Sicilian language

Not to be confused with Silesian language.

Sicilian
sicilianu
Native toItaly
RegionSicily
EthnicitySicilians
Native speakers
4.7 million (2002)[1]
Dialects
Official status
Recognised minority
language in
Sicily (limited recognition)[2]
Language codes
ISO 639-2scn
ISO 639-3scn
Glottologsici1248
Linguasphere51-AAA-re & -rf (mainland 51-AAA-rc & -rd)
Sicilian linguistic area
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This article is part of the series on the
Sicilian language
History
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Linguistics
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Sicilian (Sicilian: sicilianu, Sicilian: [sɪ(t)ʃɪˈljaːnu]; Italian: siciliano) is a Romance language that is spoken on the island of Sicily and its satellite islands.[3] It belongs to the broader Extreme Southern Italian language group (in Italian italiano meridionale estremo).[4]

Ethnologue (see below for more detail) describes Sicilian as being "distinct enough from Standard Italian to be considered a separate language",[3] and it is recognized as a minority language by UNESCO.[5][6][7][8] It has been referred to as a language by the Sicilian Region.[2] It has the oldest literary tradition of the Italo-Romance languages.[9][10] A version of the UNESCO Courier is also available in Sicilian.

  1. ^ Sicilian at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. ^ a b Iniziative per la promozione e valorizzazione della lingua Siciliana e l'insegnamento della storia della Sicilia nelle scuole di ogni ordine e grado della Regione [Initiatives for the promotion and development of Sicilian language in the schools of all type and degree of the Region] (PDF) (resolution) (in Italian). 15 May 2018. Retrieved 17 July 2018.
  3. ^ a b "Sicilian entry in Ethnologue". www.ethnologue.com. Retrieved 27 December 2017. (20th ed. 2017)
  4. ^ Avolio, Francesco (2012). Lingue e dialetti d'Italia [Languages and dialects of Italy] (in Italian) (2nd ed.). Rome: Carocci. p. 54.
  5. ^ Wei, Li; Dewaele, Jean-Marc; Housen, Alex (2002). Opportunities and Challenges of Bilingualism. Walter de Gruyter. ISBN 9783110852004.
  6. ^ Facaros, Dana; Pauls, Michael (2008). Sicily. New Holland Publishers. ISBN 9781860113970.
  7. ^ "UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in danger". www.unesco.org. Retrieved 16 August 2016.
  8. ^ "Lingue riconosciute dall'UNESCO e non tutelate dalla 482/99". Piacenza: Associazion Linguìstica Padaneisa. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016.
  9. ^ Cipolla 2004, pp. 150–151.
  10. ^ Sammartino, Peter; Roberts, William (1 January 2001). Sicily: An Informal History. Associated University Presses. ISBN 9780845348772.