Language attitudes and loyalties in the Valencian Country, by Lorena Císcar, David González and Pau Pérez

If we quantify the presence of these attitudes in the Community of Valencia as a whole and in urban areas, we see that, while the modal category in the former is Users with 30.5% of cases, the modal presence in urban areas is Assimilated with a frequency of 30%. These are the two categories with the biggest differences. In fact, the split between the two clearly occurs in the macrogroups of use rather than in those of competence. Thus, we see that the relative presence of Loyal and Users in the Community as a whole is greater than its presence in urban areas, whilst the opposite occurs with the relative presence of Competent, Idealisers and Assimilated.

5. Conclusion

At this point in our analyses, we can conclude from this general outline that the processes of language standardisation in the Community of Valencia and language planning must first locate the subjects of linguistic action and then influence the aspects that they would like to promote, with the primary reference being the social characterisation of attitudinal subjects and the dimensional features that make up the various groups.

The indicators of language loyalties also reveal a diglossic situation in the Community of Valencia, determined generally by the difference in uses at home and otherwise, where it mediatized. This aspect is accentuated much more in urban areas, oral use outside the home is much lower even though it is taught much more. We also observe a predominance of Valuational loyalty, which we believe may influence other types of loyalty involving oral and written uses, and the legitimation and expansion of markets for language.

Linguistic groups reveal a predominance of groups integrated into Spanish in urban areas who know the language but do not use it (Assimilated and Competent); these differ from the Community of Valencia as a whole, where we find groups that use the language, such as Loyal and Users.

The comparison of indicators and groups for urban areas and the Community of Valencia as a whole are useful in that they reveal that language policies must be studied where they are to be applied in order to be effective. Thus, for urban areas, it would be interesting to intervene in oral aspects, promoting uses, rather than teaching the language.

Measuring instruments created to assess the linguistic situation of the Community of Valencia suggest following up research in the direction of the dynamism of a given linguistic situation. Indicators of language loyalties and groups can reveal the static situation that can be found when performing studies, but the social situation of the language is of a more dynamic nature.

Thus, the creation of tools and the use of statistical scientific processes enable us to continue our studies both longitudinally, through time, and obliquely, by taking the appropriateness of language policies as a reference. These policies depend on the territorial area of intervention and the direction of the policy as regards the aims. We now invite our readers to consult the research on which this article is based.

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Lorena Císcar
David González
oldagama@oliva.infoville.net
Pau Pérez

University of Alacant