Bilingualism in Slovenian Istria: Studies and Issues in Its Preservation Autors Mojca Kompara Lukančič Nives Lenassi Sandro Paolucci June 2023 Title Bilingualism in Slovenian Istria Subtitle Studies and Issues in Its Preservation Authors Mojca Kompara Lukančič University of Maribor, Faculty of Tourism) Nives Lenassi (University of Ljubljana, School of Economics and Business) Sandro Paolucci (University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Arts) Review Irena Marković (University of Zadar) Francesco Costantini (University of Udine) Language editing Donald Francis Reindl (University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Arts) Technical editor Jan Perša (University of Maribor, University Press) Cover designer Jan Perša (University of Maribor, University Press) Cover graphics Notes & book, foto: Aaron Burden, unsplash.com, 2023 Graphics material Kompara, Lenassi, Paolucci, 2023 Published by University of Maribor University Press Slomškov trg 15, 2000 Maribor Slovenia https://press.um.si, zalozba@um.si Publication type E-book Edition 1st Available at http://press.um.si/index.php/ump/catalog/book/784 Published at Maribor, Slovenia, June 2023 © University of Maribor, University Press / Univerza v Mariboru, Univerzitetna založba Text © Kompara, Lenassi, Paolucci, 2023 This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. 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CIP - Kataložni zapis o publikaciji Univerzitetna knjižnica Maribor 81'246.2(0.034.2) KOMPARA Lukančič, Mojca Bilingualism in Slovenian Istria [Elektronski vir] : Studies and Issues in Its Preservation / autors [and graphics material] Mojca Kompara Lukančič, Nives Lenassi, Sandro Paolucci. - 1st Ed. - E-knjiga. - Maribor : University of Maribor, University Press, 2023 Način dostopa (URL): https://press.um.si/index.php/ump/catalog/book/784 ISBN 978-961-286-743-0 (PDF) doi: 10.18690/um.2.2023 COBISS.SI-ID 154043651 ISBN 978-961-286-743-0 (pdf) 978-961-286-744-7 (softback) DOI https://doi.org/10.18690/um.2.2023 Price Free copy For publisher Prof. Dr. Zdravko Kačič, Rector of University of Maribor Attribution Kompara Lukančič, M., Lenassi, N., Paolucci, S. (2023). Bilingualism in Slovenian Istria: Studies and Issues in Its Preservation. University of Maribor, Maribor, University Press. doi: 10.18690/um.2.2023 BILINGUALISM IN SLOVENIAN ISTRIA: STUDIES AND ISSUES IN ITS PRESERVATION M. Kompara Lukančič, N. Lenassi, S. Paolucci Table of Contents Foreword .....................................................................................................................1 PART I ...................................................................................................................... 5 1 Introduction to Bilingualism ........................................................................ 7 1.1 Benefits of bilingualism .................................................................................................... 10 1.2 The bilingual area and the position of bilingualism in Slovenian Istria ................... 12 1.3 The legal position of ethnically mixed communities in Slovenian Istria ................. 14 1.4 The socioeconomic and cultural position of bilingualism in Slovenian Istria........ 18 1.5 Conclusion.......................................................................................................................... 20 PART II .................................................................................................................... 21 2 Surveys on Italian in Slovenian Istria ........................................................ 23 2.1 The position of bilingualism ........................................................................................... 23 2.3 The influence of Italian media ........................................................................................ 24 2.4 The results of the secondary school leaving exam in Italian ..................................... 25 2.5 The position of bilingualism in Slovenian schools ...................................................... 26 2.6 Conclusion.......................................................................................................................... 27 3 Characteristics of translated documents from the websites of the four bilingual municipalities .............................................................................. 29 3.1 The analysis of the web pages of the Municipality of Koper .................................... 29 3.2 The analysis of the web pages of the Municipality of Izola ...................................... 31 3.3 The analysis of the web pages of the Municipality of Piran ...................................... 53 3.4 The analysis of the web pages of the Municipality of Ankaran ................................ 79 3.5 Conclusion.......................................................................................................................... 92 4 The translation of administrative texts in the bilingual region of Slovenian Istria ........................................................................................................... 93 4.1 Some key points in support of the chapter’s proposals ............................................. 95 4.2 The need for consistent terminology............................................................................. 99 4.3 The use of acronyms in bilingual administrative texts ............................................. 101 4.3.1 The e xpansion + acronym in the source language and the target language: presence and/or absence of single items ..................................................................................... 103 ii TABLE OF CONTENTS. 4.3.1.1 Expanded form folowed by the short form in both languages ............................. 104 4.3.1.2 Short forms without expansions in both languages .................................................. 107 4.3.1.3 Short form in the source language, expanded equivalent in the target language ............................................................................................................................ 109 4.3.1.4 Short form in the source language, translated short form and expansion in the target language ................................................................................................................. 110 4.3.1.5 Expansion and short form in the source language, expansion in the target language ................................................................................................................................... 110 4.3.1.6 The source language short form with no expansion, unaltered in the target language ................................................................................................................................... 111 4.3.1.7 Expansion and short form in the source language, expanded equivalent in the target language fol owed by the source language abbreviated components .................... 116 4.3.1.8 The source language short form in the target language with no previous expansion in any of the languages ................................................................................................... 116 4.3.1.9 Short form only in the target language ........................................................................ 118 4.3.2 Different approaches to abbreviated lexical units within one text ......................... 118 4.3.3 A brief overview of the section on acronyms ............................................................ 121 4.4 Conclusion........................................................................................................................ 122 5 Conclusion ................................................................................................ 125 About the authors ................................................................................................... 135 BILINGUALISM IN SLOVENIAN ISTRIA: STUDIES AND ISSUES IN ITS PRESERVATION M. Kompara Lukančič, N. Lenassi, S. Paolucci Foreword Already from the title Bilingualism in Slovenian Istria: Studies and Issues in Its Preservation, it is clear that the authors of the volume offer readers information about previous studies, recent facts, and analyses regarding the current position of bilingualism in Slovenian Istria. The work is intended for readers interested in bilingualism: the Italian community, researchers, bilingual municipalities, and residents, as well as translators and teachers of Italian language and culture. The volume presents the position of bilingualism in Slovenian Istria with an analysis of bilingual texts of the four bilingual municipalities in the region, translation of administrative texts, and trends regarding translation practices in these texts. The volume is divided into two parts. The first part, consisting of one chapter, introduces bilingualism, whereby the authors present various studies covering general aspects of bilingualism, characteristics of bilingual individuals, their linguistic abilities and classification according to language proficiency, levels of bilingualism, and situations that lead to bilingualism. This part of the volume also focuses on the benefits of bilingualism for both individuals and society. With reference to the positive aspects of bilingualism for both the community and individuals, the authors speak of intercultural communication and ease of learning other languages, as wel as knowledge of multiple cultures, flexibility, cultural values, and so on. This is fol owed by a section defining the bilingual area from a geographical perspective and 2 BILINGUALISM IN SLOVENIAN ISTRIA: STUDIES AND ISSUES IN ITS PRESERVATION the position of bilingualism in Slovenian Istria. The next section presents a legal framework for the mixed territory, where the main laws relating to the minority in the Slovenian constitution are presented. The section is oriented toward legal aspects, in which further laws are discussed, including those relating to public administration, the courts, and the salary system for public employees. The chapter concludes with the socioeconomic and cultural position of bilingualism in Slovenian Istria, where the authors reflect on encouragement to use the language of the minority and the promotion of bilingualism for economic purposes. After the first, more theoretical part of the volume, the second part moves on to more applied concepts. It contains three chapters. Chapter 2 presents four studies that reflect on the position of Italian in the bilingual area and the linguistic skills of Italian speakers from a synchronic and diachronic perspective. The first section presents surveys on the position of bilingualism, the next two focus on the influence of Italian media and on the results of the school leaving exams in Italian, and the last one on the position of bilingualism in Slovenian schools in Slovenian Istria. Chapter 3 then presents a more detailed analysis of texts and documents translated from Slovenian into Italian. The authors examine and analyze Slovenian and Italian bilingual texts on the websites of the four bilingual municipalities—Koper, Izola, Piran, and Ankaran—discussing good practices presented by individual communities and also cases that stimulate reflection on the opportunities for improvement to guarantee constitutional y guaranteed rights to the Italian linguistic minority. Final y, in the last chapter, the authors move on to more detailed aspects of the linguistic studies carried out by presenting an analysis of some translation aspects of normative and informative administrative texts in the four bilingual municipalities. This chapter focuses on an analysis of selected characteristic terms present in the col ected corpus either only in the form of ful y spel ed-out lexical items or acronyms and/or their expansions. With this concluding chapter of the volume, the authors offer some translation solutions to guarantee and preserve minority rights and offer uniform terminology. Foreword 3 The volume Bilingualism in Slovenian Istria: Studies and Issues in Its Preservation starts with a presentation of a broader picture, gradually narrowing as it goes along to finally focus on specific details; that is, selected terminology and its translation prospects. By taking this narrowing approach and focusing on terminological details at the end of the volume, the authors emphasize the importance of preserving a bilingual environment at all levels of administrative activities. 4 BILINGUALISM IN SLOVENIAN ISTRIA: STUDIES AND ISSUES IN ITS PRESERVATION BILINGUALISM IN SLOVENIAN ISTRIA: STUDIES AND ISSUES IN ITS PRESERVATION M. Kompara Lukančič, N. Lenassi, S. Paolucci 1 Introduction to Bilingualism Languages are more than just communication tools because they accompany us from birth to death and surround us at every moment of our lives. They are used to communicate thoughts and emotions, to establish contacts, and to identify ourselves with our culture and understand the cultures of others (Marian and Shook, 2012). The relevance of languages with their multifaceted usages, which offer a constant dynamism from both an individual and sociological perspective, is particularly noticeable in bilingual communities, where two languages are continually exchanged and mix. Given the effect that bilingualism has on the people that are part of a certain bilingual speech community, and the fact that bilingualism is an interdisciplinary field, it has been studied by various disciplines such as linguistics, education, sociology, psychology, and neuroscience. As a phenomenon of interest to many experts, bilingualism has been defined from several different perspectives and using various criteria. Among the various studies on bilingualism and bilinguals, we would first like to mention the volume Lingue in contat o (edited by Orioles, 2008) which is a new Italian edition of Uriel Weinreich’s work Languages in Contact (1953), in which bilingualism is considered “the practice of alternately using two languages” (Weinreich, 1953, p. 1). Regarding the Italian edition from 2008, the first Italian translation of the volume 8 BILINGUALISM IN SLOVENIAN ISTRIA: STUDIES AND ISSUES IN ITS PRESERVATION was edited by Giorgio Raimondo Cardona (1974) and later revised by Vincenzo Orioles (2008). Orioles (2008) is oriented along three main lines of inquiry, examining three guiding concepts—bilingualism, contact, and interference—which together govern interlingual influences. With regard to these concepts, he outlines the conceptual framework underlying their interdependence involving the relationship between bilingualism and plurilingualism. The author investigates the issues inherent to the interlingual distance that should exist between the languages spoken by a multilingual person. Regarding the relationship between bilingualism and multilingualism, Weinreich shows how any kind of language community, local or national, can configure itself as a multilingual context. Verbalizations of concepts in various languages are realized through diverse registers but, despite the diversity of communicative registers, the degree of diversity between two languages is not seen as a distinctive parameter in the realization of bilingualism (Orioles, 2008). With reference to particular variables that can be taken into account to define bilingualism, Scotti Jurić and Matticchio (2018) refer to this phenomenon by taking into consideration not only an individual’s ability to express his or her thoughts in two languages and to ful y understand them, but also to experience the two different cultures. The concept of a bilingual individual is often associated with the possession of language skills in at least two languages (Grosjean, 1985; Baker, 2011; Moradi, 2014). Grosjean (1985) defines the concept of a bilingual individual viewed from a monolingual perspective, whereby a bilingual person is defined as the concept of two monolingual individuals in one person. Grosjean (1985) states further that this definition has negative consequences because a bilingual individual is not a sum of two complete or incomplete monolingual individuals. Hamers and Blanc (2000) point out that the concept of bilingualism refers to the state of a linguistic community in which two languages are in contact. The result of this contact is that two different codes can be used in the same interaction and that various persons are bilingual (i.e., social bilingualism). The contact between the two languages also includes the concept of bilinguality (or individual bilingualism). The authors define bilinguality as the psychological state of a person with access to more than one linguistic code. The level of access to the codes differs through a number Part I 1 Introduction to Bilingualism 9 of dimensions that are psychological, cognitive, psycholinguistic, social psychological, social, sociological, sociolinguistic, sociocultural, and linguistic. In defining bilinguals, Moradi (2014) specifies that a bilingual individual has the ability to interact, communicate, read, and understand two languages, among which one has a predominant function, and therefore the individual has a better knowledge of it. Bilingual individuals can be classified by their degree of language proficiency, or skil s in the spoken language, and also by the age and the context in which both languages are used. Based on these parameters, Moradi (2014) classifies bilingual individuals as early/late, simultaneous/successive, formal/informal, acquired /learned, additive/subtractive, and compound/coordinate/subordinate. Related to bilingualism is the question of when an individual is characterized as a bilingual and what defines him or her as such, and therefore the fol owing text offers a brief overview of studies dealing with this topic. One often recognizes bilingual individuals in bilingual children that are constantly in close contact with two languages (Baker, 2011), but bilinguals can also be defined as individuals with the ability to use two languages in today’s context (Knaflič, 2010), which means that people are bilingual if they have the ability to understand others and if others understand them in more than one language (Siraj and Clarke, 2010). This point makes one think about when individuals can call themselves bilingual and how one can define the level of bilingualism. Knaflič (2010) believes that there are no adequate tools to measure the level of bilingualism, whereas Baker (2011) analyzes the concept of bilingualism and bilinguals based on seven dimensions of bilingualism: ability, culture, context, age, use, elective bilingualism, and balance of two languages. Regarding when individuals can truly consider themselves bilingual and how to determine the level of bilingualism, Mulyani (2017) states that the dimension of development should also be considered. However, although various studies have already been carried out, the question of how to measure the proficiency of bilingual individuals still remains open. Regarding ascertainment of bilinguals’ linguistic competence, Marian and Hayakawa (2020) point out that the language experiences of bilinguals are unalike and are characterized by a particular acquisitional background and use. This variability in education and language use has contributed to the development of a variety of methods for defining bilingualism, and therefore it is necessary to start discussing the usefulness of a more united approach to how bilingualism is thought about, studied, and measured. 10 BILINGUALISM IN SLOVENIAN ISTRIA: STUDIES AND ISSUES IN ITS PRESERVATION Bilingualism is often spoken of by addressing child bilingualism, usually referring to the preschool age, when children come into contact with two languages at the same time. Child bilingualism develops for different reasons, starting from family contexts in which two languages are used by parents. Another type of bilingualism is simultaneous bilingualism, when children live with two language realities from birth, having parents belonging to two language realities. Bilingualism can also occur in family situations where the family migrates to a new linguistic reality. In these cases one refers to sequential or consecutive bilingualism; that is, situations when children are projected to two languages due to family migrations. In such cases, children usual y come into contact with the second language during the school period, when they learn first one language and then the second language (Kompara Lukančič, 2019a). Knaflič (2010) states that bilingualism is present in both children and adults, but in both cases the first language does not meet and satisfy communication needs in the new educational or work environment. In this regard, motivation plays an important role and can facilitate language learning, but caution must be exercised. As Knaflič (2010) states, language inferiority regarding social status, in cases when speakers see bilingualism as a priority or possibility of comparison of two cultures, is very common. In this regard, Scotti Jurić and Matticchio (2018) note that the bilingual individual may even hide part of their linguistic repertoire in order to avoid being perceived as different, or even make use of the opposite concept. This means that bilingual individuals make use of the possibility of mobilizing all their languages to be able to include or exclude interlocutors from conversations and to change the level of discourse. 1.1 Benefits of bilingualism Bilingualism and being bilingual is an advantage, which is consistently confirmed by numerous authors (Genesee, 1989, 2001, 2006; Cummins, 1992; Rossell and Baker, 1996; Baker and Jones, 1998; Baker and Sienkewicz, 2000; Baker, 2011; Scotti Jurić and Matticchio, 2018) not only for individuals, but also for society as a whole, as discussed by Scotti Jurić and Matticchio (2018) because the way of thinking is more creative and flexible. Bilingualism entails greater analytical and problem-solving capacity, and it involves more cognitive skills (Emorrey et al., 2008; Bialystok, 2011; Kempert, Saalbach, and Hardy, 2011). Its positive aspects include being able to Part I 1 Introduction to Bilingualism 11 engage in cross-cultural communication, developing other points of view, and the possibility of faster switching between tasks than monolingual speakers (Marian and Shook, 2012). Among the many benefits of bilingualism, as mentioned by Scotti Jurić and Matticchio (2018), is the ease of learning third or fourth languages, and interpreting and understanding translations. To this, one can add knowledge of two or more cultures, greater awareness and respect for cultural diversity, greater skil in interpersonal relationships, and flexibility in various contexts and situations. Bilingualism thus has benefits that are highly discussed in research (Kompara Lukančič, 2019a, 2019b) because it not only facilitates communication but goes beyond that because it has a beneficial effect on cognitive abilities. Indeed, it has been shown that bilingual brains have better focus because they are capable of faster changes between tasks than those of monolingual users. This happens because of the ability to inhibit one language by using another (Marian and Shook, 2012). This cognitive ability may be linked to the specificity of brain development in bilingual individuals. In fact, the results of a study by Pliatsikas et al. (2020) suggest that there may be a developmental basis for some of the structural brain differences discovered between bilingual and monolingual adults. The results also point to the fact that some differences between bilingual and monolingual individuals take place in the developing brain but not the adult brain. On the whole, the findings suggest that the bilingual brain is different from the monolingual brain, and that this distinction already starts to manifest itself during development. Also, the results of a cross-sectional and longitudinal study carried out by Costomero et al. (2020) “provide the first prospective evidence that bilingualism may act as a neuroprotective factor against dementia and could be considered a factor in cognitive reserve.” Language satisfies emotional and social needs to establish interaction, and it functions as a connector in social groups and also establishes relationships of belonging (Pavlenko, 2007). Added to this are also the benefits of language skills in the economy (Novak Lukanovič, 2020), which represent an economic value in the bilingual area (Limon and Novak Lukanovič, 2017). Bilingualism also brings benefits to society (Scotti Jurić and Matticchio, 2018), and so it is important for the population to be aware of the cultural value of linguistic diversity. From this perspective, learning more languages should be encouraged because knowledge of languages is a key element of individuals’ personal and professional development. 12 BILINGUALISM IN SLOVENIAN ISTRIA: STUDIES AND ISSUES IN ITS PRESERVATION 1.2 The bilingual area and the position of bilingualism in Slovenian Istria In the geographical concept of the word Istria, both Slovenian Istria and Croatian Istria must be mentioned because Italian is one of the two official languages in both of them. Just as in Slovenian Istria, in Croatian Istria institutional bilingualism is part of the sociopolitical, socioeconomic, and administrative system (Orbanić, 1999), and it is marked by legal norms and the sociocultural and sociolinguistic specificities that are characterized by the presence of the Italian ethnic community (Blagoni, 2001). This chapter is oriented exclusively to the position of bilingualism in Slovenian Istria. Slovenian Istria, particularly the narrow strip of the coastal area where the bilingual municipalities of Ankaran, Koper, Izola, and Piran are located, is an area of special interest (Zerzer, 2009) where Slovenian language and culture mix with Italian language and culture. This mixed territory (Novak Lukanovič, 1998) includes only the part of the Slovenian Littoral, or coastal zone, in the southwest part of Slovenian Istria, along the coast of the Adriatic Sea. The coast extends 46.6 km, and the area consists of 120 settlements. The Slovenian Littoral is a strategic point of linguistic and cultural mixing, a place of migration, and a meeting space of cultures and languages, where Slovenian and Italian are official languages. There are twenty-five bilingual settlements in Slovenia that use both Slovenian and Italian as their official languages. In conformity with the law, the names of the settlements where the minority members reside are standardized and written in bilingual form on traffic signs (Kladnik et al., 2020, p. 159). Today, the official position of both languages is evident in public offices at the administrative units, but also in public education, where the language of instruction from preschool to high school is Italian or Slovenian. By law, all public documents are provided to users in both languages, and both languages are used in a daily framework in all public contexts; that is, from administrative units to public education (Kompara Lukančič, 2014, 2019a). As already mentioned, the bilingual area of the Slovenian coast includes four municipalities, Ankaran, Koper, Izola, and Piran, with some inland villages. These are ethnically mixed (Novak Lukanovič, 1998) and linguistically and culturally interesting municipalities. According to data from the 2002 census, Slovenian is used as a native language by 72% of the residents of Slovenian Istria, and Italian as a native language by 3.3%. The municipality with the highest number of individuals that declared Italian to be their native language is Piran, at 7% (Popis, 2002). Part I 1 Introduction to Bilingualism 13 The presence of bilingualism in Slovenian Istria is immediately apparent upon entering the territory and is visible not only through bilingual toponyms on road signs, but also on public notices, signs on stores, shop windows, and so on. In this regard, one can speak of the linguistic landscape, referring to the presence, visibility, and relevance of languages on public and commercial signs in a given territory or region (Landry and Allard, 1997; cf. also Mezgec, 2016; Melchior, 2020), or visual representations of language in public spaces (Ivković and Lotherington, 2009). The linguistic landscape performs informational and symbolic functions and contributes to the sociopsychological aspects of bilingual development (Landry and Allard, 1997). The two languages are used in all administrative areas, such as banks, post offices, municipal offices, administrative units, 1 and so on. For most state employees in the bilingual area, knowledge of Italian is also a prerequisite. In the bilingual area, education is carried out in both languages, from preschool to high school. In the school setting, the language of instruction may be Slovenian or Italian, but in either case students achieve proficiency in both languages at a bilingual level and at least in theory they should be defined as bilingual individuals. Individuals belonging to the Italian minority meet in political, cultural, sports, and research contexts, they also use libraries and departments dedicated to Italian culture, as wel as publishing houses, and Italian radio and television (Urad za narodnosti, 2021). According to 1999 census data, the Italian minority has 2,959 members, but 3,882 individuals from Slovenian Istria state that Italian is their native language. The 2002 census shows a 23.7% decline in the number of individuals that are members of the minority, and a 3.1% decline in the number of individuals that say Italian is their native language. According to the census, 18.5% of Italian-speaking individuals live outside the mixed territory (Urad za narodnosti, 2021). According to Šabec (2009), the decline from 1991 to 2002 would have been significantly lower if native language identification had been taken into account. The decrease in the number of members of the Italian ethnic community cannot therefore be attributed solely to assimilation or emigration, but also to methodological factors (changed methods of obtaining the data used in the last census, and so on). 1 The term administrative unit (official translation) refers to the municipal body that deals with administrative procedures related to residents. 14 BILINGUALISM IN SLOVENIAN ISTRIA: STUDIES AND ISSUES IN ITS PRESERVATION The rights of the Italian community are recognized by the Slovenian constitution (Ustava, 2001) and international agreements. Constitutional rights also include the right to carry out education in the native language and the use of the native language (Urad za narodnosti, 2021). The position of the language in Slovenian Istria where the Italian minority resides is well organized, which is seen as a result of the legislation in the Slovenian constitution. One of the special features of the bilingual area is linguistic diversity, which represents a historical continuum. The interaction of both languages is dynamic and visible in the linguistic capacity of the residents, who are in close contact with the language in a present-day setting even though it is not their native language. Thus they are exposed to a different linguistic influence: bilingualism (Kranjc, 2008). 1.3 The legal position of ethnically mixed communities in Slovenian Istria The municipalities of Koper, Izola and Piran, and Ankaran, the latter of which was newly established in 2011, are located in the ethnically mixed territory of Slovenian Istria and are bilingual municipalities. The ethnically mixed areas where the autochthonous Italian minority reside and where Italian and Slovenian are official languages are as fol ows: − The Municipality of Koper: Barizoni/Barisoni, Bertoki/Bertocchi, Bošamarin/Bossamarino, Cerej/Cerei, Hrvatini/Crevatini, Kample/Campel, Kolomban/Colombano, Koper/Capodistria, Prade/Prade, Premančan/Premanzano, part of the settlement of Spodnje Škofije/Valmarin, Šalara/Salara, and Škocjan/San Canziano; − The Municipality of Izola: Izola/Isola, Dobrava pri Izoli / Dobrava presso Isola, Jagodje/Valleggia, 2 Livada, and Polje; − The Municipality of Piran: Piran/Pirano, Portorož/Portorose, Lucija/Lucia, Strunjan/Strugnano, Seča/Sezza, Sečovlje/Sicciole, Parecag/Parezzago, and Dragonja/Dragogna; − The Municipality of Ankaran/Ancarano (Urad Vlade Republike Slovenije za narodnosti, 2020). 2 On the official website of the Office of the Government of the Republic of Slovenia for Nationalities (Urad Vlade Republike Slovenije za narodnosti, 2020), the Italian name for the settlement of Jagodje is absent. Part I 1 Introduction to Bilingualism 15 As stated by Novak Lukanovič (2005) the special collective and individual rights designed for Italian and Hungarian ethnic minorities are of a dual nature, and are defined in Article 64 of the Constitution of the Republic of Slovenia3 (The Constitution of the Republic of Slovenia, 2013). In line with Article 64, the autochthonous Italian and Hungarian ethnic communities are guaranteed the right to freely use their ethnic symbols, establish organizations, and foster economic, cultural, scholarly, research, media, and publishing activities. These two ethnic communities have the right to education and schooling in their own languages, and to foster contacts with the wider Italian and Hungarian communities. In accordance with Article 61, 4 inhabitants of non-Slovenian ethnic origin have the right to express their ethnic affiliation, establish their ethnic organizations and associations, and use their language, as stated in Article 11, 5 where the two languages of the ethnic communities are official. Members of these ethnic communities have the right to use their language, both in private and public life, freely and without any restrictions, in the ethnical y mixed areas. In practice, this means that the minority 3 Article 64 (Special Rights of the Autochthonous Italian and Hungarian National Communities in Slovenia) The autochthonous Italian and Hungarian national communities and their members shall be guaranteed the right to use their national symbols freely and, in order to preserve their national identity, the right to establish organisations and develop economic, cultural, scientific, and research activities, as well as activities in the field of public media and publishing. In accordance with laws, these two national communities and their members have the right to education and schooling in their own languages, as wel as the right to establish and develop such education and schooling. The geographic areas in which bilingual schools are compulsory shall be established by law. These national communities and their members shall be guaranteed the right to foster relations with their nations of origin and their respective countries. The state shall provide material and moral support for exercising these rights. In order to exercise their rights, the members of these communities shall establish their own self-governing communities in the geographic areas where they live. On the proposal of these self-governing national communities, the state may authorize them to perform certain functions under national jurisdiction, and shall provide funds for the performance of such function. The two national communities shall be directly represented in representative bodies of local self-government and in the National Assembly. The position of the Italian and Hungarian national communities and the manner in which their rights are exercised in the geographic areas where they live, the obligations of the self-governing local communities for exercising these rights, and those rights which the members of these national communities exercise also outside these areas, shall all be regulated by law. The rights of both national communities and their members shall be guaranteed irrespective of the number of members of these communities. Laws, regulations, and other general acts that concern the exercise of the constitutionally provided rights and the position of the national communities exclusively, may not be adopted without the consent of representatives of these national communities. 4 Article 61 (Expression of National Affiliation) Everyone has the right to freely express affiliation with their nation or national community, to foster and give expression to their culture, and to use their language and script. 5 Article 11 The official language in Slovenia is Slovenian. In those municipalities where Italian or Hungarian national communities reside, Italian or Hungarian shall also be official languages. 16 BILINGUALISM IN SLOVENIAN ISTRIA: STUDIES AND ISSUES IN ITS PRESERVATION members may use their own language in oral or written communication within the administrative organs, judicial authorities, and other institutions of a public character. Article 46 of the Public Administration Act (2002) states that in municipalities where the Italian and Hungarian ethnic communities reside, the official languages of the administration are Italian and Hungarian. This means that the administration not only conducts business and procedures in the languages of the ethnic minorities, but also issues legal and other acts in these languages. There are cases in which the administrative bodies, in the first instance, conduct the procedure in the two minority languages, and in the second instance issue acts in the same language. According to paragraph 2, Article 4 of the State Administration Act (Zakon o državni upravi, 2002), the official language of the state administration is Slovenian, but in areas where the autochthonous Italian and Hungarian minorities reside the official languages in the state administrative units are Italian and Hungarian. In both areas, administrative work related to legal matters is also conducted in the minority language, such as issuing an act in the first or second instance. As stated by Novak Lukanovič (2005), active knowledge of Slovenian is a precondition for employment because the administrative workers and professional technical staff are in direct contact with the clients. In these ethnic communities, knowledge of both languages represents an additional financial benefit. In line with paragraph 1, Article 28 of the Public Sector Salary System Act (Zakon o sistemu plač v javnem sektorju, n.d.), in areas where ethnic Italians and Hungarians reside, a bilingualism supplement is provided for administrative workers, judges, and state prosecutors who work in the ethnic communities, if knowledge of the language of the ethnic community is a condition for performing their work and duties. The al owance is in the range of 12% to 15% of the base salary for teachers and other administrative and professional workers in primary and secondary education, 3% to 6% of the base salary for other administrative workers, and 6% of the base salary for judges and state prosecutors. As stated by Novak Lukanovič (2005), the use of ethnic community languages is guaranteed by the Law on the Register of Births, 6 Article 4 (Official language in the Administration) Slovenian shall be the official language of the Administration. In those municipalities where Italian or Hungarian autochthonous national communities reside, the official languages of the Administration shall also be Italian and Hungarian respectively. In these areas, the Administration shall conduct business, conduct proceedings and issue legal and other acts in the language of the national community, should clients be members of Italian or Hungarian national community and should they make use of Italian or Hungarian. Where administrative bodies in the first instance conduct proceedings in Italian or Hungarian, administrative bodies in the second instance must issue acts in the same language. Part I 1 Introduction to Bilingualism 17 Deaths and Marriages, the Law on Personal Identification Cards, and the Law on Passports for Citizens of the Republic of Slovenia, which means that for al inhabitants of ethnical y mixed territory the compulsory documents are bilingual. The identity cards and passports are issued in Slovenian, English, and Italian or Hungarian; other documents, such as driver’s licences, vehicle registration documents, and so on are bilingual. Articles 5 and 45 of the Courts Act (Zakon o sodiščih, 1994) provide that in areas where the autochthonous Italian and Hungarian communities reside, in addition to Slovenian the courts must also operate in Italian or Hungarian, if the individual appearing in court uses Italian or Hungarian. In line with Article 45, in the autochthonous areas the president of the high court appoints the necessary number of associate judges who are fluent in Italian or Hungarian. Effectively guaranteeing the rights of minorities must be an essential fact determined by the constitutions of democratic countries. In Slovenia, the rights of the Italian and Hungarian ethnic communities are specifically recognized by articles 5, 61, 62, and 64 of the Constitution. Another important document on the subject is the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities, the treaty established by the Council of Europe that entered into force in 1998. The rights of persons belonging to ethnic minorities and their bilingualism are ensured also through the translation of legal and administrative documents regarding residents in these areas (Paolucci, 2020). Furthermore, the rights of minorities are defined in the municipal regulations through the statutes of the municipalities, the regulations for implementing bilingualism in ethnically mixed areas, and the regulations for implementing bilingualism in the individual municipalities. Ethnic Italians, an autochthonous minority in the ethnical y mixed territory, have the right to the translation of the legislative texts (institutional texts) in their language, as established by the London Memorandum of 1954. Therefore, the translation of institutional texts such as the municipal statutes, regulations, decrees, resolutions, administrative measures, forms, certificates, competition notices, tenders, notices, various news, cultural events (on the municipal website), invitations to council meetings of municipal and internal bodies, and communications and letters sent to ethnic Italians (Paolucci and Lenassi, 2021) is carried out at the municipal level and the translation of these documents is guaranteed. 18 BILINGUALISM IN SLOVENIAN ISTRIA: STUDIES AND ISSUES IN ITS PRESERVATION 1.4 The socioeconomic and cultural position of bilingualism in Slovenian Istria In the southwestern part of Slovenian territory, the Italian minority coexists with the larger Slovenian community; within such a mixed area, a learning process that is oriented towards the acquisition of both languages is essential especially for the minority (Nećak Lük, 2008), in order to protect its linguistic heritage and rights. Novak Lukanovič and Mulec (2014) argue that multilingualism and bilingualism are strongly linked to linguistic rights. In Slovenia the special rights of the two autochthonous communities, (Italian and Hungarian), are ensured within the constitution and the statutes of the municipalities in these areas. Numerous normative acts in Slovenia take into account the concept that, in the mixed territory defined by the municipality statutes, Italian and Hungarian have equal status to Slovenian, both on the individual and the institutional level (Novak Lukanovič & Mulec, 2014). As Novak Lukanovič and Mulec (2014) point out, mixed ethnic territories offer the opportunity to use the minority language. The language is not discriminated against, and the constitution and ample legislation make it possible to use both minority languages in their respective regions. Ethnical y mixed territory provides the conditions needed to establish institutional bilingualism based on functional bilingualism, which means that members of the minority communicate in their mother tongue within formal and informal communication, inside and outside the community. The members of the majority, at least on the informal level, are able to passively use the language of the minority community. According to Novak Lukanovič (2009) one prerequisite for implementing bilingualism is education; within the formal frame of ensuring bilingualism at the institutional level, residents are offered bilingual services of the state authorities, municipalities, and local courts in the bilingual area. This means respecting and implementing language diversity in the area. Despite the fact that the communicative functions of both languages are official y guaranteed, Nećak Lük (1995) argues that the function of the languages (both Italian and Hungarian) has not spread into al channels of public communication and also not in private communication. Novak Lukanovič (2011) argues that while bilingualism is ensured at the institutional level, inequality is seen mainly in the private sector, within companies, because there is no legal basis for its use. As stated by Novak Lukanovič (2011), some municipal documents state that companies need to display bilingual Part I 1 Introduction to Bilingualism 19 signs, but it is not mentioned that they have to consider bilingualism in their business administration. An encouragement to use the minority language more often in public is seen in the special supplements for employees in the public sector (Novak Lukanovič, 2011b). A similar approach is found in the Swedish and Finnish minorities. Novak Lukanovič (2011b) shows that such a supplement represents a form of encouragement for individuals and increases the use of the minority language up to a certain point, but does not surpass it in relation to the input. The promotion of bilingualism, at least in public administration, is additionally stimulated by the al owance for bilingual business operations that is seen as a concrete mechanism of the state for ensuring additional conditions for promoting the minority language, and is also an additional motivation for individuals in promoting the use of the minority language. As argued by Novak Lukanovič and Mulec (2014), this promotes the use of the minority language and motivates individuals to learn the language, because this ensures employability and financial benefit. Taking into account this opportunity and the consequent motivation to learn the language, Limon and Novak Lukanovič (2017) found that bilingualism has an economic value in Slovenia’s ethnical y mixed territory of Slovenian Istria and is rewarded on the labour market. In addition to these findings, it is also necessary to point out that individuals from the Italian minority use Italian more often for private communication than for public communication, as shown by Sedmak (2009). In this perspective they express the need and wish for greater and more frequent use of their mother tongue also in public, as wel as the need to enrol their children in minority-language schools in order to preserve their connection with Italian (cf. Sedmak 2009). With regard to the attitude towards the minority language, Novak Lukanovič (1998) explains that it is possible to have just one attitude that can include different linked viewpoints of individuals or the community. Novak Lukanovič (1998) also states that one’s attitude towards the minority language is composed of different elements, such as one’s attitude towards the language, the learning process, bilingualism, and bilingual education. 20 BILINGUALISM IN SLOVENIAN ISTRIA: STUDIES AND ISSUES IN ITS PRESERVATION 1.5 Conclusion Several studies carried out on bilingualism, which has been studied from different perspectives, have different definitions of concepts related to it, depending on a variety of parameters taken into consideration by various authors. However, regardless of the factors considered to describe bilingualism and tools already used to determine communicative competence in two languages, further steps need to be taken to approach the topic suitably and effectively. Some studies have pointed out the benefits of bilingualism connected with cognitive abilities, which range from the ability to partake in cross-cultural communication to switching quickly between tasks, learning third or fourth languages more easily, interpreting and understanding translations, comprehending cultural diversity, and flexibility in various contexts and situations. Last but not least, according to some studies, bilingualism may have beneficial effects on the later onset of dementia. Slovenian Istria is characterized by the presence, visibility, and relevance of the two languages on public and commercial signs and by the use of both languages in education, banks, post offices, municipal offices, administrative units, and so on. Although bilingualism in the area is guaranteed by the Slovenian constitution, various laws, and municipal documents, there has been a decline in the number of individuals that are members of the minority. As shown later on (cf. Sections 2.1– 2.4), this decline is accompanied by some unfavorable tendencies in the region that depend not only on the region itself but on the general trends in society today. BILINGUALISM IN SLOVENIAN ISTRIA: STUDIES AND ISSUES IN ITS PRESERVATION M. Kompara Lukančič, N. Lenassi, S. Paolucci 2 Surveys on Italian in Slovenian Istria Bilingualism in Slovenian Istria has also been a subject of research (Čok, 2006; 2008; 2009; Zudič Antonič and Malčič, 2007; Zorman, 2005; Sedmak, 2009; Bažec, 2016; Kompara Lukančič, 2014, 2019a, 2019b, 2019c) in reference to its intergenerational position. Chapter two discusses four surveys: on the position of bilingualism, the influence of Italian media, the results of the secondary school leaving exam in Italian, and the position of bilingualism in Slovenian schools. 2.1 The position of bilingualism In Slovenian Istria there are sixteen primary schools and five secondary schools with Slovenian as the language of instruction. The total number of Italian teachers is two per school, and in total there are about forty-two Italian teachers (Kompara Lukančič, 2019a). As part of the first study, which was conducted in 2013 and 2014 (Kompara Lukančič, 2014, 2019a, 2019b) and examined the position of bilingualism as seen by primary and secondary teachers, nine teachers were interviewed (three for each school). The goal of the research was to present the discrepancy between the perception of competence in Italian and the real competence of students in schools. From the interviews, it can be seen that the situation of bilingualism has changed 24 BILINGUALISM IN SLOVENIAN ISTRIA: STUDIES AND ISSUES IN ITS PRESERVATION over the last twenty years. The teachers claim that there has been a decline in language skills. Based on research in the 1980s and 1990s, knowledge of Italian was at a high level. Students loved learning Italian, there was no negative attitude toward the language, they used Italian daily, and they were in contact with it through Italian media (Stepien et al., 2013; Kompara Lukančič, 2014, 2019a). The interviews indicate that young people born after 1990 are no longer bilingual; this is also confirmed by a series of language courses, help in the form of additional classes, mainly private, as well as modified curricula and the use of easier learning materials. The teachers interviewed believe that knowledge of Italian is progressively deteriorating every year, and therefore it is necessary to intervene (Stepien et al., 2013; Kompara Lukančič, 2014, 2019a). A survey was carried out on the position of the Italian in the bilingual area with eighty-six respondents. These were Slovenian individuals from Slovenian Istria eight to fifty years old. Eighteen percent of the respondents were eighteen to twenty-four years old, 24% between twenty-five and thirty, 45% between thirty and forty, and 13% between forty and fifty. The survey shows that 88% claim to be bilingual, and 81% claim that Slovenian Istria is bilingual. However, only 37% completed the language proficiency test7 correctly (without grammatical, lexical, and spelling errors). The language test included simple exercises on language use (i.e., translations, grammar exercises, etc.). The worst results were in the twenty to twenty-five age group, who are individuals that cannot be considered as bilingual as previous generations (Kompara Lukančič, 2014). 2.3 The influence of Italian media The influence of Italian media on bilingualism in Slovenian Istria was studied in detail from 2015 to 2017 (Kompara, 2019c). The survey included forty respondents from Slovenian Istria, born between 1970 and 1980. These are the individuals between age thirty and forty in the previous paragraph; that is, individuals that followed Italian media in the 1980s and 1990s and know Italian better than those twenty to twenty-five years old. The survey indicates that in the 1980s and 1990s Italian media played an important role because they were fol owed by almost 60% of the respondents, whereas only 1% followed only Slovenian media. As a result, as 7 Cf. Kompara Lukančič 2014 for the overview of the linguistic tests. Part II 2 Surveys on Italian in Slovenian Istria 25 many as 75% of the respondents learned Italian during preschool and as many as 87% of the respondents said that Italian media, especially Italian television, had a positive influence on their knowledge of Italian. This is also evident from the results of the language test described in the previous paragraph because the interviewees showed a high level of knowledge of Italian, with an average grade of 4.27 out of 5. For comparison, the youngest respondents (twenty to twenty-five years old) had an average grade of 2.53 out of 5. 2.4 The results of the secondary school leaving exam in Italian There was a decrease in the results of the secondary school leaving exam in Italian8 (Kompara Lukančič, 2014) from 1995, the year the first exam was taken, until 2012, and therefore a decrease in linguistic competence. From 1999 to 2006, the threshold for passing the secondary school leaving exam in Italian was 55%. Unfortunately, information about the minimum threshold from 1995 to 1998 is not available, but it can be assumed that it did not differ significantly from that after 1998. Although the threshold is not indicative of possible worsening of language skills in Italian, nor are the scores obtained, it is interesting to note a significant decrease. There have been no variations in the structure of the exam (which could explain the differences in scores) because the exam fol ows a rigid structure that has not changed over the years. 9 In 1999, the record threshold of 60% for passing was reached. Despite such a high threshold, the results in 1999 were excellent: 13.98% of students scored eight points (the maximum number of points) and 35.48% six points. The results were also impressive in 2000 because 30.59% of students scored eight points and 45.88% scored six points. In 2000, the average grade was 4.05, which is the highest average ever reached on the secondary school leaving exam in Italian. In eleven years, from 1995 to 2006, when the threshold for obtaining the passing grade ranged from 60% to 54%, high school students were very successful on the exam. The best years were 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, and 2006. In 2007 the passing threshold dropped to 50% and it has remained so to this day. In 2007 there was still a good percentage of students that obtained a maximum number of points, but the results changed drastically after 2007. In the following five years, despite having a lower threshold 8 A decrease in the results is not necessarily linked to a decrease in knowledge. 9 Cf. Bitenc Peharc (2017, pp. 25–26) for the structure of the secondary school leaving exam. 26 BILINGUALISM IN SLOVENIAN ISTRIA: STUDIES AND ISSUES IN ITS PRESERVATION for passing (50%), the number of students that scored the highest number of points steadily declined. The number of students that scored the maximum eight points does not exceed 9%, and the number of those that scored six points does not exceed 25%. Therefore, there is a notable decline in language skills (Kompara Lukančič, 2014, 2019a). Table 1: Results of the secondary school leaving exam in Italian from 2012 to 2020 Year Eight points, % 2012 9 2013 9 2014 7 2015 6 2016 19 2017 28 2018 6 2019 18 2020 14 The results of the exam were observed from 2012 to 2020, during which time the threshold for passing remained 50%. The table shows a further decrease in the maximum number of points (eight) from 2012 to 2015, when only 6% of students scored this number. In 2016 there was a strong upswing, when 19% of students scored eight points, and a further increase in 2017, when 28% of students scored the maximum number of points. Another drastic drop is visible in 2018, when only 6% of students scored the maximum number. In 2019 there was a notable increase (19% scored the maximum points), and in 2020 a slight decrease (14% scored the maximum number of points; RIC, 2020). 2.5 The position of bilingualism in Slovenian schools The increasingly poor knowledge of Italian in the bilingual area led to a survey aimed at showing the position of bilingualism in schools in Slovenian Istria. In Slovenian Istria there are sixteen primary schools (student age six to fifteen) and five secondary schools (student age fifteen to nineteen) with Slovenian as the language of instruction, where Italian is taught by about forty-two teachers. Sixteen teachers (38%) participated in the revitalization survey. The survey was conducted from March to May 2018 and involved Italian teachers in primary and secondary schools with Slovenian as the language of instruction. In the survey, the position of Italian Part II 2 Surveys on Italian in Slovenian Istria 27 among students was examined by Italian teachers that teach students from age six to nineteen. From the results, 92% of teachers agree that knowledge of Italian has been decreasing in the last ten years. According to the teachers, the average grade obtained by students on the Italian diagnostic test, taken at the end of the school year, is 2 (58%; the maximum grade is 5). All the teachers interviewed agree that there are gaps in the knowledge of Italian. According to the teachers, bilingualism is an advantage and should be preserved. Among the reasons for the decrease in language skil s related to Italian, 83% of teachers point to the influence of English and a lack of interest in Italian and Italian media (67%). Thirty-three percent of the respondents say that students do not see Italian as a useful language and have poor knowledge from primary through secondary school. According to the teachers, students have gaps in vocabulary (83%) and general knowledge of the language (58%; Kompara, 2019b). 2.6 Conclusion Under the Slovenian constitution, the Italian minority in Slovenia enjoys rights aimed at its preservation in Slovenian Istria. The legal prerequisites for preserving and developing Italian in the bilingual area are present but, as can be seen from the overview of the position of Italian in Slovenian Istria (cf. Chapter 1) and the surveys presented in this chapter, the position of Italian—an official language in Slovenian Istria—is unfortunately not promising. The first survey relates to interviews with Italian teachers, from which it can be seen that the situation of bilingualism has changed over the last twenty years. From the results, it can be concluded that young people born after 1990 no longer have as high a level of bilingualism as previous generations. As part of the first survey, results are also presented relating to the position of Italian in the bilingual area, in which eighty-six Slovenian individuals divided into four age groups participated. The lowest scores were achieved by individuals age twenty to twenty-five although they studied Italian as a compulsory subject in primary and secondary school. These individuals should therefore be bilingual, but—as already stated—their level of bilingualism is not as high as in older age groups. 28 BILINGUALISM IN SLOVENIAN ISTRIA: STUDIES AND ISSUES IN ITS PRESERVATION The second survey considered the influence of Italian media; these played an important role in the 1980s and 1990s because they were followed by almost 60% of the interviewees. The fact that these interviewees fol owed Italian media also had a positive impact on their linguistic performance, which is evident in the scores on their language tests, which were much higher than those of younger generations. The third survey examined the results of the secondary school leaving exam in Italian, presenting an overview of the points obtained from 1995 to 2020. There was an increasingly notable decline in the maximum number of points. The oscil ating trend with unfavorable consequences for proficiency in Italian after 2007 may be ascribed to the fact that younger generations do not follow Italian media like other generations due to the prevailing role of English as a lingua franca in various communicative situations. Final y, the fourth survey presents the position of bilingualism in Slovenian schools from the point of view of primary and secondary school teachers, who report a decrease in language skil s and gaps in knowledge of Italian. The teachers consider bilingualism a benefit that needs to be preserved to maintain a bilingual community in real-life situations and not only on paper. The results of the surveys suggest that in the last two decades the linguistic situation in the bilingual area has undergone some clearly notable changes that may have long-term consequences for the preservation of bilingualism. To reverse the negative trend in interest in Italian in Slovenian Istria, it is necessary to revitalize bilingualism through projects at the national, regional, and municipal levels. Some have already been proposed (cf. Kompara Lukančič, 2019b), but further steps need to be taken to improve or at least preserve the current bilingual situation. Following the overview of the position of Italian in the bilingual area, which mainly focuses on speakers and their language skil s, the volume examines documents and other material translated from Slovenian into Italian. We analyze the texts on the websites of the four bilingual municipalities of Slovenian Istria, and the following chapter presents their characteristics. BILINGUALISM IN SLOVENIAN ISTRIA: STUDIES AND ISSUES IN ITS PRESERVATION M. Kompara Lukančič, N. Lenassi, S. Paolucci 3 Characteristics of translated documents from the websites of the four bilingual municipalities The authors examine and analyze Slovenian and Italian bilingual texts on the websites of the four bilingual municipalities—Koper, Izola, Piran, and Ankaran— discussing good practices presented by individual communities and also cases that stimulate reflection on the opportunities for improvement to guarantee constitutionally guaranteed rights to the Italian linguistic minority. 3.1 The analysis of the web pages of the Municipality of Koper The translated websites of the Municipality of Koper present no major inconsistencies with respect to the source language, and so their characteristics are presented in one table (Table 2). The peculiarities of the other three municipalities’ websites, which are of interest in this research, are more numerous and are thus explained in the following paragraphs (Sections 3.2-3.4). 30 BILINGUALISM IN SLOVENIAN ISTRIA: STUDIES AND ISSUES IN ITS PRESERVATION Table 2 shows the general characteristics of the texts from the Municipality of Koper website (Mestna občina Koper, 2021). This municipality is the largest and the most important among the four municipalities of the ethnical y mixed territory. Therefore, the website was expected to be wel presented and thoroughly translated. These expectations turned out to be wel founded. In general, the Municipality of Koper website meets high standards with regard to the presence of translated pages. As shown in Table 2, the initial pages, O Kopru/Capodistria ‘About Koper’ and its submenus are entirely and adequately translated. There are no missing elements or missing translations, and the web pages Občina/Comune ‘Municipality’ and its submenus are also entirely translated. Nevertheless, incorrect word order was noted in the Italian submenus, where Amministrazione comunale precedes Sindaco e Vicesindaci ‘Mayor/Deputy mayor’, which could confuse the reader. Furthermore, within Občina/Comune ‘Municipality’ it was found that of the submenus, Predpisi ‘Regulations’ is missing in the Italian version. The page Koper zame ‘Koper for me’ is translated incorrectly as Aree tematiche ‘Thematic areas’, but within the submenus the content is appropriately provided in both languages. The pages Aktualno/Attualità ‘Current’ and Kontakt/Contatti ‘Contacts’ are entirely and appropriately translated, but on the Italian web page of the Consiglio comunale ‘Town Council’ , the statute of the municipality is provided only in Slovenian. In addition, the link in Italian, Statuto del Comune cit à di Capodistria ‘The Statute of the Municipality of Koper’ shows that the document is presented only in Slovenian. Table 2: Municipality of Koper website characteristics Slovenian website Italian website Issues in the Italian version O Kopru/Capodistria and Entirely translated, no submenu missing elements Italian version: Amministrazione comunale Občina/Comune and Entirely translated with precedes Sindaco e Vicesindaci submenu all the tabs Italian version: the category Predpisi is missing Koper zame/Aree tematiche Wrong title in Italian Aktualno/At ualità Entirely translated Kontakt/Contatti Entirely translated The analysis of the official websites of the four bilingual municipalities of Koper, Izola, Piran, and Ankaran shows that there are inconsistencies in how the information is presented; however, the Municipality of Koper ranks above the other three in terms of consistency and accuracy of the given information. As the largest Part II 3 Characteristics of translated documents from the websites of the four bilingual municipalities 31 and most important municipality in Slovenian Istria, the information provided by the Municipality of Koper on its website is concise and consistent in both languages. There is a decline in consistency for the other three municipalities; as presented in the paragraphs below the inconsistencies range from missing information and translations, outdated information or no information provided under specific submenus, and missing forms, to mixed-up sequences of information and so on. Difficulties in providing adequate translation solutions are not only observed at the hyperlink level (missing translated documents or redirection to the Slovenian documents even if the menu promises the Italian translation), but also at other levels as shown in the following paragraphs. 3.2 The analysis of the web pages of the Municipality of Izola To observe the tendencies in the translation of relevant information for the Italian linguistic minority, ten different web pages were analyzed. They are presented below. The main characteristics regarding inconsistencies on the translated pages are given in the form of observations after each Slovenian–Italian pair of individual web pages compared. The pages cover information that ranges from the presentation of individual municipal offices to documents, cal s, and activities of major importance for municipal residents. 32 BILINGUALISM IN SLOVENIAN ISTRIA: STUDIES AND ISSUES IN ITS PRESERVATION Part II 3 Characteristics of translated documents from the websites of the four bilingual municipalities 33 Observation 1: As immediately seen from the two web pages where the basic information concerning the municipality is provided, on the Slovene web page there is a drop menu of 13 items, but on the Italian web page there are only 11. Translations are provided for items 1 to 9. The first anomaly is seen in item 10 Lokalne volitve 2018 (Local elections 2018) which in the Italian version is placed under 11 Elezioni amministrative 2018, item 11 Varovanje osebnih podatkov (Personal data protection) is missing in the Italian version. Item 12 Prodaje v Občini Izola (Sales in the municipality of Izola) is in the Italian version under number 10. Item 13 Participativni proračun (Participatory budget) is also missing in the Italian version. 34 BILINGUALISM IN SLOVENIAN ISTRIA: STUDIES AND ISSUES IN ITS PRESERVATION Observation 2: As seen from the two web pages the basic information concerning forms is not appropriately indicated; in the submenu Urad za družbene dejavnosti ( Of ice for social activities) there are four forms provided, but in the Italian version in the submenu Uf icio at ività sociali there are five. Among them the Richiesta di rilascio del certificato attestante la rinuncia al dirit o di prelazione sui beni immobili ( Request to issue a certificate stating the waiver of the right of pre-emption on real estate) does not fit into this category. Part II 3 Characteristics of translated documents from the websites of the four bilingual municipalities 35 Also, in the second submenu Urad za gospodarske dejavnosti, investicije in komunalni razvoj (Of ice for economic activities, investments and municipal development) there are more forms in the Slovene version compared to the Italian, and also the forms do not fol ow the same order as in the Italian version: Vloga za izredni prevoz (Application for emergency transport) and Richiesta di rilascio del permesso per il trasporto eccezionale (Request to issue a permit for exceptional transport). 36 BILINGUALISM IN SLOVENIAN ISTRIA: STUDIES AND ISSUES IN ITS PRESERVATION Part II 3 Characteristics of translated documents from the websites of the four bilingual municipalities 37 Observation 3: As seen from the two web pages, under item Razpisi in objave/Appalti, concorsi e bandi, pubblicazioni ufficiali (Calls and announcements) the submenus are adequately translated but there is inconsistency in the time frame, where the latest publication of the Italian version is from August 2020, and the Slovene is from February 2021. 38 BILINGUALISM IN SLOVENIAN ISTRIA: STUDIES AND ISSUES IN ITS PRESERVATION Part II 3 Characteristics of translated documents from the websites of the four bilingual municipalities 39 Observation 4: As seen from the two web pages, under item Izobraževanje (Education) there is no information provided in the Italian version. 40 BILINGUALISM IN SLOVENIAN ISTRIA: STUDIES AND ISSUES IN ITS PRESERVATION Part II 3 Characteristics of translated documents from the websites of the four bilingual municipalities 41 Observation 5: As seen from the two web pages, under item Zdravstvo in socialno varstvo/Sanità e previdenza sociale (Health and social work) the submenus are adequately translated but there is inconsistency in that the news is not up to date; in the Italian version the latest publication is from March 2020, and in the Slovene it is from March 2021. 42 BILINGUALISM IN SLOVENIAN ISTRIA: STUDIES AND ISSUES IN ITS PRESERVATION Part II 3 Characteristics of translated documents from the websites of the four bilingual municipalities 43 Observation 6: As seen from the two web pages, under item Kultura/Cultura (Culture) the sub menus are adequately translated but the news is not up to date, as the latest publication of the Italian version is from 25 March 2021, and the Slovene is from 30 March 2021. 44 BILINGUALISM IN SLOVENIAN ISTRIA: STUDIES AND ISSUES IN ITS PRESERVATION Part II 3 Characteristics of translated documents from the websites of the four bilingual municipalities 45 Observation 7: As seen from the two web pages, under item Šport/Sport (Sport) the submenus are adequately translated but the news is outdated; the latest publication of the Italian version is from March 2020, and the Slovene is from April 2021. 46 BILINGUALISM IN SLOVENIAN ISTRIA: STUDIES AND ISSUES IN ITS PRESERVATION Part II 3 Characteristics of translated documents from the websites of the four bilingual municipalities 47 Observation 8: As seen from the two web pages, under item Zaščita in reševanje/Protezione civile (Protection and rescue) the news is outdated; the latest publication of the Italian version is from March 2020, and the Slovene is from April 2021. 48 BILINGUALISM IN SLOVENIAN ISTRIA: STUDIES AND ISSUES IN ITS PRESERVATION Part II 3 Characteristics of translated documents from the websites of the four bilingual municipalities 49 Observation 9: As seen from the two web pages, under item Promet/Traffico (Traffic) the sub menus are adequately translated, but the category Vi vozite (You drive) is missing on the Italian page, and the news is very outdated; the latest publication of the Italian version is from August 2018, and the Slovene is from April 2021. 50 BILINGUALISM IN SLOVENIAN ISTRIA: STUDIES AND ISSUES IN ITS PRESERVATION Part II 3 Characteristics of translated documents from the websites of the four bilingual municipalities 51 Observation 10: As seen from the two web pages, under item Prodaje v Občini Izola/Vendite nel comune di Isola (Sales in the mu municipality of Izola) there is no information provided in the Italian version. 52 BILINGUALISM IN SLOVENIAN ISTRIA: STUDIES AND ISSUES IN ITS PRESERVATION As seen from the examples above extracted from the website of the Municipality of Izola (Občina Izola, 2021), with figures and an explanation following each category, the translations on the Municipality of Izola website are not presented as wel as those on the Municipality of Koper website. There were many anomalies and systematic errors in the texts. As seen from the given examples, in the drop-down menus certain elements are not unified in both languages, as seen in Observation 1. Some elements in the drop-down menus are missing; namely, 11 Varovanje osebnih podatkov (Personal data protection) is missing in the Italian version, and 13 Participativni proračun (Participatory budget) is also missing in the Italian one. Anomalies are also visible in providing forms; namely, in the submenus Urad za družbene dejavnosti (Office for Social Activities) and Urad za gospodarske dejavnosti, investicije in komunalni razvoj (Office for Economic Activities, Investments, and Municipal Development) on the Slovenian website there are more forms than in the Italian version (cf. Observation 2). Inconsistencies were also found in the timeframe of publication (cf. Observations 3 and 5–8), and entire empty sections, such as Izobraževanje (Education) and Prodaje v Občini Izola / Vendite nel comune di Isola (Sales in the Municipality of Izola), where no information is provided in the Italian versions. Part II 3 Characteristics of translated documents from the websites of the four bilingual municipalities 53 3.3 The analysis of the web pages of the Municipality of Piran As part of the research, twelve Slovenian web pages and their renderings in Italian prepared by the Municipality of Piran were examined. The pages observed cover general information about the municipality and the availability of documents, forms, tenders, announcements, and news in both language. 54 BILINGUALISM IN SLOVENIAN ISTRIA: STUDIES AND ISSUES IN ITS PRESERVATION Part II 3 Characteristics of translated documents from the websites of the four bilingual municipalities 55 Observation 11: As seen from the two web pages, under item Občina/Comune (Municipality) al submenus are adequately translated and there are no missing items. 56 BILINGUALISM IN SLOVENIAN ISTRIA: STUDIES AND ISSUES IN ITS PRESERVATION Part II 3 Characteristics of translated documents from the websites of the four bilingual municipalities 57 Observation 12: As seen from the two web pages, under item Urad za okolje in prostor/Uf icio ambiente e territorio (Of ice of the Environment and Spatial Planning) there are more forms available in the Slovene version compared to the Italian version. 58 BILINGUALISM IN SLOVENIAN ISTRIA: STUDIES AND ISSUES IN ITS PRESERVATION Part II 3 Characteristics of translated documents from the websites of the four bilingual municipalities 59 Observation 13: As seen from the two web pages, under item Urad za gospodarstvo in turizem/Uf icio economia e turismo (Of ice for Economics and Tourism) there are more forms available in the Slovene version compared to the Italian version. 60 BILINGUALISM IN SLOVENIAN ISTRIA: STUDIES AND ISSUES IN ITS PRESERVATION Part II 3 Characteristics of translated documents from the websites of the four bilingual municipalities 61 Observation 14: As seen from the two web pages, under item Izleti in poti/Escursioni e sentieri (Excursion and routes) the texts provided are al translated into Italian, but the order is different, i.e. Lucijska pešpot/Il sentiero di Lucia (Lucija footpath). 62 BILINGUALISM IN SLOVENIAN ISTRIA: STUDIES AND ISSUES IN ITS PRESERVATION Part II 3 Characteristics of translated documents from the websites of the four bilingual municipalities 63 Observation 15: As seen from the two web pages, under item Urad za družbene dejavnosti/Uf icio attività sociali (Of ice of social af airs) there are more forms available in the Slovene version compared to the Italian version. 64 BILINGUALISM IN SLOVENIAN ISTRIA: STUDIES AND ISSUES IN ITS PRESERVATION Part II 3 Characteristics of translated documents from the websites of the four bilingual municipalities 65 Observation 16: As seen from the two web pages, under item Novice in objave/Notizie e pubblicazioni (News and publications) the news provided is up to date, with not more than a week of publication difference. 66 BILINGUALISM IN SLOVENIAN ISTRIA: STUDIES AND ISSUES IN ITS PRESERVATION Part II 3 Characteristics of translated documents from the websites of the four bilingual municipalities 67 Observation 17: As seen from the two web pages, under item Javni razpisi in objave/Bandi e annunci pubblici (Public tenders and announcements), in the Slovene version there are plenty of official notices available while on the Italian web page there is no information provided. 68 BILINGUALISM IN SLOVENIAN ISTRIA: STUDIES AND ISSUES IN ITS PRESERVATION Part II 3 Characteristics of translated documents from the websites of the four bilingual municipalities 69 Observation 18: As seen from the two web pages, in the Italian version only the introductory sentences are in Italian, the rest of the documentation as wel as the title Dokumenti, priloge (Documents and supplements) are in Slovene. 70 BILINGUALISM IN SLOVENIAN ISTRIA: STUDIES AND ISSUES IN ITS PRESERVATION Part II 3 Characteristics of translated documents from the websites of the four bilingual municipalities 71 Observation 19: As seen from the two web pages, in the Italian version only the introductory sentences are in Italian, the rest of the documentation as well as the title Dokumenti, priloge (Documents and supplements) are in Slovene. 72 BILINGUALISM IN SLOVENIAN ISTRIA: STUDIES AND ISSUES IN ITS PRESERVATION Part II 3 Characteristics of translated documents from the websites of the four bilingual municipalities 73 Observation 20: As seen from the two web pages, in the Italian version only the introductory sentences are in Italian, the rest of the documentation provided as well as the title Predstavitev projekta (Project presentation) are in Slovene. 74 BILINGUALISM IN SLOVENIAN ISTRIA: STUDIES AND ISSUES IN ITS PRESERVATION Part II 3 Characteristics of translated documents from the websites of the four bilingual municipalities 75 Observation 21: As seen from the two web pages, under item Temeljni akti občine/At i fondamentali del comune (Basic acts of the municipality) both the statute and the regulation are in both languages, but the subtitle Dokumenti, priloge (Documents and supplements) is in Slovene on both web pages. 76 BILINGUALISM IN SLOVENIAN ISTRIA: STUDIES AND ISSUES IN ITS PRESERVATION Part II 3 Characteristics of translated documents from the websites of the four bilingual municipalities 77 Observation 22: As seen from the two web pages, under item Strateški dokumenti/Documenti strategici (Strategic documents) the items Načrt ravnanja s stvarnim premoženjem Občine Piran za leto 2019 (Property management plan of the municipality of Piran for 2019) and Strategija razvoja turizma v občini Piran do leta 2025 (Tourism Development Strategy in the Municipality of Piran until 2025) are missing. 78 BILINGUALISM IN SLOVENIAN ISTRIA: STUDIES AND ISSUES IN ITS PRESERVATION The general characteristics of the Municipality of Piran website (Občina Piran, 2021) are presented with a separate comment for each item. The municipality statute is provided in Slovenian, and an old version of the statute in Italian from 2007 is also available. As far as the elements of the web page are concerned, there were adequate translations of submenus (cf. Observation 11), but also some inconsistencies in the order (cf. Observation 14) and availability of forms (cf. Observations 12, 13, and 15), where there are more forms available in the Slovenian version than the Italian one. As far as the availability of up-to-date information is concerned, under Novice in objave / Notizie e pubblicazioni (News and Publications) the news provided is up to date, with not more than a week of publication difference. The absence of official notices was noted on the Italian web page (cf. Observation 17) as wel as absence of relevant documentation in Italian (cf. Observations 18–20), where only the introductory sentences are in Italian and the rest of the documentation as wel as the title are in Slovenian. Some documents were also missing from the Italian version (cf. Observation 22). Part II 3 Characteristics of translated documents from the websites of the four bilingual municipalities 79 3.4 The analysis of the web pages of the Municipality of Ankaran The study of the Municipality of Ankaran web pages was carried out on a smal er scale, covering six Slovenian–Italian web pages whose aim is to offer information about news, announcements, applications, forms, and relevant events in the municipality. Comments on the corresponding Italian translation or on a possible lack of consistency in the target language are given below each pair of web pages compared. 80 BILINGUALISM IN SLOVENIAN ISTRIA: STUDIES AND ISSUES IN ITS PRESERVATION Part II 3 Characteristics of translated documents from the websites of the four bilingual municipalities 81 Observation 23: As seen from the two web pages, under item Za občane/Per I cittadini (For the citizens) the news is up to date. 82 BILINGUALISM IN SLOVENIAN ISTRIA: STUDIES AND ISSUES IN ITS PRESERVATION Part II 3 Characteristics of translated documents from the websites of the four bilingual municipalities 83 Observation 24: As seen from the two web pages, under item Obvestila/Avvisi (Announcements) the news was published with one month of difference. 84 BILINGUALISM IN SLOVENIAN ISTRIA: STUDIES AND ISSUES IN ITS PRESERVATION Part II 3 Characteristics of translated documents from the websites of the four bilingual municipalities 85 Observation 25: As seen from the two web pages, under item Vloge in obrazci/Domande e moduli (Applications and forms) the items are al mixed up and in addition there are more documents available in the Slovene version compared to the Italian. 86 BILINGUALISM IN SLOVENIAN ISTRIA: STUDIES AND ISSUES IN ITS PRESERVATION Part II 3 Characteristics of translated documents from the websites of the four bilingual municipalities 87 Observation 26: As seen from the two web pages, under item Za medije/Media (For the media) the information provided in the Slovene and Italian version is different. 88 BILINGUALISM IN SLOVENIAN ISTRIA: STUDIES AND ISSUES IN ITS PRESERVATION Part II 3 Characteristics of translated documents from the websites of the four bilingual municipalities 89 Observation 27: As seen from the two web pages, under item Koledar dogodkov (Calendar of events) there is just one event on the Slovene web page and several on the Italian. The event posted on the Slovene page is recent, whereas the events on the Italian page date back from a week to a few months; furthermore, the title Koledar dogodkov has not been translated into Italian. 90 BILINGUALISM IN SLOVENIAN ISTRIA: STUDIES AND ISSUES IN ITS PRESERVATION Part II 3 Characteristics of translated documents from the websites of the four bilingual municipalities 91 Observation 28: As seen from the two web pages, under item O naši občini/Nel nostro comune (About our municipality) the information provided is different in the Slovene and Italian texts. Also, the submenus are fewer in Italian, and the submenu Evropska prestolnica kulture EPK (The European Capital of Culture) and Župnija Ankaran (The Parish of Ankaran) is missing . 92 BILINGUALISM IN SLOVENIAN ISTRIA: STUDIES AND ISSUES IN ITS PRESERVATION The main characteristics of the Municipality of Ankaran website (Občina Ankaran, 2021) are presented in the observations above. The municipality statute is available in both languages. However, after accessing the element Avvisi uf iciali (Official Notices), users are redirected to the Slovenian website Uradne objave (Official Notices), which indicates a lack of adequate care for the minority language. As seen from the web page analyzed, the news is up to date and provided in both languages (cf. Observation 23), but unfortunately inconsistencies are seen in providing applications and forms (cf. Observation 25). Differences were also found in providing information under Za medije / Media (For the Media), where the information provided in the Slovenian and Italian versions is different. Inconsistencies were noted in the item Koledar dogodkov (Calendar of Events), with just one event on the Slovenian web page and several on the Italian one. The title Koledar dogodkov has also not been translated into Italian. A difference in providing information as wel as in the number of submenus is seen in Observation 28. 3.5 Conclusion The chapter observes that the position of bilingualism is well defined in the Slovenian constitution and in general Slovenian legislation. The analysis of the official web pages of the four bilingual municipalities of Koper, Izola, Piran, and Ankaran showed differences in providing information to the residents of the municipalities and the general public. The analysis of the web pages revealed issues in presenting and translating information. Among the most common discrepancies are missing and outdated information in Italian, submenus containing no information in Italian, missing administrative forms in Italian, mixed-up sequences of information, and inconsistencies in providing titles and subtitles as well as statutory documents in Italian. In translating texts—and especially administrative texts for a minority, in this specific case the Italian minority in Slovenia—a series of complex questions must be addressed; namely, the uniformity of providing information to both language groups in bilingual areas. BILINGUALISM IN SLOVENIAN ISTRIA: STUDIES AND ISSUES IN ITS PRESERVATION M. Kompara Lukančič, N. Lenassi, S. Paolucci 4 The translation of administrative texts in the bilingual region of Slovenian Istria This part of the monograph examines some aspects of the translation of administrative texts in the bilingual region of Slovenian Istria. In particular, it focuses on how to best translate the administrative texts and thus better guarantee the rights of the minority and how to offer terminology that is relevant and unambiguous. Over the past three years of analysing various legislative and administrative texts (statutes, regulations, decrees, administrative measures etc.) translated for the Italian minority in Slovenia, and a lack of uniformity in terminology and a relatively high degree of flexibility has been discovered in translations of some relevant terms such as zdravstveni dom ‘health centre’, v rtec ‘nursery school’, upravna enota ‘administrative unit’ , lokalne volitve ‘local elections’, and so on (cf. Paolucci, 2020). Specifically, the analyses showed that in the studied documents more acceptable options are often provided, as shown in Table 3. However, a variety of target language verbalizations can generate terminological inconsistencies and can be misleading for the intended audience. Therefore, unambiguous alternatives are suggested later in the chapter. 94 BILINGUALISM IN SLOVENIAN ISTRIA: STUDIES AND ISSUES IN ITS PRESERVATION Table 3: Selected Slovenian terms and the corresponding translations into Italian Slovenian term Italian translations občinski svet (municipal council) Consiglio Comunale Consiglio Municipale Ufficio (di) protocollo, Ufficio Protocollo Ufficio principale vložišče/sprejemna pisarna (front office) (Ufficio) Accettazione Ufficio deposito Segreteria Consulente superiore višji svetovalec /višja svetovalka (senior adviser) Consigliere superiore Consulente senior Servizio di vigilanza občinsko redarstvo (municipal police) Vigilanza comunale Vigilanza municipale Polizia municipale Terminological inconsistencies can also be found in acronyms (Table 4), which are very recurrent features in the texts analyzed. In addition to the fact that they can be verbalized with different target equivalents, thus creating possible misleading interpretations, as already mentioned, the presence and/or absence of their local expansions in either the source language or target language indicates how broad the reader orientation of the text is (i.e., general audience vs. experts). Table 4: Selected Slovenian acronyms and their renderings in Italian Slovenian acronym Italian term TRR conto bancario (cf. transakcijski račun ‘Bank account’, ‘Current conto corrente account’) conto corrente bancario Numero del codice anagrafico unitario N. Codice Anagrafico EMŠO (cf. enotna matična številka občana codice anagrafico ‘personal registration number’) CAUC CAUC (Codice Anagrafico Unitario del Cittadino) n. di identificazione personale piano territoriale comunale (PTC) občinski prostorski načrt (OPN) piano regolatore comunale (PRC) (cf. ‘municipial spatial plan’) Piano Regolatore Generale Comunale (P.R.G.C.) Part II 4 The translation of administrative texts in the bilingual region of Slovenian Istria 95 4.1 Some key points in support of the chapter’s proposals To suggest unambiguous terminological alternatives, thus avoiding inconsistencies and possible misleading interpretations, six highly relevant parameters should be considered. According to Paolucci (2020), these are differences between legal systems, the specificity of legal language, equivalence, text typology, text function, and the source legal system. 1. Differences between legal systems: texts and administrative documents belonging to the Slovenian legal system are translated into Italian for the minority community; therefore, texts that may have effect in another legal system are not translated. However, especial y at the terminological level, the influence of the legal system of the target language, Italian, exists and in some cases influences the translator’s choices. For example, for the term namestnik predsednika nadzornega odbora ‘Vice-President of the Advisory/Control Committee’, Vicepresidente del Comitato di control o, a name provided for by Italian law, appears to be an absolutely preferable translation over Sostituto del Presidente del Comitato di control o ‘Substitute of the Chairman of the Control Committee’, although it is so provided by Slovenian law. The same applies to the term gimnazija, ‘university-prep secondary school’, which is correctly translated into Italian as liceo ‘higher secondary school’ instead of the frequently used mistranslation ginnasio ‘lower secondary school’10. 2. The specificity of legal language: because legal language represents an instrument used by legal experts (legislators, judges, lawyers, lecturers) to interact with each other and with a variety of target audiences, some authors suggest that it is more appropriate to speak about legal languages in the plural (Caterina & Rossi, 2008, p. 202, cited in Pozzo & Timoteo, 2008; Pezzin, 1996, p. 71; Pavčnik, 1997, p. 359; cf. also intralingual translation within legal language by Gotti, 2016). Thus, there is not only one legal language with different registers for different formality scales or more different legal languages in each language, but there are also as many legal languages as there are legal systems (Sacco, 2000, p. 75). For example, in the case of Italy, there is legal Italian for the legal system of Italy, legal Italian for the Swiss system, legal Italian for the EU legal system, and so on (Paolucci, 2017, 2021). 10 Cf. also gymnasium as a type of school in Germany, Central Europe, and the Scandinavian countries that prepares pupils to enter university. In the current Italian school system, ginnasio is an education course consisting of two years (fourth and fifth ginnasio), which can be accessed after completing primary schooling, and at the end of which one enters the liceo. 96 BILINGUALISM IN SLOVENIAN ISTRIA: STUDIES AND ISSUES IN ITS PRESERVATION 3. Equivalence: taking into consideration previous studies which distinguish different types of equivalence (cf. Ajani, 2006; Beaupré, 1986; Caponi, 2006; De Groot, 2000; Garzone, 2007; Harvey, 2000; Holl, 2012; Megale, 2008; Peruzzo, 2012; Rosario Martín Ruano, 2005; Sager, 1993; Šarčević, 1997) and the analyses carried out (Paolucci, 2011, 2021), the following classification of equivalence was suggested: − Formal and substantial equivalence: an institution or a body has a formal y equivalent denomination (due to the literal translation or a calque) and similar tasks and responsibilities in the respective legal orders, such as občinski svetnik and Consigliere comunale ‘city councillor’; Ministero del e Finanze and Ministrstvo za finance ‘Ministry of Finance’; Ret ore and Rektor ‘Rector’. − More formal than substantial equivalence: the translation of certain names of institutions and bodies is equivalent in the form, but not completely in the content or substance, such as Javno podjetje and azienda pubblica ‘state-owned enterprise’. − Merely substantial equivalence: two institutions or bodies, although having similar tasks and responsibilities, have a technical legal term that does not coincide with the form. For instance, the Slovenian zdravstveni dom is a substantial equivalent of the Italian Poliambulatorio ‘health centre’. Considering this classification, it could be claimed that if a source-oriented strategy is applied, the translator has decided upon formal equivalence, such as a literal translation or a calque. If, on the contrary, a target-oriented strategy is adopted, a substantial or a functional equivalent has been utilized (Šarčević, 1997) to transfer in the most pertinent way, a concept or term in the target culture. Evidently, this is to be regarded as a general tendency, which remains open to other instances and, consequently, to other strategies, at times even calling into question those summarized in this contribution. 4. Text typology: the text types within legal discourse have also been addressed by authors, such as Madsen (1997, pp. 17–27) and Šarčević (2000), who fundamentally singled out performative (e.g., laws, decrees, and other legal sources with a prescriptive function and hence of compulsory and binding nature) and non-performative legal texts (other texts or parts of them with an argumentative or informational function and therefore with no compulsory and binding capacity). Part II 4 The translation of administrative texts in the bilingual region of Slovenian Istria 97 Text typology is of essential relevance in choosing the most suitable translation strategy (cf. also Barabino, 2020). Based on the previous studies (cf. Sabatini, 1990, 1998, 2006), and focusing solely on the legal discourse, the following classification is proposed: a) normative texts; that is, acts of binding nature towards the addressees (laws, decrees, regulations, international treaties, agreements, etc.); b) expository texts; that is, not very binding and non-binding texts with an explanatory-argumentative function, intended for law experts (manuals, scholarly articles, dissertations, lectures, etc. related to the field of law); c) informative texts; that is, non-binding texts, mostly legal texts of a generic, non-specialized nature, designed for any type of target audience (e.g., news reports in newspapers, magazines, or websites, informational and promotional texts on legal matters) (cf. Paolucci, 2013, 2020). Nevertheless, it should be noted that Sabatini (1990, 1998, 2006), Madsen (1997) and al the other authors who have studied text types concur that both legal and general texts are almost always ‘hybrid texts’, in which narrative, descriptive, normative, expository, and informational parts are intertwined. A good example of such a text type is a judgement, in which the operative part is normative, the statement of reasons usually includes normative and argumentative parts, whereas the statement of facts mostly contains expository, argumentative, and informative parts (cf. also Gotti, 2016; Megale, 2012). 5. Text function: sometimes a text can be translated for a function that is not identical to the one in the source text. Theorists such as Cao (2007), Biel (2009), Garzone (2007), Kocbek (2009), Sandrini (1999) have shown that when such a functional shift occurs, the translation strategy alters (Paolucci, 2021). For example, if a French-speaking person is involved in a judicial proceeding in Italy, the judgment issued by the Italian court must be translated into French to enter into force and have binding legal effect. Understandably, the situation changes if the same judgement or some parts are translated into French to be studied in a scholarly article or essay, or simply to inform the intended readership in French mass media. The first case requires a formal translation for normative purposes (as wil be shown below, preferably source-oriented), whereas in the second case a technical-legal translation wil be necessary for expository-argumentative purposes, or as transparent a translation as possible for information purposes (i.e., target-oriented) (Paolucci, 2020). 98 BILINGUALISM IN SLOVENIAN ISTRIA: STUDIES AND ISSUES IN ITS PRESERVATION 6. The source legal system: the standard-bearer of legal translation is the source text. Accordingly, one cannot disregard the characteristic traits of the source language and the legal peculiarities of the source legal system. In other words, the source legal system represents the reference system for the legislator and for al other bodies associated with legal text production activities (Paolucci, 2020). As mentioned above, some terms can sometimes be translated in different, often acceptable ways which is clearly shown in Figure 1. Translation equivalents of vložišče / sprejemna pisarna (%) sergreteria 5,4 ufficio deposito 5,4 accettazione 12,1 ufficio principale 17,9 ufficio protocol o 59,2 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 Figure 1: Translation equivalents of vložišče / sprejemna pisarna ‘front office’ Source: own. As shown in Figure 1, the terms vložišče / sprejemna pisarna in Italian correspond mainly to Uf icio Protocol o, but in some cases also to Uf icio deposito or Accettazione or even to Uf icio principale and Segreteria. However, with reference to Slovenian administrative texts, in order to offer greater terminological consistency, vložišče could be translated as Uf icio Protocol o and sprejemna pisarna in some cases also with (Uf icio) Accettazione, although the latter term in the Italian legal system is now limited mostly to the hospital sector. Part II 4 The translation of administrative texts in the bilingual region of Slovenian Istria 99 4.2 The need for consistent terminology It is evident from the previous examination of the administrative texts or documents (statutes, regulations, decrees) translated for the Italian minority in Slovenia that in some cases there was little consistency and terminological uniformity in translating certain terms of particular importance, such as namestnik predsednika, lokalne volitve or upravičenec do sredstev (cf. Paolucci 2020, 2021). In particular, it emerged that various/different solutions are often provided within the bilingual municipalities on the coast, often also acceptable, but which create terminological inconsistency and can be misleading for citizens. As is reiterated below, univocal choices are suggested and possibly agreed upon by an ad hoc commission. In point of fact, a collaboration between experts from various disciplines is necessary (see also Engberg, 2013). Work in the field of terminology is an interdisciplinary activity, particularly in the area of law and administration, in which the cooperation of terminologists, linguists, and legal experts is extremely important due to the many peculiar characteristics of this domain (Chiocchetti & Rali, 2013, p. 8). A commission of experts should also create and develop an Italian legal language and terminology that reflects the Slovenian legal system. In specific circumstances, when translating certain terms, sometimes two or more options may be possible or acceptable, thus creating problems in terminological consistency and uniformity. In particular, the same term can be translated differently depending on whether a source-oriented strategy or a target-oriented strategy is used (Paolucci, 2020; Venuti, 1995); example: zdravstveni dom ‘health centre’ = casa del a sanità or centro di salute or centro sanitario or poliambulatorio; vrtec ‘nursery school’ = asilo infantile or scuola materna or scuola del ’infanzia (Paolucci, 2020). As mentioned before, the same observations are also valid for acronyms. For example, Slovenian TRR (for transakcijski račun ‘bank account’) is often translated as conto corrente ‘current account’ (cf. Table 4). In Italy this technical banking tool, for which the denomination current account is stil used, is largely present and widely used by both private citizens and companies. Following the target-oriented strategy, the corresponding equivalent is conto corrente, but evidently in Slovenia the generic term bančni račun and its equivalent conto bancario ‘bank account’ is preferred to distinguish it from tekoči račun, which was abolished in 2003. 100 BILINGUALISM IN SLOVENIAN ISTRIA: STUDIES AND ISSUES IN ITS PRESERVATION Another characteristic acronym is the lexicalized term EMŠO (for enotna matična številka občana ‘personal registration number’; cf. Table 4). The term is translated in a variety of forms, either following the Italian administrative system as in the first three forms presented ( Numero del codice anagrafico unitario, N. Codice Anagrafico, codice anagrafico ‘unit registry code number’) or the Slovenian administrative system with the acronym CAUC and/or its expansion Codice Anagrafico Unitario del Cittadino ‘unique registration number of the citizen’. In this specific case, there is also a third translation strategy; that is, generalized translation, verbalized through n. di identificazione personale ‘personal identification number’. In light of the parameters presented above (cf. Section 4.1), it is evident that one of the most complex issues to be solved by translators is how to best translate genre-based texts (i.e., in this case, administrative texts) and provide consistent terminology to members of the minority community. In addition to being a technical and legal act, an administrative text is also a communicative act intended to help citizens understand public administration. If the drafts or translations of documents are homogenous and terminological y uniform, they wil undoubtedly be more understandable to non-specialists (Alfieri et al., 2011). However, in the absence of unified terminology, there is a lack of confidence on the part of translators when choosing appropriate solutions. To overcome the translation uncertainties, it would be convenient to constitute a committee that would have an advisory function in establishing uniform terminology. In this way, greater clarity, transparency, and a better safeguard of the principle of legal certainty would be ensured. If one looks at examples of good practice in Europe in this area, it is evident that several bodies have already been set up: Commission générale de terminologie et de néologie in France (Megale, 2008), the Joint Terminology Commission in South Tyrol, which has the task of determining, updating or validating the legal, administrative, and technical terminology used by the bodies and offices of the public sector, and the Network for the Excellence of Institutional Italian (cf. Rubino, 2016). Furthermore, in 2018, an office was established in Friuli Venezia Giulia whose work focuses on the unification of the translation of the Italian legislative and administrative terminology (cf. Grgič, 2018). Part II 4 The translation of administrative texts in the bilingual region of Slovenian Istria 101 4.3 The use of acronyms in bilingual administrative texts Acronyms are shortened terms that are to be used moderately in administrative documents (cf. Alfieri et al., 2011) because they are often obvious to the text’s author, but not transparent to the reader. Despite the fact that they should be used sparingly (cf. Cortelazzo & Pellegrino, 2014; Williams, 2005), together with other abbreviated forms they play an important role in specialized discourse for “their (a) naming function; that is, they assign concepts, phenomena, and processes specific labels that can circulate internationally, and (b) economy (Zipf, 1949; Martinet, 1955); that is, they avoid redundancy and favour textual efficiency” (Mattiello, 2012, p. 149). As such “they help create social closeness, especial y among in-group experts” (ibid.). In other words, they can be regarded as metadiscourse markers that appeal to shared knowledge, to bring into play what is common between the authors of the text and readers (cf. Bogdanović & Gak, 2020, p. 115, citing Faber 1996; Hyland 2000, 2001). Administrative texts published online and intended not only for experts with shared interests and identity, but also for a larger reading public, usually contain an interesting number of abbreviated linguistic features. Since the administrative texts are intended to inform a wider community, some authors (Alfieri et al., 2011, p. 30; Comar, 2003, p. 123,) underline the importance of understanding the abridged lexical items. Therefore, they recommend preceding an abbreviation or acronym11 by its expansion and enclosing it in round brackets when it is used for the first time in a text. Accordingly, in the fol owing text only the abbreviated forms are written. Of course, wel -known and established shortened terms are an exception. 12 Many researchers report differences between various authors regarding the nomenclature of abridged lexical units, which may comprise abbreviations, acronyms, initialisms, clipping, blending, and back-formations (Mattiello 2012: 152; Gualdo & Telve, 2014: 113–115; Caon, 2016, p. 11; Kompara Lukančič, 2018, p. 8– 10; Lengar Verovnik, 2018, p. 23–24). This article defines the term acronym as an 11 As far as the translation of the Italian term acronimo/sigla is concerned, Comar (2003, p. 122) specifies that “Gli acronimi sono detti più comunemente sigle.” 12 Barnett and Doubleday (2020), who studied the use of acronyms in scholarly papers, report that from the diachronic perspective the use of acronyms has increased over time, but their re-use has declined. They claim that some acronyms are useful and are widely understood, but many of them hinder understanding and contribute to the increasing fragmentation of scholarship. 102 BILINGUALISM IN SLOVENIAN ISTRIA: STUDIES AND ISSUES IN ITS PRESERVATION abbreviated lexical unit obtained by keeping the initials of several words that make up a compound term. These word formations are often used to designate institutions (Italian INPS for Istituto Nazionale del a Previdenza Sociale ‘National Social Welfare Institution’, Slovenian ZPIZ for Zavod za pokojninsko in invalidsko zavarovanje Slovenije ‘Pension and Disability Insurance Institute of Slovenia’, organisations ( ABI for Associazione Bancaria Italiana ‘Italian Banks Association’; ZDS for Združenje delodajalcev Slovenije ‘The Association of Employers of Slovenia’, taxes (Italian IVA for Imposta sul Valore Aggiunto and its Slovenian equivalent DDV for Davek na dodano vrednost ‘VAT, Value Added Tax’, and so on. Compound words obtained by putting together more than one letter of the abbreviated words ( ASS.I.TERM for Associazione italiana per la terminologia ‘Italian Association for Terminology’; and NAMA for Narodni magazin ‘National Store’; cf. Alfieri et al., 2011, p. 30; Kompara Lukančič, 2018, p. 9) are also regarded as acronyms. As for the orthographic rules regarding acronyms in Italian, Cortelazzo and Pel egrino (2014, p. 32) point out that there is no single way to write acronymic words. Some are written all in capital letters, with or without full stops that function as separators ( SSN or S.S.N.), others appear with only the initial capital letter ( Ssn), stil others are al written in lowercase ( ssn). It is advisable that at least within the same text the same writing criterion is always adopted. However, Comar (2003, p. 122) stresses that for acronyms, the regulation UNI 7413 Acronyms, Spel ing and Use of 1975 is fundamental: it establishes that they must “be written entirely in capital letters, without internal spaces and without abbreviation full stops”. The author also specifies that the same principle is reaffirmed by the Guide to the Drafting of Normative Texts, 13 which states that the initial letters forming an acronym are capitalized and not separated by full stops, to facilitate research with IT tools. One can thus expect various orthographic solutions in non-normative texts whereas normative texts should present a uniform orthography. The Slovenian orthographic rules regarding acronyms are a little different from the Italian writing system, because the full stop is not used in Slovenian acronyms. A draft of the revised normative guide ( Pravopis 8.0) prepared by the Normative Guide Committee at the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts and the Research Centre 13Author’s note: the text Guida alla redazione dei testi normative is available at https://www.gazzettaufficiale.it/eli/id/2001/05/03/001A4875/sg. Part II 4 The translation of administrative texts in the bilingual region of Slovenian Istria 103 of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts draws attention to some special features, such as the use of lowercase letters for “pronounced acronyms” ( nečrkovalne kratice; cf. Lengar Verovnik, 2018, p. 54) that have already been lexicalized; that is, incorporated into the language as a new word ( esemes for SMS). However, they are written with initial capital letters if they are used as proper nouns (Unesco, Nasa). The guide also gives some examples of “initialisms” ( črkovalne kratice) that can be written with lowercase letters ( SMS/sms, GSM/gsm). The following section il ustrates how acronyms are used in the analysed documents and how they are translated into Italian. This study is completely qualitative, aiming to examine the most typical acronymic words in the specialized discourse observed. Naturally, better-ordered quantitative scrutiny would be indispensable for a detailed systematization of the phenomena observed, which are planned to be included in a dictionary of abbreviations and acronyms in the future. 4.3.1 The expansion + acronym in the source language and the target language: presence and/or absence of single items This section examines to what extent the expansion + acronym pairs or acronym + expansion pairs are present in both languages of the documents analysed. The pattern with both elements in one or both languages can be defined as user-friendly, although the underlying concepts might not be general y known and might therefore be limited to a restricted circle of experts. Beginning from the “easy to use” pairs, different combinations in both languages are presented to give an overview of the options found within the entire corpora (Sections 4.3.1.1– 4.3.1.9) and within one text (Section 4.3.2). As regards denominations, short-form items whose expansions/resolutions can be found in the same text are referred to as local acronyms. On the other hand, non-local or global acronyms are ones that are not accompanied by their ful forms in the same document. They are usual y written with the presupposition that the text recipient knows the meaning intended by the short form. Evidently, non-local abbreviated terms are more compel ing to decode because the corresponding expansions do not appear in the same text (Hogan et al., 2021, p. 127; Jacobs et al., 2020, p. 518). 104 BILINGUALISM IN SLOVENIAN ISTRIA: STUDIES AND ISSUES IN ITS PRESERVATION Examples of shortened forms and their expansions – local acronyms – have pragmatic implications. They are one of the techniques of popularization both in the source and in the target language. Popularization, a phenomenon that has been largely studied in various disciplines (Engberg et al., 2018; Gotti, 2005, p. 179–190; 2016; Kermas & Cristiansen, 2013) is usually understood as a presentation of a concept in a widely apprehensible or acceptable form, intended to transfer disciplinary knowledge for informative purposes. In addition to achieving greater comprehensibility, greater clarity can also be gained through the use of local acronyms. Mattiello (2014, p. 7–8) explains that abbreviated lexical units often occur in popularizing texts as anaphoric referents to their ful forms which are made explicit in the text to prevent ambiguity. 4.3.1.1 Expanded form fol owed by the short form in both languages Local acronyms are rather numerous in the analysed corpora because most of them are not widely known. At their first occurrence they usual y follow the full form and are placed in brackets. Once the semantic interpretation of the short form is established for the reader by means of the expanded form, the acronym is re-used later in the text to maintain internal cohesion (cf. Mattiello 2014, p. 7–8). In some cases, however, the expanded form is not only written in brackets to favour comprehensibility, but is particularly salient in the text. This is especially the case of the official announcements of municipalities (for example, in ordinances and rules of procedures) where in the introductory articles of the texts the abbreviated forms are ful y written, both to avoid ambiguity further in the text and to apply the economy principle (cf. Vicentini, 2003, p. 44) as in (2) to (4): (1) Kratice, uporabljene v tem odloku, imajo naslednji pomen / Le abbreviazioni usate nel presente Decreto hanno il seguente significato ‘The acronyms used in this decree have the following meaning’: - PZ je Pomorski zakonik / CM è il Codice marittimo ‘PZ is the Maritime Code’ (2) Na podlagi 131. člena Zakona o urejanju prostora (Uradni list RS, št. 61/17; v nadaljevanju: ZUreP-2) podajam pobudo / In virtù del 'articolo 131 del a Legge sul riasset o del territorio (Gazz. Uf . del a RS, n. 61/17; in seguito: ZUreP-2) inoltro la proposta ‘Pursuant Part II 4 The translation of administrative texts in the bilingual region of Slovenian Istria 105 to Article 131 of the Spatial Planning Act (Official Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia, No. 61/17; hereinafter: ZUreP-2), I submit the initiative’. (3) S tem odlokom se sprejme občinski podrobni prostorski načrt Termalna riviera (v nadaljevanju: OPPN). Con il presente Decreto è approvato il Piano regolatore particolareggiato comunale “Termalna riviera” (Riviera termale), (in prosieguo: PRPC). ‘This decree approves the Municipal Detailed Spatial Plan “Termalna riviera” (Thermal Riviera), (hereinafter: OPPN)’. The abbreviated forms from (1) to (3) are introduced by means of the endophoric markers naslednji pomen / il seguente significato ‘the following meaning’, and v nadaljevanju with its widely used Italian equivalent in seguito ‘hereinafter’ in (2), as wel as the rather less widespread in prosieguo in (3) (cf. Hyland, 2010). This metadiscourse category either anticipates material that is to come after, as in the examples above, or it refers to earlier propositional material, as in (6). The use of such metadiscursive items that introduce the abbreviated forms instead of complex names may be functional when these are particularly recurrent, as Alfieri et al. (2011, p. 31) point out. The documents studied also provide some cases in which the expanded form is not only abbreviated, but some of its parts are even omitted as in (4). Alfieri et al. (2011, p. 31) suggest that in such abbreviated denominations, if possible, the shortened form must contain an indication that makes the relevance or role of the complex name transparent, facilitate its understanding and search within the text, such as in a contract: Immobiliare Alfa s.r.l. ‘Alfa Real Estate Ltd.’ (hereinafter referred to as Imm. Alfa or appaltatore ‘contractor’. The Slovenian NO and the corresponding Italian Cdc (4), or RPN and its equivalent PTR (5) are acronyms that incorporate one (4) or more (5) proper names, toponyms (Piran; Koper, and Izola) preceded by common names (municipality; coastal zone), and function words (prepositions and conjunctions). The two examples can be seen as a specific word formation process in a specialized discourse taking into account the purpose of the text and the targeted audience (cf. also Gotti 2005, 179–190): if the text producer determines so, some established and institutionalized acronyms may cover a narrower semantic field than in other genres. 106 BILINGUALISM IN SLOVENIAN ISTRIA: STUDIES AND ISSUES IN ITS PRESERVATION (4) Ta poslovnik ureja organizacijo in način dela Nadzornega odbora občine Piran (v nadaljnjem besedilu: NO) / Il presente Regolamento disciplina l'organizzazione e il funzionamento del Comitato del Control o del Comune di Pirano (più avanti nel testo: il Cdc14) ‘These Rules of Procedure regulate the organization and manner of work of the Supervisory Board of the Municipality of Piran (hereinafter: NO)’ (5) S tem sklepom se začne postopek priprave Regionalnega prostorskega načrta za priobalni pas med Koprom in Izolo (v nadaljevanju RPN) / Con il presente at o di delibera si avvia il procedimento di stesura del Piano territoriale regionale per la fascia costiera tra Capodistria e Isola (nel testo a seguire: PTR) ‘With this decision, the process of preparation of the Regional Spatial Plan for the coastal zone between Koper and Izola (hereinafter RPN) begins’. In most cases the endophoric markers anticipate the abbreviated forms that are to be used later on in the text, as in examples (1) to (5) with different synonymic expressions, but in some rare cases they also refer to the previously used abbreviated lexical units as in (6), where the abbreviated form is a cataphor used in the equation for calculating the municipal contribution. Although this section covers examples of translated shortened lexical items and not elements of code-switching (these are presented separately in Sections 4.3.1.6.– 4.3.1.8.), example (6) is presented here to better capture the phenomenon of endophoric markers with reference to shortened forms: (6) KPobstoječa(i) = ((AGP x Cpo(i) x Dpo) + (ASTAVBA x Cto(i) x Dto x Fn)) x psz(i) Zgornje oznake pomenijo / Significato del e abbreviazioni ‘The above markings mean’: - KPobstoječa(i): znesek dela komunalnega prispevka za posamezno vrsto obstoječe komunalne opreme / KPobstoječa(i): importo del a quota del contributo af erente agli oneri di urbanizzazione per la singola tiptologia del e opere di urbanizzazione esistenti ‘KPobstoječ(i): amount of part of the municipal contribution for each type of existing municipal equipment’ - AGP: površina gradbene parcele stavbe / AGP: superficie del lot o edificabile del 'edificio ‘AGP: plot area of the building’. 14 This is one of rare examples found in the corpus in which a function word (preposition) is a part of the abbreviated set of terms. When forming acronyms, function words are usually completely omitted. In the case of Cdc, the component d is an abbreviated form of the extended joint preposition ( preposizione articolata) del, composed of a preposition and a definite article. Part II 4 The translation of administrative texts in the bilingual region of Slovenian Istria 107 Another example of local acronyms and cataphoric reference in the source language is a separate presentation of acronyms previously used in a table at the end of a document (amended draft ordinance on the municipal spatial plan). A tabular display where al the acronyms and their expansion are col ected in alphabetical order could be identified as an example of good practice for its clarity and popularizing effect, allowing a quick and effective overview of the anticipated condensed formations. Following the source language tabular pattern, the expanded and short forms are transferred into the target language in the same, tabular way, with all its beneficial effects in the target language. 4.3.1.2 Short forms without expansions in both languages Mattiello (2014, p. 7–8) emphasizes that in popularizations, abbreviated lexical features may be used to favour textual efficiency, especial y with wel -known and lexicalized acronyms. Thus, on the one hand acronyms without their ful forms are a convenient way of accelerating communication, but on the other they also encrypt it (cf. Izura & Playfoot, 2012, p. 862). In the examples below, a complex phrase is reduced to an acronym that is instantly obvious to professionals, but probably not so clear to non-experts. In her analysis of scholarly discourse, Mattiello (2012, p. 160) observed that condensed specialized terminology contributes to establishing professional closeness among the members of the scholarly community, who recognize and share the same language. Certainly, the same can apply to the administrative language. However, given the availability of various online and paper dictionaries of shortened lexical units (cf. Kompara Lukančič 2020, 2021) and other online resources, texts containing less common unexpanded acronyms are not limited only to a restricted audience. They can be relatively quickly disambiguated by means of freely available online dictionaries, which must therefore be constantly updated because “the collection of acronyms is an open set, with new acronyms and new expansions constantly being added for company and organization names, technical terms, etc.” (Jacobs et al., 2020, p. 518): (7) - Odlok o programu opremljanja stavbnih zemljišč za območje op remljanja OPPN (cf. občinski podrobni prostorski načrt) / Decreto sul programma di realizzazione del e opere d’urbanizzazione primaria a servizio del a zona contemplata dal PRPC (cf. piano regolatore particolareggiato 108 BILINGUALISM IN SLOVENIAN ISTRIA: STUDIES AND ISSUES IN ITS PRESERVATION comunale) ‘Decree on the program for the construction of primary urbanization works serving the area covered by the Municipal Detailed Spatial Plan’ - Elektro Primorska, PE (cf. poslovna enota) Koper / Elektro Primorska, UO (cf. unità operativa) di Capodistria ‘Elektro Primorska, Koper branch’ - odločba US (cf. Ustavno sodišče) / sentenza del a CC (cf. Corte Costituzionale) ‘decision of the Constitutional Court’ - mnenje odborov OS (cf. Občinski svet) / opinione dei comitati del CC (cf. Consiglio comunale) ‘opinion of the Municipal Council committee’ The last two Italian examples contain the homonyms CC, which can be adequately interpreted and expanded only within the context, although the grammatical gender of the abbreviated terms may facilitate the decoding process. At this point it is necessary to mention that the established form for Corte Costituzionale is C. cost. or Corte cost., which means that, according to established use, this term is an abbreviation and not an acronym, as the translation equivalent presented above may suggest. The translator probably decided to reduce the term to only the initial letters following the Slovenian word formation process of the corresponding lexical elements, which resulted in a non-standardized condensed form in the target language. At this point, it is also worth mentioning the specificity that has been detected in this group of acronyms. Although the acronyms are to be written in a standardized way, with no internal full stops (cf. Comar 2003, p. 122), some target texts offer sporadic cases of internal punctuation marks in both informative and normative texts: (8) Ostala območja urejanja, ki se urejajo s temi PUP (cf. prostorski ureditveni pogoji ‘Spatial Development Conditions’), so: Altre aree di regolamentazione regolate dal e N.T.A. (cf. norme technice d’attuazione) sono: ‘The other regulatory areas covered by these PUP are:’ Part II 4 The translation of administrative texts in the bilingual region of Slovenian Istria 109 4.3.1.3 Short form in the source language, expanded equivalent in the target language The practice of using a short form in the source language and its corresponding expansion in the target language refers most often to acronyms denoting Slovenian institutions and bodies, whose names may not be so obvious to the Italian speaking public; therefore, the translated expanded forms help provide basic information on the tasks performed by the institution or body: (9) - CSD (cf. Center za socialno delo) / Centro per l’assistenza sociale ‘Social Work Centre’ - VDC (cf. Varstveno delovni center) / Centro di assistenza e terapia lavorativa ‘Special Social Care and Employment Centre’ - OKS-ZŠZ (cf. Olimpijski komite Slovenije / Združenja športnih zvez) / Comitato olimpico del a Slovenia - Federazione del e unioni sportive ‘Olympic Committee of Slovenia / Sport Societies Association’ - MOK UPRN (cf. Mestna občina Koper, Urad za prostorski razvoj in nepremičnine) / Uf icio sviluppo territoriale e beni immobili del Comune città di Capodistria ‘Office for Spatial Development and Real Estate of the Municipality of Koper’ - GURS (cf. Geodetska uprava Republike Slovenije) / Amministrazione geodetica del a RS ‘Land Survey Institute of the Republic of Slovenia’ Certain documents contain acronyms that refer to specific technical denominations relating to infrastructure projects that the municipality intends to implement. These abridged lexemes are usual y expanded in the target language, as are those referring to institutions and bodies, so that specialized concepts are recognized by non-experts (cf. the phenomenon of popularization mentioned in the introductory part of Section 4.3.1): (10) - NN omrežje (cf. nizkonapetostno omrežje) / la rete di cavi a bassa tensione ‘low voltage network’ - EE omrežje (cf. elektroenergetsko omrežje) / rete elet rica ‘power network’ 110 BILINGUALISM IN SLOVENIAN ISTRIA: STUDIES AND ISSUES IN ITS PRESERVATION 4.3.1.4 Short form in the source language, translated short form and expansion in the target language The combination of a short form in the source language and its translation accompanied by the ful form is only rarely found. It may be supposed that the translator decides to translate the acronym and accompany it with the expansion when the source-text acronym is relatively less known, and therefore its translation and expansion confer relevant informative value to the text, rendering it more understandable to non-experts. (11) je Mestna občina Koper pristopila tako k izdelavi lastnih strokovnih podlag za SPRO (cf. strategija prostorskega razvoja občine, kot tudi tistih, ki so bile izdelane v okviru il Comune cit à di Capodistria ha proceduto all’elaborazione dei propri approfondimenti tecnici necessari al a SSTC (strategia del o sviluppo territoriale comunale), come pure di quel i, elaborati nel ’ambito del a ‘The Municipality of Koper has approached the production of its own professional bases for SPRO (cf. Spatial Development Strategy of the Municipality) as wel as those produced in the context of’ 4.3.1.5 Expansion and short form in the source language, expansion in the target language The practice of using both forms in the source language most often refers to laws. Given the specificity of the condensed multicomponent terms, they are sometimes omitted in the target language because the expansion itself is probably judged by the translator as a sufficient carrier of meaning: (12) - Na podlagi Gradbenega zakona (GZ) / Ai sensi del a Legge sulle costruzioni ‘Based on the Construction Act (GZ)’ - Na podlagi 8. člena Zakona o varstvu osebnih podatkov (ZVOP-1-UPB1) / In virtù del ‘art. 8 del a Legge sul a tutela dei dati personali (testo unico I ) ‘Pursuant to Article 8 of the Personal Data Protection Act (ZVOP-1-UPB1 . . .’ Part II 4 The translation of administrative texts in the bilingual region of Slovenian Istria 111 However, in most cases the short forms referring to various laws are usualy present in both languages, functioning as a guarantee of an appropriate legal basis of newly proclaimed measures, as seen in Section 4.3.1.6. 4.3.1.6 The source language short form with no expansion, unaltered in the target language Some short forms are directly transferred to the target language, with no translation equivalents. This practice of code-switching is commonly used for acronyms denoting various projects, laws, institutions, and so on cited in normative texts to promulgate rules, amendments and supplements to documents, or issue resolutions and decrees. These acronyms are usual y written in brackets, their function being to provide a legal basis for newly published texts. Present only in the source culture and language and referring mostly to narrowly specific concepts, the translated acronym would probably not add further informative value for non-specialists of the target language text; therefore, it remains unmodified: (13) - uradno prečiščeno besedilo 14/2015 ZUUJFO15 / testo unico uf iciale 14/2015-ZUUJFO ‘Official Consolidated Text 14/2015 – ZUUJFO’ - ZAPS ident. št. izdelovalca / ZAPS16 n. ID. del ’esecutore ‘ZAPS identification number of the plan designer’ - 94. člen Zakona o varstvu okolja, Uradni list RS, št. 39/2006 – UPB117 / Articolo 94 del a Legge sul a tutela del ’ambiente, Gazzet a Uf iciale del a RS, n. 39/2006-UPB1 ‘Article 94 of the Environmental Protection Act, Official Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia, no. 39/2006 - UPB 1’ The first occurrence of a shortened multicomponent term in the target language may entail a different phrasing than the first occurrence of a condensed form in the source language, taking into account the target reader. This tendency to a diverse formulation in the target language applies to cases when the translator chooses to 15 Cf. Zakon o ukrepih za uravnoteženje javnih financ občin ‘Act Regulating Measures Aimed at Fiscal Balance of Municipalities’. 16 Cf. Zbornica za arhitekturo in prostor Slovenije ‘Chamber of Architecture and Spatial Planning of Slovenia’. 17 Cf. Uradno prečiščno besedilo ‘Official Consolidated Version’. 112 BILINGUALISM IN SLOVENIAN ISTRIA: STUDIES AND ISSUES IN ITS PRESERVATION add some components that are not present in the source language. For example, especial y in recent issues of the Official Gazette, this study has identified the trend of adding the translator’s note sigla ‘acronym’ or cod. (cf. codice ‘ code’) before each untranslated Slovenian acronym to clearly indicate the code-switching. Adding the translator’s note in front of a short form that has undergone no modification in the target language can certainly be described as an example of good practice that takes into account the recipient’s linguistic expectations. However, bearing in mind the terminology presented in the introductory part of Section 4.3, Note 11, the term sigla in front of the condensed lexeme is the only one that that appropriately denotes the observed linguistic element: (14) - Uradni list RS, št. 94/07 – uradno prečiščeno besedilo, 76/08, 79/09, 51/10, 40/12 – ZUJF, 14/15 – ZUUJFO, 11/18 – ZSPDSLS-1, 30/18, 61/20 – ZIUZEOP-A in 80/20 – ZIUOOPE18 / Gazzet a Uf iciale del a RS nn. 94/07 – testo consolidato uf iciale, 76/08, 79/09, 51/10, 40/12 – Sigla: ZUJF, 14/15 – Sigla: ZUUJFO, 11/18 – Sigla: ZSPDSLS-1, 30/18, 61/20 – Sigla: ZIUZEOP-A e 80/20 – Sigla: ZIUOOPE ‘Official Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia, number 94/07 - official consolidated text, 76/08, 79/09, 51/10, 40/12 - Acronym: ZUJF, 14/15 - Acronym: ZUUJFO, 11/18 - Acronym: ZSPDSLS -1, 30/18, 61/20 - Acronym: ZIUZEOP-A and 80/20 - Acronym: ZIUOOPE’ - Arheološko najdišče Školarice, EŠD19 14299, režim arheološko najdišče / Sito archeologico Školarice, cod. EŠD 14299, regime dei siti archeologici ‘Školarice archaeological site, code EŠD 18 Cf. ZUJF- Zakon o uravnoteženju javnih financ ‘Fiscal Balance Act’; ZUUJFO- Zakon o ukrepih za uravnoteženje javnih financ občin ‘Act Regulating Measures Aimed at Fiscal Balance of Municipalities’; ZSPDSLS- Zakon o stvarnem premoženju države in samoupravnih lokalnih skupnosti ‘Decree on Physical Assets of the State and Local Government’; ZIUZEOP- Zakon o interventnih ukrepih za zajezitev epidemije COVID-19 in omilitev njenih posledic za državljane in gospodarstvo ‘Act Determining the Intervention Measures to Contain the COVID-19 Epidemic and Mitigate its Consequences for Citizens and the Economy’; ZIUOOPE- Zakon o interventnih ukrepih za omilitev in odpravo posledic epidemije COVID-19 ‘Act Determining the Intervention Measures to Mitigate and Remedy the Consequences of the COVID-19 Epidemic’. 19 Cf. evidenčna številka dediščine ‘Heritage Record Number’ which has recently changed its denomination to EID for enotna identifikacija dediščine ‘Unique Heritage Identification’. Part II 4 The translation of administrative texts in the bilingual region of Slovenian Istria 113 14299, regime of archaeological sites’. The texts analysed also revealed some rare cases of translated abbreviated denominations of various laws which, despite the translator’s effort to bring the text closer to the target user, might not have the intended effect for a wider Italian readership because there are no local expansions either in the source or in the target language: (15) Na podlagi 57. člena Zakon o prostorskem načrtovanju (Uradni list RS, št. 33/07, 70/08 – ZVO-1B, 108/09, 80/10 – ZUPUDPP, 43/11 – ZKZ-C, 57/12, 57/12 – ZUPUDPP-A, (109/12), 76/14 – odl. US in 14/15 – ZUUJFO) … je župan … sprejel S K L E P Visto l’articolo 57 del a Legge sul a pianificazione del territorio (Gazzet a uf iciale RS, n. 33/07, 70/08 – LTA-1B, 108/09, 80/10 – LCRARN, 43/11 – LTA-C, 57/12, 57/12 – LCRARN-A, (109/12), 76/14 del CC e 14/15 – LMBFPC) … il sindaco … ha accolto la DELIBERA ‘Pursuant to Article 57 of the Spatial Planning Act (Official Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia, No. 33/07, 70/08 – ZVO-1B, 108/09, 80/10 – ZUPUDPP, 43/11 – ZKZ-C, 57/12, 57/12 – ZUPUDPP-A, (109/12), 76/14 – decisions of the Constitutional Court and 14/15 – ZUUJFO) … the mayor … adopted the DECISION’. The untranslated short terms are an integral part of the source language text, with no special orthographic styling to indicate that code switching has taken place. However, in some rare documents produced before 2010 one can find some examples with the Slovenian acronyms in inverted commas when used in the target language: (16) V skladu z določili ZUreP-1 je Mestna občina Koper pristopila tako k izdelavi lastnih strokovnih podlag Nel rispet o del e disposizioni di cui al a “ZUreP-1”, il Comune cit à di Capodistria ha proceduto all’elaborazione dei propri approfondimenti ‘In compliance with the provisions of the “ZUreP-1,” the Municipality of Koper proceeded to elaborate its own insights’ priprave sprememb in dopolnitev prostorskega plana … (po ZUNPP) 114 BILINGUALISM IN SLOVENIAN ISTRIA: STUDIES AND ISSUES IN ITS PRESERVATION predisposizione dele modifiche ed integrazioni al piano territoriale … (ai sensi dela “ZUNPP” – Legge sul a sistemazione degli abitati e su altri interventi nel territorio) ‘preparation of changes and amendments to the spatial plan … (according to ZUNPP)’ Checking the acronym ZUNPP yielded the fol owing result: Zakon o ustavitvi nekaterih postopkov o prekrških (Act on the Suspension of Certain Misdemeanor Proceedings), which does not refer to the context at hand. Because acronyms referring to acts are not polysemic, further online research was carried out to determine the appropriate expansion. However, the only plausible extended form could be retrieved in the Italian part of the text. Based on the translated text, it was concluded that the act in question was likely to be Zakon o urejanju naselij in drugih posegov v prostor with the official acronym ZUN, which was later replaced by Zakon o urejanju prostora (ZUreP-1) (Spatial Planning Act). We believe that the translator decided to use inverted commas due to the inappropriate spel ing of the acronym in the source language because the translator’s online search had yielded no convincing results. The uncertainties about the correct use of letters in acronyms in the source language and updated information on their validity when they refer to laws cal for the preparation of an online dictionary of acronyms used in administrative texts. If constantly renewed and integrated, with entries presented in the appropriate context, it would facilitate research not only for specialists interested in diachronic perspectives on legislation, but also for a wider readership (cf. Kompara 2020, 2021). The practice of using untranslated acronyms is a characteristic trait not only in normative texts; short forms that are not subject to translation may be present in informative texts as wel , such as in an invitation to the members of the municipal council to a meeting – who are undoubtedly wel acquainted with the acronyms denoting two characteristic institutions located in their municipality: (17) - Soglasja k porabi presežkov OŠV / Consenso al ’uso del e eccedenze da parte del a OŠV (cf. Osnovna šola in vrtec ‘Primary school and nursery school’) - Predlog Soglasja CUVD20 / Proposta di Consenso alla CUVD (cf. Center za usposabljanje, delo in 20 The official acronym for the institution referred to in the text is CUDV. Part II 4 The translation of administrative texts in the bilingual region of Slovenian Istria 115 varstvo ‘Consent proposal to [Education, Work and Care Centre]’) Acronyms that remain unaltered are also wel -known and established anglicisms that reflect the ongoing globalization process. These may be widespread among the general public; for example, GDPR: (18) Uredba GDPR (cf. General Data Protection Regulation), ki jo je sprejela Evropska unija Il regolamento generale sul a protezione dei dati (GDPR) adot ato dall’Unione europea ‘GDPR adopted by the European Union’ or among in-group experts: (19) OPPN se izdela tudi v digitalni obliki, tako da je možen vnos v GIS (cf. Geographic(al) information system) občine Lo strumento urbanistico è compilato anche in forma digitale che ne consente l’inserimento nel sistema GIS comunale. ‘The urban planning tool is also compiled in a digital form that allows its inclusion in the municipal GIS system.’ An interesting example of an abbreviated form found in the texts studied is English BREF, a mixed abbreviation formed through an initialism ( B-est) and back-clipping ( REF-erence; cf. Kostina, Zerkina, & Pesina, 2015, p. 708) derived from ‘Best Available Techniques (BAT) reference documents’: (20) V smislu emisijskih predpisov in referenčnih BREF) dokumentov so potrebne Ai sensi del e norme in materia di emissioni di rumore e dei documenti di riferimento BREF è necessario ef et uare ‘In terms of emission standards and BREF reference documents it is necessary to carry out’ 116 BILINGUALISM IN SLOVENIAN ISTRIA: STUDIES AND ISSUES IN ITS PRESERVATION 4.3.1.7 Expansion and short form in the source language, expanded equivalent in the target language fol owed by the source language abbreviated components As in the previous section, code-switching examples are col ected here, but these are different from the previous expansion and short-form patterns in that the ful form with its corresponding shortened unit is not an integral part of the text, justifying the legal basis for the newly adopted measures, but an additional part of the text in brackets, to introduce the first occurrence of the short form in the text. Typically, in both languages only the acronyms are in brackets: (21) - izpis iz Registra kmetijskih gospodarstev (RKG) / estratto dal Registro del e aziende agricole (RKG ‘extract from the Register of Agricultural Holdings (RKG)’ - skladno z Zakonom o varstvu okolja (ZVO-1, 10. člen, in 17. člen) / Legge sul a tutela del ’ambiente (ZVO-1, articolo 10 e articolo 17) ‘in accordance with the Environmental Protection Act (ZVO-1, Article 10, and Article 17’. As presented in Section 4.3.1.6, and taking into account examples of good practice, it would be advisable to add the translator’s term sigla (acronym) before any untranslated short-form item to introduce the source-language trait in the translated text. 4.3.1.8 The source language short form in the target language with no previous expansion in any of the languages General y speaking, the practice of using untranslated acronyms with no expansions in the target language is not largely used; however, some such examples of code-switching can be found in a highly specialized discourse referring to areas like construction and electrical engineering, thus clearly indicating that the text is intended for experts. Because these specific shortened forms are not widely known even in the source language, the absence of the corresponding long-form equivalent and/or its short form in the target language seems to imply the use of an uncommon translation strategy that does not contribute to the understanding of the text: Part II 4 The translation of administrative texts in the bilingual region of Slovenian Istria 117 (22) - Na osnovi recenziranega projekta PGD-PZI21 za novo prometno ureditev na državni cesti / In virtù del recensito proget o PGD-PZI, relativamente alla nuova sistemazione viaria del a strada statale ‘Based on the peer-reviewed PGD-PZI project for a new traffic regulation on a state road’ - kabelska kanalizacija RTP22 Dekani / canaline RTP Dekani ‘RTP Dekani cable ducts’ In addition to this phenomenon of lesser known acronyms, there are also other widely known short forms in the source language that retain their original form in the target text. Despite their greater familiarity among non-experts in Slovenian language, their untranslated form in Italian for the Italian linguistic minority living in Slovenia may not be interpreted as user-friendly: (23) - Nosilci urejanja prostora: Ministrstvo za okolje in prostor, ARSO23, Urad za upravljanje z vodami / Portatori del a pianificazione territoriale: Ministero per l’ambiente ed il territorio, ARSO, Uf icio gestione del e acque ‘Holders of spatial planning: Ministry of the Environment and Spatial Planning, ARSO, Water Management Office’ - Maksimalni zunanji gabarit stanovanjskega objekta znaša 8,3 m x 13,4 m, etažnost K+P+M24 / L’altezza massima esterna consentita del fabbricato residenziale è di 8,3 m x 13,4 m, con i piani K+P+M ‘The maximum external dimensions of the residential building are 8.3 m x 13.4 m, storeys K + P + M’. 21 Cf. Projekt za pridobitev gradbenega dovoljenja ‘Project to obtain a building permit’ and Projekt za izvedbo ‘Construction project’. (Recently, the denomination PGD has been substituted by DGD or Dokumentacija za pridobitev gradbenega dovoljenja ‘Documentation to obtain a building permit’. 22 Cf. Razdelilna transformatorska postaja ‘Distribution transformer station’. 23 Cf. Agencija Republike Slovenije za okolje ‘Slovenian Environment Agency’. 24 Cf. Klet + pritličje + mansarda ‘basement + ground floor + attic’. 118 BILINGUALISM IN SLOVENIAN ISTRIA: STUDIES AND ISSUES IN ITS PRESERVATION 4.3.1.9 Short form only in the target language In some rare cases, the translator chooses to use the abbreviated form although the short-form item is not present in the source language, as in the following informative text, where it can be assumed that the translator opted for the short form to follow the widespread tendency in Slovenian to abbreviate the term osnovna šola / scuola elementare ‘primary school’: (24) - Maja 2016 je ustanovila Javni vzgojno-izobraževalni zavod, ki je septembra istega leta prevzel podružnično Osnovno šolo dr. Aleš Bebler – Primož Hrvatini. / Nel maggio del 2016, il Comune di Ancarano ha costituito l’Ente pubblico di educazione ed istruzione, che nel set embre del o stesso anno ha preso in gestione la filiale del a SE dot . Aleš Bebler Crevatini. ‘In May 2016, the Municipality of Ankaran established the Public Educational Institution, which in September of the same year took over the branch school Hrvatini Dr. Aleš “Primož” Bebler Primary School.’ The acronym SE is not used in Italian to refer to a primary school. Its usage in the target language clearly indicates the influence of the source-language word-formation process, which is probably wel -known to the members of the Italian linguistic minority in Slovenian Istria, but not so much to the wider Italian community. 4.3.2 Different approaches to abbreviated lexical units within one text Different approaches to the translation of the short forms and the presence or absence of their expansions in the target texts observed in various texts (cf. Sections 4.3.1.1–4.3.1.9) can also be observed within one text. The text that was selected for the observation is of a normative nature, comprised of 1,053 words in the source language, whereas the corresponding Italian text consists 1,309 words. The individual features in Table 5 are shown in the order in which they appear in the text. The phenomena to observe refer to code-switching, among which are a hybrid Part II 4 The translation of administrative texts in the bilingual region of Slovenian Istria 119 formation composed of an acronym and a ful lexical unit: ZPNačrt (for Zakon o prostorskem načrtovanju ‘Spatial Planning Act’), the aforementioned ARSO (for Agencija Republike Slovenije za okolje ‘Slovenian Environment Agency’) in Section 4.3.1.8, and DRSC (for Direkcija Republike Slovenije za ceste ‘Slovenian Roads Agency’). As mentioned before, the non-translated features do not add relevant informative value to the target text, and therefore it should be careful y considered how to transfer their significance into the target text. Next, there are six features with a corresponding acronymic term in the Italian text that could be defined as literal translations: PUP, which also appears with its genitive ending as PUP-a or PUPa (for prostorski ureditveni pogoji ‘Spatial Development Conditions’), rendered into Italian as NTA (for Norme technice di at uazione), MO (for mestna občina, ‘city municipality’) with its Italian equivalent CC (for comune cit à), fol owed by UOP (for Urad za okolje in prostor ‘Office for the Environment and Space’) and its translated version UAT (for Uf icio Ambiente e Territorio), MOP (for Ministrstvo na okolje in prostor and MAT (for Ministero del ’Ambiente e del Territorio), OS (for občinski svet ‘council committee’) with CC (for consiglio comunale), and PE (for poslovna enota ‘business unit’) with UO (for unità operativa). Finally, there is also one source-language short form that is expanded in the target text: Sektor za CPVO (for Sektor za celovito presojo vplivov na okolje ‘Sector for Comprehensive Environmental Impact Assessment’, expanded into Set ore per la valutazione integrale del ’impatto ambientale). Ten different acronyms are translated using three different approaches, among which only one can be defined as user friendly (i.e., the one with the expanded translation equivalent) and as such quickly accessible to a wider target-language readership. Table 5: Translation equivalents of acronyms in one text Slovenian text Italian text ZPNačrt ZPNačrt PUP NTA MO CC UOP UAT MOP MAT OS CC Sektor za CPVO Settore per la valutazione integrale dell’impatto ambientale ARSO ARSO DRSC DRSC PE UO 120 BILINGUALISM IN SLOVENIAN ISTRIA: STUDIES AND ISSUES IN ITS PRESERVATION The same text also offers some acronyms used exclusively in the target language, confirming that translators occasionally decide to abbreviate individual lexical units if they consider them understandable, register-appropriate, and common in the target text. These examples are shown in Table 6, in which one finds the equivalent of območna enota ‘regional unit’ translated with two different acronyms (i.e., UO and UE), which do not correspond to the widely accepted translation equivalent Unità territoriale. Another example refers to the abbreviated form of mestna občina ‘city municipality’, which in the same text is often referred to with the established acronym MO (cf. Table 6), leading to the use of the corresponding target language acronym CC, already defined as a homonym in two other cases (cf. Section 4.3.1.2). Table 6: Slovenian ful forms translated into Italian with short forms in one text Slovenian text Italian text Območna enota UO, UE Mestna občina CC Because it has already been pointed out that the translation equivalent of območna enota is not UO or UE, but at most could be UT, it is necessary to point out that inadequate translations of acronyms in the texts analyzed are very rare and are likely to be due to time restrictions that translators face, as in the fol owing case of an informative text; that is, an application form for an interview with the mayor in which the applicant informs the mayor about the steps already taken to solve a problem before meeting the mayor: (25) Je o problematiki že obveščena občinska uprava OP? La Sua Comunità locale è al corrente del problema? ‘Is the municipal administration of the Municipality of Piran informed about the problem?’ Je o problematiki obveščena vaša krajevna skupnost? La Sua Comunità locale è al corrente del problema? ‘Is your local community informed about the problem?’ Part II 4 The translation of administrative texts in the bilingual region of Slovenian Istria 121 The acronym OP ‘Municipality of Piran’ is translated as comunità locale ‘local community’—that is, in the same way in two consecutive sentences—probably indicating that some external factors (the aforementioned time limits) influenced the production of the unsatisfactory equivalent. 4.3.3 A brief overview of the section on acronyms The use of an acronym with or without its local expansion already in the source language depends on the source-text producer’s decision about the (un)necessary presence of the expanded form. As seen in Sections 4.3.1.1 through 4.3.1.9, the translator has to make various decisions about the presence or absence of individual forms, which can be either translated literal y or not, depending on the translation strategy (cf. Section 4.1), or even left unaltered. It is obvious that local acronyms are user-friendly for a wider readership in both languages, but the finding about the user-friendly attitude should not be overgeneralized because the use of acronyms in the source language is conditioned by different parameters that are often even more prominent in the target language, and so the translator’s role here is crucial. The analysis of the acronyms and their expansions shows a very strong tendency toward literal translation; however, the source-oriented strategy is not always followed. Sometimes the translator opts for the target-oriented strategy fol owing the parameters presented in Section 4.1, but sometimes the choice of the strategy is not clearly defined by the parameters observed. When this is the case, a possible way out might be a generic and neutral translation, as in EMŠO (cf. enotna matična tevilka občana), translated as numero di identificazione personale ‘personal registration number’ (cf. 4.2). In addition to frequent literal translations and some cases of a target-oriented strategy, the analysis of acronyms also identified frequent cases of code switching (cf. Table 7), 25 especial y in the names of laws, technical terms, and anglicisms when these are widely known or field-specific. 25 Al the acronyms in Table 7 have already been expanded and translated in the previous sections, and therefore no expansions and translations are provided in this table. 122 BILINGUALISM IN SLOVENIAN ISTRIA: STUDIES AND ISSUES IN ITS PRESERVATION Regarding the accuracy of the translation process, the analysis found only some rare examples of less-appropriate foreign-language renderings. They are minor and can be attributed to time restrictions faced by translators. Table 7: Overview of approaches to acronyms Slovenian text Italian text Phenomenon občinski podrobni prostorski Piano regolatore načrt (v nadaljevanju: OPPN) particolareggiato comunale (in literal translation prosieguo: PRPC) OŠ SE literal translation SPRO SSTC (strategia dello sviluppo territoriale comunale) literal translation Ufficio sviluppo territoriale e MOK UPRN beni immobili del Comune literal translation città di Capodistria Gradbeni zakon (GZ) Legge sul e costruzioni literal translation uradno prečiščeno besedilo testo unico ufficiale 14/2015- 14/2015 ZUUJFO ZUUJFO code switching izpis iz Registra kmetijskih estratto dal Registro del e gospodarstev (RKG) aziende agricole (RKG) code switching kabelska kanalizacija RTP canaline RTP code switching 4.4 Conclusion In translating texts – and more specifically, administrative texts for a minority group, in this case the Italian minority in Slovenia – a series of complex questions must be addressed. Among the most important are the terminological consistencies and translation strategies to be adopted. As already suggested (cf. Paolucci 2020, 2021), the source-oriented strategy is advisable in normative texts to emphasize the autonomy and volition of the legislator, whereas informative texts may be open to more generic and target-oriented approaches in terminology which—as far as the word-formation process is concerned—is of relevant research interest in both the form of fully-written lexical units and abbreviated versions or, in the specific case at hand, acronyms. The study’s findings on acronyms show that in the source and the target languages both local and non-local acronyms are present in the texts analyzed. In both languages, the local y expanded short forms indicate a user-friendly approach toward the intended readers, but not al the short forms need to be expanded if there are shared suppositions that are understandable from the communicative context. Part II 4 The translation of administrative texts in the bilingual region of Slovenian Istria 123 It is evident from the analysis that some acronyms are neither expanded nor translated in the target language. This is especial y the case for short forms denoting laws whose function is to determine the legal basis for proposed legislative acts. The practice of not expanding and not translating such short forms may be ascribed to the translator’s tendency to retain the source language legislation as much as possible even if this practice may lead to a lower understanding of the target text. Of course, it should not be forgotten that, considering the accessibility of various online sources, condensed forms may be rather easily decoded. However, regardless of the amount of effort invested by the interested audience in decoding an untranslated short form, its use in a text with no local expansion stil transmits clear messages about the reader-intended orientation. 124 BILINGUALISM IN SLOVENIAN ISTRIA: STUDIES AND ISSUES IN ITS PRESERVATION BILINGUALISM IN SLOVENIAN ISTRIA: STUDIES AND ISSUES IN ITS PRESERVATION M. Kompara Lukančič, N. Lenassi, S. Paolucci 5 Conclusion In line with the Slovenian constitution, the Italian minority in Slovenia enjoys rights aimed at its preservation; namely, there are legal prerequisites for preserving and developing Italian culture and language in the bilingual area of Slovenian Istria. As presented in the overview and surveys on the position of Italian in Slovenian Istria, unfortunately the position of Italian—an official language in Slovenian Istria—is not is promising. From the four surveys presenting the position of Italian in the bilingual area, the outcomes of interviews with Italian teachers are presented. They report that bilingualism has changed over the past twenty years. The teachers state that young people born after 1990 are no longer seen as bilingual individuals because their knowledge of Italian is decreasing progressively, as is also visible from the survey, which included eighty-six Slovenians divided into four age groups. According to the survey, individuals twenty to twenty-five years old scored the lowest, which means that they cannot be considered as bilingual as previous generations. The authors also highlight the influence of Italian media, which in line with the survey results played a crucial role in the 1980s and 1990s, when Italian media (specifically television) was fol owed by almost 60% of the interviewees. Further, the authors also present the outcomes of the secondary school leaving exam, with an overview of the maximum number of points obtained by students from 1995 to 2020. Based on the results, there is an increasingly notable decline in the points. The fourth survey presented the position of bilingualism in Slovenian schools from the point of view of teachers in primary and secondary schools, where a decrease in language skil s and gaps in 126 BILINGUALISM IN SLOVENIAN ISTRIA: STUDIES AND ISSUES IN ITS PRESERVATION knowledge of Italian are visible. According to the teachers, bilingualism is an advantage and should be preserved so that the region does not remain a bilingual community only on paper. Despite the fact that the position of bilingualism is well defined in the Slovenian constitution and in Slovenian legislation, the analysis of the official web pages of the four bilingual municipalities of Koper, Izola, Piran, and Ankaran showed inconsistencies in providing information to the general public. From the analysis of the web pages, issues in presenting and translating information are visible, as wel as missing and outdated information in Italian. Among the common issues are submenus containing no information in Italian, missing administrative forms in Italian, mixed-up sequences of information, inconsistencies in providing web-page titles and subtitles, and statutory documents in Italian. Such discrepancies call for the implementation of terminological consistency and the application of translation strategies, as can be seen in the study’s findings on some selected ful -length terms and on acronyms for which both local and non-local acronyms are present in the source and the target languages. As seen from the texts studied in both languages, the local y expanded acronyms indicate a user-friendly approach toward the intended readers. However, not al condensed forms necessarily cal for expansions, provided that there are shared assumptions that are clear from the communicative context. As presented in the analysis, most acronyms are translated using a source-oriented strategy (literal translation), whereas some others, mainly those denoting laws, are often neither expanded nor translated. The use of both literal translations and code-switching when acronyms are transferred into the target language can be ascribed to the fact that translators tend to retain the source language legislation as much as possible to emphasize the specificity of the communicative situation in the bilingual area, where two languages and cultures meet but only one legislation is in force. The volume is one of the first attempts to describe the language of administration in the bilingual region of Slovenian Istria. As a result of these initial activities, the volume has various limitations, such as its predominant focus on qualitative research. However, the authors intend to address this in the future through quantitative analyses of bilingual corpora and parallel texts in other genres and sectors (the healthcare system, the economy, education, etc.). 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Journal of the international association promoting plain legal language, 53, 30–32. 134 BILINGUALISM IN SLOVENIAN ISTRIA: STUDIES AND ISSUES IN ITS PRESERVATION BILINGUALISM IN SLOVENIAN ISTRIA: STUDIES AND ISSUES IN ITS PRESERVATION MOJCA KOMPARA LUKANČIČ,1 NIVES LENASSI,2 SANDRO PAOLUCCI3 1 University of Maribor, Faculty of Tourism, Brežice, Slovenia mojca.kompara@um.si 2 University of Ljubljana, School of Economics and Business, Ljubljana, Slovenia nives.lenassi@ef.uni-lj.si 3 University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Arts, Ljubljana, Slovenia sandro.paolucci@guest.arnes.si The volume starts with an overview chapter of studies on bilingualism and bilingual individuals in general, and the particular aspects and characteristics of bilingualism in Slovenian Istria. It continues with three chapters focusing on Italian in the bilingual area of the Slovenian coast. The second chapter presents surveys on the position of bilingualism, the influence of Italian media, the results of the secondary school leaving exams in Italian, and the status of bilingualism in Slovenian schools in the bilingual Littoral communities. The third chapter offers an analysis of texts and documents translated from Slovenian into Italian; that is, bilingual texts available on the websites of the four bilingual municipalities: Koper, Izola, Piran, and Ankaran. The Keywords: native ethnic final chapter presents some detailed aspects of studies carried out community, on administrative texts of the bilingual municipalities, focusing survey, on selected lexical units and acronyms, and offering translation webpage, translation solutions that guarantee and preserve minority rights and offer strategy, uniform terminology. acronym DOI https://doi.org/10.18690/um.2.2023 ISBN 978-961-286-743-0 Document Outline Foreword PART I 1 Introduction to Bilingualism 1.1 Benefits of bilingualism 1.2 The bilingual area and the position of bilingualism in Slovenian Istria 1.3 The legal position of ethnically mixed communities in Slovenian Istria 1.4 The socioeconomic and cultural position of bilingualism in Slovenian Istria 1.5 Conclusion PART II 2 Surveys on Italian in Slovenian Istria 2.1 The position of bilingualism 2.3 The influence of Italian media 2.4 The results of the secondary school leaving exam in Italian 2.5 The position of bilingualism in Slovenian schools 2.6 Conclusion 3 Characteristics of translated documents from the websites of the four bilingual municipalities 3.1 The analysis of the web pages of the Municipality of Koper 3.2 The analysis of the web pages of the Municipality of Izola 3.3 The analysis of the web pages of the Municipality of Piran 3.4 The analysis of the web pages of the Municipality of Ankaran 3.5 Conclusion 4 The translation of administrative texts in the bilingual region of Slovenian Istria 4.1 Some key points in support of the chapter’s proposals 4.2 The need for consistent terminology 4.3 The use of acronyms in bilingual administrative texts 4.3.1 The expansion + acronym in the source language and the target language: presence and/or absence of single items 4.3.1.1 Expanded form followed by the short form in both languages 4.3.1.2 Short forms without expansions in both languages 4.3.1.3 Short form in the source language, expanded equivalent in the target language 4.3.1.4 Short form in the source language, translated short form and expansion in the target language 4.3.1.5 Expansion and short form in the source language, expansion in the target language 4.3.1.6 The source language short form with no expansion, unaltered in the target language 4.3.1.7 Expansion and short form in the source language, expanded equivalent in the target language followed by the source language abbreviated components 4.3.1.8 The source language short form in the target language with no previous expansion in any of the languages 4.3.1.9 Short form only in the target language 4.3.2 Different approaches to abbreviated lexical units within one text 4.3.3 A brief overview of the section on acronyms 4.4 Conclusion 5 Conclusion References Peruzzo, K. (2012). Terminological equivalence in European, British and Italian criminal law texts: a case study on victims of crime. RITT – Rivista Internazionale di Tecnica della Traduzione, International Journal of Translation 14, 159–170. http://w... About the authors