CHAPTER ONE

LANGUAGE AND SECOND GENERATION IN

Amado Alarcón and Luis Garzón

1. Catalonia: migration in a bilingual region

Th is book analyzes the role of language in social mobility of second generation migrants in a context of emerging migration fl ows and offi - cial bilingualism. Our research1 focuses on Catalonia (an autonomous community of ) where there are two offi cial languages, Catalan (the historical language of the region) and Spanish (the offi cial lan- guage of Spain). Most Catalan citizens are bilingual, speaking both languages. Th e main aim of the book is to analyze the links between second generation migrants’ processes of social mobility and language issues. Th e information economy has increased the importance of language learning and profi ciency. Language is an important asset in the infor- mation economy and also a marker of identity (Castells, 1997). Language is, in a certain way, a new “prime material” and therefore knowing which languages are spoken in a certain location and which social functions are performed is crucial to social research. Catalonia is an Autonomous Community (a Region with its own government and parliament) in Spain. It is located in the Northeast corner of the , and borders to the North, to the South, the Mediterranean Sea to the East and to the West. It is one of the most industrialized and urban regions of Spain. It is also one of the regions, alongside and , with a greater number of foreign migrants. Catalonia is one of the most dynamic regions of the country in economic terms. We will begin with a short background on the Catalan language and its evolution. Catalan history has been defi ned, to a great extent, by the

1 Th e authors would like to thank the ICE (Institut d’Estudis Catalans), who pro- vided the funding for the research project on which the book is based. 2 amado alarcón and luis garzón role played by the Catalan language in political, economic and social transformations. Th e situation of Catalan has not only been aff ected by political turmoil, but also infl uenced policies and movements. Catalan emerged as a distinct language in the late 10th Century. At that time, the modern territory of Spain was still divided into sev- eral independent kingdoms. One of them was the Duchy of , the area where Catalan was born, also known as the “Catalunya Vella” (Old Catalonia). Th is area roughly corresponded to the present day provinces of Barcelona and Girona. Only in the late 15th Century, the Union of the Kingdoms of Aragon and Castile through the marriage of the “Catholic Kings” consummated a primitive form of a unifi ed country. However, each kingdom retained its institutions and culture. Th e Spanish unifi ed state was not created until 1714, with the estab- lishment of the Bourbon Dynasty on the Spanish throne following the War of Succession (1700–1714). Th e unifi cation of Spain as a single Kingdom and the centralization that followed struck a deep blow to Catalan society and culture. Th e fi rst Bourbon king, Philip V, was the fi rst Spanish king to ban usage of Catalan in public life. Th is situation was partly a political strategy of “centralism” and partly a consequence of the shift in economic and political power in Spain, which by 1714 had concentrated in Madrid. Spanish became the dominant language in the peninsula. Use of Catalan diminished and did not recover until a century and a half later, when some Catalan intellectuals started a movement that was known as the “Renaixença” (Renaissance). Th is cultural movement, linked to European Romanticism, established the basis of modern Catalan grammar and revitalized Catalan culture. Catalan suff ered another setback with the civil war and Franco’s dictatorship. Th e dictatorship banned public usage of Catalan and publication in Catalan was severely restricted. Catalan was converted into a “household” language, and nationalist politicians were heavily persecuted. At this point in history, the postwar years, migration to Catalonia comes into the picture. Th e industrial development of the region had propelled migration from other regions of Spain (Andalucía and Extremadura in particular) to Catalonia. Internal migrants spoke Spanish but not Catalan and did not plan on learning the language of the region since the language was politically persecuted by the dictatorship. Th erefore, those who learnt Catalan during those years