Sicilian (Lu Sicilianu, Lingua Siciliana) is the Romance language spoken in Sicily, Italy. Sicilian dialects (or dialects closely related to the Sicilian language) are also spoken in the far south of Calabria, Italy, and in the province of Lecce, in the far south of Apulia, Italy. Ethnologue (see section below) describes Sicilian as being "[d]istinct enough from Standard Italian to be considered a separate language". This is an alphabetical list of the sovereign states of the world, including both de jure and de facto independent states. ... The Romance languages, also called Romanic languages, are a subfamily of the Italic languages, specifically the descendants of the Vulgar Latin dialects spoken by the common people evolving in different areas after the break-up of the Roman Empire. ... Sicily (Sicilia in Italian) is an autonomous region of Italy and the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, with an area of 25,700 sq. ... Calabria, formerly Bruttium, is a region in southern Italy which occupies the toe of the Italian peninsula south of Naples. ... Categories: Stub ... Apulia is a region of southeastern Italy (called Puglia in Italian), bordering on Molise to the north-west, Campania to the south-west, Basilicata to the south, the Adriatic Sea to the east and the Ionian Sea to the south-east. ...

It is currently spoken by the 5,000,000 inhabitants of Sicily, plus a further (approximately) 5,000,000 Sicilians around the world. The latter are to be found in the countries which attracted large numbers of Sicilians during the course of the past century or so, especially the USA, Canada, Australia and Argentina. In the past two or three decades, large numbers of Sicilians were also attracted to the industrial zones of northern Italy and indeed the rest of the EC, in particular, Germany. The European Community (EC), most important of three European Communities, was originally founded on March 25, 1957 by the signing of the Treaty of Rome under the name of European Economic Community. ...

As the table indicates, Sicilian is not recognised as an official language anywhere in the world, not even within Italy. There is currently no central body, in Sicily or elsewhere, that regulates the language in any way. The independent regional parliament of Sicily has legislated to encourage the teaching of Sicilian at all schools, but inroads into the education system have been extremely slow.

Ethnologue report on Sicilian

Source. (http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=scn)

Alternate names

The alternate names of Sicilian are: Calabro-Sicilian, Sicilianu, Siculu. The term "Calabro-Sicilian" refers to the fact that a form of Sicilian, or a dialect closely related to Sicilian, is spoken in the far south of Calabria. Sicilianu is the name of the language in Sicilian. The term "siculu" describes one of the larger prehistoric groups living in Sicily before the arrival of Greeks in the 8th century (see below). It can also be used as an adjective to qualify, or further elaborate on, the origins of a person, for example: siculo-american or siculo-australian.

Dialects of Sicilian

As a language, Sicilian has its own dialects. Ethnologue lists the following main groupings:

• Western Sicilian (Palermo, Trapani, Central-Western Agrigentino)
• Central Metafonetica
• Southeast Metafonetica
• Eastern Nonmetafonetica (which includes the province of Catania, the second largest city in Sicily)
• Messinese (the province of Messina)
• Isole Eolie (the Aeolian islands)
• Pantesco (the island of Pantelleria
• Southern Calabro (in the far south of Calabria.

Location within Italy Palermo (Palermo in Italian) (Palermu or Palemmu in Sicilian) (population 680,000) is the principal city and administrative seat of the autonomous region of Sicily, Italy. ... Trapani is the name of a city in the western part of the Italian island of Sicily, of 68,346 inhabitants (2001). ... Agrigento (formerly Girgenti) is the name of a town on the southern coast of Italy, capital of the province of Agrigento. ... Catania is the second largest city of Sicily with 306,464 inhabitants, has the second highest population density on the island and is the capital of the province which bears its name. ... Messina, Italy Strait of Messina, Italy. ... Pantelleria, or Pantalaria, ancient Cossyra, is an island in the Strait of Sicily in the Mediterranean Sea, 100 km (62 mi) southwest of the south-western extremity of Sicily, and 70 km (43 mi) E. of the African coast, belonging to the Sicilian province of Trapani. ... Calabria, formerly Bruttium, is a region in southern Italy which occupies the toe of the Italian peninsula south of Naples. ...

Other observations

Sicilian is described as being "vigorous", although most sicilians are described as being bi-lingual (obviously being fluent in Italian as the official language of Italy). It refers to the strong French influence in the language (elaborated on further below) and raises the prospect that it may be better classified as "Southern Romance" rather than "Italo-Western".

Early influences

Before the Roman conquest, Sicily was occupied by remnants of the autochthonic populations (Siculi, Sicani, Elymi) as well as by Greeks and Phoenicians. The Greek influence remains visible in Sicilian to this day, however, the influences from the other groups are less obvious. What can be stated with certainty is that there remain pre-indoeuropean words in Sicilian of an ancient mediterranean origin, but one cannot be more precise than that. Often these words refer to plants native to the mediterranean region, names in common with other parts of the mediterranean, but of an uncertain origin. According to Thucydides (vi:2), before the arrival of Greek colonists, the Sicels (or Siculi) were one of the three tribes who inhabited Sicily: the Sicels (Greek Sikeloi) in eastern Sicily (as well as southern Italy), who spoke an Indo-European language, and the Sicani (Greek Sikanoi) and Elymi (Greek... The Sicani (or Sikanoi) were an ancient people of Italy who dwelt along the Tiber river. ... The Elymian people (Greek Elymoi, Latin Elymi) were an ancient civilization located in Sicily. ... Phoenicia was an ancient civilization in the north of ancient Canaan, with its heartland along the coastal plain of what is now Lebanon and Syria. ...

Vulgar Latin was spoken by the Roman occupation troops who garrisoned Sicily after Rome annexed the island (after the end of the First Punic War, c 261 BC). For a brief period after the fall of Rome, Goth and Visigoth barbarians managed to gain some degree of political/military control on the island, although their presence did not impact the Sicilian language. The few germanic influences to be found in Sicilian do not appear to originate from this period. Vulgar Latin (in Latin, sermo vulgaris) is a blanket term covering the vernacular dialects of the Latin language spoken mostly in the western provinces of the Roman Empire until those dialects, diverging still further, evolved into the early Romance languages — a distinction usually assigned to about the ninth century. ... Goth is a modern subculture that gained visibility during the early 1980s within the gothic rock scene, a sub-genre of post punk, and continues to this day. ... The Visigoths,were one of the two main branches of the Goths (of which the Ostrogothi were the other), were one of the loosely-termed Germanic tribes that brought chaos to the late Roman Empire. ... Barbarian was originally a Greek term applied to any foreigner, one not sharing a recognized culture or degree of polish with the speaker or writer employing the term. ...

In 535, Emperor Justinian I made Sicily a Byzantine province, and for the second time in Sicilian history, the Greek language became a familiar sound across the island. As the power of the Byzantine Empire waned, Sicily was progressively conquered by saracens from North Africa, from the mid 9th century to the mid 10th century. The Arab Emirs who ruled Sicily were progressive monarchs and Sicily enjoyed a sustained period of economic prosperity and intellectual enlightenment. The Arab influence is noticeable in around 300 Sicilian words, most of which relate to agriculture and related activities. This is understanable since the saracens introduced to Sicily the most (then) modern irrigation and farming techniques and a new range of crops - nearly all of which remain endemic to the island to this day. Events Beginning of the Western Wei Dynasty in China. ... Justinian I, depicted on a contemporary coin Flavius Petrus Sabbatius Iustinianus or Justinian I (May 11, 483–November 13/14, 565), was Eastern Roman Emperor from AD August 1, 527 until his death. ... The Byzantine Empire is the term conventionally used to describe the Roman Empire during the Middle Ages, centered at its capital in Constantinople. ... The Greek language (Greek Ελληνικά, IPA – Hellenic) is an Indo-European language with a documented history of some 3,000 years. ... For the rugby club Saracens see Saracens (rugby club) The term Saracen comes from Greek sarakenoi. ... North Africa is a region generally considered to include: Algeria Egypt Libya Mauritania Morocco Sudan Tunisia Western Sahara The Canary Islands, Ethiopia, Eritrea and Madeira are sometimes considered to be a part of North Africa. ...

Before we move on to the next phase of the language's development, being its most significant, it should be borne in mind that throughout the Arab epoch of sicilian history, a large Greek population remained on the island and continued to use the Greek language, or most certainly, a variant of Greek heavily influenced by Arabic. What is less unclear is the extent to which a latin speaking population survived on the island. While a form of vulgar latin clearly survived throughout the Arab epoch, there is much debate as to the influence it had (if any) on the development of the Sicilian language, following the relatinisation of Sicily (discussed in the next section). The best one can do is to conclude that if there was an influence, it is likely to have been extremely minor. Arabic can mean: From or related to Arabia From or related to the Arabs The Arabic language; see also Arabic grammar The Arabic alphabet, used for expressing the languages of Arabic, Persian, Malay ( Jawi), Kurdish, Panjabi, Pashto, Sindhi and Urdu, among others. ...

Linguistic development from the middle ages

Successive conquests by the Normans, Spaniards, Catalans, and finally, unification with Italy, also made significant contributions to Sicilian culture. The Normans (adapted from the name Northmen or Norsemen) were Scandinavian invaders (especially Danish Vikings) who began to occupy the northern area of France now known as Normandy in the latter half of the 9th century. ... Capital Barcelona Official languages Spanish and Catalan In Val dAran, also Aranese. ...

Language situation today

Sicilian is estimated to have millions of speakers. However, it remains very much a home language spoken among peers and close associates. The regional Italian dialect has encroached on Sicilian, most evidently in the speech of the young generations.

Poets in Sicily sometimes write in Sicilian. However, most speakers are literate in Italian, not Sicilian.

The education system does not support the language. Local universities do not carry courses in Sicilian.

See also

• Sicily, a panorama of history, geography, and art
• Sicilian School, on 13th century courtly-love poetry

Sicily (Sicilia in Italian) is an autonomous region of Italy and the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, with an area of 25,700 sq. ... The Work of a Roving School It is lyric poetry to be in the forefront of literature, inspiring a widespread enthusiam whose effects will be felt for centuries. ...

External links

• www.linguasiciliana.org
• Ethnologue report on Sicilian (http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=scn)
• Sicilian - English Dictionary (http://www.websters-online-dictionary.org/definition/Sicilian-english/)
• Webster's Dictionary (http://www.websters-online-dictionary.org/) the Rosetta Edition