Tutela delle lingue minoritarie come tutela del repertorio: riflessioni dal caso Sudtirolo

The aim of this paper is to introduce some elements of the discussion about minority language policies, by focusing on the situation of German in South Tyrol. The central goal is to show how an "ecological" perspective (such as that presented by Haugen 1987) could contribute to a more objective and precise evaluation of language conflict situations. The paper will highlight the importance of the "environment" where the minority language lives: in this perspective, in order to undertake an effective language policy the linguistic repertoire of the community should be considered. For this reason, I will introduce some aspects of the sociolinguistic situation of South Tyrol, where the implementation of German in administrative and educational settings has not guaranteed the intercommunication between the Italian-speaking and the German-speaking groups. I will then present some salient results of a survey I carried out in South Tyrol, focusing on the language landscape perceived by the German speakers. These results are the starting point to analyse the strategies of language planning to implement multilingualism in South Tyrol. References CARLI, AUGUSTO (2002) "Cinquant'anni di 'tutela linguistica' in Alto Adige/Sudtirolo", Plurilinguismo, 9: 217-226. HAUGEN, EINAR (1987) "Language Planning", In: Ammon, Ulrich - Dittmar, Norbert - Mattheier, Klaus J. (ed.) Sociolinguistics / Soziolinguistik, vol. I, de Gruyter, Berlin / New York: 626-637.