Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-vdxz6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-24T10:57:36.609Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Shared places, unshared identities: vernacular discourses and spatialised constructions of identity in the linguistic landscape of Trieste

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 January 2016

Stefania Tufi
Stefania Tufi*
Affiliation:
Department of Cultures, Languages and Area Studies, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK
*
∗Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Language as it appears in the public space is at the centre of investigations into linguistic landscapes. Language agents immersed in a given geo-historical context contribute to the construction of spatialised meaning and to the transformation of space into place. The visibility of a language in a linguistic landscape does not just index a reality, i.e. the use of one or more languages within a community, but contributes to the symbolic construction of a given space. The current study aims to investigate the peculiarities of place-making and -marking of the Slovenian-speaking community in the area of Trieste via an analysis of written signs displaying the minority language. The paper will show that the tension resulting from achieved equality in the legal status of Slovenian and the perception of unequal power relations between different ethnic groups is reproduced in the construction of the local linguistic landscape. The final part of the discussion will suggest that public use of the Slovenian language is central to the performance of a material border.

Keywords

linguistic landscapeTriesteSlovenianborderspaceplace
Type
Articles
Information
Modern Italy , Volume 18 , Issue 4 , November 2013 , pp. 391 - 408
Copyright
Copyright © Association for the study of Modern Italy 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

References

“Accordo per l'amministrazione provvisoria della Venezia Giulia, 9 giugno 1945.” Accessed September 15, 2012. http://www.lasecondaguerramondiale.com/accordo-per-la-venezia-giulia.html Google Scholar
Anderson, M. 1996. Frontiers: Territory and State Formation in the Modern World. London: Polity.Google Scholar
Ara, A., and Magris, C. 2007. Trieste. Un'identità di frontiera. Turin: Einaudi.Google Scholar
Ascoli, G. I. 1873. “Saggi ladini” Archivio Glottologico Italiano 1:1–556.Google Scholar
Backhaus, P. 2007. Linguistic Landscapes: A Comparative Study of Urban Multilingualism in Tokyo. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar
Ben-Rafael, E., Shohami, E., Amara, M. H., and Trumper-Hecht, N. 2006. “Linguistic Landscape as Symbolic Construction of the Public Space: The Case of Israel” International Journal of Multilingualism 3(1):7–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blackwood, R., and Tufi, S. 2012. “Policies vs. non-Policies: Analysing Regional Languages and the National Standard in the Linguistic Landscape of French and Italian Mediterranean Cities.” In Minority Languages in the Linguistic Landscape, edited by Gorter, D., Marten, H. F, and Van Mensel, L., 109–126. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bourdieu, P. 1991. Language and Symbolic Power. Cambridge: Polity Press.Google Scholar
Brezigar, S. 2009. “The Slovene Language in Italy: Paths to a Value-added Position.” In Rights, Promotion and Integration Issues for Minority Languages in Europe, edited by Pertot, Susanna, Priestly, Tom M. S., and Williams, Colin H., 207–215. Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carli, A. 2002. “Fra mantenimento e obsolescenza. Alcune note sulla situazione dello sloveno a Trieste” Plurilinguismo 7:103–116.Google Scholar
Cenoz, J., and Gorter, D. 2006. “Linguistic Landscape and Minority Languages” International Journal of Multilingualism 3(1):67–80.Google Scholar
Corni, G. 2011. “The Exodus of Italians from Istria and Dalmatia, 1945–56.” In The Disentanglement of Populations. Migration, Expulsion and Displacement in Post-War Europe, edited by Reinisch, J., and White, E., 71–90. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Donnan, H., and Wilson, T. M. 1999. Borders: Frontiers of Identity, Nation and State. Oxford: Berg.Google Scholar
Eckert, P. 2000. Linguistic Variation as Social Practice. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Ferguson, R. 2007. A Linguistic History of Venice. Florence: Olschki.Google Scholar
Finco, F., and Rizzolatti, P. 2005. “Il veneto ‘cittadino’ nei centri urbani del Friuli occidentale.” In Dialetti in città, edited by Marcato, G., 317–324. Padua: Unipress.Google Scholar
Fusco, F., “Il Friuli-Venezia Giulia: mosaico di lingue, lingue di minoranza e dialetti.” Accessed 20 September 2012. http://www.treccani.it/magazine/lingua_italiana/speciali/minoranze/Fusco.html Google Scholar
Gartner, T. 1883. Rätoromanische Grammatik. Heilbronn: Henninger.Google Scholar
Gorter, D., ed. 2006. Linguistic Landscape: A New Approach to Multilingualism. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar
Gumperz, J. 1964. “Linguistic and Social Interaction in Two Communities” American Anthropologist 66:37–53.Google Scholar
Huebner, T. 2006. “Bangkok's Linguistic Landscapes: Environmental Print, Codemixing and Language Change” International Journal of Multilingualism 3(1):31–51.Google Scholar
Jaworski, A., and Thurlow, C., eds. 2010. Semiotic Landscapes: Language, Image, Space. London: Continuum.Google Scholar
Kaučič-Baša, M. 1997. “Where Do Slovenes Speak Slovene and to Whom? Minority Language Choice in a Transactional Setting” International Journal of the Sociology of Language 124:51–73.Google Scholar
Kloss, H. 1967. “Abstand Languages and Ausbau Languages” Anthropological Linguistics 9(7):29–41.Google Scholar
Labov, W. 1972. Sociolinguistic Patterns. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.Google Scholar
Landry, R., and Bourhis, R. Y. 1997. “Linguistic Landscape and Ethnolinguistic Vitality: An Empirical Study” Journal of Language and Social Psychology 16(1):23–49.Google Scholar
Marcato, C. 2001. Friuli Venezia Giulia. Bari: Laterza.Google Scholar
Milroy, J. 2001. “Language Ideologies and the Consequences of Standardisation” Journal of Sociolinguistics 5(4):530–555.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ožbot, M. 2009. “Sloveno e italiano in contatto: qualche osservazione sugli scambi linguistici in una zona bilingue.” In Alloglossie e comunità alloglotte nell'Italia contemporanea. Teorie, applicazioni e descrizioni, prospettive. Atti del XLI Congresso internazionale di studi della Società di Linguistica Italiana (SLI), Pescara, 27–29 September 2007, edited by Consani, Carlo, Desideri, Paola, Guazzelli, Francesca, and Perta, Carmela. Rome: Bulzoni.Google Scholar
Paasi, A. 1991. “Deconstructing Regions: Notes on the Scales of Spatial Life” Environment and Planning A 23:239–256.Google Scholar
Paasi, A. 1996. Territories, Boundaries and Consciousness: The Changing Geographies of the Finnish–Russia Border. Chichester: Wiley.Google Scholar
Paasi, A. 1999. “Boundaries as Social Practice and Discourse: The Finnish–Russian Border” Regional Studies 33(7):669–680.Google Scholar
Paasi, A. 2005. “The Changing Discourses on Political Boundaries: Mapping the Backgrounds, Contexts and Contents.” In B/Ordering Space, edited by Van Houtum, Henk, Kramsch, Olivier, and Zierhoger, Wolfgang, 17–31. Aldershot: Ashgate.Google Scholar
Pellegrini, G. B. 1977. Saggi di linguistica italiana. Storia, struttura, società. Turin: Boringhieri.Google Scholar
Pellegrini, G. B. 1991. La genesi del retoromanzo (o ladino). Tübingen: Niemeyer.Google Scholar
Penello, N. 2005. “Dialetti e città di mare nell'alto Adriatico.” In Dialetti in città, edited by Marcato, Gianna, 325–330. Padua: Unipress.Google Scholar
Premik, K. 2004. Relazioni italo–Slovene 1880–1956. Trieste: Novi Revija.Google Scholar
Pupo, R. 2005. Il lungo esodo. Istria: le persecuzioni, le foibe, l'esilio. Milan: Rizzoli.Google Scholar
Reh, M. 2004. “Multilingual Writing: A Reader-oriented Typology – with Examples from Lira Municipality (Uganda)” International Journal of the Sociology of Language 170:1–41.Google Scholar
Salimbeni, F. 1980. “Graziadio Isaia Ascoli e la Venezia Giulia.” Quaderni Giuliani di Storia I: 1980–81 51–68.Google Scholar
Sbisà, M., and Vascotto, P. 2007. “How to Conceive of the Other's Point of View: Considerations from a Case Study in Trieste.” In The Discourse of Europe: Talk and Text in Everyday Life, edited by Millar, Sharon, and Wilson, John, 153–171. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scollon, R., and Wong Scollon, S. 2003. Language in the Material World. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Sussi, E. 2003. “Gli Sloveni in Italia: la situazione attuale e le prospettive” Plurilinguismo 9:203–216.Google Scholar
Toso, F. 2006. Lingue d'Europa. Milan: Baldini Castoldi Dalai.Google Scholar
Toso, F. 2008. Le minoranze linguistiche in Italia. Bologna: Il Mulino.Google Scholar
Tufi, S. 2010. “Degrees of Visibility of Immigrant Communities in the Linguistic Landscape of Genoa and Cagliari.” In Into and Out of Italy: The Language and Culture of Migrants, edited by Ledgeway, A., and Lepschy, A. L., 31–42. Perugia: Guerra.Google Scholar
Tufi, S. 2013. “Language Ideology and Language Maintenance: The Case of Sardinia” International Journal of the Sociology of Language 219:145–160.Google Scholar
Tufi, S., and Blackwood, R. 2010. “Trademarks in the Linguistic Landscape: Methodological and Theoretical Challenges in Qualifying Brand Names in the Public Space” Journal of Multilingualism 7(3):197–210.Google Scholar

Documents

Italian Constitution. Accessed 28 September 2012. http://www.governo.it/governo/costituzione/principi.html Google Scholar
Law 1012/1961. Accessed 23 October 2012. Text not retrievable. Reference to law in http://www.slori.org/mima/index.php?pag=10andlang=itaandPHPSESSID=nsmafbdvkz Google Scholar
Laws 15/1996 and 29/2007 for the protection and the promotion of Friulian language and culture. Accessed 5 October 2012. http://lexview-int.regione.fvg.it/fontinormative/xml/XmlLex.aspx?anno=1996andlegge=15andlista=0andfx=lex and http://lexview-int.regione.fvg.it/fontinormative/xml/XmlLex.aspx?anno=2007andlegge=29 Google Scholar
Law 482/1999 for the protection of historical linguistic minorities. Accessed 1 October 2012. http://www.parlamento.it/parlam/leggi/994821.htm Google Scholar
Laws 4/1999 and 20/2009 for the protection and the promotion of German amongst Germanophone communities. Accessed 10 October 2012. http://www.lingue.regione.fvg.it/NR/rdonlyres/A1000590-82EA-44A5-AAEC-9CAC169AAA13/188/LR41999art6.pdf and http://www.crdc.unige.it/doc/dir_linguistici/palermo/LEGGE-Friuli-20-2009-minoranza-tedesca.pdf Google Scholar
Law 38/2001 for the protection of the Slovenian linguistic minority. Accessed 10 September 2012. http://www.crdc.unige.it/doc/dir_linguistici/palermo/legge-Friuli-38-2001-minoranza-slovena.pdf Google Scholar
Law 5/2010 for the promotion of Venetan varieties. Accessed 10 October 2012. http://www.crdc.unige.it/doc/dir_linguistici/palermo/legge-Friuli-5-2010-tutela-dialetto-veneto.pdf Google Scholar