Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-nmvwc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-29T05:12:43.770Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Catalan and Spanish in an independent Catalonia: Linguistic authority and officiality

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 October 2018

David Atkinson
David Atkinson*
Affiliation:
University of Limerick, Ireland
*
Address for correspondence: David Atkinson School of Modern Languages and Applied Linguistics, Room MC1-002, Millstream Building, University of Limerick, Irelanddavid.atkinson@ul.ie
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Pro-independence parties won a narrow majority of parliamentary seats in the December 2017 elections in Catalonia. Should Catalonia at some point become independent from Spain, the respective status of Catalan and Spanish is a major issue about which there is significant divergence of opinion, not least within the independence movement in Catalonia. This article approaches the question of language officiality in a hypothetically independent Catalonia through the theoretical lens of linguistic authority, particularly the concepts of anonymity and authenticity. The data, an on-line discussion thread following an interview with a Catalan language activist, reveal a striking diversity of language ideological positions on both the nature of linguistic authority in Catalonia as things stand, as well as how such authority should be constructed and managed in the event of independence, particularly as regards questions of officiality. (Catalonia, linguistic authority, language ideologies, officiality)*

Type
Articles
Information
Language in Society , Volume 47 , Issue 5 , November 2018 , pp. 763 - 785
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2018 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

*

I would like to thank two anonymous referees and Jenny Cheshire for their very helpful comments on a previous draft of this article.

References

REFERENCES

Aracil, Lluís V. (1966). Bilingualism as a myth. Interamerican Review 2(4):521–33.Google Scholar
Atkinson, David (2000). Minoritisation, identity and ethnolinguistic vitality in Catalonia. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development 21(3):185–97.Google Scholar
Atkinson, David, & Moriarty, Máiréad (2012). ‘There's no excuse. Speak Catalan!’: The marketing of language acquisition to mobility students. International Journal of Applied Linguistics 22(2):189–204.Google Scholar
Blommaert, Jan (ed.) (1999). Language-ideological debates. New York: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Bourdieu, Pierre (1972). Outline of a theory of practice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Branchadell, Albert (1996). La Normalitat Improbable: Obstacles a la Normalització Lingüística. Barcelona: Empúries.Google Scholar
Branchadell, Albert (2012). One nation, one (common) language? Language and nationalism in 21st century Catalonia. Online: http://www.recode.info/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Branchadell-Albert-2012-RECODE.pdf.Google Scholar
Crameri, Kathryn (2014). Goodbye, Spain? The question of independence for Catalonia. Brighton: Sussex Academic Press.Google Scholar
del Valle, José (2005). La lengua, patria común: Política lingüística, política exterior y el post-nacionalismo hispánico. In Wright, Roger & Ricketts, Peter (eds.), Studies on Ibero-Romance linguistics dedicated to Ralph Penny, 391–416. Newark, DE: Juan de la Cuesta Monographs.Google Scholar
DiGiacomo, Susan M. (1999). Language ideological debates in an olympic city: Barcelona 1992–1996. In Blommaert, 105–42.Google Scholar
Duchêne, Alexandre, & Heller, Monica (2007). Discourses of endangerment. London: Continuum.Google Scholar
Frekko, Susan (2009). ‘Normal’ in Catalonia: Standard language, enregisterment and the imagination of a national public. Language in Society 38(1):71–93.Google Scholar
Fukuda, Makiko (2017). Double gateway to the host society? Knowledge and perceptions of Japanese people living in Catalonia regarding language. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development 38(1):19–34.Google Scholar
Gal, Susan (2012). Sociolinguistic regimes and the management of ‘diversity’. In Duchêne, Alexandre & Heller, Monica (eds.), Language in late capitalism: Pride and profit, 22–42. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Gal, Susan, & Woolard, Kathryn A. (2001). Constructing languages and publics: Authority and representation. In Gal, Susan & Woolard, Kathryn A. (eds.), Languages and publics: The making of authority, 1–12. Manchester: St. Jerome. [Reissued Oxford: Routledge, 2014]Google Scholar
Garrett, Peter, & Bals, Lídia Gallego (2014). International universities and implications of internationalisation for minority languages: Views from university students in Catalonia and Wales. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development 35(4):361–75.Google Scholar
Generalitat de Catalunya (2016). Oficina de Premsa, Secretaria d'Universitats i Recerca, Departament d'Empresa i Coneixement, Generalitat de Catalunya. Online: http://premsa.gencat.cat/pres_fsvp/AppJava/universitats-recerca/notapremsavw/295308/ca/el-nombre-destudiants-erasmus-que-marxen-venen-catalunya-creix-un-37-en-els-ultims-cinc-cursos.do.Google Scholar
Generalitat de Catalunya, Departament de Cultura (2015). Analisi de L'Enquesta d'usos lingüístics de la població 2013: Resum dels factors clau. Barcelona: Generalitat de Catalunya, Departament de Cultura. Online: http://llengua.gencat.cat/web/.content/documents/publicacions/btpl/arxius/15_EULP2013_factors_clau.pdf.Google Scholar
Guibernau, Montserrat (2004). Catalan nationalism: Francoism, transition and democracy. Routledge: London.Google Scholar
Kelly-Holmes, Helen (2011). Sex, lies and thematising Irish New media, old discourses? Journal of Language and Politics 10(4):511–34.Google Scholar
Marí, Isidor (2015). Notes Sobre l'ordenament Lingüístic d'una Catalunya Sobirana. Quin Model? Quin Procés? Revista d'Estudis Autonòmics i Federals 21:237–53.Google Scholar
Mollà, Toni (2017). Manual de Sociolingüística. Alzira: Bromera.Google Scholar
Nagel, Thomas (1986). The view from nowhere. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
O'Rourke, Bernadette, & Ramallo, Fernando (2013). Competing ideologies of linguistic authority amongst new speakers in contemporary Galicia. Language in Society 42:287–305.Google Scholar
Jordi, Palmer (2015). El bilingüisme no aporta equilibri, però fem veure que sí [‘Bilingualism doesn't create balance, but we pretend it does’] (Interview with Pau Vidal.) Naciódigital, February 13, 2015. Online: http://www.naciodigital.cat/noticia/82343/pau/vidal/bilinguisme/no/aporta/equilibri/pero/fem/veure/si.Google Scholar
Pons, Eva (2015). L'oficialitat lingüística: Declaracions constitucionals i implicacions jurídiques i pràctiques. Barcelona: Generalitat de Catalunya, Departament de Cultura. Online: http://llengua.gencat.cat/web/.content/documents/publicacions/btpl/arxius/14_Oficialitat_linguistica.pdf.Google Scholar
Prats, Modest; Rafanell, August; & Rossich, Albert (1995). El futur de la llengua Catalana. Barcelona: Empúries.Google Scholar
Pujolar, Joan (2001). Gender, heteroglossia and power: A sociolinguistic study of youth culture. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Sendra, Montse, & Vila, F. Xavier (2016). L'estatus de les llengües a la República Catalana: Una breu anàlisi del desenvolupament del debat. Els Marges 108:33–50. Online: http://sire.ub.edu/connect?session=sz3dF1bB0DcqR749&url=http://www.raco.cat/index.php/Marges/article/view/320160.Google Scholar
Sinner, Carsten, & Wieland, Katharina (2008). El catalán hablado y problemas de la normalización de la lengua catalan: Avances y obstáculos en la normalización. In Süselbeck, Kirsten, Mühlschlegel, Ulrike, & Masson, Peter (eds.), Lengua, nación e identidad: La regulación del plurilingüismo en España y América Latina, 131–64. Frankfurt am Main: Vervuert and Madrid: Iberoamericana.Google Scholar
Spolsky, Bernard (2004). Language policy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
van Parijs, Philippe (2011). Linguistic justice for Europe and for the world. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Vidal, Pau (2015). El bilingüisme mata: Del canvi climàtic al canvi idiomatic. Barcelona: Editorial Pòrtic.Google Scholar
Vila, F. Xavier (2016). Sobre la vigència de la sociolingüística del conflicte i la noció de normalitat lingüística. Treballs de Sociolingüística Catalana 26:199–217. Online: https://publicacions.iec.cat/repository/pdf/00000238/00000089.pdf.Google Scholar
Woolard, Kathryn A. (1989). Double talk: Bilingualism and the politics of ethnicity in Catalonia. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Woolard, Kathryn A. (1998). Introduction: Language ideology as a field of enquiry. In Schieffelin, Bambi B., Woolard, Kathryn A., & Kroskrity, Paul V. (eds.), Language ideologies: Practice and theory, 3–47. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Woolard, Kathryn A. (2008). Language and identity choice in Catalonia: The interplay of contrasting ideologies of linguistic authority. In Süselbeck, Kirsten, Mühlschlegel, Ulrike, & Masson, Peter (eds.), Lengua, nación e identidad: La regulación del plurilingüismo en España y América Latina, 303–23. Frankfurt am Main: Vervuert and Madrid: Iberoamericana.Google Scholar
Woolard, Kathryn A. (2016). Singular and plural: Ideologies of linguistic authority in 21st century Catalonia. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar