Editing Ladin language (section)

==History==
[[File:PflügerWengen60.jpg|thumb|right|230px|Ladin farmers in 1960s [[La Val]], South Tyrol]]
The name derives from [[Latin]], because Ladin is originally a [[Vulgar Latin]] language left over from the [[Ancient Rome|Romanized]] Alps. Ladin is often attributed to be a relic of Vulgar Latin dialects associated with [[Rhaeto-Romance languages]].{{cn|date=January 2024}} Whether a proto-Rhaeto-Romance language ever existed is controversially discussed amongst linguists and historians, a debate known as {{lang|it|[[Questione Ladina]]}}. Starting in the 6th century, the [[Bavarii]] started moving in from the north, while from the south [[Gallo-Italic languages]] started pushing in, which further shrank the original extent of the Ladin area. Only in the more remote mountain valleys did Ladin survive among the isolated populations.{{cn|date=January 2024}}

Starting in the very early Middle Ages, the area was mostly ruled by the [[County of Tyrol]] or the [[Bishopric of Brixen]], both belonging to the realms of the Austrian [[Habsburg]] rulers. The area of Cadore was under the rule of the [[Republic of Venice]].{{cn|date=January 2024}} During the period of the [[Holy Roman Empire]] and, after 1804, the [[Austrian Empire]], the Ladins underwent a process of [[Germanisation|Germanization]].{{cn|date=January 2024}}
[[File:Josef Anton Vian.jpg|thumb|Kurat Josef Anton Vian – anonymous author of the first Ladin-Gherdëina grammar AD 1864<ref>[http://www.micura.it/en/encounter/ladin-culture/literature-and-indentity/the-origins-of-the-ladin-literature]|First Ladin-Gherdëina</ref>]]
After the end of World War I in 1918, Italy annexed the southern part of Tyrol, including the Ladin areas. The Italian nationalist movement of the 19th and 20th centuries regarded Ladin as an "[[Languages of Italy#Language or dialect|Italian dialect]]", a notion rejected by various Ladin exponents and associations,<ref>"{{lang|de|Die Ladiner betrachten sich seit jeher als eigenständige Ethnie}}" and "{{lang|de|Wir sind keine Italiener, wollen von jeher nicht zu ihnen gezählt werden und wollen auch in Zukunft keine Italiener sein! (..) Tiroler sind wir und Tiroler wollen wir bleiben!}}" ('The Ladins view themselves as a distinct ethnic group: ... we are not Italians and since ever do not want to be considered as part of them! We are Tyroleans and we want to stay Tyroleans!') from {{lang|de|Die questione ladina – Über die sprachliche und gesellschaftliche Situation der Dolomitenladiner}} by Martin Klüners, ISBN 9 783638 159159</ref> despite their having been counted as Italians by the Austrian authorities as well. The programme of [[Italianization]], professed by fascists such as [[Ettore Tolomei]] and [[Benito Mussolini]], added further pressure on the Ladin communities to subordinate their identities to Italian. This included changing Ladin place names into the Italian pronunciation according to Tolomei's {{Lang|it|[[Prontuario dei nomi locali dell'Alto Adige]]}}.

Following the end of World War II, the [[Gruber-De Gasperi Agreement]] of 1946 between Austria and Italy introduced a level of autonomy for Trentino and South Tyrol but did not include any provisions for the Ladin language. Only in the second autonomy statute for South Tyrol in 1972 was Ladin recognized as a partially official language.{{cn|date=January 2024}}