LL-L: "Language survival" LOWLANDS-L, 20.FEB.2001 (03) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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L O W L A N D S - L * 20.FEB.2001 (03) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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A=Afrikaans, Ap=Appalachean, D=Dutch, E=English, F=Frisian, L=Limburgish
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From: Ian James Parsley <parsleyij at yahoo.com>
Subject: "Language survival" LOWLANDS-L, 19.FEB.2001 (04) [E]

Folk,

A always find these discussions, where they link a
variety of languages, extremely useful.

Andy asks how similar Catalan is to Castilian, with
reference to possible parallels with Lowlands minority
languages. Of course, that depends on how you measure
it and on what variety of Catalan (and, for that
matter, Castilian) you adopt.

Not unlike Scots, Catalan has a long and distinguished
literary tradition and use as the formal language of a
state. However, the modern standard derives from the
work of a chemical engineer and linguist called Fabra
at the beginning of the 20th century. He adopted the
Barcelona dialect as the one to base the standard
grammar and vocabulary on, but ensured that all
spellings were truly reflective of all dialects. He
deliberately adopted words and terms that were
different from Castilian where they were still in use
in some dialects (even if not in Barcelona), or even
where they had a common literary use. However, he
ensured that whatever was written remained within the
bounds of understanding by your average modern
speaker, thus the widespread adoption of his system.
In the 1910s there was a grammar published, but
language planners should note well that a generally
agreed dictionary did not follow until 1932. There
remains some debate over modern technological terms
(and even, I daresay, over whether they are required
at all). Fabra was clearly a truly remarkable man and
remains held in very high esteem among modern Catalan
language activists - they assure me that Scots is
highly unlikely to produce such a great man to
standardize it!!!

It is *not* true to say that other Spaniards regard or
regarded Catalan as a dialect of 'Spanish' (I have
seen that written by people who really should know
better!). It was in fact *banned* under Franco (and
its use positively discouraged in previous eras after
the unification of Castile and Aragon), which is a
quite different thing - it would be pretty difficult
to *ban* a dialect of your own language! In fact,
contemporary right-wing Spaniards (i.e. those not
living in Catalonia) often refer to Catalan as
'Polaco' (Polish), on the basis that it is no more
comprehensible that an East European language. This is
slightly unfortunate, because the underlying and
genuinely misguided belief is that Catalans speak
Catalan 'just to be different', whereas in fact they
are merely speaking their native tongue! The result,
however, not dissimilarly to Scots and other
languages, was that Catalan became banished to the
countryside (where prohibitive laws were harder to
enforce), and the urban middle-class adopted the
'dominant language' (Castilian).

Certainly as one with adequate Spanish and (probably
quite importantly in this case) reasonable French, I
have no great difficulty understanding the jist of a
Catalan conversation. It is much more reduced than
Spanish (e.g. the past participle of 'estar' is
'estat' rather than 'estado'; final consonant-s
combinations are allowed as in 'amics catalans' vs.
'amigos catalanes'), but less so than French. Arabic
lexical influence is there, but not nearly so marked
as with Castilian.

I think the parallels are there with Lowlands
languages, and I think the key lesson is that we need
to operate on a united front where possible. In 1998
Catalan was afforded 'main language' status within the
education system in Catalonia and the Balearic Islands
(with some exceptions), but *not* in Valencia. This
was because 'Valencian' (which is almost indisputably
actually a southern dialect of Catalan) was considered
separate from 'Catalan', even by many 'Valencian'
activists. The parallels with Lowlands languages
spoken across national, regional or other geographic
boundaries are obvious (although it is true that the
political situation in Valencia is rather different
from in Catalonia).

However, it is extremely difficult to think of an
example among Lowlands tongues with such political
support (Catalans have no difficulty distinguishing
between 'political' and 'cultural' nationalism, so
although the present exceptionally high status of the
language in the education system in Catalonia and the
Balearics is very much the result of moves made by
Jordi Pujol's Catalan nationalists, the two movements
are clearly distinct and people understand this).
Furthermore, as a comparatively wealthy region of
Iberia, Catalonia has received a huge number of
immigrants from the rest of Spain (most notably
Andalusia and Extremadura) with the result that use of
Castilian is constantly being reinforced by the
arrival of native speakers rather than specific
government policy.

Hope that helps
Regards,
------------------
Ian James Parsley

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