Friuli Venezia Giulia, place names, local identity, minority languages
Abstract
In multilingual areas, displaying toponymic indications in different languages is a fundamental contribution to ensuring the visibility of the languages of the territory. In the case of minority language communities with marked dialect fragmentation, which either do not dispose of a variety of reference or whose variety of reference has been codified only recently, as well as in areas with little orientation towards an exogenous norm (language islands, but sometimes also border territories), deciding to display toponyms in several languages is, however, not without its problems: should the local form, often of limited diffusion, or a supra-local form be preferred? In the case of non-codified languages, which graphic tradition should one refer to? Using the example of Friuli Venezia Giulia, in north-eastern Italy, we will illustrate how toponymic choices could be very different if the actors implementing them are different. Furthermore, we will show how this can cause irritation and negative reactions in the local community. We will then attempt to investigate the motives driving such choices and what culture of memory emerges from them.
Author Biographies
Franco Finco, Pädagogische Hochschule Kärnten
Franco Finco studied Linguistics, Italian linguistics and dialectology, Slavistics (Slovenian and Serbo-Croatian) and Language pedagogy in Udine, Ljubljana, and Pula. PhD in Ladinistics and multilingualism at University of Udine with a study on the phonology of Central Friulian. From 2010 to 2012, he served as assistant professor; from 2012 to 2014 he was associate professor of Italian linguistics at the Department of Italian Studies, Faculty of Humanities, University of Rijeka in Croatia. From 2014 to present, he serves as visiting professor of Italian linguistics at the same faculty. From 2014 to present, he is a professor of Italian linguistics and Language pedagogy at the Institute for Multilingualism and Transcultural Education at the University College of Teacher Education Carinthia in Klagenfurt, Austria. He is the editor of the QTF series „Quaderni di Toponomastica Friulana“ published by the Società Filologica Friulana. Research interests: Italian linguistics, dialectology, multilingualism, contact linguistics in the Alpe-Adria area (Friulian, Italian, Slovenian, Croatian, German), language pedagogy, onomastics (anthroponymy, toponymy).
Luca Melchior, Alpen-Adria-Universität Klagenfurt
Luca Melchior studied German and Romanian Philology in Udine, Rostock and Timişoara. He specialised in Italian as foreign language at Ca’ Foscari (Venice). PhD in Italian philology, Ladinistics and multilingualism at the LMU Munich and at the University of Udine with a study of migrational linguistics on the Friulians of Bavaria. 2009-2018, he served as postdoctoral assistant at the Institute for ‘Romanistik’ of the KFU in Graz. 2018-2021, he worked as research professor of multilingualism at the AAU in Klagenfurt (Institut für Kulturanalyse). Since 2021, he has been a contract lecturer at the AAU (Institut für Slawistik, School of Education, Institut für Erziehungswissenschaft und Bildungsforschung, Institut für Unterrichts- und Schulentwicklung). He is member of the editorial board of Ce fastu? and of the scientific committee of Philologica Jassyensia. Research interests: Multilingualism, sociolinguistics, history of linguistics, language contact, lexicography, and meta-lexicography.
Finco, F. and Melchior, L. 2022. ‘Toponimi esposti’ in lingua minoritaria nella regione Friuli Venezia Giulia: Tra normalizzazione e autopercezione . apropos [Perspektiven auf die Romania]. 8 (Jul. 2022), 119–152. DOI:https://doi.org/10.15460/apropos.8.1924.
