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Andrea Bernini

Abstract

During the 19th and 20th centuries, European countries based their language policies on the principle lingua instrumentum regni (“language is the instrument of political control”), born with the French Revolution. As a direct consequence, the numerous local languages and dialects spoken in Europe have considerably lost ground in favour of national languages. However, in the last few decades the approach to linguistic diversity has changed contextually to the strengthening of the globalised dimension of society, so that nowadays states recognise regional and minority languages in addition to the national ones. But dialects are not legally recognised nor are regarded as languages. I deal with the Cremonese dialect, analyse briefly linguistic studies and literature, and conclude by advancing a proposal for its safeguard. As any other idiom, Cremonese dialect should be preserved for reasons of linguistic rights and cultural diversity.

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Section
Articles