Sicilian language

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Template:Short description Template:Distinguish Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox language Template:Sicilian language

Sicilian (Template:Lang, Template:IPA; Template:Langx) is a Romance language that is spoken on the island of Sicily and its satellite islands.<ref name=Ethnologue>Template:Cite web</ref> It belongs to the broader Extreme Southern Italian language group (Template:Langx).<ref name=Avolio>Template:Cite book</ref>

Ethnologue (see below for more detail) describes Sicilian as being "distinct enough from Standard Italian to be considered a separate language",<ref name=Ethnologue/> and it is recognized as a minority language by UNESCO.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> It has been referred to as a language by the Sicilian Region.<ref name=:0>Template:Cite act</ref> It has the oldest literary tradition of the Italo-Romance languages.Template:Sfn<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> A version of the UNESCO Courier is also available in Sicilian.

Status

A sign in Sicilian at Santo Stefano di Camastra, Messina

Sicilian is spoken by most inhabitants of Sicily and by emigrant populations around the world.Template:Sfn The latter are found in the countries that attracted large numbers of Sicilian immigrants during the course of the past century or so, especially the United States (specifically in the Gravesend and Bensonhurst neighborhoods of Brooklyn, New York City, and in Buffalo and Western New York State), Canada (especially in Montreal, Toronto and Hamilton), Australia, Venezuela and Argentina. During the last four or five decades, large numbers of Sicilians were also attracted to the industrial zones of Northern Italy and areas of the European Union.<ref>Template:Cite web </ref>

Although the Sicilian language does not have official status (including in Sicily),<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> in addition to the standard Sicilian of the medieval Sicilian school, academics have developed a standardized form. Such efforts began in the mid-19th century when Vincenzo Mortillaro published a comprehensive Sicilian language dictionary intended to capture the language universally spoken across Sicily in a common orthography. Later in the century, Giuseppe Pitrè established a common grammar in his Grammatica Siciliana (1875). Although it presents a common grammar, it also provides detailed notes on how the sounds of Sicilian differ across dialects.Template:Citation needed

In the 20th century, researchers at the Centro di studi filologici e linguistici siciliani developed an extensive descriptivist orthography which aims to represent every sound in the natural range of Sicilian accurately.<ref name="piccitto">Template:Cite book</ref> This system is also used extensively in the Vocabolario siciliano and by Gaetano Cipolla in his Learn Sicilian series of textbooks<ref name="mparamu">Template:Cite book</ref> and by Arba Sicula in its journal.

In initially 2017, with an updated version in 2024 the nonprofit organisation Cademia Siciliana created an orthographic proposal to help to normalise the language's written form.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> This orthography was used by the organisation in their collaboration with Google to bring the Sicilian Language to Google Translate.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Their "Manifesto" currently has been signed by many towns and cities of Sicily demanding official status for the language.[1] There are currently proposals in the Sicilian Regional Assembly to include Sicilian in the list of the Italian Law n. 482 of 1999.[2]

The autonomous regional parliament of Sicily has legislated Regional Law No. 9/2011 to encourage the teaching of Sicilian at all schools, but inroads into the education system have been slow.Template:Sfn<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The CSFLS created a textbook "Dialektos" to comply with the law but does not provide an orthography to write the language.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In Sicily, it is taught only as part of dialectology courses, but outside Italy, Sicilian has been taught at the University of Pennsylvania, Brooklyn College and Manouba University. Since 2009, it has been taught at the Italian Charities of America, in New York City (home to the largest Sicilian speaking community outside of Sicily and Italy)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and it is also preserved and taught by family association, church organisations and societies, social and ethnic historical clubs and even Internet social groups, mainly in Gravesend and Bensonhurst, Brooklyn.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> On 15 May 2018, the Sicilian Region once again mandated the teaching of Sicilian in schools and referred to it as a language, not a dialect, in official communication.<ref name=:0/> The language is officially recognized in the municipal statutes of some Sicilian towns, such as Caltagirone<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and Grammichele,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> in which the "inalienable historical and cultural value of the Sicilian language" is proclaimed. Furthermore, the Sicilian language would be protected and promoted under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages (ECRML). Although Italy has signed the treaty, the Italian Parliament has not ratified it.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> It is not included in Italian Law No. 482/1999 although some other minority languages of Sicily are.<ref>Template:Cite act</ref>

Ethnologue report

Chart of Romance languages based on structural and comparative criteria (not on socio-functional ones)

Other names

Alternative names of Sicilian are Template:Lang, Template:Lang, and Template:Lang.<ref name=Ethnologue/> The first term refers to the fact that a form of Sicilian is spoken in southern Calabria, particularly in the province of Reggio Calabria.<ref name=Ethnologue/> The other two are names for the language in Sicily itself: specifically, the term Template:Lang originally describes one of the larger prehistoric groups living in Sicily (the Italic Sicels or Template:Lang) before the arrival of Greeks in the 8th century BC (see below). It can also be used as a prefix to qualify or to elaborate further on the origins of a person, for example: Siculo-American (Template:Lang) or Siculo-Australian.

Dialects

As a language, Sicilian has its own dialects in the following main groupings:<ref name=Ethnologue/>Template:Sfn

History

Template:Blockquote

Etymological analysis of 5,000 terms from the Dizionario etimologico siciliano by Salvatore Giarrizzo:<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Template:Color 2,792 (55.84%)
Template:Color 733 (14.66%)
Template:Color 664 (13.28%)
Template:Color 318 (6.36%)
Template:Color 303 (6.06%)
Template:Color 107 (2.14%)
Template:Color 103 (1.66%)

Early influences

Because Sicily is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea and many peoples have passed through it (Phoenicians, Ancient Greeks, Carthaginians, Romans, Vandals, Jews, Byzantine Greeks, Arabs, Normans, Swabians, Spaniards, Austrians, Italians), Sicilian displays a rich and varied influence from several languages in its lexical stock and grammar. These languages include Latin (as Sicilian is a Romance language itself), Ancient Greek, Byzantine Greek, Spanish, Norman, Lombard, Hebrew, Catalan, Occitan, Arabic and Germanic languages, and the languages of the island's aboriginal Indo-European and pre-Indo-European inhabitants, known as the Sicels, Sicanians and Elymians. The very earliest influences, visible in Sicilian to this day, exhibit both prehistoric Mediterranean elements and prehistoric Indo-European elements, and occasionally a blending of both.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

Before the Roman conquest (3rd century BC), Sicily was occupied by various populations. The earliest of these populations were the Sicanians, considered to be autochthonous. The Sicels and the Elymians arrived between the second and first millennia BC. These aboriginal populations in turn were followed by the Phoenicians (between the 10th and 8th centuries BC) and the Greeks.<ref name=Ruffino>Template:Harvnb</ref> The heavy Greek-language influence remains strongly visible, while the influences from the other groups are smaller and less obvious.<ref name=Ruffino/> What can be stated with certainty is that in Sicilian remain pre-Indo-European words of an ancient Mediterranean origin, but one cannot be more precise than that: of the three main prehistoric groups, only the Sicels were known to be Indo-European with a degree of certainty, and their speech is likely to have been closely related to that of the Romans.<ref name=Ruffino/>

Stratification

The following table, listing words for "twins", illustrates the difficulty linguists face in tackling the various substrata of the Sicilian language.Template:Sfn

Stratum Word Source
Modern giameddi Italian Template:Lang
Medieval bizzuni, vuzzuni Old French or Catalan Template:Lang<ref>Albert Dauzat, Dictionnaire étymologique des noms de famille et prénoms de France, éditions Larousse, 1980, p. 41a</ref>
binelli Ligurian Template:Lang
Ancient èmmuli Latin Template:Lang
cucchi Latin Template:Lang
minzuddi Latin Template:Lang
ièmiddi, ièddimi Ancient Greek Template:Lang Template:Transliteration

A similar qualifier can be applied to many of the words that appear in this article. Sometimes it may be known that a particular word has a prehistoric derivation, but it is not known whether the Sicilians inherited it directly from the indigenous populations, or whether it came via another route. Similarly, it might be known that a particular word has a Greek origin but it is not known from which Greek period the Sicilians first used it (ancient Magna Grecia or the Byzantine period), or once again, whether the particular word may even have come to Sicily via another route. For instance, by the time the Romans had occupied Sicily, the Latin language had made its own borrowings from Greek.Template:Sfn

Pre-classical period

The words with a prehistoric Mediterranean derivation often refer to plants native to the Mediterranean region or to other natural features.<ref name=Ruffino/> Bearing in mind the qualifiers mentioned above (alternative sources are provided where known), examples of such words include:

There are also Sicilian words with an ancient Indo-European origin that do not appear to have come to the language via any of the major language groups normally associated with Sicilian, i.e. they have been independently derived from a very early Indo-European source. The Sicels are a possible source of such words, but there is also the possibility of a cross-over between ancient Mediterranean words and introduced Indo-European forms. Some examples of Sicilian words with an ancient Indo-European origin:

Greek influences

In 535, Justinian I made Sicily a Byzantine province, which returned the Greek language to a position of prestige, at least on an official level.<ref name=Hull>Template:Cite book</ref> At this time the island could be considered a border zone with moderate levels of bilingualism: Latinisation was mostly concentrated in western Sicily, largely among the upper class, whereas Eastern Sicily remained predominantly Greek.<ref name=Hull/>

The following Sicilian words are of a Greek origin (including some examples where it is unclear whether the word is derived directly from Greek, or via Latin):

Germanic influences

From 476 to 535, the Ostrogoths ruled Sicily, although their presence apparently did not affect the Sicilian language.Template:Sfn The few Germanic influences to be found in Sicilian do not appear to originate from this period. One exception might be Template:Lang or Template:Lang "to hawk goods, proclaim publicly", from Gothic Template:Transliteration "to give a signal".<ref name=Giarrizzo/> Also possible is Template:Lang "diagonal" from Gothic Template:Transliteration "slanting".<ref name=Giarrizzo/> Other sources of Germanic influences include the Hohenstaufen rule of the 13th century, words of Germanic origin contained within the speech of 11th-century Normans and Lombard settlers, and the short period of Austrian rule in the 18th century.

Many Germanic influences date back to the time of the Swabian kings (amongst whom Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor enjoyed the longest reign). Some of the words below are "reintroductions" of Latin words (also found in modern Italian) that had been Germanicized at some point (e.g. Template:Lang in Latin to<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Template:Lang in modern Italian). Words that probably originate from this era include:

Arabic influence

As the power of the Byzantine Empire waned, Sicily was progressively conquered by Saracens from Ifriqiya, from the mid 9th to mid 10th centuries. The Emirate of Sicily persisted long enough to develop a distinctive local variety of Arabic, Siculo-Arabic (at present extinct in Sicily but surviving as the Maltese language).<ref name=Hull/> Its influence is noticeable in around 300 Sicilian words, most of which relate to agriculture and related activities.Template:Sfn This is understandable because of the Arab Agricultural Revolution; the Saracens introduced to Sicily their advanced irrigation and farming techniques and a new range of crops, nearly all of which remain endemic to the island to this day.

Some words of Arabic origin:

Throughout the Islamic epoch of Sicilian history, a significant Greek-speaking population remained on the island and continued to use the Greek language, or most certainly a variant of Greek influenced by Tunisian Arabic.<ref name=Hull/> What is less clear is the extent to which a Latin-speaking population survived on the island. While a form of Vulgar Latin clearly survived in isolated communities during the Islamic epoch,Template:Citation needed there is much debate as to the influence it had (if any) on the development of the Sicilian language, following the re-Latinisation of Sicily (discussed in the next section).Template:Citation needed

Linguistic developments in the Middle Ages

An 1196 miniature depicting the various scribes (1. Greeks; 2. Saracens; 3. Latins) for the various populations of the Kingdom of Sicily

By AD 1000, the whole of what is today Southern Italy, including Sicily, was a complex mix of small states and principalities, languages and religions.<ref name=Hull/> The whole of Sicily was controlled by Saracens, at the elite level, but the general population remained a mix of Muslims and Christians who spoke Greek, Latin or Siculo-Arabic. The far south of the Italian peninsula was part of the Byzantine empire although many communities were reasonably independent from Constantinople. The Principality of Salerno was controlled by Lombards (or Langobards), who had also started to make some incursions into Byzantine territory and had managed to establish some isolated independent city-states.<ref name=Norwich>Template:Harvnb</ref> It was into this climate that the Normans thrust themselves with increasing numbers during the first half of the 11th century.

Norman and French influence

When the two most famous of Southern Italy's Norman adventurers, Roger of Hauteville and his brother, Robert Guiscard, began their conquest of Sicily in 1061, they already controlled the far south of Italy (Apulia and Calabria). It took Roger 30 years to complete the conquest of Sicily (Robert died in 1085).<ref name=Norwich/> In the aftermath of the Norman conquest of Sicily, the reintroduction of Latin in Sicily had begun, and some Norman words would be absorbed, accompanied with an additional wave of Parisian French loanwords during the rule of Charles I from the Capetian House of Anjou in the 13th century.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Other Gallic influences

The Northern Italian influence is of particular interest. Even to the present day, Gallo-Italic of Sicily exists in the areas where the Northern Italian colonies were the strongest, namely Novara, Nicosia, Sperlinga, Aidone and Piazza Armerina.<ref name=Hull/> The Siculo-Gallic dialect did not survive in other major Italian colonies, such as Randazzo, Caltagirone, Bronte and Paternò (although they influenced the local Sicilian vernacular). The Gallo-Italic influence was also felt on the Sicilian language itself, as follows:<ref name=Hull/>

Occitan influence

The origins of another Romance influence, that of Occitan, had three reasons:

  1. The Normans made San Fratello a garrison town in the early years of the occupation of the northeastern corner of Sicily. To this day (in ever decreasing numbers) a Siculo-Gallic dialect is spoken in San Fratello that is clearly influenced by Occitan, which leads to the conclusion that a significant number in the garrison came from that part of France.<ref name=Privitera>Template:Cite book</ref> This may well explain the dialect spoken only in San Fratello, but it does not wholly explain the diffusion of many Occitan words into the Sicilian language. On that point, there are two other possibilities:
  2. Some Occitan words have entered the language during the regency of Margaret of Navarre between 1166 and 1171, when her son, William II of Sicily, succeeded to the throne at the age of 12. Her closest advisers, entourage and administrators were from the south of France, and many Occitan words entered the language during this period.<ref name=Norwich/>
  3. The Sicilian School of poetry was strongly influenced by the Occitan of the troubadour tradition.<ref name=Privitera/> This element is deeply embedded in Sicilian culture: for example, the tradition of Sicilian puppetry (Template:Lang) and the tradition of the Template:Lang (literally "story-singers"). Occitan troubadours were active during the reign of Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, and some Occitan words would have passed into the Sicilian language via this route.

Some examples of Sicilian words derived from Occitan:

Sicilian School of Poetry

Template:Main It was during the reign of Frederick II (or Frederick I of Sicily) between 1198 and 1250, with his patronage of the Sicilian School, that Sicilian became the first of the modern Italic languages to be used as a literary language.<ref name=Cipolla141>Template:Harvnb</ref> The influence of the school and the use of Sicilian itself as a poetic language was acknowledged by the two great Tuscan writers of the early Renaissance period, Dante and Petrarch. The influence of the Sicilian language should not be underestimated in the eventual formulation of a lingua franca that was to become modern Italian. The victory of the Angevin army over the Sicilians at Benevento in 1266 not only marked the end of the 136-year Norman-Swabian reign in Sicily but also effectively ensured that the centre of literary influence would eventually move from Sicily to Tuscany.<ref name=Cipolla141/> While Sicilian, as both an official and a literary language, would continue to exist for another two centuries, the language would soon follow the fortunes of the kingdom itself in terms of prestige and influence.

Catalan influence

Following the Sicilian Vespers of 1282, the kingdom came under the influence of the Crown of Aragon,Template:Sfn and the Catalan language (and the closely related Aragonese) added a new layer of vocabulary in the succeeding century. For the next 250 years, both Catalan and Sicilian were the official languages of the royal court.Template:Sfn Sicilian was also used to record the proceedings of the Sicilian Parliament (one of the oldest parliaments in Europe) and for other official purposes.<ref name=Cipolla153>Template:Harvnb</ref> While it is often difficult to determine whether a word came directly from Catalan (as opposed to Occitan), the following are likely to be such examples:

Spanish period to the modern age

By the time the crowns of Castille and Aragon were united in the late 15th century, the Hispanicisation and Italianisation of written Sicilian in the parliamentary and court records had commenced. By 1543 this process was virtually complete, with the Tuscan dialect of Italian becoming the lingua franca of the Italian peninsula and supplanting written Sicilian.<ref name=Cipolla153/>

Spanish rule had hastened this process in two important ways:

  • Unlike the Aragonese, almost immediately the Spanish placed viceroys on the Sicilian throne. In a sense, the diminishing prestige of the Sicilian kingdom reflected the decline of Sicilian from an official, written language to eventually a spoken language amongst a predominantly illiterate population.
  • The expulsion of all Jews from Spanish dominions that began in 1492 altered the population of Sicily. Not only did the population decline, many of whom were involved in important educated industries, but some of these Jewish families had been in Sicily for around 1,500 years, and Sicilian was their native language, which they used in their schools. Thus the seeds of a possible broad-based education system utilising books written in Sicilian were lost.<ref name=Cipolla153/>

Spanish rule lasted over three centuries (not counting the Aragonese and Bourbon periods on either side) and had a significant influence on the Sicilian vocabulary. The following words are of Spanish derivation:

Since the Italian Unification (the Risorgimento of 1860–1861), the Sicilian language has been significantly influenced by (Tuscan) Italian. During the Fascist period it became obligatory that Italian be taught and spoken in all schools, whereas up to that point, Sicilian had been used extensively in schools.<ref name=Cipolla163>Template:Harvnb</ref> This process has quickened since World War II due to improving educational standards and the impact of mass media, such that increasingly, even within the family home, Sicilian is not necessarily the language of choice.<ref name=Cipolla163/> The Sicilian Regional Assembly voted to make the teaching of Sicilian a part of the school curriculum at primary school level, but as of 2007 only a fraction of schools teach Sicilian.<ref name=Cipolla163/> There is also little in the way of mass media offered in Sicilian. The combination of these factors means that the Sicilian language continues to adopt Italian vocabulary and grammatical forms to such an extent that many Sicilians themselves cannot distinguish between correct and incorrect Sicilian language usage.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

Phonology

Template:For

Sicilian consonants
Labial Dental/
Alveolar 		Post-
alveolar 		Palatal Velar
Stop Template:IPA link Template:IPA link Template:IPA link Template:IPA link Template:IPA link (Template:IPA link) (Template:IPA link) Template:IPA link Template:IPA link
Affricate Template:IPA link (Template:IPA link) Template:IPA link Template:IPA link
Fricative Template:IPA link Template:IPA link Template:IPA link (Template:IPA link) Template:IPA link (Template:IPA link) (Template:IPA link)
Trill Template:IPA link
Flap Template:IPA link
Nasal Template:IPA link Template:IPA link Template:IPA link (Template:IPA link)
Approximant Template:IPA link Template:IPA link (Template:IPA link)
Sicilian vowels<ref name=":12">Template:Cite book</ref>
sound spelling example
Template:IPAslink Template:Angbr Template:Lang
Template:IPAslink Template:Angbr Template:Lang
Template:IPAslink Template:Angbr Template:Lang
Template:IPAslink Template:Angbr Template:Lang
Template:IPAslink Template:Angbr Template:Lang

Consonants

Sicilian has a number of consonant sounds that set it apart from the other major Romance languages, notably its retroflex consonants.Template:Sfn<ref name=Bonner11>Template:Harvnb</ref><ref name="Cademia" />

  • ḌḌ/DD — The retroflex phoneme /Template:IPA link/ (usually geminated or long [ɖː]) is normally the result of the evolution of Latin -ll-.<ref name=":1">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name=":2">Template:Cite book</ref> This sound is rare but present among Romance languages, including Sardinian, Southern Corsican, and some dialects of Calabria.<ref name=":2" /> Similar but not identical sounds are also found in the rest of the Extreme Southern Italian dialect group.<ref name=":2" /> The older [lː] sequence is retained in some dialects,<ref name=":1" /> while the pronunciation of this phoneme as dental [dː] is increasingly common.<ref name="Cademia" /> Traditionally in Sicilian, the sound was written as -đđ-Template:Citation needed, and in more contemporary usage -dd- has been used. It is also often found written -ddh- or -ddr- (both of which are often considered confusing, as they may also represent Template:IPAblink and Template:IPA, respectively). In the Cademia Siciliana orthographical proposal as well as the Vocabolario siciliano descriptive orthography, the digraph -ḍḍ- is used.<ref name="Cademia">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> For example, the counterpart to Italian Template:Lang in Sicilian is Template:Lang.<ref name=Bonner11/>
  • DR and TR — The Sicilian pronunciation of the digraphs -dr- and -tr- is Template:IPA and Template:IPA,<ref name="Cademia" /> or even Template:IPAblink, Template:IPAblink. If they are preceded by a nasal consonant, n is then a retroflex nasal sound Template:IPAblink.
  • GGHI and CCHI — The two digraphs -gh- and -ch-, when occurring before front vowel sounds i or e or a semivowel j, are pronounced as palatal stops Template:IPAblink and Template:IPAblink, though in central southern Sicily (Agrigento, Caltanissetta, Enna) -ggh- is pronounced as a voiced palatal fricative [ʝ]. From Italian, in place of -gl-, a geminated trigraph -Template:Lang- is used and is pronounced as Template:IPAblink. When -cTemplate:Lang- is geminated, -Template:Lang- it can be pronounced as Template:IPAblink.
  • RR — The digraph -rr-, depending on the variety of Sicilian, can be a long trill Template:IPAblink (hereafter transcribed without the length mark)<ref name="Cademia" /> or a voiced retroflex sibilant Template:IPAblink.<ref name="Bonner11" /> This innovation is also found under slightly different circumstances in Polish, where it is spelled -rz-, and in some Northern Norwegian dialects, where speakers vary between Template:IPA and Template:IPAblink. At the beginning of a word, the single letter r is similarly always pronounced double, though this is not indicated orthographically. This phenomenon, however, does not include words that start with a single r resulting from rhotacism or apheresis (see below), which should not be indicated orthographically to avoid confusion with regular double r.
  • Voiced S and Z — The Template:IPAslink and Template:IPAslink sounds are voiced as Template:IPAblink and Template:IPAblink when after Template:IPAslink or other voiced sounds. In the Sicilian digraphs -sb- and -sv-, Template:IPAslink becomes voiced and palatalized as a voiced post-alveolar fricative Template:IPAblink along with the voiced sounds /Template:IPA link, Template:IPA link/.
  • STR and SDR — The Sicilian trigraphs -str- and -sdr- are Template:IPA or Template:IPAblink, and Template:IPA or Template:IPAblink.<ref name="Cademia" /> The t is not pronounced at all and there is a faint whistle between the s and the r, producing a similar sound to the shr of English Template:Lang, or how some English speakers pronounce "frustrated".Template:Clarify The voiced equivalent is somewhat similar to how some English speakers might pronounce the phrase "was driving".
  • Latin FL — In those words that have been derived from Latin words containing -fl-. In standard literary Sicilian, the sound is rendered as -ci- (representing the voiceless palatal fricative Template:IPAslink), e.g. Template:Lang ("river", from Latin Template:Wikt-lang), but can also be found in written forms such as -hi-, Template:Lang, -çi-, or erroneously -sci-.<ref name="Filologici e Linguistici Siciliani 2002">Template:Harvnb</ref>
  • Consonantal lenition — A further range of consonantal sound shifts occurred between the Vulgar Latin introduced to the island following Roman rule and the subsequent development of the Sicilian language. These sound shifts include: Latin -nd- to Sicilian -nn-; Latin -mb- to Sicilian -mm-; Latin -pl- to Sicilian -chi-; and Latin -li- to Sicilian -gghi-.Template:Sfn
  • Rhotacism and apheresis — This transformation is characterized by the substitution of single d by r. In Sicilian this is produced by a single flap of the tongue against the upper alveolar ridge Template:IPAblink. This phenomenon is known as rhotacism, that is, the substitution of r for another consonant; it is commonly found both in Eastern and Western Sicilian (but not in central Sicilian), and elsewhere in Southern Italy, especially in Neapolitan. It can occur internally, or it can affect initial d, in which case it should not be represented orthographically to avoid confusion with the regular r (see above). Examples : Template:Lang ("foot") is pronounced Template:IPA; Template:Lang ("Virgin Mary") is pronounced Template:IPA; Template:Lang ("to say it") is pronounced Template:IPA. Similarly, apheresis of some clusters may occur in certain dialects, producing instances such as Template:Lang Template:IPA for Template:Lang "big".<ref name="Cademia" />
  • NG — The digraph -ng-, depending on the variety of Sicilian, can be a Template:IPAblink or a Template:IPAblink. It is found in the word sangu ("blood").
  • Ï — The Sicilian letter ï indicates that the unstressed i is not a semivowel Template:IPAblink with the following vowel. It is found in the word pistiari Template:IPA (to eat).

Vowels

Template:Main

Development of stressed vowels from Latin to Sicilian

Sicilian has five phonemic vowels: Template:IPAslink, Template:IPAslink, Template:IPAslink, Template:IPAslink, Template:IPAslink. The mid-vowels Template:IPAslink and Template:IPAslink do not occur in unstressed position in native words but may do so in modern borrowings from Italian, English, or other languages. Historically, Sicilian Template:IPAslink and Template:IPAslink each represent the confluence of three Latin vowels (or four in unstressed position), hence their high frequency.<ref name="Hull" />

Unstressed Template:IPAslink and Template:IPAslink generally undergo reduction to Template:IPAblink and Template:IPAblink respectively, except in word-/phrase-final position, as in Template:IPA ‘possible’ and Template:IPA ‘rabbit’.Template:Sfn

As in Italian, vowels are allophonically lengthened in stressed open syllables.

Omission of initial i

In the vast majority of instances in which the originating word had an initial Template:IPA, Sicilian has dropped it completely. That has also happened when there was once an initial Template:IPA and, to a lesser extent, Template:IPA and Template:IPA: Template:Lang "important", Template:Lang "ignorant", Template:Lang "enemy", Template:Lang "interesting", Template:Lang "to illustrate", Template:Lang "image", Template:Lang "icon", Template:Lang "American".<ref name="Filologici e Linguistici Siciliani 2002"/>Template:Sfn

Gemination and contractions

In Sicilian, gemination is distinctive for most consonant phonemes, but a few can be geminated only after a vowel: Template:IPAslink, Template:IPAslink, Template:IPAslink, Template:IPAslink, Template:IPAslink and Template:IPAslink. Rarely indicated in writing, spoken Sicilian also exhibits syntactic gemination (or Template:Lang),Template:Sfn which means that the first consonant of a word is lengthened when it is preceded by words like Template:Lang – meaning ‘it is, but, and, to, of, for, what’. For instance in the phrase Template:Lang ‘it's good’, there is a doubled Template:IPA in pronunciation.Template:Sfn

The letter Template:Angbr at the start of a word can have two separate sounds depending on what precedes the word.Template:Sfn For instance, in Template:Lang ("day"), it is pronounced Template:IPAblink. However, after a nasal consonant or if it is triggered by syntactic gemination, it is pronounced Template:IPAblink as in Template:Lang with Template:IPA or Template:Lang ("three days") with Template:IPA.Template:SfnTemplate:Verify source

Another difference between the written and the spoken languages is the extent to which contractions occur in everyday speech. Thus a common expression such as Template:Lang ("we have to go and buy...") is generally reduced to Template:Lang in talking to family and friends.<ref name=Bonner56>Template:Harvnb</ref>

The circumflex accent is commonly used in denoting a wide range of contractions in the written language, particularly the joining of simple prepositions and the definite article: Template:Lang = Template:Lang ("of the"), Template:Lang = Template:Lang ("to the"), Template:Lang = Template:Lang ("for the"), Template:Lang = Template:Lang ("in the"), etc.Template:Sfn<ref name="Filologici e Linguistici Siciliani 2002"/>

Grammar

Nouns and adjectives

Most feminine nouns and adjectives end in -a in the singular: Template:Lang ('house'), Template:Lang ('door'), Template:Lang ('paper'). Exceptions include Template:Lang ('sister') and Template:Lang ('fig'). The usual masculine singular ending is -u: Template:Lang ('man'), Template:Lang ('book'), Template:Lang ('name'). The singular ending -i can be either masculine or feminine.<ref name="Bonner, J K 2001 p. 25">Template:Harvnb</ref>

Unlike Standard Italian, Sicilian uses the same standard plural ending -i for both masculine and feminine nouns and adjectives: Template:Lang ('houses' or 'cases'), Template:Lang ('doors' or 'harbors'), Template:Lang ('tables'). Some masculine plural nouns end in -a instead, a feature that is derived from the Latin neuter endings -um, -a: Template:Lang ('books'), Template:Lang ('days'), Template:Lang ('arms', compare Italian braccio, braccia), Template:Lang ('gardens'), Template:Lang ('writers'), Template:Lang ('signs').<ref name="Bonner, J K 2001 p. 25"/> Some nouns have irregular plurals: omu has Template:Lang (compare Italian uomo, uomini), Template:Lang ('game') Template:Lang (Italian gioco, giochi) and Template:Lang ("bed") Template:Lang (Italian letto, letti). Three feminine nouns are invariable in the plural: Template:Lang ('hand[s]'), Template:Lang ('fig[s]') and Template:Lang ('sister[s]').Template:Sfn

Verbs

Verb "to have"

Sicilian has only one auxiliary verb, Template:Lang, 'to have'.<ref name=Camilleri488>Template:Harvnb</ref>Template:Sfn It is also used to denote obligation (e.g. Template:Lang, '[he/she] has to go'),<ref name=Bonner56/> and to form the future tense, as Sicilian for the most part no longer has a synthetic future tense: Template:Lang, '[he/she] will sing'.<ref name=Camilleri488/>

Verb "to go" and the periphrastic future

As in English and like most other Romance languages, Sicilian may use the verb Template:Lang, 'to go', to signify the act of being about to do something. Template:Lang, 'I'm going to sing'. In this way, Template:Lang + Template:Lang + infinitive can also be a way to form the simple future construction.<ref name=Bonner54>Template:Harvnb</ref>

Tenses and moods

The main conjugations in Sicilian are illustrated below with the verb Template:Lang, 'to be'.Template:Sfn

Infinitive èssiri / siri
Gerund essennu / sennu
Past participle statu
Indicative eu/iu/ju tu iḍḍu nuàutri vuàutri iḍḍi
Present sugnu si' esti / è semu siti sunnu / su'
Imperfect era eri era èramu èravu èranu
Preterite fui fusti fu fomu fùstivu foru
Future1 — — — — — —
Conditional2 ju tu iḍḍu nuàutri vuàutri iḍḍi
fora fori fora fòramu fòravu fòranu
Subjunctive ju tu iḍḍu nuàutri vuàutri iḍḍi
Present sia si' / fussi sia siamu siati sianu
Imperfect fussi fussi fussi fùssimu fùssivu fùssiru
Imperative — tu vossìa3 — vuàutri —
— sì fussi — siti —
  1. The synthetic future is rarely used and, as Camilleri explains, continues its decline towards complete disuse.<ref name=Camilleri488/> Instead, the following methods are used to express the future:
    1) the use of the present indicative, which is usually preceded by an adverb of time:
    Template:Lang — 'This evening I go to the theatre'; or, using a similar English construction, 'This evening I am going to the theatre'
    Template:Lang — 'Tomorrow I [will] write to you'
    2) the use of a compound form consisting of the appropriate conjugation of Template:Lang ('have to') in combination with the infinitive form of the verb in question:
    Template:Lang — 'This evening I will [/must] go to the theatre'
    Template:Lang — 'Tomorrow I will [/must] write to you'
    In speech, the contracted forms of aviri often come into play:
    Template:Lang → Template:Lang/Template:Lang; Template:Lang → Template:Lang; Template:Lang → Template:Lang; Template:Lang → Template:Lang; Template:Lang → Template:Lang
    Template:Lang — 'Tomorrow I will [/must] write to you'.<ref name=Bonner54/>
  2. The synthetic conditional has also fallen into disuse (except for the dialect spoken in Messina, Template:Lang).Template:Sfn The conditional has two tenses:
    1) the present conditional, which is replaced by either:
    i) the present indicative:
    Template:Lang — "I [would] call her if you [would] give me her number', or
    ii) the imperfect subjunctive:
    Template:Lang — 'I'd call her if you would give me her number'; and
    2) the past conditional, which is replaced by the pluperfect subjunctive:
    Template:Lang — 'I'd have gone if you would have told me where it is'
    In a hypothetical statement, both tenses are replaced by the imperfect and pluperfect subjunctive:
    Template:Lang — 'If I were rich I would buy a palace'
    Template:Lang — 'If I had worked I would not have suffered misery'.Template:Sfn
  3. The second-person singular (polite) uses the older form of the present subjunctive, such as Template:Lang, which has the effect of softening it somewhat into a request, rather than an instruction. The second-person singular and plural forms of the imperative are identical to the present indicative, exception for the second-person singular -ari verbs, whose ending is the same as for the third-person singular: Template:Lang.Template:Sfn

Literature

Extracts from three of Sicily's more celebrated poets are offered below to illustrate the written form of Sicilian over the last few centuries: Antonio Veneziano, Giovanni Meli and Nino Martoglio.

A translation of the Lord's Prayer can also be found in J. K. Bonner.Template:Sfn This is written with three variations: a standard literary form from the island of Sicily and a southern Apulian literary form.

Luigi Scalia translated the biblical books of Ruth, Song of Solomon and the Gospel of Matthew into Sicilian. These were published in 1860 by Prince Louis Lucien Bonaparte.

Extract from Antonio Veneziano

Celia, Lib. 2

(Template:Circa–1580)

Sicilian Italian English
Non è xhiamma ordinaria, no, la mia, No, la mia non è fiamma ordinaria, No, mine is no ordinary flame,
è xhiamma chi sul'iu tegnu e rizettu, è una fiamma che sol'io possiedo e controllo, it's a flame that only I possess and control,
xhiamma pura e celesti, ch'ardi 'n mia; una fiamma pura e celeste che dientro di me cresce; a pure celestial flame that in me grows;
per gran misteriu e cu stupendu effettu. da un grande mistero e con stupendo effetto. by a great mystery and with great effect.
Amuri, 'ntentu a fari idulatria, l'Amore, desiderante d'adorare icone, Love, wanting to worship idols,
s'ha novamenti sazerdoti elettu; è diventato sacerdote un'altra volta; has once again become a high priest;
tu, sculpita 'ntra st'alma, sìa la dia; tu, scolpita dentro quest'anima, sei la dea; you, sculpted in this soul, are the goddess;
sacrifiziu lu cori, ara stu pettu. il mio cuore è la vittima, il mio seno è l'altare. my heart is the victim, my breast is the altar.Template:Sfn

Extract from Giovanni Meli

Don Chisciotti e Sanciu Panza (Cantu quintu)

(~1790)

Sicilian English
Stracanciatu di notti soli jiri; Disguised he roams at night alone;
S'ammuccia ntra purtuni e cantuneri; Hiding in any nook and cranny;
cu vacabunni ci mustra piaciri; he enjoys the company of vagabonds;
poi lu so sbiu sunnu li sumeri, however, donkeys are his real diversion,
li pruteggi e li pigghia a ben vuliri, he protects them and looks after all their needs,
li tratta pri parenti e amici veri; treating them as real family and friends;
siccomu ancora è n'amicu viraci since he remains a true friend
di li bizzarri, capricciusi e audaci. of all who are bizarre, capricious and bold.Template:Sfn

Extract from Nino Martoglio

Briscula 'n Cumpagni

(~1900; trans: A game of Briscula amongst friends)Template:Sfn

Sicilian Italian English
— Càrricu, mancu? Cca cc'è 'n sei di spati!... — Nemmeno un carico? Qui c'è un sei di spade!... — A high card perhaps? Here's the six of spades!...
— E chi schifiu è, di sta manera? — Ma che schifo, in questo modo? — What is this rubbish you're playing?
Don Peppi Nnappa, d'accussì jucati? Signor Peppe Nappa,Template:Efn ma giocate così? Mr. Peppe Nappa, who taught you to play this game?
— Massari e scecchi tutta 'a tistera, — Messere e asino con tutti i finimenti, — My dear gentlemen and donkeys with all your finery,
comu vi l'haju a diri, a vastunati, come ve lo devo dire, forse a bastonate, as I have repeatedly told you till I'm blue in the face,
ca mancu haju sali di salera! che non ho nemmeno il sale per la saliera! I ain't got nothing that's even worth a pinch a salt!

Traditional prayers compared to Italian

Patri nostru (Lord's Prayer in Sicilian) Padre nostro (Lord's Prayer in Italian) Aviu Maria (Hail Mary in Sicilian) Ave Maria (Hail Mary in Italian) Salvi o'Rigina (Salve Regina in Sicilian) Salve Regina (in Italian) Angelu ca ni custudisci (Angel of God in Sicilian) Angelo Custode (Angel of God in Italian)
Patri nostru, ca si' nnô celu,
Santificatu sia lu nomu vostru,
Vinissi prestu lu vostru regnu,
Sempri sia faciuta la vostra Divina Vuluntati
comu n celu accussì n terra.
Dàtinillu a sta jurnata lu panuzzu cutiddianu
E pirdunàtini li nostri piccati
Accussì comu nuàutri li rimintemu ê nimici nostri;
E nun ni lassati cascari ntâ tintazioni,
ma scanzàtini dû mali.
Amen.
Padre nostro, che sei nei cieli,
sia santificato il tuo nome,
venga il tuo regno,
sia fatta la tua volontà, come in cielo così in terra.
Dacci oggi il nostro pane quotidiano,
e rimetti a noi i nostri debiti
come noi li rimettiamo ai nostri debitori,
e non ci indurre in tentazione,[1]
ma liberaci dal male.
Amen.
Aviu maria, china di grazia,
u' Signuri è cu tia,
tu sì a biniditta 'menzu i donni,
e binidittu è u' fruttu dò tò senu Gesù,
Santa Maria, matri di Diu,
prega pì nanddri piccatura,
ora e nò momentu da nostra morti.
Amen.
Ave, o Maria, piena di grazia,
il Signore è con te.
Tu sei benedetta fra le donne
e benedetto è il frutto del tuo seno, Gesù.
Santa Maria, Madre di Dio,
prega per noi peccatori,
adesso e nell'ora della nostra morte.
Amen.
Salvi o'Regina,
matri di misericordia, è vita, è duci, spiranza nostra
salvi, a tia ricurremu, naddri figghi di Eva
a tia sospiramu, chiangennu,
ne sta valli di lacrimi, allura abbucata
nostra talinani cu chiddri occhi tò misericurdiusi,
e fanni abbidiri doppu, stu esiliu Gesù
u'fruttu binidittu dò tò senu;
O clemente, bona
o duci Virgini Maria!
Salve, Regina, Madre di misericordia;
vita, dolcezza e speranza nostra, salve.
A Te ricorriamo, noi esuli figli di Eva;
a Te sospiriamo, gementi e piangenti
in questa valle di lacrime.
Orsù dunque, avvocata nostra,
rivolgi a noi gli occhi
tuoi misericordiosi.
E mostraci, dopo questo esilio, Gesù,
il frutto benedetto del Tuo seno.
O clemente, o pia,
o dolce Vergine Maria!
Angilu di Diu
ca si' 'u me custodi,
alluminami, custudiscimi, tenimi e guvernami
ca ti vinni datu/a da pietà celeste
Amen.
Angelo di Dio,
che sei il mio custode,
illumina, custodisci,
reggi e governa me
che ti fui affidato/a
dalla Pietà Celeste.
Amen.

Influence on Italian

Minchia: graffiti in Turin, January 2017

As one of the most spoken languages of Italy, Sicilian has notably influenced the Italian lexicon. In fact, there are several Sicilian words that are now part of the Italian language and usually refer to things closely associated to Sicilian culture, with some notable exceptions:Template:Sfn

Use today

Sicily

Sicilian is estimated to have 5,000,000 speakers.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> However, it remains very much a home language that is spoken among peers and close associates. Regional Italian has encroached on Sicilian, most evidently in the speech of the younger generations.<ref name=Ruffino108>Template:Harvnb</ref>

In terms of the written language, it is mainly restricted to poetry and theatre in Sicily. The education system does not support the language, despite recent legislative changes, as mentioned previously. Local universities either carry courses in Sicilian or describe it as Template:Lang, the study of dialects.

Calabria

The dialect of Reggio Calabria is spoken by some 260,000 speakers in the Reggio Calabria metropolitan area.<ref>[3] cfr art. 1 comma 2</ref> It is recognised, along with the other Calabrian dialects, by the regional government of Calabria by a law promulgated in 2012 that protects Calabria's linguistic heritage.<ref name="Consiglio Regionale">Template:Cite web</ref>

Diaspora

Outside Sicily and Southern Calabria, there is an extensive Sicilian-speaking diaspora living in several major cities across South and North America and in other parts of Europe and Australia, where Sicilian has been preserved to varying degrees.

Media

The Sicilian-American organization Arba Sicula publishes stories, poems and essays, in Sicilian with English translations, in an effort to preserve the Sicilian language, in Arba Sicula, its bi-lingual annual journal (latest issue: 2017), and in a biennial newsletter entitled Sicilia Parra.

The 1948 filme La Terra Trema is entirely in Sicilian and uses many local amateur actors.

The nonprofit organisation Cademia Siciliana publishes a Sicilian version of a quarterly magazine, "UNESCO Courier".

Sample words and phrases

English Sicilian
to make a good impression Template:Lang
wine Template:Lang
man Template:Lang
woman Template:Lang
the other side Template:Lang
also, too Template:Lang
there Template:Lang
right there Template:Lang
where Template:Lang
you Template:Small Template:Lang
be careful! Template:Lang
he, him Template:Lang
she, her Template:Lang
once, formerly Template:Lang
he who pays before seeing the goods gets cheated
Template:Small 		Template:Lang

See also

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Explanatory notes

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References

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General and cited references

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Template:Languages of Sicily Template:Languages of Italy Template:Romance languages Template:Sicily

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