Language transmission coming to a halt after a 500-year survival story: the case of Arberesh in Italy

Abstract

This research in 2022 was preceded by debates regarding the endangerment of Arberesh. Knowledge and evidence from research have been scarce and far from comprehensive, and language endangerment is not an official issue on the agenda for the politicians, local official and the academia related to Arberesh studies; nor have been any efforts for developing language policies. The data from our field trip in June 2022 confirm an almost complete language shift within the present community and the worrying intragenerational transmission. The quantitative data about the language use have been co-evaluated with the qualitative information provided in interviews about the set of the present language endangerment factors in view of an estimate of Arberesh in 1-2 generations ’ time. This shift in transmission levels and patterns has had an impact in many directions, particularly onto the absolute number of the minority population and the proportion of real speakers. The question is whether the younger generation has been irreversibly impacted and the language has, for certain, stopped being transmitted to the younger generation in the main core of Arberesh communes.