Pantesco is the Sicilian dialect of the island of Pantelleria between Sicily and Tunisia. It is notable among Romance varieties for an unusually high degree of influence from Arabic, reflecting a variety close to Maltese. Arabic loanwords, mainly nouns, include words such as hurrìhi "nettle" < ħurrayq (Maltese ħurrieq), vartàsa "hornless (goat)" < farṭās, hèddi "calm wind" < hādiʔ, as well as many place names around the island, including the name Pantelleria itself.[2] In such loans, the glottal fricative h (unusual for a Romance dialect) is preserved as a reflex of Arabic laryngeals h/x/ħ and sometimes even q.[3]

Pantesco uses unstressed subject pronoun clitics to form durative aspect.[1]

A dialectal dictionary was published by Giovanni Tropea in 1988.[4]

References

  1. ^ a b M. Loporcaro, A. R. D'Ancona, P. Fatini (2010). "Clitici soggetto nel dialetto di Pantelleria". Vox Romanica. 69: 75–110. doi:10.5167/uzh-47599.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) 69 (2010): 75-11
  2. ^ Giuseppe Staccioli (2015). "L'ultima isola musulmana in Italia, Pantelleria (Bint al-riyāḥ)". Symposia Melitensia. 11: 193–215.
  3. ^ Giuseppe M. Brincat (1977). "Malta e Pantelleria : alla ricerca di un sostrato comune". Journal of Maltese Studies. 11: 42–54.
  4. ^ Tropea, Giovanni (1988). Lessico del dialetto di Pantelleria. Palermo: Centro di studi filologici e linguistici siciliani.