Sicilian: Argument

[egervasi]

I would appreciate information of a word and its spelling in the Sicilian dialect that means argument. It sounds like "sciarsiate." Thank you.

 

[Fiammy]

Do you mean "sciarriate"?

A "sciarriata" is an argument; the verb "sciarriarsi" means "to argue"

Mi sono sciarriato con qualcuno: ho litigato con qualcuno: i had an argument with someone

unfortunately i can't help you with the spelling, i am very bad at speaking Sicilan dialect but i hope it helps

 

[calicchiulusiculu]

The spelling is sciarriari-si (sciarriárisi):

eu mi sciarríu, (-sciarriài, -sciarriava, -sciarriassi)
tu ti sciarrì, (-sciarriasti, -sciarriavi, -sciarriassi)
iddu si sciarría, (-sciarriàu, -sciarriava, -sciarriassi)
niautri ni sciarriamu (-sciarriamu, -sciarriávamu, sciarriássimu)
viautri vi sciarriati (-sciarriástivu, -sciarriávavu, sciarriássivu)
iddi si sciarríanu (-sciarriaru, -sciarriávanu, sciarriássiru)

It's always reflexive.

Along with the word "sciarriata" for "argument/fight/quarrel" there is also the more common "sciarra" or "scierra".

The example phrase given above in Sicilian would be written:
"Mi agghiu sciarriatu cu cuarchidunu."
= "Ho litigato con qualcuno."
= "I argued/had an argument with someone."

Of course the pronunciation of the above phrase, and all Sicilian pronunciation in general, is bound to be different. Someone will say that they don't say "agghiu" (I have) but rather "aju", or that they don't say "cuarchidunu" (someone) but rather "cuarcunu", cuaccunu, etc. The list goes on and on.

But what must be remembered is that, in order for Sicilian to be officially recognized as the language that it trully is (linguistic fact), we need a unified orthography, system of writing. So regardless of the different pronunciations, there has to be one way of writing everything. So don't be offended if I didn't write something how you say it or have heard it. A lot of what I write is not how I would say it, but it is, I believe, the best written representation there is.

Again, I want to repeat that Sicilian is a language, the Sicilian language, not the Sicilian dialect.

 

[Sicilian Girl]

The spelling is sciarriari-si (sciarriárisi):

eu mi sciarríu, (-sciarriài, -sciarriava, -sciarriassi)
tu ti sciarrì, (-sciarriasti, -sciarriavi, -sciarriassi)
iddu si sciarría, (-sciarriàu, -sciarriava, -sciarriassi)
niautri ni sciarriamu (-sciarriamu, -sciarriávamu, sciarriássimu)
viautri vi sciarriati (-sciarriástivu, -sciarriávavu, sciarriássivu)
iddi si sciarríanu (-sciarriaru, -sciarriávanu, sciarriássiru)

It's always reflexive.

Along with the word "sciarriata" for "argument/fight/quarrel" there is also the more common "sciarra" or "scierra".

The example phrase given above in Sicilian would be written:
"Mi agghiu sciarriatu cu cuarchidunu."
= "Ho litigato con qualcuno."
= "I argued/had an argument with someone."

Of course the pronunciation of the above phrase, and all Sicilian pronunciation in general, is bound to be different. Someone will say that they don't say "agghiu" (I have) but rather "aju", or that they don't say "cuarchidunu" (someone) but rather "cuarcunu", cuaccunu, etc. The list goes on and on.

But what must be remembered is that, in order for Sicilian to be officially recognized as the language that it trully is (linguistic fact), we need a unified orthography, system of writing. So regardless of the different pronunciations, there has to be one way of writing everything. So don't be offended if I didn't write something how you say it or have heard it. A lot of what I write is not how I would say it, but it is, I believe, the best written representation there is.

Again, I want to repeat that Sicilian is a language, the Sicilian language, not the Sicilian dialect.

I 100% agree. Also, some of the words may have been Italianized over the years. For example cuarchunu sounds more Italian with the Sicilian accent to me versus cuarchidunu which sounds more Sicilian. I think a language can allow for a few variants of a word however. They have this in French for bike which can be "vélo" or "bicyclette" and both words are 100% correct and refer 100% to the same thing. Sicilian can also accept variants of the same word when different regions have different synonyms. I think and this will only add to the richness of the language.