Speaking in Tongues? A comparative study of minoritised languages in The Basque Country, Catalonia and Galicia

Abstract

The present thesis looks at regional languages in Spain, specifically the Basque, Catalan and Galician languages in the autonomous communities of the Basque Country, Catalonia and Galicia. Although they all enjoy co-official status alongside Castilian (Spanish) within their regions, there is still much to be done for these languages to attain equality, as Castilian is far and beyond the dominant language of the nation state. There is more linking these languages and language communities than meets the eye – in fact, although these are often presented as separate foreign languages, mutual comprehension is relatively high between languages such as Castilian, Catalan and Galician as they form part of the same linguistic family. Hearing these regional languages may sound like speaking in tongues for Castilian speakers who have not yet learnt to understand them, but they are not so far removed so as to be impossible to come to understand. Joshua Fishman may claim that language revitalisation cannot be based on acts of charity by outsiders, but by the same token it could be argued that it should not be undertaken by the minoritised speech community alone – language revitalisation is a society-wide issue and as such must be embraced (or at least not actively rejected) by the entire community. With this in mind, a look at the situation of regional languages in Spain shows that, although often relegated to a mere “regional issue”, this is a topic which affects a large section of Spanish society. Despite this evidence, in reality the task of promoting and protecting regional languages falls squarely within these regions and these regions alone. There has been some co-operation between the affected regions regarding language matters, but this has largely been a sporadic, symbolic, and ultimately ineffectual enterprise without concrete results. Beyond the differences between these three languages and the regions in which they are spoken lies a fundamental similarity in what they need in order to flourish, and the pressures and difficulties they face nowadays. A comprehensive, co-operative approach to language revitalisation would be key to allowing these communities to learn from each other, share their successes and support each other for greater visibility and a more powerful voice in support of Spain’s regional languages. It is my aim with this thesis to investigate the areas where this kind of collaboration could effectuate major improvements and to state the case that the pursuit of trans-regional collaboration can be both a worthwhile and achievable goal. I begin by first focussing on and providing a general overview of the current state of these three regional languages, followed by an analysis and comparison of the different educational systems in place in their respective autonomous communities. Continuing on from this, I explore various other factors that have an effect on language use, looking at the over-archingly large (the European Union) and narrowing down to the much less visible (speaker attitudes). An overview of some relevant sociolinguistic theories as well as terminology and definitions leads on to a foray into statistics concerning language use and speakers, and the final section sets out economic and political changes that have affected Spain since 2008 and how these have impacted on language issues within these regions.