Language, identity and economic integration:
minorities in the city of Pula
Mirna Jernej
Institute for Anthropological Research, Zagreb
Introduction
The presented research falls between two projects:
“Politics and strategies of identity in multicultural
European cities” and “Economic participation,
language practices and collective identities in the
multilingual city”.
Within the first one I am concerned with group and
individual identification processes of members of
Italian and Albanian minorities in the multicultural and
multilingual city of Pula, while within the second my
work is focussed on the relationship of these
identification processes and the economic and social
integration of members of Italian and Albanian
minorities, taking into consideration particularly the
relevance of language as a resource of social and
economic accessibility.
The city of Pula is situated on the Istrian peninsula, in
the western part of Croatia. The specific position of
the Istrian Region was one of the reasons why people
living in Istria and in Pula in the 19th century have
changed four states without migrating: AustroHungarian Empire, Italy, Yugoslavia and nowadays
Croatia. This specific historical situation has caused
numerous migration flows and mixture of traditions
and cultures, which resulted in multiethnic composition
of the city of Pula.
The multicultural reality is composed of many
minorities which are crucially influencing the social,
economic and cultural life of Pula. This can also be
seen from the complex linguistic situation. Today the
city of Pula has got an official Croatian-Italian
bilingualism. But the complex relation between the
idioms in use and the presence of various minority
languages construct the multilingual reality of the
city.
Language as a form of capital
Having in mind that the linguistic resources can be
transformed into capital, language can serve as
resource of accessibility or, on the contrary, means of
exclusion. If languages are assigned different
status, this may result in asymmetries of social power,
economic participation and integration of a specific
community.
The symbolic capital of language refers to the
relation of the social status of members of specific
minorities and the status that is assigned to their
respective language.
The economic capital of language refers to the
potential for participation in existing economic
structures.
In the research we apply the ethnographic
approach with largely qualitative methodology:
- semi-structured interviews with members of Italian
and Albanian minority of the city of Pula;
- observation of language practices in workplaces;
- observation of the linguistic landscape of the city.
Preliminary results
- autochthonous minority and previous majority
(specific historical background)
- strong ethnic identity: “Italians from Istria”
- mother tongue: Istro-Venetian
- used in both private and public domain
- standard Italian: official language, used in
education
- standard Croatian: learnt at school, used when
necessary
- frequent code switching
- privilege of bilingualism – linguistic capital
Aim
I intend to compare:
1) identification practices of members of respective
minorities (considering language as identity marker);
2) communicative practices which are at play in
specific settings;
3) integration of a minority within the host community
and whether the status (old/new minority) affects it.
By integration I mean participation in social life
and economic participation (active participation in
the local economy).
The obvious major presence of the Italian component
regarding toponymy in officially bilingual city of Pula
constitutes the linguistic heritage and is part of the
culture.
The Albanian language, on the contrary, is not present
in the Pula’s linguistic landscape, which goes in favour
of the predominance and higher status of the Italian
language.
Method
- 2.824 (4,82%) in Pula
The aims of the research are to describe the complex
multicultural and multilingual reality of the city of
Pula, concentrating specifically on members of
Italian and Albanian minority as actors of this
multicultural reality.
The linguistic landscape refers to the visibility of
languages on public and commercial signs in a given
territory. It may serve as a marker of the relative
power and status of the linguistic communities
inhabiting the territory (regarding the eventual
predominance of one language).
On the examples of Italian and Albanian language I
also want to examine the relation between the role of
language skills, economic opportunities and
migrant integration.
Italian minority
Fig. 1 Pula – situated on the Istrian peninsula
Linguistic landscape
Albanian minority
- 480 (0,82%) in Pula
- migrant community (newcomers from Kosovo)
- economic migration (tourism in Istria)
- identity associated with the place of birth
- typical economic family activities (goldsmith;
bakery)
- mother tongue: Albanian variety
- used in private domain (family, friends, workplace)
- integrated linguistically – speak Croatian variety in
public domain
- social integration – always furešti?
Fig.2. Linguistic landscape on the streets of Pula
Concluding remarks
When dealing with the complex multicultural and
multilingual reality it is important to have in mind the
context and to be aware of the complex and dynamic
identification processes. The interaction of
language, culture and identity needs to be always
taken into consideration.
The preliminary results of the research show that
members of Italian and Albanian minorities living in
Pula enjoy different status. The reasons for that
could be found in the fact that the Italian minority
benefits of its specific historical background, while the
Albanian minority is considered a new, migrant
community.
This fact is also reflected in the use of their respective
languages: the Italian language enjoys the status of
the second official language in Pula, while the
Albanian language exists only in private sphere (it is
used with family and friends).
The Italian language can be seen as both symbolic
and economic capital in the present Pula’s reality,
while the Albanian language is important for Albanian
ethnic identity and community solidarity.
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