La llengua catalana i un nou Estatut d'autonomia per a Catalunya
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This article proposes an analysis of
the various proposals for reforming the
Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia that
have a bearing on language. Consequently,
it outlines the principal questions that permeate the air in the political
and parliamentary debate. For a
broad sector of the Catalan parliamentary
spectrum, the treatment given to
language under the Statute should be
reviewed. Different political parties
represented in the Catalonian Parliament
(ciu, erc, psc-cpc and icv) have
introduced proposals to improve the
Statute of Autonomy. Such proposals
extend into the legal and linguistic
sphere to improve the language of the
Statute, armor-plate the successes
achieved by the legislation and set in
stone the Constitutional Court rulings
favoring the extension of the knowledge
and use of the Catalan and Occitan
languages.
Formally, the article is structured in
three parts: the first describes the content
and the extent of the debate on the
increase in self-government in Catalonia
as relates to language. It identifies
what the proposals are from the experts
who have appeared before the Parliamentary
Study Commission on Expanding
the Level of Self-Government
and puts forward the postulates that
appear in the initiatives endorsed by
the Catalan parties in this area.
The study of these partisan initiatives
is set forth in the second part of
the article, where the content of the different
proposals from the parties for
modifying the framework of the Statute
currently in force is studied. The objective
common to all the proposals focuses
on having the statute guarantee a full
standardization of the Catalan language,
bearing in mind the identity-oriented,
symbolic and cultural dimensions
of the language. Starting from this
point of departure, the parties propose
different measures, some of which are not entirely new. As a matter of fact, in
certain cases, the language proposals
appearing on the projects studied in
this paper had already been part of the
parties´ political agenda for years; some
were even voiced during the discussion
of parliamentary papers on the Statute
in force in 1979. An analysis of the electoral
programs and a careful review of
parliamentary papers issued by the parties
allow us to conclude that part of
the proposals formulated in certain
documents had already been put forward
and debated for some time.
Finally, the paper studies the propitiousness,
procedure and points of
commonality among the proposed
modifications in the Statute. A comparative
study of the ensemble of proposals
allows us to conclude that the different
projects share a catalog of terms in
which there is a broad consensus in favor
of the modification of the Statute.
Among these issues, the following
stand out: those having to do with the
specific inclusion of language as an area
of skill; the recognition of multilingualism
on the state level, the European
Community level, and internationally;
the definition of the content and scope
of the laws regarding the autochthonous
language and the official language
in Catalonia, or the proposal for guaranteeing
the official status of the
Aranese language in the Aran Valley
through a change in the law