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A Socio-demographic Profile of the Calabrian Linguistic Minorities
Giuseppe De Bartolo
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DOI:10.17265/2328-2169/2021.06.003
University of Calabria, Rende, Italy
In Italy it is possible to identify 11 linguistic groups of ancient settlement, divided as follows: border minorities, who speak a language of a neighboring state; minorities that occupy some internal areas as a consequence of emigrations and diasporas; the so-called residual groups of formerly majority populations. Three of these minority groups are present in Calabria: the Albanian minority, the Greek minority, and the Occitan minority. The Albanian community (Arbëreshë) is one of the most numerous. It is present in various areas of the South, but the most important colonies are found in Calabria. During the course of time these populations have undergone a strong assimilation process with the consequence that in many municipalities the spread of the Albanian language has been increasingly reduced or has completely disappeared. From 1951 onwards the Albanian-speaking communities of Calabria have shown the first signs of demographic malaise. The resident population gradually decreases and in many municipalities, especially the inland ones, there is a strong depopulation that still continues nowadays. In the Byzantine period the whole of Calabria was Hellenophone. Only the southern part of Calabria remained Hellenophone in the Norman age. Over time, the Grecanic area has been increasingly reduced and today it survives only in a limited area of the province of Reggio Calabria. Among the most remote causes of the decrease in Greek civilization we recall the abolition of the Greek rite in religious ceremonies, while after the Unity (Unita’ d’Italia), an important role played the fight against the Greek language by the Italian school. Today this area has 11,211 residents and the speakers should be just 2,724. The Occitan-Waldensians are the smallest linguistic minority of Calabria. They came to Calabria, from Piedmont, towards the end of the 14th century to escape religious persecution. Today the Occitan-Waldensian colonies survive only in Guardia Piemontese, San Sisto dei Valdesi, and San Vincenzo la Costa, but the language is present only in Guardia Piemontese. The population of Guardia Piemontese, like that of many other Calabrian areas, experienced an intense migratory exodus after the Unification of Italy as well as a strong demographic malaise. Of these three Calabrian minority populations, which are characterized by a valuable cultural heritage, we will analyze the socio-demographic traits with the objective to grasp those potentialities (e.g., cultural, touristic) in order to mitigate the phenomenon of depopulation which in these areas is more pronounced than in the remaining “Calabrese” territory.
linguistic minorities, demography, Calabria
Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Management, Nov.-Dec. 2021, Vol. 9, No. 6, 356-364 doi: 10.17265/2328-2169/2021.06.003
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