Mainland Italians against Sicilians

[PeterTimber]

dialects in Italy are the result of evolving Latin vulgate spoken by Romans which over time evolved into distinctive dialects by regions and refined in each settlement of Italy, village or town based upon common tribal areas. This same evolution produced French, Spanish and to a certain extent Romanian.

For your information Sicilian is a language with its own grammar, literature and is a written language so that it became a source for Dante & Company to cfreate and refine Toscana which became Italian (by law). Thus Sicilian was legally considered to be a dialect on the books. =Peter=

[misbris]

Hi Ather,

Nice to have you back.

A few points:

1 Dialects are also influenced by outside forces such migrations, invasions, cultural exchanges etc.

2 Dialects in English are a result of changes in the "mother tongue." Dialects in Italian formed independently of a specific national language.

3 If Dante had been Sicilian, Venetian, or Roman, Italian would be a different language than it is today.

4 I am tired of people assuming that all blonde, redhaired, blue, green or hazel eyed Italians are from the North. My great grandmother's blonde hair and blue eyes are still evident in her great great great grandchildren.

5. I think people become offended because the prejudice against the south does still exist. I see it still in some of the popular literature today. To accept this to perpetuate it.

[Squigy]

Peter:

When I say they should speak "propper Italian" it is because Italian is the official language of the country. When Italians came to America, they had to learn English as it is the national language. That doesn't mean they had stop speaking Italian.

Misbris:
I see no reason to defend my previous comment. I said in general, and in general it is the truth. Believe me, I know there is still prejudice against Southern Italians, and if I said "in general, Southern Italians are greasy" that would be a false stereotype.

I'm not saying there aren't Southern Italians with light skin/eyes/hair, but they are not as common.

[PeterTimber]

No problemma. Italians who came to this country for the most part did not speak Italian (Toscana) but rather their dialect and learned english as a matter of degree. Their current dark swarthy appearance reflects the 2500 year advance over their northern Etruscan brethren since the original Hellenes who first settled Southern Italy were originally blonde light skinned nordics who blended over the milennia with more dominant darker Mediterraneans.

But what has to be said is that this advanced society in Southern Italy evolved into an advanced society with strong greek connections. By the time Rome was established as a village on the Tiber this part of Southern Italy was well advanced by 1000 years ahead of Rome. Unfortunately this perspective has been overlooked by Historians who see Rome as colonizing Southern Italy and making them as advanced as the Romans which is not the truth of the matter. Actually the reverse took place. Rome acquired this southern culture which made the Romans even greater.

Rome took what 1000 years of civilization created for itself.=Peter=

[PeterTimber]

Postscript:....The total number of languages listed for Italy is 33 and all are living languages. =Peter=

[Squigy]

Interesting, Peter. There are phrases my great grandmother used that seem regional. Her family was from Central Calabria, wouldn't the local dialect be similar to Sicilian?

As for the differences in appearance between North and South, here are a few photos:

Calabria:
http://img30.imageshack.us/f/200982217831.jpg/

Campania:
http://img175.imageshack.us/f/effie20maietta.jpg/

Veneto:
http://img215.imageshack.us/f/32ac60d40 ... 4679a.jpg/

[PeterTimber]

Certainly would be since both areas had/have same language base. Some time ago I researched all the original languages stemming from first Greek settlements in Eastern Sicily,Calabria, Basilicata, Puglia and Salentino and (phonecians were already settled in nicely in western Sicily hence Palermo! and up to Campanika Hence Naples). =Peter=