Comparing Student Perspectives of the Politics of Language and Identity in Catalonia and the Valencian Community
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Linguistic authority and authoritative texts: Comparing student perspectives of the politics of language and identity in Catalonia and the Valencian Community by Andrew Frank Bradley Thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Sheffield Faculty of Arts and Humanities School of Languages and Cultures October 2020 Table of Contents Abstract ................................................................................................................................... viii Declaration ................................................................................................................................. x Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................... xi Table of Figures ....................................................................................................................... xii List of abbreviations ............................................................................................................... xiii Note on terminology ............................................................................................................... xiv Chapter 1: Introduction .......................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Contemporary Spain: a case of (dis)unity and conflict .................................................... 2 1.1.1 Allegations of indoctrination in Catalonia and the politicisation of textbooks ........ 6 1.1.2 The less familiar allegations of indoctrination in the Valencian Community .......... 8 1.2 Situating the research project within current theoretical discussions ............................ 10 1.2.1 Language ideologies and linguistic authority in Catalan-speaking contexts ......... 10 1.2.2 Language-in-education policy from a ‘macro-micro perspective’ ........................ 14 1.2.3 Inter-regional Catalan and Valencian perspectives: Un tema oblidat?. ................. 18 1.3 Research motivation: A personal and self-reflective account ....................................... 21 1.4 Research questions and overview of the thesis .............................................................. 23 Chapter 2: Theoretical framework ...................................................................................... 26 2.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................... 26 2.2 Nations, Nationalism, and the construction of (national) identity ................................. 26 2.2.1 Nationalism studies: Conceptualising nation and ethnicity .................................. 27 2.2.2 Nationalism as theory and as practice ................................................................... 30 2.2.3 Identity construction, interactivity, and positionality ........................................... 33 2.2.4 National identification and the role of language ................................................... 35 2.3 Current approaches to Language Policy ......................................................................... 38 2.3.1 The field of Language Policy and Planning (LPP) ............................................... 38 2.3.2 Language-in-education policies and textbooks as policy texts ............................. 45 2.4 Adopting a language ideological approach .................................................................... 49 2.4.1 Language ideology as a field of inquiry ............................................................... 49 2.4.2 Ideologies of linguistic authority .......................................................................... 53 2.4.3 Discourse and discursive strategies ...................................................................... 55 2.5 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................... 59 Chapter 3: Contextualising Catalan and Valencian language politics ............................. 61 3.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................... 61 3.2 The Catalan language. .................................................................................................... 62 3.2.1 Knowledge and social use of Catalan .................................................................. 63 3.2.2 The Països Catalans ............................................................................................. 67 3.2.3 The politics of language and identity in Catalonia ............................................... 71 3.2.3.1 The Renaixença ............................................................................................ 71 3.2.3.2 Catalan nation-building and catalanitat ...................................................... 73 3.3 The case of Valencian in the Valencian Community ..................................................... 79 3.3.1 What is Valencian? ............................................................................................... 79 3.3.2 The politics of language and identity: An internal and external conflict .............. 84 3.3.2.1 The Valencian Renaixença .......................................................................... 84 3.3.2.2 The external language conflict ..................................................................... 85 3.3.2.3 The internal language conflict ..................................................................... 87 3.3.2.4 The diverse identity panorama of the Valencian Community ..................... 91 3.4 Catalan and Valencian language policy: A comparative overview ................................ 94 3.4.1 Language-in-education policy in Catalonia .......................................................... 95 3.4.2 Language-in-education policy in the Valencian Community ............................... 98 3.4.3 Co-official Language and Literature textbooks and the 4º ESO curriculum ...... 101 3.5 Concluding remarks ..................................................................................................... 110 Chapter 4: Research design and methodological approach ............................................. 111 4.1 Introduction .................................................................................................................. 111 4.2 Research design and researcher positionality ............................................................... 112 4.2.1 Adopting a qualitative research methodology and constructivist epistemology 112 4.2.2 The role and profile of the researcher ................................................................. 114 4.2.3 Qualitative validity and reliability ...................................................................... 116 4.2.4 Research design .................................................................................................. 119 4.2.4.1 Who? – Research participants .................................................................... 120 4.2.4.2 Participant biographical information ......................................................... 123 4.2.4.3 When? – Research context ......................................................................... 124 4.2.4.4 Where? – Research locations ..................................................................... 125 4.2.4.5 How? – Recruitment process and its shortcomings ................................... 127 4.3 Data collection: Focus group interviewing .................................................................. 130 4.3.1 Stage 1: Semi-structured questions ..................................................................... 133 4.3.2 Stage 2: The textbook comparison exercise ........................................................ 134 4.4 Data management and analysis .................................................................................... 136 4.4.1 Adopting a comparative approach to thematic analysis ..................................... 136 4.4.2 Sources of data and transcription conventions .................................................... 139 4.5 Summary ...................................................................................................................... 141 Chapter 5: Negotiating catalanitat: Exploring the language ideological mechanisms of linguistic and social differentiation .................................................................................... 142 5.1 Introduction .................................................................................................................. 142 5.2 Constructing spatial boundaries: Catalan and the Països Catalans ............................ 143 5.2.1 A shared Catalan language community: Catalan perspectives .......................... 144 5.2.1.1 The Països Catalans as Catalan-speaking spaces ..................................... 144 5.2.1.2 The Països Catalans: Entities of a far and distant past ............................ 148 5.2.2 Valencian perspectives on a shared Catalan language community .................... 150 5.2.2.1 The Països Catalans as Catalan-speaking spaces? .................................... 151 5.2.2.2 Catalan Countries or countries of Catalonia? A contemporary question ... 154 5.3 Constructing linguistic boundaries: Is Valencian Catalan? .......................................... 158 5.3.1 ‘El valencià és català’: Constructing linguistic sameness .................................