Policies vs Non-Policies: Analysing Regional Languages and the National Standard in the Linguistic Landscape of French and Italian Mediterranean Cities

Abstract

[from the editors’ introduction] Robert Blackwood and Stefania Tufi analyse regional languages and the national standard in the linguistic landscape of French and Italian Mediterranean cities in the light of the contrast between Italian and French language policies—the long-established and well documented policy of privileging the national standard language, French, over all other languages in France versus the generally tolerant position towards dialects and minority languages in Italy. The linguistic landscape offers a rich stream of data by which these policies (or non-policies) can be evaluated from the perspective of written-language practices. The chapter assesses the extent of language practices in the regional languages in six Mediterranean towns and in the national standards with the aim of evaluating the extent to which different language policies can be argued to govern writing in the public space.