Le parlate tedesche della Valcanale

The aim of this article is to give a description of the sociolinguistic situation and of the Carinthian dialects of Valcanale, in the province of Udine. This small valley belonged to Austria until 1919 and was consequently annected to Italy as compensation for the First World War, which resulted in the modification of the languages traditionally spoken in the territory, especially due to Italianization. Nowadays, Valcanale represents the survival of the indigenous Slovenian community, the Germanic component dating back to the period of Bamberg and Austrian domination on the Friulians, who settled there before the valley’s passage to Italy. Later, the valley was finally given to the Italians in 1919, whose relocation to the area was encouraged by the Fascist regime.