Minority languages between nationalism and new localism: the case of Italy

This paper deals with multilingualism and with the role that language policy plays in the maintenance (or disruption) of linguistic diversity. Focus is on today's Italy and on the interplay between the actual complexity of multilingual repertoires diffused on the territory and the practical problems originated by the recent law in defense of minority languages. Particular attention will be paid to the issue of the standard and of newly elaborated languages. A series of case studies are introduced to represent the different patterns of language coexistence and language endangerment that can be found in the country. Reprinted by permission of Mouton de Gruyter