Sociolinguistics of Spanish in Catalonia
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M. Rosa Vila-Pujol
Abstract
The present article provides an overview of the historical and sociolinguistic factors that have lead to the current state of bilingualism in Catalonia. Since medieval times, offcial policies and successive waves of Spanish-speaking newcomers have left their mark on both the social identity and the linguistic repertoire of the Catalan speech community. At present, surveys show that, despite the legislative efforts of the past 30 years to normalize Catalan as the language of education, culture, and the public sphere in general, the use of Spanish does not appear to be decreasing; rather, overall, there are increasing numbers of bilingual speakers. This, in turn, is having an effect on the variety of Spanish spoken in Catalonia, which shows certain idiosyncratic features, ranging from lexical and grammatical interference to code-switching and code alternation.
© Walter de Gruyter
Articles in the same Issue
- Introduction: Spanish in Spain — an illustrious stranger
- Social remarks on the history of Spanish
- Sociolinguistics of Spanish in Galicia
- Sociolinguistics of Spanish in the Basque Country and Navarre
- Sociolinguistics of Spanish in Catalonia
- Spanish and Catalan in the Balearic Islands
- Spanish and Catalan in the Community of Valencia
- Sociolinguistics on the Aragon-Catalonia border
- Linguistic borders of the Western Peninsula
- Speaker statistics in Spain
- Book reviews
- Language Endangerment in Nigeria: Perspectives on Akoko Languages of the Southwest
Articles in the same Issue
- Introduction: Spanish in Spain — an illustrious stranger
- Social remarks on the history of Spanish
- Sociolinguistics of Spanish in Galicia
- Sociolinguistics of Spanish in the Basque Country and Navarre
- Sociolinguistics of Spanish in Catalonia
- Spanish and Catalan in the Balearic Islands
- Spanish and Catalan in the Community of Valencia
- Sociolinguistics on the Aragon-Catalonia border
- Linguistic borders of the Western Peninsula
- Speaker statistics in Spain
- Book reviews
- Language Endangerment in Nigeria: Perspectives on Akoko Languages of the Southwest
