Friulian is a Romance language spoken mainly in the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region (in the provinces of Udine, Pordenone and Gorizia), it is used regularly by more than half of its population (to which must also be added a large number of inhabitants who understand it) and in some municipalities in the Veneto. Some people mistakenly define it as a dialect, but from a linguistic point of view, Friulian is not a simple “local dialect”, but to all intents and purposes a language own. It does not derive from Italian, but belongs to the family of Romance or Romance languages, has an autonomous history and specific structural and grammatical characteristics, is rich in its own written tradition and can boast of having official legal recognition.
The difference between language or dialect
The “problem” arises from the fact that in Italy the term dialect it is often used in a generic sense because it often holds an emotional or identity charge, and its use is mistakenly extended to indicate any local spoken variety. In linguistics, however, things are much more complex and it is right to make a premise to explain the case of Friulian.
Generally, a language is perceived as more important, correct and widespread, while a dialect would be placed at a lower, more limited and local level than its counterpart. In reality it is a perception caused more by factors historical, social, political and genealogical That linguistic. From a scientific point of view, a language and a dialect are not distinguished by dignity or beautybecause every linguistic system has rules, lexicon, grammatical structures and its own internal coherence that place them on the same level.
In linguistics it would be more correct to speak of diatopic variation, that is, the way in which linguistic forms change based on the geographical area of origin of the speaker. This is an important dimension because it affects phonetics, lexicon, intonation, syntax and many other aspects of a language leading to the birth of dialects, regional Italians And isoglosses (the imaginary lines drawn to delimit the boundaries of a linguistic phenomenon).
Finally, it is fair to underline that in Italy when we talk about “dialects”, we often refer to variety which do not derive from Italian, but which have developed parallel from Latinexactly like Italian, which evolved from the literary Florentine of the fourteenth century to become the national standard. This means that many Italian local varieties are real Romance languages, sisters of Italian, like other national standard languages such as French, Spanish, Romanian and Portuguese; and this is exactly the case with Friulian.
Friulian does not derive from Italian: origins and structure
Not being born from Italian, Friulian cannot be considered simply a dialectal or regional variant (in fact it resembles Ladin and Romansh, more than Italian). Friulian is a Romance language formed starting from the Latin spoken in the Aquileia area and has developed its own phonological, grammatical, lexical and historical identity over time. His physiognomy is already starting to take shape between the High Middle Ages and the year 1000that is, in the same great process that also gave rise to Italian, French, Spanish or Catalan.
The data of CIRF of the University of Udine indicate a number of speakers between 550 thousand and 650 thousand people, plus another 250 thousand who have one basic knowledge. Furthermore, in addition to being clearly widespread at a family and regional level, it is estimated that at least two and a half million speakers in Europe and the rest of the world still demonstrate competence in the use of the language.
Its uniqueness is found at a phonetic, morphological, lexical and syntactic level, making it an autonomous linguistic system in all respects, classified as belonging to the retro-Romance group with strong specific traits of the eastern Alpine area. The first documented attestations in Friulian date back to between the 12th and 13th centuries, a time in which it was already perceived as a detached language. In the De vulgari eloquentiaDante Alighieri notes the particularity of this dialect, while in the fourteenth century an anonymous traveler describes it as an “own” language, distinct from Latin, Slavic, German and other Italic idioms widespread at the time. Simply put, those who came into contact with Friuli-Venezia Giulia from the outside were able to understand that they were dealing with a real language: a fundamental detail that demonstrates how the autonomy of Friulian is not a recent construction, but dates back eight centuries ago.
Starting from the thirteenth century, they developed documentary, administrative and literary uses in Friulian vernacular. In the following centuries, the language continues to be used in poetic, narrative and cultural production, up to the contemporary age with leading authors such as Pier Paolo Pasolini and Pierluigi Cappello. Friulian has spanned the centuries adapting to different uses and maintaining a strong cultural continuity.
Official recognition
In addition to the linguistic classification, there is also an institutional recognition that plays a crucial role: Friulian is one of the historical linguistic minorities recognized by the Italian State through the law 482 of 1999which protects various historical languages present on the national territory. Furthermore, it is the subject of regional linguistic policies and graphic standardization, and is taught, promoted and used in public and cultural settings. This recognition confirms that Friulian is treated as a language on a legal level, representing not only a pride in identity, but also an indispensable maneuver to avoid linguistic extinction.
Other languages mistaken for dialects
In Italy the border between language and dialect has historically been distorted by the centrality of standard Italian: after the unification of Italy, this officially became the language of education, administration and the public sphere. Everything that remained local was often classified as dialect, not so much for linguistic reasons, but for cultural hierarchyending up meaning “the language spoken at home and in one’s own country”. However, a language does not cease to be a language just because it is not dominant and this does not happen only in Italy. Catalan (spoken by over 10 million people) is often confused as a dialect of Spanish; similarly Galician receives the same treatment when compared to Portuguese.
Even in Italy there are many varieties commonly called “dialects”, but which from a linguistic point of view are true Romance languages with autonomous systems: to name a few, Neapolitan, Neapolitan SicilianThe SardinianThe VenetianThe LigurianThe Lombard and the Piedmontese.
This does not mean that they all have the same legal status, but it confirms that the terms “dialect” and “language” are often misattributed. In the end, the issue is not purely terminological: calling a real language a “dialect” often means, even unintentionally, belittle its history, complexity and cultural value.
