Language policy in education and ethnic relations in Catalonia, (1993-96)

Abstract

This thesis is the result of research into the impact on the population of Catalonia of Catalan normalisation policies ('normalisation' in this context refers to the Catalan Government's intention to return Catalan to its rightful place as Catalonia's own language) in education in terms of language behaviour and ethnic relations. Chapter one focuses on the concepts of Bilingualism and Diglossia and how they have been employed in the Catalan context. Chapter two is a review of the relevant literature related to the Catalan situation. Chapter three is a narrative account of the political context of the period under study. Chapter four describes the methodologies and the results obtained from the fieldwork. Chapter five summarises the contributions of the preceding chapters, clarifies the grounded theory generated by this research project and draws conclusions. The theory and methods used to investigate this topic are drawn from sociolinguistics and psycholinguistics, sociology and social anthropology, resulting in a multidisciplinary approach to the material. The wider political context of the Spanish state as a whole is thought to be a crucial factor to be considered in the investigation of ethnic relations within the autonomous region of Catalonia. The relationship between the central state and the region of Catalonia as history has unfolded has had its impact on the modern context of democracy and autonomy. The language attitudes and relations between members of the ethnolinguistic groups in Catalonia are a product of struggles and experiences that have been shared over generations. The fieldwork for this thesis was carried out primarily in Igualada at the beginning of 1993, shortly after the general election when the Socialists lost their overall majority. The research methodologies were qualitative in nature and consisted of: a report on newspaper debates and public discourse concerning the political context of the implementation of language policy. Private discourses were researched by interviews with teachers, pupils and parents associated with the three secondary schools in Igualada, observation of linguistic interaction both in the school environment and in a variety of social contexts, and participation observation of everyday life. The results and conclusions include a discussion of the evidence that the power relationship between the Castilian and Catalan ethnolinguistic groups is of importance to the success enjoyed by policies aimed at the 'normalisation' of the Catalan language. However, it is pointed out that, far from being stable or predictable, the situation of language and ethnic competition is changing and dynamic.