Mehrsprachigkeit in Europa: Plurilinguismo in Europa ... - EURAC

Enrico Chessa
4.1 What can be done?
Thus, how can the specifi c problem under discussion be solved? In other words, what else can be
done in order to dispose of a standard variety to refer to, on the one side, while being able to
keep to the minimum the writing-induced changes, on the other? There are reasons to believe
that the balance can only be achieved if language planning is approached from a bottom-top
perspective rather than a top-down one. In other words, the planner should, fi rst, fi nd and/or
create occasions where Alguerès become the main variety of interaction within domains at
the bottom of the social spectrum (i.e., informal situations). Only then (or at the same time),
he/she will begin to introduce the standard variety in offi cial contexts. In doing so, the planner
will give the new-speakers chances to familiarize with the threatened variety before (or at the
same time) they see it in its written form.
The primary task of the language planner would therefore be to introduce (gradually and
as natural as he/she possibly can) Alguerès in different contexts where the use of the language
will be natuaral and spontaneous. By encouraging the use of the threatened variety in such
contexts, the planner will assure a constant exposure of the new-speakers to oral inputs received
by native-speakers. It will become therefore essential to encourage the use of Alguerès within
those informal spaces where both adults, with a good competence in the threatened variety,
and young new-speakers are involved: football teams, scouts, leisure centers, etc. Indeed,
unless a solid ground is created, the diffusion of the standard cannot be as smooth as the
planner would like it to, and the language shift problem will be solved (if at all) only partially.
5. Conclusions
With this paper I have focused my attention on those situations of language shift in which
specifi c sociolinguistic circumstances make the reversing process quite complex. Through the
case of Alghero (a small town in the North-western Sardinia) I have put forward that, for the
language planning process to be successful, this must necessarily be seen in terms of: a careful
sociolinguistic analysis of the context as well as setting objectives, and elaborating strategies
to achieve them. We have then seen that if the approach to language shift is not conceived in
this fashion, the process of planning may be (partially) unsuccessful. Specifi cally, I have focused
the attention on standardization, as an essential step within the macro-process of language
planning, and on the possible writing-induced phonological changes as a result of it.
We have seen that, although standardization is a process mainly concerned with writing,
the spelling system can have an effect on the phonology of spoken varieties, as important
mismatches between graphemes and phonemes may occur. In these cases, the relationship
between orthography and sounds may be totally or partially reinterpreted by the speaker. This
is particularly true in those instances where the new-speakers (i.e., speakers in a process of
acquisition) do not dispose of a spontaneous, natural, colloquial linguistic system to refer to.
That is, when the language shift process is found in an advanced stage.
Alghero is defi nitely a clear example of language shift. Now, although the community have
decided to undertake the task of reversing it,the normalization process seems to be based mainly
(if not exclusively) on the diffusion of a (written) standard, rather than on the effort to enhance
the colloquial use of the threatened variety (i.e., Catalan). This therefore means that natural,
spontaneous interaction between the new-speakers and fl uent speakers is diffi cult to take
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