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Chapter 11. Teaching Piedmontese

A challenge?
  • Nicola Duberti and Mauro Tosco
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Contested Languages
This chapter is in the book Contested Languages

Abstract

Until 2015, Piedmontese, an endangered and contested language spoken in the homonymous region of northwest Italy, had never before been taught in a university context, at least in Italy. After discussing the complex (and still unsettled) juridical status of Piedmontese, the chapter traces the teaching history of this minority language in both schools and universities, and focuses in particular on a still ongoing project at the University of Turin. The chapter further addresses the special requirements of language courses for contested languages, and offers a few suggestions on the basis of the project’s preliminary results.

Abstract

Until 2015, Piedmontese, an endangered and contested language spoken in the homonymous region of northwest Italy, had never before been taught in a university context, at least in Italy. After discussing the complex (and still unsettled) juridical status of Piedmontese, the chapter traces the teaching history of this minority language in both schools and universities, and focuses in particular on a still ongoing project at the University of Turin. The chapter further addresses the special requirements of language courses for contested languages, and offers a few suggestions on the basis of the project’s preliminary results.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Introduction
  4. Chapter 1. What are contested languages and why should linguists care? 3
  5. Section 1. The broader picture
  6. Chapter 2. Contested languages and the denial of linguistic rights in the 21st century 21
  7. Chapter 3. Democracy 41
  8. Section 2. Identifying and perceiving contested languages
  9. Chapter 4. Mixing methods in linguistic classification 59
  10. Chapter 5. The cost of ignoring degrees of Abstand in defining a regional language 87
  11. Chapter 6. Deconstructing the idea of language 105
  12. Chapter 7. Surveying the ethnolinguistic vitality of two contested languages 125
  13. Chapter 8. Contested orthographies 143
  14. Chapter 9. Revitalising contested languages 163
  15. Section 3. Working with contestedness
  16. Chapter 10. Community-based language planning 185
  17. Chapter 11. Teaching Piedmontese 199
  18. Chapter 12. Publishing a grammar and literature anthology of a contested language 209
  19. Chapter 13. Which Sardinian for education? 221
  20. Section 4. Beyond contested languages
  21. Chapter 14. Citizenship and nationality 237
  22. Chapter 15. The language ideology of Esperanto 247
  23. Index 269
https://doi.org/10.1075/wlp.8.11dub

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Introduction
  4. Chapter 1. What are contested languages and why should linguists care? 3
  5. Section 1. The broader picture
  6. Chapter 2. Contested languages and the denial of linguistic rights in the 21st century 21
  7. Chapter 3. Democracy 41
  8. Section 2. Identifying and perceiving contested languages
  9. Chapter 4. Mixing methods in linguistic classification 59
  10. Chapter 5. The cost of ignoring degrees of Abstand in defining a regional language 87
  11. Chapter 6. Deconstructing the idea of language 105
  12. Chapter 7. Surveying the ethnolinguistic vitality of two contested languages 125
  13. Chapter 8. Contested orthographies 143
  14. Chapter 9. Revitalising contested languages 163
  15. Section 3. Working with contestedness
  16. Chapter 10. Community-based language planning 185
  17. Chapter 11. Teaching Piedmontese 199
  18. Chapter 12. Publishing a grammar and literature anthology of a contested language 209
  19. Chapter 13. Which Sardinian for education? 221
  20. Section 4. Beyond contested languages
  21. Chapter 14. Citizenship and nationality 237
  22. Chapter 15. The language ideology of Esperanto 247
  23. Index 269
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