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Metodologia sobre la recerca sociolingüística


The Use of Catalan at Service Stations in Catalonia. Methodological guidelines,
by Josep Lluís C. Bosch, Jaume Farràs and Diego Torrente


CONTINUA


If we contrast this with the name on the main sign at the entrance, we see that Cepsa seems to have adopted a clear policy of bilingualism or a specific communicative line with the market (24 of the service stations we studied belonged to or bore the name of this company). Similarly, we see that the presence of Catalan is most deficient stations whose main sign (6) is REPSOL or CAMPSA. As we only took into account signs in Catalan when we created the index, we have cancelled out the specific weight of ambiguity or bilingualism.

Finally, as regards whether this deficient or complete lack of presence of Catalan could be related to the factor or variable of whether stations have been recently rehabilitated or not, we can see that 33% of cases were premises that had not been reformed in recent years, unless these were new buildings or facilities. As regards possession, we also see that over 60% of these service areas are privately-owned or form part of a co-operative, and that almost 1/3 do not display signs from a multinational petrol company.

2.3.1. Creation of the Index of Catalan Use in Written Documentation

The second index we created was the index of use in written documentation – Index 2. It included a question regarding the language in which service stations receive information from the fuel-supplying companies and the language in which they order their supplies. There are three possibilities:

1. no written information in Catalan;

2. the two forms of communication are in Catalan;

3. one of the two forms is in Catalan.

Index 2, Catalan Use in Written Documentation

    Frequency Percentage Accumulated Percentage
Valid

.00

379

73.7

73.7

 

.50

107

20.8

94.6

 

1.00

27

5.4

100.0

 

Total

513

100.0

 

Source: Language in service stations in Catalonia. Sociolinguistic contribution. 2000

Almost 74% of the service stations stated that they did not use Catalan or did not know in which way the owner communicated with the supplier. We should point out that, as it was summer, a large number of staff were on holiday and that their replacements did not often have access to this information. However, we can state that in 20% of cases, written communication is in Catalan. The data obtained using this indicator should be handled extremely carefully, given the minority presence of the Catalan language in this sector and activity (7).

2.3.2. Creation of Index 3, Oral Use of Catalan (8)

The third index – Index 3 – relates to the spontaneous oral production of the cashier and/or manager. This index produces three possibilities:

1.- that no-one speaks spontaneously in Catalan;

2.- that both the manager and cashier speak it;

3.- that, if there are two or more people, they all speak it.

Index 3, Oral Catalan Use

   

Frequency

Percentage

Accumulated Percentage

Valid

.00

190

37.2

37.2

 

.50

107

20.8

58.0

 

1.00

216

42.0

100.0

 

Total

513

100.0

 

Source: Language in service stations in Catalonia. Sociolinguistic contribution. 2000

The results obtained with the creation of index 3, oral Catalan use, contrast with those obtained from index 2 and with the provisional conclusions drawn from this index, which deals with written usage. Thus, we see that the conversation between interviewee (cashier or manager) and informant was carried out in Catalan in 42% of cases. We also see that in 21% of cases, the cashier or manager addresses the interviewer in Catalan. It should be pointed out that, in the majority of service stations, there were not two or more staff on service at the time of the observation and interview. We also noted that, in 37% of cases, staff at service stations do not address their customers spontaneously in Catalan. Finally, a large number of establishments are self–service (9) where the oral use of Catalan by the company is zero.


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