Friulian is a Romance language, traditionally recognised as part of the Rhaeto-Romance sub-family, that is spoken in the Autonomous Region of Friuli Venezia Giulia in Italy. According to the most recent sociolinguistic survey conducted by the Regional Agency for the Friulian Language (Agjenzie Regjonâl pe Lenghe Furlane), there were 420,000 regular speakers of Friulian in the former provinces of Udine, Pordenone, and Gorizia in 2014. Regional Law 29/2007 stipulates that Friulian should be offered as an optional subject for at least 30 hours per year in kindergartens, primary schools, and lower secondary schools in the Friulian-speaking territory (closely corresponding to the former provinces of Udine, Pordenone, and Gorizia).

The second and fully updated edition of The Friulian language in education in Italy has now been published in the Regional Dossier series of the Mercator European Research Centre on Multilingualism and Language Learning. This edition, like all other dossiers, is available for free download from this website.

The second edition of The Friulian language in education in Italy was compiled by Ada Bier, Gabriele Zanello, and Antonella Ottogalli.

- Ada Bier, PhD, is currently a postdoc researcher at the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU). Bier has been collaborating with the Societât Filologjiche Furlane (SFF – Friulian Philological Society) since 2017, serving as the scientific coordinator of the online training courses (Friulian language courses and CLIL teacher training courses) organised by the SFF.

- Gabriele Zanello, PhD, is currently a researcher in Romance philology and linguistics at the University of Udine. Zanello’s research interests include, among others, plurilingual education in the minority context of Friuli Venezia Giulia.

-  Antonella Ottogalli, MA, is the referent person of the Docuscuele–Regional Centre of Documentation, Research and Educational Experimentation for Friulian Schools of the SFF.

Friulian and Italian translations

In collaboration with the Societât Filologjiche Furlane, we are delighted to announce that full Friulian and Italian translations of this Regional Dossier will be published in April 2024.

Regional Dossiers

The Regional Dossiers focus on the education system in European regions that have an autochthonous lesser-used language, and on how the lesser-used language is embedded in this system. The Regional Dossiers are written according to a fixed structure so that they can be used for comparative research. Please visit the Regional Dossier series page for more information.