Sicilian language

Sicilian
Sicilianu
Native to	Sicily, Calabria (Central and Southern), Campania (Cilento), Apulia (Salento, Lecce), Malta
Native speakers	6.8 million (2010)
Language family	Indo-European Italic Latino-Faliscan Romance Italo-Dalmatian Sicilian
Language codes
ISO 639-2	scn
ISO 639-3	scn
Linguasphere	51-AAA-re & -rf (mainland 51-AAA-rc & -rd)

The Sicilian language (lu sicilianu) is a language spoken in Sicily island and central Calabria. It is spoken by the majority of the inhabitants of Sicily and by emigrants.

Speakers

10 million people speak the language. It has three stocks: the Sicilian, the Calabro-Sicilian and Salentinu.

Differences with Italian

Compared to Italian, it is a distinctly separate form of verbal communication patterned by many years of foreign influence. Efforts to force Sicilians to speak conventional Italian include schools, television and radio. Italians maintain that Sicilian is simply a subset dialect of Italian, while Sicilians see their spoken word as a true and separate language.