Dialetto di Alcamo (Trapani), voce di Gaspare Regina: Ph 2948 [CD 1: 9]

Abstract

This essay contributes to the analysis of recordings made by the linguist Karl von Ettmayer in the Upper Austrian camps of Mauthausen and Marchtrenk. Within this survey, three folktales (in variants) were recorded: Folktale 1 (frequently known as La varva franca) is about a barber who offers shaving for free, Folktale 2 is about a widow handing over her property to a beggar supposed to be from paradise, and Folktale 3 is about a farmer who gets tricked by thieves. Recorded documents also contains some other fragmentary linguistic data on proverbs, songs and/or rhymes. The recordings are accompanied by detailed written documentation (the so-called protocols), which include transcriptions and German translations. The corpus is a quarry for dialectologists, and the language samples chosen – three different tales in a rural setting – were analysed not only with regard to pronunciation, but also to dissemination and popularity. The in-depth characterisation of the respective dialects clearly shows the marked differences between the various regions, which also reflects the historico-political situation. This specific contribution provides linguistic analysis of the Sicilian dialect of Alcamo (Trapani), spoken by Gaspare Regina (Ph 2948 [CD 1: 9]), a 20 years old farmer (Rec. April 25, 1918). The record is about the Folktale known as ll contadino e l’asino (‘the farmer and the donkey’), and the Song known as Le tre sorelle or La pesca dell’anello.