Mussolini a dialekty. Polityka językowa okresu faszyzmu

Abstract

The paper discusses the attitude of the Fascist regime in Italy towards the dialects, which in that period were still used in everyday communication by most Italians. It analyses the language politics in the field of education and mass media. A lot of attention has been paid to the teaching program “from dialect to language”, which was experimented with at schools in the twenties and subsequently abandoned as a result of a growing anti-dialect campaign. It also discusses the restrictions in the use of dialects in the press, radio and cinema. The emerging picture of the language policy of that period shows a transition from relative tolerance towards the use of dialects in public area in the twenties to a rising hostility and the fight against them conducted for the sake of ideological and political unification of Italy.