Veranstaltungsprogramm

My study compares two endangered minority language communities with opposite attitudes towards their languages, focusing on the sociolinguistic differences between them caused by very different states of historical circumstances and institutional recognition. The Arbëresh speaking communities settled in Sicily around the 15th century, while the Arvanitika speaking communities settled in Greece around the 13th century. Arbëresh and Arvanitika (both, old Albanian varieties), are respectively considered “definitely” and “severely” endangered languages in Unesco’s Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger (Moseley, 2010: 24), but the state of their maintenance, patterns of language use, and speakers’ attitudes today are in sharp contrast.

While positive linguistic attitudes and language loyalty persist in the case of Arbëresh, shame for the language, prevails among Arvanitika speakers and semi-speakers. For complex historical and political reasons, Arbëresh communities have had for centuries a strong elite with high linguistic sensibilities, which has not been true in the case of Arvanitika. The Italian law 482 recognizes and protects Arbëresh as one of the Italian historical minority languages. Furthermore, Italy is one of the signatories of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages (ECRML), although it has not ratified it, while Greece has never signed it in practice does not recognize the minorities. These differences have produced opposing dominant ideologies towards minority languages, and have directly affected the speakers attitudes and minority language use.

I first assess historically how linguistic ideologies surface in speakers' narratives about their language, themselves and others. I make a comparison of sociolinguistic and extra-linguistic phenomena in the two communities emphasizing the role of the dominant ideologies and language recognition in both countries. states and of different institutional recognition of these languages. Then I outline differences in systematic linguistic behaviors and language practice with regard to maintenance and revival of language in these communities.