engleski

The Fiuman dialect between language maintenance and shift

The Fiuman dialect between language maintenance and shift In the context of language contact between two (or more) speech communities of unequal status, language maintenance or language shift are expected. Language maintenance refers to the continuous use of a minority language, while language shift refers to abandoning it in favour of the majority one (Pauwels, 2016). The present study aims to determine whether Fiuman, the indigenous minority Romance language spoken in the Croatian city of Rijeka and its surroundings, is going through the process of language shift. Two hundred and forty-nine Fiuman speakers of different ages (age range: 14-89) completed a questionnaire investigating their language biography and self-assessed language proficiency in Fiuman as well as their (a) use of Fiuman in different domains, (b) attitudes towards Fiuman and motivation for knowing it, and (c) contribution to language maintenance. The questionnaire was offered in Italian and Croatian. The findings show that Fiuman speakers rate their competence in Fiuman very highly and feel a very strong emotional attachment to their collective identity. They report a high rate of intergenerational transmission and are aware of its importance. They lack instrumental motivation and are motivated primarily by integrative reasons for knowing Fiuman. They use Fiuman exclusively in private domains and consider it less sophisticated and modern than standard Italian. Interestingly, they write in it more nowadays than they did in the past due to text messaging and social networks. The results point towards a tendency to maintain Fiuman and transmit it to new generations, which is a prerequisite for language maintenance, but also to a highly restricted use of Fiuman in public domains, which may be a sign of gradual language shift. The importance of modern technologies and the new media for language maintenance is also revealed by the study.

Fiuman dialect ; language maintenance ; language shift

nije evidentirano