Perception of linguistic diversity in Spanish teaching materials
Published in Catalonia in the 19th century
Presentation
Throughout the 19th century many Spanish teaching materials were conceived to be used in primary schools to teach Catalan children who until this point had little or no knowledge of Spanish. The slow and protracted expansion of the public school system played a major role in this.
The authors of teaching materials are often direct witnesses to the changes in language distribution (who speaks which language, when and where?) and usage (what is each language or variety used for?). A systematic compilation of the teaching materials published in Catalonia, their processing and analysis—particularly, the complete study of paratexts (such as covers, dedications, introductions, prologues, supplements and footnotes)—can help to clarify the dissemination of Spanish and the preservation of Catalan during the 19th century.
Research questions
The following main research questions are to be dealt with in the documents, such as grammars, monolingual and bilingual dictionaries, orthographies, manuals of rhetoric and stylistics, etiquette books, catechisms:
- Do the teaching materials reflect the language contact between Spanish and Catalan in Catalonia and on what terms?
- How is Spanish described? What are the authors’ attitudes towards Spanish and its role in Catalonia?
On this basis, the following specific research questions arise with the aim to reconstruct language attitudes and ideas about language usage in Catalonia:
- What topics can be found in the teaching materials with regard to language contact and language diversity?
- Is the language problem considered and how is it presented?
- Is the regional language mentioned?
- How is Spanish represented? Is it perceived as a foreign language (for Catalan speakers)? Is it considered an obligation to speak this language? How is this justified?
- Which categories are related to Spanish: language - nation, Volk; language – erudite language (Latin); language - other national languages (French); language - regional languages; language - dialect / patois.
- What is Spanish called (in contrast to other languages)? (idioma, lengua, lengua nacional; castellano, español).
- Is Catalan the subject of discussion as a mother tongue or as Catalonia’s/ the speaker’s own language?
Impact
The impact of the project is therefore to complete the understanding of how and on what terms the language conflict started and developed. The accounts of the participants who were directly involved in this process will help to understand the potential for conflict.
The project thus makes a valuable contribution to knowledge of 19th century diglossia in Catalonia, focusing on several unexplored aspects. It also establishes a link between the history of languages and the history of foreign language teaching by highlighting the didactic problems that arise when teaching a language (Spanish) in native (Catalan) language classes which pupils actually did not know.
Project funded by the Ministry of Science and Innovation (PID2019-104659GB-I00), 01/06/2020-29/02/2024.
