Sicilian language

Sicilian
sicilianu
Native toItaly
RegionSicily
EthnicitySicilians
Native speakers
4.7 million (2002)
Dialects
  • Pantesco
  • Western
  • Eastern
  • Central Metaphonetic
  • Southeast Metaphonetic
  • Ennese
  • Eastern Non-Metaphonetic
  • Messinese
  • Eoliano
  • Reggino
Official status
Recognised minority
language in
Sicily (limited recognition)
Language codes
ISO 639-2scn
ISO 639-3scn
Glottologsici1248
Linguasphere51-AAA-re & -rf (mainland 51-AAA-rc & -rd)
Sicilian linguistic area

Sicilian (Sicilian: sicilianu, pronounced [sɪʃɪˈljaːnʊ, sɪdʒɪˈljaːnʊ]; Italian: siciliano) is a Romance language that is spoken on the island of Sicily and its satellite islands. It belongs to the broader Extreme Southern Italian language group (in Italian italiano meridionale estremo).

Ethnologue (see below for more detail) describes Sicilian as being "distinct enough from Standard Italian to be considered a separate language", and it is recognized as a minority language by UNESCO. It has been referred to as a language by the Sicilian Region. It has the oldest literary tradition of the Italo-Romance languages. A version of the UNESCO Courier is also available in Sicilian.

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