Sicilian Italian
| Sicilian | |
|---|---|
| Sicilianu | |
| Native to | Italy |
| Region |
Sicily Calabria (center and southern provinces) Campania (Cilento) Apulia (Salento) |
|
Native speakers
|
4.7 million (2002) |
| Official status | |
|
Official language in
|
Limited Recognition in Sicily |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-2 | scn |
| ISO 639-3 | |
| Glottolog | sici1248 |
| Linguasphere |
(mainland 51-AAA-rc & -rd)
|
 |
|
51-AAA-re & -rf
Sicilian (sicilianu; in Italian: Siciliano; also known as Siculo (siculu) or Calabro-Sicilian) is a Romance language spoken on the island of Sicily and its satellite islands. It is also spoken in southern Calabria (where it is called Southern Calabro), specifically in the province of Reggio Calabria, whose dialect is viewed as being part of the continuum of the Sicilian language. Central Calabria, the southern parts of Apulia, Salento (where it is known as Salentino), and Campania, on the Italian peninsula, where it is called Cilentano are viewed as being part of the broader Far Southern Italian language group (in Italian: Italiano meridionale estremo).
Ethnologue (see below for more detail) describes Sicilian as being "distinct enough from Standard Italian to be considered a separate language" and is recognized as a "minority language" by UNESCO. It has been referred to as a language by the Sicilian region. It has the oldest literary tradition of the modern Italian 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 four or five decades, large numbers of Sicilians were also attracted to the industrial zones of northern Italy and areas of the European Union, especially Germany.
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Wikipedia