Peter JORDAN, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Institute of Urban and Regional Research, Austria
Related to the representation of minority place names in public space (on town signs, road signs etc.) and on maps exist various regulations in Europe. They differ by
definition of the minority,
feature categories included (populated places, natural features etc.),
the administrative level where the decision is taken (national, province, district, commune level),
the share of minority population necessary for taking advantage of the regulation,
additional procedures necessary to effectuate the right on the name,
the choice between standard language and dialect name versions,
the kind of visual representation of the minority name,
comprehensiveness of the fields where the minority name has (in addition to the majority name) to be used (only on town signs, also on maps, in all kinds of communication),
the level of officiality of the minority name (as official as the majority name, supplementary official, just for information etc.)
and by several others.
The project attempts to compare such regulations in the countries of Europe with autochthonous linguistic minorities on the background of ethnic and linguistic structures, historical and political developments, the political landscape, governance structures, and external relations. Is minority place-name standardization part of the general standardization process or are there specific regulations? Is it a bottom-up or a top-down process and which administrative levels are involved? The project is also going to explain, to which extent these regulations satisfy linguistic minorities and help to facilitate the relations between majority and minority.
The paper will outline contents and goals of the project.
Mots clés : place names|linguistic minorities|standardization|governance|Europe
A103235PJ