Dear Italian and Sicilian friends of America,

We send you warm and affectionate greetings from Sicily and look ahead to the upcoming events for the Italian Heritage and Culture Month in the USA. We are so proud of the contributions you have given and the efforts you continue to apply to building both this great country and the nation of Italy. Indeed, even in these challenging times, we would do well to stop for a moment and recognize how far we have come, the value of what we have accomplished, and how much we have yet to demonstrate to the world as Italians, Sicilians and Americans.
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Every Wednesday night, a small group of students gather for their language course at the Italian Charities of America Inc. in Flushing, Queens. Ironically, the students are not interested in learning Italian, but a separate language that arrived during the wave of Italian immigration to New York City. These students are the children and grandchildren of Sicilian immigrants.
“We only write the phrases on the board in Sicilian, not in Italian, so that is what stays in our memories after class,” says Salvatore Cottone, teacher of the Sicilian language class. On the chalkboard, Cottone has written, “Dumani Marialena sinni va cu zitu.” If he were to compare it to Italian, it would say “Marialena andrà con il suo ragazzo.” It would not help the students to observe the ways that one language relates to the other; they are completely separate in form, construction, and syntax.
Sicilian and Italian are both audibly and visibly diverse. To note a few examples, Sicilian uses different vowel sounds, relying on a long “u” rather than the “o” as in “trenu” (train) and “libbru” (book) instead of “treno” and “libro.” There is no future tense verb conjugation; instead, context words such as tomorrow, “dumani,” and later, “doppu,” are used to indicate that the action will take place in the future. The cadence and pronunciation of Sicilian also demonstrate obvious differences from the standard Italian.
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Vanvakys Art Int. & Palma Restaurant
presents: "March 8th...una Mimosa Siciliana"
dedicated to the memory of all women of the "Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire" NYC 1911 at Palma Restaurant 28 Cornelia St. Greenwich Village NYC.
Sicily Wine Tasting & Four Course Menu featuring Sicilian Pastry Sicilian poetry & music in a cozy Mediterranean atmosphere.
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See the event Web Page  

Vanvakys International LLC New York, USA  +1 917 435 6585

Vanvakys IIS Via E. Montale, 1/G, 90039, Villabate PA, Italy, PI: 04845330820     +39 338 33 69 257

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