Gallo-Italic of Sicily (Italian: Gallo-italico di Sicilia) is a group of Gallo-Italic languages[clarification needed] found in about 15 isolated communities of central eastern Sicily. Forming a language island in the otherwise Sicilian language area,[2][3] it dates back to migrations from northern Italy during the reign of Norman Roger I of Sicily[4] and his successors.
Gallo-Italic of Sicily | |
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Italian: Gallo-italico di Sicilia Siculo-Lombard | |
Native to | Northwest Italy |
Region | Central and eastern Sicily |
Native speakers | 60,000 (2006)[1] |
Indo-European
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Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | – |
Glottolog | None |
Gallo-Italic is classified as Definitely Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger |
Towns inhabited by the new immigrants became known as the "Lombard communities" (Latin: oppida Lombardorum, Sicilian: cumuna lummardi). The settlers, known as the Lombards of Sicily, actually came principally from the Aleramici fiefdoms of southern Montferrat, comprising today south-eastern Piedmont and north-western Liguria, "Lombardy" being the name for the whole of northern Italy during the Middle Ages. In addition to a common place of origin, the colonizers brought their Gallo-Italic languages. These languages added to the Gallic influence of the developing Sicilian language (influences which included Norman and Old Occitan) to become the Gallo-Italic of Sicily language family.
Although Roger I took 30 years to take complete control of Sicily (from 1061 to 1091), by 1080 he had effective control of much of the island. During this conquest, some areas of central Sicily became depopulated as some, but far from all, of its Muslim population was expelled. Roger and his Norman successors encouraged migration to the region, especially by those closely allied with the Latin Church. Much of the migration was from northern Italy, particularly from his wife's family holdings in Piedmont and Liguria.
The languages are spoken primarily in the following areas:
Other linguistic communities also existed in:
In some of these towns, the northern Italian influence on the local varieties of Sicilian is marked; in others, the Lombard communities did not influence the local dialect. Similar communities have survived outside Sicily in Basilicata in southern Italy, which was subject to similar influences; the dialects spoken there are known as Gallo-Italic of Basilicata.
In Sicilia (Trovato 1998) si tratta dei dialetti di almeno ventiquattro località. Trovato (2002) tuttavia riconosce come ancora schiettamente gallo-italici solo i dialetti che condividono, tra le altre isoglosse settentrionali (➔ isoglossa), la dittongazione in sillaba libera tonica o davanti a palatale di ĕ ed ŏ latino: si tratta delle parlate di San Fratello (con l'ex-frazione di Acquedolci), San Pietro Patti, Montalbano Elicona, Novara di Sicilia (con l'ex frazione di Fondachelli-Fantina) in provincia di Messina; di Randazzo in provincia di Catania; di Nicosia, Sperlinga, Piazza Armerina e Aidone in provincia di Enna; di Ferla, Buccheri e Cassaro in provincia di Siracusa.