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2.4. Relations between the
Indicators of Catalan Use
If we observe
and contrast the results of the descriptive tables, we can see that the three indicators
of Catalan use are slightly interrelated. This relationship is strongest between oral
Catalan use and its signage. This led us to the realisation that business activity (such
as vending machines) is signposted in Spanish, whilst the use of Catalan can increase and
does increase easily in less formal areas of the sector.
In another
data relationship, before the creation of an index of impact of the use of Catalan on
users, when we examined the relationship between the number of vehicles at a service
station to be observed and the presence of signage in Catalan, we noticed that where there
were more signs in Catalan, more vehicles were filling up.
Although it
would be difficult to put this down to a causal relationship, it does force us to take a
closer look at the possible effect of the impact of Catalan use in the environment in
which it is produced, and to make the necessary analyses to discover why there is more
dynamism and more public at stations that also have signs in Catalan. A more
detailed analysis of this fact reveals that this situation of excellence in Catalan
use is partly due to the fact that six service stations obtained very high levels of
Catalan presence, contrasting with the significant number of stations that hardly used
Catalan and did not attend any customers during the interview. This figure was around 14%
of the sector.
3. A Few Final Thoughts
As with any
type of research into complex life and daily social routine, sociolinguistic analysis
requires tools if it is to observe, discover and systematise the facts or processes that
the researcher is trying to get to know better in this case, the fuel sector
from a sociolinguistic standpoint.
It is clear
that the presence of Catalan was and continues to be deficient in the service station
sector, diluted by pictograms, signs, terms and formulations that look to bilingualism
when they cannot resort to linguistic ambiguity. Apart from the fairly heterogeneous
structure of the sector, the linguistic deficits and the factors and causes of these
deficits were not known at the beginning of the research.
The aims,
methodology and applicability of this research are entirely in line with previous research
on other financial and social sectors carried out by the Department for Language Policy of
the Generalitat of Catalonia. As regards the global behaviour of the linguistic
phenomenon, we needed to make further analyses and find out more about the fuel sector,
and we had to do so not only by designing fieldwork that was meticulous in its observation
and quantification, but which also took into consideration the idea that workers of the
sector have of the linguistic use of their customers and the sector itself. Thus, it
required useful tools of observation from a clearly ethnographical standpoint, capable of
focusing on and systematising the vast amount of diverse communicative and informative
messages in the range of areas of the routine we carry out when we visit a service
station.
Clearly,
Catalan is frequently absent from the static publicity of leading companies, In addition,
a significant number of petrol pump manufacturers supply markets that do not end at the
Ebro or the Pyrenees and indeed, there are many ways of designing a station. It is
possible to increase the presence of Catalan in the sector as we point out in the
conclusions of this report. Despite its complexity and heterogeneity, the linguistic
behaviour of this sector is very routine in certain aspects. However, it still needs to
relate to the user, whether directly or through the use of audio messages or the
ubiquitous pictogram, despite the installation of self-service petrol stations or the
newer-style pumps.
Now that we
have observed and carried out interviews at almost half of the service stations in
Catalonia and that the results have been analysed and interpreted with a considerable
volume of variables, we can say that the following factors help to explain the
absence/presence of Catalan at service stations: ownership and/or names used, brand; type
of establishment (traditional services area, co-operative, shopping centre, small
business, etc) and the type of road on which the station is located. The ownership or
operation (recently-installed foreign companies), in addition to the years it has been in
operation whether or not it has been reformed and location represent a large
section of the written and spoken linguistic behaviour of the area, in its natural
environment.
The aim of
creating 3 indexes that draw together the individualised results of a number of variables,
in the area of Catalan use in signage, in written documentation and in more informal,
spoken relationships for the third index, is to create a tool that will allow us to
monitor any type of activity or measure aimed at promoting Catalan in this sector, and
that will help to evaluate processes of social, financial and linguistic change generated
by new dynamics of population, work, tourism, market forms and of how and with what means
we collectively meet transport needs in the future.
The importance
of creating and using a synthetic index with data from 22 indicators, will allow us to
compare results in the future even if new observation indicators are included and/or
others are eliminated as they become obsolete. The value of a single indicator has little
effect on the final result of the index. This allows them to be permanently updated, in
case some become obsolete. Soon, we will no longer be concerned about whether pesetas is
written in Spanish or Catalan. the Euro symbol will expand throughout its area of
influence - in the same way that canopy pillars are now being decorated with a new
pictogram recommending users not to use their mobile telephone on the premises for safety
reasons.
Given the
minority presence of Catalan in the global total of messages and communication in the
sector (25% in Catalan, 39% in Spanish, 14% resort to bilingualism and 11% and 10%,
respectively, to pictographic messages or in terms that are, at the very least,
ambiguous), we consider that any measure to increase the presence of Catalan and its oral,
written or audio use is to be praised, something to defend and promote, at the very least,
within the parameters of current legislation on language policy.
Josep
Lluís C. Bosch
Jaume Farràs
Diego Torrente
CUSC-UB Centre Universitari de Sociolingüística i Comunicació - Universitat de
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