Sicilian language facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Sicilian |
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| Sicilianu | ||||
| Native to | Sicily, Calabria (Central and Southern), Campania (Cilento), Apulia (Salento, Lecce), Malta | |||
| Native speakers | 6.8 million (2010) | |||
| Language family | ||||
| Linguasphere | 51-AAA-re & -rf (mainland 51-AAA-rc & -rd) | |||
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The Sicilian language (lu sicilianu) is a language spoken in Sicily island and central Calabria. It is currently spoken by the majority of the inhabitants of Sicily and by emigrants.
10 million people speak the language. It has three stocks: the Sicilian, the Calabro-Sicilian and Salentinu.
Compared to Italian, it is a distinctly separate form of verbal communication patterned by many years of foreign influence. Efforts to force Sicilians to speak conventional Italian include schools, television and radio. Italians maintain that Sicilian is simply a subset dialect of Italian, while Sicilians see their spoken word as a true and separate language.
Images for kids
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A sign in Sicilian at Santo Stefano di Camastra, Messina.
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An 1196 miniature depicting the various scribes (1. Greeks 2. Saracens 3. Latins) for the various populations of the Kingdom of Sicily
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Development of stressed vowels in Sicilian
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Minchia: graffiti in Turin, January 2017
See also
In Spanish: Idioma siciliano para niños
