Ladin perspectives on language and identity in the Central Dolomites of Northern Italy

Following their partition in 1927, for the five historic Ladin valleys of the Central Dolomites in Northern Italy, a hierarchy of linguistic rights and protections has evolved reflecting the disparate multilevel systems of government under which the Ladin ethnolinguistic group has since been administered. Following analysis of 30 semi-structured interviews, this research investigates how respondents mobilise diverse conceptualisations of language to construct Ladin identity. In a region where Italian-, German- and Ladin-speaking ethnolinguistic groups coexist, minoritisation has rendered monolingualism an inviable option for Ladins. In its place, multilingualism has become a core facet of Ladin identity, which, respondents maintain, distinguishes them from other regional ethnolinguistic groups. Yet, respondents also describe how multilingualism inhibits their attaining a higher level of competency in Ladin and how the consequences of language contact affect how inherently Ladin the valley identities are perceived to be. Division through partition is viewed as diminishing the sense of group identity. A universal standard, Ladin Dolomitan, was intended to redress this. However, its artificiality is considered a barrier to its universal acceptance, especially so compared to naturally acquired local varieties. This raises important questions. Does maintaining multiple varieties of a small language endanger its very survival? Is a standard necessary for constructing ethnolinguistic identity, forging unity, and securing a future? At the heart of these questions is the very notion of survival, a notion that cannot be understated for small languages and their speakership. Embracing the very notion of small languages (Dorian, 2012), this thesis highlights how language ‘has other ways of being’ that reach beyond the constraints of a minority-majority dichotomy (Pietikäinen et al., 2016) exploring language policy and planning, and minority linguistic rights as increasingly informed from the bottom up, rendering the Ladin ethnolinguistic group an important and interesting case-study and an invaluable focus for sociolinguistic research.