Primary and secondary factors in language maintenance in a medium-sized community language: Catalan in Spain

Abstract

Aims and objectives: The main aim of this study is to find out which social and ideological factors determine the maintenance of Catalan language in public contexts, and particularly the relative weight each factor contributes to the choice. The question is which of the socio-demographic and ideological factors determines to a greater extent the use of Catalan. Methodology: Participants completed a survey, which consisted of a sociolinguistic questionnaire and an attitudinal test based on the matched-guise technique. Sociolinguistic inferences concerning the relationship between different factors and language use were made using statistical methods. Data: Six hundred university students from the cities of Valencia, Palma and Barcelona answered the same survey. University students are a very interesting research group, since they are going to become part of the most influential social groups. Findings: Results from the analysis support the importance of social networks in understanding language maintenance, apart from making some differences between the territories clearer: this relative importance of social networks is very high in Valencia and Palma, but not in Barcelona. Originality: This study shows the first comparison between the influence of different kinds of factors in the use of the Catalan language, as well as the comparison between the behaviour of the three major Catalan-speaking cities. Furthermore, the focus on the factors related to university students’ language use is not a much-visited field. Significance and implications: The use of Catalan seems to be naturalized in Barcelona, whereas in Palma and Valencia the use of this language is more ideologized – and minor. The coincidence in the same territory, Catalonia, of the major language use in all situations and the more incisive and inclusive language policy should point out the direction that campaigns to promote Catalan in the other two regions should take.