Summary
1.
Introduction
2. Chief
characteristics of the Indexplà IT programme
3.
Methodology, identification and characteristics of the organisation under study
4.
Analysis of the data obtained
5.
Conclusions and challenges for the future
6.
Bibliography
1. Introduction
The article which
we present here is an extract from the research work (1) which was presented at the
Faculty of philology at the University of Valencia in September 1999.
We include here
the part of the work devoted to the diagnosis of Valencian language use at the Ajuntament
de Sagunt (Sagunt Town Hall) using the Indexplà computer programme and the conclusions
which were reached. (2)
The idea of
carrying out this research came up during the Jornades de Promoció Lingüística
(Language Promotion Seminars) organised by the Sagunt Council in April 1998, an event in
which policy experts and technicians of the Consortium for Language Normalisation in
Catalonia took part.
Arising out of the
Seminars and with the collaboration of the technicians who supplied us with the Indexplà
programme, we proceeded to research the situation of Valencian in what was a local
organisation.
The aim here was
to make use of the existing resources and their application, suitably adapted, to the
sociopolitical situation in the Valencian Country.
The Catalan
institutions, unlike those of the Valencian Country, both public and private, have for
long been working to achieve the "whole" (3) recovery of the Catalan language
and have the support of the Autonomous administrations, as well as local and county-level
administrations.
Our work consisted
in establishing the diagnosis based on the Linguistic Normalisation Index (INL) of a
public entity, Sagunt Town Hall, underwritten by the Indexplà method.
The objective here
with this application was to carry out a prior reconnaissance of the linguistic situation
in terms of the use of Valencian, since this preview reconnaissance is an essential
step in the realisation of the move toward normalisation of a minority language.
2.
Chief characteristics of the Indexplà IT programme
Indexplà first
saw the light of day in 1995 when, as a result of a working seminar, the Consortium for
Language Normalisation of Catalonia developed this instrument for detecting language needs
in all types of situations in Catalonia.
This is an Excel
programme which is used to find out if an organisation comes up to a series of
requirements that will fit it for guaranteeing the use of Catalan (or in this case
Valencian) or indeed any language with minority status in conflict with another (majority)
language (Spanish in this case).
It measures the
INL (Index of Language Normalisation) or degree of Language Normalisation of an
organisation.
The programme is
based on a system of indicators grouped by factors.
The factors
evaluated are: image and labelling; linguistic ability of the staff, criteria for language
use; documentation for external use; exterior communication and internal documentation and
communication.
Each factor has a
value from 0 to 100 and a weighted average is also obtainable which has a value of between
0 and 100, indicating the level or index of Language Normalisation (INL).
This value, lying
between 0 and 100, shows us the degree of overall normalisation of the organisation and
allows us to single out different sections of the organisation according to their use of
Catalan (Valencian, etc.).
The indicators do
not represent the totality of elements with linguistic meaning or significance in the
organisation, since, by definition the indicators have as their objective of evaluation
the whole from a set of data which are considered representative.
The weighting of
each factor in the (weighted) INL for the degree of normalisation of the organisation is
as follows:
FACTOR 1: image
and labelling: 20 %
FACTOR 2:
linguistic ability of the staff: 15%
FACTOR 3:
criteria for use: 20%
FACTOR 4:
external documentation: 15%
FACTOR 5:
external communication: 15%
FACTOR 6: internal
documentation and communication: 10%
From this
diagnosis of degree of normalisation, Indexplà enables us, as we have said, to establish
the typology of the object under evaluation.
According to the
INL obtained, there could be:
Organisations
that attain an INL of between 60 % and 80% (type R). These have a level of normalisation
that fits them for attending to the users in the language the latter may choose.
Organisations
that attain an INL above 80% (type P). These have adopted Valencian as the language they
work in.
Organisations
that have factors 1,4,5 (having to do with external elements: image and labelling,
external documentation and internal documentation) at an index level of around 60 %.
3.
Methodology, identification and characteristics of the organisation under study
The methods we
have used in this study, in terms of fieldwork and data collection are direct observation,
questionnaires and direct questions. All that was completed in period between February and
March 1999.
The municipal
offices of Sagunt Town Hall are decentralised in various buildings in two settlements, 5
kilometres from each other.
This territorial
factor should be borne in mind. The town of Sagunt (henceforth Sagunt-City) with 20,945
inhabitants is the old historical centre; the port of Sagunt (Sagunt-Port) is the
settlement that came into being at the beginning of the 20th century with the growth of
the iron and steel industry, where there are 39,886 inhabitants on census.
Having said that,
the field under study or defined universe for this work was limited to the administrative
offices that Sagunt local council has at the Palau (Mansion) or Main Building,
together with the offices close by, all in the old historic centre of Sagunt-City.
It was decided to
do things in this way because the council offices located in the building in Sagunt-City
are the more representative: it is here that the local government manages its main
functions (Mayors office or Town Hall, Operations, Treasury, Secretariat, Tax office,
urban planning, etc.). Thus, over the years Sagunt local council has built up a
multiplicity of municipal services patterned according to its peculiar urban and
geographical distribution.
We have focused on
analysing the linguistic situation in the main building, bearing in mind, however, that
some of the factors include Departments not found in this building but which are found in
the nearby offices in the old centre of Sagunt.
This is the case,
for example, with Personnel, with the Municipal Foundation for Culture and the Youth
Information Centre. All three are at a distance of approximately 200 metres from the Main
Building.
This physical
proximity is very important when evaluating the effectiveness that actions intended to
increase normalisation or recovery of Valencian might have.
The proximity of
the translation service (currently housed in the Palau or Main Building) and the
interconnectedness on the ground of the service means that there is greater fluidity and
liaison between the administrators and the politicians.
4.
Analysis of the data obtained
The following
graph show the results obtained through investigation of the factors and indicators.
Figure 1.
Sagunt Local Council
The first
evaluation we arrived at, is that the Sagunt Local Council has an overall Index of
Language Normalisation (INL) of 34 % (see graphs) and consequently does not fall into any
of the established categories in the typology established above.
Since this result
falls far short of reaching the established minimum levels that have been set, it cannot
be included under the R-type heading nor under the P-type one. It will be recalled that
type R reach an INL level of between 60 % and 80 % fitting them for attending to users in
the language they may chose (Valencian or Spanish).
Type P have an INL
greater than 80 %, such that they have adopted Valencian as the language they work in.
We will now look
at the normalisation scores attained, beginning with the highest:
FACTOR 2: LINGUISTIC COMPETENCE OF THE STAFF |
37% |
|