Does bilingualism have an economic value in the ethnically mixed regions of Slovenia?

ABSTRACT

The paper considers whether bilingualism has an economic value in Slovenia’s two ethnically mixed regions, or whether its value is more related to identity, and restricted primarily to the personal, educational and cultural spheres. Specifically, it asks whether bilingualism is rewarded on the labour market and what local people think about this issue. The two regions of the country that are officially bilingual are presented, with a focus on minority rights, language planning and education policy. In addressing the central question of the paper, the situation in both the public and private sectors is examined to see whether bilingual language skills play a role during recruitment processes and whether those who function bilingually in the work environment are financially rewarded. In addition, the opinions of bilingual speakers regarding the value of the minority language in their areas are also explored. A picture of prevailing attitudes towards the economic value of bilingualism and foreign language knowledge is obtained from a survey of the views of leading managers in companies based in Slovenia. Empirical data are also offered as to which languages are favoured by individuals and companies investing in informal language learning or training.

KEYWORDS:

• Bilingualism
• Slovene
• ethnically mixed region
• economic value
• language market

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 The Slovene term avtohton is used in the Constitution, but is not actually defined. The underlying concept is of ethnic groups who, through international treaties in which they played no part, found themselves a minority within a different state – either Yugoslavia or Slovenia.

2 In the 2002 census (the last one to take ethnicity into account), those declaring themselves to be Hungarians numbered 6243 (0.32% of the national population) and Italians 2258 (0.11%). In the same census, 7713 gave their ‘mother tongue’ as Hungarian and 3762 as Italian. No precise figures are available for the ethnic breakdown of mixed areas, but to give a rough idea, the population in 2015 of the statistical region of Pomurje (which includes Prekmurje) was 116,434 and of the Obalna-kraška region (which includes Slovene Istria) was 112,942.

3 Special rights are implemented in ‘ethically mixed areas’, but in the context of local government in Slovenia these have no autonomous status, which is reserved for municipalities. The whole of a municipality can be defined as an ethnically mixed area, or only certain settlements within the municipality (for a more detailed discussion, see Komac and Roter 2015).

4 Funded by the Slovene research agency ARRS from 2008 to 2011 at Slovenia’s Institute for Ethnic Studies. Coordinated by Sonja Novak Lukanovič.

5 Delo, covering the whole of Slovenia; Primorske novice, covering the area including the EMR of Istria; Večer, covering the north-east of Slovenia; Vestnik, covering the EMR of Prekmurje.