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Language Research

The Law of the Catalan Language, approved by the Catalan regional legislature (Generalitat) in 1998, stipulates the use of CATALAN as the official language in local government and administrative offices, regional courts, publicly owned corporations, and private companies subsidized by the Catalan regional government. Spanish-speaking citizens are provided with the right to be dealt with by public officials in Spanish. The legislation also establishes minimum quotas for Catalan-language radio and television programming. Many activists in Catalan's Spanish-speaking community criticized the law for discriminating against Spanish-speaking citizens and imposing “linguistic hegemony” on a diverse population. The Civic Catalan Coexistence, headed by a right-wing Catalan MEP Aleix Vidal –Quadras, delivered a petition last December (1999) to the European Parliament in which they demanded an investigation on the hypothetical infringement of the rights of the Spanish-speakers by the Catalan institutions. The Parliament's Petitions Committee (PETI) has thrown out such allegations of discrimination against Spanish speakers in Catalonia. This decision, taken in Brussels in September 2000, put an end to the attempts of the far right in Catalonia to obstruct initiatives in favor of Catalan through European institutions.

In GALICIA, student unions, professors, and parents were getting together in a campaign which aimed to denounce the lack of fulfillment of the 247/95 Act on Teaching in Galician. According to this movement, the linguistic legislation non-fulfillment is constant within the Galician community and it is the people, with their claims and denunciations who have to ask for a real application of the prevailing legislation in linguistic matters.

ASTURIAN unlike other languages of the autonomous regions in Spain is not recognized in the Asturian Statute of Autonomy as a co-official language. Although the fourth Article of this Statute states that such language must be protected and promoted, there has never been a real political decision favoring this provision. Many civil associations are calling for the regulation of this article by a law, which may guarantee the presence of this language in education and media. However, the steps towards making this law are still being taken very slowly. Despite this fact, the Parliament has approved the procedural stage for a project to create a public television and radio broadcasting institution in Asturias. This would be an opportunity for a wider presence of this language in mass media.

On May 2 1999 the political groups of the Popular Party and Socialist Party (PSOE) in the Asturian Parliament voted in favor of an initiative aimed at supporting the creation of a university degree in Asturian Philology at the University of Oviedo. Although the initiative was unanimously approved, the Congress of Deputies in Madrid rejected it on the 20th of September 2000. A green paper submitted by the left-wing party Izquierda Unida concerning the same proposal, which was then voted against by the same political parties that approved it in the Asturian local Parliament. Both BNG (Galician) and CiU (Catalan) nationalist groups abstained from the vote. Nonetheless, this is not the first time such a proposal has been dismissed. Two years ago, the Spanish Council of Universities rejected it on the grounds that Asturian was not actually a language. Such a decision from the Council seems to be the main reason for the political parties' rejection. This news was received with indignation and surprise by the organizations for the promotion and development of the language, as well as by many members from the academic spheres.

According to a survey carried out by the University of the Basque Country, which monitors changes in social parameters twice a year, almost a third of young BASQUE people between the ages of 18 and 25 would leave the Basque country to work elsewhere, if they were offered the same conditions of work and pay. Most of the young people who commented were university students. Many of these students have been taught in Basque schools and represent the larger part of the Basque speakers among the young. If the renewed violence in the Basque country does lead to an exodus of graduates, the region would be facing a brain drain with serious consequences for the future. Seventy per cent of Basques say they live in constant fear of the violence. The militant Basque separatist organization ETA has been waging a terrorist campaign for three decades in effort to create an independent Basque homeland encompassing parts of northern Spain and southern France. More than 800 people have been killed. The Basque language Euskera is claimed to be a central issue in the fight for Basque identity.

ARAGON speaking community is also calling for a law on languages. The linguistic situation in Aragon throughout the last years has been characterized by the vindication from the Aragonese and Catalan speaking communities of an official recognition by the autonomous institutions of both Catalan and Aragonese languages in their corresponding areas of predominance. The reformation of the Statute of Autonomy, although it did not explicitly mention either of the two languages, recognized the existence in Aragon of “languages and linguistic varieties” other than Spanish, which should be the object of protection concerning their use as well as their presence in education. Such measures should be regulated by the Aragonese Congress through the law that is now being called for from several public spheres.

Regional governments in Spain, which do not have any jurisdiction in justice, have long been critical of the reluctance of the judiciary to demand the use of regional languages in courts. The General Council of the Judiciary in Spain rejected a proposal in July 2000, which would have led to a wider use of Basque, Catalan and Galician in courts in areas where these languages are spoken. The proposal called for the “progressive application of criteria”, which would have obliged members of the judiciary to learn the language of a community where they were working. The proposal also called for arrangements to be made for members of the judiciary to be able to study the required languages.

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Updated (January 2001)

BASQUE LANGUAGE

The report “the Situation of Basque and the Rights of Basque Speakers” was launched on March 14, 2001 at a meeting of minority language Members of the European Parliament in Strasbourg.

According to the report compiled by Kontseilua, an umbrella organization representing 50 Basque organizations, there have been serious “attacks” against Basque in the three regions where it is spoken (the Basque speaking Navarre, the Basque Autonomous Community and the Northern Basque Country in the South of France).

• The Basque language desperately needs protection but France does not recognize any linguistic minorities and through this policy it is pushing for disappearance of the language in the region of Northern Basque Country.
• The largest Basque adult education organization has been attacked by the media since 1998 because of “groundless judicial processes” (e.g. having close links with ETA or defrauding the Spanish tax and social security offices). All allegations were strongly denied. The organization was also criticized by the Spanish Royal Academy that the textbooks used in Basque schools (ikastolas) are nationalistic and racist.
• In Navarre

  A new decree was published in January (372/2000) that regulates the use of the Basque language in the Public Administration of Navarre.

  From now on, the use of Basque will not be compulsory in mixed zone (there are three linguistic zones: Basque speaking, Spanish speaking and mixed zone) and all bilingual signs and notices will became monolingual (in Spanish only).

  The decision to abolish bilingual street signs and notices in mixed area has provoked a strong reaction from Basque political parties and language organizations. The plan is interpreted as a violation of Basque speaking population linguistic rights because of the predominant or exclusive use of Spanish in labeling, signals, official communication, etc. These measures have been criticized by different political and cultural organizations; as the general lack of respect proved by Navarra Government towards the Basque language and also a step back in the recognition of the plurilinguistic reality within the Spanish State. The European Bureau for Lesser Used Languages also criticized the decision, describing it as contrary to the letter and spirit of the language policy of the European institutions and as a violation of earlier laws of the Navarre government.

  In March, the government of the autonomous community of Navarre announced that the new language decree in the region will not be changed despite extensive opposition and it was approved by a clear majority.

THE ASTURIAN LANGUAGE

In Asturian speaking region, there are many complaints about non-compliance of the 1998 Law on the Use and Promotion of the Asturian Language. According to “Xunta pola Defensa de la Llingua Asturiana” (a civic organization devoted to Asturian speaker's linguistic rights defense) they have received 50 reports against the non-compliance of this law. Complaints mainly concern labels and road signs that have been written without taking into the consideration traditional place names in the Asturian language.

According to the weekly electronic service of linguistic news “Llingua Asturiana”, a carmelian school in Asturian would be fining pupils for speaking word in Asturian during their daily school time. This decision would be contravening the Asturian Statute of Autonomy as well as the Law on Linguistic Uses.

THE CATALAN LANGUAGE

In February, the High Court of Justice of Catalonia has suspended some articles from the regulation on the linguistic uses of Sabadell City Council (Barcelona) after considering their contravention to the co-officiality shared by the Catalan and Spanish languages. This decision affects the application of the 1998 Catalan Law in the municipal scope. The city council therefore required policy-makers to take measures to guarantee the application of the current legislation and the Catalan citizens' linguistic rights.

THE OCCITAN LANGUAE

Occitan language is not treated equally in all regions where it is spoken as far as the funding is concerned. Four out of seven Occitan regions enjoy a policy favoring the Occitan language and culture.

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Updated (February 2002)

CATALAN

Catalan representatives demand official recognition of their language in the European Union. They claim that a language spoken by 7 million people deserves it.

Catalan is spoken in four states, but only Andorra, the non-EU member state, has it as the official language on the whole territory. Not being an official language of a EU member state also means the exclusion from many programs offered by the European Union. “Does this mean that we have to convince the small state Andorra to become an EU member state, in order to give Catalan its recognition as an official language?” asks Lluís M. de Puig, a Catalan representative from the Council of Europe's European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages.

For Joan Vallvé i Ribera, President of the European Association of Border Regions, the reason why Catalan has not got its recognition within the European institutions so far is simple: “The way for Catalan to Brussels goes via Madrid - and they are blocking it.”

Fèlix Martí, President of UNESCO Catalonia, points out two other phenomena that are crucial for the future of the language. The first one refers to the “hierarchy of the languages” within the area: “Everybody has to know Castilian but there is no legal obligation for citizens to know Catalan. I am against this subordination because this weakens the language.” He also notices an “attitude of linguistic indifference” that can also be passed on to other languages: “People do not care if they speak Catalan or Castilian. Even if this is somehow positive - if this develops further, it will be problematic for the future of the language.”

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Updated (January 2003)

LANGUAGE ACTIVISTS' PRESSURE ON CATALAN GOVERNMENT TO IMPLEMENT THE LINGUISTIC LAW

In 1998, the Catalan parliament voted, with a vast majority, for a new linguistic policy law. The proposal introduced for the first time strict legal quotas to promote the use of Catalan in most areas of everyday life. In this sense, the law specifically referred to cinemas, radio stations, television channels, the media and shops.

The goal was to achieve real bilingualism in the streets. A new regulation established a transitional period of five years to implement the law effectively. However, the Catalan authorities have not decided yet about legal punishments for those who violate the law. The main objective was to convince the organizations of the benefits of using Catalan.

At present, after five years, it is obvious that very little has been achieved. Few cinemas show films dubbed into Catalan, and even fewer stores have added Catalan to their street signs. The number of companies using the language on their labels is still marginal. According to the official figures, the law is not respected in Catalonia. So far neither specific personnel have been employed nor a single sanction or bill has been issued, although the law establishes bills of up to €3,000.

Nevertheless, the situation is not the same in all parts of the Catalan territories. In northern Catalonia, around Girona, only about 15 percent of all shops and offices do fail to comply with the law. In other parts, such as the metropolitan area of Barcelona, this figure raises to 35 percent.

The most active cultural movement called “Coordinadora d'Associacions per la Llengua” (CAL) together with other associations¹ have launched a vast campaign to force the authorities to step in real action. Since the beginning of this year many volunteers have been recording and listing all stores that do not include Catalan on their signs or otherwise violate the law. The CAL plans to bring these lists to the regional government, not to punish the stores, but to denounce the passivity of the Catalan regional government.

Source: Eurolang News, Barcelona, January 16, 2003, by Jaume Clotet, http://217.136.252.147/webpub/eurolang/pajenn.asp?ID=4042

¹ In Girona, for example, ADAC, a cultural center

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Updated (February 2005)

A CORUÑA OR LA CORUÑA

A group of Galician language activists have registered more than 650 individual appeals when people demanded the cancellation of the Coruña City Council's decision to give legal recognition to the Spanish name "La Coruña".

The 1983 Law on Galician Language Linguistic Normalization stipulates that the only official name for a town is the Galician one, "A Coruña" in this case. However, in November 2004, the mayor of Coruña, Francisco Vázquez, used another new law giving greater powers to Galician largest towns and recognized "La Coruña" as the co-official name of the town¹. He also tried to legalize its use by the City Council.

Legal recognition of the Galician names of towns is a long-standing demand from Galician language activists. For centuries, the original names were modified to make them sound like Spanish words. In 1983, the historical law recognized Galician as the language of Galiza and legalized Galician names of towns.

Source: Eurolang New, La Coruña, February 8, 2005, by Alexandre Giráldez, http://www.eurolang.net/news.asp?id=4908

¹ The City Council has continued to use the illegal name, "La Coruña", since the 1990s and to date it has suffered no consequences.

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Updated (April 2005)

A NEW COURT DECISION RECOGNISING THE UNITY OF THE CATALAN LANGUAGE

The Higher Court of the Valencian Autonomous Community has issued again, for the fifth time, a decision upholding the full legality of the Catalan denomination in regard to the language spoken in the Valencian Country.

As reported by the Linguistic Policy Service of the University of Valencia, the decision (no. 158/2005) was issued on February 11, 2005 in response to an appeal filed against the Valencian Government. In 2003, a woman was excluded from being eligible for a civil service position due to the fact that she had relied on her Catalan Philology degree to certify her Valencian language command.

The arguments in the decision include references to several precedents: the 1997 decision by the Spanish Constitutional Court (no. 75/1997) and four decisions by the Valencian Higher Court from March-May 2004 (nos. 330/2004; 393/2004; 518/2004 and 677/2004). All these oblige the Valencian Government to accept the Catalan Philology degree as a valid document to certify Valencian language command when applying for an official examination to become a secondary school teacher. Therefore, it is established that the Catalan denomination is a valid equivalent of the Valencian denomination not only in higher education but also in public administration.

Source: Mercator News, March 2005, http://www.ciemen.org/mercator/index-gb.htm

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Updated (July 2006)

THE SPANISH SUPREME COURT RECOGNIZES THAT CATALAN AND VALENCIAN ARE THE SAME LANGUAGE

A decision announced by the Spanish Supreme Court revokes the instruction ordered by the Valencian Ministry of Education in 1995, which established that Catalan language qualifications issued by the Catalan and the Balearic governments were not valid in the Valencian County.

The Spanish Supreme Court has recognized the unity of the Catalan and Valencian language. They reasoned that Catalan and Valencian are merely two denominations for one common language in different territories.

Representatives of the Valencian cultural association and the Valencian Trade Union agree that the decision recognizing the unity of the language is a long-awaited victory expected for the last 11 years.

Source: Mercator News, May 2006 http://www.ciemen.org/mercator/index-gb.htm

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