Original scientific paper
Is the Language of Yugoslav Migrant Workers a Minority and Lesser Used Language?
Andrina Pavlinić-Wolf
; Institute for Migration and Ethnic Studies, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
The question of language minorities – in linguistics as well as pertaining to language policies – is no longer seen only as a problem of national and cultural integrity, but also as a communication-related question. In this connection there is a growing sentiment of the need for preserving not just the national and cultural, but also communication (mass media)-related integrity and identity of every ethnic (and linguistic) group. The multicultural and plurilingual communities of Europe, America, Canada and Australia seem to be stepping up efforts at seeking theoretical and practical solutions to the problem.
In the context of international conferences that have dealt with these questions and the New International Information Order (NIIO), the author first analyses the concepts of minority or lesser used language, language minority, and other relevant terminology, offering some topical and recent definitions and classifications.
In the second part of the text the language situation of (Yugoslav) migrant workers in industrial Europe is presented, along with a warning that their status can also be seen as a minority one; their language identity, and especially that of their children has undergone degradation; the language has been treated as a minority one and has actually been a lesser used one. It can be considered as seriously threatened and hardly a vehicle of their original culture and communications (the mass media).
Keywords
minority language; language minority; migrant workers; Yugoslavs; Europe
Hrčak ID:
128665
URI
Publication date:
31.12.1987.
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