Language Attitudes and Minority Rights: The Case of Catalan in France

by James Hawkey

Overview

This book presents a detailed sociolinguistic study of the traditionally Catalan-speaking areas of Southern France, and sheds new light on language attitudes, phonetic variation, language ideologies and minority language rights. The region’s complex dual identity, both Catalan and French, both peripheral and strategic, is shown to be reflected in the book’s attitudinal findings which in turn act as reliable predictors of phonetic variation. The author’s careful discursive analysis paints a clear picture of the linguistic ideological landscape: in which French dominates as the language of status and prestige. This innovative work, employing cutting-edge mixed methods, provides an in-depth account of an under-examined language situation, and draws on this research to propose a number of policy recommendations to protect minority rights for speakers of Catalan in the region. Combining language attitudes, sociophonetics, discourse studies, and language policy, this will provide an invaluable reference for scholars of French and Catalan studies and minority languages around the world.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9783319745961
Publisher:	Springer International Publishing
Publication date:	04/13/2018
Edition description:	1st ed. 2018
Pages:	216
Product dimensions:	5.83(w) x 8.27(h) x (d)

About the Author

James Hawkey is Lecturer in Spanish Linguistics at the University of Bristol, UK. His research interests include language attitudes, language policy, language and migration, and language variation and change. His work focuses on Catalonia, France, and Andorra.

Table of Contents

Introduction.
Chapter 1: Research Context: Northern Catalonia.
Chapter 2: Theoretical and Methodological Considerations.
Chapter 3: Quantitative Approaches to Language Attitudes in Northern Catalonia.
Chapter 4: Phonetic Variation and Language Attitudes in Northern Catalonia.
Chapter 5: Qualitative Analysis: Spatial Discourses and Language Ideologies in Northern Catalonia.
Chapter 6. Discussion: Minority Language Rights in Northern Catalonia.-
Conclusions.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“Hawkey burnishes his reputation as one of the foremost scholars working within Catalan studies as he presents here an important English-language examination of key language questions from Northern Catalonia. Drawing on his own extensive attitudinal and phonetic data, Hawkey expertly grapples with urgent issues at stake for the Catalan language and its (semi-)speakers in France.” (Robert Blackwood, Professor of French Sociolinguistics, University of Liverpool, UK)

“At a time of renewed interest in France’s regional languages, this study provides a much-needed, up-to-date sociolinguistic portrait of one of the lesser-studied linguistic minorities. Ambitious in its scope, it combines empirical analyses of language attitudes, broader language ideologies and linguistic variation to make a valuable contribution to language rights debates.” (Leigh Oakes, Reader in French and Linguistics, Queen Mary, University of London, UK)