Language Research

There are still unresolved problems regarding the recognition and protection of the Roma language. Up until now the Roma have been excluded from the framework legislation, despite the request of Roma speakers and their associations to be specifically considered. Pope John Paul II, in April of 2000, called for the integration of the Roma and Sinti communities into Italian society. The fact that draft proposals of specific legislation have been presented in Parliament in recent years may be some ground for hope.

The Slovene community in the Region Friuli Venezia Giulia has waited for 25 years for legislation to assure its linguistic rights, to protect its institutions and to extend the existing provisions to the whole area settled by Slovenes within the Region. Such legislation is essential to affirm the cultural and linguistic diversity of this border region. The law on the protection of the Slovene linguistic minority in the Region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia has been approved in the Italian Chamber of Deputies. The Law must be submitted to the Senate for its final approval, which should happen. The text is addressed to a wider social presence of the Slovene language, as in bilingual street signs, use of original surnames, in official documents as well as in schooling. The Slovene-speaking population in this region is approximately 80,000 people. Conservative parties (National Alliance and Forza Italia) have opposed this measure since they consider that the Slovene minority has been sufficiently recognized by the recently passed Framework Law on the Protection of Historic Linguistic Minorities. This fact, according to them, places the Slovene language in an advantageous position with respect to the other Italian minorities. However, the law has been anticipated for fifty years and would add to other current enforced legislation, such as those concerning the German language in South Tyrol, or the French language in the Aosta Valley.

A controversy is raging over bilingual place-names in South Tyrol. South Tyrol is divided over the issue of bilingual German-Italian place-names remaining as such or being replaced by German-only. The proposed legislation refers to granting municipalities freedom of choice. The majority opting probably for the German-only version and possible bilingual place names for so-called provincial or regional names. This presents the problem of who is to decide what is "provincial" and also creates the possibility of disputes over the official names, not only of towns, but also of rivers and mountain chains. Toni Ebner, Editor-in-Chief of the German-language daily "Dolomiten" recognizes the dangers inherent in the place-names controversy. "I can see that this long-existing controversy is one of the most important issues in South Tyrol and that it encourages both German and Italian nationalism," Ebner said. "I believe this is not the right time for a solution because the historical events are still not far enough in the past to decide for the best".

Top of page

Updated (January 2001)

LADIN

Ladins in the Italian Dolomites (northern Italy) are one of the twelve historical ethnic minorities officially recognized by the recently approved minority law (428/99). The minority with about 30,000 people is spread through three provinces (Bozen-Bolzano, Trento and Belluno) and enjoys different level of protection. While Bolzano has a secure legal basis for teaching of the language, in Trento the situation is less secure and Belluno relies only on voluntary work of individual teachers.

The main problem for the Ladin minority, spread among various valleys in the Dolomites, is the lack of integration. Different competing versions of the language have led to the need for standardization. According to Manuela Miribung from the University of Insbruck, a common standard was created, but so far it has not been used very much partly for political reasons.

Lack of coordination between Ladin communities exists in many fields, especially in the case of media. At the present, Ladins have only one weekly paper.

SOUTH TYROL

The political row over place names still continues in this province.

Bilingual place name signs in German and Italian were introduced in the area during fascism by the decree, which abolished German place-names and introduced new Italian versions, most of which had not existed before. Later the majority of the community, mostly German-speaking, wanted to restore the previous system with monolingual names, whereas the Italian speaking population opposed it.

Last August (2000), a new legislation granted municipalities freedom of choice and the majority was expected to opt for the German-only version and a possible bilingual denomination for provincial or supra-municipal names.

Top of page

Updated (July 2001)

SLOVENE

Slovene minority in Northeast Italian territory (Region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia) is having problems due to a lack of financial means. The law, approved in February concerning special care for minorities, mentions some 5 million Euros of financial funds more for the Slovene minority than it is the current reality. The funds provided by the new law will not be available until next year. At present, Slovene cultural institutions are in a critical financial situation. Worst affected is the Slovene music school "Glasbena matica", which had to fire most of its employees in June.

Top of page

Updated (November 2001)

SLOVENE

In November, during the meeting of the Central-European Initiative in Trieste was also raised the issue of lacking implementation of the protection law for Slovenes in Italy. Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi refused to meet representative body of the Slovene minority and his reaction to a question asked at the press conference was, "the protection law approved in the Parliament at Valentine's this year, will be applied before next Valentine's Day!"

Top of page

Updated (January 2002)

SOUTH TYROL

A new dispute aroused over the autonomy of South Tyrol (Bozen-Bolzano), a part of Italy granted by special autonomy on the basis of bilateral Italian-Austrian agreements.

The whole dispute was a clash between the Italian State and a body like the Autonomous Province of Bozen-Bolzano which enjoys very large autonomy, based on bilateral Italo-Austrian agreements.

The question concerned the registration of the so-called "declaration of linguistic belonging" which had to be registered at the Court of Justice of Bozen-Bolzano, according to the Special Statute of the Province. However, the present Italian central-right government suggested they should be