Veranstaltungsprogramm

This contribution provides important insight into the complex issue of promoting the use of an endangered languages in the Human-Machine Era when the Internet plays a major role in terms of visibility as well as being an easy and speed way of communication.

This research focuses on the webpage Vocabolär del Valoc’ de la Val Mäśen (VVV) which is part of the homonym project created in 2017. The aim of this project is to study language practices and representations of Valoc’, a dialect of Lombard spoken in Val Masino, a lateral valley located in lower Valtellina (Northern Italy). Populated by around 1,000 inhabitants, Val Masino is the place where Valoc’ is spoken even though most of its speakers are older than 40. Thanks to migration, some Valoc’ speakers live abroad mainly in Argentina, the USA, France, and Switzerland. The Facebook page represents then the link between these people connecting families that have been separated for more than a century. Our approach is both sociolinguistic and ethnographic as we complete our study with observations and interviews among speakers of different ages, genders, and professions, to observe how Valoc’ is still used and in which forms.

Mainly an oral practice, thanks to this Facebook experience, many more members of the community started to write in Valoc’, even though the practice is often mixed with Italian or other languages. To conclude, this contribution allows us to reflect on how the new ‘global’ society may influence the process of transmission of this endangered dialect, which ​​needs to be revitalized. This project is vital in order to introduce Valoc’ as a vehicular language not only orally but also in written form, considering the question of an orthographic norm to be promoted. Is a unique norm of reference necessary for preserving Valoc’ for the future?