Brasca, Lissander; Gruffydd, Ianto; TAMBURELLI, Marco; Breit, Florian; (2024) A matter of strength: language policy, attitudes, and linguistic dominance in three bilingual communities. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development pp. 1-21. 10.1080/01434632.2024.2408448. (In press).

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Abstract

This article investigates the relationship between language attitudes and different bilingual language policies in three European communities where a regional/minority language is spoken: (1) the Lombard – Italian community in Italy, where Lombard does not benefit from any active policy; (2) the Moselle-Franconian – German community of the Belgian Eifel, where Moselle-Franconian speakers are a recognised linguistic minority, albeit as German-speaking, with Moselle-Franconian indirectly supported as a closely related German variety; and (3) the Welsh – English community in Wales, where the Welsh language enjoys full sociopolitical recognition. In two studies that combine a direct and an indirect method, we collected attitudinal data from a total of N = 235 participants (aged 23–38 years) across three locations. Results suggest a link between language policy and speakers’ attitudes, with Welsh scoring higher than both Moselle-Franconian and Lombard, and Moselle-Franconian scoring higher than Lombard. This trend is explained in view of a tripartite model that places horizontal bilingualism as the most positive societal situation for language maintenance, followed by diglossia, and with vertical bilingualism as the least desirable case.

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