Sicilian – Italian – English
Ammaru – Gamberi – Shrimp
Babaluccia – Lumache – Snail
Cumoigghiu – Copertura – Cover
Droco – Laggiu – Over there
Eccu – Ecco – Here you go
Fuinu – Forno – Oven
Gridari – Gridare – To scream (not a good example)
Iddu – Lui – Him
Jelu – Gelo – Pudding or Gel
Lagnusu – Pigro** – Lazy
Manjari – Mangiare – To eat (also pistiari, but this is usually used as “to dine” or “to eat a meal”)
Niuro – Nero – Black
Ojo – Olio – Oil
Pumuruoru – Pomodoro – Tomato
Quannu – Quando – When
Racina - Uva – Grape
Scecchu – Mulo – Mule
Travagghiari (sometimes Travajari)- Lavorare – To work
Unne – Dove – Where
Vogghieri – Volere – To want
Zainu – Zaino – Backpack (another bad example, but I didn’t know the Italian word for backpack until I looked it up)
*Notice that we have “j.”* Yes, we have j. Italian doesn’t generally have j, k, w, x or y. In fact, in Italian, j is “long I”, k is the greek word (kappa), w is “double-v” (why it isn’t for us, who knows), and y is “Greek I”. J pops up in dialectical words, and modernisms like “Jugoslavia.” You occasionally see K in Northeastern dialects that are German-tinged, like in Alto-Adige, and is having a surge of popularity in the under 40 crowd, in text messages and IMs, as in “ke” (*che*- what). Likewise X, which is, of course the mathematical symbol for “times,” which in Italian is *per* (times, for, per) so you might ask *Perche-* in a text message with “xke-”
**I got the word “pigro” from [babelfish]( http://babel.altavista.com/) but I have never heard an Italian person say it. In my experience they say “non vuole fare niente” – “he doesn’t want to do anything”- in place of the word lazy. Sicilian people usually say lagnusu. As a topic for chop-busting (the national pastime) utility or industriousness is a common topic. Insults might include *innutile* (useless) or *scecchu* (a mule, or a horse that is mentally damaged, something that works hard, but not smart).
**The Language**
There are some obvious relationships that may have jumped out at you. The vowel o often becomes u. A soft g often morphs into j and becomes a /y/ sound. Clusters like li and gl will drift lazily along:
olio /OH lee oh/ to ojo /OY-yo/
tagliare /tal YAH reh/ to tagghiare /tahg-GYA-re/.
Another good example I neglected to include is a double l, which hardens into a double d:
bello /BEL-low/ to biddu /BEEHD-doo/.
capello /ka-PELL-oh/ to capiddu /gah BEEHD-doo/
There is a [glottal replacement]( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glottal_replacement) before double consonants in Sicilian that I tried to emulate with the H in the preceding examples. There is a subtle [ejective consonant]( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ejective_consonant) at the end. I admit, it’s a really strange accent, and the Agent said it sounded like I was speaking Russian. Funnily enough, a lot of those sounds come from Arabic.
Looking at these examples in isolation, you might be tempted to think “this is mostly an accent; this isn’t a language, it’s a dialect.” Well, it’s not. It has its own syntax and verb forms, and the conjugation rules are pretty different. We could draw the same parallels between Italian and French or Spanish words. We’ll get to all that… at some point.
Listening: Panic at the Disco “9 in the Afternoon” Live in studio.
