engleski

Bilingualism in the Namescape of Croatian Istria: A Geographical Approach

Istria is the Mediterranean region partially located in Italy, Slovenia and mostly in Croatia. It is the westernmost region of Croatia, with traditionally rooted and implemented Croatian- Italian bilingualism in some of its parts. Therefore, it is a good example of bilingualism in its cultural landscapes. The analyzed bilingual landscape elements are: signs with the street name, boards with names of the settlements, and road signs. The aim of this study is to show the relationship between the diverse historical development of Istria, a contemporary ethnic composition, and the modern namescape in Istria. The results of the research indicate that there is a direct relation between historical-geographical development of certain parts of Istria, its ethnic structure, and the presence of bilingual signs in the visible urban namescape. In the western, southern, and north-western parts of Istria, which were under strong Venetian and Italian influence in the past and are home to a larger Italian minority nowadays, the landscapes are characterized by bilingual Croatian-Italian signs. Accordingly, the towns of central Istria which are dominated by the large Croatian majority are marked by monolingual Croatian name signs.

Croatian Istria; cultural landscape; namescape; bilingual boards

nije evidentirano