The Legacy of Multilingualism in the Adriatic during Late Austria-Hungary

Anita Sujoldžić and Olga Orlić

Institute for Anthropological Research, Zagreb

Historical Perspectives on Transnationalism andIntercultural Dialogue in the Austro-Hungarian

Empire (TIDA)

Project: funded by Croatian Science Foundation

Aim: to counterbalance the historiographic approach to the Austro-Hungarian Empire in Croatia based on national canons and national identity

Focus: cultural and linguistic heterogeneity and transnational practices; intercultural identity

Research question: How were multilingual and intercultural practices experienced in everyday life in different parts of the Empire

Austro-Hungarian Empire (1867 to 1918)Österreichisch-Ungarisches Reich; Osztrák-Magyar Birodalom

Transleithania (Kingdom of Hungary): 16. Hungary proper 17. Croatia-Slavonia

Cisleithania (Empire of Austria): 1-15

Governmental structure of the Dual Monarchy and language policies

Cisleithania

Constitutional

Decree XIX. (1867)

No official lingua franca

Widespread use of German as lingua franca

Transleithania

Nationalities Law (1868)

Hungarian enforced as lingua franca

Resistance to use of Hungarian

Joint oversight: only foreign affairs and the military

Two Adriatic towns: Pula (Pola) and Rijeka (Fiume)

Pula

Pola: ethnic composition in 1910

Census by language useGerman 9064

Italian 26816

Croatian 9511

Slovenian 3293

Other 9878

Total 58562

Navy composition

German 24.5%

Italian 18.3%

Croatian 29.8%

Slovenian 3.6%

Hungarian 12.6%

Czech&

Slovak

7.1%

Other 4.1%

Total 27.3%

Education in Pula

Italian schools with Croatian as elective subject

Croatian schools with Italian as compulsory or elective subject

German schools with high percentage of non-native German speakers

Overall high percentage of bilingual students in German and Italian schools

Multilingualism in Pula newspapers

Il Giornaletto di Pola (1900-1906)

Polaer Tagblatt (1905-1918)

German Czech

Naša sloga 1870-1915Daily delivery of fresh meat from Galicia (in Croatian)

Advertisment in Slovenian by a firm in Brno (“Austrian Manchester”) selling clothes.

Correspondence in German, Hungarian, Czech, Polish, Italian, French and English

Naša sloga

Croat, offering translation services

A Grocery shop assistant lokks for a job. Speaks Croatian, German and Hungarian, and will accept modest salary until he learns Italian.

1912

Pula

Rijeka/Fiume: ethnic composition in 1910

Census by language use

German 2315 (4.65%)

Italian 24212 (48.62%)

Croatian 12926 (25.95%)

Slovenian 2336 (4.69%)

Hungarian 6493 (13.04%)

Other 624 (1.3%)

Total 49806

Education in Rijeka /Fiume

Italian schools with Hungarian as compulsory subject

Hungarian schools with Italian as elective subject

Croatian schools only in part of Rijeka _ Sušak belonging to Croatia-Slavonia, with Italian as elective subject

Progressive magyarization in high schools, Naval Academy, Commercial School and some primary schools

1910-11

Italian School -Compulsory languages:

Italian, Hungarian and German

Croatian High School - Sušak:

Compulsory languages: Latin, Greek,Croatian, German

Elective: Italian

Fiume: newspapers Published in different languages mostly as monolingual

journals

German Hungarian Italian CroatianFiumaner Zeitung Fiumei szemle Giornale di Fiume Kvarner

Kur- und Bade-Zeitung

Magyar tengerpart L'imparziale Primorac

Tagblatt für Fiume und Abbazia

Tengerpart L'Eco di Fiume Sloboda

Fiumei Hírlap La varieta Novi list

Fiumei Napló La bilancia Riječki glasnik

Fiumei Estilap La voce del popolo

Studio e lavoro

Monolingual advertisments

GermanGerman Hungarian

Italian

Croatian: If you are a Slav travelling through Rijeka, come to your own

Multilingualism in Fiume advertisments

Hungarian-German

Multilingual advertisments

Italian-Croatian-German

Italian-Croatian-Hungarian

Other traces of multilingualism

Postcard of shipyard: Italian-Hungarian

Multilingual postcard: Fiume slaughterhouse

Administration and finances

Italian –Croatian Hungarian–Croatian

Conclusions

Different language and education policies affected differently multilingualism in the public sphere and prestige and/or marginalization of particular languages

Power, ideology and economic interests affected the rate of multilingualism in life domains of different social groups

Marginalized Croatian and other Slavic speakers – more open to multilingual practices

Italian language kept its symbolic prestige in both towns