Barbara Baloh

Položaj slovenščine pri italijanski narodnostni skupnosti v Slovenski Istri
The Status of the Slovene Language Among the Italian Ethnic Minority in Slovene Istria


Slovenski sinopsis
English synopsis
English summary

The Italian ethnic minority is exposed to the influence of the majority environment, therefore it has to make permanent effort to preserve its mother tongue, Italian, but in certain communicative situations the use of Slovene is unavoidable.

The main factors underlying knowledge and use of language(s) is the family. A coexistence of the two languages in the family is possible, but the use of Italian normally prevails.

A second major factor determining the linguistic behaviour of ethnic Italians is the environment. Little children get familiar with both Italian and Slovene at play. Later, at least some social contacts require the use of Slovene, so knowledge of the Slovene language is indispensable.

The relationship between L 1 and L 2 is significantly determined by various institutions and organisations, both Italian and Slovene. Opportunities for the use of both languages are abundant, and the choice of the language largely depends on the speech act situation and the speaker's personal decision.

Most ethnic Italians find it easier to express themselves in Italian, but they introduce Slovene words into their Italian discourse, mostly because they cannot recall an appropriate Italian word. Similarly, they use Italian words when speaking Slovene if they cannot find a suitable Slovene expression. Their attitude to Slovene is positive and they recognize that they need to know Slovene, both written and spoken.

Their linguistic competence in Italian is limited to dialect and standard language, and their choice depends on the speech act situation.

Knowledge of the Italian language can be maintained through activities of Italian institutions (ethnic Italians believe they would need more Italian institutions), more intensive contacts with Italy, higher quality of teaching Italian in Italian language schools in Istria, better knowledge of Italian among the majority population, various cultural and other events in Italian, and above all through a stronger feeling of national identity and bilateral respect for bilingualism.

The more detailed analysis of individual answer sheets showed that each individual member of the Italian ethnic minority has an idiosyncratic, original combination of linguistic practice: in each individual, this practice is slightly different, yet similar enough for the postulation of collective bilingualism.

The results of the study can lead to further research of language contact on the bilingual territory of Slovene Istria. Language contact could be further explored in terms of the users' social status, educational level, mixed marriages... Speech of bilingual persons could be tape-recorded and subsequently analysed.