engleski

How micro-contextual factors shape sustainability of minority languages: The story of Arbanasi and Molise Croatian in the Adriatic region

Since the ancient times, the Adriatic region has been the space of contact, migrations and hence cultural and linguistic exchange. One of the consequence of historic migrations and shifting state boundaries throughout history was the creation of a number of linguistic and cultural enclaves. Some of them have been preserved for centuries, but even those are marked by a high degree of endangerment today. A comparative research of the sociolinguistic profile of two such communities – the Arbanasi of Zadar on the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea and the Molise Croatian in the Italian region of Molise on the western side of the Adriatic – revealed distinctly different patterns of language attitudes and use. Although comparable in the history of migration from their historic homelands and the position of the communities in the newly inhabited territories in the past, and in spite of a number of common traits in their sociolinguistic profiles the Arbanasi and the Molise communities share nowadays, including their highly endangered status, the two communities display very different degrees of their sustainability potential. The research is based on an ethnographic approach which includes conducting in-depth interviews, focus groups as well as (different forms of) participant observation in both communities. The paper explores how various contextual factors that shaped these communities in the past are reflected in the discourses about language in the present and discusses their impact on the potential of language maintenance and revitalization in the future.

Arbanasi, Molise Croatian, Zaratino, language enclaves, language maintenance, language shift, linguistic sustainability

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