<div dir="ltr"><h1 id="gmail-headline" class="gmail-headline" style="visibility: visible;">Italy’s Last Bastion of Catalan Language Struggles to Keep It Alive</h1>
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<p class="gmail-byline-dateline"><span class="gmail-byline">By <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/by/raphael-minder" title="More Articles by RAPHAEL MINDER"><span class="gmail-byline-author">RAPHAEL MINDER</span></a></span><time class="gmail-dateline" datetime="2016-11-22T09:45:30-05:00">NOV. 21, 2016</time>
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<figcaption class="gmail-caption">
<span class="gmail-caption-text">A street in Alghero, a port
city in Sardinia. The traditional insularity of Alghero has helped to
preserve Catalan, but the language is fading even here.</span>
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Alessandro Grassani for The New York Times </span>
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<p class="gmail-story-body-text gmail-story-content" id="gmail-story-continues-1">ALGHERO,
Italy — The first Catalans reached Sardinia in the 14th century, when
troops sailed from the eastern coast of what is now Spain as part of an
expansion into the Mediterranean.</p><p class="gmail-story-body-text gmail-story-content">After
an uprising slaughtered the forces garrisoned in this northern port on
the island, King Peter IV expelled many of the locals. In their place,
he populated Alghero mostly with convicts, prostitutes and other
undesirables, many of them Catalans.</p><p class="gmail-story-body-text gmail-story-content">Today,
Alghero is a linguistic anomaly. This walled and picturesque city is,
quite literally, the last bastion of Catalan in Italy.</p><figure id="gmail-algheromap" class="gmail-interactive gmail-interactive-embedded gmail-limit-small gmail-layout-flex-medium">
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<div id="gmail-g-1122-web-ALGHEROmap-box" class="gmail-ai2html">
<div id="gmail-g-1122-web-ALGHEROmap-460" class="gmail-g-artboard gmail-g-artboard-v3" style="display:block">
<div id="gmail-g-1122-web-ALGHEROmap-460-graphic">
<img id="gmail-g-ai0-0" class="gmail-g-aiImg" src="https://static01.nyt.com/newsgraphics/2016/11/21/algheromap/69c7828d5cbe5aa2e3e0ffb168bf0648b2f4d9d0/1122-web-ALGHEROmap-460.png">
<div id="gmail-g-ai0-1" class="gmail-g-coastline gmail-g-aiAbs" style="top: 2.6923%; left: 78.1624%;">
<p class="gmail-g-aiPstyle0">AUST.</p>
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<div id="gmail-g-ai0-2" class="gmail-g-type gmail-g-aiAbs" style="top: 6.5385%; left: 2.6094%;">
<p class="gmail-g-aiPstyle1">300 Miles</p>
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<div id="gmail-g-ai0-3" class="gmail-g-coastline gmail-g-aiAbs" style="width:17.0699%">
<p class="gmail-g-aiPstyle2">SWITZ.</p>
</div>
<div id="gmail-g-ai0-4" class="gmail-g-coastline gmail-g-aiAbs" style="width:29.7686%">
<p class="gmail-g-aiPstyle3">Bay of Biscay</p>
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<div id="gmail-g-ai0-5" class="gmail-g-coastline gmail-g-aiAbs" style="top: 16.1538%; left: 41.2158%;">
<p class="gmail-g-aiPstyle0">FRANCE</p>
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<div id="gmail-g-ai0-6" class="gmail-g-coastline gmail-g-aiAbs" style="top: 18.4615%; left: 62.0856%;">
<p class="gmail-g-aiPstyle4">Turin</p>
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<div id="gmail-g-ai0-7" class="gmail-g-coastline gmail-g-aiAbs" style="top: 35.3846%; left: 72.5616%;">
<p class="gmail-g-aiPstyle4">ITALY</p>
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<div id="gmail-g-ai0-8" class="gmail-g-coastline gmail-g-aiAbs" style="top: 41.9231%; right: 55.4775%;">
<p class="gmail-g-aiPstyle5">CATALONIA</p>
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<div id="gmail-g-ai0-9" class="gmail-g-coastline gmail-g-aiAbs" style="width:16.7693%">
<p class="gmail-g-aiPstyle6">Madrid</p>
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<div id="gmail-g-ai0-10" class="gmail-g-coastline gmail-g-aiAbs" style="top: 47.6923%; left: 44.3504%;">
<p class="gmail-g-aiPstyle4">Barcelona</p>
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<div id="gmail-g-ai0-11" class="gmail-g-coastline gmail-g-aiAbs" style="top: 48.8462%; right: 83.9466%;">
<p class="gmail-g-aiPstyle7">PORTUGAL</p>
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<div id="gmail-g-ai0-12" class="gmail-g-coastline gmail-g-aiAbs" style="top: 56.5385%; right: 37.5021%;">
<p class="gmail-g-aiPstyle8">Alghero</p>
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<div id="gmail-g-ai0-13" class="gmail-g-coastline gmail-g-aiAbs" style="top: 60%; left: 64.4778%;">
<p class="gmail-g-aiPstyle9">Sardinia</p>
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<div id="gmail-g-ai0-14" class="gmail-g-coastline gmail-g-aiAbs" style="top: 61.9231%; left: 17.6464%;">
<p class="gmail-g-aiPstyle4">SPAIN</p>
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<div id="gmail-g-ai0-15" class="gmail-g-coastline gmail-g-aiAbs" style="width:42.3488%">
<p class="gmail-g-aiPstyle3">Mediterranean Sea</p>
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<div id="gmail-g-ai0-16" class="gmail-g-coastline gmail-g-aiAbs" style="top: 75.3846%; left: 79.5733%;">
<p class="gmail-g-aiPstyle9">Sicily</p>
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<div id="gmail-g-ai0-17" class="gmail-g-coastline gmail-g-aiAbs" style="top: 81.9231%; right: 87.861%;">
<p class="gmail-g-aiPstyle10">Strait of</p>
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<div id="gmail-g-ai0-18" class="gmail-g-coastline gmail-g-aiAbs" style="top: 81.9231%; left: 16.2218%;">
<p class="gmail-g-aiPstyle11">Gibraltar</p>
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<div id="gmail-g-ai0-19" class="gmail-g-coastline gmail-g-aiAbs" style="width:21.1842%">
<p class="gmail-g-aiPstyle2">ALGERIA</p>
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<div id="gmail-g-ai0-20" class="gmail-g-coastline gmail-g-aiAbs" style="top: 90.7692%; left: 63.8179%;">
<p class="gmail-g-aiPstyle0">TUNISIA</p>
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<div id="gmail-g-ai0-21" class="gmail-g-coastline gmail-g-aiAbs" style="width:26.5094%">
<p class="gmail-g-aiPstyle2">MOROCCO</p>
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By The New York Times </div>
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<p class="gmail-story-body-text gmail-story-content">In
an age when people cling ever more tightly to national identity, the
lingering use of Catalan in Alghero is a reminder of the ways
Mediterranean cultures have blended for centuries, rendering identity a
fluid thing.</p><p class="gmail-story-body-text gmail-story-content">But while the traditional insularity of Alghero has helped to preserve Catalan, the language is struggling to survive even here.</p>
<p class="gmail-story-body-text gmail-story-content" id="gmail-story-continues-2">Only
about one-quarter of the 43,000 inhabitants of Alghero speak Catalan as
a main language, according to local officials. It is hardly spoken
among younger people and barely taught in schools. Nearly a century ago,
almost everyone spoke Catalan, according to a census conducted in 1921.</p><figure id="gmail-media-100000004779825" class="gmail-media gmail-photo embedded gmail-layout-large-horizontal gmail-media-100000004779825 gmail-ratio-tall">
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<span class="gmail-caption-text">Joan-Elies Adell is tasked
with promoting Catalan culture in Alghero. “People have to start
understanding that they risk losing a unique cultural treasure,” he
said.</span>
<span class="gmail-credit">
<span class="gmail-visually-hidden">Credit</span>
Alessandro Grassani for The New York Times </span>
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<p class="gmail-story-body-text gmail-story-content">“You
can organize conferences, publish books and do many other things, but
speaking is the only thing that really keeps a language alive,” said
Sara Alivesi, a journalist who writes for the newspaper group behind
Alghero’s only online publication in Catalan.</p><p class="gmail-story-body-text gmail-story-content">“The
sad reality is that I think people here have other worries and don’t
value how much the language is really a unique characteristic of our
city,” Ms. Alivesi said.</p><p class="gmail-story-body-text gmail-story-content">After
Sardinia was taken over by the Turin-based House of Savoy in 1720,
eventually becoming part of what is modern-day Italy, the Catalan
language virtually disappeared on the island.</p><p class="gmail-story-body-text gmail-story-content">Now,
Catalan is not only overshadowed by Italian, but it must also compete
for recognition with a handful of other languages and dialects,
including the dominant indigenous language, Sardinian.</p><p class="gmail-story-body-text gmail-story-content">Catalan
is rarely heard on the streets in Alghero, though many signs are
written in the language. Restaurants also label some of their dishes as
Catalan, including a local version of paella.</p><p class="gmail-story-body-text gmail-story-content">The language’s decline here stands in contrast to its status in the Iberian Peninsula, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/12/world/europe/with-spain-in-political-deal-catalans-renew-calls-for-independence.html?rref=collection%2Fbyline%2Fraphael-minder&action=click&contentCollection=undefined®ion=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=8&pgtype=collection">where it has seen </a><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/12/world/europe/with-spain-in-political-deal-catalans-renew-calls-for-independence.html?rref=collection%2Fbyline%2Fraphael-minder&action=click&contentCollection=undefined®ion=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=8&pgtype=collection"> a revival </a><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/12/world/europe/with-spain-in-political-deal-catalans-renew-calls-for-independence.html?rref=collection%2Fbyline%2Fraphael-minder&action=click&contentCollection=undefined®ion=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=8&pgtype=collection"> since the late 1970s</a>, when Spain’s return to democracy ended a ban on Catalan imposed during the dictatorship of Francisco Franco.</p><p class="gmail-story-body-text gmail-story-content">Franco’s
ban did not snuff out the language. In fact, the private use of Catalan
became a form of quiet resistance to the dictatorship. In Italy,
meanwhile, the use of Catalan was neither prohibited nor encouraged.</p><figure id="gmail-media-100000004779826" class="gmail-media gmail-photo embedded gmail-layout-large-horizontal gmail-media-100000004779826 gmail-ratio-tall">
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<figcaption class="gmail-caption">
<span class="gmail-caption-text">Sara Alivesi, a journalist
with a local Catalan online publication. “You can organize conferences,
publish books and do many other things, but speaking is the only thing
that really keeps a language alive,” she said.</span>
<span class="gmail-credit">
<span class="gmail-visually-hidden">Credit</span>
Alessandro Grassani for The New York Times </span>
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<p class="gmail-story-body-text gmail-story-content">In
1999, Italy adopted a law to defend 12 historic minority languages,
including Catalan. But local officials complain that it has not helped
expand the use of the language, particularly within Italy’s heavily
centralized education system.</p><div class="gmail-signup-favor gmail-dropzone-13 gmail-ab-test-newsletter-buffet" id="gmail-signup-favor">
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<p class="gmail-story-body-text gmail-story-content">“The
Italian education system has long spread the idea that it’s not useful
and perhaps confusing to teach such a language alongside Italian,” said
Joan-Elies Adell, who leads the office of the Catalan regional
government in Alghero, which has the task of promoting Catalan culture.</p>
<p class="gmail-story-body-text gmail-story-content" id="gmail-story-continues-3">“It
can be harder to overcome such an idea than oppression,” said Mr.
Adell, whose office has a pile of unused Catalan textbooks.</p><p class="gmail-story-body-text gmail-story-content">“The books are not lost and could still be used, whenever Catalan actually gets taught more here,” he added.</p><p class="gmail-story-body-text gmail-story-content">As
part of a trial state project, some schools in Alghero now offer
lessons in Catalan. Three associations give weekly Catalan classes to
about 150 adults, but they are run by volunteers and operate only half
the year.</p><p class="gmail-story-body-text gmail-story-content">Mr.
Adell noted that some schoolchildren went on to study in Barcelona, the
main city in Catalonia. But he acknowledged that, for Catalan to be
safeguarded, “people have to start understanding that they risk losing a
unique cultural treasure.”</p><p class="gmail-story-body-text gmail-story-content">Experts,
however, sounded despondent about Catalan’s future in Alghero, and
about the way the Italian authorities have handled minority languages in
general.</p><figure id="gmail-media-100000004779827" class="gmail-media gmail-photo embedded gmail-layout-large-horizontal gmail-media-100000004779827 gmail-ratio-tall">
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<figcaption class="gmail-caption">
<span class="gmail-caption-text">Catalan textbooks. “The
Italian education system has long spread the idea that it’s not useful
and perhaps confusing to teach such a language alongside Italian,” Mr.
Adell said.</span>
<span class="gmail-credit">
<span class="gmail-visually-hidden">Credit</span>
Alessandro Grassani for The New York Times </span>
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<p class="gmail-story-body-text gmail-story-content">“For
a certain period, they faked it, because it was politically correct to
say that you wanted to enhance languages,” said Francesco Ballone, a
local linguist who has a doctorate in applied phonetics from the
Autonomous University of Barcelona. “Now, that period is finished.”</p><p class="gmail-story-body-text gmail-story-content">Still, some here are hoping to fan the embers of the language.</p><p class="gmail-story-body-text gmail-story-content">Claudia
Crabuzza, 41, a singer from Alghero, said she did not speak Catalan
with her partner and their three children. But she decided to release
her latest album this year in Catalan, and won one of Italy’s most
prestigious music awards in the process. She recorded her songs in
Catalonia, with musicians from Spain’s northeastern region.</p>
<p class="gmail-story-body-text gmail-story-content" id="gmail-story-continues-4">Learning Catalan, she hoped, would take her on a cultural and personal journey back to her roots.</p><p class="gmail-story-body-text gmail-story-content">“Like
many other people from my generation, I had grandparents who spoke
Catalan, but the family language transmission was then broken once my
parents spoke Italian to me,” Ms. Crabuzza said.</p><p class="gmail-story-body-text gmail-story-content">“But
I knew that I had Catalan deep inside me, like a treasure worth making
the effort to rediscover,” she said, adding that Catalan enabled her to
“express my feelings in a different and probably more intimate way than
using Italian.”</p><p class="gmail-story-body-text gmail-story-content">But few seem to share Ms. Crabuzza’s passion for rediscovering their Catalan identity.</p><p class="gmail-story-body-text gmail-story-content">Even
if children are not taught Catalan at school, some could still learn
the language from older residents like Gavino Monte, 80, who keeps fit
by cycling around the city every morning.</p><p class="gmail-story-body-text gmail-story-content">Mr. Monte said that he spoke only Algherese, which is what the locals call their dialect of Catalan, to his five grandchildren.</p><p class="gmail-story-body-text gmail-story-content">“It should stay our family language,” he said.</p><p class="gmail-story-body-text gmail-story-content">NYTimes 11/22/16<br></p><br clear="all"><br>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature">**************************************<br>N.b.: Listing on the lgpolicy-list is merely intended as a service to its members<br>and implies neither approval, confirmation nor agreement by the owner or sponsor of the list as to the veracity of a message's contents. Members who disagree with a message are encouraged to post a rebuttal, and to write directly to the original sender of any offensive message. A copy of this may be forwarded to this list as well. (H. Schiffman, Moderator)<br><br>For more information about the lgpolicy-list, go to <a href="https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/" target="_blank">https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/</a><br>listinfo/lgpolicy-list<br>*******************************************</div>
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