Neapolitan

Neapolitan is a Romance language spoken by the Neapolitan people in Campania, southern Italy. It is also spoken in the US states of Florida and Louisiana. Neapolitan is closely related to Italian and is written in a Latin alphabet. It has about 3 million speakers worldwide. Neapolitan is thought to have originated in the 9th century, when the Normans conquered the area. The Normans brought with them the French language, which had a major influence on Neapolitan. However, the Neapolitan people quickly began to adopt Italian as their primary language, and Neapolitan became a dialect of Italian. In the 18th century, Neapolitan was the language of the Kingdom of Naples, which included much of southern Italy. After the unification of Italy in the 19th century, Neapolitan was mostly replaced by Italian. However, it continued to be spoken in some isolated areas, such as the island of Ischia. During World War II, Neapolitan was spoken by soldiers in the Italian army, as well as by prisoners of war from other countries. After the war, Neapolitan was once again replaced by Italian as the primary language in southern Italy. However, in recent years there has been a revival of interest in Neapolitan. In 1999, the European Union recognized Neapolitan as a minority language. And in 2010, the Italian government recognized Neapolitan as a historical language. Today, there are a number of organizations dedicated to promoting the Neapolitan language and culture. These include the Associazione Culturale Napoletana, the Accademia della Lingua Napoletana, and the Istituto Nazionale di Studi Napoletani. If you're interested in learning Neapolitan, there are a number of resources available, including online courses, textbooks, and dictionaries. Neapolitan is also taught at some universities in Italy and the United States.