differences from the Italian spoken in other regions of Italy due to the presence of French and German from which it forms calques. An example would be the words for driving licence: in Italian it is called a patente di guida while in Swiss Italian it becomes licenza di condurre, from the French permis de conduire. Another example is the interurban bus: In Italian it would be autobus or corriera while in Switzerland it is the Autopostale or posta (because nearly all interurban lines are run by a subsidiary of the Swiss Post).

Radiotelevisione Svizzera di lingua Italiana is the main Swiss public broadcasting network in Italian. The University of Lugano is the major university of Italian Switzerland.

Swiss Italians of Australia (also Swiss/Italian and Swiss-Italian) are the Italian-speaking Swiss and Italians who settled in Australia during the 1850s and 1860s. The Swiss Italians initially settled in the area around Daylesford in Victoria. The Swiss settlers were from the canton of Ticino and in the southern part of Graubünden. The Italian settlers were predominantly from the northern Italian Regions of Lombardy, Veneto, Emilia Romagna, Liguria and Piemonte.