"ch" in Sicilian is NOT pronounced as in English, but sounds like the English "k".  So my cousins, the Miccichè family, pronounce their surname "mee-chee-KAY".

Similarly, "g" is pronounced as in the English "good" if followed by "a", "o" or "u"; but "g" is pronounced like the English "j" (as in "George") if it is followed by an "i" or "e".  In Sicilian pronunciation, the "g" sound at the start of words is often "swallowed", and sometimes also the middle of words.  The "g" is silent when followed by the consonant "l".

The consonant "z" at the start of a word is generally pronounced as in English, while "zz" is pronounced "tz" as in "pizza".

There is no "j", as such, in the Sicilian language.   When the letter "i" has the sound a "y" has in English, it is written with a tail and looks like a "j" but it is not pronounced like the English "j".  For example: "jiri" (English phonetics: YIH-rih); "jiurnu" (YOUR-noo); "saju" SIGH-you) etc.

Is Sicilian a 'Dialect'?

    There is a Sicilian language, older than and distinct from the 'Italian' language, which is actually the Tuscan dialect which was developed by Dante Alighieri, with elements which originated in the Sicilian language.  Dante was a member of the Sicilian School of poetry before he organized the Tuscan dialect.

    That being said, the Sicilian language does have regional dialects that vary among the provinces of Sicily, and even between the towns and cities of any specific province. 

    Unfortunately, because for years, 'Italian' has been taught in Sicilian schools, and because of the influence of 'Italian' newspapers, radio and TV, Sicilian is spoken less and less in Sicily.  This situation is further aggravated because 'Italians' mistakenly assume that the Sicilian language is a 'poor man's version' of 'Italian', and many Sicilians feel there is a stigma associated with speaking their own language!

    However, the elderly still speak it, mostly at home, and many public schools are now required to have courses in the Sicilian language.

     The Sicilian words given below are as I learned them from parents who left Sicily over a hundred years ago.  As such they reflect the language as it was spoken in Sicily around the beginning of the 1900s, which was not much modified by incursions of the Tuscan dialect that the 'Risorgimento' imposed on Sicily.  I believe its 'purity' was also enhanced by the fact that Serradifalco is and was a small interior town having limited contact with speakers of Tuscan, or the modified Sicilian dialects of other regions.  Language scholar Alissandru Caldiero, author of Grammar of the Sicilian Language, has informed me that my Sicilian (that is, my parents' Sicilian) resembles the language spoken at the court of Frederick II.

   Sicilian is a LANGUAGE, that is true; however, like many other languages, it has different dialects within it, that have developed in various regions of Sicily and in the south of the Apennine peninsula. 



    Below is a vocabulary of English words and their meanings in Sicilian, with variations for the dialects of several towns or regions.  It appears that in central Sicily, in Caltanissetta province, northern Agrigento province and eastern Palermo province, the classic Sicilian language still prevails as it was spoken in the court of Frederick II.  This is characterized by words like figliu (son) and cunigliu (rabbit), which in dialects elsewhere have become figghiu and cunigghiu; and especially lu (masculine 'the'), la (feminine 'the') and li (plural 'the), which in dialects have devolved into u, a and i.

This position is corroborated by Sicilian linguist Rosario La Mendola, who notes that outside of a central area of Sicily, the language has been 'contaminated' by modern usages and pronunciations, as well as by Italianization. He explains that "in a loosely-defined area of central-southern Sicily, in the hinterland of the provinces of Agrigento, Caltanissetta and part of that of Enna, the local dialects have some particularities when compared with Standard Sicilian or with those spoken in other areas of the Island." La Mendola's map shows the 'Area of least contamination of the Sicilian language'.  My ancestral village, Serradifalco, is at the center of this area, and my dictionaries reflect that least-contaminated area, where 'la lingua antica' (the ancient language) was spoken by my parents. These differences from the dialects more reflective of today's 'Standard Sicilian' include, in La Mendola's opinion: - the failure to transform the Latin syllables LIU or LEU, as for FILIUS, son, or OLEUM, oil, into GGHI, or FIGLIU and OGLIU instead of the usual FIGGHIU and OGGHIU; - CALLU, for Hot, very similar to the Latin Calidus, instead of CAUDU or CAURU in the more common Sicilian; - MIDEMMA or similar words, all derived from the Latin IDEM, instead of PURU and MACARI for ALSO; - FRACICA or FRACI instead of PÒ ESSIRI for FORSE in many places in the Nisse (Caltanissetta)area; - the greater sonority of the palatal plosive ɖɖ present in BEDDA, CHIDDU, DDÀ so much so that it is often indicated with BEDDRA, CHIDDRU, DDRÀ,; - the almost exclusive use of the definite articles LU and LI, for IL, LO, I and GLI, in their original and uncontracted form, or with U and I, as instead happens in most of Sicily; - the retropalatal and slightly aspirated pronunciation of the initial syllables in FL of terms originating from Latin or Vulgar indicated, arbitrarily, with XHIUMI from Flumen, FIUME, XHIURI from Flos Floris, FIORE, XHIATU from Flatum, FIATO etc.; - the almost total absence of the ASSIMILATION of the previous consonant, PORTA remains as such, it does not become POTTA, as now happens in most of Sicily.; - the almost total absence of ROTACISM which, in this case, changes the consonant D with R, a phenomenon also typical of the Neapolitan dialect. In this area, in fact, we say DUNCI (DUCI) instead of the widespread RUCI for Dolce and rotacism is NEVER applied in the conjugation of the verbs DIRI, RIDIRI, VIDIRI etc.; Many of these elements could lead to the conclusion that the dialects spoken in the hinterland of the aforementioned central-southern provinces of the island are those that have preserved to a greater extent the original characteristics of medieval Sicilian.

   I invite all Sicilians and all those of Sicilian descent to e-mail me, to add your own versions of these words.  Please identify them by region, and add as many English words you like, with their Sicilian equivalents. 
                                                    

Viva la lingua Siciliana!!!