My mother was born in the U.S., but she didn't speak English until kindergarten. Instead, she spoke Sicilian as she was brought up in a Sicilian-speaking household. She's retained the language and uses it to communicate with our family back in Palermo and Porticello.
While I don't speak much Italian myself, I am most familiar with the Sicilian language.
Notice I didn't say dialect? That's because Sicilian is a separate language with a rich history that predates the Italian language. Recognized as a minority language by UNESCO and the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, Sicilian has its own Wikipedia section and is a featured Google Translate language.
For more insight into this unique Romance language, I sat down for a Zoom session with Gaetano Cipolla, a retired professor of Italian and Chairman of the Department of Modern Foreign Languages at St. John's University in New York City. Professor Cipolla additionally serves as president of Arba Sicula, an organization that promotes the language and culture of Sicily.
What is your background?
I was born in Sicily. I am from Francavilla di Sicilia. I came here as an immigrant in 1955, and, well, it's been a long time. I taught at St. John's and several other universities in the metropolitan area: NYU, Fordham… and others.
I became the president of Arba Sicula in 1988. I was also the editor for its publications.
I've published several books on Sicilian grammar. One is called Learn Sicilian, which is already in its fourth reprint. The second one is called Learn Sicilian II, which is a continuation. It presumes that you have studied Sicilian, that you know some Sicilian. It's an advanced course for Sicilian.
How are your books being used?
The first book, Learn Sicilian, is being used as a textbook in many different places. It's being used at Italian Charities of America here in New York. It was used also at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. And it is used in New Orleans, Buffalo, New York, and Rochester. The first grammar book was translated into Italian by a colleague of mine who teaches at the Manouba University in Tunis. He is the chair of Sicilian studies there, and he's teaching Sicilian using my textbook.
I had no idea that I was going to be able to see my textbook being used anywhere because it's very difficult to introduce not only a new language into a program, for example, at St. John's. I mean, I could have done it there, but not as part of the curriculum because people would probably object. What is the need for it? But I am glad to tell you that the first book is being used and bought in America by many, many people.
Tell us about your translation work.
I am a translator of Sicilian poetry. I translate all of the major poets who have written in Sicilian because, as you know, most people think wrongly that Sicilian is a dialect and a corruption of Italian, which is absolutely wrong.
I have actually produced two series of books that introduce Americans to Sicilian poetry because I believe that poets are a country's best ambassadors.
How did the various historical rulers of Sicily influence the Sicilian language?
If you study Sicilian, you will find that it has all the different words introduced into the language by the various people who have been there—mostly Spanish, Arab, French, even German, of course, Italian, and even English lately. Sicilian is an amalgam, a mixture of all different things. However, it retains its characteristics and its own language. And it is one of the very few original languages. Sicilian has been spoken in Sicily since the inception of civilization.
When the Siculi came to Sicily, they spoke a language that was similar to Latin. We don't know for sure, but we think that they came from the region of Lazio. And so they spoke a language that was very similar to Latin. That was their original language. Some people believe that it actually survived all the different invasions and the different dominations that have come and gone, some of which left marks on the language and some of which didn't. For example, the Vandals came to Sicily, but not very many words of the Vandals or the Ostrogoths actually remain.
For the first 150 years of Italian literature, whatever poetry was written in Italy, not just in Sicily, was written in Sicilian. Sicilians created the language in a sense, and then it moved up north after Frederick II, who created the Scuola Siciliana in the 13th century, died. So whenever people say that Sicilian is the corruption of Italian, it is absolutely wrong; Sicilian is its own language. If people say that Dante is the father of the language, which he truly is, then we must think that the mother of the Italian language is Sicily.
Are there variations of the language across Sicily?
There are many variations. If you go to Sicily, when you go from one town to the next, even five miles away, you will notice differences because the language spoken there is part of their history. You have to go back into the history of the town in order to find out why things are different.
When I started working on the Sicilian language, most people, even my colleagues who don't know Sicilian that well, asked me which Sicilian I was going to teach. I said Sicilian is one language. It is not a hundred different languages. Of course, I know that they will speak in a certain way in Catania. In Palermo, the same word will be pronounced differently. In Ragusa, it will also be pronounced differently. For example, I'll give you one word, the word for door, which is porta. In Catania, it will be pronounced so the consonant becomes like two Ts, which sounds like "potta." Or if you say morte, in Catania, they say "motti." However, the same words in Palermo will be pronounced differently. Morte will be pronounced "moitti."
So, it's almost an "oi" sound.
Yes. It introduced a little something, an "i" there, that colors everything. Each parlante of the 10 differences that we see doesn't impede communication. In other words, if there's someone in Palermo who says "moiti" instead of morte, all Sicilians will understand it. Sicilian is pretty homogeneous when you write it. So, if you write Sicilian, you will write it one way. I've never seen the word porta written other than porta. The variations exist, but not in the written language.
Is Sicilian more of an oral language than written?
Most people, except poets and scholars, don't write Sicilian because they consider it sort of an oral language. Most people don't even think that Sicilian can be written. Whenever I presented my mother with a page or word from my Arba Sicula journal, she would look at it; she would sort of verbalize it in her mouth. And once she knew what the word was, she said it perfectly.
A couple of months ago, I was giving a lecture at the Italian Charities, and there was a man who's been a member for many, many years—he's in his seventies. He said, Professor Cipolla, all my life, I have thought that Sicilian could not be written. I learned that Sicilian could be written only when I saw your work.
What are some unique phonetic or grammatical features that distinguish Sicilian from standard Italian?
A feature that is probably difficult for Sicilians is the sound of words like the song "Ciuri, Ciuri." We have had difficulty actually coming up with a way of writing that sound. Most people would write it with a cedilla like in Spanish underneath the "C." But other people would just pronounce it with a "C," which is obviously not the right sound because that would be "Churi" and not "Shuri." So even words like shirt, for example, would be camicia, pronounced "camicha" in Italian, but "camisha" in Sicilian.
What do you hope that people will take away from your lessons and your writings about the Sicilian language?
My work tries to educate the American public about the values and contributions that the Sicilians have made throughout their long 3000-year history. And it's a job that is never finished because Sicilian culture is a vast microcosm. Sicilians have lived for 3000 years, sometimes independent, sometimes dependent on various different dominators. But Sicilians have always kept their identity. One of the goals of my organization is to not only promote Sicilian culture but to educate people.
>>For more info and Sicilian language resources, visit arbasicula.org.<<
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