engleski

How does a minority of a minority cope with a lack of recognition: The case of Italian minority in Moslavina, Croatia

Based on theories of identity and ethnic boundaries (e.g. Barth, Eriksen, Alba, Nee etc.) combined with ethnolinguistic sustainability approach (Ehala, 2010) we describe how group boundaries are established, perceived and changed as well as how these processes affect a group’s objective strength and its vitality. Our study is focused on a small Italian community of Ciglenica in the North-Eastern continental Croatian region of Moslavina. This linguistic and ethnic minority within minority is made up mostly of economic migrants who arrived at the end of the 19th century, but managed to maintain their identity despite different acculturation influences and a lack of both Croatian and Italian recognition. In this paper we sought to understand the meaning of 'Italianness' among the members of this minority group, the way in which this sentiment of belonging is translated into different linguistic among other cultural practices, and the perception of their relation with and position within a larger Italian minority and Croatian majority in Croatia. On the basis of ethnographic observation and in-depth interviews, we obtained an insight into language attitudes, linguistic practices, and often mutually intertwining identification processes that characterize Italians in Ciglenica, but are necessarily transferred to majority population of Ciglenica. While the perceived status of Italian sub-minority in Ciglenica as a migrant minority, even if not necessarily a ‘new’ one, has a negative influence on the objective indicators of its overall sustainability, distinctive subjective factors appear crucial/prevail in the maintenance of the Italian identity of Ciglenica community. The existing frameworks applied in the analysis of ethnolingustic vitality so fare are thus critically examined and supplemented by a call for broader interdisciplinary perspective in the analysis of similar social, cultural and linguistic laboratories.

Italian minority; ethnolinguistic sustainability; language attitudes; linguistic practices; ethnography of language; Croatia

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