Authentic or Anonymous: language attitudes of Catalan university students in a changing political context

Overview

In a context of increasing linguistic diversity and political upheaval in Catalonia this project aims to examine the attitudes of undergraduate students toward the languages which they come into contact with in their daily lives, in particular, Spanish and Catalan. The situation in Catalonia is of great interest because it has features that make it different from that of other societies, with the coexistence of a ‘medium-sized’ language, Catalan, and a much larger language, Spanish. In the region both languages are official and have similar vitality. However, throughout Catalonia, the concepts of ‘majority’ and ‘minority’ language are blurred, varying spatially in terms of group status, power and size, depending on the context in question. In addition, the linguistic situation in Catalonia is a microcosm of power issues which exist not just within the Spanish state, but also in many other situations where an imbalance of power is manifest through language conflict and tension.

As such, the recent developments in contemporary Catalonia, comprising of mass-protests and the creation of new socio-political contexts, offer an excellent opportunity to examine the constructions of, and attitudes toward, Catalan and Spanish. It is within this context that issues relating to language and identity are of pressing significance in Catalonia given the current shifting socio-political context.

The majority of research in this field in Catalonia has been conducted using quantitative methods. This is the gap in the available research that this project aims to address. This study proposes that a fuller understanding of the situation in Catalonia may be facilitated through qualitative methodologies. This research conducts semi-structured interviews with undergraduate students in Catalonia, with a particular focus on the Barcelona region.

Methodology

Semi-structured interviews will be used in this research because they have the potential to reveal informants’ personal experiences of, and attitudes toward, languages. Employing semi-structured interviews ensure that unexpected facts can be easily explored in an informal and flexible manner. Additionally, semi-structured interviews are a useful tool where interviewees can make their experiences with languages explicit, without being limited to answering interview questions in pre-defined categories.

The data collection will be undertaken in Spanish, Catalan or English depending on the participants’ preference. Nonetheless, the data collection procedure will be designed in a practical manner. This is insofar as material and questions will be prepared before the start of the data collection and also proofread by a native speaker of Catalan and Spanish.

Over the course of one academic year, various course leaders, lecturers and student representative bodies clubs will be contacted. The universities that this project aims to include are, the University of Barcelona (UB), the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB) and University Pompeu Fabra (UPF). This project will aim to conduct semi-structured interviews with ten students from each university. The aim of the semi-structured interview is to gain qualitative data to better understand the informants’ attitudes toward Catalan and Spanish and views on the Catalan independence project. In addition, photo-elicitation will also be included in the semi-structured interviews, whereby informants will be asked to comment on images of the Catalan independence movement and languages in general. This approach has not been employed before in this field of research and it will empower participants to explain their lives and assist in deepening the discussion.

Project Duration

This project started in September 2020. At this time a pilot project was conducted, in order to evaluate, correct and expand the data collection instrument. Initially, the project will last for one academic year. However, this is only the first stage of larger research project that will aim to examine the language attitudes of university students from across Catalonia (Girona, Tarragona and Lleida).