Abstract
A joint conference of the Merano Academy and the Center for Autonomy Experience, Eurac Research, to explore the linguistic history of our region.
South Tyrol and historic Tyrol have always been multilingual Alpine regions. Situated at the intersection of two major cultural and economic areas, Italian was not unfamiliar in Merano, Bolzano, or the southern parts of the region even before South Tyrol's annexation by Italy between 1918 and 1920. Similarly, German had been occasionally used as a lingua franca in Trentino since the Middle Ages. In addition to these two major languages, several smaller and much older languages have coexisted. Despite a long process of retreat, Dolomite Ladin with its various dialects, as well as Cimbrian in Luserna and Mocheno in Trentino, are still spoken in the side valleys of the Eastern Alps. Migration, territorial expansions, and cultural transformations have continuously reshaped the linguistic landscape of the "land in the mountains," illustrating how complex linguistic history can be.
With twelve German-Italian presentations spanning from the Early Middle Ages to the early 20th century, the conference on November 25, 2023, will explore historical multilingualism in South Tyrol: What languages were spoken in southern Tyrol during the time of Walther von der Vogelweide and Dante Alighieri? How was the largely Rhaeto-Romance Vinschgau region Germanized? What do place names and field names reveal about the linguistic history of Merano? And more broadly: What role did the concepts of "language," "multilingualism," and contact with foreign languages play in the lives of people from the Middle Ages, the Early Modern Period, and the early modern era?
Researchers from history, linguistics, literary and translation studies, as well as cultural anthropology, will address these questions – culminating in a round table discussion on prevailing ideas of multilingualism in both historical and contemporary contexts.