Authors: Angel V. Calpe Climent / Voro López Verdejo Editor: Real Academia de Cultura Valenciana. , 2002. Collection: Serie Filologica number 24 Idiom: Valencian and English IBSN: 84-921559-6-5 Translation: Angel V. Calpe Climent

THE UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF LINGUISTIC RIGHTS AND THE VALENCIAN CASE

INTRODUCTION TO THE SITUATION

Since the proclamation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, there has been an international movement claiming for specific Right Charters that developed this idea of a Universal corpus of rights. Now we have, for instance, the Universal Declaration of Children’s Rights or, in this case, the Universal Declaration of Linguistic Rights. This Declaration was discussed in Barcelona in June 1996 and supposes the acknowledge of right so evident for the Valencian people as, for instance, that every linguistic community has the right to express in its own language, to codify and standardise it without induced or forced interferences, to use it as the vehicle of every social expression, to use their own system of proper names and so on. In consequence, the plenary meeting of the Valencian Legislative Chamber adhere to this Declaration on November 14th 1996, few months after having been proclaimed.

Paradoxically, some people that have claimed the application of these linguistic rights to other languages, systematically deny that the Valencian linguistic community may be subject of some of these rights. We have therefore considered very convenient to publish this Universal Declaration of Linguistic Rights in Valencian language, adding this introduction to properly place the Valencian case and commenting some of its articles that are specially significant and relevant for us, the Valencian people.

The Valencian case is very peculiar. It is a language of culture, with an undeniable literary and historic tradition, that has produced a Golden Age which had great influence in other European literatures, that counts with a significant number of speakers and that is officially protected by the public institutions of the country where it is spoken, almost equal under the law to the —1/35— language that puts pressure over it, the Spanish. However, there are circumstances that arise some concerns about the future of the Valencian language. The historical pressure of Spanish (or Castilian) has replaced the Valencian in a lot of social spheres, especially as for written expressions. So, nowadays, the almost equivalent legal status of both languages, Valencian and Castilian, is misleading and pretends a non-existing bilingualism. The asymmetric social presence of Valencian and Castilian is beyond any doubt in favour of the last one and even now we can say there is an active opposition in certain social sections against the use and promotion of the Valencian language, just partially corrected in recent times. The Public Administration supports only half-heartedly the process of linguistic normalisation and, when it effectively supports our language, uses a linguistic model very influenced by neighbouring tongues, specifically by Catalan. This linguistic model induces doubts and conflicts to speakers. On the other hand, the Valencian is practically an unknown language, almost a ghost one, out of our boundaries. To better understand how we have arrived to this bizarre situation, we must go back to our past.

Looking back to History, in the XIIth and XIIIth centuries Provence and its language, Provençal, marked literary and linguistic rules inside the Occitanoromance diasystem; Languedocian, Valencian, Catalan and Majorcan writers ? as well as some Aragonese and Italian ones? followed these rules creating the known as Troubadourish lyric poetry. In the XVth century, the economic and cultural splendour moved to the . This kingdom was the most prosperous of this period in the Southwest of Europe. Valencian language was the only official one in the Kingdom of Valencia from 1238 to 1707, when Valencian laws were abolished by the Bourbon dynasty ? in spite of this, today a majority of the Valencian population still speaks Valencian language? . In Valencia were born important writers as Arnau de Vilanova, Gilabert de Proxita, Arnau March, Pere March, Antoni Canals, Ausias March, Jordi de Sant Jordi, , Joan Roïç de Corella, Jaume Roig, Sor Isabel de Villena, Bernat Fenollar, Narcis Vinyoles or Jaume Gaçull. These writers and their works brought about the Golden Age of Valencian literature and turned Valencia one of the most important cultural centres of Europe.

Some significant examples will help to prove this point. Joanot Martorell’s is considered by critics as the first modern novel; Ausias March’s poems had great influence in the contemporaneous European literature; the first printing in the was established in the city of Valencia and here was published the first book, Trobes en lahors de la Verge Maria, written by several authors, in 1474. The same printing published the first Biblia edited in a Romance language, translated by the Valencian monk Bonifaci Ferrer ? Saint Vicent Ferrer’s brother? , and later destroyed by the Inquisition. We can still read in its surviving colophon:

...fon trelladada [...] en lo monestir de Portaceli de lengua latina en la nostra valenciana...

[...translated [...] in the Portaceli monastery from the language into our Valencian language.]

The Valencian Joan Esteve finished in 1472 the first bilingual Romance dictionary, in this case Latin-Valencian, titled Liber elegantiarum. It was eventually published in Venice in 1489. There we can read in this epilogue:

Explicit liber elegantiarum Johannis Stephani, viri eruditissimi, civis Valentiani, regie auctoritate notarii publici, latina et valenciana lingua exactissima diligencia emendatus...

—2/35— [Here finishes the elegance book from Joan Esteve, very erudite man, Valencian citizen, public notary of royal authority; in Latin and Valencian languages in the most exactness and elegance corrected]

In this period other were unaware of printing books and lacked of cultured literature though, later, some of these languages, as Castilian, will be the support of great European empires.

The consequence of Valencian cultural splendour is that Valencian writers marked rules and styles and shaped the literary languages within their linguistic diasystem. Some classic works were translated into Valencian, in spite of the effort necessary to do that. So, the Valencian Antoni Canals translated Valerio Maximo in 1395 in spite of existing a previous Catalan translation indicated by the author in the manuscript:

...tret del lati en nostra vulgada lenga materna Valenciana axi com he pogut jatssessia que altres l’agen tret en lenga cathalana empero com lur stil sia fort larch e quasi confus...

[...translated from Latin in our vulgar Valencian mother language as I have been able to, though others have translated it to , but in a very rude style and almost confusing.]

El Blanquerna, from the Majorcan writer , was translated to the Valencian language too, by Joan Bonlabi, in 1521, as it is stated in the front page of the edition:

...Traduit y corregit ara novament dels primers originals y estampat en llengua Valenciana.

[...Translated and corrected now from the first originals and printed in Valencian language.]

Out of the boundaries of the Occitanoromance diasystem Valencian works were edited. For instance, an edition of Ausias March’s poems printed in Valladolid in 1555 for Castilian readers, thus enclosing a bilingual Valencian-Castilian vocabulary made by Juan de Resa, Felipe II chaplain. Not been the only example, today this publishing characteristic would be unthinkable, given that practically no Spanish reader would dare trying to read and understand a book written in Valencian.

As we have said, the Valencian language was a model to be followed by the most important writers belonging to the Occitanoromance diasystem from XIVth to XXth centuries. But at the beginning of the XXth century, the entrusted Pompeu Fabra the composition of a modern normative grammar for the Catalan language. Fabra imposed as the literary linguistic model the “barceloni”, the Barcelona . He wasn’t specially skilled for the work ? he was an industrial engineer? and in his short linguistic knowledge considered mistakenly that Valencian words and idioms were too much influenced by Castilian language. Therefore he decided to give pre-eminence to the eastern forms, used in Barcelona, that in a lot of cases were actually more influenced by Spanish than the rejected Valencian or western linguistic forms. The need of the Catalan nationalism of a strong and specific language to strengthen its political idea broke the Occitanoromance diasystem. This fact was set denying the historical linguistic and literary bonds beyond the Pyrenees, thus breaking with the Languedoc, in France, and trying to impose the Catalan language name as well as the new and spelling normative to the Valencian and Majorcan languages in , where the political expansionist goals of the Catalan nationalism were regarded as easier. In this secessionist and, at same time, expansionist manoeuvre, the Catalan nationalism got a distinctive language of its own, snatched from the Occitanoromance diasystem. In order to give credibility to this language, as they lacked of medieval works and authors of importance, the Valencian Golden Age with all its relevant —3/35— literary production was annexed to the brand-new written history of the . So, with this strategy, the Catalan nationalism began an expansion longed by the imperialist movement. We show two examples: the first one is a document published by Pompeu Fabra and other authors in 1934 called Desviacions en els conceptes de llengua i patria [Deviations in the concepts of language and homeland]; the content reminds a World War II German slogan. We can read at the second point:

La nostra pàtria [la catalana], per a nosaltres, és el territori on es parla la llengua catalana. Comprén, doncs, de les Corberes a l’Horta d’Oriola i de les comarques orientals d’Aragó a la Mediterrània. Composta de quatre grans regions ? Principat, València, Balears i Rosselló? .

[Our homeland [the Catalan homeland], for us, it is the territory where the Catalan language is spoken. It includes from Corberes to l’Horta d´Oriola and from the Aragon eastern counties to the Mediterranean Sea. It is form by four great regions ? Principality, Valencia, Majorca Islands and Rossello? .]

This document considers the existence of a future “”, describes the possibility of a Catalan expansion and finally outlines an “eradication of everything that opposes the immediate achievement of this ideal” (“extirpació de tot allò que s’oposi a la consecució immediata d’aquest ideal”). In other words, this manifesto is plenty of fascist and imperialist terms.

The second document is from Miquel i Planas, dated in 1911. His words are softer than Fabra’s, but they have the same sense. He also attacks the Valencian language autonomy inside the Occitanoromance diasystem and explains the need of a Catalan annexationism with this crystal- clear statement:

Vist el cas desde Catalunya estant, no hi ha pas dubte de que, com més els extremen les pretensions a l’autonomia de la llur varietat idiomatica enfront el català, major necessitat hi ha per part nostra de reivindicar la unitat llengüística de les gents qui poblen la faixa llevantina de la península ab les illes balears. Sobre tot respecte de Valencia, el nostre interès creix al considerar la preponderancia que assolí la escola poètica valenciana en el segle XV. Privar a Catalunya y a sa literatura de l’aport que representa la producció de les lletres valencianes d’aquella època y fins ben entrada la setzena centuria, fóra deixar la nostra historia literaria trencada al bell-mig de sa creixença y ufanor; més encara: fóra arrencar de la Literatura Catalana la Poesía quasi per enter, car en cap altre moment, abans de la renaixença, ha arribat a adquirir l’esclat ab que se’ns apareix mercès als Ausias March, als Roiç de Corella, als Jaume Roig, als Gaçull, als Fenollar y atres cent més. Mantenir aquest principi d’unitat literaria es, donchs, d’un gran interès pera’ls ...

[Seeing the problem from , there is not doubt that the more the Valencians claim for autonomy of their idiomatic variety against Catalan language, the bigger our need of claiming for the linguistic unity of the people who live in the eastern coast of the [Iberian] peninsula and the . Especially about Valencia, our interest grows up when we consider the preponderance of Valencian poetry in XVth century. Depriving Catalonia and the Catalan literature of the contribution of the Valencian literature from this period up to the XVIIth century means to break our literature at the middle of its growth. Even more, it would mean to snatch from the Catalan literature almost all Poetry, because before the renaixença our literature has never achieved the level of an Ausias March, a Roiç de Corella, a Jaume Roig, a Gaçull, a Fenollar and other one hundred more. Maintaining this principle of literary unity is, therefore, of great interest to Catalans...]

The conflict born in Valencia as a consequence of this annexationist and imperialist Catalan nationalism, distorting the situation of the Valencian language within the Occitanoromance diasystem, is well known in spite of the Spanish government attempts to silence it inside and outside Spain. The Valencian philologist Sanchis Guarner also admits the problem, although he was one of the stronger defenders of the Valencian annexationism: —4/35—

El sentiment de personalitat regional que sempre havem tingut els valencians, impedia l'acceptació global de la doctrina gramatical catalana unificada i modernitzada per Fabra. Els valencians hauríem rebutjat considerant-lo una intolerable imposició, tant el sistema gramatical fabrista com qualsevol altre que es titulàs català, si no feia concessions demostratives de respecte a les particularitats regionals valencianes. El procés unificatiu, perquè fos viable, calia promoure'l des de dins, havia de ser iniciativa dels propis valencians.

[The regional personality-feeling characteristic in Valencian people hindered the global acceptance of modern and united Catalan grammar doctrine made by Fabra. Valencian people would have refused it considering that it would have been an intolerable imposition, so coming from Fabra´s grammar system or from any other called Catalan, unless it would made demonstrative concessions of respect towards Valencian [linguistic] peculiarities. To be viable, the unifying process [with Catalan] was to be promoted from inside, had to be an initiative of Valencians themselves.]

In fact, Valencian people have resisted several times to the attempts to impose the Catalan grammar doctrine in Valencia, and they have demanded a grammar normative of their own. The first attempt of annexation was set in Castello in 1932, where some writers decided to apply to Valencian an spelling system that really was a bad copy of the Catalan spelling rules with some minor concessions to Valencian language. These rules, known as “rules of Castello” or “rules of 1932” were never fully accepted by all Valencian writers and just one year later, the only philologist who signed these spelling rules, Lluïs Fullana, published another spelling system more in harmony with the long Valencian written tradition.

Nowadays we are suffering a second attempt to impose the Catalan grammar, the most dangerous of the history because it has been adopted by the very Valencian public institutions, governed by the Spanish right wing party and regular ally of the Catalan right wing party governing Catalonia for more than twenty years. The Valencian government tried desperately to finish the Valencian linguistic conflict creating in 1998 an Academia Valenciana de la Llengua [Valencian Academy of the Language] with competence to decide about linguistic questions. This point is specified in the law that, in its third , says:

L'Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua és la institució que te per funció determinar i elaborar, en el seu cas, la normativa lingüistica de l'idioma valencià. Així com, vetlar pel valencià partint de la tradició lexicogràfica, literària, i la realitat lingüística genuïna valenciana, així com la normativització consolidada, a partir de les denominades Normes de Castelló.

[The Valencian Academy of the Language is the institution that has as purpose to determine and elaborate, where appropriate, the linguistic normative for the Valencian language. It is also a function of this institution to protect the Valencian language regarding the Valencian genuine lexicographic, literary and linguistic reality and the consolidated normative, based in the named Rules of Castello.]

The preamble of the law emphasises the historical importance of the Rules of Castello ? the first Catalan attempt to annex the Valencian language? and tries to reassure the Valencian citizens repeating that:

L’ens es basarà en la tradició lexicogràfica i literaria i la realitat lingüística genuïna valenciana.

[The entity will rely on the lexicographic and literary tradition and the Valencian genuine linguistic reality.]

This new Academy is well considered by the Catalan nationalism because it tries to establish the Rules of Castello that, as it has been said, are the Catalan spelling rules used to pretend there are no differences among both languages. The text of the law repeats constantly that must be a respect to the lexicographic tradition and the genuine linguistic Valencian reality; it wouldn’t be —5/35— necessary to mention it so many times if the Valencian genuine linguistic reality were not in danger. Furthermore, knowing the composition of the Academy, with a majority of the politically elected 21 members supporting annexation, is easy to foresee the results and that these results will be refused in the long run by the Valencian people.

The question is ¿how is it possible that a language that had a promising future in the XIVth and XVth centuries is threaten in this way? Economy, politics and power condition the answer. The , formed by the kingdoms of Aragon, Valencia and Majorca, the Catalan Counties and other territories, was united to Castile with the marriage between Isabel and Fernando, the Catholic kings. In a relation of pretended equality. But the conquest of America broke the balance and the Crown of Aragon was hindered to reach the New World, opening a period of great expansion for Castile and its language, an expanding and growing Castilian.

Two centuries later, during the War of the Spanish Succession, King Philip V reconquered a rebel Kingdom of Valencia and, in 1707 abolished its laws and forced Castilian as the only official language of the country. This delicate political situation, with a monolingual administration purported to encourage the royal power, will change in the XIXth century with the outbreak of the nationalisms in Europe and the widespread claiming of the historical identities and languages under the premise “one language, one nation”

The reappearance of the nationalisms in Spain in the last years of the XIXth century has an unequal political repercussion. So, in Catalonia grows a movement with more political projection and a more intense protest character than, for example, in Valencia. In fact, as most nationalisms in this period, the Catalan nationalism has an expansionist background and tries to include within its area of influence the territories from the old kingdom of Aragon that speak similar languages. This is the starting point of a period, still in force, of synergy between the Spanish nationalism, backed by the power of the State, and an ever-growing expansionist Catalan nationalism, now with a powerful and autonomous self-governing administration. They rival in many fields but they are forced to cooperate among them to grant the stability of their respective governments. What is more, both coincide in their interests to abolish or, at least, weaken, the Valencian identity, because it opposes what these nationalisms consider a part of their “natural” area of action. Thus, they attack synergistically at three levels: territory, language and cultural identity.

This destructive synergy maybe seen, for instance, in the names and treatment given to the Valencian territory. Both nationalisms deny the historical name of Kingdom of Valencia, or simply “Valencia”, and worst of all, they undermine our territorial integrity. The Spanish nationalism divided our territory in the middle of XIXth century when province division was passed. From then on the Valencian identity of the citizens living in the north and the south of our country has been severely weaken. The constant public references to the provinces of “Castellon, Valencia y ” (in Spanish, of course) and the systematic use of terms like “región valenciana” (Valencian region), “païs valencià” (Valencian land, Land of Valencia o Valencian Country) and specially “levante” (just “the East”) clearly emphasise the dissolution of our historical awareness as a nationality. This process has reached a peak with the adoption of the term “Comunitat Valenciana” (), an insipid and artificial name nowadays official in our territory.

The Catalan nationalism follows similar strategies but without the powerful backing support of a state. It denies the historical role of the Kingdom of Valencia as one of the main territories within the Crown of Aragon during the Middle Ages, precisely when Valencia was more powerful and —6/35— magnificent. Catalan nationalists promote the name “Païs Valencià”, clearly of minor political rank that our historical name and that the name they currently use for their own country, the Principality [of Catalonia], a name that in fact has no historical tradition. On the other hand, they also try to break the Valencian territory, east-west this time, depending on the main language of the county. According to Fuster, one of the greatest partisans of annexing Valencia to Catalonia, the Castilian-speaking counties of Valencia, which he thinks of minor importance, should be “given” to Aragon, Castile and Murcia, thus tearing apart our country. In addition to this strategy, Catalan nationalism has promoted an artificial and devastating opposition between the City of Valencia and the rest of the country, avoiding a strong capital that could have reverted the process of dissolution of our identity.

The predisposition of each nationalism to act in a certain way is not exclusive. In fact, recently some Spanish right-wing politicians in office have tried to confront, irresponsibly, Valencian speakers and Spanish speakers to prevent a shy reform of the Valencian government aimed to reinforce the weak use of Valencian among civil servants.

The Spanish nationalism has traditionally obstructed the social use of Valencian. It has tried to prevent, controlling schools, that the Valencian people could learn about their history and culture. In the last twenty years Catalan nationalism has achieved the introduction of several lexical, orthographic, syntactic and morphological characteristics in the Valencian language taught at school, and has discredited our own genuine linguistic forms denying their validity for cultural and literary use.

The synergy among Catalan and Spanish nationalism also spreads to identity and culture. We are denied the very existence of the Valencian culture and our cultural production is systematically hidden annexing it to other identities, without further explanation or specification. We may see this graphically with a simple example taken from the Enclopedia Universal Ilustrada Europeo-Americana, volume 33, printed in Barcelona (Catalonia), [1928]. In the article about Joanot Martorell we may read:

“Novelista español nacido probablemente en Valencia, en el siglo XV. Es autor de la famosa novela catalana Libre del valeros e estrenu cavaller Tirant lo Blanch, que según la dedicatoria al infante don Fernando de Portugal, fue empezada el 2 de enero de 1460, imprimiéndose por primera vez en Valencia en 1490 [...]”

[Spanish novelist probably born in Valencia, in the XVth century. He is the author of the famous Catalan romance “Book of the brave and courageous knight Tirant lo Blanch”, that, according to the dedication to the Infante don Fernando of Portugal, was begun on January 2nd 1460 and was printed for the first time in Valencia in 1490 [...]]

We may do some reflections about this quotation. The article acknowledges that the author was probably born in Valencia (he was born, to be precise, in the Valencian city of ), and that we are talking of the beginnings of the XVth century, many years before the consolidation of the Spanish Crown and when the Kingdom of Valencia was still an autonomous state; however, the article says the author is Spanish, not Valencian. Next we learn his work was published in Valencia, but that the famous romance is Catalan (i.e. written in Catalan). Furthermore, the text is so ambiguous that one can never say if the places of birth and of printing are both the city of Valencia or somewhere else within the Kingdom of Valencia... unless, of course, it deliberately ignore the very existence of a five centuries standing kingdom, assuming that the only possible —7/35— meaning is for the city. Let’s see the opinion of the author himself, expressed at the very beginning of his romance:

[...] me atrevire expondre no solament de lengua anglesa en portoguesa, mas encara de portoguesa en vulgar valenciana, per ço que la nacio d’on yo so natural se.n puxa alegrar [...]

[... I dare not only to translate [this romance] from into , but even from Portuguese into common Valencian [language], so that the nation where I was born may be glad of it.]

So, in spite of the explicit and categorical statement of a writer, that identifies himself as a Valencian that writes in Valencian language, the “academic” and presumably neutral description that we are given is that Joanot Martorell was a Spanish author who writes in Catalan; the Valencian identity has been completely suppressed from the text.

Unfortunately this is not an exception but a rule that has supposed a real plundering of the Valencian cultural heritage and, for extension, of our identity as a people with distinct language and culture. The Valencian identity has become invisible to the world and even to most Valencian citizens.

This silence curtain has also been drawn to hide the modern and enduring Valencian linguistic conflict. After recovering the democratic freedoms taken away by Franco, the Valencian people demanded political autonomy, their identity symbols, their language, and their culture. The adverse political circumstances previously commented have obstructed terribly these demands, which have been only partially met. What’s more, nowadays the literary production in Valencian language, the research, the linguistic theories that defend the specificity and autonomy of our language and our culture are systematically ostracised by those in office. Our publications are included within those Catalans ? thus, “disappearing”? , we are denied public funds, some libraries hide or throw away our books... a really hard landscape.

However, and in spite of this dark situation, we must still give a message of hope, relying on the stubborn resistance to fade away or been absorbed that the Valencian people has constantly shown in the last centuries. The Valencian linguistic awareness will resist, one way or another, the Catalan linguistic assimilation pressures, as it stood the constant penetration of words, idioms and Spanish linguistic structures, especially intense along the XIXth and XXth centuries. Maybe convenient to remind here that the Valencian writers, since XVth century, insist overwhelmingly here and there in the specificity and personality of their own language in relation to their neighbours. Our only demand, as Valencians, is that we are recognised the same rights, the same linguistic rights, that those granted for any other culture or national identity like ours.

City of Valencia, from the 6th to the 8th of June 2002

—8/35—

UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF LINGUISTIC RIGHTS ANNOTATED ACCORDING TO THE VALENCIAN CASE

PRELIMINARIES

The institutions and non-governmental organizations, signatories to the present Universal Declaration of Linguistic Rights, meeting in Barcelona from 6 to 9 June 1996,

Having regard to the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights which, in its preamble, expresses its «faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person and in the equal rights of men and women»; and which, in its second article, establishes that «everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms» regardless of «race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status»;

Having regard to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights of 16 December 1966 (Article 27), and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights of the same date which, in their preambles, state that human beings cannot be free unless conditions are created which enable them to enjoy both their civil and political rights and their economic, social and cultural rights;

Having regard to Resolution 47/135 of 18 December 1992 of the General Assembly of the United Nations Organization which adopted the Declaration on the Rights of Persons belonging to National, Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities;

Having regard to the declarations and conventions of the Council of Europe, such as the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, of 4 November 1950 (Article 14); the Convention of the Council of Ministers of the Council of Europe, of 29 June 1992, approving the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages; the Declaration on National Minorities made by the Summit Meeting of the Council of Europe on 9 October 1993; and the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities of November 1994;

Having regard to the Santiago de Compostela Declaration of the International PEN Club and the Declaration of 15 December 1993 of the Translations and Linguistic Rights Committee of the International PEN Club concerning the proposal to hold a World Conference on Linguistic Rights;

—9/35— Considering that, in the Recife, Brazil, Declaration of 9 October 1987, the 12th Seminar of the International Association for the Development of Intercultural Communication recommended the United Nations Organization to take the necessary steps to approve and implement a Universal Declaration of Linguistic Rights;

Having regard to Convention 169 of the International Labour Organization of 26 June 1989 concerning Indigenous and Tribal Peoples in Independent Countries;

Having regard to the Universal Declaration of the Collective Rights of Peoples, Barcelona, May 1990, which declared that all peoples have the right to express and develop their culture, language and rules of organization and, to this end, to adopt political, educational, communications and governmental structures of their own, within different political frameworks;

Having regard to the Final Declaration adopted by the General Assembly of the International Federation of Modern Language Teachers in Pécs (Hungary) on 16 August 1991, which recommended that linguistic rights be considered as fundamental rights of the individual;

Having regard to the report of the Human Rights Commission of the United Nations Economic and Social Council, of 20 April 1994, concerning the draft Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which viewed individual rights in the light of collective rights;

Having Regard to the draft Declaration of the Inter-American Human Rights Commission on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, approved at session 1278 on 18 September 1995;

Considering that the majority of the world's endangered languages belong to non-sovereign peoples and that the main factors which prevent the development of these languages and accelerate the process of language substitution include the lack of self-government and the policy of states which impose their political and administrative structures and their language;

Considering that invasion, colonization, occupation and other instances of political, economic or social subordination often involve the direct imposition of a foreign language or, at the very least, distort perceptions of the value of languages and give rise to hierarchical linguistic attitudes which undermine the language loyalty of speakers; and considering that the languages of some peoples which have attained sovereignty are consequently immersed in a process of language substitution as a result of a policy which favours the language of former colonial or imperial powers;

Considering that universalism must be based on a conception of linguistic and cultural diversity which prevails over trends towards homogenization and towards exclusionary isolation;

Considering that, in order to ensure peaceful coexistence between language communities, overall principles must be found so as to guarantee the promotion and respect of all languages and their social use in public and in private;

Considering that various factors of an extralinguistic nature (historical, political, territorial, demographic, economic, sociocultural and sociolinguistic factors and those related to collective attitudes) give rise to problems which lead to the extinction, marginalization and degeneration of numerous languages, and that linguistic rights must therefore be examined in an overall perspective, so as to apply appropriate solutions in each case; —10/35—

In the belief that a Universal Declaration of Linguistic Rights is required in order to correct linguistic imbalances with a view to ensuring the respect and full development of all languages and establishing the principles for a just and equitable linguistic peace throughout the world as a key factor in the maintenance of harmonious social relations;

HEREBY DECLARE THAT

PREAMBLE

The situation of each language, in view of the foregoing considerations, is the result of the convergence and interaction of a wide range of factors of a political and legal, ideological and historical, demographic and territorial, economic and social, cultural, linguistic and sociolinguistic, interlinguistic and subjective nature.

At the present time, these factors are defined by:

? The age-old unifying tendency of the majority of states to reduce diversity and foster attitudes opposed to cultural plurality and linguistic pluralism.

? The trend towards a worldwide economy and consequently towards a worldwide market of information, communications and culture, which disrupts the spheres of interrelation and the forms of interaction that guarantee the internal cohesion of language communities.

? The economicist growth model put forward by transnational economic groups which seeks to identify deregulation with progress and competitive individualism with freedom and generates serious and growing economic, social, cultural and linguistic inequality.

Language communities are currently threatened by a lack of self-government, a limited population or one that is partially or wholly dispersed, a fragile economy, an uncodified language, or a cultural model opposed to the dominant one, which make it impossible for many languages to survive and develop unless the following basic goals are taken into account:

? In a political perspective, the goal of conceiving a way of organizing linguistic diversity so as to permit the effective participation of language communities in this new growth model.

? In a cultural perspective, the goal of rendering the worldwide communications space compatible with the equitable participation of all peoples, language communities and individuals in the development process.

? In an economic perspective, the goal of fostering sustainable development based on the participation of all and on respect for the ecological balance of societies and for equitable relationships between all languages and cultures.

For all these reasons, this Declaration takes language communities and not states as its point of departure and is to be viewed in the context of the reinforcement of international institutions capable of guaranteeing sustainable and equitable development for the whole of humanity. For

—11/35— these reasons also it aims to encourage the creation of a political framework for linguistic diversity based upon respect, harmonious coexistence and mutual benefit.

PRELIMINARY TITLE Concepts

Article 1

1. This Declaration considers as a language community any human society established historically in a particular territorial space, whether this space be recognized or not, which identifies itself as a people and has developed a common language as a natural means of communication and cultural cohesion among its members. The term language proper to a territory refers to the language of the community historically established in such a space.

The Valencian people is a linguistic community historically settled in the territory of the old Kingdom of Valencia, today officially named Valencian Community. The Valencian society has always identified itself as a nationality and it has developed a common language for natural communication and as an element of cultural and political cohesion among their citizens. The Valencian language is the proper language of the nationality historically established in our territory.

2. This Declaration takes as its point of departure the principle that linguistic rights are individual and collective at one and the same time. In defining the full range of linguistic rights, it adopts as its referent the case of a historical language community within its own territorial space, this space being understood, not only as the geographical area where the community lives, but also as the social and functional space vital to the full development of the language. Only on this basis is it possible to define the rights of the language groups mentioned in point 5 of the present article, and those of individuals living outside the territory of their community, in terms of a gradation or continuum.

Valencian people have been granted their linguistic rights in three fundamental laws of Spanish and Valencian legislation. First of all, the preliminary title of the Spanish Constitution (1978) in its article 3, points 1, 2 and 3:

“Article 3:

1. - Castilian language is the official of the State. Spanish people have the duty of knowing it and the right to use it. 2. - The rest of Spanish languages will be official too in their respective Autonomous Communities according to their Statutes. 3. - The richness of the different Spanish linguistic modalities is a cultural heritage that will be aim of special respect and protection.”

Second, the Autonomy Statute of the Valencian Community (Organic Law 5/1982) in its article 7 points 1 to 6.

“Article 7.

—12/35— 1. - The two official languages of the Valencian Community are Valencian and Castilian. Everyone has the right to know them and use them. 2. - The Valencian Government [] will guarantee the normal and official use of both languages, and will take the necessary steps to assure its knowledge. 3. – Nobody will be discriminated because of their language. 4. - Valencian language recuperation will be especially protected and respected. 5. - The law will establish the criteria to apply the own language in the Administration and Education. 6. – The law will delimit the territories in which one of these languages predominates, and so the areas where the teaching of the proper language of the Community may be excepted.”

Finally, the Law (4/1983) of Use and Education of Valencian [language]

“Article 2. Valencian is the own language of the Valencian Community and, in consequence, every citizen has the right to know it and to use it, orally and in writing, so in their private relations as when dealing with public institutions.”

“Article 4.

In any case nobody is to be discriminated because of the use of any of both official languages.”

We can draw a generic idea o the content of this last law from some points of the Preamble:

“IV. - [...] the Valencian Government has a compromise which can never be given up with the defence of the cultural heritage of the Valencian Community and, specially, with the recovery of Valencian, the historical language of our people, because it is the most peculiar mark of our identity. There is a diglossia situation damaging most of our population owing to the situation of subjugation suffered by the Valencian language during up to three hundred years. The Valencian Government, as a main subject in the process of recovering the full identity of the Valencian people, has the right and the duty to return our language to the category and position that it deserves, finishing with its situation of neglect and deterioration. Our irregular sociolinguistic situation demands a legal intervention that, without delay, finishes with the prostration and promotes the use teaching of the Valencian language to get the complete comparison with Castilian [...]

VI. - [...] It is approved the redaction and publishing of the laws made by the Valencian Parliament in bilingual version, and the full validity of the administrative and forensic tasks made in Valencian language. [...]

VII. - There is not doubt that, in this perspective of linguistic comparison and recovering of the Valencian language contemplated by the law, the inclusion of the Valencian language into every level of education has a special importance as a fundamental factor to accomplish the citizen right to know and use the Valencian language. [...]

—13/35— In this way, always strictly respecting the rights of those whose regular language is Castilian, the Law makes easier the extension of the knowledge of the Valencian language to our society; the extension and recuperation of its use, as one of the main factors to rebuild our identity as a people, are also responsibility of every Valencian citizen, regardless of their regular language.”

3. For the purpose of this Declaration, groups are also deemed to be in their own territory and to belong to a language community in the following circumstances:

I. when they are separated from the main body of their community by political or administrative boundaries;

It is useful to remember that the citizens of the El (county of Murcia of 300 km2) speak historically the Valencian language, and their linguistic rights are not recognised in the Statute of Autonomy of the which ignores the existence of this Valencian language community within its territory.

II. when they have been historically established in a small geographical area surrounded by members of other language communities; or

The Valencian language community covers a reduced geographic space (13.594,26 km2) in comparison with the majority of geographic spaces of the other European languages. It is limited by other language communities as Castilian or Catalan ones.

III. when they are established in a geographical area which they share with the members of other language communities with similar historical antecedents.

The Valencian language community shares its geographic space with the Castilian language community that historically occupies some of the inner counties of the Valencian territory.

4. This Declaration also considers nomad peoples within their areas of migration and peoples established in geographically dispersed locations as language communities in their own historical territory.

5. This Declaration considers as a language group any group of persons sharing the same language which is established in the territorial space of another language community but which does not possess historical antecedents equivalent to those of that community. Examples of such groups are immigrants, refugees, deported persons and members of diasporas.

Article 2

1. This Declaration considers that, whenever various language communities and groups share the same territory, the rights formulated in this Declaration must be exercised on a basis of mutual respect and in such a way that democracy may be guaranteed to the greatest possible extent.

Having regard of the quoted articles of the Spanish Constitution (Article 3.1) and of the Statute of Autonomy of the Valencian Community (Article 7.1), it can be observed that the use of the Castilian language is a right and an obligation while using the Valencian —14/35— language is only a right. This point means an evident difference in the democratic guarantees of the linguistic rights of Valencian language speakers.

2. In the quest for a satisfactory sociolinguistic balance, that is, in order to establish the appropriate articulation between the respective rights of such language communities and groups and the persons belonging to them, various factors, besides their respective historical antecedents in the territory and their democratically expressed will, must be taken into account. Such factors, which may call for compensatory treatment aimed at restoring a balance, include the coercive nature of the migrations which have led to the coexistence of the different communities and groups, and their degree of political, socioeconomic and cultural vulnerability.

The Valencian language has been the only official language in the historical Kingdom of Valencia until 1707, when after the Valencian defeat at the battle of Almansa the Castilian language becomes the only official language. Since then, the use and territorial extension of the Valencian language has been declining. This process has been accentuated by the massive arrival of Castilian-speaking immigrants. The new democratic age has allowed the partial recuperation of the political autonomy and the identity marks of the Valencian people, one of them the Valencian language. The Valencian laws in force recognise that “The Valencian language is the own language of the Valencian Community...” (Law of use and education of the Valencian language 4/1983, art. 2). To establish an adequate sociolinguistic balance the law enacts that “a special protection and respect will be given to the recovery of the Valencian language” (Statute of Autonomy of the Valencian Community, art 7.4). However, the consecutive Valencian governments have not produced an efficient linguistic policy really decided to normalise the use of the Valencian language in all fields of social use nor to reintroduce it in those territories where it was historically spoken.

Article 3

1. This Declaration considers the following to be inalienable personal rights which may be exercised in any situation:

? the right to be recognized as a member of a language community;

The Valencian citizens demand our right to be recognized as an integral part of a language community specifically Valencian, without denying our membership together with other neighbouring languages to the Occitanoromance diasystem. This is important because currently a significant part of romanistics denies the very existence of a specific Valencian language community and we are usually assimilated without distinction to the Catalan language area.

? the right to the use of one's own language both in private and in public;

? the right to the use of one's own name;

As a consequence of the not recognition of our peculiar Valencian linguistic identity the two rights quoted before are recognized formally but in the practice the Valencian citizens have problems to use the genuine linguistic Valencian forms when they differ from the Catalan rules made official recently in our Community. —15/35—

? the right to interrelate and associate with other members of one's language community of origin;

? the right to maintain and develop one's own culture;

This last two rights are formally recognized, but the Law (7/1998) of Creation of the Academia Valenciana de la Llengua [Valencian Academy of the Language] prevents that those who defend strictly Valencian linguistic or cultural positions, thus diverging from the official regulations of this institution, may have economic support, discriminating and coercing in this way an important part of the Valencian society.

? and all the other rights related to language which are recognized in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights of 16 December 1966 and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights of the same date.

2. This Declaration considers that the collective rights of language groups may include the following, in addition to the rights attributed to the members of language groups in the foregoing paragraph, and in accordance with the conditions laid down in article 2.2:

? the right for their own language and culture to be taught;

Valencian people have recognised the right to an education in Valencian language but the model of language used at the schools tends to avoid the genuine Valencian linguistic forms and to impose those Catalan. This is intended to achieve an authentic linguistic substitution. On the other hand, if in primary and secondary school exists a significant offer in our own language, in higher education the degrees that can be fully studied in Valencian language are exceptional.

? the right of access to cultural services;

? the right to an equitable presence of their language and culture in the communications media;

The presence of the Valencian language is testimonial in private mass media, both audiovisuals and printed. We must denounce the clearly negligent attitude of the different autonomic governments to encourage the use of Valencian language in the mass media and, specially, the failure to keep the spirit and the literalness of the Law of Creation of the Valencian Radio and Television (autonomic public TV) given than nowadays our language is ostracised to low share timetables and the news.

? the right to receive attention in their own language from government bodies and in socioeconomic relations.

This is another right recognised but with several restrictions to be applied because of the great ignorance of Valencian language among civil servants. The situation is worse in private socio-economic relations, where the use of Valencian language is by far less frequent that the use of Castilian language.

—16/35— 3. The aforementioned rights of persons and language groups must in no way hinder the interrelation of such persons or groups with the host language community or their integration into that community. Nor must they restrict the rights of the host community or its members to the full public use of the community's own language throughout its territorial space.

Article 4

1. This Declaration considers that persons who move to and settle in the territory of another language community have the right and the duty to maintain an attitude of integration towards this community. This term is understood to mean an additional socialization of such persons in such a way that they may preserve their original cultural characteristics while sharing with the society in which they have settled sufficient references, values and forms of behaviour to enable them to function socially without greater difficulties than those experienced by members of the host community.

2. This Declaration considers, on the other hand, that assimilation, a term which is understood to mean acculturation in the host society, in such a way that the original cultural characteristics are replaced by the references, values and forms of behaviour of the host society, must on no account be forced or induced and can only be the result of an entirely free choice.

Article 5

This Declaration is based on the principle that the rights of all language communities are equal and independent of the legal or political status of their languages as official, regional or minority languages. Terms such as regional or minority languages are not used in this Declaration because, though in certain cases the recognition of regional or minority languages can facilitate the exercise of certain rights, these and other modifiers are frequently used to restrict the rights of language communities.

We verify that the Valencian language is defined as a dialect, vernacular language, regional or minority language and as a lesser used language. This are excuses to avoid the exercise of our linguistic rights and the use of our historical own language. This restrictions benefice languages with more users as English or Spanish.

Article 6

This Declaration considers that a language cannot be considered proper to a territory merely on the grounds that it is the official language of the state or has been traditionally used within the territory for administrative purposes or for certain cultural activities.

In the Valencian-speaking territories established by the Law (4/83) of Use and Education of Valencian, art. 35, Castilian is a official language and has an undeniable historical tradition. Nevertheless, Castilian can never be considered the own language of those territories. In the same way, Castilian is the own language of the territories established by the same Law in its art. 36. In any case, this distinction can not affect the personal rights of the citizens as enacted by our Statute of Autonomy: “no one can be discriminated by reason of their language” (art 7.3).

—17/35—

TITLE ONE General Principles

Article 7

1. All languages are the expression of a collective identity and of a distinct way of perceiving and describing reality and must therefore be able to enjoy the conditions required for their development in all functions.

2. All languages are collectively constituted and are made available within a community for individual use as tools of cohesion, identification, communication and creative expression.

Valencian language is a specific expression of the collective Valencian identity and answer to our form of understanding and perceiving the world. The province administrative fragmentation of the Valencian territory during the XIXth century has weakened the cohesion, communication and identification as a peculiar people. However, the awareness of pertinence to he linguistic Valencian community has helped to maintain a strong collective awareness as a Valencian people.

Article 8

1. All language communities have the right to organize and manage their own resources so as to ensure the use of their language in all functions within society.

2. All language communities are entitled to have at their disposal whatever means are necessary to ensure the transmission and continuity of their language.

We denounce that the different autonomic governments guided by an Castilian ideal have not applied the juridical mark to assure the use of the Valencian language in the social functions neither have guaranteed the transmission of the Valencian language to the future generations

Article 9

All language communities have the right to codify, standardize, preserve, develop and promote their linguistic system, without induced or forced interference.

The Valencian language community, that in some instances has been denied its very existence, has seen endangered its right to codify, standardise its own linguistic system because of the annexationist interests of the Catalan nationalism, very influent in Spanish State politics. In fact, the first normative agreements of the Valencian Academy of the Language, new institution entitled by the law to “fix the regulations in linguistic matters”, have made official in Valencia the Catalan spelling rules and a model of language that makes easier to assimilate the Valencian language to Catalan. Thus, this agreements have turned our own language in a Valencian substandard of the Catalan language, as they have officialised most of all Catalan words and idioms, while the genuine and specifically Valencian ones are still to be considered if they should be validated or, if already validated, are not used practically in the officialised speech. —18/35—

The Valencian people has always had awareness of speaking their own language, Valencian, and has codified and developed their language without interferences, induced or forced, until very recent times. We demand our right to keep on improving our own language freely as before.

Article 10

1. All language communities have equal rights.

It maybe convenient to remember here what has been said in the article 2.1. of this Declaration, given that, according to the Spanish Constitution and the Statute of Autonomy of the Valencian Community, the Castilian language is a right and a duty, but the Valencian language is just a right.

2. This Declaration considers discrimination against language communities to be inadmissible, whether it be based on their degree of political sovereignty, their situation defined in social, economic or other terms, the extent to which their languages have been codified, updated or modernized, or on any other criterion.

The Valencian language community has suffered every discrimination, the first of all being denied since it lost in 1707 its political sovereignty. The identity of the Valencian language, its official status and its common use had never been questioned whereas the Kingdom of Valencia was an independent state just linked by the figure of king to the other states in the Crown of Aragon. In fact, in XVth century, the Valencian language attained a Golden Age, even before than the Spanish language, with figures like Antoni Canals, Ausias March, Joan Roiç de Corella, Joanot Martorell, Jordi de Sant Jordi, Sor Isabel de Villena, Jaume Roig, Jaume Gaçull, Bernat Fenollar, Narcis Vinyoles, and so on. This writers had an important influence in later European literature and insisted very frequently that they were writing in “Valencian language”.

The first bilingual Romance dictionary, in Latin and Valencian languages, was written by the Valencian Joan Esteve in 1472; the first translation of the Bible to a Romance language was made by the Valencians Bonifaci Ferrer, translated into Valencian in 1478. The first printed book in the Iberian peninsula, Les trobes en lahors de la Verge Maria, is in Valencian language an printed in the city of Valencia in 1474. This few examples are useful to show us that the discrimination suffered by the Valencian language today is a consequence of imperialistic and expansionistic policies.

The political decline of the Kingdom of Valencia was link with the expansion of Castilian language and the prohibition of oficial or public usage of the Valencian language, that remained relegated to family and informal uses. As a consequence, Valencian, out of public administration and the official culture, was associated to low-class usage as a vulgar tongue. Nobody could take care of codifying, updating or modernising our language that, after a long time, was considered by the establishment as an unfit language for science and culture, whose concepts could only be expressed in the imperial language, Spanish. The following step was to deny its category as a language; for the Spanish State, Valencian was a simple dialect of Castilian (a point politically defended for many years) and the Catalan nationalism saw the opportunity to annex a kin —19/35— language with a first-class classical literature, fulfilling an evident lack in Catalan tradition. To achieve the annexation, the first step was to deny the category of language applied to Valencian, and state that it was a mere variant of Catalan.

3. All necessary steps must be taken in order to implement this principle of equality and to render it effective.

The new democratic framework has allowed some ways to try to balance the linguistic rights of all citizens, without being completely successful, as it has been said. Nothing has been done to recognise again the identity and category of Valencian as a language, nor for preventing the Catalan nationalism from its constant annexationist attempts.

Article 11

All language communities are entitled to have at their disposal whatever means of translation into and from other languages are needed to guarantee the exercise of the rights contained in this Declaration. Although the Law says that nobody may be discriminated by reasons of their language, the Valencian-speaking people has seldom a Valencian edition of the public documents, and even less frequently in the case of private documentation. Furthermore, the Spanish State, in connivance with the Catalan government, deny even the possibility of releasing Valencian versions of most documents, assuming that the translations into Catalan will be acceptable for us, even when the recently officialised annexationist grammar rules based in Catalan codification allow to produce clearly distinguishable editions.

Article 12

1. Everyone has the right to carry out all activities in the public sphere in his/her language, provided it is the language proper to the territory where s/he resides.

Valencian-speakers, mostly in urban areas, that usually have a significant proportion of Castilian-speakers, suffer a passive ? and many times also active? resistance against using their own language, both orally and in writing. What’s more, in this last case the public administration ostracises everyone who doesn’t obey the annexationist linguistic criteria recently approved. This comprises the negative to financial aid and grants, the exclusion of books from public libraries, concealing of activities, works and authors, mass-media censorship, institutional ostracism, objections to research and publishing, and so on.

2. Everyone has the right to use his/her language in the personal and family sphere.

More than a right, in the Valencian case one could say that the personal and family sphere is a stronghold that has allowed the survival of the language. Nevertheless, the social pressure exerted by Castilian and its prestige, together with the mass-media messages insisting that Valencian is a vulgar language that common speakers are unable to speak correctly, have generated a linguistic substitution within the family sphere in favour of Spanish. Many Valencian-speaking parents have tried to rise their children in Castilian thinking that, in that way, they were favouring them.

—20/35— Article 13

1. Everyone has the right to acquire knowledge of the language proper to the territory in which s/he lives.

This right is more or less protected by the Valencians Government. However, the linguistic model taught at schools doesn’t make easy for learners a good knowledge of our own language. This is generating an inner diglossia, splitting Valencian-speakers’ minds between the artificial language they are taught and the common language they have learn within their families.

2. Everyone has the right to be polyglot and to know and use the language most conducive to his/her personal development or social mobility, without prejudice to the guarantees established in this Declaration for the public use of the language proper to the territory.

Article 14

The provisions of this Declaration cannot be interpreted or used to the detriment of any norm or practice deriving from the internal or international status of a language which is more favourable to its use within the territory to which it is proper.

SECOND TITLE Overall linguistic régime

Section I Public administration and official bodies

Article 15

1. All language communities are entitled to the official use of their language within their territory.

The Valencian language is official in our country, but, as we will see in the following annotated articles, this official character is more virtual than effective. Something as evident as that civil servants need a good commandment of both official languages in the administration and the society they are working for if they are supposed to be efficient and respectful with citizen’s linguistic rights, is constantly questioned and a permanent source of conflict. Currently, a good knowledge of both official languages isn’t still a compulsory requisite for obtaining a public post, even if we were talking of the minimum passive skills necessary to understand internal written documents in Valencian. It is easy to understand the malfunctions caused by a civil servant who is unable to carry out proceedings because he or she can not understand an official document. Or event worst, that he or she can not serve a citizen because the civil servant doesn’t know the language of the citizen. If the situation is still endured is because, actually, the one who eventually gives up his/her language and his/her rights is the Valencian-speaking citizen.

—21/35— We denounce, consequently, the lack of interest of the successive Valencian government in promoting effectively the use of the Valencian language within the public administration, and in guaranteeing the citizens their legal right to be served in any of both official languages in Valencia and to not be discriminated for linguistic reasons.

2. All language communities have the right for legal and administrative acts, public and private documents and records in public registers which are drawn up in the language of the territory to be valid and effective and no one can allege ignorance of this language.

This is a right very difficult to be exercise in real life without controversy or resistance, given the strong pressure of Castilian, the lack of basic literacy in Valencian language and the problems risen by the linguistic model imposed in education.

Article 16

All members of a language community have the right to interrelate with and receive attention from the public authorities in their own language. This right also applies to central, territorial, local and supraterritorial divisions which include the territory to which the language is proper.

As we have said before, this point is guaranteed by the law, but, as usually, is not always possible to exercise it, and in most situations a great dissuasive pressure is exerted against the use of the Valencian language.

Article 17

1. All language communities are entitled to have at their disposal and to obtain in their own language all official documents pertaining to relations which affect the territory to which the language is proper, whether such documents be in printed, machine-readable or any other form.

2. Forms and standard administrative documents, whether in printed, machine-readable or any other form, must be made available and placed at the disposal of the public in all territorial languages by the public authorities through the services which cover the territories to which each language is proper.

This legal rights are systematically ignored by the public administration supposed to be responsible of their application, that normally just uses Valencian in the institutional names or, at the most, translate the title of the document into Valencian, keeping the rest of the text in Spanish.

Article 18

1. All language communities have the right for laws and other legal provisions which concern them to be published in the language proper to the territory.

2. Public authorities who have more than one territorially historic language within their jurisdiction must publish all laws and other legal provisions of a general nature in each of these languages, whether or not their speakers understand other languages.

—22/35— The Valencian autonomous administration follows this legal obligation, but at the local administration there are great variations depending on the party in office. The central administration just exceptionally meets these requirements.

Article 19

1. Representative Assemblies must have as their official language(s) the language(s) historically spoken in the territory they represent.

2. This right also applies to the languages of the communities established in geographically dispersed locations referred to in Article 1, Paragraph 4.

The Valencian Parliament has as official languages Valencian and Castilian, though the use of Valencian is very scarce.

Article 20

1. Everyone has the right to use the language historically spoken in a territory, both orally and in writing, in the Courts of Justice located within that territory. The Courts of Justice must use the language proper to the territory in their internal actions and, if on account of the legal system in force within the state, the proceedings continue elsewhere, the use of the original language must be maintained.

The right of the citizens to address the Courts in Valencian language is not easily exercised and must be actively asked for, even with certain resistance and dissuasive pressure. On the other hand, the Courts very seldom use Valencian in their proceedings because judges and civil servants are usually illiterate in this language. Therefore, the presence of a number of documents or testimonies in Valencian suppose, in practice, to slow down the whole proceedings because of the need of interpreters and translators. This is a first-class dissuasive element for the use of Valencian in Courts.

2. Everyone has the right, in all cases, to be tried in a language which s/he understands and can speak and to obtain the services of an interpreter free of charge.

Article 21

All language communities have the right for records in public registers to be drawn up in the language proper to the territory.

Although this right is legally implemented, the pressures, passive resistance and the lack of preparation of the administrative staff, make very difficult that it may be exercised.

Article 22

All language communities have the right for documents authenticated by notaries public or certified by other authorised public servants to be drawn up in the language proper to the territory where the notary or other authorised public servant performs his/her functions.

—23/35— The previous annotation is perfectly valid here too. The use of Valencian in notarial documents is, unfortunately, exceptional.

Section II Education

Education is a fundamental mean to recover or to substitute completely an endangered language. In the case of the Valencian language, during the last centuries education has been used to place Castilian as the language of culture and social prestige and to prevent the literacy of Valencian-speakers in their own language, contributing powerfully to the social decline of our language. After the return of the democratic liberties in the last seventies, the Valencian language could, at last, come back to schools, first as a modest subject and, after some years, as the language of the whole primary and secondary education. This process has been progressive but very slow, and twenty years after recovering our political autonomy, clearly unsatisfactory. On the other hand, the linguistic model taught at schools, strongly catalanised and conflictive, has generated a remarkable internal diglossia, because the Valencian speakers that have learnt this artificial language now speak and write in two very diverging linguistic registers. This phenomenon has also affected the arrival of new effective speakers to the language. Most of those Spanish-speaking people who have made an effort to learn Valencian don’t speak regularly this language because they sound so unnatural and forced that they have problems to speak normally with common people.

Article 23

1. Education must help to foster the capacity for linguistic and cultural self-expression of the language community of the territory where it is provided.

2. Education must help to maintain and develop the language spoken by the language community of the territory where it is provided.

3. Education must always be at the service of linguistic and cultural diversity and of harmonious relations between different language communities throughout the world.

4. Within the context of the foregoing principles, everyone has the right to learn any language.

Unfortunately, a very shy linguistic policy and the very conflictive linguistic model used ? that, as has been said, is very diverging from common Valencian? have had two harmful effects. On the one hand, it isn’t guaranteed that all students have a full commandment of Valencian ? not everybody can receive education in our language. On the other hand, the distance between the language taught at school and the common language brings about the awareness of speaking incorrectly, thus provoking a dangerous internal diglossia that affects negatively on the self-esteem so necessary in every process of linguistic recovery.

Article 24

—24/35— All language communities have the right to decide to what extent their language is to be present, as a vehicular language and as an object of study, at all levels of education within their territory: preschool, primary, secondary, technical and vocational, university, and adult education.

The presence of the Valencian language is not guaranteed in all levels of education nor in every place within our territory. Many higher education and university studies can’t be followed in this language; and in the Castilian-speaking counties and in big cities usually is very difficult to find primary and secondary education entirely in Valencian, language that is reduced to a testimonial subject in the curriculum.

Article 25

All language communities are entitled to have at their disposal all the human and material resources necessary to ensure that their language is present to the extent they desire at all levels of education within their territory: properly trained teachers, appropriate teaching methods, text books, finance, buildings and equipment, traditional and innovative technology.

The scarce interest shown by the Valencian government in promoting our language has kept Valencian in a situation of great lack of human and material resources. New technologies are starting now to be applied to our language and, frequently, relying on private enterprise.

Article 26

All language communities are entitled to an education which will enable their members to acquire a full command of their own language, including the different abilities relating to all the usual spheres of use, as well as the most extensive possible command of any other language they may wish to know.

Article 27

All language communities are entitled to an education which will enable their members to acquire knowledge of any languages related to their own cultural tradition, such as literary or sacred languages which were formerly habitual languages of the community.

Article 28

All language communities are entitled to an education which will enable their members to acquire a thorough knowledge of their cultural heritage (history, geography, literature, and other manifestations of their own culture), as well as the most extensive possible knowledge of any other culture they may wish to know.

Frequently, the teaching of the Valencian cultural heritage is conditioned by pressures coming from other dominant cultures that pretend to weaken the Valencian identity awareness. These pressures tend to empty our culture of any significant content or, in other cases, to annex its contents to the Spanish or the Catalan culture, depending on the ideology of who does it. Furthermore, the teaching of Valencian at school has been used to manipulate the Valencian linguistic reality, our history, our literature and, in short, our whole culture. A meaningful sample of this manipulation is that significant authors in —25/35— Valencian have been censored or that many relevant historical facts have disappeared from textbooks.

Article 29

1. Everyone is entitled to receive an education in the language proper to the territory where s/he resides.

As we have said before, unfortunately this right is not guaranteed and most Valencians have serious difficulties for receiving education in Valencian language.

2. This right does not exclude the right to acquire oral and written knowledge of any language which may be of use to him/her as an instrument of communication with other language communities.

Article 30

The language and culture of all language communities must be the subject of study and research at university level.

The Departments of Catalan Philology belonging to the Valencian Universities, are regrettable obsessed with proving and outlining the presumed catalanity of every single Valencian concept, thus forgetting too frequently the study and research of those sides of the Valencian language and culture that are more specific and genuine. A meaningful sample of this position has been the change, in recent years, of their original names, that previously were “Department of Valencian Philology”. They have also suppressed the degrees in Valencian Philology, whose contents are now included and diluted in the new Catalan Philology degrees. These actions show the scarce interest of these Departments in the study and research of Valencian language and are a crystal-clear contempt to the traditional, historical and official proper names system of the Valencian people.

What’s more, in the cultural sphere some scholars arrive to deny de very existence of some specific Valencian culture and identity, that therefore only exceptionally become a matter of study and research.

Section III Proper names

Article 31

All language communities have the right to preserve and use their own system of proper names in all spheres and on all occasions.

The Valencian Statute of Autonomy establishes clearly and unequivocally what is the official name of our country: Valencian Community. A name with no historical tradition in spite of the Spanish Constitution that, in its article 147.2, orders: “The Statutes of Autonomy should contain: a) the historical denomination more suitable to their historic identity.” Our historical denomination is explicited at the first article of our Statute of —26/35— Autonomy: “The Valencian people, historically organised as a Kingdom of Valencia, is constituted as an Autonomous Community...”. However, the official name finally passed is that previously mentioned and, on the other hand, some other administrations as, for instance, the Catalan one, are systematically calling our territory a Valencian Country, showing their contempt for the Valencian legislation.

In relation to the language, both the Statute of Autonomy and the Law (4/83) of Use and Education of Valencian establish clearly and beyond any doubt that the name of the proper language of the Valencian people is “Valencian language” or, simply, “Valencian”. These denominations are historical and traditional for our language since the end of the XIVth century.

Nevertheless, a lower-rank legislation as the Law (7/98) of Creation of the Valencian Academy of the Language tries to introduce ambiguity in this topic and somehow opens the door, in its Preamble, to other depersonalizing names that the legislators themselves haven’t dare to write in. A good sample of the malice and treacherous side of this law is that in its whole text it is impossible to find the historical and currently official name “Valencian language”. What’s more, the new institution, created to codify our language, avoids to say what language it is codifying: instead of being, logically, the Academy of the Valencian Language, it is called Valencian Academy of the Language.

In short, we denounce that the Spanish State Administration, several regional Autonomous Administrations and some local ones (Valencian or not) break systematically the literal contents and the spirit of our fundamental laws when they do not respect our official proper names for the territory and the language.

Article 32

1. All language communities have the right to use place names in the language proper to the territory, both orally and in writing, in the private, public and official spheres.

2. All language communities have the right to establish, preserve and revise autochthonous place names. Such place names cannot be arbitrarily abolished, distorted or adapted, nor can they be replaced if changes in the political situation, or changes of any other type, occur.

In Valencia, local authorities have the jurisdiction to set the name of a place. So, depending on the ideology of the party in office, the name of a place may change in different terms of office, may keep the castilianised name, may change the traditional name in order to catalanise it, or may give a place two different names, one castilianised and the other catalanised. A chaotic situation that doesn’t respect our autochthonous place names.

The influence of Castilian and the resistance to recover autochthonous place names is so strong that even in the public radio and television the name of a place are said in Castilian even when the broadcasting is in Valencian and there is a traditional Valencian name for that place ? Oriola, Sogorp, Chest, Toixa, Xerica, Cofrents, Torrevella, etc. On the contrary, it is exceptional that the original Valencian name of places is respected in a context of use of Castilian.

—27/35—

Article 33

All language communities have the right to refer to themselves by the name used in their own language. Any translation into other languages must avoid ambiguous or pejorative denominations.

Valencian doesn’t have the problem raised by this article, but one very similar. Many of those who defend the linguistic annexation of Valencian to Catalan tolerate the widespread use of the name “Valencian” ? though not of “Valencian language”? for our language but only when talking at a local level. In the very moment they have to speak about the language in an interlinguistic context, they automatically change the name and call it “Catalan”, as if they were ashamed of our traditional patronymic. This confusing and little assertive attitude is of very little help for recovering a language whose speakers still see it as a second-rank language in relation to the dominant one, Spanish.

Article 34

Everyone has the right to the use of his/her own name in his/her own language in all spheres, as well as the right, only when necessary, to the most accurate possible phonetic transcription of his/her name in another .

Due to the last centuries of administrative castilianisation all proper names are in Spanish and even family names have been distorted and adapted to meet the Spanish spelling criteria. We are still waiting for a law that allows the recovery of the genuine and traditional spelling of Valencian family names.

Nowadays it is possible to change or register one’s first name in Valencian at the registry office, but the imposition of the annexationist Catalan spelling rules prevent Valencian people the use of those names with distinctive or traditional characteristics, like, for instance, Ampar, Aleixandre, Alfret, Ana, Assussena, Batiste, Climent, Davit, Donis, Estrela, Ignaci, Lleopolt, Ferrando, and even the use of traditional nicknames like Nelo, Chimo, Felo, Quelo, Cento, Voro, and so on.

Section IV Communications media and new technologies

Article 35

All language communities have the right to decide the extent to which their language is be present in the communications media in their territory, whether local and traditional media, those with a wider scope, or those using more advanced technology, regardless of the method of dissemination or transmission employed.

The Law (7/1984) of Creation of the Valencian Radio and Television established clearly that there should be a relevant presence of the Valencian language in public mass-media, and set the recovery of the social use of this language as one of the most significant —28/35— purposes for the new public company. Unfortunately, the consecutive Valencian governments have broken systematically the law and have reduced the use of our language to low-share times and programs.

Article 36

All language communities are entitled to have at their disposal all the human and material resources required in order to ensure the desired degree of presence of their language and the desired degree of cultural self-expression in the communications media in their territory: properly trained personnel, finance, buildings and equipment, traditional and innovative technology.

As in many other fields, the distance between the social use of Valencian and Castilian is, in this case, tremendous. In recent times there has been an improvement in technologic conditions and professional training, but this media have little influence and private enterprises don’t use to hire them nor use Valencian for communication purposes. The Valencian public television broadcasts in our language, though relegating it to news and low-share time. Just in radio broadcasting the Valencian language has a more relevant presence.

Article 37

All language communities have the right to receive, through the communications media, a thorough knowledge of their cultural heritage (history, geography, literature and other manifestations of their own culture), as well as the greatest possible amount of information about any other culture their members may wish to know.

The peculiar historical circumstances that have generated the conflict about the Valencian identity have also lead to a bizarre composition of the mass-media staff, divided between those who defend the castilianisation/hispanicisation of our society and those who uphold our catalanisation. The result is an active exclusion from the media of those who stand up for a specifically Valencian vision and, by extension, of their scientific, literary and cultural production at large.

Article 38

The languages and cultures of all language communities must receive equitable and non- discriminatory treatment in the communications media throughout the world.

We denounce that, practically, the Valencian linguistic community is invisible in foreign mass-media. Even those mass-media working within the Spanish State “forget” frequently any news related to Valencian language or culture, and, whenever our linguistic community is cited its identity is usually hidden and dissolved in the Catalan identity

Article 39

The communities described in Article 1, paragraphs 3 and 4, of this Declaration, and the groups mentioned in paragraph 5 of the same article, are entitled to an equitable representation of their —29/35— language in the communications media of the territory where they are established or where they migrate. This right is to be exercised in harmony with the rights of the other language groups or communities in the territory.

Article 40

In the field of information technology, all language communities are entitled to have at their disposal equipment adapted to their linguistic system and tools and products in their language, so as to derive full advantage from the potential offered by such technologies for self-expression, education, communication, publication, translation and information processing and the dissemination of culture in general.

New technologies have arrived to Valencian in very recent times. Traditionally our language has used linguistic tools developed for close languages like Spanish or Catalan, in an evident lack of resources specifically design for Valencian-speakers. The Valencian Administration has recently released a linguistic freeware named SALT, able to translate from Spanish into Valencian. Unfortunately, this software is technically deficient, consumes lots of RAM resources and has compatibility problems with some very popular word processors, and therefore it has important limitations. SALT includes an electronic Valencian dictionary that can not be used independently of the main software. Other software, like spelling correctors, are being developed, but the lack of consensus over the codification of Valencian creates additional troubles to software developers.

Section V Culture

Article 41

1. All language communities have the right to use, maintain and foster their language in all forms of cultural expression.

2. All language communities must be able to exercise this right to the full without any community's space being subjected to hegemonic occupation by a foreign culture.

For centuries the hegemonic language and culture in Valencian territory have been the Spanish ones. This hegemony has prevented our language the possibility of being used in many cultural activities as cinema or theatre. Currently there is no legislation that incentives or force multinationals to translate, dub or subtitle the films released in commercial cinemas. Scarce grants are reserved for Valencian theatre companies, that have an important dependence of public funds because of the disconnection between the companies and the public. Generally speaking and in spite of the progresses achieved in recent years, the Valencian language is kept in a background level in the cultural world.

Article 42

All language communities have the right to full development within their own cultural sphere.

Article 43 —30/35—

All language communities are entitled to access to the works produced in their language.

We denounce, in relation to this two last articles, the serious problems that we face to create in Valencian, and the censorship and silence curtain drawn over every work and every author that use a specifically Valencian linguistic codification, thus different of the recently officialised one. A great part of our literature and the research in or about Valencian, stays hidden to the world at large and to the Valencian society in particular, a society that, at best, can only get a distorted picture of this reality.

Article 44

All language communities are entitled to access to intercultural programmes, through the dissemination of adequate information, and to support for activities such as teaching the language to foreigners, translation, dubbing, post-synchronization and subtitling.

The foreign scope of Valencian language is, in practice, censored. It is almost impossible to learn this language abroad, though within Valencian boundaries there are some means and materials oriented to teach Valencian as a foreign language.

The expansion of the Valencian Radio and Television has brought a significant development of the Valencian audio-visual industry, and has granted a moderate but steady demand of translations, dubbing, etc. In fact, translation, dubbing, post- synchronisation and subtitling industries in Valencia are almost completely dependent on public television; movie releasings in commercial cinemas dubbed into Valencian are unfortunately exceptional.

Article 45

All language communities have the right for the language proper to the territory to occupy a pre- eminent position in cultural events and services (libraries, video libraries, cinemas, theatres, museums, archives, folklore, cultural industries, and all other manifestations of cultural life).

This is a right seldom applied to Valencian people. In many cases, Valencian is not present in cultural performances and services, and most of times, if used, it is relegated to a background role by the widespread use of Spanish.

Article 46

All language communities have the right to preserve their linguistic and cultural heritage, including its material manifestations, such as collections of documents, works of art and architecture, historic buildings and inscriptions in their own language.

We insist and demand the official and definitive regulation of the Council of the Archives of the Crown of Aragon, according to the order issued by our Statute of Autonomy and to historical logic. We denounce the incoherent position of the Catalan government, current responsible of these Archives, that claims for the devolution of its Archives stored in Salamanca at the same time that categorically denies to Aragonese, Balearic and

—31/35— Valencian people the right to participate in the administration of such an important common heritage.

We also demand that the Valencian Library act as a true National Library. This institution should recover, catalogue, and put within citizens’ and researchers’ reach all publications in or over the Valencian language, Valencian culture and Valencian identity, without ostracising those publications that differ from the official line of thought.

Section VI The socio-economic sphere

Article 47

1. All language communities have the right to establish the use of their language in all socio- economic activities within their territory.

We have the right to do so but, actually, most activities aren’t carried through in Valencian or, if they are at the spoken level, there is a linguistic change and Spanish is used in written documents. This diglossic situation is the result of the insecurity of most Valencian speakers when they have to write in Valencian because they have attended school exclusively in Castilian. This insecurities are increased by the artificial Valencian language that is currently set as an official referent, given that the unnecessary serious differences between spoken and written Valencian plunge the speaker in an ocean of doubts.

2. All members of a language community are entitled to have at their disposal, in their own language, all the means necessary for the performance of their professional activities, such as documents and works of reference, instructions, forms, and computer equipment, tools and products.

Just exceptionally one may find this kind of documentation when dealing with public Administration. Private enterprises almost never grant this right and the Valencian government does almost nothing in this respect. As we have previously annotated, new technologies and computer sciences are now beginning to be applied to Valencian, and specific software is just starting to be developed.

3. The use of other languages in this sphere can only be required in so far as it is justified by the nature of the professional activity involved. In no case can a more recently arrived language relegate or supersede the use of the language proper to the territory.

Article 48

1. Within the territory of his/her language community, everyone has the right to use his/her own language with full legal validity in economic transactions of all types, such as the sale and purchase of goods and services, banking, insurance, job contracts and others.

2. No clause in such private acts can exclude or restrict the use of the language proper to the territory. —32/35—

3. Within the territory of his/her language community, everyone is entitled to have the documents required for the above-mentioned operations at his/her disposal in his/her own language. Such documents include forms, cheques, contracts, invoices, receipts, delivery notes, order forms, and others.

The social pressure of Spanish language, the resistance of many professionals who are illiterate in Valencian, and the insecurities of many speakers make very difficult the exercise of this law-protected right.

Article 49

Within the territory of his/her language community, everyone has the right to use his/her own language in all types of socio-economic organizations such as labour and union organizations, and employers', professional, trade and craft associations.

There is a slight recovery of the social use of Valencian in certain spheres from which it had been previously replaced. Even so, the problem we have remarked so many times is present again: the improvement in the use of spoken Valencian is not corresponded by an equivalent increase in written use, that is very conditioned by a deficient education and the linguistic register that is supposed to be used in writing.

Article 50

1. All language communities have the right for their language to occupy a pre-eminent place in advertising, signs, external signposting, and in the image of the country as a whole.

Nor public neither private advertising or labelling are offered habitually in Valencian. The use of this language is usually testimonial or limited to a background role. This may be so evident that many foreign visitors can hardly realise of the very existence in our country of a language different of Spanish, though lately some improvements in road signals and street labelling has been achieved.

2. Within the territory of his/her language community, everyone has the right to receive full oral and written information in his/her own language on the products and services proposed by commercial establishments, such as instructions for use, labels, lists of ingredients, advertising, guarantees and others

3. All public indications affecting the safety of persons must be expressed at least in the language proper to the territory, in conditions which are not inferior to those of any other language.

This two last sections are systematically unfulfilled in the Valencian case. The Valencian Administration, responsibly under the law for the promotion of our language, adopt a passive role and doesn’t incentivizes sufficiently private enterprises to use Valencian in their activities. The law should force that every information related to consumers and people security be redacted preferentially in Valencian.

Article 51

—33/35— 1. Everyone has the right to use the language proper to the territory in his/her relations with firms, commercial establishments and private bodies and to be served or receive a reply in the same language.

2. Everyone has the right, as a client, customer, consumer or user, to receive oral and written information in the language proper to the territory from establishments open to the public.

These rights can only be guaranteed when all the members of a society have a good enough knowledge of both official languages, helped when necessary by the public Administration, as to be able to assist and communicate with every client, customer, consumer or user, thus avoiding discrimination on linguistic grounds. However, as we have denounced repeatedly, social literacy in Valencian is as scarce and superficial that it can not be guaranteed that anyone who enters an establishment open to the public, specially in urban areas, is going to be served in Valencian.

Article 52

Everyone has the right to carry out his/her professional activities in the language proper to the territory unless the functions inherent to the job require the use of other languages, as in the case of language teachers, translators or tourist guides.

Enterprises usually operate in and out of our country, sometimes because the headquarters are outside, sometimes because the Valencian headquarters have delegations abroad. This situation facilitates the widespread use of Spanish in internal documents (and now, increasingly, of English), thus relegating Valencian, at best, to oral use.

In public Administrations there are significant differences depending on their level. Most local authorities of Valencian-speaking counties have recovered the language in writing proceedings. The autonomous (regional) administration is, however, very delayed in this recovering of written use. The State Administration located in Valencia or the European Union delegations only exceptionally use the Valencian language.

ADDITIONAL DISPOSITIONS

First

The public authorities must take all appropriate steps to implement the rights proclaimed in this Declaration within their respective areas of jurisdiction. More specifically, international funds must be set up to foster the exercise of Linguistic Rights in communities which are demonstrably lacking in resources. Thus the public authorities must provide the necessary support so that the languages of the various communities may be codified, transcribed, taught, and used in the administration.

We denounce the arbitrariness of the Valencian government for distributing funds and grants for the promotion, codification, research and education of our Valencian —34/35— language. The Administration discriminates and ostracises all those who defend scientific and cultural criteria diverging from those imposed by laws enacted by this same Administration, thus attacking freedom of thought, scientific research and creativeness.

Second

The public authorities must ensure that the official bodies, organizations and persons concerned are informed of the rights and correlative duties arising from this Declaration.

The Valencian public administration is very half-hearted when informing citizens about their linguistic rights, and is openly unable to protect those rights, both in general society and in its working proceedings. The continuous addition of little or big difficulties present in real life for exercising their linguistic rights, make many Valencians unaware of this rights of unable to demand them.

Third

The public authorities must establish, in the light of existing legislation, the sanctions to be applied in cases of violation of the linguistic rights laid down in this Declaration.

Along this text we have repeatedly exposed the scarce interest of the different Valencian Governments to give effect to the linguistic rights already enacted, that are frequently ignored. According to this, infractions on linguistic legislation are seldom reported and even then effective sanctions are exceptional.

FINAL DISPOSITIONS

First

This Declaration proposes the creation of a Council of Languages within the United Nations Organization. The General Assembly of the United Nations Organization is to be responsible for setting up this Council, defining its functions and appointing its members, and for creating a body in international law to protect language communities in the exercise of the rights recognized in this Declaration.

Second

This Declaration recommends and promotes the creation of a World Commission on Linguistic Rights, a non-official, consultative body made up of representatives of non-governmental organizations and other organizations working in the field of linguistic law.

Barcelona, June 1996

—35/35—