INTRODUCTION

It may be argued that Catalan cannot be considered a minority language because it has approximately 10,000,000 speakers and is either official or co-official in different territories. Moreover, Catalan is also associated with a middle-high class segment of the population. Nevertheless, Catalan is a minoritized language for several reasons and in different degrees depending on the areas where it is spoken. From a geopolitical institutional point of view, Catalan is clearly minoritized in the Autonomous Regions of Aragon and Murcia in Spain, as well as in the Department of the Pyrénées-Orientales in France and the city of l’Alguer in Sardinia (Italy). In these areas Catalan is not considered an official language, which implies that it is hardly used in administration, education, mass media, or cultural events. In other words, Catalan is in contact with other languages with a higher legal and political status, which leads to a diglossic situation in which Catalan is used exclusively in informal contexts, whereas Castilian, French, and Italian, depending on the area, will be used in formal contexts.

In France the ideology of one language-one nation, and the superiority of French over all the minority languages of the territory still prevails (Hawkey 2018, 100). While some laws have been approved in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries to offer very limited instruction in the minority languages of France, there has not been a considerable change. The year 2001 potentially represented a big step when the Ministry of Education and Communication decided to promote the use and teaching of minority of languages. However, in practical terms, the teaching of Catalan in Northern Catalonia has been possible thanks to the support of the Generalitat de Catalonia (The Government of the Region of Catalonia), and the private sector (https://www.mercator-research.eu/fileadmin/mercator/documents/regional_dossiers/catalan_in_france_2nd.pdf 9).

With regards to the Sardinian city of l’Alguer in Italy (see maps 1 and 2), the use of Catalan as a spoken language is diminishing among younger generations. While at the beginning of the twentieth century most of the population had Catalan as the common language, nowadays the situation is different. The intergenerational transmission of the language has dropped since the middle of the twentieth century in favor of Italian and there is a danger of linguistic substitution (Veny and Massanell 206). The adoption of the Sardinian law of 1997 and the Italian law of 1999, which implied a recognition of the historical minority languages of Sardinia and Italy respectively, has not led to an increase in the use of Catalan as a common spoken language. Certainly, in l’Alguer Catalan appears in the names of streets and in restaurant menus (https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/21/world/europe/catalan-italy-alghero.html), but its use is not as spread as a century ago. Moreover, the Italian education system is quite centralized and the common and almost exclusive language of education is Italian. In fact, as in the case of Northern Catalonia, it is the Catalan Government and the private sector which are encouraging the teaching of Catalan in l’Alguer. This support has allowed the teaching of Catalan in Primary Schools and at the Universities of Sàsser and Càller.

In Spain there are two Autonomous Regions where Catalan is spoken but it is not an official language: Aragón and Murcia. In Aragon there have been several attempts to establish a law regarding the status and use of the different languages of Aragon, including Catalan. Among them the law of 2009 constituted an important step towards the support of Catalan. This law was modified in 2013 in the middle of intense political debates. In particular, the new Aragonese government decided to change the name of the Catalan language spoken in Aragon. The new term was LAPAO (Lengua aragonesa propia del área oriental) (common Aragonese language in the eastern area). However, in 2016, with a new Autonomous Government, “Catalan” was again used to refer legally to the language of the Franja of Aragon. The teaching of Catalan in this area depends on the decision of the municipalities to do so. As far the Region of Murcia is concerned, Catalan is spoken in El Carxe, in the northeastern part of the Region (see maps 3 and 4). Catalan has never been co-official in Murcia.

While Catalan is co-official with Castilian in the Region of Valencia, Catalan is still a minoritized language. In the Catalan-speaking area of the Region, described above, the number of speakers of Catalan as their first language decreased considerably in the last century, especially during the Franco Regime (1939-1975). During this period the use of Catalan was prohibited in government, administration, education, mass media, and any kind of formal use. Moreover, important segments of population from Castilian-speaking areas, such as Castile, Murcia, and Andalusia, migrated to the Catalan-speaking areas of the Valencian Region. As a result, in the two largest cities: Valencia, and, especially Alicante, Castilian is the dominant language. For a long time, Castilian was associated with economic and social improvement and many Catalan-speaking parents even used Catalan with their children. The situation of Catalan has improved since the approval of the Estatut d’Autonomia de la Comunitat Valenciana or Valencian Constitution in 1982, which, in chapter 6, establishes that Catalan, which receives the name of valencià, is the common or native language of the Valencian Region. It also indicates that Catalan is co-official with Castilian in the Region. Everybody has the right to know it, use it, and be taught in Catalan. Moreover, special attention should be paid to the protection, respect, and recovery of Catalan, as well as its use in administration and education. A difference will be made between the territories where Catalan has historically been the common language versus those areas in the Valencian Region where Catalan has not been historically the native language (https://www.cortsvalencianes.es/ca-va/composicionnormasest-autonomia/9925). Certainly, the Estatut has helped establish and normalize the use of Catalan in the Valencian Region and has even increased the knowledge and presence of the language in Valencian areas where Catalan was not historically the common language. The knowledge of Catalan has increased, especially among younger generations. From an educational point of view, the Council of Education, Culture, and Sports of the Generalitat Valenciana (Valencian Government) has established that at least 25% of the classes should be taught in Catalan, 25% in Castilian, and between 15% and 25% in a foreign language. The language(s) used for the remaining 25% will be decided by each school. However, the Council of Education, Culture, and Sports recommends that altogether 50% of the classes be taught in Catalan. While the degree of support and implementation of the use of Catalan in the Valencian Region has depended on the political part(ies) in power, Catalan is still a minoritized language vis-à-vis Castilian in the Valencian Region.

In the Balearic Islands the pressure and influence of Castilian was not as strong as in the Catalan-speaking territories of the Iberian Peninsula, at least until the second half of the twentieth century. The contact with other languages, especially Castilian, increased considerably after 1940 with the immigration of civil servants and workers related mainly with the field of tourism. The use of Castilian by the immigrants added to the use of Castilian by the bourgeoisie, who had made Castilian a symbol of social differentiation (Veny and Massanell 186). Certainly, the social, political, and economic status of Catalan has increased since the end of the Franco Regime in 1976, especially after the approval of the Estatut d’Autonomia de les Illes Balears or Constitution of the Balearic Islands in 1983 and the Law of Linguistic Normalization of 1986, which supported the use of Catalan in every social context. Chapter 4 of the Estatut establishes that Catalan is the native language of the Region and is co-official with Castilian (http://web.parlamentib.es/RecursosWeb/DOCS/EstatutAutonomiaIB.pdf 15). Moreover, the Law of Linguistic Normalization (1986) supported the use of Catalan in every social context to help diminish the diglossic situation of Catalan in relation to Castilian.  Since then, Catalan has been used in the government, administration, mass media, and education. In fact, The Conselleria d’Educació i Formació Professional (Council of Education and Professional Development), establishes that at least 50% of classes should be taught in Catalan. While article 5 of the Estatut encourages the communication with all the Catalan-speaking lands, there have been some political attempts to deny the unity of the language and abolish the Linguistic Normalization Law of 1986. These attempts were particularly strong between 2011 and 2015 when the Partido Popular (PP) was in power (Aguiló-Mora and Lynch).

Catalonia is the Catalan-speaking Autonomous Region where the Catalan language has received the strongest support and where it may be argued that it is less of a minority language. Article 6 of the Estatut d’Autonomia de Catalunya, approved in 1979 and reformed in 2006 and 2010, established that Catalan is the native language of Catalonia and is co-official with Castilian (https://www.parlament.cat/document/cataleg/48089.pdf). In Catalonia Catalan is the preferred language in government, administration, and education. In fact, Catalan has been the dominant language of education for more than three decades. Castilian is taught in the classes of Castilian language and literature. This system has been criticized recently. The Generalitat de Catalunya or Catalan Government has also supported the use of Catalan in mass media with the creation in the 80s of a TV channel completely in Catalan, TV3, and Catalunya Ràdio. Catalan has traditionally been the language of the Catalan bourgeoisie and, especially in Catalonia, Catalan is associated with the middle and high classes. Knowledge of Catalan is also a requirement for, among others, administrative and government positions. For all these reasons, it could be argued that Catalan is not really a minoritized language in Catalonia. However, we must bear in mind that Castilian is still the dominant language in mass media in Catalonia and in big cities, such as Barcelona. Even if Catalan is the dominant language in education and the government, Castilian is present everywhere. In fact, due to immigration, the number of Catalan native speakers in Catalonia is lower than Castilian native speakers. However, in the last decades many Catalans whose parents migrated to Catalonia and who learned Catalan at school consider Catalan their own native language (Woolard 257-304).

In any case, even if Catalan is co-official in Catalonia, The Balearic Islands, and the Valencian Region, Catalan will always be a minoritized languages in comparison with Castilian, since there is only one official language for the whole Spanish-state: Castilian. It could be argued that this is not the case of Catalan in Andorra. In the independent state and Principality of Andorra, Catalan is the only official language. According to recent studies, the use of Catalan is particularly strong in the education system, where more than 60% of students use it as the normal language of communication. The percentage is lower in the job environment and much lower in the shopping centers (https://www.elperiodic.ad/noticia/52605/andorra-es-lunic-territori-on-el-catala-guanya-nous-parlants). Even if the number of speakers may be increasing, the contact with French, and especially Castilian is constant. Therefore, the support of the Andorran Government is needed to normalize the use of Catalan in Andorra.