{"id":3500,"date":"2013-06-13T18:00:26","date_gmt":"2013-06-13T18:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/?p=3500"},"modified":"2013-06-14T19:25:48","modified_gmt":"2013-06-14T19:25:48","slug":"without-title","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/without-title\/","title":{"rendered":"Without Title"},"content":{"rendered":"

At the moment I\u2019m reading a book by the writer Andrea Camilleri<\/font><\/strong><\/a>, world famous creator of the fictional detective Salvo Montalbano<\/strong>. The book I\u2019m reading, which was published in 2005, is a historical detective novel entitled Privo di titolo <\/em><\/strong>(Without title). It\u2019s set in Sicily, Camilleri\u2019s  favourite location for his stories, during the Fascist era of the 1920\u2019s, and is based on real events.<\/p>\n

What I love about Camilleri\u2019s writing is his trademark creative use of the Sicilian dialect. Camilleri manages to balance the Sicilian dialect with standard Italian in such a way that his books are still understandable to the average Italian reader. Let\u2019s say that he uses several levels of language: if the character is an illiterate person he speaks only in Sicilian (which can be difficult to understand at times); a character who is more educated will speak in a mixture of Italian and Sicilian often creating a comic effect; and an educated character (usually a professional, such as a doctor or a lawyer) speaks in proper Italian or even an exaggeratedly elaborate Italian. Through the interaction of these different levels Camilleri creates very vivid characters which are unmistakably set in Sicilian culture.<\/p>\n

His writing is, of course, very difficult to understand if Italian is not your mother tongue, especially if you\u2019re not familiar with the Sicilian dialect. But for me it\u2019s not really difficult as I had two uncles who were Sicilian, one from Palermo and one from Marsala, so I grew up hearing the Sicilian accent and learned some of the vocabulary.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s look at some examples of how Camilieri uses these different levels of language in his novel  Privo di titolo<\/strong>. <\/em><\/p>\n

Firstly an example from page 150 of the Sicilian dialect spoken as by his illiterate characters:<\/p>\n

\u201cE iu fici accus\u00ec. Appena mi arrivaru vicini, mi firmai, mi voltai e desi un colpo in facci col lumi che avia in manu al primu ca mi capit\u00f2. E fici l\u2019istissa cosa con l\u2019\u00e0utru omo. E accuss\u00ec putii scappari, macari si ci persi \u2018u lum\u00ef\u201d.<\/font><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Translated into Italian: \u201cEd io feci cos\u00ec. Appena mi arrivarono vicini, mi fermai, mi voltai e diedi un colpo in faccia col lume che avevo in mano al primo che mi capit\u00f2. E feci la stessa cosa con l\u2019altro uomo. E cos\u00ec potei scappare, anche se ci persi il lume\u201d.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Translated into English: \u201cSo here\u2019s what I did. As soon as they got close, I stopped, turned, and whacked the first one that came along in the face with the lamp that I had in my hand. Then I did the same to the other one. So that’s how I managed to run away, even if I lost the lamp\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n

–<\/font><\/p>\n

Now an example of a dialogue between Lieutenant Pellegriti, who speaks correct Italian, and warrant officer Tinebra, who speaks a mixture of Sicilian and Italian (page 166):<\/p>\n

Pellegriti: \u201cLei lo conosce?\u201d<\/font><\/strong> (English: Pellegriti: \u201cDo you know him?\u201d<\/em>)<\/p>\n

Tinebra: \u201cIo a tutti conosco. Perch\u00e9?\u201d<\/font><\/strong> <\/em>(Italian: Tinebra: \u201cIo conosco tutti. Perch\u00e9?\u201d<\/strong> English: Tinebra: \u201cI know everybody. Why?\u201d<\/em>)<\/p>\n

Pellegriti: \u201cGli voglio parlare\u201d<\/font> <\/strong>(English: Pellegriti: \u201cI want to to talk to him\u201d<\/em>)<\/p>\n

Tinebra si fici pinsoso. \u201cE comu ci voli parlari? Ufficialmente? Ufficiosamente? Da Tenente a Segretario di sezione? Da omo a omo?\u201d<\/font><\/strong> <\/font><\/em>(Italian: Tinebra si fece pensoso. \u201cE come ci vuole parlare? Ufficialmente? Ufficiosamente? Da Tenente a Segretario di sezione? Da uomo a uomo?\u201d<\/strong>. English: Tinebra became thoughtful: \u201cAnd how would you like to talk to him? Officially? Unofficially? Lieutenant to Secretary of the branch? man to man?\u201d<\/em>)<\/p>\n

Pellegriti: \u201cDa uomo a uomo. E dove vuole lui. Ma vorrei vederlo in giornata\u2026\u201d<\/font><\/strong> (English: Pellegriti: \u201cMan to man. And wherever he wants. But I want to see him today\u2026\u201d<\/em>)<\/p>\n

–<\/font><\/p>\n

Finally, here\u2019s an example of the extremely elaborate Italian language spoken by a judge, il giudice Bellezza<\/strong> (page 158):<\/p>\n

\u201cSignori, vi ho convovato ad ora s\u00ec tarda nel mio ufficio in Tribunale, e assai con voi mi dolgo del disturbo arrecatovi, per rendervi edotti di un fatto di inaudita gravit\u00e0\u201d<\/font> <\/strong>(English: \u201cGentlemen, I summoned you at such a late hour into my office of the Court, and I very much regret the inconvenience it may have caused you, in order to acquaint you with a case of unprecedented gravity\u201d<\/em>)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

P.S. While searching on the Internet for some information about Andrea Camilleri I discovered the official Camilleri Fans Club<\/strong><\/font><\/a> Check it out!<\/font><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At the moment I\u2019m reading a book by the writer Andrea Camilleri, world famous creator of the fictional detective Salvo Montalbano. The book I\u2019m reading, which was published in 2005, is a historical detective novel entitled Privo di titolo (Without title). It\u2019s set in Sicily, Camilleri\u2019s  favourite location for his stories, during the Fascist era…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[292039],"class_list":["post-3500","post","type-post","status-publish","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-andrea-camilleri-italian-writer"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t