\u27Nomen est omen\u27: Official and Unofficial Namings of the Gorizia Territory

Toponimi so v preteklosti odražali določene značilnosti tistega časa, njihov pomen pa je izviral bodisi iz naravnih značilnosti kraja ali iz zgodovinskega in kulturnega razvoja skupnosti, ki je tisti prostor naseljevala. Danes so poimenovanja uličnih imen in drugih prostorov instrument nacionalne države, ki pomaga pri ustvarjanju enotnega kolektivnega spomina skupnosti na nekem teritoriju in predstavlja »lepilo«, ki veže med sabo različne si regionalne entitete v eno celoto homogene nacionalne države. Zgodovinska poimenovanja kraja lahko zaradi njihove neločljive povezanosti z določenimi lokacijami uporabimo pri spoznavanju prostora, pri odkrivanju njegove zgodovine, gospodarskega, družbenega in političnega dogajanja, ki mu je ta prostor bil priča. Stara toponomastika nam tudi v Gorici odpira vrata v bogato mestno preteklost, za katero pa kaže, da počasi izginja iz zavesti ljudi in iz njihovega kolektivnega spomina. Videli smo, da je poimenovanje eden najpomembnejših delov identitete. Vsaki stvari, bitju, pojavu, dogodku in tudi kraju mora človek dati ime, da bi zanj obstajali. Poimenovanja imajo pomembno vlogo pri oblikovanju človekove navezanosti na kraj in predstavljajo njegov zapis v prostor. Skupina s poimenovanjem kraja zaznamuje svoje poselitveno območje in tako uveljavi svojo moč v tem prostoru. Komemorativna imena avtoritete moči uporabljajo za oblikovanje želenega kolektivnega spomina, saj se skupnost k preteklosti, ki je zanjo pomembna, vedno vrača prek materialnega okolja, ki jo obdaja. Zato moramo pri preučevanju kolektivnega spomina svojo pozornost usmeriti k prostoru in prav zato je nadzor nad prostorom ključen za nadzor nad družbo kot celoto. V raziskavi smo sledili »nadzoru« nad poimenovanjem prostora. Predmet raziskovanja je bilo uradno poimenovanje Gorice od začetka prejšnjega stoletja do danes. Na začetku 19. stoletja je urbana toponomastika dobila uradni značaj. Imena so takrat opisovala prostorske značilnosti mesta (npr. Via Corta, Via Cipressi, Via Giardini, Via Lunga, Via Mercato, Via Stretta), lahko so ime dobila po javnih stavbah ali drugih arhitektonskih značilnostih – npr. po mostovih (Via Bagni, Via Ospitale, Via Ponte Isonzo, Via Posta Vecchia), nekatera so ime dobila po geografskih okrajih (Via S. Andrea, Via Salcano, Via Trieste), nastane pa tudi že kar nekaj novih imen, ki so nosila spomin na pomembne osebnosti. Načrtno preimenovanje krajev (tisto, ki je »vsiljeno od zgoraj«) pomeni simbolno osvajanje prostora, kar se je v Gorici pokazalo večkrat – na primer ob izbruhu prve svetovne vojne, ko je Avstrija zaradi grožnje po izgubi svojih primorskih ozemelj skušala svojo politično vlado v mestu okrepiti s simboličnim preimenovanjem nekaterih mestnih predelov, in po prvi svetovni vojni, ko nova italijanska oblast preimenuje skoraj celotno mesto. Goriška je bila dolga stoletja stičišče latinskega in slovanskega sveta. V duhu vzpona nacionalizmov in oblikovanju nacionalne zavesti so že v drugi polovici 19. stoletja različne skupnosti na tem prostoru izpostavljale svoje zahteve po toponomastiki v njim lastnem jeziku. Slednje velja tudi za slovensko govorečo skupnost, ki – kljub močni prisotnosti slovenskega jezika v tem prostoru – ni nikdar dočakala uradne ulične toponomastike v slovenščini. Slovensko govoreča skupnost je namreč za mesto imela svoja poimenovanja in nekatera so se ohranila do danes, saj so se med generacijami prenašala ustno. Inventarizacija slovenskih imen je pokazala, da ta večinoma izhajajo iz obdobja pred prvo svetovno vojno. Ker pa vemo, da jezik svojo moč dobiva na vizualnem področju, sem s terenskim delom ugotavljala, kolikšen del teh imen se je do danes ohranil med Slovenci v Gorici, ali z drugimi besedami: v kolikšni meri je uradni spomin komemorativnih uličnih imen do današnjega časa prevladal nad ljudskim spominjanjem slovenske narodne skupnosti v Italiji. Rezultati so pokazali, da se stopnja poznavanja imen zmanjšuje – to je bilo še posebej vidno pri primerjavi rezultatov starejše in mlajše generacije. Terenska raziskava kaže na to, da večinski, uradni jezik počasi izpodriva neuradna poimenovanja prostora in da se spomin na avstrijsko obdobje pred prvo vojno – vsaj med Slovenci – izgublja. Da bi se danes poimenovanja v manjšinskih jezikih ohranjala, bi bila nujna institucionalna podpora. Prvi korak v to smer bo gotovo postavitev tablic s starimi slovenskimi imeni, ki pa bodo omejeni le na okoliška območja Štandreža, Pevme, Oslavja in Štmavra. V samem mestnem jedru, kjer že stojijo nekatera zgodovinska poimenovanja v italijanskem jeziku, tablic s slovenskimi imeni ne bodo postavili. Občina bo namestila tablice s slovenskimi ljudskimi poimenovanji samo na območju izvajanja določil zaščitnega zakona številka 38 iz leta 2001 o vidni dvojezičnosti, ki velja le v Štandrežu, Podgori, Pevmi, Štmavru in na Oslavju. Urbani center Gorice bo ostal izključno italijanski. Neuradna slovenska imena spadajo po Assmannovi (2008) teoriji med komunikativni spomin, saj so nastala s pomočjo medsebojnih odnosov in v relativno majhnem prostorskem krogu slovenske skupnosti na Goriškem, med katero se tudi ohranjajo. Za komunikativni spomin, med katerega sodijo neuradna slovenska imena, velja, da ni institucionaliziran, ni podpiran s strani izobraževalnih institucij, navadno ga ne preučujejo strokovnjaki, ne praznuje se ga ob posebnih priložnostih, ni formaliziran ali na kakršenkoli način ovekovečen v materialnosti. Vseeno ima komunikativni spomin moč povezovanja družin, skupin in generacij, ker je prisoten v vsakodnevni interakciji in komunikaciji med člani neke skupnosti. Vse obratno velja za kulturni spomin, med katerega štejemo uradna komemorativna ulična imena – je torej institucionaliziran, eksterioriziran, objektiviziran in »shranjen« v obliki simbolov. Ker je čas komunikativnega spomina omejen – traja namreč tri do največ pet generacij ali 80 do 100 let, v skupnosti, ki jo povezuje ista izkustvena, spominska in pripovedna realnost – bo najverjetneje usoda slovenskih uličnih in ledinskih imen v Gorici sledila temu pravilu. Ob tem se nam pojavi vprašanje o prihodnosti. Kakšna je usoda slovenskih toponimov, ki izhajajo iz ljudskega izročila? Kakšen spomin bo ostal Slovencem o Gorici? Po kakšnem mestu se bodo sprehajali? Po tistem, kjer bodo prečkali Travnik in šli po Gosposki ulici do Goriščka? Ali bodo postali »tujci v lastnem mestu«, ker zanj ne bodo imeli več lastnih imen? Želja po ohranjanju imen mora gotovo priti iz skupnosti same. In kaj lahko skupnost sama – torej neodvisno od vladajočih avtoritet – naredi, da ohrani svoja poimenovanja? Najbolj pomembna je gotovo zavestna uporaba slovenskih toponimov – v komunikaciji, v slovenski publicistiki, obvestilih ipd. Ta bi »podaljšala« trajanje komunikativnega spomina in tako bi se imena prenesla v prihodnost, v nek čas, ko bi jih bila oblast v mestu končno pripravljena sprejeti in vključiti tudi v vizualno krajino samega mestnega središča. S tem bi slovenska imena lahko nekoč celo postala del kulturnega spomina (vseh Goričanov) in njihova usoda ne bi bila tako negotova, kot trenutno je. Na območjih, kjer so spomini kompleksni, sporni in razločevalni, je še toliko bolj pomembno ustvariti povezovalne skupnosti spomina. Tu je potrebno zavedanje, da pravo spoštovanje identitete presega individuum in mora biti to »raztegnjeno« na celotno področje, kjer neka jezikovna manjšina živi, zato je dvo- ali večjezična toponomastika na etnično mešanih ozemljih ključnega pomena. Priznavanje jezikovnih pravic manjšinam je pomembno zato, ker promovira enakost kljub raznolikosti, izboljša komunikacijo in javne storitve ter pripomore k stabilnosti in preprečevanju konfliktov. Prisotnost slovenščine (in furlanščine) v Gorici pa ne bi bila ključnega pomena samo za manjšine, ki bi s tem utrjevale svojo navzočnost, svoj položaj na teritoriju in prisotnost jezika, ampak tudi za pripadnike večinskega naroda, ker bi jim s tem bila dana možnost, da bi se vsakodnevno soočali z manjšinskim jezikom, ga spoznavali, s čimer bi posledično lažje razvili pozitiven odnos do tega jezika. Prikaz razvoja uradnega in neuradnega poimenovanja mesta nam daje možnost, da ovrednotimo in ocenimo trenutno stanje v mestu. Kritično lahko presodimo primernost poimenovanja prostora, v katerem je bilo ves ta čas prisotno etnično in jezikovno raznoliko prebivalstvo, a kljub temu danes (skoraj) ne najdemo imen, ki bi poleg italijanske reprezentirale ostale skupnosti. Pregled toponomastike nam daje možnost, da premislimo, kakšno sliko nam danes mesto posreduje o njegovi preteklosti in sedanjosti in kot najbolj pomembno: kaj nam mesto pove o njegovi prihodnosti in vključenosti v širši, mednarodni, prostor.In the past, toponyms reflected certain characteristics of that time, and their meaning was derived either from the natural characteristics of the place they named or from the historical and cultural development of the community that inhabited the area. Today, street names and names of other places are used as an instrument of a nation-state, which help create a unified collective memory of a community in a certain territory and represent the "adhesive" that binds different regional entities into a homogeneous nation-state whole. Because of their inseparable connection to certain locations, historical place names can be used to discover that space, its history, economic, social and political events that this space has witnessed. In Gorizia, old toponymy also opens the door to the town\u27s rich historyhowever, this knowledge seems to be slowly disappearing from people\u27s consciousness and from their collective memory. We have established that naming is one of the most important parts of one\u27s identity. Every thing, being, phenomenon, event and place must be given a name, as naming plays an important role in shaping human attachment to a particular place and represents its record in space. By naming a place, the group living there marks its settlement area and thus enforces its power over this area. The commemorative names of authorities can be used to create the desired collective memory, since the community always returns to its memories of the past that are important to it with the help of the environment that surrounds it. Therefore, in studying collective memory, we must direct our attention to space, and that is why controlling space is the key to controlling society as a whole. In the study, we examined the "control" aspect of space naming. The subject of research was the Gorizia\u27s official name from the beginning of the last century to the present. At the beginning of the 19th century, urban toponymy was officially recognized. The place names given back then most often described the spatial features of the city (e.g. Via Corta, Via Cipressi, Via Giardini, Via Lunga, Via Mercato, Via Stretta), public buildings or other architectural features – e.g. bridges (Via Bagni, Via Ospitale, Via Ponte Isonzo, Via Posta Vecchia), some streets were named according to geographical area (Via S. Andrea, Via Salcano, Via Trieste), and a few new names bore the memory of impotant historical figures. The planned renaming of places (the one "forced from above") means a symbolic conquest of space, which happened in Gorizia several times, for example, during the outbreak of World War I, when Austria, as a result of the threat of losing its coastal territories, tried to strengthen its political government in the city with the symbolic renaming of certain urban areas, as well as after World War I, when the new Italian authorities renamed almost the entire city. For centuries, the Province of Gorizia was the meeting point for Latin and Slavic worlds. In the second half of the 19th century, the rising nationalist tendencies and the formation of national consciousness led various communities in this area to demand toponymy in their own language. The latter also applies to the Slovene-speaking community which – despite the strong presence of the Slovene language in this area – had never obtained official street toponymy in Slovene. The Slovene-speaking community had its own names for the city, and some of these have been preserved to this day, since they have been orally transmitted from generation to generation. The field research of Slovenian names has shown that these names mostly derive from the period before World War I. However, since it is known that language acquires its power only when seen, this thesis and its field research determined how much of these names have been preserved among Slovenes in Gorizia to this day, or in other words, to what extent the official memory of commemorative street names prevailed over the folk remembrance of the Slovene national community in Italy up to this day. The results showed that the degree of familiarity with names is decreasing – this was especially evident when comparing the results of the older and the younger generation. Field research suggests that the official language spoken by the majority is slowly eradicating unofficial namings of the space and that the memory of the Austrian period before the First War – at least among Slovenes – is becoming lost. Institutional support would be necessary in order to preserve the denominations in minority languages today. The first step in this direction will be the placement of signs carrying old Slovenian names, which will be limited only to the surrounding areas of Štandrež, Pevma, Oslavje and Štmaver. In the very center of the city, where certain historical names in Italian have already been put in place, signs with Slovenian names will not be placed. The municipality will erect signs with Slovenian folk names only in the area of the implementation of the provisions of the the protection law for the Slovene national community 38/2001 regarding visible bilingualism, which is valid only in Štandrež, Podgora, Pevma, Štmaver and Oslavje. The urban center of Gorizia will remain exclusively Italian. According to the Assmann theory (2008), unofficial Slovenian names belong to a communicative memory, since they were created through mutual relations and in a relatively small spatial circle of the Slovenian community in the Province of Gorizia where they are preserved as well. Communicative memory, which includes unofficial Slovenian names, is considered to not be institutionalized, is not supported by educational institutions, is usually not examined by experts, not celebrated on special occasions, not formalized or in any way eternalized in the material world. Nevertheless, communicative memory has the power to connect families, groups and generations, because it is present in everyday interactions and communication between the members of a community. The opposite is true for cultural memory, among which the official commemorative street names are considered – it is institutionalized, exteriorized, objectified and "stored" in the form of symbols. Since the time of communicative memory is limited – it lasts from three to a maximum of five generations, or from 80 to 100 years, in a community that is connected by the same experiential, memorial and narrative reality – most likely the fate of Slovenian street and place names in Gorizia will follow this rule. In areas where memories are complex, controversial and distinctive, it is all the more important to create a framework of memories that connects people living in a particular community. Here, awareness is needed to ensure that true respect for identity goes beyond the individual, and this must be "stretched" to the whole area where a linguistic minority lives, therefore bilingual or multilingual toponymy in ethnically mixed territories is crucial. The recognition of linguistic rights to minorities is important because it promotes equality despite diversity, improves communication and public services, and contributes to stability and conflict prevention. The presence of Slovene (and Friulian) in Gorizia would not be of crucial importance only to minorities that would use these languages to fortify their presence there, their position on the territory and the presence of their language, but also for the members of the majority population, because they would be given the opportunity to deal with the language of the minority on a daily basis and familiarize themselves with it, which would consequently facilitate the development of a positive attitude towards this language