Symbolic ethnicity, cultural and linguistic landscape: remnants of 'Little Europe' in the Valcanale (Northeast Italy)

This study investigates 'Little Europe', the rural, mountainous Italian region of the quadrilingual Valcanale, bordering Austria and Slovenia. The combined analysis of cultural landscape, linguistic landscape (LL) and symbolic ethnicity provides a new concept to examine multilingual region...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:National identities Vol. 24; no. 2; pp. 121 - 143
Main Authors: Plautz, Anna-Maria, Hasenauer, Leonie, Jelen, Igor, Čede, Peter, Steinicke, Ernst
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Abingdon Routledge 15.03.2022
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Subjects:
Cultural heritage
cultural landscape
Culture
Ethnicity
Ethnolinguistic minority
ethnolinguistic visibility
Ethnolinguistics
German language
Italian language
Italy
Linguistic landscape
Linguistics
Minority languages
Official languages
Preservation
Regions
Rural communities
symbolic ethnicity
Symbolism
Symbols
Italy
Europe
ISSN:1460-8944, 1469-9907
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:This study investigates 'Little Europe', the rural, mountainous Italian region of the quadrilingual Valcanale, bordering Austria and Slovenia. The combined analysis of cultural landscape, linguistic landscape (LL) and symbolic ethnicity provides a new concept to examine multilingual regions. In this once Austrian valley, where German was the official language before WWI, Italian now dominates over minority languages, as exemplified by official signs. However, elements of the area's cultural and linguistic landscape reveal unexpected linguistic practices and visible, locatable artefacts of the Valcanale's ethnolinguistic heritage, which we assume to play a key role in the preservation of symbolic ethnicity.
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ISSN:1460-8944
1469-9907
DOI:10.1080/14608944.2021.1894109