Lingua siciliana
| Sicilian | |
|---|---|
| Sicilianu | |
| Native to | Italy |
| Region |
Sicily Calabria (except the north) Campania (Cilento) Apulia (Salento, Lecce) |
|
Native speakers
|
4.7 million (2002) |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-2 | |
| ISO 639-3 | |
| Glottolog | sici1248 |
| Linguasphere |
(mainland 51-AAA-rc & -rd)
|
 |
|
51-AAA-re & -rf
Sicilian (sicilianu; Italian: lingua siciliana; also known as Siculu or Calabro-Sicilian) is a Romance language spoken on the island of Sicily and its satellite islands. It is also spoken in southern and central Calabria (where it is called Southern Calabro), in the southern parts of Apulia, Salento (where it is known as Salentino), and Campania, on the Italian peninsula, where it is called Cilentano (Gordon, 2005). The Ethnologue (see below for more detail) describes Sicilian as being "distinct enough from Standard Italian to be considered a separate language" (Gordon) and is recognized as a "minority language" by UNESCO. Some assert that Sicilian represents the oldest Romance language derived from Vulgar Latin, but this is not a widely held view amongst linguists and is sometimes strongly criticized. Sicilian has the oldest literary tradition of the Italic languages.
Sicilian is currently spoken by the majority of the inhabitants of Sicily and by emigrant populations around the world. The latter are found in the countries which attracted large numbers of Sicilian immigrants during the course of the past century or so, especially the United States, 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 European Union, especially Germany.
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Wikipedia