Is Italy forgetting its dialects? The latest Istat survey shows a progressive reduction in the everyday use of dialects

In 2026 Italians will increasingly speak Italian. It sounds like an obvious and trivial sentence, but anyone familiar with Italy’s sociolinguistic situation knows that it is not. In the Bel Paese more than 30 dialect languages are spoken, grouped into macro-areas with differences and nuances that change from town to town. The significant fact is that with schooling and the spread of standard Italian these languages have reduced their social role and in recent years have been progressively disappearing.

According to the latest Istat survey on language use, referring to 2024, standard Italian has consolidated its position as the predominant language in almost all social contexts, while traditional dialects continue to lose ground, especially among younger generations. The picture that emerges from the numbers is clear: in nearly forty years, the exclusive or prevalent use of dialect within the family has gone from about one in three Italians in 1988 to less than 10% in 2024. Across relational contexts such as family, friends and even with strangers, almost one person out of two (48.4%) now speaks only or predominantly Italian.

Are dialects becoming extinct?

However, these numbers do not indicate the definitive and progressive disappearance of dialects, but rather a radical change in their function. Around 42% of Italians still use them, often alternating them with Italian, especially in informal and emotional contexts. Nevertheless, the exclusive use of dialect has become rare and limited. With strangers, over 80% of the population chooses Italian, a sign that the standard language is perceived as the neutral, institutional and shared code of public communication.

Territorial differences persist, but they are narrowing. Leading the ranking of the most “Italianized” regions is Tuscany (75.6%) followed by Liguria (75.5%), where the prevalent use of Italian is recorded even within the family. In the South and the Islands (with Calabria 31.1% leading, followed by Sicily and Campania), but also in Trentino Alto-Adige (31.6%), dialect remains more present, although in constant decline compared to previous years. Even here, however, the trend is the same: dialect survives more as an identity marker than as a language of daily use.

What role does Generation Z play?

In this scenario, the role of Generation Z emerges, redefining not only the relationship with dialect but also with spoken Italian. Those born between the late Nineties and the early 2010s are the first generation to grow up entirely surrounded by social networks and constant digital communication. For many of them, dialect is not a living language but a heritage heard from grandparents or evoked in an ironic and symbolic way. In its place emerges a strongly hybridized Italian, crossed by Anglicisms, internet slang and neologisms born online.

According to the Accademia della Crusca, contemporary youth language is characterized by a strong influence of English and digital media, with linguistic loans and calques that have entered the everyday speech of young Italians, often without being perceived as foreign. TikTok and Instagram, in this context, function as real linguistic laboratories: words, abbreviations and expressive formulas are born and spread here, then reused offline, creating a fast, performative and highly identity-driven language. This is not merely a linguistic trend but a structural change: Gen Z Italian tends to be more fluid, less normative, and often distant from both school-standard Italian and local dialect traditions.

This process indirectly contributes to the further marginalization of dialects. In an increasingly global and digital communication environment, a language tied to a small specific area loses centrality in favor of shared codes on a national or even international scale. The result is an Italy that speaks more and more Italian, but an Italian in evolution, different from that of previous generations. The future, however, is uncertain. If current trends continue, dialects risk transforming definitively from languages of everyday use into cultural archives, evoked only for belonging, memory, identity storytelling or affection. Not a sudden disappearance, but a slow transformation in which we will have less spoken dialect and more remembered dialect.

Takeaways

• - In 2024, Italian is the predominant language in almost all contexts (48.4% use it exclusively or predominantly), while exclusive/prevalent dialect use in the family has plummeted from 32% (1988) to 9.6%.
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• - Dialects are not disappearing, but their function is changing: used by 42% of Italians (often alternating with Italian) in affectionate/informal settings, they are increasingly becoming a marker of identity and memory rather than an everyday language.
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• - Regional differences are diminishing: Tuscany and Liguria are the most “Italianized,” while the South, Islands, and Trentino-Alto Adige remain more tied to dialect, though declining everywhere.

• - Generation Z is accelerating the process with a hybrid Italian (Anglicisms, digital slang from TikTok/Instagram), further marginalizing dialects, which are reduced to a symbolic or ironic heritage of grandparents.