Advanced language technology solutions address the needs of various social groups, including minority language users. For these language communities to survive in the age of artificial intelligence, it is crucial to be present in the digital realm and have access to appropriate language tools that offer numerous opportunities for community empowerment. A review of key achievements in this field shows that the Slovene community in Italy is also increasingly recognising the need for digital support. Among the currently available tools, particularly noteworthy is the latest version of the web-based assistant Loris 1.1, developed by the Slovene Research Institute with the support of the Central Office for the Slovene Language of the Friuli Venezia Giulia Autonomous Region. Loris is a specific tool intended for users of Slovene in the Slovene-Italian language contact area. It draws attention to deviations from the central standard variety of Slovene in their writing, thereby raising awareness of communicative practices within the Slovene language continuum and strengthening language competence of the local community. In the traditional settlement area of the Slovene community in Italy, deviations from the standard appear at all language levels, resulting both from contact with Italian and from language marginalisation in relation to the central Slovene-speaking environment. The planning of language resources and technologies tailored to this target group is thus of key importance. Based on intensive expert engagement with Slovene texts in Italy, I formulate the hypothesis that the use of tools specifically designed for Slovene users in contact with Italian is rare. I test this hypothesis using qualitative semi-structured interviews through which I examine language needs and practices related to the use of language resources and technologies among journalists and editors at Primorski dnevnik, who are typical active users of language. In doing so, I analyse the use of language tools for Slovene in Italy in relation to other open access tools that enable communication in Slovene. Based on the results, I evaluate the content-related and technological adequacy of tools for Slovene in a minority context, as well as the community’s level of awareness of the existence of these tools. This type of preliminary research will support the development of new tools, the improvement of existing ones, and the planning of their promotion.
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