Marina Massaguer Comes
My PhD dissertation "Non-Catalan speakers in Catalonia: social identities, inequalities and Catalan language" analyses the positioning of different profiles of non-Catalan-speaking people towards the sociolinguistic dynamics of Catalonia. Specifically, I show how their life trajectories affect their relationship with the Catalan language; how these speakers set up representations of Catalan sociolinguistic dynamics based on their own ideological frameworks; how they circulate through these dynamics without speaking Catalan; and how they perceive the social categories in which language, national identification and socioeconomic status are linked. The objective was to elucidate how individuals who do not speak Catalan understand and negotiate their place in the sociolinguistic dynamics of Catalonia, how they relate to the Catalan language as the main symbol of Catalan identity, and what consequences are derived from these processes. To address these issues, I adopted a theoretical and epistemological stance that approaches language as a social practice embedded in power relations and in the construction of inequalities. Using qualitative methodology, I collected data through 36 semi-directed interviews with adult non-Catalan speakers. I have distinguished six profiles of participants: Spaniards who settled in Catalonia in the 1950s and 1960s, Spaniards who settled in Catalonia in the 1980s and 1990s, Spaniards born in Catalonia, Latin American internationals, African and Asian internationals, and European and Australian internationals. This categorisation allows us to see the relationships between the different profiles and explain the processes in which structural factors and individual factors are interrelated and materialise in aspects such as availability of and access to linguistic capital and perception of the social meanings of linguistic practices. The results suggest that the trajectory of material, social and symbolic capitalisation of individuals once settled in Catalonia defines their position regarding sociolinguistic dynamics and their relationship with the Catalan language. Thus, people who have experienced upward social mobility are more likely to support policies favouring the revitalisation of Catalan, because they do not perceive the language as an impediment to successfully carrying out their life plans. In contrast, people who have experienced material or symbolic decapitalisation with respect to the past or with respect to their place of origin usually interpret the Catalan language as a factor contributing to this decapitalisation. On this basis, I have identified significant differences between Spanish and international participants, both in terms of how they circulate through sociolinguistic dynamics and their perception of the social meanings of linguistic practices. This results in three simultaneous dual sociolinguistic processes in which opposing dynamics take place in parallel: 1) a dual process of de-ethnicisation and re-ethnicisation of the Catalan language, 2) a dual process of blurring and re-establishment of the Catalan language as a mark of social class, and 3) a dual process of depoliticisation and repolitisation of language use in Catalonia. Thus, I show how the linguistic revitalisation policies initiated after the Franco regime have been counteracted by new demographic, political and socioeconomic processes.
Supervisors: Dr Maite Puigdevall and Dr Joan Pujolar
Address: Av. Tibidabo, 39-43
08035 Barcelona
Supervisors: Dr Maite Puigdevall and Dr Joan Pujolar
Address: Av. Tibidabo, 39-43
08035 Barcelona
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La recerca recent en l’àmbit sociolingüístic català indica que la tradicional dualitat entre “catalans” i “castellans” s’ha desdibuixat: tant llengua com identitat deixen, progressivament, d’estar condicionades pels orígens i la pertinença a un grup etnolingüístic determinat per passar a estar lligades a la trajectòria personal i el projecte de vida (Woolard i Frekko 2012). Així, “not everyone who embraces the Catalan identity has embraced the language, or viceversa” (Woolard 2016, 303). En aquest context, Pujolar i Gonzàlez (2012) indiquen que el paradigma sociolingüístic que havia predominat a Catalunya durant les darreres dècades del segle XX –caracteritzat per la percepció de grups etnolingüístics definits i desiguals pel que fa a l’estatus socioeconòmic dels seus membres–, tendeix a perdre vigència i ser contestat per les pràctiques quotidianes dels parlants. D’aquesta manera es produeix un procés de desetnització de la tria lingüística com a conseqüència de la bilingüització de la major part de la població. No obstant això, els mateixos autors apunten que en el context sociodemogràfic actual la llengua podria tornar-se a mobilitzar per construir noves categories socials referides a persones d’origen estranger.
Partint d’un corpus de 30 entrevistes i un grup de discussió duts a terme entre 2016 i 2017, aquesta comunicació analitza com es posicionen diversos perfils de no catalanoparlants davant de les categories socials de base lingüística presents a Catalunya; és a dir, explora les línies de discurs que circulen entre els grups de població que no s’han bilingüitzat pel que fa als usos, malgrat que en alguns casos tenen competència lingüística en català. Els resultats inicials indiquen que les persones d’origen espanyol, tant nascudes a Catalunya com a la resta de l’Estat, tendeixen a qüestionar, contestar o fins i tot negar el paradigma tradicional sobre límits entre grups etnolingüístics, així com les corresponents assumpcions pel que fa a llengua, pertinença a Catalunya, estatus socioeconòmic i estil de vida. Per altra banda, les persones d’origen estranger tendeixen a acceptar, i fins i tot reforçar, idees i discursos que semblaven en vies de desaparició, orientats a distingir i jerarquitzar grups socials en funció de la llengua. S’aprecia la construcció de noves categories socials de base lingüística: en primer lloc, per origen geogràfic –reetnització de la llengua– i, en segon lloc, per cercles socials –lligats a estatus socioeconòmic i estil de vida. Factors clau que condicionen els discursos sobre aquestes categoritzacions són les trajectòries de capitalització econòmica, cultural i simbòlica dels informants (Bourdieu 1991) i la seva percepció sobre el propi grau de capitalització inicial, que té conseqüències des del punt de vista de la desigualtat en la mesura en què es tradueix en legitimitat per actuar en diversos contextos socials.
Referències bibliogràfiques
Bourdieu, Pierre. 1991. Language & Symbolic Power. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Pujolar, Joan, i Isaac Gonzàlez. 2012. “Linguistic ‘mudes’ and the de-ethnicization of language choice in Catalonia”. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism 16(2): 138-152.
Woolard, Kathryn A. 2016. Singular and Plural. Ideologies of Linguistic Authority in 21st Century Catalonia. New York: Oxford University Press.
Woolard, Kathryn A. i Susan Frekko. 2012. “Catalan in the twenty-first century: romantic publics and cosmopolitan communities”. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism 16(2): 129-137.
According to official surveys, 56.6% of the inhabitants of Catalonia do not use Catalan as their everyday language, although 80.4% of the total population declare themselves being able to speak it (Generalitat de Catalunya 2015). People who do not tend to use Catalan in spite of living in Catalonia constitute a wide, blurred, and heterogeneous category because of its internal diversity regarding linguistic competence, places of origin, ethnolinguistic profiles, life trajectories, and, overall, levels of symbolic capitalisation. Most of them have experienced mobility, either from other parts of Spain (21.9% of the total population) or from other countries all around the world (19.1%): on the whole, 41% of the Catalan citizens were born outside of Catalonia (Generalitat de Catalunya 2015). The aim of this paper is to explore different profiles of non-Catalan speakers in terms of how they experience belonging, or not, to Catalonia. Also, it will examine their positioning in relation to socially available categorisations connected to languages, ethnocultural identity, socioeconomic status, and access to symbolic resources; and how they negotiate, accept, or challenge general assumptions regarding these categories.
Recent research shows that language choice in Catalonia is experiencing a process of de-ethnicization (Pujolar and Gonzàlez 2012). Traditional assumptions about language, ethnicity and social class based on the duality Catalans/Castilians –the latter mentioned, people from other parts of Spain who migrated to Catalonia during the 20th century– are being shifted by everyday speakers’ practices because most of these native speakers of Spanish and, especially their children, adopted Catalan as one of their languages. In this way, “Catalan linguistic authority is no longer firmly grounded in the authenticity value that sustained its legitimacy” (Woolard 2016, 300). However, this de-ethnicization trend does not seem to apply to new populations with origins outside of Spain, who do not tend to be addressed in Catalan by the natives. This could lead to the construction of new social categories based on language, indexicality, and ethnicity.
Fieldwork conducted during 2016 shows that place of origin is a variable that strongly conditions positioning both in terms of belonging and perception of social existing categories: Spanish nationals –born in or outside of Catalonia– tend to have a stronger feeling of belonging to Catalonia and challenge traditional assumptions regarding social available categories (i.e. boundaries between ethnolinguistic groups and social classes identified with each group). In contrast, foreign non-Catalan speakers tend to not develop this sense of belonging and, moreover, tend to accept or even reinforce assumptions regarding social categories that seemed to be in process of being left behind as a consequence of four decades of language revitalisation policies. This paper will look at how these dissimilar perspectives between two profiles of non-Catalan speakers become concrete, and what the possible consequences are for themselves and for the community.
Keywords: Catalonia; Non-Catalan speakers; mobility; belonging; social categories; ethnolinguistic groups
References
Generalitat de Catalunya. 2015. Enquesta d’Usos Lingüístics de la Població 2013. Barcelona: Generalitat de Catalunya.
Pujolar, Joan, and Isaac González. 2012. “Linguistic ‘Mudes’ and the de-Ethnicization of Language Choice in Catalonia”. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism 16 (2): 138-52.
Woolard, Kathryn. 2016. Singular and Plural. Ideologies of Linguistic Authority in 21st Century Catalonia. New York: Oxford University Press.
In recent decades many people from all around the word, from different backgrounds and under different circumstances, have established their residence in Barcelona, a cosmopolitan city where a minority language –Catalan– is spoken. Official census show that, in 2015, 353.246 of its 1.604.555 citizens –22% of the population– had been born in a foreign country (Idescat 2015). A portion of them have learnt the language and have incorporated it in their everyday linguistic repertoire: as an illustration, about 23.000 people registered for Catalan courses in the Centre de Normalització Lingüística de Barcelona (Catalan Language Centre of Barcelona) in 2014 (CNL 2015). However, another significant number of expats have not developed active skills in Catalan, despite the fact of being one of the official languages in the territory they are living in and having a considerable presence in public life. They belong, therefore, to the group of potential new speakers: the speakers who meet the elemental requirements for being new speakers, but, for a wide range of reasons, the necessary change has not taken place (Ramallo & O’Rourke 2014).
This oral presentation will examine recent data available about a specific profile within the potential new speakers group: the expats, medium and highly capitalized individuals working as educated professionals. We will look at how interrelations between language policies, life trajectories, and emotions condition linguistic practices among these speakers. The research is focused on the expats’ perception of the current Catalan language market (Bourdieu 1991) and their performances in the management of their linguistic capital as means of maintaining or gaining access to other kinds of capital (social, economic, cultural and, overall, symbolic capital). In this way, the paper aims to contribute to the understanding of linguistic dynamics as a reflection of social dynamics, involving sociohistorical processes and power relations between groups and individuals in the current globalisation context.
References
Bourdieu, Pierre. 1991. Language & Symbolic Power. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Centre de Normalització Lingüística de Barcelona (CNL). 2015. “Més dades del CNL de Barcelona” [More Details about the CNL of Barcelona]. Accessed March 16, 2016. <http://www.cpnl.cat/media/upload/pdf//e_mes_dades_del_cnl_de_barcelona_editora_128_12852_1.pdf>.
Idescat. 2015. “Padró municipal d’habitants Barcelona 2015” [Local Population Census]. Accessed March 16, 2016. <http://www.idescat.cat/>.
Ramallo, Fernando, and O’Rourke, Bernadette. 2014. ‘Profiles of New Speakers of Galician’. In Maite Puigdevall (coord.), “New Speakers of Minority Languages: Belonging and Legitimacy” [online dossier].
Digithum 16, pp. 59-66. UOC. Accessed March 16, 1016. <http://journals.uoc.edu/index.php/digithum/article/view/n16-ramallo-orourke>.
Books
Si hi ha un esdeveniment en què tot Tarragona s’aboca col·lectivament cap a una il·lusió comuna, aquest és sens dubte Santa Tecla. Any rere any, des de fa segles, la ciutat s’omple d’emoció per celebrar la festa major gran. I la festa, com totes les activitats humanes, genera paraules i expressions pròpies a mesura que va evolucionant: d’aquesta manera posem nom als conceptes antics i nous que hi estan relacionats.
Aquests noms, aquestes expressions, també formen part de la riquesa patrimonial de la festa —sense ser exhaustiu, aquest vocabulari presenta prop de 600 entrades— i esdevenen un element clau en la transmissió intergeneracional dels seus valors culturals, en la perpetuació de la celebració de Santa Tecla.
Aquest recull és la versió en línia del vocabulari Paraula de Tecla, elaborat per Enric Garriga, Mariona Savall i Marina Massaguer i editat per Arola Editors l’any 2010. Hi trobareu termes propis dels grups del Seguici, dels balls parlats, de les colles castelleres i dels teclers que participen d’alguna manera o altra en la festa. Alguns segur que els feu servir i d’altres us resultaran familiars, però segurament també en descobrireu de vells i de nous que desconeixíeu i potser us sorprendran... Paraula de Tecla!
Book Reviews
La recerca recent en l’àmbit sociolingüístic català indica que la tradicional dualitat entre “catalans” i “castellans” s’ha desdibuixat: tant llengua com identitat deixen, progressivament, d’estar condicionades pels orígens i la pertinença a un grup etnolingüístic determinat per passar a estar lligades a la trajectòria personal i el projecte de vida (Woolard i Frekko 2012). Així, “not everyone who embraces the Catalan identity has embraced the language, or viceversa” (Woolard 2016, 303). En aquest context, Pujolar i Gonzàlez (2012) indiquen que el paradigma sociolingüístic que havia predominat a Catalunya durant les darreres dècades del segle XX –caracteritzat per la percepció de grups etnolingüístics definits i desiguals pel que fa a l’estatus socioeconòmic dels seus membres–, tendeix a perdre vigència i ser contestat per les pràctiques quotidianes dels parlants. D’aquesta manera es produeix un procés de desetnització de la tria lingüística com a conseqüència de la bilingüització de la major part de la població. No obstant això, els mateixos autors apunten que en el context sociodemogràfic actual la llengua podria tornar-se a mobilitzar per construir noves categories socials referides a persones d’origen estranger.
Partint d’un corpus de 30 entrevistes i un grup de discussió duts a terme entre 2016 i 2017, aquesta comunicació analitza com es posicionen diversos perfils de no catalanoparlants davant de les categories socials de base lingüística presents a Catalunya; és a dir, explora les línies de discurs que circulen entre els grups de població que no s’han bilingüitzat pel que fa als usos, malgrat que en alguns casos tenen competència lingüística en català. Els resultats inicials indiquen que les persones d’origen espanyol, tant nascudes a Catalunya com a la resta de l’Estat, tendeixen a qüestionar, contestar o fins i tot negar el paradigma tradicional sobre límits entre grups etnolingüístics, així com les corresponents assumpcions pel que fa a llengua, pertinença a Catalunya, estatus socioeconòmic i estil de vida. Per altra banda, les persones d’origen estranger tendeixen a acceptar, i fins i tot reforçar, idees i discursos que semblaven en vies de desaparició, orientats a distingir i jerarquitzar grups socials en funció de la llengua. S’aprecia la construcció de noves categories socials de base lingüística: en primer lloc, per origen geogràfic –reetnització de la llengua– i, en segon lloc, per cercles socials –lligats a estatus socioeconòmic i estil de vida. Factors clau que condicionen els discursos sobre aquestes categoritzacions són les trajectòries de capitalització econòmica, cultural i simbòlica dels informants (Bourdieu 1991) i la seva percepció sobre el propi grau de capitalització inicial, que té conseqüències des del punt de vista de la desigualtat en la mesura en què es tradueix en legitimitat per actuar en diversos contextos socials.
Referències bibliogràfiques
Bourdieu, Pierre. 1991. Language & Symbolic Power. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Pujolar, Joan, i Isaac Gonzàlez. 2012. “Linguistic ‘mudes’ and the de-ethnicization of language choice in Catalonia”. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism 16(2): 138-152.
Woolard, Kathryn A. 2016. Singular and Plural. Ideologies of Linguistic Authority in 21st Century Catalonia. New York: Oxford University Press.
Woolard, Kathryn A. i Susan Frekko. 2012. “Catalan in the twenty-first century: romantic publics and cosmopolitan communities”. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism 16(2): 129-137.
According to official surveys, 56.6% of the inhabitants of Catalonia do not use Catalan as their everyday language, although 80.4% of the total population declare themselves being able to speak it (Generalitat de Catalunya 2015). People who do not tend to use Catalan in spite of living in Catalonia constitute a wide, blurred, and heterogeneous category because of its internal diversity regarding linguistic competence, places of origin, ethnolinguistic profiles, life trajectories, and, overall, levels of symbolic capitalisation. Most of them have experienced mobility, either from other parts of Spain (21.9% of the total population) or from other countries all around the world (19.1%): on the whole, 41% of the Catalan citizens were born outside of Catalonia (Generalitat de Catalunya 2015). The aim of this paper is to explore different profiles of non-Catalan speakers in terms of how they experience belonging, or not, to Catalonia. Also, it will examine their positioning in relation to socially available categorisations connected to languages, ethnocultural identity, socioeconomic status, and access to symbolic resources; and how they negotiate, accept, or challenge general assumptions regarding these categories.
Recent research shows that language choice in Catalonia is experiencing a process of de-ethnicization (Pujolar and Gonzàlez 2012). Traditional assumptions about language, ethnicity and social class based on the duality Catalans/Castilians –the latter mentioned, people from other parts of Spain who migrated to Catalonia during the 20th century– are being shifted by everyday speakers’ practices because most of these native speakers of Spanish and, especially their children, adopted Catalan as one of their languages. In this way, “Catalan linguistic authority is no longer firmly grounded in the authenticity value that sustained its legitimacy” (Woolard 2016, 300). However, this de-ethnicization trend does not seem to apply to new populations with origins outside of Spain, who do not tend to be addressed in Catalan by the natives. This could lead to the construction of new social categories based on language, indexicality, and ethnicity.
Fieldwork conducted during 2016 shows that place of origin is a variable that strongly conditions positioning both in terms of belonging and perception of social existing categories: Spanish nationals –born in or outside of Catalonia– tend to have a stronger feeling of belonging to Catalonia and challenge traditional assumptions regarding social available categories (i.e. boundaries between ethnolinguistic groups and social classes identified with each group). In contrast, foreign non-Catalan speakers tend to not develop this sense of belonging and, moreover, tend to accept or even reinforce assumptions regarding social categories that seemed to be in process of being left behind as a consequence of four decades of language revitalisation policies. This paper will look at how these dissimilar perspectives between two profiles of non-Catalan speakers become concrete, and what the possible consequences are for themselves and for the community.
Keywords: Catalonia; Non-Catalan speakers; mobility; belonging; social categories; ethnolinguistic groups
References
Generalitat de Catalunya. 2015. Enquesta d’Usos Lingüístics de la Població 2013. Barcelona: Generalitat de Catalunya.
Pujolar, Joan, and Isaac González. 2012. “Linguistic ‘Mudes’ and the de-Ethnicization of Language Choice in Catalonia”. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism 16 (2): 138-52.
Woolard, Kathryn. 2016. Singular and Plural. Ideologies of Linguistic Authority in 21st Century Catalonia. New York: Oxford University Press.
In recent decades many people from all around the word, from different backgrounds and under different circumstances, have established their residence in Barcelona, a cosmopolitan city where a minority language –Catalan– is spoken. Official census show that, in 2015, 353.246 of its 1.604.555 citizens –22% of the population– had been born in a foreign country (Idescat 2015). A portion of them have learnt the language and have incorporated it in their everyday linguistic repertoire: as an illustration, about 23.000 people registered for Catalan courses in the Centre de Normalització Lingüística de Barcelona (Catalan Language Centre of Barcelona) in 2014 (CNL 2015). However, another significant number of expats have not developed active skills in Catalan, despite the fact of being one of the official languages in the territory they are living in and having a considerable presence in public life. They belong, therefore, to the group of potential new speakers: the speakers who meet the elemental requirements for being new speakers, but, for a wide range of reasons, the necessary change has not taken place (Ramallo & O’Rourke 2014).
This oral presentation will examine recent data available about a specific profile within the potential new speakers group: the expats, medium and highly capitalized individuals working as educated professionals. We will look at how interrelations between language policies, life trajectories, and emotions condition linguistic practices among these speakers. The research is focused on the expats’ perception of the current Catalan language market (Bourdieu 1991) and their performances in the management of their linguistic capital as means of maintaining or gaining access to other kinds of capital (social, economic, cultural and, overall, symbolic capital). In this way, the paper aims to contribute to the understanding of linguistic dynamics as a reflection of social dynamics, involving sociohistorical processes and power relations between groups and individuals in the current globalisation context.
References
Bourdieu, Pierre. 1991. Language & Symbolic Power. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Centre de Normalització Lingüística de Barcelona (CNL). 2015. “Més dades del CNL de Barcelona” [More Details about the CNL of Barcelona]. Accessed March 16, 2016. <http://www.cpnl.cat/media/upload/pdf//e_mes_dades_del_cnl_de_barcelona_editora_128_12852_1.pdf>.
Idescat. 2015. “Padró municipal d’habitants Barcelona 2015” [Local Population Census]. Accessed March 16, 2016. <http://www.idescat.cat/>.
Ramallo, Fernando, and O’Rourke, Bernadette. 2014. ‘Profiles of New Speakers of Galician’. In Maite Puigdevall (coord.), “New Speakers of Minority Languages: Belonging and Legitimacy” [online dossier].
Digithum 16, pp. 59-66. UOC. Accessed March 16, 1016. <http://journals.uoc.edu/index.php/digithum/article/view/n16-ramallo-orourke>.
Si hi ha un esdeveniment en què tot Tarragona s’aboca col·lectivament cap a una il·lusió comuna, aquest és sens dubte Santa Tecla. Any rere any, des de fa segles, la ciutat s’omple d’emoció per celebrar la festa major gran. I la festa, com totes les activitats humanes, genera paraules i expressions pròpies a mesura que va evolucionant: d’aquesta manera posem nom als conceptes antics i nous que hi estan relacionats.
Aquests noms, aquestes expressions, també formen part de la riquesa patrimonial de la festa —sense ser exhaustiu, aquest vocabulari presenta prop de 600 entrades— i esdevenen un element clau en la transmissió intergeneracional dels seus valors culturals, en la perpetuació de la celebració de Santa Tecla.
Aquest recull és la versió en línia del vocabulari Paraula de Tecla, elaborat per Enric Garriga, Mariona Savall i Marina Massaguer i editat per Arola Editors l’any 2010. Hi trobareu termes propis dels grups del Seguici, dels balls parlats, de les colles castelleres i dels teclers que participen d’alguna manera o altra en la festa. Alguns segur que els feu servir i d’altres us resultaran familiars, però segurament també en descobrireu de vells i de nous que desconeixíeu i potser us sorprendran... Paraula de Tecla!