{"id":678,"date":"2023-03-17T15:58:04","date_gmt":"2023-03-17T14:58:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.dlls.univr.it\/alpilink\/friulano\/"},"modified":"2026-03-09T17:29:36","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T16:29:36","slug":"friulano","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/alpilink.it\/en\/friulano\/","title":{"rendered":"Friulian"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\"\"<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>
<\/div>

Friulian<\/span><\/span><\/h2>

Friulian or Friulan (furlan<\/em> in Friulian) is a language spoken in the historical Friuli region in northeastern Italy bordering Austria in the north, Slovenia in the east and Veneto in the west. It developed around 1000 AD from Vulgar Latin spoken in the Aquileia region and conserves for example a final –s<\/em> in the plural of nouns, cf. cjan<\/em> (sg.) ‘dog’ vs. cjans<\/em> ‘dogs’ (pl.): in Italian: cane<\/em> (sg.) vs. cani<\/em> (pl.), and it maintains consonant clusters such as cl, gl, bl, pl, fl<\/em>; compare e.g. cl\u00e2f<\/em>\u00a0 (Latin: clavem<\/em>; Italian: chiave<\/em>). Friulian can be divided into three main varieties: western Friulian, central-eastern Friulian and Carnic Friulian, spoken in the north, in Carnia.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Due to its peripheral geographic position, Friulian has always been in contact with other languages and varieties. Friuli-Venezia Giulia, an autonomous region with special statute, recognizes (besides Friulian) also two other historical minority languages as official languages: German (for example in the language islands Sappada\/Pladen<\/a>, Timau\/Tischelwang or Sauris\/Zahre<\/a> going back to a medieval variety of Southern Bavarian) and Slovenian spoken in the provinces of Gorizia, Trieste and Udine.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/section>

At national level, Friulian has been recognised as minority language according to Italy\u2019s National Law no. 482\/99, Friuli Venezia-Giulia\u2019s Regional Laws no. 15\/96 and 29\/2009 as well as Veneto\u2019s Regional Law no. 30\/2021.<\/p>\n

Since 2005, the Regional Agency for the Friulian language<\/em> (ARLeF<\/a> \u2013 in Friulian: Agjenzie Regjon\u00e2l pe lenghe furlan<\/em>e) has been coordinating activities to protect and to promote the Friulian language and its historical and cultural heritage. ARLeF is the reference point for vocabulary standardisation and language certification. It also provides digital tools for Friulian writing. According to a study published by the ARLeF in co-operation with Istituto di Ricerche Economiche e Sociali del Friuli Venezia-Giulia<\/em> (Research Institute for Economic and Social Issues of the Friuli-Venezia Giulia Region), in 2023, there are ca. 450,000 speakers of Friulian in the Friulian-speaking part of Friuli-Venezia Giulia region as well as in the Veneto region (180 municipalities). Additionally, many speakers of Friulian have emigrated worldwide in the past, especially to Australia, North- and South America and South Africa, resulting in Friulian speech communities outside of Italy.<\/p>\n

Friulian has a long tradition as a written language. The first documentation of literary use dates back to the fourteenth century. Later, the poet Ermes di Colloredo (1622 \u2013 1692) created a common literary language based on the central Friulian variety spoken in the area around Udine which as a result acquired the status of literary koin\u00e9. Subsequently, this variety was used also by other writers and served as a model for the official spelling adopted in 1996. The Autonomous Region Friuli Venezia-Giulia has acknowledged the official Friulian writing system in accordance with Regional Law no. 15\/96, which is now used as a unique orthographic system in institutions, schools and media.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

ISO-Code 639-2: fur<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Further reading<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n