L’identità sul cartello. Esperienze di toponomastica bilingue nelle valli occitane del Piemonte1

Abstract

Place names are rich in symbolic meanings, and their shared knowledge may be regarded as an evidence of the cohesion of a community; as it often happens, however, the official place names, fixed over time through writing, are very far from those normally used inside the community, especially when linguistic minorities are dealt with. Nowadays, the Italian laws on the safeguarding and promotion of minority languages allow to add the local place name alongside the official one; yet, in the Occitan-speaking valleys of Piedmont, the language policies have been lacking coordination, the Occitan identity being an unresolved issue all over the area. After a survey of the most telling activities, some critical issues of toponymic policies will be discussed in light of the medium adopted, the writing system employed, and the relationship between oral language and written language.