Between April 8 and 14, 2024, Annemarie Sorescu-Marinković, leader of the VLingS project, together with Giustina Selvelli, anthropologist and sociolinguist from the Department of Sociology, University of Ljubljana, carried out field research on the Vlach minority of Eastern Serbia. They are trying to assess the impact of the current environmental challenges the Vlachs are facing on language transmission and ecocultural heritage. They visited the Vlach villages Krivelj and Oštrelj in the Bor municipality, which will most probably completely disappear in the next few years, due to the expansion of the copper mine. Intensive mining, extreme pollution and the destruction of the natural habitat, coupled with unplanned dislocation of compact communities and, not least, negative stereotyping of the Vlach population, are factors which greatly impact language transmission and jeopardize the preservation of the important cultural heritage of the Vlach minority. Policy makers and social actors should take immediate action to protect the Vlach community from this region and their language.
