Corsican

COS

developing

Alternate Names: Corse, Corsi, Corso, Corsu

Dialects: Northern Corsican (Bastia, Cape Cors), Sartenais, Venaco, Vico-Ajaccio. Lexical similarity: 79%–89% with Bastia, Venaco, Vico, and Sartene dialects. Bonifacio on the southern tip of the island has 78% lexical similarity (highest) with Bastia at extreme north. Ajaccio dialect is central and prestigious.

Status Notes: Statutory provincial working language in Island of Corsica (2005, Autonomy Law No. 97, Article 7), mainly used in education.

Genealogy:

Indo-European
Italic
Romance
Southern
Corsican

Demographics: 30,000 in France (2009), decreasing. On Corsica, 125,000 people have some command of Corsican. Population total all countries: 31,000.

Language Use: All ages. Also use French [fra].

Language Development: Bible portions: 1861–1994.

Writing System: Latin

Nation of Origin: France