Dialettale

Dialettale is an Italian adjective meaning "pertaining to a dialect" or "dialectal." In linguistics and lexicography it is used to describe linguistic forms that belong to regional speech varieties rather than to the standard Italian used in education and formal communication. The label dialettale can apply to phonology, morphology, syntax, or lexicon that characterizes a particular Italian dialect or, more broadly, non-standard Italian varieties.

Italy contains a wide range of regional dialects and Italo-Romance varieties, including Northern, Central, and Southern dialects as well as insular varieties. These dialects differ from standard Italian in pronunciation, vocabulary, and sometimes grammar. The boundary between dialect and language is not fixed, and some dialects are treated as distinct languages in different linguistic traditions.

In practice, dialectal forms are often marked as dialettale in dictionaries, grammars, or corpora. They appear in literature, oral storytelling, and local media to reflect regional identity, color, or realism. Sociolinguistic research notes that dialect use varies by age, education, and social context, with standard Italian prevailing in formal settings while dialectal speech remains common in private or local domains. Many dialects face decline due to standardization, but efforts exist to document and preserve dialectal repertoires.