How social changes affected terminology policy in South Tyrol (Italy)
What is it about?
The article explains how important changes in society and technology affected the approaches to terminology development in South Tyrol, Italy. Terminology development is needed in South Tyrol to make legal and administrative language available in German. In South Tyrol, German is a recognised minority language. All public institutions (administration, government, judiciary) are required to communicate with the citizenship in both the national language (Italian) and in the minority language. The terminology they need was developed with first uncoordinated, then prescriptive (top down) and finally more collaborative (bottom-up) approaches.
Why is it important?
We show how societal changes deeply affected terminology policies in South Tyrol and will consequently be relevant to policies developed by other (minority) languages. The South Tyrolean experience can serve as a model for terminology development policies in other minority languages.