Tracking the (Historical) Development of Slovene in Carinthia: Evidence from Cemeteries and Mathematical Models

The article deals with the development of the Slovene language in the southern part of Carinthia since the second half of the 19th century. The authors approached this topic from two different (methodological) perspectives that embrace quantitative description and mathematical modelling as well as an historical respectively cultural-historical approach. Various source corpora were used to examine the use of language: Census results that have surveyed the language use of the local population; cemeteries and churches that changed their ethnic and linguistic appearance over the centuries; parish registers, administrative files, and oral history interviews. These sources have all been examined regarding changes in language use and language shift. The study showed that a policy of ethnic and linguistic homogenization, expressed in discriminatory treatment of Slovene speakers has been responsible for their steady decline.