The Speaker of the Spanish Parliament removes the word to Galician and Catalan MPs speaking their languages

The president of the Spanish Parliament, Meritxell Batet (PSOE, Spanish Socialist), has removed the word today to CUP MP Albert Botran and the Galician BNG MP, Néstor Rego, to use the both Catalan and Galician respectively in defending their stance a non-law proposal that sought to urge the Spanish government to guarantee "the right to study exclusively in Spanish."

In the case of Botran, Batet has asked him four times to comply with the regulations and speak in Spanish, but the anti-capitalist deputy has refused. Arriving at the rostrum, the president of the chamber told him, "You must use the common language of this house and to which we owe it by regulation." Botran continued reporting in Catalan "Spanish linguistic nationalism" far right Vox and Batet removed the word to the deputy Free People party. Censorship and language supremacism of the Spanish majority against the minorities.

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The Canigó's Flame Begins Its Way From Northern Catalonia (French State) to the Southern

The Flama del Canigó ritual is gradually becoming more popular and more established. It combines with the Sant Joan midsummer celebrations to evoke the common identity of Catalan-speaking lands.
The fire of the Flama del Canigó (Canigou Flame) is never extinguished. It keeps burning throughout the year at the Perpignan Castellet until 22 June, when it is carried to the mountain's summit. At midnight the fire from the flame is shared out among those present. Straightaway they set off, splitting and spreading the fire to light the Sant Joan bonfires in hundreds of towns, villages and cities.
On foot or horseback, by car, bike, boat and any possible means of transport, the Flama del Canigó reaches every corner of the land, thanks to the efforts of numerous groups and associations. Each village, town and city receives the flame in it own way, with music, devils, dance, etc., but always with a shared ritual. Everywhere, when the flame has reached its destination, before the bonfires are lit, a common message is read out to remind everyone of its significance.
This mobilisation requires a big effort to coordinate the routes the flame takes, complete all the paperwork and steps required to get the necessary authorisation and permits, and to publicise the movement so as to highlight and spread it. Obviously, all this work starts many months before Sant Joan, and some years ago now, Òmnium Cultural took on the central role as the body in charge of organising and promoting the activities hundreds of individuals, institutions and associations plan round the flame.
This ritual began in 1955, on the initiative of Francesc Pujades, who lived in Arles de Tec (Arles sur Tech). Inspired by "Canigó", the famous poem by Jacint Verdaguer, he got the idea of lighting fires at the top of the mountain for Sant Joan and spreading the flame around. The custom spread rapidly and in 1966 it crossed the border with France for the first time, reaching Vic. Despite Franco's dictatorship, the tradition gradually spread to all the Catalan-speaking lands, symbolising the survival of the country's culture.

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On this day in 1923 Spanish Dictator Rivera banned the Catalan Language

On September 13^th 1923, the Spanish army, led by the putschist Primo Rivera took over the power. The King Alfonso XIII sided with the army and gave the coup credibility by naming de Rivera Prime Minister. Alfonso XIII was the great grandfather of the present day "king" imposed by another Dictator, Franco. De Rivera dissolved the Spanish Parliament – the Cortes – and he placed the country under martial law. Newspapers were strictly censored and those that were allowed to print asked for the country to rally around de Rivera with the call for “Country, Religion, Monarchy”. De Rivera played the Spanis imperialist card with some success portraying politicians as weak and unpatriotic while the army represented all that Spainshould have been proud of. He created a Directory that consisted of eight senior military commanders with himself as President.

One of the aims of Rivera was to end with the Catalan people resistance. Among other repressive laws in October 27th 1923 he imposed  the banning of the Catalan language at all levels.

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Galicians protest the Spanish Supremacism of a Galician Government officer

A Mesa pola Normalización protested yesterday in Lugo. They denounced the events of February 26 when Adela Figueroa suffered the Spanish supremacism of a Xunta (Galician autonomous government) official who refused to attend her language. Under the slogan "We have our own language, we want to live in it", the movement denounced that she refused to understand Galician and said that "Spanish is much better than Galician or Catalan." The same officer proudly said that she had been member of Phalange, a Fascist party which is legal in Spain. The same state where to vote in a Democratic Referendum is illegal. 

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“No one forces you to speak Galician”

I always try to avoid conflicts that are condemned to gridlock from the start. But sometimes when I hear absurd things I have to respond to them.

I’m not against any language or nation, but I can’t stand hate speech and absurd phrases that are put in the heads of simple-minded people. The maxims they repeat later, even if they sound funny, can be dangerous.

Even though the following conversation I had with a Galician is pretty common, it still makes me think about things a little:

Someone approached me and asked me a question that I didn’t understand. He seemed to be a normal guy and really seemed to have a question. I could not have known that he was Galician. I guess that’s not something that I could guess by looking at his hairstyle or the way his lips moved when he said certain words, because I’m not Sherlock Holmes.

I politely told him that I hadn’t understood him and I asked if he could repeat his question. Without thinking, I asked him this in Catalan, because it’s the language I usually use around here. It had never crossed my mind that the words I spoke out of politeness were rather like bait for a fish—a fish full of hate and frustration toward the culture that this man was in the midst of.

“You make me speak Catalan,” he started to shout. “In Galicia we don’t make anyone speak Galician and here you always make everyone speak Catalan.”

“Who makes you?” I tried to figure out where his problem was coming from, but the man was just shouting and it was impossible to have a fruitful conversation.

“Speak to me in Galician or Mandarin if you know it, because the more languages we know, the richer we become.” I tried calming him down but there was no way to communicate with him, because he just kept repeating the same words. Finally, I shrugged my shoulders and I left, so we wouldn’t waste our time.

I regret not having pressed him to give me an answer to my question about who was making him speak Catalan (all Catalans, I guess...) and how exactly they were pushing him around to speak it. I surmise that neither the obligation nor the pressure to speak Catalan were very onerous, because this Galician man didn’t seem to know a single Catalan word, not even for a courteous gesture or a rude insult.

Anita Janczak

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Spanish Consulate in Brussels refused to process legal document written in Catalan

 Spanish government justifies this and defends the use of a security guard to "escort away" the citizen who had requested it

CNA Madrid | 

José Manuel García-Margallo / EFE 

Consulates, diplomatic missions, or Spanish consular offices in general are not expected to process documents submitted by citizens and directed to the justice administration that have been written in a co-official language, not even if the court to which it is addressed is located where that language is spoken. This is how the Spanish government justified the incident that took place on March 6 this year at the Spanish General Consulate in Brussels, when civil servants refused to process a document submitted by a Catalan citizen and addressed to a court in Sabadell (Catalonia), because it was written in Catalan rather than Spanish.

The case has surfaced because of the reply to a written inquiry sent to the Spanish government by Jordi Xuclà, a CiU MP in Madrid’s parliament. In the letters, to which the Catalan News Agency has had access, Xuclà asked why on March 6 the Consulate in Brussels refused to process a document submitted by a Catalan citizen living in Brussels, addressed to a court of law in Sabadell "simply because it was written in Catalan". The procedure requested of the consular employee consisted solely of verifying the identity of the citizen, registering the receipt of the document, and forwarding it to the Sabadell courthouse.

According to the testimony of the citizen, the behavior of the civil servant who dealt with him was absolutely fine until he noticed that the document was written in Catalan --even though he had no reason to read it. At that moment, according to what Xuclà reported in his inquiry, he was told that they could not accept it and ordered to leave. Even though the citizen explained that it was an urgent matter and asked the employee to check with his supervisor, the civil servant "refused" to comply with the request "and told a security guard to escort him out of the office".

In its response, the Spanish government justified the behavior of this civil servant, claiming that the fact that the document was addressed to a court, and not to a public administration, "excluded it from the jurisdiction of administrative law", which includes the right to submit texts written in co-official languages, and meant that it fell under the laws of civil court proceedings. 

According to the Rajoy administration, the contents of the laws of judicial procedure state that "the use of an official language other than Spanish is only admissible in those proceedings that take place, and in the documents that are presented, before the organs of the Justice Administration located in the territory of the Autonomous Community where that language is official". 

The Spanish government argues that, in this case, the procedure requested "was not a mere registration, but of a different nature" and "it required consulate to know the contents of the document submitted", because "a legal report regarding the document had to be issued and addressed to a judicial organ". For this reason, they claimed, "the interested party was asked to produce a text written in Spanish, the official working language of Consular offices in Spain and abroad".

The Spanish government also justified the use of the security guard. According to their response, the civil servant who attended to the citizen "asked the guard to accompany the party in question to a waiting room so that a supervisor could talk to him later, as he had requested", but "at no point was he expelled from the consulate".

Finally, according to the Spanish government, this same citizen "returned after a few hours to process the transaction before the same consular employee, and following the instructions that he had received".

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Floral games

The Floral Games were Catalan literature’s most important launching pad in the third quarter of the nineteenth century, and an axis about which revolved a large proportion of the literary creation of the ‘Renaixença’ period. Different lines of thought can be found at the root of its conception: the ‘troubadour’ genre fashion, the discovery of a Barcelona medieval competition in books and, probably, the influence of the Rousillon writers Josep Tastú and P. Puiggarí.

The project, which would finally result in the celebration of the Floral Games in 1859, thanks to A. de Bofarull’s tenacity and the support of Barcelona’s Town Hall, would first be tried out by the ‘Acadèmia de Bones Lletres’ (ABL) [The Academy of Good Writing] (1841/1857). The competition would restore the figure of the adjudicator (A. de Bofarull, J. Cortada, V. Amer, Milà Fontanals, J. Ll. Pons Gallarza, J. Rubió and V. Balaguer). However, this re-establishment of a tradition of literary contests should be seen more as a historically guaranteed essential adaptation, more than a restoration of an old custom which would find an essential social complicity. For this reason, Barcelona’s ‘Consistori de la Gaia Ciència’ would be appealed to and, by coincidence, the name ‘Floral Games’, which corresponds to the literary competitions held in Toulouse since 1515, would be adopted. The historical feel of the contest would upset the members of some literary sectors, who would delight in parodying them and calling them old-fashioned: Santiago Rusiñol would satirise them in ‘Lo Niu Guerrer, els Jocs Florals de Can Prosa’ [War’s nest, the Floral Games of Prose’s House].

In spite of the above, the Floral Games would become a first class cultural and social event: if we examine the list of the contest’s presidents, adjudicators or assistants we can see that practically all of the classes of Catalan society of the time had some part to play with the games. Even those who had delighted in criticising the idea would eventually take part, more or less with enthusiasm, from 1866 onwards. The Floral Games would also become a focal point of reference for all of the artistic creation of the Region. The creation of the Floral Games of ‘Lo Rat Penat’ (1879) in Valencia, or the proliferation of floral contests all over the Catalan Region, were very good indicators that the project was well accepted in the society of the time.

The progressive consolidation of the contest also enabled the inception of a series of prizes that would greatly contribute to the encouragement of participation and the writing of other genres, different to the well-known triplet: faith, fatherland and love. At the same time, this consolidation would mean that the aesthetical tenet of the Games would widen and develop in accordance with the Catalan literary models and movements, as can be seen if we review the list of different masters in ‘Gai Saber’: Balaguer, Guimerà, Verdaguer, Costa Llobera, Maragall, etc. Furthermore, the social projection attained by the Floral Games favoured the recovery of readers of the new literary works written in Catalan, and would also favour a series of incipient editorial ventures coupled with a certain amount of commercial endeavours: the annual volume of the ‘Jocs Florals’ [Floral Games], ‘Lo Gay Saber’, and ‘La Renaixença’.

Floral Games edited in Mèxico during repression

The Floral Games became a competition that promoted the continuity of Catalan culture, enabling it to face many difficult moments. Thus, as a result of its suspension, ordered by the military authority in 1902, the Floral Games were held in Sant Martí del Canigó; later on, during Primo de Rivera’s dictatorship, they found refuge in Toulouse (1924) and in private households. Only the Civil War would manage to put an end to the historic continuity represented by the Games which, after 1941, would be reconstituted, in exile, under the name ‘Jocs Florals de la Llengua Catalana’ [Floral Games of the Catalan Language], and would be continue to be held until the present time in different European and American cities. The last Games celebrated in exile were held in Munich (1877); the following year they were again celebrated in Barcelona, coinciding with those that, since 1941, were to be held clandestinely in that city, although since 1971, publicly. With the changes introduced to the original conception of the Games in 1992, they have become a part of the ‘Setmana de la Poesia de Barcelona’ [Barcelona’s Week of Poetry].

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Great Britain and the Anglo-Catalan Society

Catalan studies began in English-speaking counuiesl in the 1920's, in Great Britain, with professors Ignasi González-Llubera, at Queen's University in Belfast (Northern Ireland), and Edgar Allison Peers, at the University of Liverpool. González-Llubera and Peers opened the doors of British university studies to Catalan literature and linguistics. While at Liverpool, Peers began the journal Bulletin of Hispanic -initially Spanish- Studies. 

He was particularly interested in Ramon Llull, and he also published severa1 books on the Spanish Civil War, such as Catalonia Infelix (London, 1937). In 1948 he created the first lectureship in Catalan. The group of British scholars interested in Catalan grew, and others such as W.J. Entwistle and J.B. Trend became involved. Josep M. Batista i Roca, a Catalan exile who became a professor at Cambridge, coordinated everyone's efforts and the result was the founding of the Anglo-Catalan Society (ACS)*in 1954. Since then, the first intemational organization dedicated to Catalan studies holds a conference each year. Although the first meeting was held in Oxford in 1955, since then the majority have been held in London. 

It goes without saying that the ACS played an important role in organizing the Third Intemational Conference on Catalan Language and Literature3, which was held in Cambridge in April, 1973. in addition, from its beginnings the ACS funded one of the prizes given at the "Jocs Florals de ,la Llengua Catalana" when they were held in exile. Currently, it funds a scholarship for young Catalan scholars who want to study at a British university. Regarding publications, the ACS edited the proceedings of the Cambridge conference4, and in 1977 organized a special issue on Catalan culture of the joumal Vida Hispanica (the joumal of the British Association of Spanish and Portuguese Teachers) as an introduction to Catalan culture for British Hispani~ts.i~n 1980, the ACS began publishing a series of monographs on Cataian topics: the Anglo-Catalan Society Occasional Publications (ACSOP).6 In addition to these activities, of course, the ACS also works toward incorporating Catalan studies into the curricula at British uni~ersities.I~n the past few years, with the help of the Generalitat de Catalunya's Comission to Promote the teaching of Catalan in Universities Outside Catalonia, new teaching assistantships have been funded at some universities, such as Salford-Manchesterand Oxford, and the chances are that it ail looks as if applications received from the University of London and other universities as well will be funded in the future. 

THE UNITED STATES, CANADA, AND THE NORTH AMERICAN CATALAN SOCIETY 

Catalan studies in North Arnerica, as one can well imagine, began later and on a much smaller scale, which makes the increase in interest in the past ten years al1 the more remarkable interest in Catalan began with Josephine de Boer, after her visit to Majorca in 1927. Some years later, in the 1940's, Joan Coromines became a professor at the University of Chicago, and he became part of a group of young scholars who for many years worked to awaken an interest in Catalan

at several Universities in the United States and Canada. 

Their work, . combined with the efforts of Professor de Boer8,resulted in the first section on Catalan-Proven$al at the 1958 annual meeting of the Modem Language Association. This section, which in many ways can be considered as the forerunner of the North American Catalan Society, became much more active in the 1960's, when several European professors in the field, most of whom were Catalan, took jobs in the United States and Canada. 

These professors created programs, and as a result their former students are now working on and publishing in Catalan studies. This increase in both teachers and scholars has been primarily in the fields of philology, linguistics, and literature, although other scientific fields have also been represented; the architect Josep Lluis Sert,

the doctors Folc Pi, Giner Sorolla, and Pi Sunyer, the scientist Joan Oró, historians such as Robert 1. Burns, Gabriel Jackson, and Thomas Bisson, the art historian George R. Collins and the philosopher Josep Ferrater Mora al1 come

to mind. In addition, prestigious figures such as Pau Casals, Joan Miró and Antoni Tapies, to name but a few, were al1 directly tied to Catalan culture in North American art circles. Al1 of this led Josep Roca-Pons, professor at Indiana University, and Albert Porqueres-Mayo, professor at the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, to organize a conference with the hope of formallyestablishinganassociationforCatalanstudies. 

The long-awaited First Colloquium on Catalan Studies in North America was held on March 30, 31, and April 1, 1978 at the University of Illinois. The conference directors were Professors Roca-Pons and Porqueras-Mayo, and the honorary president was Dr. Antoni M. Badia i Margarit, who at the time was the Chancellor of the University of Barcelona. The meeting was a great success: close to 100 people from five Canadian and twenty U.S universities attended, 38 papers were presented9, and the statutes of the NACS were approved1° The prirnary goal of the association is to promote Catalan culture and encourage the teaching of the Catalan language and its culture in U.S. and Canadian universitiesl1, and as such as the Champaign-Urbanameeting it was also agreed to hold future conferences and to publish the proceedings. Since then four conferences have been held: at the Yale University (April, 1979)lZ at the University of Toronto (April, 1982)13, in Washington, D.C. (end of May, 1984)14,and at the University of South Florida at Tampa (March, 1987)15 Currently, the NACS has over 300 members and will hold its sixth meeting in May, 1990 at the University of British Columbia inVancouver. 

THE "CATALAN REVIEW" 

The interest in Catalan studies in North America led the NACS at the 1984 Washington conference to consider a new challenge: starting an intemational journal of Catalan studies. Entitled The Catalan Review: International Journal of Catalan Culture, this multi-disciplinary, bilingual (Catalan and English) joumal appears twice a year and is open to al1 scholars interested in the language and its culture. The first issue appeared in June, 1986. In addition to articles, which are the bulk of the joumal, there are literary selections translated into English, bibliographic information, and information on cultural events held in Catalan-speaking areas. In addition to the regular issues, two special, monographic issues have appeared to date: 

the first on the writings of J.V. Foix (1, l), and the second on the novelist Merci? Rodoreda (11, 2)16. 

NOVES PERSPECTIVES 

In addition to Great Britain, the United States and Canada, Catalan studies are slowly gaining ground in other English-speaking countries and in other continents. Specifically, 1 arn referring to the new tradition in Cataian studies (since the 1970's) at the La Trobe University in Bundoora (Victoria), Australia, which has expressed interest in creating an assistantshipinCatalan, and at the University of Auckland (New Zealand), which has aiso expressed interest in establishing an assistantship. 

The Office of Language Policy of the "Generalitat de Catalunya" will soon publish the results of a survey on the current situation of Cataian studies around the world. There, the reader will be able to find additional, up-to-date information on Cataian studies in English-speaking countries. 

CATALAN STUDIES IN ENGLISH-SPEAKING COUNTRIES 

August Bover i Font Universitat & Barcelona 

1.-For relatively cment information on the spread of Catalan studies abroad and not only in English-speaking countries, see the papers published in "Estudis de la Llengua i Literatura Catalanes". V (= El Catala a Europa i Adrica) (1982) and my summary articlesLa Difurió Internacwnai dels Estudis Catalans,"Revue des Langues Romanes" (in press), and La Catalanística y su Difurión Internacional en la Actualidad, in the proceedings of the 1 Simposio Internacional Hispanica Posnaniensia-89, organized by A. Mickiewicz University in Poznán (Poland), which will soon appear as the third and fourth volumes of the journal "Hispanica Posnaniensia". 

2.- See Robert Pring-Mili, TheAngfo-CatdanSociety. "Buiietin of Hispanic Studies". Liii (1976). 99-100, Alan Yates. L'Angfo-CatdanSociety, "Serra d'Or" (July-August 1978), 53-54. the booklet TheAnglo-Catalan Sociefy, 1954-1979 (Sheffield 1979). and Geoffrey J. Walker. Llngfo-Catah Society, 1954-1981. in "Estudis de Llengua i Literatura Catalanes". V (= El Cata16 a Europa i a A d r i c a ) (Montserrat 1982). 21-38. 

3.- SeeFrancescValiverdÚ,Abril a Cambridge.UnEncontreInternacwnaiSobreLIengua i Literatura Catalanes, "Serra d'Or" (May 1973). 33-34. 

4.- Actes del Tercer Col.loqui Internacional de Llengua i Literatura Catalanes. edited by R. B. Tate and Alan Yates (Oxford 1976).

5.- G. J. Walker. TheCatalanConnection.VidaHisphica, XXV, 2 (1977).

6.- To date five volumes have been published: 1) Salvador Giner, The Social Structure of Catalonia (Sheffield 1984). 2nd. ed.; 2) Joan Salvat-Papasseit, Selected Poems, edited by D. Keown and T. Owen (Sheffield 1982); 3) David Mackay, Modern Architecture in Barcelona (Sheffield 1985); 4) Forty Mo&rn Catalan Poems. Homage to Joan Gili, edited by Arthur Terxy (Sheffield 1987); and 5 ) Eliseu Trenc Baiiester and Alan Yates, Alexandre de Riquer (1856-1920). The British Connection in Catalan Modernism (Sheffield 1988). This year another volume wili appear: the translation of Salvador Espriu'sPrimera HLrtoria d'Esther. 

7.- See Alan Yates. L'Ensenyament del Catalá a les Universitatsde la Gran Bretanya i Irlanda, in Actes del l e r . Symposium sobre I'Ensenyament del Catala a No-Catalamparlants (Vic 1982) and Max W. Wheeler - Alan Yates. Els Estudis Catalani a les Universitatsde les IIles Brithniques (Regne Unit i República &Irlanda). "Estudisde Llengua i Literatura Catalanes",V (= El Catalá a Europa i Amirica) (1982), 179-194. 

8.- North American Catalan scholars dedicted a posthurnous volume in her honour: Catalan StudieslEstudis sobre el Catala. edited by Joseph Gulsoy and Josep M. Sola-Sol6 (Barcelona 1977).

9.- See Carme Rei-Granger and Jaume Martí-Olivella, I Col.loqui d'Estudis Catalam a Nord-Adrica, "Sena d'Or" (September 1978). 33-35, and the volume of conference papers: Estudis de Llengua, Literatura i Cultura Catalanes, edited by A. Porqueras-Mayo. Spurgeon Baldwin and Jaume Martí-Olivella(Montser~at1979). 

10.- For information on the background of the NACS and its conferences, see A. Porqueras-Mayo, Els Estudis Catalaas i la North American Catalan Society (NACS), "Estudis de Llengua i Literatura Catalanes". W (= Miscel.kinia Antoni M. Badia i Margarit. 4 ) (1986). 231-243; Carme Rei-Granger and Jaume Marti-Olivella, 1 Col.loqui d'Esrudis Catalatu a Nord-Akrica. "Sena d'Or" (September 1978), 33-35; Josep Roca-Pons, La NACS (NorthAmerican Catalan Society), "Estudisde Llengua i Literaura Catalanes", XII, 43-54; Nathaniel B. Smith, La Catalanistica Nord-Americana ha "Sortit de 1Armariv, "Serra d'Or" (January 1985) 37-40; i August Bover i Font, The North American Catalan Society. "Catalonia culture", 8 (March 1988), 15. i North American CatalanSociety: Des6 Aniversari, "Revista de Cataiunya", 24 (Novernber 1988), 141-144. 

11.- For information on the teaching of Cataian in North America, see Joseph Gulsoy, Els Estudis Catalans a Nord-Adrica, "Estudis de Llengua i Literatura Catalanes". V (= El Catala a Europa i a A d r i c a ) (1982). 246-267; N . B. Smith. La Catalarústica Nord-Americana ha "Sortit de Iürmari", "Serra d'Or" (January 1985), 37-40; A. Porqueras-Mayo, Els Estudis Catalans i la North American Catalan Sociefy (NACS), "Estudis de Llengua i Literatura Catalanes". XII (= Miscel.lhia Antoni M. Badia i Margarit, 4) (1986). 231-243; i Milton M. Azevedo. Lu Projeccib dels Estudis Catalans als Estats Units. "Butlleti del Col.legi Oficial de Doctors i Llicenciats", 62 (April 1988), 66-69. 

12.- See Actes del Tercer Col.loqui d'Estudis Catalans a Nord-Amirica, edited by Manuel Duran, Albert Porqueras-Mayo and Josep Roca-Pons (Montserrat 1982).

13.- See Actes del Tercer Col.loqui d'Estudis Catalans a Nord-Amirica (Toronto. 1972) Estudis en Honor de Josep Roca-Pons, edited by Patricia Boehne. Josep Massot i Muntaner and Nathaniel B. Smith (Montserrat 1983). 

14.- See Actes del Quart Col.loqui d'Estudis Catalansa Nord-Adrica (Washington,D.C., 1984) Estudis en Honor düntoni M. Badia i Margarit. edited by Nathaniel B. Srnith, Josep M. Solk-Solé, Mer& Vidal Tibbits and Josep Massot i Muntaner (Montsenat 1985). 

15.- See Actes del Cinqué Col.loqui d'Estudis Catalans a Nord-Amirica (Tampa-St. Augustine. 1987), edited by Philip D. Rasico and Curt J. Wittiin (Montserrat 1988). 

16.-VolumeIii(no. 1)issetto appearinJune. 1989.

The study and learning of Catalan outside the region

With Franco’s victory, many intellectuals and scholars of Catalan went into exile and set-up centres aimed at maintaining the culture in many points of the world. It was a new impulse for the study and learning of Catalan which continues to this day. In 2000, the Ramon Llull Institute was created with the aim of promoting the Catalan...

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Ramon Llull

Ramon Llull, Palma, Mallorca (Balearic Islands), 1232-1316 was a philosopher, theologian, novelist and poet

Ramon Llull is to Catalan literature what Shakespeare is to English, Dante to Italian, and Goethe to German literature. Llull placed his prose at the service of a great ideal - the peaceful conversion of people to Christianity through highly elaborate, distinct, beautiful, and irrefutable philosophical ideas. His genius is so great -he could write equally well in Latin, Catalan or Arabic- that even today his huge opus (of more than extant 265 titles) attracts the attention of countless literary specialists, philosophers, and theologians around the world.

He was born into a family possibly of noble Catalan stock. His father arrived in Mallorca with the troops of Catalan king James the Conqueror. Llull was born in the island during the period immediately after the conquest, and during his youth he was attached to the royal house. We know relatively little about his years as a courtier - he got married, had two children, and led the life that befitted his station. But at the age of thirty-one he was shaken by an experience that prompted a radical turn to his life - his so-called "conversion" that took place after five apparitions of Christ on the cross.

According to the testimony he offers in his Vida coetània (Contemporary Life), an autobiography dictated by Llull to some Carthusian monks in Paris not long before he died, after this experience a new life started for the convert, who would renounce his family, his social position, and all riches, in order to devote himself fully to the service of God. He did not enter any religious order, but rather conceived of the dedication of his life to God in terms of frenetic activity that can be summarised in three objectives: to preach to the infidels to the point of risking martyrdom; to write a book to refute the errors of these infidels (stating it would have to be "the best book in the world"); and to set up monastery schools where Arabic, together with other oriental languages, would be taught for the instruction of missionaries. In a word, Llull's overwhelming obsession right up to the final moments of his life would be the conversion of Muslims, Jews and other infidels (especially the Tartars) to the Christian faith.

Yet, he lacked proper training for the task he had set himself. In 1265 he embarked on a period of self-education, including the study of Arabic, in the island of Mallorca. The period would end nine years later, in 1274, with the writing of the first great monument of Catalan literature: the huge Llibre de contemplació en Déu (Book of the Contemplation of God - 1273-1274). It was that same year that Llull, in the seclusion of a small hermitage in the Mallorcan mountain of Randa, had the experience of a divine revelation -subsequently known as the "Randa illumination"- in accordance with which he conceived of a system of universal scope to find the truth, a system that would infallibly lead to the conversion of infidels: this is the famous Art lul?liana (Llullian Art), which was to be materialised in the writing of his Art abreujada de trobar veritat (Abbreviated Art of Finding the Truth - 1274). As a result of this he came to be known as "Doctor Illuminatus". From this date onwards, Ramon Llull's life work revolves around his efforts to make his Art known. They include the use of literature as a vehicle for the dissemination of his ideals of reforming Christianity and of conversion of infidels, and he presented his ideas to popes and princes in order to summon the support of the powerful.

Llull was so convinced of his mission that he would travel to North Africa (specifically visiting Bejaia and Tunis) on a number of occasions in order to debate with Muslim theologians. We know that at the end of the year 1315 he was on one of these missionary trips, in Tunis; by around March of the following year, at the age of 83 or 84, he had died. It is unclear whether he died in Tunis itself, in Mallorca or during the return journey from Africa to his homeland: tradition has it that he was stoned to death, thereby becoming a martyr of the faith.

The quest of Ramon Llull's life reveals a strong personality that manifested itself in the feverish activity that led him not just to travel indefatigably, but also to write a considerable number of books in Catalan, Latin, and Arabic (265, according to the latest catalogue compiled by Anthony Bonner). The core issue around which this huge literary opus revolves is the Art dictated to him by God on Mount Randa. All of Llull's works, whether literary or not, refer to this Art, which had to be rewritten a number of times in the attempt to make it more accessible since it clashed with the incomprehension of intellectual circles of the time. Hence, with a view to showing the way through the huge corpus of Llull's writings, critics have mainly accepted a division of his output into four periods, as suggested by Anthony Bonner, in keeping with the various changes the Llullian method underwent in its quest for truth.

The first period, known as the "Pre-Art Period", encompasses the last years of learning before the illumination of Randa (which is to say, between approximately 1271 and 1274). To this period belong the following works: a treatise on Logic in verse (his Lògica d'Algatzel (Logic of Algatzel - 1271-1272?) and the Llibre de contemplació en Déu (The Book of Contemplating God - 1273-1274), Llull's first great work. The "Quaternary Period" covers the years between 1274 and 1290 and is thus known because the basic principles that structure his Art appear in numbers that are multiples of four. The books that form part of the period are Art abreujada de trobar veritat (1274) and Art demostrativa (Demonstrative Art - 1283), and from these works two great novels were derived, Llibre d'Evast e d'Aloma e de Blaquerna (Book of Evast and Aloma and of Blanquerna - 1283) and the Fèlix o Llibre de meravelles (Fèlix or Book of Marvels - 1288-1289). From 1290, and until 1308, when Llull finally abandoned the rewriting of his Art, we witness a drastic reduction in the basic concepts of the method and a major change in the way it functions. The concepts now appear in numbers that are multiples of three, hence the name "Ternary Period" for this stage of Llull's writings. The work Ars inventiva (Art of Invention - 1290) inaugurates this period, which is closed with Art breu (Ars Brevis - 1308). One outstanding work from this time is Arbre de Ciència (Tree of Science - 1296-1297), together with the two best Llullian lyrical manifestations, Desconhort (Distress - 1295) and the Cant de Ramon (Song of Ramon - 1300). At the end of his life, from 1308 until his death in 1316, Llull put aside his Art and focused on writing brief tracts on specific issues of philosophy, theology and logic. This is known as his "Post-Art Period".

In Llull's production as a whole, there are two inseparable aspects, namely the literary and the doctrinal. In fact, what we know today as "literature" was, for Llull, no more than a vehicle of expression in the service of the missionary and apologetic content that is at the heart of his interests. This is clear, for instance, in his call to reform the art of the minstrels, a powerful instrument of dissemination of ideas in the 13th century, which he deemed to have strayed from its true purpose of praising God and helping to bring about the propagation of the Catholic faith. Llull, therefore, proposed a "spiritual minstrelsy", along the lines of St Francis of Assisi, who thought of himself, as Llull did, as "God's minstrel".

This use of literature for doctrinal purposes derives from a central idea in Llullian thought and praxis, namely the primacy of the "first intention" over the "second intention". For Llull, the first intention expresses the end to which the human being was created - to know, love and praise God. The second intention, on the other hand, refers to seeking benefits for oneself. To place the second before the first intention is to forget the reason of our existence. This, for Llull, is the source of sin and moral decadence, not just of the individual, but also of society as a whole. Llullian writing tries to be a writing of "the first intention", in other words, primarily addressed to the praise of God, and hence "literary expression", in the words of Jordi Rubió i Balaguer, is subordinated to doctrinal content.

One of the key ideas of Llull's thought with regard to this content is the use of "necessary reasons" in the exposition of the arguments. For Llull, necessary reasons are logical arguments that he sees as being acceptable in terms of necessity, self-evident and hence essential to interfaith dialogue. They reflect Llull's faith in well-ordered human thought that must be capable of capturing truth, which, for Llull is obviously that expressed by the Catholic articles of faith. One example of this may be found in the Llibre del gentil i dels tres savis (1274-1276?), a work in which a Jewish scholar, a Christian and a Muslim engage in a dispute that is very well ordered and highly correct in its forms, in accordance with the method proposed in Llull's work Art abreujada de trobar veritat for arguing with pagans about which of the three religions is the true one. This will be the religion that is not in contradiction with divine qualities and that therefore offers a more logical and complete idea of God in himself and in his relationship with creation. The starting point is the quest for truth, even if this involves rethinking the dogmas of faith. The most remarkable thing is that, in the end, the pagan does not make his choice known (although, obviously, the reader will think that he has opted for the Christian faith), which demonstrates the author's goodwill in leaving a door open to dialogue with non-believers. Trusting in reason as a means of understanding and reaching agreement on matters of faith is not exclusive to Llull in his historical context. However, he is certainly the author who develops this with the greatest perseverance, to the point of ceasing to cite the authorities, who are ineffective in reaching any understanding with Muslims and Jews.

Nonetheless, although he has sometimes been labelled as such, Llull cannot be considered a "rationalist" in the strict sense of the term since he was fully aware of the limitations of the mind in attaining understanding of the mysteries of faith. Will, identified with love and fervour, plays an essential role here, as a way of transcending the limitations of reason. All in all, Llull's thought is a personal approximation to the missionary task and to the exposition of doctrine that did not conform to the prevailing scholastic tenets of the 13th century. At the basis of Llullian thought is what Robert Pring-Mill called "a collective substratum of commonplaces", in other words, a compilation of knowledge about the world and about God that could be shared by intellectuals from the three monotheistic religions, and that is essentially founded in Neoplatonic cosmovision. One of the key concepts of this cosmovision is the analogy that Llull used to build his arguments. According to this, there is a significant relationship of similitude between the created world and the creator. God is the model, the exemplary source of all the created reality, and he is this because of his qualities and forms of dignity, which are disseminated throughout creation.

While the Platonic basis of Llullian philosophy is clear, his direct sources are not so evident since he never quotes them. Muslim philosophy scholars have identified Muslim sources in Llull's thought, which is totally logical if we attend to the context in which his training developed and his ability to read and write Arabic. Together with the concern for the conversion of the infidels, we find in the works of Llull another central issue: reform of the Christian world. Here, Llull starts out from his awareness that the majority of people were concerned with the second intention, neglecting the first intention at both individual and social levels. He responds by harshly criticising those that grasped at religious and temporal power, making a number of radical proposals that were very often based on the Christ-centred spirituality of the Franciscans and focused on the Gospels as a model of living. Thus, one of the central ideas of the Llullian reform is his exaltation of evangelical poverty. Like St Francis, he was in favour of "the Church of the poor". Indeed, in his novel Blaquerna, Llull suggests specific measures, for example that bishops should renounce two-thirds of their income and that the rich bourgeoisie should practise charity, even if the ideal state is that of total renunciation of earthly riches and coming closer to Christ through voluntary poverty, as is done by the parents of the central character of the novel. Llull is aware that his ideas clash headlong with the predominant values of his time and this perhaps explains the alternating moments of pessimism and proud affirmation in Llull's discourse in which he accepts the invective of his adversaries, even taking as his own their label of "Fool".

In fact, the characters in Llull's novels often behave like fools since their behaviour is not governed so much by the social conventions of the second intention as their desire to praise God. This makes them openly and vehemently critical of any behaviour that they may consider as deviating from the aim that is specified for the first intention, regardless of the status of the person criticised. It is moral strength that bestows the proper authority to rebuke a king, a bishop, or, if necessary, a pope. There is a work that clearly shows Llull's stance in this regard, namely the Disputatio Petri clerici et Raymundi phantastici (1311), also known as Phantasticus. Here, an aged Ramon Llull comes across a cleric on his way to the Council of Vienne (France). During the conversation that ensues between the two, Ramon explains why he is going to the Council: he is bearing a number of petitions that, for the umpteenth time, hope to achieve ecclesiastical powers for the organisation of a crusade, for unifying the military orders and for the foundation of monasteries for the training of missionaries. His interlocutor, however, turns out to be a simoniac cleric who is travelling to the Council in the hope of obtaining prebends for his nephews. If Llull's aims are in keeping with the first intention, those of the cleric abide by the second. The most significant aspect of all is that, throughout the dialogue, the sinner priest mocks Llull's intentions and calls him phantasticus (in other words, a madman, a lunatic or a harebrained dreamer).

Llull becomes aware, by dint of disappointments, that the real interests of his contemporaries are very far from his proposals, which often are labelled as utopian. In Desconhort, a long verse composition made up of sixty-nine stanzas, this feeling of bitterness is expressed through the dialogue with a hermit, who suggests to the author the possible causes of his failure. Finally, though, he always finds new strength to continue with his task: Llull convinces the hermit of the goodness of his ideas and of the need to continue struggling, thus winning over another companion who will take up the cause. As can be seen, literature plays an essential role in the expression of Llull's more personal ideas and not just his philosophical ones. His poetry, then, is outstanding for his personal, sincere and moving voice, in a milieu wherein the often empty reiteration of the clichés of courtly love predominated.

Thus, even if throughout history Llull the philosopher has overshadowed Llull the man of letters, the twentieth century saw a vindication of our author as a great prose and verse writer. If, as noted above, literature is for Llull a vehicle for transmitting certain contents, this is precisely why he is meticulously careful about literary style in his works. Llull's prose is elegant, logical and very modern for the 13th century. He achieves a fine balance in his sentences with an abundant use of double periods, expressing everything by means of a syntax that has a significant presence of subordinate clauses. Not surprisingly, he played an essential part in the creation of the Catalan literary language with his adoption of lexical solutions that that stem from the need to express philosophical or technical content in a language that did not yet have all its resources and that are fully integrated into the system today. 

As for his poetry, Llull borrows the standard forms of Occitan poetry, which he knew well, and adapts them to religious or, sometimes, even autobiographical content. The rhetorical ideas of Llull, as laid down in his Rhetorica nova (New Rhetoric) treatise (1301), do not come from the sonority of the words as a source of beauty in the discourse, but rather they focus on their content, their semantics. This idea is fully coherent with Llull's general position: to give priority to what is internal and therefore essential, over any appearance. The originality of his thought and the peerless quality of his literature have made of Llull the most outstanding figure of Catalan culture at all times and anywhere in the world.

After his death, he had followers from beyond our frontiers: not just in Castile, France, Italy or central Europe, but also in Russia, where there was a Llullian school in the 18th century (teaching Lullism). His thought greatly influenced figures such as Giordano Bruno and Leibniz, and his literature is still a stylistic model and a source of inspiration for many present-day Catalan authors.

 2000 Edicions 62

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The democratic transition and the debate about the new constitutional context of multilingualism

In 1975 Franco died and the transition towards a democracy comparable to the rest of Western Europe commenced. With the end of the dictatorship autonomy returned to the regions where Catalan is spoken and a relative official nature was awarded to the linguistic and national diversity. However, the resistance to the autonomic process, its homogenisation  Valencian linguistic sectioning and the administrative division of the regions where Catalan was spoken made the advance of Catalan difficult.

With the death of Franco, and in spite of their not being an explicit break with Franco’s regime and that the head of state was the man the dictator had chosen as his successor, King Juan Carlos, the democratic process commenced. In 1977 the Generalitat de Catalunya was restored, with Josep Tarradellas, who had returned from exile, as its president. A year later the Spanish Constitution was approved and the Statutes of autonomy of the region of Catalan language and culture under Spanish sovereignty (in Catalonia, in 1979; in the Valencian region, in 1982, and in the Balearics, in 1983). This new context has allowed for the recuperation of the normalising and rule making task of Catalan by continuing in the footsteps of the Mancomunitat de Catalunya and the republican Generalitat.

As results of this pact amongst the heirs of Franco’s dictatorship and the forces born from clandestineness, the new democratic Constitution of Spain acknowledged, with reserves, the national and cultural plurality after four decades of enforced ‘Castilianization’ of the non-Castilian territories. This was the face of the new legal panorama which was favourable to the recuperation of the Catalan language; its only cross was its limits and ambiguities. Contrary to the right to self-determination, its second article speaks of the ‘undeniable unity of the Spanish Nation’, although it recognises and guarantees the right to the autonomy of the nationalities and regions’, but without specifying them. The new Spanish supreme law also explicitly prohibited the federation of autonomous communities (article 145.1), which impedes the articulation of legal spaces amongst the Spanish Catalan regions.

Although the new Catalan, Balearic and Valencian (in a lesser degree) Statutes defined Catalan as their ‘own’ language and established its official nature, Spanish was kept as a co-official language and continues to be the only official language of the whole of Spain. The co-official nature of ‘the other Spanish languages’, thus, was restricted ‘to their respective Autonomous Communities’ (article 3.2). The three newly born autonomies fixed the duty to know and use Catalan and decided to normalise its use, but they did not force its knowledge over the constitutional duty to know Spanish. According to article 3.1 of the magna charter, attributed to the centre politician Adolfo Suárez, who was then the president, ‘Spanish is the official language of the State. All Spaniards have the duty to know it and the right to use it’. In spite of this inequality, the Statutes established ‘full (linguistic) equality’ in Catalonia and the Balearic Islands and the non linguistic discrimination in the Valencian region – officially known as the Valencian Community –, that is, an ideal bilingualism for which they developed laws of nature and effect throughout the 80’s which were subjected to successive governments – which were firm in the Principality, weak or regressive in the Valencian region and vacillating in the Islands.

With democracy we also gained the first mass media communication means in Catalan. The first newspaper in Catalan after the Civil War, ‘Avui’, was born in April 1976; parallel, the first county newspapers appeared in the Principality, like the Manresa ‘Regió 7’ and the Vic ‘El 9 Nou’, in 1978, and ‘El Punt’, then known as ‘Punt Diari’ and limited to Gerona, in 1979, and also magazines of general information like ‘El Temps’, or literary ones like ‘Els Marges’ or historical ones like ‘L’Avenç’.

In 1975, the year of the death of Franco, the Catalan circuit of Spanish Television (TVE), which had its headquarters in the Miramar studies, emitted 17 monthly hours in Catalan and, by the end of the seventies, its quota had increased considerably. It would still be more than ten years before TV3 and Catalunya Ràdio [Catalonia Radio] were born. Joaquim Maria Puyal, in January 1976, made the first football re-transmission in Catalan of the post-war period on Ràdio Barcelona (SER), which already broadcast the odd slot in Catalan since the 1950’s. The first radio in Catalan, since the end of the Civil War, was Ràdio 3, which was created in 1976 by Radio Nacional de España [National Radio of Spain] (RNE).

The Congress of Catalan Culture, from 1975 to 1977, allowed the elaboration of a route sheet with the obstacles which must be overcome to correct the language’s situation. Even before the approval of the Spanish Constitution and of the enforcing of the laws of Catalan, Valencian and Balearic linguistic normalization, Catalan was reinstated as a subject in teaching through the decrees of bilingualism in Catalonia and the Balearic Islands in 1978 and, the following year, the Valencian region.

Although ‘Valencian’ is the common name of Catalan in the Valencian region, the fact that its Statute text of 1982 referred to it with this name, without mentioning the unity of the language, was not casual. During the transition, Valencian linguistic secessionism, also known as ‘blaverisme’ took hold which, from the point of view of a conservative and apparently regional ideology, affirms, against scientific evidence, that there is a Valencian language which is different to Catalan. This late response to the new Pan-Catalan Valencianism of Joan Fuster, which was articulated in the 60’s, and which found it maximum representation in the ultra-right and terrorist Grup d’Acció Valenciana [Group of Valencian Action] (GAV), was affirmed, during the transition, by politicians of the post-Franco party Unió de Centre Democràtic [Union of the Democratic Centre] (UCD). Their aim was to stop the advance of the left wing and of Valencian Catalanism. During the so-called battle of Valencia, the ‘blaverisme’ managed to place the crowned ‘senyera’ [Catalan flag] in front of the bare flag, which belongs to historic Valencianism, and the name ‘Valencian Community’ instead of ‘Valencian Region’.

The ‘blavers’ [supporters of ‘blaverisme’] accused Pan-Catalanism of being imperialist; the Valencians who supported Fuster’s point of view, that is, were defenders of the Catalan nature of the Valencian region understood as a part of the Catalan region, accused the ‘blavers’ of being supporters of the Spanish State. The ‘blavers’ write the language in accordance with unofficial rules like those of Puig, which were created in 1979 by the Real Acadèmia de Cultura Valenciana [Royal Academy of Valencian Culture] that was founded by the Diputació de Valencia, and which is the linguistic referent. In contrast, the second group used the Fabra rules of Castellon, from 1932, which were assumed by the Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua [Valencian Academy of Language] that was created in 1998 by the Valencian Generalitat as a meeting point between the two movements. This institution self-proclaimed a normative entity on the same level as the IEC, although, indirectly, it passed the normative. In spite of this, some sectors of Valencian supporting culture and teaching have accused it of giving to much favour to the ‘blavers’ with regards to morphology and lexis. There is also linguistic secessionism in the Balearic Islands and in the Aragon Strait, but in these cases this attitude is clearly marginal.

In 1876 the term ‘Catalan region’ was born as the denomination of the areas of Catalan language, and in the 60’s this name was promoted by Fuster. However, since the transition, its linguistic, cultural – and, depending on how you look at it, national – articulation has suffered with the political stigma attributed by ‘blaverisme’ and, by extension, the supporters of the Spanish State. The two movements refer to it as a supposed principality imperialism. The political cooperation between the Catalanophile Spanish regions, which constitute a good part of the Catalan region, does not only clash with the constitutional prohibition, but also with a weak or nonexistent communitarian sentiment. This weakness is, in part, a consequence of three centuries of isolation inside the Spanish State structure, which has strengthened the national and regional Spanish identities.

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Old Catalan. The beginning of Catalan

After the fall of the Roman Empire and up to the tenth and eleventh centuries, classic Latin was the language of culture and writing, and Romance, the colloquial language. However, over time, archaic Catalan started to be introduced into writing until the appearance of the first texts basically written in this language: ‘Greuges de Guitard Isarn, senyor de Caboet’ [Grievances of Gitard Isarn, master of Caboet] (1080-1095) and ‘Jurament de pau i treva del comte Pere Ramon de Pallars Jussà al bisbe d’Urgell’ [Promise of peace and ceasefire of count Pere Ramon from Pallars Jussà to the Bishop of Urgell].

During the lower Roman Empire period and especially around the time of the fall of the western empire, common Latin began to evolve in a gradual way and to become distanced from the so called classic Latin until giving way to the Romance languages. However, it was not until later that there was an awareness of the fact that the written and spoken languages were two different realities. Classic Latin remained as the language of culture and, therefore, was used for writing. Romance was for the colloquial level.

It was mainly during the Carolingian period when awareness arose of the existence of two differentiated languages. During this stage a cultural renaissance occurred and they tried to recuperate the more cultured Latin level. This wish to recuperate a correct use of Latin and the impossibility of most of the population to use it, were some of the factors which assisted the realisation of these two realities.

Another factor which illustrates this situation of diglossia was the Church’s need to convey their doctrine to all the classes. Faced with the fact that the worshipers no longer understood the ecclesiastical language, in the Tours council of 813 it was established that the Latin homilies had to be translated into the Romance languages – ‘transferre in rusticam Romanam linguam’ –, so that everyone could understand what was being said. This is the first time that the existence of Romance languages was made explicit, although it was not until 842, with the translations of the Strasbourg promise, that we find documents written for the first time with samples of these languages.

Thus, Catalan was born, from the evolution of common Latin, between the end of the seventh and beginning of the eighth century. However, Catalan was not seen to be used in writing until a few centuries later and in a progressive way. The first documents with specific traits of archaic Catalan which have been conserved belong to the ninth and tenth centuries. These Catalan traits, which infiltrated in the texts written in Latin, already show, on the one hand, that a very distinct linguistic system existed and, on the other, that the knowledge of classic Latin had begun to become impoverished as the need to create new concepts born from the consolidation of feudalism arose.

In documents of the eleventh century the use of Catalan elements of a feudal nature, in texts, progressively widens, especially in promises and grievances. Soon after, the first texts appeared, written basically in Catalan, which we conserve: the ‘Grievances of Guitard Isarn, master of Caboet’ (1080-1095) and the ‘Promise of peace and ceasefire of count Pere Ramon from Pallars Jussà to the Bishop of Urgell’ (probably from 1098).

In the twelfth century, the texts written in Catalan are not only of a feudal nature: we find, for example, the first translations or adaptations of a judicial nature, and specifically the ‘Liber iudiciorum’ or ‘Llibre dels judicis’ [Book of judgements], which was a legislative code of Visigoth origin. From the beginning of the thirteenth century we find the ‘Homilies d’Organyà’ [Homilies of Organyà] that have erroneously been considered the oldest document in Catalan because priority was given to ‘literary’ texts – in spite of the relativity of this literary content – and texts from other ambits were not taken into account.

In the thirteenth century, the written use of Catalan started to spread. From the beginning of this century we must point out the oldest known translation to date of the ‘Usatges’ [Uses] of Barcelona.

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What is Catalan and where is it spoken?

Catalan belongs to the western branch of the Romance languages. There are two fundamental dialectal varieties, eastern and western, which contain lexical, phonetic and grammatical differences. The Catalan language in the Valencian Country is also called Valencian for reasons of historical tradition. The linguistic domain extends over 68,000 square kilometres in four European states: Andorra; Spain (Catalonia, Valencia, the Balearic Islands, the Western Strip, in Aragon, and El Carxe, in Murcia); France (Northern Catalonia); and Italy (the town of Alghero on the island of Sardinia).

These territories have over 13 million inhabitants – most of them in Spain – of which about 10 million speak Catalan.

Speakers and territory

Catalan is a medium-sized language of the European Union in terms of number of speakers, on a par with languages like Swedish, Greek or European Portuguese. 

In Spain, 41% of the inhabitants live in autonomous communities that have more than one official language (Catalan, Basque or Galician), and almost a third of the population (29%) live in territories where the other language is Catalan. In the Aran Valley, in north-western Catalonia, Occitan, or Aranese, is also official. 95% of the citizens of Catalonia, the Balearic Islands and Andorra understand Catalan. In the Valencian Country 80% of the citizens understand Catalan.

Catalan, a language of today

Catalan is a language of a medium-sized population that is actively used in the territories in which it is spoken:

• It is the fourteenth most spoken language in the European Union.
• It is official in one sovereign state (Andorra), and in three Spanish autonomous communities it is co-official together with Spanish (Catalonia, Valencia and Balearic Islands).
• It is transmitted inter-generationally in a normal fashion and is present in all the media in the Catalan-speaking territories.
• It has a literary tradition and vitality, besides a rich culture.
• It is a language that is fully coded, normative and standardized with full academic consensus
• It is the eighth language on internet

Legal framework

In Catalonia, Valencia and the Balearic Islands Catalan is stated by the respective charters of autonomy to be the language of the territory and is an official language there along with Spanish. Additionally, in Catalonia, in the Aran Valley it co-exists with Occitan, there called Aranese, which is also recognised as an official language.

Each autonomous parliament has adopted specific linguistic laws:

• In Catalonia, Law 1/1998, of 7th January, on linguistic policy.
• In the Valencian Community, Law 4/1983, of 23rd November, on the use and teaching of Valencian.
• In the Balearic Islands, Law 3/1986, of29th April, on the linguistic normalization of the Balearic Islands.
• In the Western Strip, Law 3/1999, of 10th March, on the Cultural Patrimony of Aragon.
• In Northern Catalonia, the law relative to the use of the French language, Toubon Act (1994).
• In Alghero, Norme in materia di tutela delle minoranze linguistiche storiche (1999).
• In the Principality of Andorra, in accordance with the Constitution of 1993, Catalan is the sole official Language. 

As regards recognition in the European Union, agreements have been established by which any person may address the European Commission, the Council of Ministers or the Ombudsman in Catalan. Also, in 1990 the European Parliament passed a resolution to include a Catalan version of the fundamental texts and resolutions of the EU.

Catalan is a medium-sized language of the European Union in terms of number of speakers, on a par with languages like Swedish, Greek or European Portuguese. 

Map of where Catalan is spoken

Catalan is a medium-sized language of the European Union in terms of number of speakers, on a par with languages like Swedish, Greek or European Portuguese. 

Generalitat de Catalunya Infographics, July 2012

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About Catalan language

a Sunday, October 12, 2014

What is Catalan? Catalan is the language of Catalonia. It had already evolved from common Latin by the 9th century and belongs to the western branch of the Romance languages. Also: What is Catalan? A language or a dialect of Spanish? Where is Catalan spoken? The linguistic domain extends over 68,000 km2 in four different...

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