engleski

Language attitudes among Arbanasi youth in Zadar (Croatia)

The Arbanasi are speakers of a minority language in the Dalmatian town of Zadar, Croatia, which they have inhabited for almost three hundred years now. They are among the smallest language minorities both in Croatia and Europe, and with only a few hundred speakers Arbanasi is also regarded as a severely endangered language. In order to get a broader insight into language attitudes, identification process and linguistic competence and language practices of Arbanasi youth, a sociolinguistic study among elementary school children in Arbanasi was conducted in 2014 and was repeated in 2018. The aim of the present chapter is, therefore, threefold: 1. To explain the complex identification processes among elementary school pupils in Arbanasi i.e., how they identify and, among those who identify as Arbanasi, on what grounds they tend to do so ; 2. To analyse (their) attitudes towards Arbanasi and how it compares to language attitudes of those who do not identify as Arbanasi ; and 3. To examine if any changes between 2014 and 2018 regarding language competence, practices, and attitudes towards Arbanasi took place. The study focuses on young people, specifically 7th and 8th elementary school pupils as potential future speakers, and more specifically on their attitudes and identification with Arbanasi community as an important indicator of minority language sustainability in the future.

Arbanasi youth ; language attitudes ; identification processes ; Zadar ; sociolinguistic questionnaire

nije evidentirano