St. Agatha's Church in Catania, Sicily. My maternal grandparents emigrated from Catania more than a hundred years ago.Image credit: Berthold Werner. Used under CC licenses 1.0, 2.0, 2.5, 3.0
This is my first post in the Cross Culture Community. I am delighted to find a community devoted to cultural exchange and language exploration. The community is a natural home for me.
Sicilian, a Language with Many Dialects
Map credit: Markos90. Used under a CC 3.0 license
The Sicilian language predates Italian. Contrary to popular misconception, Sicilian is not a dialect. However, it does have many dialects which reflect the rich history of this Mediterranean island. The influences of the peoples who inhabited Sicily over the centuries have shaped its culture.
Successive conquerors and settlers came from three continents: Europe, Africa and Asia. Carthaginians, Greeks, Normans, Iberians, Germans and Moors occupied the island. The strength of their influence varies in different areas of Sicily. These influences are reflected in the language map.
My love of language likely began with the phrase, Figghia bedda--beautiful daughter. It is my mother's voice I hear, and the echo of her parents' voices that come to me when I recall these Sicilian words of endearment.
My grandparents immigrated from Sicily in 1906. I never met them, and my mother never set foot on their island homeland. The language, and my mother's lore, were portals into the family's past. And they were invitations for me to explore cultures far removed from my Hudson Valley community.
My Grandparents, with My Mother, C. 1910
Some years ago my sister and I were driving around the countryside in France. We were trying to get to my niece's wedding, which was being hosted at a chateau. We had offered to drive two wedding guests. None of us spoke French, and we didn't have a map of those winding back roads. Finally we stopped at a gas station and I got out to get directions.
One of our passengers asked my sister, "Does she speak French?"
My sister answered, "No, but she'll get the directions."
And I did. That's how I approach language, not with irreverence for form, but with an enthusiasm to communicate. Language has never been a barrier for me, but a bridge.
As I grew from child to 'sophisticated' adult, I learned that my beloved Sicilian language--which I could not speak, but which was my heritage--was despised in some quarters because it wasn't regarded as 'true' Italian.
Ah, the folly of such a view.
Language lives. It is a vessel of the ages. It carries in every nuance a message from people who have come before. What a beautiful thing that is.
Once, when my children were very young, I had a brilliant humanities professor, Edith Kern. I told her that my son, who was just learning language, sometimes used the Spanish first person plural possessive pronoun, 'mis', in order to assert ownership over something. (At the time, my son thought he owned everything). His consistently correct usage of the word surprised me, because he'd never heard Spanish spoken. Dr. Kern told me about Umberto Ecco, and his theory of language origin.
Geechee/Gullah
Daufuskie Island, Center of Gullah Cultural Heritage
Map: Derived from Kmusser, author. Used under CC 2.5 license.
Gullah is considered a Creole dialect. It grew from the blending of African languages and English. Slaves in the United States who worked plantations along the eastern coast communicated at first in what is known as pidgin. The slaves came from different parts of Africa, with different language traditions. They had to communicate with each other, and a blend of languages was the solution.
After the Civil War, isolation from mainstream culture allowed the people in these areas to maintain a distinct culture, and their evolved language. This is how Gullah sounds:
An example of a Gullah/Geechee phrase and the English translation (from translationdirectory.com):
Duh him tell we say dem duh faa’muh
He’s the one who told us that they are farmers
Today, evidence of Gullah/Geechee heritage may be found in coastal communities along the southeast USA. However, the acknowledged center of the culture is Daufustie Island. It has been placed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Umberto Ecco was brilliant and the master of many disciplines. Much of what he wrote is beyond me, but his idea of the unity of language fits comfortably with my world view.
I am fascinated by Gullah, and Acadian. By Plattdeutsch and Catalan. By the multitude of languages spoken in China, India, and Nigeria. Each language is a living thing that serves the people who use it.
Catalan
Misperceptions about Catalan seem to rival the misperceptions about Sicilian. Catalan is a language. It is not a dialect of Spanish. Both Spanish and Catalan evolved from Latin. As a matter of fact, there was a time in Spain's history when Catalan was dominant over Spanish.
Hand translated (using Google Translate) into
Latin: Manibus
Catalan: Mà
Spanish: Mano
Catalan Atlas, 1375 (Western Half of the Mapt)
Image credit: Copy of the original map by Abraham Cresques (1325-1387). Library of Congress. Used under CC 3.0 license
According to the website gencat, Catalan first appeared between the eighth and tenth centuries "in a part of Catalonia, in Northern Catalonia and in Andorra, in the territories of the Carolingian Empire that formed the counties of the Spanish March."
Over several centuries, Catalan became an important language in creative texts and in bureaucratic administration. And then a time came when there were attempts to suppress Catalan. This was an extension of struggles for political dominance. Language conflict in Spain persists today. Despite this conflict, Catalan is very much alive.
Conclusion
Less than 1% of U. S. citizens are proficient in a foreign language learned in the classroom. I suffer to some degree from this national failing.
When I was an undergraduate, history was my major concentration. Despite this, my advisor believed my major was German, because I spent so much time in that department. And, I took so many Spanish courses as a graduate and undergraduate, that New York State granted me teaching certification in the language. Yet, I am fluent in neither German nor Spanish.
My fascination with languages is one of the reasons Hive is such a rewarding place for me. I not only get to 'meet' people from all over the world, I also get to understand them in their native tongues.
I hope my interdisciplinary approach toward material is a good fit for Cross Culture. If so, I hope to be writing, reading and interacting here in the future.
impressive post. (sorry but I have examined only part of it - I have only one life, that isnt too much for all the stuff around!)
I didnt know that!
if you let me the question, what this Cross Culture! community is about in brief? what is the ain idea behind that?.. imo you could easily post this to the History community, as well..
Less than 1% of U. S. citizens are proficient in a foreign language learned in a classroom. We actually have an increasingly multicultural and multilingual society in some parts of the country. I would guess at least 20% of my granddaughter's classmates speak Mandarin (Long Island, New York). Maybe another 10% speak some language that is representative of India. In the wider community (in some neighborhoods), Spanish is commonly spoken. However, these languages were learned not in the classroom, but at home, or in a home country.
On another matter: We have a history community?? I don't really know much about the cross cultural community. Seems to welcome discussions about translating words and exchanging ideas from different cultures.
Thank you very much for reading (part of) my blog. I appreciate your kind words. Going into subjects in depth is one of my weaknesses. :))
thats a good, fruitful weakness :-)
I bookmarked History community right from the start:
https://peakd.com/c/hive-133974/created
considering posting there -- just never did
when I have something it is always smth for Vintage & Antique
or, I also have stuff (about my city's history) that I plan to shape one day - it will go to Architecture community... ok, my reasons may vary. but the fact is, nobody is active there, close to zero readers, and that is the big reason itself. pretty sadly. same sh.....t took place with Book Hive club: before it got some solid support and promotion from OCD, it had close to zero activity. so things may change.. but they will not change themselves by a miracle.
a !WINE for you, and !ENGAGE ;)
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Thank you for the wine, the token and the advice :) I will check out that history community, but I like to write for an audience (call it vanity). Feedback fuels my energy cells.
Have a great day @qwerrie
no it is not necessarily it. name it a matching, a fruitful pattern. any artist that creates smth - he is doing that for the audience, otherwise he is lying or he is not an artist :P
anyway, you may consider (if you'd like the idea of that community, ofc!) - you may consider to x-post there smth. (for the sake of other reasons, maybe).
ENGAGEtokens.Nice walk down memory lane, Your grandparents took a lovely photo.
Knowing a few languages would be wonderful. I took some French in high school, mostly written because the teacher was not so good at oral, but unfortunately never used it....And as the old adage goes, “If you don’t use it, you lose it.”
I think they might have been referring to something else but it applies to most situations. 😃
Hello my friend @redheadpei,
Thank you for reading my blog and for the kind comment. My interest in languages is peculiar (everything about me is peculiar!). Reports are that I was a silent child and a slow reader. And then everything changed and I became a language sponge. Still not fluent in any foreign language, but I do have fun with them.
Thanks again for reading--not a subject most people care about. Have a wonderful, wintry Sunday.
Most welcome A.G.
I couldn't agree more! I enjoyed reading this article as I'm enlightened that there are so many languages that I'm yet to know about and the history behind them. In a way, I feel there's a connection between language. That's why pidgin is easy to come by. From books that I had read in past, I'd always thought Sicilian is a dialect but I know better now.
Thank you very much for visiting my blog. I'm glad you enjoyed it. This blog was a pleasure to write. I got to revisit my family and talk about stuff I love. Also, I learned.
I agree, there is a connection between languages. If I'm around a language long enough, it somehow seeps into me :) People find a way to communicate if they want to.
Hope you are having a grand day. Once again, thanks for visiting my blog.
Very insightful blog. I took Latin and Spanish in high school and only remember a few words. I'm envious of people who are bilingual. I took those courses for granted and regret it to this day. Live and learn.
Thank you my friend, @pokerm. So much I regret also about inattention in school. Maybe your mind was occupied in a better place:)
I appreciate your comment and support