Friulian language

Friulian
furlan
Pronunciation[fuɾˈlaŋ]
Native toItaly
RegionFriuli
EthnicityFriulians
Native speakers
Regular speakers: 420,000 (2014)
Total: 600,000 (2014)
Dialects
Latin (Friulian alphabet)
Official status
Regulated byAgjenzie Regjonâl pe Lenghe Furlane
Language codes
ISO 639-2fur
ISO 639-3fur
Glottologfriu1240
ELPFriulian
Linguasphere51-AAA-m
Friulian speaking area

Friulian (/friˈliən/ free-OO-lee-ən) or Friulan (endonym: furlan [fuɾˈlaŋ] ; Italian: friulano; Austrian German: Furlanisch; Slovene: furlanščina) is a Romance language belonging to the Rhaeto-Romance family. Friulian is spoken in the historical region of Friuli (nowadays 90% of Friuli-Venezia Giulia region and a little part of Veneto region) in the northeastern part of Italy and has around 600,000 speakers, the vast majority of whom also speak Italian. It is sometimes called Eastern Ladin since it shares the same roots as Ladin, but over the centuries, it has diverged under the influence of surrounding languages, including German, Italian, Venetian, and Slovene. Documents in Friulian are attested from the 11th century and poetry and literature date as far back as 1300. By the 20th century, there was a revival of interest in the language.