Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.22210/suvlin.2021.091.04
Speakers’ attitudes and perceptions in relation to the maintenance of the Fiuman dialect
Maša Plešković
; Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb
Branka Drljača Margić
orcid.org/0000-0002-7617-6606
; Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Rijeka
Tihana Kraš
; Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Rijeka
Abstract
The paper presents the results of a study that aims to investigate Fiuman speakers’ attitudes and
perceptions in relation to the maintenance of the Fiuman dialect – the regional minority Romance
language spoken in the Croatian city of Rijeka and its surroundings – with a particular focus on
age, gender and education level, as individual factors that might determine the processes of language maintenance and shift. A questionnaire enquiring into these issues was distributed to Fiuman speakers of diff erent ages, genders and education levels; the participants’ language biographies
and self–assessed profi ciency in Fiuman were also examined by the questionnaire. Th e results show
that age and, to a lesser extent, gender and education level predict Fiuman speakers’ self–perceived
engagement with, attitudes towards and perceptions of Fiuman maintenance. More precisely, it
was shown that Fiuman speakers’ self–perceived engagement with Fiuman maintenance and their
positive attitudes towards it rise with age and education level. In addition, Fiuman speakers’ positive
perceptions of Fiuman maintenance eff orts rise with age and are more characteristic of women than
of men. The results provide an insight into the present–day status of the Fiuman dialect, as seen
through its speakers’ lenses, and indicate both language maintenance and language shift tendencies.
Keywords
Fiuman dialect; attitudes; perceptions; language maintenance; language shift
Hrčak ID:
261015
URI
Publication date:
27.7.2021.
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