Mantinc El Català
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(in English: 'I maintain Catalan') is a
linguistic Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), Morphology (linguistics), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds ...
,
non-profit A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...
citizen platform distributed in various parts of the so-called
Catalan Countries The Catalan Countries (, ) refers to the territories where the Catalan language is spoken. They include the Spanish regions of Catalonia, the Balearic Islands, Valencian Community, and parts of Aragon ('' La Franja'') and Murcia ( Carche), as ...
, where Catalan is an
autochthonous language An indigenous language, or autochthonous language, is a language that is native to a region and spoken by its indigenous peoples. Indigenous languages are not necessarily national languages but they can be; for example, Aymara is both an indigeno ...
. Its volunteering aims to encourage the
language revitalization Language revitalization, also referred to as language revival or reversing language shift, is an attempt to halt or reverse the decline of a language or to revive an extinct one. Those involved can include linguists, cultural or community group ...
in the
public sphere The public sphere () is an area in social relation, social life where individuals can come together to freely discuss and identify societal problems, and through that discussion, Social influence, influence political action. A "Public" is "of or c ...
by
persuading Persuasion or persuasion arts is an umbrella term for influence. Persuasion can influence a person's beliefs, attitudes, intentions, motivations, or behaviours. Persuasion is studied in many disciplines. Rhetoric studies modes of persuasio ...
, as many Catalan speakers as possible, to refrain from unconsciously shifting their language to (mostly)
Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...
in routine situations such as in the street,
commerce Commerce is the organized Complex system, system of activities, functions, procedures and institutions that directly or indirectly contribute to the smooth, unhindered large-scale exchange (distribution through Financial transaction, transactiona ...
,
public service A public service or service of general (economic) interest is any service intended to address the needs of aggregate members of a community, whether provided directly by a public sector agency, via public financing available to private busin ...
s or with the
immigrants Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not usual residents or where they do not possess nationality in order to settle as permanent residents. Commuters, tourists, and other short- ...
. Its organizational motto is ('I maintain Catalan always, everywhere and with everybody!'). The group was initially created on
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in 2021, shortly after some people showed common interest from a published interview with the Catalan
sociolinguist Sociolinguistics is the descriptive, scientific study of how language is shaped by, and used differently within, any given society. The field largely looks at how a language changes between distinct social groups, as well as how it varies under ...
. Expert in minoritized languages, had released her book (''The future of Catalan depends on you'') few months earlier. The group's presence later extended to most of the rest of social media channels, particularly
Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...
. It primarily conducts
self-awareness In philosophy of self, philosophy, self-awareness is the awareness and reflection of one's own personality or individuality, including traits, feelings, and behaviors. It is not to be confused with consciousness in the sense of qualia. While ...
campaigns and digital dissemination to make linguistic loyalty into a standard pattern of behavior (without
shame Shame is an unpleasant self-conscious emotion often associated with negative self-evaluation; motivation to quit; and feelings of pain, exposure, distrust, powerlessness, and worthlessness. Definition Shame is a discrete, basic emotion, d ...
or doubtfulness) among Catalan speakers. Additionally, its members display
billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...
s during sporting, cultural, and popular events, as well as in various types of social demonstrations.


Rhetoric and public discourse

The public discursive philosophy of Mantinc el català lies in being able to transmit a proactive response and a respectful concern against the setback in the social use and increased minoritization that Catalan has endured in the past decades. It appeals to the linguistic justice to draw attention about the effects of
diglossia In linguistics, diglossia ( , ) is where two dialects or languages are used (in fairly strict compartmentalization) by a single language community. In addition to the community's everyday or vernacular language variety (labeled "L" or "low" v ...
and the most blatant instances of passive bilingualism, such as when a consolidated Catalan-speaker switches to
Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...
(or to French in North Catalonia, or to
Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...
in
l'Alguer Alghero (; ; ; ) is a city of about 45,000 inhabitants in the Italian province of Sassari in the north west of the island of Sardinia, next to the Mediterranean Sea. The city's name comes from ''Aleguerium'', which is a mediaeval Latin word m ...
) only because of assuming that an immigrant or someone with foreign physical traits will not understand Catalan at first. Its goal is to dismantle the
language transfer Language transfer is the application of linguistic features from one language to another by a bilingual or multilingual speaker. Language transfer may occur across both languages in the acquisition of a simultaneous bilingual. It may also occu ...
towards Spanish, French and Italian as linguas francas by promoting a linguistic assertiveness of maintaining Catalan with everyone within that
linguistic area A sprachbund (, from , 'language federation'), also known as a linguistic area, area of linguistic convergence, or diffusion area, is a group of languages that share areal features resulting from geographical proximity and language contact. The ...
(i.e. since the beginning of any oral or written conversation, thus reassuring real
bilingualism Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. When the languages are just two, it is usually called bilingualism. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolin ...
). Mantinc el català argues that it is wholly unnecessary for their speakers to
subordinate A hierarchy (from Greek: , from , 'president of sacred rites') is an arrangement of items (objects, names, values, categories, etc.) that are represented as being "above", "below", or "at the same level as" one another. Hierarchy is an importan ...
one to another by default because surveys across all the
Catalan Countries The Catalan Countries (, ) refers to the territories where the Catalan language is spoken. They include the Spanish regions of Catalonia, the Balearic Islands, Valencian Community, and parts of Aragon ('' La Franja'') and Murcia ( Carche), as ...
show that between 60% of the population (in Northern Catalonia) and up to 90% or even 97% of the population (in l'Alguer,
Andorra Andorra, officially the Principality of Andorra, is a Sovereignty, sovereign landlocked country on the Iberian Peninsula, in the eastern Pyrenees in Southwestern Europe, Andorra–France border, bordered by France to the north and Spain to A ...
,
Catalonia Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationalities and regions of Spain, nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006, Statute of Autonomy. Most of its territory (except the Val d'Aran) is situate ...
,
La Franja La Franja (; "The Strip"; ) is the area of Catalan-speaking territories of eastern Aragon bordering Catalonia, in Spain. It literally means ''"the strip"'' and can also more properly be called (Aragonese Strip), (Western Strip) or (Eastern St ...
, the
Valencian Country The Valencian Community is an Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Spain. It is the fourth most populous Spanish Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community after Andalusia, Catalonia and the Community of Madrid wit ...
, and the
Balearic Islands The Balearic Islands are an archipelago in the western Mediterranean Sea, near the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula. The archipelago forms a Provinces of Spain, province and Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Spain, ...
) are capable enough to understand Catalan.


Activities and campaigns

The most significant actions by Mantinc el català are digital campaigns and recurring videos with people from various social fields to encourage the population to follow their motto. During the 2022 celebration of the Diada de Sant Jordi, the platform launched a proposal for Catalan speakers to try to safeguard it as their initial, default language for a period of 21 days, both in the personal and professional environments. Their members wanted to spread the habit of speaking in Catalan at first, in order to overcome any uncertainty or fear of not being understood or encountering
prejudice Prejudice can be an affect (psychology), affective feeling towards a person based on their perceived In-group and out-group, social group membership. The word is often used to refer to a preconceived (usually unfavourable) evaluation or classifi ...
. The challenge was inspired by previous proposals from language communities like the Galician and the
Basque Basque may refer to: * Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France * Basque language, their language Places * Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France * Basque Country (autonomous co ...
ones, and received support from organizations such as Obra Cultural Balear. On summer 2022, it took part in an informal Internet movement that called for the mass cancellation of
Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...
subscriptions —the most popular video streaming platform in the Catalan-speaking territory back then. They justified the action by citing the language discrimination polemics in the streaming company and the very low presence of Catalan in its catalog, which accounted for less than 0.5% of the thousands of titles available, as well as a lack of user the interface in this language. Five days after the action, that took place on June 23, Netflix updated up to 12 titles in Catalan made available to 190 countries. It became one of the most significant dumps of titles in Catalan from the company until the date, which matched its recent agreement with the
Government of Catalonia The Generalitat de Catalunya (; ; ), or the Government of Catalonia, is the institutional system by which Catalonia is self-governed as an autonomous community of Spain. It is made up of the Parliament of Catalonia, the President of the Govern ...
to offer more content in that language. Mantinc el català has carried banners in demonstrations about the protection of the
language immersion Language immersion, or simply immersion, is a technique used in Bilingual education, bilingual language education in which two languages are used for instruction in a variety of topics, including maths, science, or social studies. The languages ...
school teaching system in Catalonia, as well as in other cultural, sports, and language events or workshops. It was also present at CreaFest 2022, an event in that language for
content creators Content creation or content creative is the act of producing and sharing information or media content for specific audiences, particularly in digital contexts. According to '' Dictionary.com'', content refers to "something that is to be expresse ...
and
influencers A social media influencer, or simply influencer (also known as an online influencer), is a person who builds a grassroots online presence through engaging content such as photos, videos, and updates. This is done by using direct audience intera ...
. It launched a
crowdfunding Crowdfunding is the practice of funding a project or venture by raising money from a large number of people, typically via the internet. Crowdfunding is a form of crowdsourcing and Alternative Finance, alternative finance, to fund projects "withou ...
in the 2022-2023 football season to display a giant
banner A banner can be a flag or another piece of cloth bearing a symbol, logo, slogan or another message. A flag whose design is the same as the shield in a coat of arms (but usually in a square or rectangular shape) is called a banner of arms. Also, ...
with the platform's motto in El Clàssic at
Camp Nou Camp Nou (), meaning ''New Field'' and often referred to in English as the Nou Camp, is a stadium in Barcelona and the home of La Liga club FC Barcelona since its opening in 1957. It is currently undergoing renovation, and with a planned increa ...
. Few conservative Spanish media have criticized this group's activities and claims. When Mantinc el català promoted in 2023 a petition for parents of Catalan-speaking children to formally ask schools and
daycare center Child care, also known as day care, is the care and supervision of one or more children, typically ranging from three months to 18 years old. Although most parents spend a significant amount of time caring for their child(ren), childcare typica ...
s what their children's linguistic habits were in different environments (playground, lunchtime or group tasks), the newspaper '' Crónica Global'' described the group as “radicals of monolingualism” and “moving their
witch-hunt A witch hunt, or a witch purge, is a search for people who have been labeled witches or a search for evidence of witchcraft. Practicing evil spells or Incantation, incantations was proscribed and punishable in early human civilizations in the ...
ing to schools”. '' La Razón'' accused the platform of “
harassing Harassment covers a wide range of behaviors of an offensive nature. It is commonly understood as behavior that demeans, humiliates, and intimidates a person, and it is characteristically identified by its unlikelihood in terms of social and ...
the Spanish language” and described them as “a
separatist Separatism is the advocacy of cultural, ethnic, tribal, religious, racial, regional, governmental, or gender separation from the larger group. As with secession, separatism conventionally refers to full political separation. Groups simply seekin ...
organization, in line with similar ones and
subsidized A subsidy, subvention or government incentive is a type of government expenditure for individuals and households, as well as businesses with the aim of stabilizing the economy. It ensures that individuals and households are viable by having acce ...
by the Catalan Government”. Another controversy arose when the group advocated on
Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...
that the Hospital de Sant Joan de Déu de Barcelona should emphasize in the use of Catalan as a core language in their social handles, despite the fact that they were already aware that the hospital had two user profiles, one for each language. '' Crónica Global'' published another report on the case that included the expression “fanatics of Catalan” in the
headline The headline is the text indicating the content or nature of the article below it, typically by providing a form of brief summary of its contents. The large type ''front page headline'' did not come into use until the late 19th century when incre ...
.{{cite news, access-date=19 February 2023, date=11 January 2023, language=ca, title=Un digital espanyolista engega una campanya d'odi contra Mantinc el català: "Radicals del monolingüisme en català", url=https://www.larepublica.cat/noticies/politica/nacional/un-digital-espanyolista-engega-una-campanya-dodi-contra-mantinc-el-catala-radicals-del-monolinguisme-en-catala/, work=
La República ''La República'' () is a Peruvian newspaper based in Lima, Peru. It is one of the two main national daily newspapers sold all over the country since it was founded on November 16, 1981. History Founding and early history The paper was fou ...


References

Catalan language activists Sociolinguistics Bilingualism Diglossia Catalan advocacy organizations