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The Epic Interactive Encyclopedia 1998
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Epic Interactive Encyclopedia, The - 1998 Edition (1998)(Epic Marketing).iso
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Italian_language
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1992-09-02
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Member of the Romance branch of the
Indo-European language family, the most
direct descendant of the Roman form of Latin.
Broadcasting and films have standardized the
Italian national tongue, but most Italians
speak a regional dialect as well as Standard
Italian. The Italian language is also spoken
in Switzerland and by people of Italian
descent, especially in the USA, Canada,
Australia, the UK, and Argentina. The
standard language originates in the Tuscan
dialect of the Middle Ages, particularly as
used for literary purposes by Dante
Alighieri. With a strong infusion of Latin
for religious, academic, and educational
purposes, written Standard Italian has tended
to be highly formal and divorced from the
many regional dialects, which are often
mutually unintelligible.