 The local population was considered made of "Italians with a Slav origin"; the local traditions were respected and there was the need to teach a common language to be understood in the whole State.During this period, the region became a major focus of historians, linguists and ethnologists, interested in its archaic customs, language and common law.Scholars who wrote about Slavia Friulana included the Italo-Slavs Carlo Podrecca and Francesco Musoni, the Polish linguist Jan Niecisław Baudouin de Courtenay, the Slovenes Simon Rutar and Henrik Tuma.