The Current Status of Galician in Spain

Abstract

Few modern languages have had a history as full of upheavals and have been so affected by changes in political fortune as the Galician language of Northwestern Spain. Two civil wars, one in the XVth century, another relatively recent, have influenced its destiny. Galician noblemen took the side of the King of Portugal against Isabella in the war of succession of Castile. After Isabella's victory, Castilian displaced Galician as the language used in official and religious functions. Galician survived only as the spoken language of the peasants and within the confines of domestic urban life.' Galician came to life as a literary language in the XIXth century with the appearance of a considerable number of poetic works of great quality. In the first half of the XXth century Galician literary prose was created and the field of Galician literature was broadened to the novel and the ideological, philosophical and sociological essay.2 Franco's victory in the Spanish Civil War erased all the gains obtained by Galician through many decades of constant struggle and achievements. The initial period of brutal repression and open hostility toward regional languages finally gave way to a somewhat more tolerant attitude. In 1951 public use of Galician was still considered an act of defiance against the Government.3 Yet that year marks the beginning of many significant accomplishments in defense of the Galician language. Galaxia, the most important publisher in galego today, began its activities in Vigo. The editorial productivity in Galician has increased tenfold since 1951 and Galaxia has been joined in the last twenty five years by many new publishing houses. Since 1963 when the centennial of Rosalia de Castro's Cantares Gallegos was commemorated, the Royal Galician Academy has been honoring a number of distinguished figures in Galician literature with lectures in their native towns and the publication of critical studies. Since October, 1965, a course in Galician language and literature has become a part of the curriculum at the University of Santiago de Compostela. The Institute of the Galician Language created by that University in 1971 has since published several Galician textbooks which have been used to teach thousands of students in elementary and secondary education.4 According to Prof. Constantino Garcia, courses in Galician are offered today in all high schools and there are nearly a thousand teachers of galego throughout the region.' Galician was finally recognized as a vernacular language to be used in masses in January, 1969.6 In the last few years these masses have come into the countryside and to the Galician emigrant centers in Europe and Latin America. Their number is still small7 but their existence is a clearly positive sign of official recognition. An alert minority has been instrumental in obtaining all these concessions and making good use of them. UNESCO's advocacy of the use of regional languages in elementary education in 1951 and the Second Vatican Council's support for Masses in the vernacular tongue in 1965 have been measures of beneficial importance. Another significant factor was the radicalization and political activism of the youth in many parts of the world during the sixties. Children of the Galician bourgeoisie began then and have continued until now to speak the language of the proletarian and peasant masses in an act of solidarity with the underdogs of their region.8 The change in the political wind in Spain has been, of course, a decisive and conducive element. The integration of Spain into the Western military alliance brought the first relaxation of the repressive policies of the government. The relative liberalization during the last five years of the Franco regime also resulted in a good degree of tolerance toward the non-official languages in Spain. Article 14 of the Education Law of 1970 states that Kindergarten instruction comprende juegos, actividades de lenguaje, incluida en su caso, la lengua nativa. Article 17 of the same law includes among the educational activities of Elementary Education el cultivo, en su caso, de la lengua nativa.9 Although the