Sicilian

right|200px Cursu di lingua siciliana Sicilian language course Sicilian (Sicilianu) is a Romance language of Italy, mostly spoken in Sicily. Sicilian dialects (or dialects comprising the Italiano meridionale-estremo language group) are spoken on the island of Sicily (and all of its satellite islands), as well as in the southern and central sections of Calabria ("southern Calabro") and Puglia ("Salentino") on the Italian mainland. Ethnologue (see section below) describes Sicilian as being "distinct enough from Standard Italian to be considered a separate language". The Alphabet a b c d ḍ e f g h i j l m n o p q r s t u v z Doubled consonants thumb|Sicilian with along a Italian thumb|Sicilian (USA version) Sicilian has a lot of words that begin with doubled consonants but the ones that are written are: cci nni cchiù dda ddi ddu ssa ssi ssu ccà ḍḍòcu ḍḍà S'attròvanu puru ddi paroli chi pirderu la vucali, lassannu cunzunanti duppricati ô principiu di na palora, p'asempiu: mmeci; mmernu; nnuccenti; mmàggini; llustrari; ecc. Articles Definite: lu la li (l') with elision of l, they become: u a i (l') (in the spoken language) Indefinite: un o nu nu na (n') un cavaddu nu zìu/nu scantu na fìmmina n’abbitùdini Unu (masculine) and una (feminine) are used as cardinal numbers and as articles. Simple prepositions a cu 'n di tra pi nna nni nta ntra senza supra sutta Pripusizzioni cumposti These prepositions may be joined with the definite article: Prepositions: + Article: lu = + Article: la = + Article: li = + Article: un = aôâêôncucûcâchîc'undidûdâdîd'unpipûpâpîp'unnninnûnnânnînn'unnna/ntannô/ntônnâ/ntânnê/ntênn'un/nt'unntrantrôntrântrêntr'un Adverbs Of place: sutta supra ccà ddà unni ntunnu dintra avanti vicinu versu allatu Of time: doppu ora aieri oi dumani quannu mai mentri nzinu Of quantity: abbastanza picca assai menu cchiù tantu anticchia Of manner: comu beni accussì nùtili ammucciuni diversamenti Other adverbs: siccomu dunca macari avanti prìmisi mmenzu mmeci Conjunctions e puru sparti però mancu ancora anchi ma pirchì sippuru mmeci The apostrophe The apostrophe is a graphic sign that is used when two vowels meet. Nna lu casu di eliminazzioni naturali di na vucali chi si trova a principiu di parola, nun è nicissariu usari l'apòstrufu, picchì, secunnu Giorgiu Piccittu anchi senza l'apòstrufu la parola si capisci lu stissu e livannu l'apòstrufu, quannu si pò, si elìminanu tutti sti signali nni la lingua scritta. Pi la stissa raggiuni, sempri secunnu Piccittu, l'apòstrofu nun s'havi mai a usari mancu nni la cuntrazzioni di l'artìculu nditerminativu picchì lu senzu è chiaru: na nu Words that begin with i, where the i is lost, as said before, the apostrophe isn't used to demonstrate the loss of the vowel: Mpurtanti; Nnuccenti; Nzignanti; Ntattu; Ntisu; Mparari. So, we can say that the articles la, lu, li and pronouns la, lu, li, take the apostrophe as demonstrative adjectives ddu, dda, ddi, stu, sta, sti, ssa, ssu, ssi. The personal pronouns ti, nni, vi, and reflexives si and cci may take apostrophe too. If cci meets a, o, u it doesn't take the apostrophe. Other phrases where the apostrophe may be used: C'avem'a fari = chi avemu a fari C'avem'a diri = chi avemu a diri The gender The irregular plurals Adjectives Pronouns Verbs The verb is the most important part of speech. The verbs are divided in: regulars, irregulars, transitives, intransitives, reflexives, defectives and modals. Sicilian has one verb that is auxiliary. Auxiliary Verbs Regular Verbs Irregular Verbs Other Special Forms Days and months See also: cumpenniu stilìsticu vocabulary of preferred sicilian words Other links: Sites where you can find good examples of sicilian standard: Arba Sicula - a sicilian-american organization for sicilian literature Pruverbi siciliani scritti pi sicilianu e ngrisi Na discrizzioni dâ grammàtica siciliana di Sergio Giorgi Tanti puemi, cunti e saggìstichi, scritti o traduciuti di Ninu Russu Linguasiciliana.org - nn'havi tanti matiriali diversi a rispettu dâ lingua scritta Common phrases English SicilianYesSéNoNoThank youGrazzîPleasePi favuriWhat is your name?Comu ti chiami?What time is it?Chi ura sunnu?I don’t knowNun lu sacciuGoodbyeNni videmu Languages of Europe S 0% scn:Sicilianu