Galileo shows the Doge of Venice how to use the telescope, fresco by Giuseppe Bertini
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Escì ch’o se parla!

And yet it’s spoken!

Unrecognised, unprotected. But Ligurian is spoken every day.

Today Ligurian lives in conversations and songs, on stage, in books and online. Family transmission has weakened, though, and its spaces of use have narrowed: UNESCO classifies it as "definitely endangered", and Italy’s Law 482/1999 on historical linguistic minorities does not include it among the protected languages.

And yet it’s spoken, and it’s written, it’s sung, it’s taught. There is only one way to preserve a language: by using it.

Bibliography

  1. UNESCO, Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger.
  2. Legge 15 dicembre 1999, n. 482, «Norme in materia di tutela delle minoranze linguistiche storiche».

Image: Giuseppe Bertini, Wikimedia Commons · Public domain (PD-Art)