Learn Corsican

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About Corsican

Corsican, also called ‘corsu’ and ‘lingua corsa’, is the ancient indigenous language spoken in Corsica, an island in the Mediterranean Sea. The language has many dialects which are often grouped into two main families: northern and southern with areas between the two displaying elements of both. The northern varieties have similarities to modern Italian - which is itself derived from a dialect from North-West Italy - and the southern varieties have similarities to Latin and dialects from Southern Italy. All the dialects of Corsican are mutually intelligible with each other but there are variations in spelling and pronunciation. Although UNESCO classifies Corsican as a ‘definitely endangered language’ local efforts to rejuvenate it are proving successful.

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Planet Earth
Where is it spoken?

Corsica

Northern Sardinia

People Talking
Number of speakers

150,000

Family Tree
Language family

Indo-European

Italic

Romance

Fun facts — Corsican

  • Corsican is largely mutually intelligible with Standard Italian.
  • Napoleon Bonaparte was born in Corsica and his first language was Corsican, followed by Italian which was then the official language on the island. He only learned French from the age of 10.
  • There is no standardised spelling for written Corsican although the spelling system from the northern family of dialects tends to be used more often.
  • Corsican is written using the Latin alphabet but native Corsican words don’t use the letters j, k, w, x and y which are found only in foreign names and French vocabulary.
  • There is a Corsican saying ‘Eat your soup—or jump out the window’ – ‘O mangia a minestra, o salta a fenestra’ – which means put up with it or shut up. Soup was traditionally part of Corsicans’ staple diet

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