Language rights in Catalonia and the constitutional right to secede from Spain

Abstract

This paper examines the linguistic rights of Catalonia as stated in the Statutes of Autonomy of Catalonia of 1979 and 2006 and the Spanish Constitution of 1978. In addition, it studies the ruling of the Constitutional Court of Spain of 2010 which annulled or reinterpreted articles of the Statute of 2006, including Article 6.1 which declares Catalan as the “preferential” language of Catalonia. The paper offers some suggestions for improving language rights for speakers of Catalan, both within the Spanish state and the European Union, to help de-escalate language conflict between Catalonia and the Spanish state.