Deux langues à valeurs contrastées: Représentations et perceptions de l'occitan et du catalan

Abstract

Summary: This chapter presents a comparative analysis of the Catalan and Occitan sociolinguistic situations. Whereas these two sister languages have often been studied in parallel up until the modern period, they are now often opposed because of the differences in institutional support and prospects of maintenance. This comparative or contrastive study investigates the origins of the discrepancy of the Occitan and Catalan situations in terms of the speakers’ linguistic conscience and linguistic identity. An analysis of the treatment of diglossia by Occitan and Catalan sociolinguists sheds lights on the similarities and differences in the theorisation of power relations between dominant and dominated languages over two territories, France and Spain. The transnational aspect of these two languages, with Occitan being spoken in the Aran valley and Catalan in the region of Roussillon, is also examined and demonstrates the impact of national policies in France and the lack of global community identification for Occitan. In this way, the findings highlight the manner in which language ideologies present at the macro-level, can affect the speakers’ socio-psychological representations of Occitan and Catalan. [Keywords: Occitan sociolinguistics; Catalan sociolinguistics; Romance sociolinguistics; diglossia; language ideologies; language attitudes; linguistic conscience; linguistic identity; transnational situation; power relations]