Spanish and Catalan in the Community of Valencia

Abstract

The social situation of the region of Valencia reveals a linguistic conflict, where the shift from vernacular Valencian to Spanish occurs without a modification in the social condition. Castilianization was a slow, gradual process of cultural decadence that followed two lines: a) horizontal and progressive in the sixteenth to nineteenth centuries and b) downwards and spontaneous in the nineteenth century. The War of Succession and Felipe V's Nueva Planta Decree of 1707 were of transcendental importance as they led to a general divorce of language and culture. The Autonomous Law of the Land of Valencia of 1982 states that there are two offcial languages, Catalan and Spanish, and it guarantees the use of either language in any domain. In this regard, linguistic planning has established four types of educational programs for school education (children aged 3–16 years old) depending on the area's linguistic characteristics, the basic classroom language, and the pupil's habitual language.