History of Catalan
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The
Catalan language Catalan (; autonym: , ), known in the Valencian Community and Carche as ''Valencian'' (autonym: ), is a Western Romance language. It is the official language of Andorra, and an official language of three autonomous communities in eastern Spa ...
originated from
Vulgar Latin Vulgar Latin, also known as Popular or Colloquial Latin, is the range of non-formal Register (sociolinguistics), registers of Latin spoken from the Crisis of the Roman Republic, Late Roman Republic onward. Through time, Vulgar Latin would evolve ...
in the
Pyrenees Mountains The Pyrenees (; es, Pirineos ; french: Pyrénées ; ca, Pirineu ; eu, Pirinioak ; oc, Pirenèus ; an, Pirineus) is a mountain range straddling the border of France and Spain. It extends nearly from its union with the Cantabrian Mountains to C ...
between
France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
and
Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...
. It diverged from the other
Romance languages The Romance languages, sometimes referred to as Latin languages or Neo-Latin languages, are the various modern languages that evolved from Vulgar Latin. They are the only extant subgroup of the Italic languages in the Indo-European language fam ...
in the 9th century. At that time, Catalan spread quickly throughout the Iberian peninsula when the Catalan counts conquered Muslim territory. By the 11th century, the Catalan language was present in several feudal documents. Catalan was present throughout the
Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the e ...
by the 15th century. At that time, the city of
Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, Valencia and the Municipalities of Spain, third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is ...
was thriving. In 1659, the Treaty of Pyrenees was signed, beginning a suppression of the Catalan language.
Louis XIV , house = Bourbon , father = Louis XIII , mother = Anne of Austria , birth_date = , birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France , death_date = , death_place = Palace of Vers ...
issued a decree that prohibited the use of the Catalan language in
Northern Catalonia Northern Catalonia, North Catalonia, ; french: Catalogne (du) Nord ; oc, Catalonha (del) Nòrd; es, Cataluña (del) Norte) French Catalonia or Roussillon refers to the Catalan-speaking and Catalan-culture territory ceded to France by Spain ...
. The repression continued during the
French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...
when the
First French Republic In the history of France, the First Republic (french: Première République), sometimes referred to in historiography as Revolutionary France, and officially the French Republic (french: République française), was founded on 21 September 1792 ...
prohibited the usage of Catalan in linguistic education. The repression continued until recently, when finally the French government in 2007 promoted the usage of Catalan publicly and in education. In Spain, the usage of Catalan was also prohibited. In
Francoist Spain Francoist Spain ( es, España franquista), or the Francoist dictatorship (), was the period of Spanish history between 1939 and 1975, when Francisco Franco ruled Spain after the Spanish Civil War with the title . After his death in 1975, Spai ...
, Catalan was prohibited in government and education. It was initially prohibited in mass media, but then allowed during the early 1950s. Nevertheless, the publishing of written works in Catalan continued. Since the death of Franco and the subsequent adoption of the Spanish
constitutional monarchy A constitutional monarchy, parliamentary monarchy, or democratic monarchy is a form of monarchy in which the monarch exercises their authority in accordance with a constitution and is not alone in decision making. Constitutional monarchies dif ...
, the Catalan language has been promoted.


Middle Ages


Early Middle Ages

By the 9th century, the Catalan language had developed from
Vulgar Latin Vulgar Latin, also known as Popular or Colloquial Latin, is the range of non-formal Register (sociolinguistics), registers of Latin spoken from the Crisis of the Roman Republic, Late Roman Republic onward. Through time, Vulgar Latin would evolve ...
on both sides of the eastern end of the
Pyrenees The Pyrenees (; es, Pirineos ; french: Pyrénées ; ca, Pirineu ; eu, Pirinioak ; oc, Pirenèus ; an, Pirineus) is a mountain range straddling the border of France and Spain. It extends nearly from its union with the Cantabrian Mountains to C ...
mountains (counties of Rosselló,
Empúries Empúries ( ca, Empúries ) was an ancient city on the Mediterranean coast of Catalonia, Spain. Empúries is also known by its Spanish name, Ampurias ( es, Ampurias ). The city Ἐμπόριον ( el, Ἐμπόριον, Emporion, meaning "tradi ...
,
Besalú Besalú () is a town in the ''comarca'' of Garrotxa, in Girona, Catalonia, Spain. The town's importance was greater in the early Middle Ages, as capital of the county of Besalú, whose territory was roughly the same size as the current ''comarca' ...
,
Cerdanya Cerdanya () or often La Cerdanya ( la, Ceretani or ''Ceritania''; french: Cerdagne; es, Cerdaña), is a natural comarca and historical region of the eastern Pyrenees divided between France and Spain. Historically it was one of the counties ...
,
Urgell Modern-day Urgell (), also known as ''Baix Urgell'' (''baix'' meaning "lower", by contrast with Alt Urgell "Higher Urgell"), is a ''comarca'' (county) in Catalonia, Spain, forming only a borderland portion of the region historically known as Ur ...
,
Pallars Pallars is a historical and natural region of Catalonia. Located in the Pre-Pyrenees and Pyrenees area, most of its territory is mountainous. The Noguera Pallaresa river is named after this region. Geography The physiography of the Pallars natu ...
and
Ribagorça Ribagorça () or Ribagorza (; french: Rives Gorces) is a historical and natural region of Aragon and Catalonia. Located in the Pre-Pyrenees and Pyrenees area, most of its territory is mountainous. The region has been steadily losing population s ...
), as well as in the territories of the Roman province and later archdiocese of
Tarraconensis Hispania Tarraconensis was one of three Roman provinces in Hispania. It encompassed much of the northern, eastern and central territories of modern Spain along with modern North Region, Portugal, northern Portugal. Southern Spain, the region now c ...
to the south. From the 8th century on, the Catalan counts extended their territory southwards and westwards, conquering territories then occupied by Muslims, bringing their language with them. This expansion quickened with the separation of the
County of Barcelona The County of Barcelona ( la, Comitatus Barcinonensis, ca, Comtat de Barcelona) was originally a frontier region under the rule of the Carolingian dynasty. In the 10th century, the Counts of Barcelona became progressively independent, heredi ...
from the
Carolingian Empire The Carolingian Empire (800–888) was a large Frankish-dominated empire in western and central Europe during the Early Middle Ages. It was ruled by the Carolingian dynasty, which had ruled as kings of the Franks since 751 and as kings of the Lom ...
in 988. By the 9th century, the Christian rulers occupied the northern parts of present-day Catalonia, usually termed "Old Catalonia", and during the 11th and 12th centuries they expanded their domains to the region north of the Ebro river, a land known as "New Catalonia". During the 13th century, the Catalans expanded to the
Land of Valencia The Valencian Community ( ca-valencia, Comunitat Valenciana, es, Comunidad Valenciana) is an autonomous community of Spain. It is the fourth most populous Spanish autonomous community after Andalusia, Catalonia and the Community of Madrid with ...
and across to the
Balearic Islands The Balearic Islands ( es, Islas Baleares ; or ca, Illes Balears ) are an archipelago in the Balearic Sea, near the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula. The archipelago is an autonomous community and a province of Spain; its capital is ...
and Alghero in Sardinia. According to historian Jaume Villanueva (1756–1824), the first attested Catalan sentence is thought to be found in an 8th-century manuscript from
Ripoll Ripoll () is the capital of the ''comarca'' of Ripollès, in the province of Girona, Catalonia, Spain. It is located on confluence of the Ter River and its tributary Freser, next to the Pyrenees near the French border. The population was 11,05 ...
that has since been lost. It was a whimsical note in 10th- or early 11th-century calligraphy: ''Magister m u no vol que em miras novel'' ("my master does not want you to watch me, newbie"). Starting in the 9th century, several feudal documents (especially oaths and complaints) written in
macaronic Latin Dog Latin or cod Latin is a phrase or jargon that imitates Latin, often by "translating" English words (or those of other languages) into Latin by conjugating or declining them as if they were Latin words. Dog Latin is usually a humorous devi ...
began to exhibit elements of Catalan, with proper names or even sentences in Romance. For example, in the act of consecration of the
cathedral of Urgell La Seu d'Urgell Cathedral, otherwise Urgel Cathedral of the Cathedral of Santa Maria d'Urgell, is a Roman Catholic cathedral located in the city of la Seu d'Urgell ( Alt Urgell) in Catalonia. It is the seat of the Bishops of Urgell, who are al ...
from 839 the toponymy exhibits clear Catalan traits, like
apocope In phonology, apocope () is the loss (elision) of a word-final vowel. In a broader sense, it can refer to the loss of any final sound (including consonants) from a word. Etymology ''Apocope'' comes from the Greek () from () "cutting off", from ...
in ''Argilers'' < ARGILARIUS, ''Llinars'' < LINARES, ''Kabrils'' < CAPRILES, and reduction of Latin clusters as in ''Palomera'' < PALUMBARIA. Another text, from the early 11th century, exhibits the names of seven fruit trees: Of special historical and linguistic importance is the ''Memorial of Complaints of Ponç I'' (ca. 1050–1060), featuring whole sentences in Romance. By the middle of the 11th century, documents written completely or mostly in Catalan begin to appear, like the ''Oath of Radulf Oriol'' (ca. 1028-1047) ''Complaints of Guitard Isarn, Lord of Caboet'' (ca. 1080–1095), and ''The Oath of Peace and Truce of Count Pere Ramon'' (1098). The hagiographic poem Cançó de Santa Fe from ca. 1054 is not considered one of the oldest Catalan texts because it is hard to tell if it is written in Catalan or Occitan, since its place of composition is unknown and it is difficult to assign it to one language or the other: the two languages were similar to each other at the time. Catalan shares many features with Gallo-Romance languages, which are mostly located in France and Northern Italy. Old Catalan diverged from
Old Occitan Old Occitan ( oc, occitan ancian, label=Occitan language, Modern Occitan, ca, occità antic), also called Old Provençal, was the earliest form of the Occitano-Romance languages, as attested in writings dating from the eighth through the fourteen ...
between the 11th and 14th centuries, although it was not until the 19th century that Catalan was formally considered a separate language, when in 1863 the German philologist Friedrich Christian Diez first put Catalan on the same level as the rest of the Romance languages, though still admitting a close relationship with Occitan.


Late Middle Ages

Catalan enjoyed a golden age during the
Late Middle Ages The Late Middle Ages or Late Medieval Period was the Periodization, period of European history lasting from AD 1300 to 1500. The Late Middle Ages followed the High Middle Ages and preceded the onset of the early modern period (and in much of Eur ...
, reaching a peak of maturity and cultural plenitude. Examples of this can be seen in the works of Majorcan polymath
Ramon Llull Ramon Llull (; c. 1232 – c. 1315/16) was a philosopher, theologian, poet, missionary, and Christian apologist from the Kingdom of Majorca. He invented a philosophical system known as the ''Art'', conceived as a type of universal logic to pro ...
(1232–1315), the Four Great Chronicles (13th-14th centuries), and the Valencian school of poetry which culminated in Ausiàs March (1397–1459). By the 15th century, the city of
Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, Valencia and the Municipalities of Spain, third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is ...
had become the center of social and cultural dynamism, and Catalan was present all over the
Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the e ...
world. The belief that political splendor was correlated with linguistic consolidation was voiced through the Royal Chancery, which promoted a highly standardized language. The outstanding novel of chivalry ''
Tirant lo Blanc ''Tirant lo Blanch'' ( ; modern spelling: ''Tirant lo Blanc'') is a chivalric romance written by the Valencian knight Joanot Martorell, finished posthumously by his friend Martí Joan de Galba and published in the city of Valencia in 1490 as an ...
'' (1490), by
Joanot Martorell Joanot Martorell (; c. 1410 – 1465) was a Valencian knight and writer, best known for authoring the novel ''Tirant lo Blanch'', written in Valencian and published at Valencia in 1490. This novel is often regarded as one of the peaks of the l ...
, shows the transition from medieval to Renaissance values, something that can also be seen in the works of
Bernat Metge Bernat Metge (; ( 1350 – 1410) was a Catalan writer and humanist, best known as the author of '' Lo Somni'', which he wrote from prison (c. 1398), in which Metge discusses the immortality of the soul. He was a courtier and Secretary for Joan I o ...
and
Andreu Febrer Andreu Febrer i Callís (1370×1374 – 1437×1444) was a Catalan soldier, courtier and poet. Life Andreu was born at Vic between 1370 and 1374 to a family of artisans.Raquel Parera Somolinos''La versió d'Andreu Febrer de la Commedia de Dante: bi ...
. During this period, Catalan was what Costa Carreras terms "one of the 'great languages' of medieval Europe". The flowering of the Renaissance was closely associated with the advent of the
printing press A printing press is a mechanical device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a printing, print medium (such as paper or cloth), thereby transferring the ink. It marked a dramatic improvement on earlier printing methods in wh ...
, and the first book produced with movable type in the
Iberian Peninsula The Iberian Peninsula (), ** * Aragonese and Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica'' ** ** * french: Péninsule Ibérique * mwl, Península Eibérica * eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in southwestern Europe, defi ...
was printed in Valencia in 1474: ''Trobes en llaors de la Verge maria'' ("Poems of praise of the Virgin Mary").


18th century to the present: France

After the
Treaty of the Pyrenees The Treaty of the Pyrenees (french: Traité des Pyrénées; es, Tratado de los Pirineos; ca, Tractat dels Pirineus) was signed on 7 November 1659 on Pheasant Island, and ended the Franco-Spanish War that had begun in 1635. Negotiations were ...
, a
royal decree A decree is a legal proclamation, usually issued by a head of state (such as the president of a republic or a monarch), according to certain procedures (usually established in a constitution). It has the force of law. The particular term used for ...
by
Louis XIV of France , house = Bourbon , father = Louis XIII , mother = Anne of Austria , birth_date = , birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France , death_date = , death_place = Palace of Versa ...
on April 2, 1700 prohibited the use of the Catalan language in present-day
Northern Catalonia Northern Catalonia, North Catalonia, ; french: Catalogne (du) Nord ; oc, Catalonha (del) Nòrd; es, Cataluña (del) Norte) French Catalonia or Roussillon refers to the Catalan-speaking and Catalan-culture territory ceded to France by Spain ...
. The decree forbade use in any official document, under the threat of being invalidated. Shortly after the
French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...
, the
French First Republic In the history of France, the First Republic (french: Première République), sometimes referred to in historiography as Revolutionary France, and officially the French Republic (french: République française), was founded on 21 September 1792 ...
prohibited official use of, and enacted discriminating policies against, the nonstandard languages of France (''
patois ''Patois'' (, pl. same or ) is speech or language that is considered nonstandard, although the term is not formally defined in linguistics. As such, ''patois'' can refer to pidgins, creoles, dialects or vernaculars, but not commonly to jargon or ...
''), such as Catalan, Breton, Occitan,
Flemish Flemish (''Vlaams'') is a Low Franconian dialect cluster of the Dutch language. It is sometimes referred to as Flemish Dutch (), Belgian Dutch ( ), or Southern Dutch (). Flemish is native to Flanders, a historical region in northern Belgium; ...
, and Basque. The deliberate process of eradicating non-French
vernacular A vernacular or vernacular language is in contrast with a "standard language". It refers to the language or dialect that is spoken by people that are inhabiting a particular country or region. The vernacular is typically the native language, n ...
s in modern France and dismissing them as mere local and often strictly oral dialects was formalized with Abbé Grégoire's ''Report on the necessity and means to annihilate the patois and to universalize the use of the French language'', which he presented on June 4, 1794 to the
National Convention The National Convention (french: link=no, Convention nationale) was the parliament of the Kingdom of France for one day and the French First Republic for the rest of its existence during the French Revolution, following the two-year National ...
; thereafter, all languages other than French were officially banned in the administration and schools for the sake of
linguistically Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...
uniting post- Bastille Day France. To date, the French government continues its policy of recognizing French as the country's only official language. Nevertheless, on 10 December 2007, the
General Council of the Pyrénées-Orientales A general officer is an officer of high rank in the armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colonel."general, adj. and n.". OED O ...
recognized Catalan as one of its official the languages in Article 1 (a) of its ''Charte en faveur du Catalan'' and sought to promote it in public life and education. :Article 1: "The General Council of Pyrénées-Orientales officially recognizes, along with the French language, Catalan as a language of the department." :()."


18th century to the present: Spain

] After the
Nueva Planta Decrees The Nueva Planta decrees ( es, link=no, Decretos de Nueva Planta, ca, Decrets de Nova Planta, en, link=no, "Decrees of the New Plant") were a number of decrees signed between 1707 and 1716 by Philip V, the first Bourbon King of Spain, during ...
, the use of Catalan in administration and education was banned in the
Kingdom of Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...
. It was not until the
Renaixença The ''Renaixença'' (; also written ''Renaixensa'' before spelling standardisation), or Catalan Renaissance, was a romantic revivalist movement in Catalan language and culture through the mid 19th century, akin to the Galician ''Rexurdimento ...
that use of the Catalan language saw a resurgence. During the
Second Spanish Republic The Spanish Republic (), commonly known as the Second Spanish Republic (), was the form of government in Spain from 1931 to 1939. The Republic was proclaimed on 14 April 1931, after the deposition of Alfonso XIII, King Alfonso XIII, and was di ...
(1931-1939) Catalan became the official language of Catalonia (alongside Spanish), being used extensively by the Generalitat, the Catalan institution of self-government. In
Francoist Spain Francoist Spain ( es, España franquista), or the Francoist dictatorship (), was the period of Spanish history between 1939 and 1975, when Francisco Franco ruled Spain after the Spanish Civil War with the title . After his death in 1975, Spai ...
(1939–1975), the use of Spanish in place of Catalan was promoted, and public use of Catalan was initially repressed and discouraged by official propaganda campaigns. The use of Catalan in government-run institutions and in public events was banned. During later stages of Francoist Spain, certain folkloric or religious celebrations in Catalan were allowed to resume and were tolerated. Use of Catalan in the
mass media Mass media refers to a diverse array of media technologies that reach a large audience via mass communication. The technologies through which this communication takes place include a variety of outlets. Broadcast media transmit information ...
was initially forbidden, but beginning in the early 1950s, it was permitted in the theater. Publishing in Catalan continued throughout the Spanish State.. There were attempts at prohibiting the use of spoken Catalan in public and in commerce, and all advertising and signage had to be in Spanish, as did all written communication in business.Order from the Excmo. Sr. Gobernador Civil of Barcelona. ''EL USO DEL IDIOMA NACIONAL EN TODOS LOS SERVICIOS PÚBLICOS''. 1940. Following the death of Franco in 1975 and the restoration of
democracy Democracy (From grc, δημοκρατία, dēmokratía, ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which the people have the authority to deliberate and decide legislation (" direct democracy"), or to choose gov ...
under a
constitutional monarchy A constitutional monarchy, parliamentary monarchy, or democratic monarchy is a form of monarchy in which the monarch exercises their authority in accordance with a constitution and is not alone in decision making. Constitutional monarchies dif ...
, the use of Catalan increased significantly because of new affirmative action and subsidy policies. The Catalan language recovered its official status and is now used in politics, education and the media, including the newspapers ''
Avui ''Avui'' (, meaning "Today" in English) was a Catalan daily newspaper, based in Barcelona, in Catalonia. It was one of the city's newest papers, having been founded in 1976. The editorial line was Catalan nationalist. History and profile ''Avui' ...
'' ("Today"), '' El Punt'' ("The Point"), ''
Ara ARA may refer to: Media and the arts * American-Romanian Academy of Arts and Sciences * '' Artistička Radna Akcija'', compilation album released in former Yugoslavia * Associate of the Royal Academy, denoting membership in the British Royal Aca ...
'' ("Now"), ''
La Vanguardia ' (; , Spanish for "The Vanguard") is a Spanish daily newspaper, founded in 1881. It is printed in Spanish and, since 3 May 2011, also in Catalan (Spanish copy is automatically translated into Catalan). It has its headquarters in Barcelona and i ...
'' and '' El Periódico de Catalunya'' (sharing content with ''
El Periòdic d'Andorra ''El Periòdic d'Andorra'' () is a newspaper of the Principality of Andorra , image_flag = Flag of Andorra.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Andorra.svg , symbol_type = Coat of arms , national_motto ...
'', printed in Andorra); and the television channels of ''Televisió de Catalunya'' (TVC):
TV3 Channel 3 or TV 3 may refer to: Television *Canal 3 (Burkina Faso), a commercial television channel in Burkina Faso *Canal 3 (Guatemala), a commercial television channel in Guatemala *Channel 3 (Algeria), a public Algerian TV channel owned by EPTV ...
, and Canal 33 (culture channel),
Super3 SX3 (), styled Super3 until 2022, is a Catalan public television channel owned by Televisió de Catalunya in Catalan language. It started broadcasting on 18 October 2009. The channel's programs are aimed at children and teenagers. It is based on t ...
/
3XL 3XL () was one of the television channels operated by the Catalan public television network Televisió de Catalunya. It was founded and started broadcasting in September 2010 replacing the former Canal 300, until September 2012, when it was close ...
(cartoons channel) as well as a 24-hour news channel
3/24 3/24 () is a Spanish Catalan-language free-to-air news and information network operated by Televisió de Catalunya (TVC). It was launched on 11 September 2003. History 3/24 was born on 11 September 2003 as an initiative of the Catalan public ...
and the sports channel Esport 3; in Valencia
Canal Nou Nou Televisió (), or simply Nou (Valencian for "nine" or "new"), previously known as Canal Nou ("Channel Nine" or "New Channel"), was a public television station in the Valencian Community, Spain. It was run by Radiotelevisió Valenciana (RTVV), ...
, 24/9 and Punt 2; in the Balearic islands IB3; in Catalonia there are also some private channels such as 8TV and
Barça TV Barça TV () is a Spanish television channel operated by FC Barcelona. The channel is available in Catalan, Spanish and English. It is located at the Camp Nou stadium in Barcelona. FC Barcelona media R@dio Barça R@dio Barça () is a Spanish ra ...
. But, despite the spread of media in Catalan, democracy consolidated an asymmetric regime of
bilingualism Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolingual speakers in the world's population. More than half of all E ...
of sorts, wherein the Spanish government has employed a system of laws that favored Spanish over Cataln, which becomes the weaker of the two languages, and therefore, in the absence of other states where it is spoken, is doomed to extinction in the medium or short term. In the same vein, its use in the Spanish Congress is prevented, and it is prevented from achieving official status Europe, unlike less spoken languages such as
Gaelic Gaelic is an adjective that means "pertaining to the Gaels". As a noun it refers to the group of languages spoken by the Gaels, or to any one of the languages individually. Gaelic languages are spoken in Ireland, Scotland, the Isle of Man, and Ca ...
. In other institutional areas, such as justice,
Plataforma per la Llengua La Plataforma per la Llengua (the Pro-Language Platform) is a non-governmental organisation born in 1993 in Barcelona, in order to defend and promote the Catalan language all over the Catalan-speaking territories in the European states where it ...
has denounced Catalanophobia. The association Soberania i Justícia have also denounced it in an act in the
European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...
. It also takes the form of
linguistic secessionism Language secessionism (also known as linguistic secessionism or linguistic separatism) is an attitude supporting the separation of a language variety from the language to which it has hitherto been considered to belong, in order to make this var ...
, originally advocated by the Spanish extreme right and which has finally been adopted by the Spanish government itself and state bodies.


References


Bibliography

* * * * * *


External links

* Chronology of the repression of the Catalan language in catalan language {{Language histories Catalan language