Linguistic ‘mudes’ and the de-ethnicization of language choice in Catalonia

Abstract

Catalan speakers have traditionally constructed the Catalan language as the main emblem of their identity even as migration filled the country with substantial numbers of speakers of Castilian . Although Catalan speakers have been bilingual in Catalan and Castilian for generations, sociolinguistic research has shown how speakers' bilingual practices have always been sensitive to keeping a clear sense of the boundaries between the languages and between their communities of speakers. The norms of language choice in everyday life have reflected this as Catalans have tended to use Catalan basically between those considered to "be" Catalan. This paper shows that this situation is gradually changing due to new conditions of mobility and access to language, that is, because most native speakers of Castilian are now bilingual and speak Catalan often in everyday life. On the basis of a corpus of 25 interviews and 15 group discussions conducted in Catalonia with a sample of young people of different profiles, we show that young people in Catalonia increasingly rely on prima facie linguistic behavior rather than ethnolinguistic classification to decide which language to speak in specific contexts, so that language use loses its earlier function of ethnolinguistic boundary maintenance.

Teaching the Romanian neighbors Hungarian: language ideologies and the Debrecen Summer School

“…This indicates that different types of instruction might be needed by those who come from areas where Hungarian is present in the environment. The interviews also provide a good example of instances where long held language ideologies change throughout life (see Woolard 2013;Pujolar and Gonzales 2013), in our case contact with the language at the DSS, and thus, changed requirements for language ideological reorientation.…”

Language Ideologies and Learning Historical Minority Languages

“…The voluntary adult learners not only voiced general stereotypes like children in other studies (Martínez-Roldán & Malavé 2004), but as adults they also reflected on them in detail and contested many of the widespread beliefs and ideas over the minority language and learning it in the majority communities. The adult learners provide a good example of what is required in regards to a language ideological reorientation-a possible change during the lifetime (Woolard 2013;Pujolar & Gonzales 2013)-to replace the common concept of minority languages as "parochial and destabilizing" (May 2012: 84) to a minority language as a resource ideology. As a conclusion, from a political perspective, there is a need to replace the one state one language idea, with the ideology of mutual linguistic accommodation toward cohabitating a state or a region.…”

“…Pujolar 2007). Parallel to such ventures (Pujolar & Gonzales 2013), my study concerns voluntary adult learners, which is a relatively under-researched area in general (but see Oh & Nash 2014). Studies on "new" Catalan-speakers have demonstrated that linguistic practices and language ideologies may change throughout life (Woolard 2013; for a similar case in South Tyrol, see Cavagnoli & Nardin 1999).…”

“…For example, heritage language learning studies usually focus on language as inheritance and the reproduction of native speakers, disregarding out-group learners (cf. Spolsky 2010; Guardado 2014; for exceptions see Pujolar 2007;Pujolar & Gonzales 2013;Oh & Nash 2014). My approach draws on current sociolinguistic theory and is not committed to the traditional perspectives.…”

La conversió en nous parlants d’irlandès: les mudes lingüístiques al llarg del cicle vital

“…En el cas del català, aquests canvis poden ser dràstics i reflecteixen la forta presència social i institucional de la llengua. L'irlandès està en una posició més feble, així que la intenció d'aquest article és aclarir com funcionen les mudes en el cas de llengües minoritàries que no es parlen tan àmpliament ni tenen el mateix suport institucional que el català (Pujolar i Gonzàlez, 2013;Pujolar i Puigdevall Serralvo, 2015).…”