Sicilian

Also known as Sicilian language, Sicilianu, Siculo, Siciliano, Calabro-Sicilian

Italo-Dalmatian language spoken in Southern Italy

AI overview

Sicilian is a language spoken in Southern Italy that belongs to the Italo-Dalmatian language family. It matters as a distinct linguistic variety that reflects the unique cultural and historical heritage of the Sicily region.

AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.

Wikidata facts

Instance of: modern language
Subclass of: Italo-Romance
Has part: Salentino
Named after: Sicily
Country: Italy

Show 11 more facts

linguistic typology: syllabic language
indigenous to: Sicily
writing system: Latin script
Commons category: Sicilian language
topic's main category: Category:Sicilian language
Wikimedia language code: scn
number of speakers, writers, or signers: 4700000
native label: Sicilianu
exact match: data.linguistik.de/bll/bll-ontology#bll-133122700
category for films in this language: Category:Sicilian-language films
P13311: 1738

Sources (8)

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Encyclopedic overview

Sicilian (sicilianu, pronounced [sɪʃɪˈljaːnʊ, sɪdʒɪˈljaːnʊ]; Italian: siciliano) is a Romance language that is spoken on the island of Sicily and its satellite islands. It belongs to the broader Extreme Southern Italian language group (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 it 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 Italo-Romance languages. A version of the UNESCO Courier is also available in Sicilian.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Sicilian” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.