The idea of a “minority” or “minoritised” language is not fixed — it depends on a specific place, time and social context. A language is considered minoritised when it occupies a subordinate position to another, more dominant language within a community. This status results from political, economic and cultural forces, not from anything inherent to the language itself.

In sociolinguistics, terms like minority and minoritised languages are commonly used. In self-translation studies, Castro et al. (2017) propose the term “minorised” to highlight how certain languages are actively pushed to the margins and treated as less valuable. Following this approach, ATLAS uses minorised language to refer to any language that lacks recognition, visibility or support compared to the dominant language used in the same community.

Spain has played a leading role in research on self-translation, especially through work on Basque, Catalan and Galician. Italy also has contributed significantly to scholarship and has a long history of linguistic diversity, but research has tended to focus on diaspora authors, rather than on local linguistic varieties.

ATLAS focuses on Sicilian because it occupies a minorised and vulnerable position. Despite its rich history and longstanding written tradition, Sicilian is officially classified as a dialect. UNESCO recognizes it as a vulnerable language, yet Italian law does not acknowledge it as a language. Sicilian itself is not uniform: there are many varieties across the island. In this project, “Sicilian language” refers to a linguistic variety defined by common structural features, and the term language is used simply to denote a means of communication with its own functions and organization.

Research identifies several challenges: signs of interrupted transmission between generations, unsupportive attitudes reinforced by linguistic politics and schooling, and limited written use restricted to a few domains. At the same time, self-translation is actively happening – particularly in music and poetry, and across traditional publishing and digital spaces.

These different spaces play distinct roles. Written texts and literature often carry prestige and public recognition, while digital environments validate a wider range of linguistic forms, helping challenge the historical marginalization of languages that do not conform to a “standard”. Sicilian self-translations frequently appear in bilingual formats, placing Sicilian alongside Italian and visually questioning Italian’s dominance – especially when the Sicilian version is given prominence.

Because varieties labelled as “dialects” have a much lower chance of being maintained, minorised languages need active recognition and support to remain vital. Understanding whether self-translation can strengthen Sicilian and contribute to its long-term sustainability is therefore central to ATLAS.