A plurilingual educational model for reinforcing the language island of Sauris/Zahre: a proposal for a synergetic island-to-mainland pedagogy of language

Abstract The present article proposes a theoretical model for plurilingual language education in the context of language islands, using the case of Sauris/Zahre, a Germanic-speaking minority community in the Friulian Alps. The Synergetic Island-to-Mainland Pedagogy of Language (SIMPL) has been developed to address two key objectives. Firstly, it is intended to reinforce the endangered Saurian variety. Secondly, it is designed to facilitate the acquisition of Standard German, which is its genealogically related counterpart. The model synthesises insights from Tertiary Language Didactics, Intercomprehension Pedagogy, Heritage Language Teaching and the Dynamic Model of Multilingualism. The pedagogical approach is structured in three phases: 1. Awareness; 2. Activation; 3. Expansion. Through a comparative analysis of selected structural features (phonology, morphosyntax, lexicon) across Saurian, Standard German, Italian, and Friulian, the article highlights typological proximities that can support bidirectional transfer SIMPL is conceptualised as a flexible, context-sensitive framework that repositions minoritised varieties as active resources in multilingual learning. Primarily conceived for closely related varieties, the model is proposed as a heuristic for other insular minority contexts characterised by typological proximity and asymmetric language status. The model contributes to current discussions on plurilingual competence, language ecology and the pedagogy of related varieties.