From the mid-19th century to the present day, women’s literary creation in Friulian is quite rich and varied. We propose to retrace the main creations in Friulian of a few women of letters, ...highlighting the stylistic choices, the literary genres specifically selected and, above all, the psychological motivations which prompted these cultivated women to express themselves in Friulian, in preference to the official language of the country, Italian. Caterina Percoto celebrates the rural world, Maria Forte performs the work of an ethnologist when she records the expressions used by the characters in her stories, Novella Cantarutti describes a Friulian valley through the adoption of its dialectal variation, while Nelvia Di Monte recovers the language of her father as the repository of the culture of her family and her native land. These and other experiences which are described in this article are the fruit of an acute linguistic awareness and aim at increasing the value of Friulian as a literary language.
The study of archaeological structures has been widely applied in the Mediterranean to infer the past relative sea level (RSL), but the use of Prehistoric sites was generally scarce. Pre-Classical ...settlements related to past marine position are quite rare and, after their occupation phase the landscape has often dramatically changed. A peculiar situation characterizes the NW Adriatic coast, along the lagoon fringe east of Venice, where several Bronze-Age settlements have been exposed after the land reclamation carried out in the 20th century. We analyzed the published information and collected new stratigraphic and geochronological data in five major sites where index points related to past sea-level are recorded. This research investigated in detail the geomorphological and geoarchaeological aspects, allowing to distinguish three different typologies of settlements: a) sites on Holocene fluvial ridges; b) sites on the alluvial plain of the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) and along groundwater-fed rivers entering in the lagoon; c) sites in the lagoon, controlling key locations. The lagoonal environment had an extent rather comparable to the modern one already 4000–3500 years BCE, when sea level was above −4 m respect mean sea level (MSL). In the second part of the early Bronze Age, around 1800 BCE, the observed RSL was between −3.0 and −2.7 m MSL, while at the transition between recent and final Bronze Age (1250–1100 BCE) it probably was at −2.0 ± 0.6 m MSL. The analyzed settlements were abandoned during the final Bronze Age, but the data testify that sea level rose progressively. This suggests that the abandonment was probably not primarily due to RSL, but to socio-cultural reasons or other environmental causes that are not yet well understood by the archaeological community.
While recent landscape changes can be usually easily read through accessible morphological features, relatively ancient processes can be difficult to detect as the associated morphologies and ...deposits are often buried below younger sediments. With the aim of understanding the evolution of the distal Venetian-Friulian Plain (NE Italy) after the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), this work presents the analysis performed on a dataset of ca. 2300 mechanical and hand-made cores, which allowed a detailed reconstruction of the formation and evolution of an incised valley, now almost completely filled and with little to absent morphologic expression. Such valley, up to 1.2 km wide, with a depth of 20 m below the LGM alluvial plain and traced for a length of 25 km, is the result of the complex interplay between minor spring-fed rivers and the Tagliamento River. The detailed characterization of the infilling allowed to identify two main phases in the valley evolution. The first one is related to the activity of the paleo Tagliamento River and led to the deposition of a 10 m thick gravelly unit (ca. 19–9.5 ka cal BP). The second phase, which followed a disconnection of the Tagliamento, is linked to the Holocene marine transgression and led to the formation of a lagoon environment within the valley and to the deposition of a ca. 15 m thick unit of lagoon muds (ca. 8 ka cal BP - historic time). This latter unit lays on top of gyttja deposits, indicating for the first time in this area the presence of widespread lacustrine environments in the Early Holocene. This work presents an in-depth analysis on the evolution of a distal plain incised valley, from its formation to its final filling, providing at the same time the means to describe the development of the entire alluvial plain landscape, spanning from the end of the LGM to the middle Holocene. We present new data on the paleoenvironmental and morphologic evolution of the Venetian-Friulian Plain area as a consequence of the interplay between autogenic forces and sea-level rise. Our study allowed to understand the importance of both Alpine rivers and groundwater-fed streams in the formation of large incised valleys in the coastal sector of the whole Venetian-Friulian Plain. Finally, as during the transgressive phase the upstream sediment input in the valley was almost absent, this study provides insights into facies and architecture of a rare example of downstream-controlled filling of an incised valley.
•A large dataset of cores allowed to reconstruct with unprecedent detail a buried incised valley in the Tagliamento Megafan.•The stratigraphy of the infilling provides a reference for the evolution of the entire northern Adriatic, from the early deglaciation stage to the Holocene marine transgression.•The reconstructed morphology of the buried valley indicates a complex interplay among paraglacial dynamics, autogenic forcing and the stratigraphic architecture of the alluvial plain.
The Friulian antifascists in Canada during the 1920s-1930s displayed strong anticlerical leanings, because of the political ideologies that they espoused, or as a result of personal experiences. Many ...were also idealistic proponents of social justice. The evidence presented here is from their direct testimony (interviews, letters), information provided by family members, and their death notices published in local newspapers.
Le tendenze anticlericali degli antifascisti friulano-canadesiGli antifascisti friulani in Canada negli anni Venti e Trenta tendevano ad essere fortemente anticlericali, a causa delle ideologie politiche o delle esperienze personali. Molti erano anche fautori idealisti di giustizia sociale. Le prove presentate in questa sede derivano dalla loro testimonianza diretta (interviste, lettere), dai dati forniti dalle famiglie e dai necrologi apparsi sui giornali locali.
This article analyses how the number of speakers of the Friulian language changes over time in the territory where this language is traditionally spoken, that is, the provinces of Udine, Pordenone, ...and Gorizia, located in the north-east of Italy in the autonomous region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia. The aim of this research is twofold. First, it illustrates how the number of speakers of Friulian evolved over the past 40 years. To this end, we provide an overview of the findings of empirical studies on the Friulian language from 1977, 1998, and 2014. We complement these findings with population figures, birth and death rates, as well as data on migration and language transmission in order to provide a better understanding of the current situation in the three provinces. Second, these data are used to set up a mathematical language dynamic (or language competition) model. With the help of this empirically informed model, we derive projections for the future of the Friulian language in the three provinces. The results show that the number of Friulian speakers will decrease from 600,000 in 2014 to about 530,000 in 2050 (−11%), and that the number of regular Friulian speakers will decreases from 420,000 to 320,000 (−23%). By 2050, about 30% of the population will speak Friulian regularly and about 50% will speak Friulian regularly or occasionally. Only in the province of Udine will Friulian speakers still be in a clear majority. The analysis suggests that a stronger commitment to language policy protecting and promoting Friulian is needed in order to counteract these trends.
The purpose of this paper is to analyze the works regarding two trilingual Italian-Canadian female writers, Dôre Michelut and Mary di Michele who have chosen to concentrate on the Friulian language, ...either as bridge or mediator to gap the distance between cultures and languages (Michelut in “Loyalty to the Hunt” and “Ouroboros”) or as inspiration and source for translation and poetic creation (di Michele in “The Flower of Youth”). In an attempt to come to terms with my own tricultural identity I will include a few poems that I had translated from English into Friulian or vice versa.Tradurre l’identità friulana incessantementeIl presente contributo mira ad analizzare alcune opere di Dôre Michelut e Mary di Michele, due scrittrici italo-canadesi che ricorrono alla lingua friulana, da un lato come ponte per mediare la distanza tra le proprie lingue e culture (Michelut in “Loyalty to the Hunt” e “Ouroboros”) e dall’altro come fonte d’ispirazione creativa per le proprie poesie e traduzioni (di Michele in “Flower of Youth”). Nella parte finale sono incluse anche alcune poesie che l’autrice del saggio, anche lei trilingue, ha tradotto dall’inglese al friulano e vice versa al fine di venire a patti con la propria identità transculturale.
This article explores the embodied and linguistic practices by which visitors and staff members of cafés display recognition of and mutual familiarity with each other. Based on video data collected ...in two Italian cafés, we use conversation analysis to examine two sequential positions where displays of familiarity are salient, i.e., the initial moments of the encounter and the placement of the order. We demonstrate that individuals rely on reciprocal visual perception, embodied and vocal resources, in particular greetings, to display their service-related recognition and acquaintanceship. We identify three ways in which a café service between "frequently attending visitors" and "usual staff members" can be initiated: (a) the customer places an order (in a sequentially delayed position), (b) the barista articulates a "candidate order," (c) no vocal order is articulated by either party. We show that these practices crucially rely on the knowledge the "recurrent parties" share of each other. Data are in Italian and Friulian.
For years, linguists have noted that intonation patterns and discourse markers encode similar pragmatic meanings across languages. The present study investigates whether a functional compensatory ...distribution can be documented across languages by focusing on the expression of epistemic commitment in two Romance languages which have been reported to have either a rich or a very reduced inventory of intonational patterns (e.g., Catalan vs. Friulian). A total of 30 speakers (15 per language) participated in an oral Discourse Completion Task designed to elicit assertions with three degrees of speaker commitment. The results showed that while Catalan used specific intonation patterns for the expression of low and intensified commitment statements, Friulian speakers used only one type of pitch contour to express both types of epistemic commitment. In contrast, Friulian speakers made more frequent use of a more varied set of epistemic discourse markers for the two types of biased statements than their Catalan-speaking peers. This result suggests that a trade-off strategy can be observed between intonation and discourse markers across these two languages. This ultimately shows the need to integrate the study of intonational meaning with other parts of the grammar inside a more unified approach in comparative analyses of language.
•Epistemic commitment is expressed through intonation, morphosyntax and discourse markers.•A trade–off relationship is documented between intonation and discourse markers.•A language with no specific intonation patterns for epistemicity (Friulian) uses more discourse marking.•Intonational meaning needs to be integrated with the study of grammar.•A more unified approach is needed in comparative analyses of language.
This essay reconstructs the Friulian immigrant experience to Canada through the works of some Friulian and Julian-Dalmatian writers. It highlights how while voicing the deep sense of loss that ...Friulians feel for their homeland, these texts also prompt a reconciliation with displacement and a reconfiguration of the idea of home which can include multiple belongings. It also analyses how these texts employ different languages, including Friulian, as a strategy of historical reappropriation of the immigrant experience and of renegotiation of identity.L’esperienza migrante dei friulano-canadesiL’articolo ricostruisce la storia dell’emigrazione friulana in Canada attraverso un’analisi di alcune opere di scrittori friulani e giuliano-dalmati. Oltre a dare voce al persistente dolore che affligge i friulani per la perdita della propria patria, questi testi evidenziano anche la necessità di superare il trauma della dislocazione e ridefinire i concetti di patria e appartenenza. Si analizza inoltre come l’uso di diverse lingue, tra cui il friulano, costituisca una strategia di riappropriazione storica dell’esperienza migrante e di rinegoziazione identitaria.
The article discusses the origin of the nominal forms ending in -ih iχ of the type medih 'doctor' and lampadarih 'chandelier' in dialectal Slovenian on the Slovenian-Friulian language boundary. ...Regarding their origin, these forms represent loanwords from Friulian, where they typically end in -i (cf. Friul. mildi 'doctor', lampadari 'chandelier'), reflecting their original Romance pre-forms medicu(m) and lampadāriu(m). The contribution tries to account for the presence of the voiceless velar fricative h χ in both groups of borrowings, taking into consideration the linguistic history of both Friulian and Slovenian. While the voiceless velar fricative χ in the medih-type can most probably be explained by assuming a more archaic phonetic reflex of the original medicu(m) in Old Friulian, the origin ofg in the lampadarih-type seems to be the result of analogical processes in the linguistic history of Slovenian.
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