Project VVV and the Issue of Revitalising Valoc’

Abstract

This article provides an insight into the complex issue of producing the first edition of the dictionary of Valoc’ – a variety of Lombard spoken in Val Masino, lower Valtellina (northern Italy). This new lexicographic project was initiated in 2017 and is called Vocabolär del Valoc’ de la Val Mäśen – VVV [Vocabulary of Valoc’ of Val Masino]. Our research team works on the material of an unpublished dictionary based on interviews collected in the 1960s and 1970s. Our methodological approach is both that of dialectology and sociolinguistics as we complement our study with observations and interviews among Valoc’ speakers of different ages, genders and occupations, to see how it is still used today. Moreover, our approach allowed us to observe the process of the transmission of Valoc’ from one generation to another as well as some discourses among speakers on its uses. In conclusion, this contribution brings us to reflect on how the new “global” society may influence the process of transmission of this endangered language which needs to be revitalised. Interventions at primary and secondary school have been offered in order to introduce Valoc’ as a language of everyday communication and not only as the “dialect” of pupils’ grandparents. We examine the importance of developing a dictionary in order to promote a norm of reference in writing as a way to preserve Valoc’ for the future.