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but, as shown by a sociolinguistic study
carried out a few years ago in Acquaviva the majority of
speakers (70%) nevertheless
have positive or normal attitude toward
the use of idiom, including also younger speakers.10
The language still
has a relatively
high prestige as a symbol
of solidarity and
collective identity. However, a more in depth
study into the linguistic
attitudes of this group would certainly
be called for and would probably
reveal pragmatic and
economic issues as
decisive in utility
and frequency of use of
Na-našo
for communication.
Preservation Efforts and
Standardization Problems
What had a powerful impact on community
efforts to revive the language was
a national law (No. 482) for the protection
and promotion of linguistic and cultural
historic minorities that was passed in December
1999. Although the work of implementing
this legislation into practical
projects is still under way, some actions
have been undertaken strengthening positive
attitudes toward language preservation
and stimulating general revitalization
of traditional culture (like weaving).
Croatian community leaders, and linguistically
trained activists, took immediate advantage of the
favorable national and
international
situation after the legislation was passed and
by establishing a
documentation research center, and organizing
Standard Croatian language courses.
The initial steps have been also made
toward the
codification of the language by
the publication of
two dictionaries of the idioms spoken in
Mundimitar and Kruč.
In any attempt to codify a language
the problem of standardization arises as
the result of any
codification must be accepted
by the group members, otherwise
it will not be used
by them. In an overview of the main scholarly positions
on the
relationship between endangered languages |
and literacy, Grenoble
And
Whaley17
warn that although literacy is essential
to nationalism and to language survival
in the modern world, in some cases
it facilitates language loss. They maintain
that literacy has a strong effect at the
macro-level, the larger and external context of
linguistic endangerment, but that its effect on language
vitality is primarily
a result of micro-variables, which are specific
characteristics of each community with an
endangered language.
Consequently, in interventions of revitalization
any attempt to isolate the language,
its uses and registers from its context
and sociopolitical and economic factors
is bound to be inadequate18,20.
Along with the institutional support
provided by the Italian government and
Croatian institutions
based on bilateral
agreements between the
two states, the
Slavic communities
also received a new
label for their
language and a new ethnic
identity - Croatian
and there have been
increasing tendencies
to standardize the
spoken idiom on the
basis of Standard
Croatian. It should
be stressed, however,
that although they
regarded their different language as a source of
prestige and
self-appreciation, these communities have
always considered
themselves to be Italians who in addition have Slavic
origins and
at best accept to be called Italo-Slavi, while the term
»Molise Croatian« emerged
recently as a general term in scientific
and popular literature to describe the Croatian-speaking population living
in the
Molise. As Giles and Johnson21 acknowledge
ethnic group membership is
not the only salient
category in people's
lives and may not be
of explanatory value
in ali social
interactions. According to
modern theories of
identity as a dynamic social construct use of Croatian
vernacular by the communities in question may
qualify them in terms
of linguistic categories as Croatians, but their
collective identity
has been formed on locally founded |
