La Parabola del Figliol Prodigo in saurano Analisi e comparazione dei testi ottocenteschi

This article analyses three nineteenth-century versions of the Parable of the Prodigal Son in Saurian, a southern Bavarian variety spoken in the linguistic enclave of Sauris/Zahre in Carnia, Friuli. These texts allow us to verify whether structural features of contemporary Saurian – often attributed to interference from Romance languages – are recent innovations or pre-existing properties. The analysis shows that the language of the texts already exhibits the characteristics of present-day Saurian. This suggests that the role of language contact in the emergence of features potentially due to such contact has been limited.