Ladin Language - History

History

The name derives from Latin, because Ladin is originally a vulgar Latin language left over from the Romanized Alps. Ladin is often attributed to be a relic of vulgar Latin dialects associated with Rhaeto-Romance languages. Whether a proto-Romance language ever existed is controversially discussed amongst linguists and historians, a debate known as Questione Ladina. Starting in the 6th century, the Bavarii started moving in from north, while from the south the Italian language started pushing in, which further shrank the original extent of the Ladin area. Only in the more remote mountain valleys was Ladin able to survive.

Starting in the very early Middle Ages, the area was mostly ruled by the County of Tyrol or the Bishopric of Brixen, both belonging to the realms of the Austrian Habsburg rulers, while the area of Cadore was under the rule of the Republic of Venice. In the vast Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation and then after 1804 the Austrian empire, the Ladins underwent a process of Germanization.

After the end of the war in 1918, Italy annexed the southern part of Tyrol, including the Ladin areas. The Italian nationalist movement of the 19th and 20th century regarded Ladin as an "Italian dialect", a notion repeatedly rejected by the Ladins themselves, despite being counted as Italians by the Austrian authorities as well. The programme of Italianization professed by fascists such as Ettore Tolomei and Benito Mussolini added further pressure on the Ladin communities to subordinate their identities to Italian. This included changing Ladin place names into the Italian pronunciation according to Tolomei's Prontuario dei nomi locali dell'Alto Adige.

Following the end of World War II, the Gruber-De Gasperi Agreement of 1946 between Austria and Italy introduced a level of autonomy for Trentino and South Tyrol but did not include any provisions for Ladins. Only the second autonomy statute for South Tyrol in 1972 started recognising the rights for these communities.