Orthography as an identity marker. The case of bilingual road signs in the province of Bergamo

This chapter focuses on the introduction of road signs displaying both the Italian and the local Italo-Romance dialect (Bergamasco) version of place-names by some municipal authorities in the province of Bergamo (in Northern Italy). I will argue that the decision to consider the local Bergamasco dialect eligible for public display carries social and political meaning. Bilingual road signs will be shown to challenge the traditional distinction between ‘top-down’ and ‘bottom-up’ items of the linguistic landscape (Landry and Bourhis 1997: 25). Through the analysis of the graphic solutions adopted in order to write a language used almost exclusively up until now in the spoken form (i.e. the local Bergamasco dialect), I will offer a few observations on the significance of orthographic variation and on the symbolic, identity-related, value of spelling choices.