The precise extent of the Ladin language area is a subject of scholarly debate. A narrower perspective includes only the dialects of the valleys around theSella group, while wider definitions comprise the dialects of adjacent valleys in the Province of Belluno and even dialects spoken in the northwestern Trentino.[9][10]
Astandard variety of Ladin (Ladin Dolomitan) has been developed by the Office for Ladin Language Planning as a common communication tool across the whole Ladin-speaking region.[11]
Contraction of the area of the Rhaeto-Romance languages
Ladin is recognized as a minority language in 54Italian municipalities[12] belonging to the provinces of South Tyrol, Trentino and Belluno. It is not possible to assess the exact number of Ladin speakers, because only in the provinces of South Tyrol and Trentino are the inhabitants asked to identify their native language in the general census of the population, which takes place every 10 years.
In the 2011 census, 20,548 inhabitants of South Tyrol declared Ladin as their native language.[2] Ladin is an officially recognised language, taught in schools and used in public offices (in written as well as spoken forms).[13]
The following municipalities ofSouth Tyrol have a majority of Ladin speakers:
In the 2011 census, 18,550 inhabitants of Trentino declared Ladin as their native language.[3] It is prevailing in the following municipalities ofTrentino in theFassa Valley, where Ladin is recognized as a minority language:
TheNones language in theNon Valley and the relatedSolandro language found in theSole Valley areGallo-Romance languages and often grouped together into a single linguistic unit due to their similarity. They are spoken in 38 municipalities but have no official status. Their more precise classification is uncertain. Both dialects show a strong resemblance to Trentinian dialect andEastern Lombard, and scholars debate whether they are Ladin dialects or not.
About 23% of the inhabitants from Val di Non and 1.5% from Val di Sole declared Ladin as their native language at the 2011 census. The number of Ladin speakers in those valleys amounts to 8,730, outnumbering the native speakers in theFassa Valley.[16] In order to stress the difference between the dialects in Non and Fassa valleys, it has been proposed to distinguish betweenladins dolomitiches (Dolomitic Ladinians) andladins nonejes (Non Valley Ladinians) at the next census.[17]
There is no linguistic census in theProvince of Belluno, but the number of Ladin speakers has been estimated using a 2006 survey. In this area, there are about 1,166 people who speak the standard Ladin and 865 who speak the dialect of Ladin, so out of 8,495 inhabitants they are the 23.9%. They live in the part of the province that was part of the County of Tyrol until 1918, comprising the communes ofCortina d'Ampezzo (15.6% Ladin),Colle Santa Lucia (50.6% Ladin) andLivinallongo del Col di Lana (54.3% Ladin).[1]
All Ladin dialects spoken in the province of Belluno, including those in the former Tyrolean territories, enjoy a varying degree of influence from Venetian.[20]
The name derives fromLatin, because Ladin is originally aVulgar Latin language left over from theRomanized Alps. Ladin is often attributed to be a relic of Vulgar Latin dialects associated withRhaeto-Romance languages.[citation needed] Whether a proto-Rhaeto-Romance language ever existed is controversially discussed amongst linguists and historians, a debate known asQuestione Ladina. Starting in the 6th century, theBavarii started moving in from the north, while from the southGallo-Italic languages started pushing in, which further shrank the original extent of the Ladin area. Only in the more remote mountain valleys did Ladin survive among the isolated populations.[citation needed]
Kurat Josef Anton Vian – anonymous author of the first Ladin-Gherdëina grammar AD 1864[21]
After the end of World War I in 1918, Italy annexed the southern part of Tyrol, including the Ladin areas. The Italian nationalist movement of the 19th and 20th centuries regarded Ladin as an "Italian dialect", a notion rejected by various Ladin exponents and associations,[22] despite their having been counted as Italians by the Austrian authorities as well. The programme ofItalianization, professed by fascists such asEttore Tolomei andBenito Mussolini, added further pressure on the Ladin communities to subordinate their identities to Italian. This included changing Ladin place names into the Italian pronunciation according to Tolomei'sProntuario dei nomi locali dell'Alto Adige.
Following the end of World War II, theGruber-De Gasperi Agreement of 1946 between Austria and Italy introduced a level of autonomy for Trentino and South Tyrol but did not include any provisions for the Ladin language. Only in the second autonomy statute for South Tyrol in 1972 was Ladin recognized as a partially official language.[citation needed]
Ladin is officially recognised in Trentino and South Tyrol by provincial and national law. Italy signed theEuropean Charter for Regional or Minority Languages of 1991, but it has not ratified it so far. The charter calls forminority rights to be respected andminority languages, to which Ladin belongs, to be appropriately protected and promoted. Starting in the 1990s, the Italian parliament and provincial assembly have passed laws and regulations protecting the Ladin language and culture. A cultural institute was founded to safeguard and educate in the language and culture. School curricula were adapted in order to teach in Ladin, and street signs are being changed to bilingual.[23]
Ladin is also recognized as a protected language in theProvince of Belluno inVeneto region pursuant to the Standards for Protection of Historic Language Minorities Act No. 482 (1999). In comparison with South Tyrol and Trentino, the wishes of the Ladins have barely been addressed by the regional government. In a popular referendum in October 2007, the inhabitants ofCortina d'Ampezzo overwhelmingly voted to leave Veneto and return to South Tyrol.[24][25] The redrawing of the provincial borders would return Cortina d'Ampezzo,Livinallongo del Col di Lana andColle Santa Lucia to South Tyrol, to which they traditionally belonged when part of theCounty of Tyrol or theBishopric of Brixen.
Trilingual traffic sign
Although the Ladin communities are spread out over three neighbouring regions, theUnion Generala di Ladins dles Dolomites is asking that they be reunited.[26] TheLadin Autonomist Union and theFassa Association run on a Ladin list and have sought more rights and autonomy for Ladin speakers. Ladins are also guaranteed political representations in the assemblies of Trentino and South Tyrol due to a reserved seats system.
In South Tyrol, in order to reach a fair allocation of jobs in public service, a system called "ethnic proportion" was established in the 1970s. Every 10 years, when the general census of population takes place, each citizen has to identify with a linguistic group. The results determine how many potential positions in public service are allocated for each linguistic group. This has theoretically enabled Ladins to receive guaranteed representation in the South Tyrolean civil service according to their numbers.
The recognition of minority languages in Italy has been criticised since the implementation of Act No. 482 (1999), especially due to alleged financial benefits. This applies also to the Ladin language, especially in the province of Belluno.[27]
The names of the Ladin dialects spoken in theFassa Valley in Trentino are Moenat, Brach, and Cazet. 82.8% of the inhabitants of Fassa Valley are native Ladin speakers;[30] the Ladin language in Fassa is influenced by Trentinian dialects.
Rocchesano in the area ofRocca Pietore. While Laste di Sopra (LadinLaste de Sora) and Sottoguda (LadinStagùda) are predominantly Ladin, inAlleghe,San Tomaso Agordino, andFalcade so-called Ladin-Venetian dialects are spoken, with strong Venetian influence;
Ladin in the area of Agordo andValle del Biois, even if some regard it rather as Venetian-Ladin.
In Western Trentino, inNon Valley,Val di Sole,Val di Peio,Val di Rabbi, and part ofVal Rendena, detached from the Dolomitic area, dialects are spoken that are often considered to be part of the Ladin language (Anaunic Ladin), but have strong influences from Trentinian and Eastern Lombard dialects.
An[ɜ] vowel, spelled⟨ë⟩, as inUrtijëi (pronunciationⓘ), and two front rounded vowels [ø,y], spelled⟨ö, ü⟩, occur in some local dialects (such as Val Badia) but are not a part of Standard Ladin.
^ab"South Tyrol in Figures".Declaration of language group affiliation – Population Census 2011. Archived fromthe original(PDF) on 28 July 2013. Retrieved7 October 2012.
^Giovan Battista Pellegrini:Ladinisch: Interne Sprachgeschichte II. Lexik. In:Lexikon der Romanistischen Linguistik, III. Tübingen, Niemeyer 1989,ISBN3-484-50250-9, p. 667:È necessaria innanzi tutto una precisazione geografica circa l'estensione del gruppo linguistico denominato «ladino centrale», dato che le interpretazioni possono essere varie.
^Johannes Kramer:Ladinisch: Grammatikographie und Lexikographie. In:Lexikon der Romanistischen Linguistik, III. Tübingen, Niemeyer 1989,ISBN3-484-50250-9, p. 757:Im folgenden sollen die Grammatiken und Wörterbücher im Zentrum stehen, die das Dolomitenladinische im engeren Sinne ([...] Gadertalisch [...], Grödnerisch, Buchensteinisch, Fassanisch [...]) behandeln, während Arbeiten zum Cadorinischen [...] und zum Nonsbergischen [...] summarisch behandelt werden.
^"La pruma valutazions del diretor de l'Istitut Cultural Ladin Fabio Ciocchetti".La Usc di Ladins, nr. 26 /06 de messel 2012, p. 25 (in Italian). 2012.
^[2] Italian Ministry of Education, contributions among others by Prof. Gabriele Jannaccaro, Univ. Milano-Bicocca,La ladinità bellunese è piuttosto etnica che linguistica, e le varietà parlate dei comuni ladini sono dei dialetti veneti alpini grammaticalmente non diversi da quelli dei comuni che non si sono dichiarati ladini (Ladinity in the province of Belluno is more ethnic than linguistic, and the varieties spoken by Ladin municipalities are Venetian alpine dialects grammatically identical to those spoken in the municipalities that did not declare themselves as Ladin)
^[3] Map showing similarity of dialects around Belluno, from "Dialectometric Analysis of the Linguistic Atlas of Dolomitic Ladin and Neighbouring Dialects (ALD-I & ALD-II)" by Prof. Dr. Roland Bauer, 2012, University of Salzburg
^"Die Ladiner betrachten sich seit jeher als eigenständige Ethnie" and "Wir sind keine Italiener, wollen von jeher nicht zu ihnen gezählt werden und wollen auch in Zukunft keine Italiener sein! (..) Tiroler sind wir und Tiroler wollen wir bleiben!" ('The Ladins view themselves as a distinct ethnic group: ... we are not Italians and since ever do not want to be considered as part of them! We are Tyroleans and we want to stay Tyroleans!') fromDie questione ladina – Über die sprachliche und gesellschaftliche Situation der Dolomitenladiner by Martin Klüners, ISBN 9 783638 159159
^[5] Fiorenzo Toso, Univ. di Sassari:I benefici (soprattutto di natura economica) previsti dalla legge482/1999 hanno indotto decine di amministrazioni comunali a dichiarare una inesistente appartenenza a questa o a quella minoranza: col risultato, ad esempio, che le comunità di lingua ladina si sono moltiplicate nel Veneto (financial benefits provided by the law 482/1999 led dozens of municipalities to declare a non-existent affiliation to some minority, resulting e.g. in a multiplication of the Ladin-speaking communities in the Veneto region)
^Mário Eduardo Viaro,O reto-românico: unidade e fragmentação. Caligrama. Belo Horizonte, 14: 101–156, December 2009.
Rut Bernardi,Curs de gherdëina – Trëdesc lezions per mparé la rujeneda de Gherdëina/Dreizehn Lektionen zur Erlernung der grödnerischen Sprache. St. Martin in Thurn: Istitut Ladin Micurà de Rü, 1999,ISBN88-8171-012-9
Marco Forni:Wörterbuch Deutsch–Grödner-Ladinisch. Vocabuler tudësch–ladin de Gherdëina. Istitut Ladin Micurà de Rü, St. Martin in Thurn 2002,ISBN88-8171-033-1
Günter Holtus,Michael Metzeltin, Christian Schmitt, eds.,Lexikon der Romanistischen Linguistik (LRL), 12 vols. Tübingen: Niemeyer, 1988–2005; vol. 3:Die einzelnen romanischen Sprachen und Sprachgebiete von der Renaissance bis zur Gegenwart. Rumänisch, Dalmatisch / Istroromanisch, Friaulisch, Ladinisch, Bündnerromanisch, 1989.
Heinrich Schmid,Wegleitung für den Aufbau einer gemeinsamen Schriftsprache der Dolomitenladiner. St. Martin in Thurn: Istitut Cultural Ladin Micurà de Rü & San Giovanni: Istitut Cultural Ladin Majon di Fascegn, 1994 (Online versionArchived 22 February 2016 at theWayback Machine)
Giampaolo Salvi, "Ladin", inThe Oxford Guide to the Romance Languages, eds. Adam Ledgeway & Martin Maiden. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016, pp. 154–68.
Yang, Yifan and Walker, Rachel and Vietti, Alessandro and Chiocchetti, Armin (2021). "Ladin, varieties of Val di Fassa". Illustrations of the IPA.Journal of the International Phonetic Association:1–26.doi:10.1017/S0025100320000262{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link), with supplementary sound recordings.
Paul Videsott,Ennebergisches Wörterbuch, Universitätsverlag Wagner, Innsbruck 1998, ISBN 3-7030-0321-9
Paul Videsott,Ladinische Familiennamen – Cognoms Ladins, Universitätsverlag Wagner, Innsbruck 2000, ISBN 3-7030-0344-8
Paul Videsott,Rätoromanische Bibliographie, Bozen University Press, Bolzano, 2011, ISBN 978-88-604-6045-5
Rut Bernardi, Paul Videsott,Geschichte der ladinischen Literatur, Bozen University Press, Bolzano, 2013, 3 vol., ISBN 978-88-6046-060-8
Paul Videsott,Bibliografia ladina. Bibliographie des ladinischen Schrifttums. Bibliografia degli scritti in ladino. Bd. 1: Von den Anfängen bis 1945. Dalle origini al 1945, Bozen University Press, Bolzano, 2013, ISBN 978-88-6046-066-0 (con Rut Bernardi e Chiara Marcocci)
Paul Videsott,Vocabolar dl ladin leterar / Vocabolario del ladino letterario / Wörterbuch des literarischen Ladinischen, Bozen University Press, Bolzano, 2020, ISBN 978-88-6046-168-1
Paul Videsott,Manuale di linguistica ladina, De Gruyter, Berlin/Boston, 2020, ISBN 978-3-11-051962-4 (con Ruth Videsott e Jan Casalicchio)
Paul Videsott,Les Ladins des Dolomites, Armeline, Crozon, 2023, ISBN 978-2-910878-47-4
Grzega, Joachim,(in German)Ku-eichstaett.de,Materialien zu einem etymologischen Wörterbuch des Dolomitenladinischen (MEWD), Katholische Universität Eichstätt-Ingolstadt (KU) 2005.
^Venetian is either grouped with the rest of the Italo-Dalmatian or the Gallo-Italic languages, depending on the linguist, but the major consensus among linguists is that in the dialectal landscape of northern Italy, Veneto dialects are clearly distinguished from Gallo-Italic dialects.
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