A Sociolinguistic Survey of Friulian as a "Minor Language"

Friulian affords a good example of a "minor lang" in a European sociolinguistic context. It is spoken in the northeast corner of Italy by some 500,000 people: traditionally it is classified as the eastern branch of the so-called Rhaeto-romance section of the Romance langs. How Friulian is...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International journal of the sociology of language 1976-01, Vol.9, p.97-121
Main Author: Francescato, Giuseppe
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Bilingual/Bilingualism
Europe
Language/Languages
Linguistic/Linguistics
Socio
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:Friulian affords a good example of a "minor lang" in a European sociolinguistic context. It is spoken in the northeast corner of Italy by some 500,000 people: traditionally it is classified as the eastern branch of the so-called Rhaeto-romance section of the Romance langs. How Friulian is characterized as a "minor lang" is discussed, & the following features are proposed as characterizing a "minor lang": (1) being the native lang of bilingual speakers, who learn their "major lang" as a secondary one, & (2) achieving "flexible stability" sufficient to justify a measure of pride -- even if other conditions typical of standardization are excluded. J. Schwarz.
ISSN:0165-2516