Over the years, unfortunately, Sicilian became undervalued and associated with the ignorant and the poor. It may be because over time the south of Italy became comparatively poor and less developed than the north, thus the language used there acquired the status of ‘the language of the poor.’
Such a prejudice is still evident today, and many people refuse to speak it because of this stereotype. Sicilian is also widely spoken by elderly people, who are often still illiterate, something which further feeds the prejudice. On the other hand, Sicilian is a very expressive language which presents feelings in a stronger way than Italian. It can help to explain a strong sense of kindness (through colloquial phrases that can’t simply be translated into Italian) such as che duci, which loosely means 'oh sweetie', or extreme anger, by using stereotypical parolacce [swear words]. Young people often use the language for this purpose and such words are often adopted into slang. Due to its prevalence in slang, this language often unites (young) people in a tight-knit group, who use Sicilian, alongside their own vocabulary, to emphasise everything in a much more
passionate manner!
So, why not learn Sicilian? It will undoubtedly be helpful to anyone looking to live, travel, or work in Italy (especially the south), and it will create a new and amusing way of speaking what is a very passionate language in its own right!
woman
donna
fìmmina
to go
andare
jiri
To work
lavorare
travagghiari
Man
Uomo
Òmu
Photography: Vittorio Pandolfi -Flickr.com
LINGUA