Is There Really a Difference Between Sicilian and Italian?

If Italian is the language of love, then Sicilian is definitely the language of gusto. It is hearty, full-bodied and almost guttural, with sounds welling up from the back of the throat and exploding through the mouth in a vigorous cacophony. I should know-I grew up speaking it on a daily basis.

My family is from the southern region of Italy, the tip of the boot, so to speak, where Sicilian is spoken as a dialect. To learn Sicilian, it has to be passed down. It is a completely separate dialect from standard Italian-some may even go so far as to classify it as a completely separate language. Interestingly, there are no textbooks or comprehensive vocabulary lists. While Sicilian does have a written form, there is no governing body to ensure that the rules of the language are preserved in a consistent manner.You can't learn it in a classroom, although there have been some initiatives to revive the Sicilian language both here and in Sicily. It is not recognized as an official language anywhere in the world, although it has been the primary language of large immigrant populations in the United States, France, Canada and Argentina.

The beauty of Sicilian is that it is an amalgam of many different cultural influences. Some linguists assert that Sicilian is a derivation of the Vulgar Latin spoken by Roman troops garrisoned on the island around 261 BC. However, Sicilian has had many other influences including Greek, Arabic, French and even German. Many words in Sicilian can be directly traced back to their original roots. The word azzizzari (to embellish or adorn) has roots in the Arabic word "aziz", which means beautiful. The word "foddi" (angry or mad) can be traced back to the Norman French expression "fol" (same connotation). All of these multiple influences combined have conspired to shape Sicilian grammatical construction, sound and expression.