LANGUAGE POLICY AND LANGUAGE BELIEFS IN SARDINIA: A CASE STUDY

The present dissertation investigates the Sardinian language policy, focusing on the language beliefs and attitudes of a specific educational institution’s teaching staff. Language policy is considered to be composed of language practices, language beliefs and language management (Spolsky, 2004), and speakers’ beliefs and attitudes are thought to be capable of conditioning the success of language management provisions (Baker, 1992; Spolsky, 2009). The language planning initiatives carried out by the Sardinian authorities have been trying to promote the use of Sardinian in various public settings, especially in schools, and therefore, teachers’ language ideologies and attitudes might be particularly important for their implementation. The data – obtained from questionnaires and interviews – show that participants see Sardinian positively at a general level, because that language is part of their identity and cultural heritage. Furthermore, teachers acknowledge the importance of a plurilingual education that could include the local language. However, many teachers perceive that Sardinian lacks instrumental value and, being a minority language, it can hardly cover certain public functions without affecting individual rights. Consequently, a deep assimilation of Sardinian in the school context, especially as a medium of instruction, is not unthinkable, but it will probably be a rather controversial process