Ladin should not be confused with Ladino (also called Judaeo-Spanish), which is a Romance dialect of Spanish, with Hebrew, Turkish and Greek influences.
In the 2001 census, 16,462 inhabitants of Trentino declared Ladin as their native language.[2]
There are about 30,000 speakers of the Ladin Language. The Ladin spoken in the Fassa Valley (Ladin Val de Fascia, Italian Val di Fassa) is also subdivided into two further branches: "Cazét" (pronounced [kazɛt]) is spoken in the northern half of the valley, whereas "Brach" (pronounced [brak]) is spoken in the southern half. For example, in Cazét water is "ega" ("e" pronounced /ɛ/), whereas in Brach it is "aga".
The name derives from Latin, because Ladin is originally a vulgar Latin language left over from the romanized Alps. Ladin is often attributed to be a relic of vulgar Latin dialects associated with Rhaeto-Romance languages. Whether a proto-Romance language ever existed is controversially discussed amongst linguists and historians, a debate known as Questione Ladina. Starting in the 6th century, the Bavarii started moving in from north, while from the south the Italian language started pushing in, which further shrank the original extent of the Ladin area. Only in the more remote mountain valleys was Ladin able to survive.
Starting in the very early middle ages, the whole area was eventually ruled by the County of Tyrol or the Bishopric of Brixen, both belonging to the realms of the Austrian Habsburg rulers. In the vast multi-ethnic Holy Roman Empire and then after 1804 the Austrian empire, the Ladins were left in relative peace and were allowed to continue the use of their language and culture. The outbreak of World War I saw heavy battle action in these areas, as the front ran between Austria-Hungary and the Kingdom of Italy.
After the end of the war in 1918, Italy annexed the southern part of Tyrol including the Ladin areas. The Italian nationalistic movement of the 19th and 20th century almost always regarded Ladin as an Italian dialect, a notion that has been repeatedly rejected by most Ladins. The programme of Italianization professed by fascists such as Ettore Tolomei and Benito Mussolini added further pressure to the Ladin communities to subordinate their identities as Italians. This included changing Ladin place names into the Italian pronounciation according to Tolomei's Prontuario dei nomi locali dell'Alto Adige.
Following the end of World War II, the Gruber-De Gasperi Agreement of 1946 between Austria and Italy saw a level of autonomy for Trentino and South Tyrol, but did not include any provisions for Ladins. Only the second autonomy statute for South Tyrol in 1972 started recognising the minority rights for these communities.
Status
Unofficial flag of the Ladin people
Ladin is officially recognised in Trentino and South Tyrol by provincial and national law. Starting in the 1990's, various laws and regulations have been passed by the Italian parliament and provincial assembly, that put the Ladin language and culture under protection. A cultural institute was founded by decree, whose purpose is to safeguard and educate on the language. School curricula were adapted in order to teach in Ladin, and street signs are being changed to be bilingual.
Ladin does not enjoy official status and protection in the province of Belluno in the Veneto region. The wishes of the Ladins there have barely been addressed by the regional government. In a popular referendum in October 2007, the inhabitants of Anpëz overwhelmingly voted to leave Veneto and return to South Tyrol.[3] The redrawing of the provincial borders would see a return of Anpëz, Fodóm and Col to South Tyrol, to which they have traditionally belonged when they were still a part of the County of Tyrol or the Bishopric of Brixen.
Although the Ladin communities are spread out over three neighbouring regions, no serious political movement exists to unite them into a separate region, nor are there political parties elected into the regional and provincial assemblies based on a Ladin list. Ladins are however 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 1970's. Every ten years, when the general census of population takes place, each citizen has to declare to which linguistic group they belong or want to be aggregated to. According to the results it is decided how many potential positions in public service are allocated for each linguistic group. This has enabled Ladins to receive guaranteed representation in the South Tyrolean civil service according to their numbers.
^Gramatica dl Ladin Standard, Servisc de Planificazion y Elaborazion dl Lingaz Ladin, 2001, ISBN 88-8171-029-3[1]
Further reading
Rut Bernardi: Curs de gherdëina – Trëdesc lezions per mparé la rujeneda de Gherdëina/Dreizehn Lektionen zur Erlernung der grödnerischen Sprache. Istitut ladin Micurà de Rü, St. Martin in Thurn 1999, ISBN 88-8171-012-9
Vittorio Dell'Aquila und Gabriele Iannàccaro: Survey Ladins: Usi linguistici nelle Valli Ladine. Autonome Region Trentino-Südtirol, Trient 2006, ISBN 88-86053-69-X
Marco Forni: Wörterbuch Deutsch–Grödner-Ladinisch. Vocabuler tudësch–ladin de Gherdëina. Istitut ladin Micurà de Rü, St. Martin in Thurn 2002, ISBN 88-8171-033-1
Günter Holtus, Michael Metzeltin, Christian Schmitt (ed.): Lexikon der Romanistischen Linguistik (LRL), Tübingen, Niemeyer, 1988-2005 (12 Bände); Band III: Die einzelnen romanischen Sprachen und Sprachgebiete von der Renaissance bis zur Gegenwart. Rumänisch, Dalmatisch / Istroromanisch, Friaulisch, Ladinisch, Bündnerromanisch, 1989.
Theodor Gartner: Ladinische Wörter aus den Dolomitentälern. Niemeyer, Halle 1913 (Online version)
Maria Giacin Chiades (ed.): Lingua e cultura ladina. Canova, Treviso 2004, ISBN 88-8409-123-3 ([2])
Heinrich Schmid: Wegleitung für den Aufbau einer gemeinsamen Schriftsprache der Dolomitenladiner. Istitut Cultural Ladin Micurà de Rü, St. Martin in Thurn/Istitut Cultural Ladin Majon di Fascegn, San Giovanni 1994 (Online version)
News - Noeles.net the first internet-news-portal in ladin language (ladin dolomitan / ladin standard). The main contents are about ladin culture, politics, society, and other.
Weekly Paper - La Usc Di Ladins (The Voice of the Ladins - in Ladin - different sections written in all the different sub-dialects), paper of the General Union of the Ladins of the Dolomites. Weekly news from the Ladin valleys in the Dolomites.
Grzega, Joachim, Template:De icon Ku-eichstaett.de, Materialien zu einem etymologischen Wörterbuch des Dolomitenladinischen (MEWD), Katholische Universität Eichstätt-Ingolstadt (KU) 2005.
Italy
