A matter of strength: Language policy, attitudes, and linguistic dominance in three bilingual communities

Brasca, Lissander, Tamburelli, Marco, Gruffydd, Ianto ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0002-6242-9411 and Breit, Florian 2024. A matter of strength: Language policy, attitudes, and linguistic dominance in three bilingual communities. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development 10.1080/01434632.2024.2408448

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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.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Published Online
Status:	In Press
Schools:	English, Communication and Philosophy
Publisher:	Taylor and Francis Group
ISSN:	0143-4632
Funders:	Economic and Social Research Council
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	28 October 2024
Date of Acceptance:	19 September 2024
Last Modified:	13 Nov 2024 14:21
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/172312

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