Abstract

The Research Exploratory Essay was about choosing a topic that you took a stance on and it had to relate to language and the difficulties that come with it. I wrote about the ongoing problem in a certain region in Spain called Catalonia about language barriers.

                                                Language and Nationalism

Ever since the oppression that Catalonia endured during the Franco regime, from 1939 to1975, in which those who spoke Catalan were prohibited from speaking in their mother tongue, there remains the political conflict over which language should be taught in schools. As a result, there are many who speak Catalan and/or Spanish at home and have language barriers between themselves and the rest of Spain. Language and nationalism are integral factors that have continued to be a part of Catalonia’s conflict in creating a working school system, since the people and the government are still unsure on which language should be taught in schools. It also contributes to Catalan Nationalists wanting to separate from Spain because they want to revive their language and culture and they believe that they can accomplish this by using schools. I believe that the people in Catalonia should be respected, along with their language dialect and Catalan should be incorporated into the education system throughout many schools as well as Spanish. This will be a way to keep the Nationalists from wanting to separate from Spain and the Spanish government from forcing Spanish onto the people. It could also prevent any more conflicts to the students who are being affected from the indecisiveness.

The oppression during the Franco regime led to the Nationalists wanting to revive the language after years of not being allowed to do so. Professor Emerita of anthropology in the University of California, San Diego, and winner of the International Ramon Llull Prize for her contribution of more than thirty-five years of ethnographic and sociolinguistic research on Catalonia in 2016 , Kathryn A. Woolard, in her journal article, “Language, Identity, and Politics in Catalonia.”, in the Brown Journal of World Affairs, addresses the topic of how language has become a contributor of the Catalonia’s need of separation from the rest of Spain. She argues that as time passes and leaders try to prevent the use of Catalan from becoming a part of their culture, it has caused those who had been oppressed to want to teach their kids and others the language, to keep it alive. Woolard states, “Franco’s repression of Catalan backfired, making the language a valued sign of progressive resistance to an unpopular right-wing, authoritarian regime” (Woolard 24). Seeing that their language was going to be erased if nothing is done to keep it alive, the people in Catalonia made sure that they spoke it between themselves and their families. Francisco Franco had wanted Catalonia to become like the rest of Spain and have Castilian (Spanish) as their main language to also erase their culture and identity which made the people in Catalonia want to separate from Spain. They see too much a difference between them, and Spain and they do not want to have another oppression or obstacle between their language and traditions. Students would see the dilemma of how knowing one of the two languages and not the other would affect them greatly in choosing between whichever side.

Expanding on Woolard’s research, Alia Wong, former writer for The Atlantic, who writes on education and families, wrote in her article, “Is Catalonia Using Schools as a Political Weapon?” (2017) how Catalonia had formed a strong nationalistic view after the years of oppression. “In 1983, the parliament of Catalonia passed a law that would help the region assert its identity, and its autonomy, relative to the rest of Spain. It made Catalan the region’s official language—this after the language was banned for four decades under the dictatorship of Francisco Franco, who had died in 1975.” (Wong, 2017) Wong contributes to Woolard’s point in that Catalonia had found its identity and knew what was important to them during the regime. Their language would soon become their reason for getting their culture back but also to give them a reason to want to separate from the rest of Spain. “In the words of a 2014 report from the Catalan Ministry of Culture, the policy ‘constituted the basis on which the population of Catalonia would become one sole people, free of dynamics differentiated by language.” (Wong, 2017) Like it was implied in Woolard’s essay and now in Wong’s; Catalonia also wants to make sure that it is seeking its independence from Spain, not to cause a rift between the people but to keep it from going through another oppression, where their language could face extinction. But they fail to realize that they are creating a rift between the people, they are separating those who speak Catalan from those who speak Spanish. Nationalists then decided to take it to the next step which was to bring schools into the topic of how to deal with the primary language in Catalonia, which brings more problems, especially to the students. Creating a class that is strictly in Catalan or to have Catalan as the primary language being taught in schools can bring about peace and stop the need of separation. It will also allow the students to have both languages incorporated in their learning and have them value their language and culture, but these politicians must come to a consensus. That is because since they will have Catalan as a language that is taught in schools from a young age, they will acquire the language as a second one and have Spanish as the main language in the school.  

  To reiterate, students continue to be negatively affected from the indecisions of politicians. The students who are only taught in Catalan turn out to have complications when speaking with others outside from their mother tongue in other parts in Spain and it became a political stance in which either language had become important to incorporate into schools. The stance would be on which language will become the primary language in schools. In Woolard’s research, she states, “Controversy exploded just days before the start of school in September 2011, when the high court in Catalonia ordered that Spanish be made a medium of instruction within 60 days. In 2012, the Spanish Supreme Court ruled that Castilian must be a ‘vehicular language’ of schooling” (Woolard 32). The Spanish government was forcing the people of Catalonia to have Spanish as their primary language, especially in schools. But with this demand, it also caused some major conflicts with some students who only knew how to speak in Catalan, which is why the government changed their law so that Spanish can be included in areas where it is used more. But I must disagree with this point because it is important to have both languages be incorporated because it can be beneficial to students to know both languages and nationalists cannot object to the fact that both languages can be equally as important to one another.  

This was clearly mentioned by Joaquim Coll, who received his doctorate from the University of Barcelona in contemporary history and has contributed to the El Periodico, in his article,  “Los Socialistas y la Escuela Catalana” which had been translated to The Socialists and Catalan Schools, addresses the topic of how the socialists have perceived the decisions on which language should be taught in Catalonia’s schools and argues that what the nationalists are trying to accomplish on having a monolingual school teaching is not the accurate way of leading the state and that it will rather harm the students when they grow older. A statement made by Coll was, “However, there is evidence that young people living in monolingual settings in Catalan-speaking families outside metropolitan areas fail to express themselves well in Spanish, showing poor control of grammatical structures and of the educated register” (Coll, 2018). Having said this on students in Catalonia is concerning, especially since it can affect their work skills and capabilities to communicate with others in Spain. These young people are viewed as illiterate because they are not able to speak well in Spanish and they will have opportunities ripped away from them. Which is why the Spanish government is advocating for Spanish to be taught in schools in Catalonia as well and it seems to be a good idea since they will still be incorporating Catalan along with Spanish. It will keep the Nationalists at bay because they can see how beneficial it would be for students to know both languages.

On the other hand, Alia Wong challenges Coll’s statement by quoting a man named Robert, who only went by his first name because his job requires him to stay out of politics, “It only becomes an issue when there’s a popular movement for independence, he continued. ‘If you’re a region that has two official languages, you can’t just teach in Spanish because Catalan would disappear” (Wong, 2018). Wong’s use of this quote shows how if Spanish becomes a major part in Catalonia, the original language would be gone. Which angers the Nationalists and makes them advocate for their language to become the primary language even though Catalonia belongs to Spain. This is their reason for independence and Coll would come to disagree with the statement mentioned in Wong’s article. I believe that Robert’s viewpoint is quite faulty because there is a lot of opportunities and ways in which Catalan can still be part of the students’ lives. If a class is added into the curriculum and students must take it, the language will not go away.  Rather it can continue to soar and others who do not speak Catalan, will start to learn the language and its history.

Independence does not just come to the people’s minds; it becomes a need to have their identity seen and respected. That is why the nationalists had wanted to get their independence and two authors that can show both sides for this point would be authors Thomas J. Miley and Roberto Garvía. In their research paper, Conflict in Catalonia: A sociological approximation (2019), both authors who are part of the Department of Sociology in the University of Cambridge and in the Department of Social Sciences in the Carlos III University of Madrid, respectively, asserts that language and ideologies are major contributors to the idea of independence by conducting surveys on groups of people and their stance on independence. It is shown in one of their surveys titled, Language ideologies among pro-union and pro-independence camps, around 27.3 percent of both the Pro-Union (those who want to continue to be united with Spain) and the Pro-Independence (namely, the nationalists and those who want to separate from Spain) strongly disagree with the statement, “Primary schooling should be in Catalan” (Miley and Garvía 17). This percentage was the highest in the overall category and it goes to prove that maybe the most sensible answer would be to have both languages incorporated into Catalonia and the schools. Not as the primary but these languages should have equal power over the people. There are some nationalists that agree with the fact that having Catalan as the main language in schools only, will not be helpful.

This statistic can also be agreed with by Kathryn Woolard, since instead of doing surveys, she interviewed students and gathered how they perceive the notion of being in monolingual school. “At age 14, these Catalonia-born children of working-class Spanish immigrants had been nearly monolingual in Spanish, ashamed and resentful about speaking Catalan when they entered a high school across town from what one of them, Elena, described as their own ‘absolutely Castilian environment’” (Woolard 28). Having the environment be strictly in Castilian (Spanish) can cause those who are able to speak in Catalan feel like outsiders and prevents them from speaking in their other language. It should be a safe and accepting space in which these students can freely speak in their mother language without feeling any type of shame or neglect. They can do this by using schools and teaching their students both languages and having them be able to have both languages in their studies. Also, it can relieve the nationalists from needing to emphasize their need for separation because Catalan is not inputted into the schools.  

This point ties into what Gloria Anzaldua, the Chicano author and receiving her bachelor’s degree in English, had written her autobiography, called, How to tame a wild Tongue, about her experiences in America as a Mexican American student. Anzaldua states, “Until I can take pride in my language, I cannot take pride in myself. Until I can accept as legitimate Chicano Texas Spanish,  Tex-Mex, and all the other languages I speak, I cannot accept legitimacy of myself” (Anzaldua 40). The students that Woolard had interviewed may feel a connection to this quote from Anzaldua because they also have trouble with identifying themselves, especially in school settings. Anzaldua brings out the point that there are many languages that a person can know but it all comes down to the fact if they are comfortable in speaking in these languages. Forcing students to forget their language to replace it with another language can be detrimental for the student’s mental health and cause communication problems. Schools should add both languages into their curriculum and allow students to find their own way of using their languages. Another statement made by Anzaldua was, “At Pan American University, I and all Chicano students were required to take two speech classes. Their purpose: to get rid of our accents” (Anzaldua 35). Taking away a person’s peculiar way of speaking is shameful because it makes them insecure, which can be a sentiment that the students who speak only in Catalan may feel when going into other parts of Spain or when those who only speak in Spanish must speak in Catalan. Which is why schools should have both languages as part of their teachings since the students can have a wider range in language and communication skills. The students will not be affected by Nationalists because they (Nationalists) will have to come to an agreement with the Spanish government on having both languages in the school system. 

One person that may disagree with the fact that schools should be left to the vehicular language would be Rosina Lippi-Green, a writer and linguist, who has written in her book, English Without an Accent, on how there is no accent, it simply does not exist because there are different ways in speaking a language. One section of her book focuses solely on how schools should handle language in their schools and how it can be complicated to teach them in a language that is mandatory and different from their home language. “We affirm the students’ right to their own patterns and varieties of language – the dialects of their nurture or whatever dialects in which they find their own identity and style. Language scholars long ago denied that the myth of a standard American dialect has any validity” (Lippi-Green 80). Language should be up to the students because it can be harsh for them to have to forget their original way of speaking since it is part of their identity. By having both languages embody the school system, students will have to liberty to speak in either language because everyone will be able to understand one another. It can help stop the Nationalist’s way of thinking and how they want to make sure that the schools in Catalonia are only teaching in Catalan since it will help them in seeking their independence. Although Catalan and Spanish are two different language and Standard English and other types of English are dialects, there is still the similarity of how one is seen as lesser than the other. Catalan is a language that not many people can speak it and if they only know Catalan and not Spanish, then they are illiterate. While with Standard English and Chicano English, those who speak Chicano English are also seen as illiterate because they mix both Spanish and English together making their own form of communication.

Language and nationalism have come a long way and are still a part of the educational and political conflict in Spain and its region, Catalonia. It has become apparent that although there are still many changes that are in dire need to be made, the decision of which language should be the primary, is one that may take some time. One thing that I have learned is that language is versatile and if the students are willing to accept both parts of themselves, the language in which they are taught in, will not affect them in a harmful way. They have the liberty and the right to have both their languages be a part of their everyday learning. The higher ups should consider of having both languages become a part of the school system and it will be a compromise that Nationalists can agree to.

Work Cited

Anzaldua, Gloria. “How to Tame a Wild Tongue.” Borderlands/La Frontera: The New

             Mestiza, Aunt Lute Books, 1987, pp. 34-43.

Coll, Joaquim. “The Socialists and Catalan Schools.” Voices From Spain, 7 Aug. 2018,

  voicesfromspain.com/2018/07/21/the-socialists-and-catalan-schools/.

Lippi-Green, Rosina. English with an Accent: Routledge, 2012.

Miley, Thomas Jeffrey, and Roberto Garvía. “Conflict in Catalonia: A sociological

  approximation.” Genealogy 3.4 (2019): 56.

Wong, Alia. “Is Catalonia Using Schools as a Political Weapon?” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media

  Company, 15 Dec. 2017, www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2017/11/is-

  Catalonia-using-schools-as-a-political-weapon/544898/.

Woolard, Kathryn A. “Language, Identity, and Politics in Catalonia.” The Brown Journal of

            World Affairs, 24 June 2019, bjwa.brown.edu/25-1/language-identity-and-politics- in Catalonia/.

Cover Letter

Dear Emily Miller and Noelle Nagales,

         Throughout my research, I came to realize how important it is to find evidence that will support my argument. I realized that I must delve into articles and find the author’s argument/purpose of their own research. Synthesizing had become an important factor when writing this research paper because it made viewing other viewpoints easier and I was able to find evidence that contradicts other evidence at times. I used that to my advantage because it made me think deeper and allow me to take a stance on the topic. Summarizing, allowed me to explain why I chose the article and the specific evidence, it was a way of giving a reason for my evidence and it was a way of introducing the articles to the readers.

         I was able to, “Develop strategies for reading, drafting, revising, and editing.” (Syllabus, Course Outcomes) as well throughout my process in creating this research paper. Having the one-on-one conferences and peer-reviewing helped in editing what is needed and how I can make this paper better. Knowing what I am missing and need to work on was developed by drafting and rereading my paper multiple times. I was also able to, “Gather, interpret, assess, and critically evaluate information and arguments from a variety of sources and points of view.” (Syllabus, Course Outcomes). When I was given the task of finding sources that correlated to my topic and to each other was difficult at first, but it also helped in creating the paper. It was all about reading into the sources and finding out why each source had taken a certain stance. Learning and being able to use these strategies was beneficial and it has helped to write a coherent research paper with a complicated topic.

  Thank you,

Yara Abdelrahman