Abbannìa, minchiapititto, duci duci. Il dialetto sulle insegne commerciali a Palermo

The present work analyses the use of Sicilian dialect on the Linguistic Landscape of Palermo, taking into account aspects concerning commercial communication. More specifically, starting from a previous research in Scaglione (2017), the aim is to shed light on the functions and the “forms” of the local variety exposed on shop signs (e.g. restaurants, bars, pubs) of the city. In this sense, the article reveals the evocative and ideological value of Sicilian (also through the use of dialectal personal names), in many cases against a referential-communicative function. Besides, it examines both the “type” of local variety considering the use of words, idioms, phraseologies largely known by the linguistic community of Palermo (regardless of the actual proficiency in the local dialect) and the graphic solutions adopted so as to convey the expressive and stereotypical value of the code. Special attention is paid to the outcomes of contact between Sicilian and global languages (such as English), especially, code-mixing or blends entailing the juxtaposition of different and often contrasting places and cultures. Finally, the analysis focuses on the relationship between the code exposed on the commercial signs and the local context, discussing how the local variety shows and mirrors linguistic, cultural, and social features of the urban community