Catalan language in French Catalonia today: a case of revernacularisation? A path between identity recovery and linguistic heritage

• Published in: Journal of multilingual and multicultural development Vol. 42; no. 10; pp. 969 - 981
• Main Author: Deixona, Joan Peytaví
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Abingdon Routledge 26.11.2021; Taylor & Francis Ltd
• Subjects: 20th century; Catalan language; Diachronic Linguistics; Dialects; Everyday life; Foreign Countries; French; French Catalonia; French language; Geographic Regions; Heritage language; History; Language; Language Attitudes; Language Maintenance; Language of Instruction; Language Planning; Language revitalization; Language Skill Attrition; Language usage; Laws; Linguistic identity; linguistic substitution; Native Language; Political Influences; Post World War II period; revernacularisation; Romance Languages; Sociolinguistics; Spelling; teaching; Vernacular language; Written Language; France
• ISSN: 0143-4632; 1747-7557
• DOI: 10.1080/01434632.2020.1827649

This article concerns Northern Catalonia, the part of the Catalan-speaking area that today is in France. A Catalan-speaking region until the first half of the twentieth century, the effects of Frenchification - the acceptance of the French political and economic project in the contemporary era - and the multiple demographic changes of the twentieth century after World War II led this area to language interruption and linguistic substitution of French for Catalan. Despite this, the vernacular language is still maintained at the heart of society in natural and artificial ways. What role is there for the Catalan language in everyday life? What space for the Catalan language without official recognition in response to the massive influx of non-Catalan speakers? Catalan today is poorly spoken by very fragmented groups of speakers, a consequence of the substitution. Despite the situation, many inhabitants of French Catalonia express their everlasting desire for the language. School is often the instrument that allows the use of a language to be revitalised, but without the political desire, it will be very difficult for the language to prosper via this route. Solutions do exist: simply apply the existing laws, have a true policy in the media, exhibit responsible behaviour, etc. So if we do not want to think about the demise of the Catalan language in Northern or French Catalonia, must we still believe in replantation, revernacularisation, revitalisation, regeneration? In 2019, the Catalan language is in danger of death in France, but it is not dead yet.