Fundamentals of the linguistic reality of Catalan

The current reality of the Catalan language is paradoxical. It could be stated that, despite being a language with an apparently powerful linguistic community, it is not in a good state of health. It is a language spoken by seven million people, citizens in four different states: Spain, France, Andorra and Italy. The laws in each state determine the different legal recognition of Catalan in different territories within the same linguistic community. In the case of the Spanish State, the laws affecting Catalan are also determined by the administrations of the autonomous communities, which are sub-state political entities, established by the Constitution of 1978. The linguistic laws of Catalonia, Valencia, the Balearic Islands and Aragon, the four autonomous communities where Catalan is spoken, are different because of the different percentages of Catalan speakers compared to the total population, and the different political orientations of the respective autonomous governments. The Catalan linguistic community suffers the negative consequences of so many administrative and political divisions. It is interesting to note that the Spanish Constitution prohibits political agreements between autonomous communities, a measure which aims to avoid the political structuring of territories where Catalan is spoken, which, unified, could be strong enough to demand recognition of the linguistic, cultural and political plurinationality of Spain. The fragmentation of the community is also demonstrated by the fact that there is more than one name for the same language; Valencian in Valencia and Catalan in Catalonia and the other areas, which is rare in Europe. All linguists maintain that it is one language known by two different names. The same opinion has been defended by the Royal Spanish Academy and courts of law when resolving conflict caused by those interested in weakening the Catalan language. Some Valencian and Spanish politicians have tried to impose the concept of two languages and have achieved regrettable victories in European institutions.

The majority of the Catalan linguistic community was monolingual until the beginning of the 20th century, in the same way as the majority of important linguistic communities in Europe. Catalan speakers today still do not consider themselves members of a linguistic minority and do not believe that the attention demanded by linguistic minorities in Europe is adequate for their situation.