Corsican language

Corsican (corsu, pronounced [ˈkorsu], or lingua corsa, pronounced [ˈliŋɡwa ˈɡorsa]) is a Romance language consisting of the continuum of the Tuscan Italo-Dalmatian dialects spoken on the Mediterranean island of Corsica, a territory of France, and in the northern regions of the island of Sardinia, an autonomous region of Italy.

Corsica is situated approximately 123.9 km (77.0 miles; 66 nautical miles) off the western coast of Tuscany; and with historical connections, the Corsican language is considered a part of Tuscan varieties, from that part of the Italian peninsula, and thus is closely related to Florentine-based standard Italian.

Under the long-standing influence of Tuscany's Pisa, and the historic Republic of Genoa, over Corsica, the Corsican language once filled the role of a vernacular, with Italian functioning as the island's official language until France acquired the island from the Republic of Genoa (1768); by 1859, French had replaced Italian as Corsica's first language so much so that, by the time of the Liberation of France (1945), nearly every islander had at least a working-knowledge of French. The 20th century saw a vast language shift, with the islanders adapting and changing their communications to the extent that there were no monolingual Corsican-speakers left by the 1960s. By 1995, an estimated 65% of islanders had some degree of proficiency in Corsican, and a minority of around 10% used Corsican as a first language.