IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v14y2022i6p3319-d769359.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Language Competition and Language Shift in Friuli-Venezia Giulia: Projection and Trajectory for the Number of Friulian Speakers to 2050

Author

Listed:
  • Michele Gazzola

    (School of Applied Social and Policy Sciences, Ulster University, Newtownabbey BT37 0QB, Northern Ireland, UK
    Research Group “Economics, Policy Analysis and Language” (REAL), Ulster University, Newtownabbey BT37 0QB, Northern Ireland, UK)

  • Torsten Templin

    (Research Group “Economics, Policy Analysis and Language” (REAL), Ulster University, Newtownabbey BT37 0QB, Northern Ireland, UK)

Abstract

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.

Suggested Citation

  • Michele Gazzola & Torsten Templin, 2022. "Language Competition and Language Shift in Friuli-Venezia Giulia: Projection and Trajectory for the Number of Friulian Speakers to 2050," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(6), pages 1-28, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:6:p:3319-:d:769359
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/6/3319/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/6/3319/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Daniel M. Abrams & Steven H. Strogatz, 2003. "Modelling the dynamics of language death," Nature, Nature, vol. 424(6951), pages 900-900, August.
    2. Michael Boissonneault & Paul Vogt, 2021. "A systematic and interdisciplinary review of mathematical models of language competition," Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 8(1), pages 1-12, December.
    3. Templin, Torsten & Seidl, Andrea & Wickström, Bengt-Arne & Feichtinger, Gustav, 2016. "Optimal language policy for the preservation of a minority language," Mathematical Social Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 8-21.
    4. Victor Ginsburgh & Shlomo Weber, 2016. "The Palgrave Handbook of Economics and Language," ULB Institutional Repository 2013/277408, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Torsten Templin, 2019. "A language competition model for new minorities," Rationality and Society, , vol. 31(1), pages 40-69, February.
    2. Marco Civico & François Grin & François Vaillancourt, 2025. "A language economics perspective on language spread: Simulating language dynamics in a social network," CIRANO Working Papers 2025s-23, CIRANO.
    3. Alcalde-Unzu, Jorge & Moreno-Ternero, Juan D. & Weber, Shlomo, 2022. "The measurement of the value of a language," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 203(C).
    4. Michael Boissonneault & Paul Vogt, 2021. "A systematic and interdisciplinary review of mathematical models of language competition," Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 8(1), pages 1-12, December.
    5. William A. Brock & Bo Chen & Steven N. Durlauf & Shlomo Weber, 2025. "Everybody’s talkin’ at me: levels of majority language acquisition by minority language speakers," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 79(3), pages 759-807, May.
    6. Tamara Gurevich & Peter R. Herman & Farid Toubal & Y. Yotov, 2024. "The Domestic and International Common Language Database," Université Paris1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (Post-Print and Working Papers) hal-04682625, HAL.
    7. Victor Ginsburgh & Shlomo Weber, 2020. "The Economics of Language," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 58(2), pages 348-404, June.
    8. Bakalis, Evangelos & Galani, Alexandra, 2012. "Modeling language evolution: Aromanian, an endangered language in Greece," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 391(20), pages 4963-4969.
    9. Santiago Budría & Pablo Swedberg, 2019. "The impact of multilingualism on host language acquisition," Empirica, Springer;Austrian Institute for Economic Research;Austrian Economic Association, vol. 46(4), pages 741-766, November.
    10. Quamrul H. Ashraf & Oded Galor, 2018. "The Macrogenoeconomics of Comparative Development," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 56(3), pages 1119-1155, September.
    11. Giampaolo Lecce & Laura Ogliari & Tommaso Orlando, 2017. "Resistance to Institutions and Cultural Distance: Brigandage in Post-Unification Italy," Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers 2097, Cowles Foundation for Research in Economics, Yale University.
    12. Sari Pekkala Kerr & William R. Kerr, 2021. "Whose Job Is It Anyway? Coethnic Hiring in New US Ventures," Journal of Human Capital, University of Chicago Press, vol. 15(1), pages 86-127.
    13. repec:plo:pone00:0008681 is not listed on IDEAS
    14. Andrew Dickens, 2022. "Understanding Ethnolinguistic Differences: The Roles of Geography and Trade," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 132(643), pages 953-980.
    15. Antonela Miho & Alexandra Jarotschkin & Ekaterina Zhuravskaya, 2024. "Diffusion of Gender Norms: Evidence from Stalin’s Ethnic Deportations," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 22(2), pages 475-527.
    16. Michalski, Marina P. & Śliwa, Martyna, 2021. "‘If you use the right Arabic…’: Responses to special language standardization within the BBC Arabic Service’s linguascape," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 56(5).
    17. Dale-Olsen, Harald & Finseraas, Henning, 2019. "Linguistic Diversity and Workplace Productivity," IZA Discussion Papers 12621, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    18. Eminente, Clara & Artime, Oriol & De Domenico, Manlio, 2022. "Interplay between exogenous triggers and endogenous behavioral changes in contagion processes on social networks," Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, Elsevier, vol. 165(P1).
    19. Helene Tenzer & Siri Terjesen & Anne-Wil Harzing, 2017. "Language in International Business: A Review and Agenda for Future Research," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 57(6), pages 815-854, December.
    20. Bertoli, Simone & Moraga, Jesús Fernández-Huertas & Guichard, Lucas, 2020. "Rational inattention and migration decisions," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 126(C).
    21. Michael Haliassos & Thomas Jansson & Yigitcan Karabulut, 2017. "Incompatible European Partners? Cultural Predispositions and Household Financial Behavior," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 63(11), pages 3780-3808, November.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:6:p:3319-:d:769359. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.