Language, Ethnicity, and the State: Minority Languages in the EU Ch7: When Language Does Not Matter: Regional Identity Formation in Northern Italy By Jaro Stacul

Introduction Both factual circumstances and opinions about the importance of language for nationalism vary Nations can no longer be defined economically or linguistically Regional identity may become more important in a Europe without borders

Regional identity in Northern Italy 1990s Lega Nord -- regionalist political movement predicated on economic success and local culture, but not on language, since N Italy encompasses many dialects while its public language is not different from S Trentino province shares history and legal culture with German-speaking South Tyrol -- both were part of Austro-Hungary, and Habsburgs did not enforce Germanization; both regions were integrated into Italy

A ”European” region? Since the advent of EU, regionalism has challenged the definition of the nation-state, and the definition of who belongs to a regional group has changed as well: anybody in S Tyrol can be a S Tyrolean, whether or not they speak German It became advantageous to strive for a combined S Tyrol + Trentino as a distinctive province of Italy, and a region of Europe, and historical figures previously associated with Austria have been coopted for Trentino identity -- this was done without using a language (German) as an identifier

Local identity and language Trentino has an array of various Italian dialects, with islands of Ladin and German - - in short, there is no linguistic unity in Trentino, so regional identity must be drawn from history and place However, local dialect is important in regional identity

We and ”the Italians” In Trentino outsiders are referred to as ’taliani (seen as intrusive, wealthy, corrupt), and traveling south is described as ’going to Italy’ Locals can become ”Italian” if they move or take on ”Italian” ways -- this is not dependent on language Widespread diglossia -- Italian H vs. dialect L -- Italian H must be acquired to succeed Trentinos feel themselves to be ”Austrian” even though they do not use German

We and ”the Italians”, cont’d. When language cannot be used as a distinctive marker (as is the case in Trentino), ”territory becomes the main focus of attachment” Attachment to dialect implies not a local identity so much as a conceptual failure to join the nation ”The construction of political and regional identities may take place without language playing a pivotal role”

Conclusions Identities can be manipulated for political aims Europe now stresses regional identities, but also multiculturalism and the obsolescence of national boundaries Varieties of categorization: –Uniform nation-state vs. ethnolinguistic minorities vs. new, transnational, regional identities based on place