Reversing the low social use of Catalan
Fears about a “linguistic emergency” grow as studies show decline in social use of Catalan
The downward trend in the social use of Catalan, which linguists have been predicting for some time, is being described by some as a “linguistic emergency”. According to UNESCO, when a language has a social use of less than 30%, it is in danger of extinction.
“These are indisputable data, and this has been known for a long time,” says Francesc Bernat, professor of Catalan philology at the University of Barcelona (UB) and a specialist in the history of the language, in response to the findings of the recent Survey of Language Use among the Population.
Bernat believes there is a need for the situation to be acknowledged and for “exceptional measures” to be implemented, which does not mean offering more Catalan courses, as announced by the Minister of Language Policy, Francesc Xavier Vila. Bernat warns that social use among under-25s has been below 30% for years and is therefore in the process of “galloping linguistic substitution”. However, he notes that, “as a general rule, Catalans are not abandoning the language”, which is what normally happens in the processes of linguistic substitution.
Bernat believes that the situation Catalan is currently experiencing is due to the drop in the birth rate and the continuous arrival of people from abroad who “have no need to learn Catalan”, hence the importance of Catalan becoming an “essential” language.
“It’s necessary to create the imperative need to know and use Catalan” in order to work, for example. He therefore calls for a tightening of the regulations and, above all, sanctions for those who do not comply with the law, from teachers who skip the obligation to teach in Catalan in schools to commercial chains that ignore Catalan. However, these are measures that neither previous governments nor the current one dare to implement because they are unpopular and can hurt sensitivities. Bernat warns that given the current state of social use, either we act in a “forceful” way or we will have to “accept that our grandchildren will no longer speak Catalan”.
The role of the State
Similarly, Avel·lí Flors Mas, professor of sociolinguistics at the UB, describes the data as “worrying”, although “predictable” taking into account demographics and birth rates.
When looking for the reasons, Flors points to the Spanish State, which “has repeatedly denied” that Catalan could aspire to a “status even equal to Spanish”. That is why he believes that without “linguistic sovereignty”, without the ability to make its own policies, it is difficult to reverse “such a pronounced” minority situation. However, Flors insists that the Catalan government does have “mechanisms and institutions” that allow it to work in favour of incorporating new speakers, and that these should “be activated and function better”.
Flors agrees with Bernat that it is necessary to be stricter, by way of example, “with the real language training of public workers and to strengthen the role of Catalan as a vehicular language in education”. This will ensure that children and adolescents leave school with a “high” knowledge of the language that allows them to use it on an equal footing with Spanish. Also, to extend the right to choose Catalan “in all spheres of life”, whether in shops, restaurants and services, which will have to be accompanied by “greater language training for workers”.
And, finally, as the minister himself commented and entities such as Òmnium have expressed, Flors warns that there is a need for “a responsibility of civil society” and of the people themselves, who must get used to speaking Catalan in all areas and also with the newly arrived population.
In this respect, Ferran Suay, the president of the Tallers per la Llengua organisation, which has been providing courses for Catalan speakers to acquire the tools to remain using Catalan since 2004, regrets that Catalans have assumed switching languages “as a habit”. It seems to have become the norm that “you can be questioned if you speak in Catalan, but not if you speak in Spanish”. This trend of substituting Catalan for Spanish in social situations leads Suay to the conclusion that: “This habit is lethal. It kills the language.”
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