|
|
ITALIAN MAFIA - Diallect in Brooklyn
What is the Italian dialect spoken by the Mafia in the Americas. Is it Sicilian ?
I have heard some Italos talking in Brooklyn, and they intermixed so many English words. Just like a Spanglish. Are they still speaking Italian?
Slang - bad grammar and obviously Sicilian Calabrese accent. Contrary with the common belief, they are from many Italian provinces, as far as Northern Italy, including Sardinia.
The rule is - you have to be Italian (not just southerner) to be trusted for "cosa nostra" ("Our thing") Today - most of them don't speak Italian, but regardless if you speak it or not, the criteria is still the same, you have to be Italian to be trusted. Many Italians were socially discouraged to speak it in the US, because of the negative connotations, associated with Italian. I personally know an Italian family with 5 mature sons. None of them speaks Italian, despite having both parents from Naples, Italy.
If one's parents are Italians born in US, and they don't speak Italian, is that one still considered Italian?
Are they still speaking Italian?
No, this is what you think because you see too many American movies. They have never speak Italian and if they are saying something which is not English is not Italian either. Some dialect maybe
<<If one's parents are Italians born in US, and they don't speak Italian, is that one still considered Italian? >>
For Europeans ancestry matters very much. In 90's when thousands of "germans" from Eastern Europe were granted german citizenship many of them didn't even spoke German - and they were considered Germans (bear in mind those Germans had been living in their host countries for centuries but they were still thought as intruders there). It is not like in US, Canada, Brazil where your origin doesn't matter but I guess even there some groups - like Italians - retain their European way of thinking.
Yeah, I can tell, ancestry and race matters very much for Germans, you can always watch documentaries of Hitler!
|