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- Creators: School of Politics and Global Studies
- Member of: Barrett, The Honors College Thesis/Creative Project Collection
- Status: Published
Description
The rise of Italian in Sicily contrasts with a fierce regional pride that makes it difficult to determine the possible fate of Sicilian. This project focuses on a sociolinguistic analysis of the dialect of Sicilian spoken in and around Catania, Sicily. While there are programs in place to protect the language, the institutionalization of Italian in Sicily may be encroaching on Sicilian's use, especially with younger generations. The lure of the more industrialized North creates a culture of immigration in Sicily, which increasingly rewards the use of Italian. Using information from background research, a survey analyzing sociolinguistic factors and the individual's fluency in and use of Sicilian was created. The data from the survey showed that while understanding of Sicilian was fairly universal among participants, an individual's use and proficiency in Sicilian were most influenced by age and current place of residence (inside or outside Sicily). Younger people tended to know and use Sicilian less, and older participants tended to be more confident in their abilities and to use Sicilian more often. This is slightly complicated by an additional trend among participants currently living outside of Sicily towards a lower level of use and knowledge of Sicilian. All participants placed a significant emphasis on maintaining the ability to speak Sicilian, and on Sicilian language as an integral part of Sicilian culture.
ContributorsScaduto, Leah Christine (Author) / Dal Martello, Chiara (Thesis director) / Adams, Karen (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor) / Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law (Contributor) / Department of English (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
What is it like to create your own language? This creative project is an amalgamation of several paper, visual, and online media and is divided into two sections. The first section is the creation of an original fantasy constructed language ("conlang") called Dieva, including setting and background, phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, pragmatics, language rules, an alphabet and writing system, and vocabulary. The second section is an exercise in applied linguistics, wherein the conlang was shared with the public via media including an online Wikia.com webpage; figures including charts and a map; the development of classroom materials for a hypothetical Dieva language class such as introduction worksheets, practice worksheets, and quizzes on the alphabet and numbers; and a "linguistic challenge" logic puzzle. All materials were then shared with volunteers who gave feedback from a myriad of teaching and non-teaching as well as linguist and non-linguist points of view. Volunteers also attempted to take the quizzes and to solve the "linguistic challenge," and their feedback was integrated into the final versions of the language, worksheets, online webpages, and other work.
ContributorsLambert, Allison Mary (Author) / Van Gelderen, Elly (Thesis director) / Shinabarger, Amy (Committee member) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor) / Department of English (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-12