Dialect Poetry of Southern Italy (Italian Poetry in Translation Book 2)

more widespread becomes what is being

called angliano (in France, franglais).

In 1988, Jana Vizmuller-Zocco from York

University in Toronto, conducted a survey

on the Sicilian dialect, from a sociolinguistic

perspective, interviewing 60 poets residing

in the island:

With the exception of only one poet,

dialect was considered the mother tongue,

and Italian became dominant once they

entered the work force. Moreover, the

authors either alternate dialect and Italian

within the family circle or use Italian.

Without exception, they do not use Sicilian

with their children, with the result that, at

least by the acknowledgment of a few of

them, their children do not understand their

poetry. Another person related that his

daughter, now twenty-four, is showing great

interest in all things Sicilian, including the