Shared language, diverging genetic histories: high-resolution analysis of Y-chromosome variability in Calabrian and Sicilian Arbereshe

Abstract

The relationship between genetic and linguistic diversification in human populations has been often explored to interpret some specific issues in human history. The Albanian-speaking minorities of Sicily and Southern Italy (Arbereshe) constitute an important portion of the ethnolinguistic variability of Italy. Their linguistic isolation from neighboring Italian populations and their documented migration history, make such minorities particularly effective for investigating the interplay between cultural, geographic and historical factors. Nevertheless, the extent of Arbereshe genetic relationships with the Balkan homeland and the Italian recipient populations has been only partially investigated. In the present study we address the genetic history of Arbereshe people by combining highly resolved analyses of Y-chromosome lineages and extensive computer simulations. A large set of slow- and fast-evolving molecular markers was typed in different Arbereshe communities from Sicily and Southern Italy (Calabria), as well as in both the putative Balkan source and Italian sink populations. Our results revealed that the considered Arbereshe groups, despite speaking closely related languages and sharing common cultural features, actually experienced diverging genetic histories. The estimated proportions of genetic admixture confirm the tight relationship of Calabrian Arbereshe with modern Albanian populations, in accordance with linguistic hypotheses. On the other hand, population stratification and/or an increased permeability of linguistic and geographic barriers may be hypothesized for Sicilian groups, to account for their partial similarity with Greek populations and their higher levels of local admixture. These processes ultimately resulted in the differential acquisition or preservation of specific paternal lineages by the present-day Arbereshe communities.

Ancient and recent admixture layers in Sicily and Southern Italy trace multiple migration routes along the Mediterranean

“…Consistently with previous bio-demographic and genetic studies 29 , 30 , Albanian-speaking groups of Southern Italy display a recent shared ancestry traceable to their putative Balkan-source populations (Fig. 3 , Supplementary Fig.…”

“…Their uncertain origins 24 – 28 have been related either to i) the ancient Magna Graecia foundation, ii) the subsequent Byzantine domination, or iii) the infiltration of Byzantine strata onto a pre-existing Magna Graecia matrix. Previous studies based on uniparental markers agreed with historical data in revealing signatures of a Balkan genetic heritage in the Southern Italian Arbereshe ethno-linguistic groups 29 , 30 . On the other hand, traces of the Greek colonization remain clearly visible in the historical and cultural heritage of Southern Italy (e.g.…”

Joint Genetic Analyses of Mitochondrial and Y-Chromosome Molecular Markers for a Population from Northwest China

“…As shown in Figure 2b, a heatmap of the pairwise Rst values for 23 Y-STRs indicated the genetic relationships of Kyrgyz group and 13 reference populations. These 13 reference populations included East Asian populations: Beijing Han [33][34][35], Guangdong Han [36], Southern Han [37], Asian American [38], Japanese [39][40][41][42], and Qiemo Uygur and Xinjiang Uygur in northwest China [43][44][45]; European populations: Estonian [46], Italian [47][48][49][50][51][52], Norwegian [53,54], European American, and Hispanic American [38]; and African population: African American [38]. According to the Rst values, the Kyrgyz group had the closest distances to the northwest Chinese populations, Qiemo Uygur (Rst = 0.0831) and Xinjiang Uygur (Rst = 0.0840), followed by the European populations with Rst ranging from 0.1177 to 0.1639, and then by other populations from East Asia (the Rst values were in the range of 0.2199 to 0.2957).…”

Culturural and Language Aspects and the Problem of Regional Disintegration. The Case of Italy

“…Northern group of the dialects covering the north and the northwest of the country, on the structure and features of historical development concerns to so-called Gallo-Italian (GalloRoman) languages, draw strong influence from the French and is characterized by the Celtic influence. The basic groups of dialects are: Piedmont, Lombardian, Emilia-Romanian languages, Ligurian and, conditionally, Venetian which also is included by the majority of researchers in this group [18]. Others allocate the Venetian dialect as standing independently7.…”

“…Italian roots on one of variants of the language which has occurred from the Latin period of the first millennium of our era, and is truer from a Tuscan dialect in its Florentine variant. Thus, from the historical point of view, Italian can be considered not as a basis of regional dialects, but as a parallel developing language [18].…”