Corsican
PrintA language of France
ISO 639-3
Alternate Names
Corse, Corsi, Corso, Corsu
Population
30,000 in France (2009), decreasing. On Corsica, 125,000 people have some command of Corsican. Population total all countries: 31,000.
Location
Corsica, Paris, Marseilles. Also in Canada, Cuba, Italy, Puerto Rico, United States, Uruguay, Venezuela.
Language Maps
Language Status
5 (Developing). Statutory provincial working language in Island of Corsica (2005, Autonomy Law No. 97, Article 7), mainly used in education.
Classification
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.
Language Use
All ages. Also use French [fra].
Language Development
Bible portions: 1861–1994.
Language Resources
Writing
Latin script.