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If we compare this broad data obtained from the socio-linguistic
studies carried out with the adult population of Catalonia (Torres
2005, EULC 2003), we see that the number of initial speakers of
both Catalan and Spanish outlines a certain continuity between the
youngest groups in the Statistics on linguistic usages in Catalonia
2003 (EULC 2003) and the secondary school results (CSASE 2008).
In the EULC, the greatest proportion of initial Catalan-speakers
is found in the oldest generations (see Graph 2) – those born
before the 1920s – where it exceeds two-thirds of the cohort
(age group). The presence of Catalan reduces generation after generation,
something which is closely linked to migration within Spain. Catalan-speakers
born after the mid-1930s are the first cohorts to form smaller groups
than initial Spanish-speakers. And a historic minimum of initial
Catalan-speakers is reached among those born at the beginning of
the '70s, at 32.3%, accompanied by a historic maximum of initial
Spanish-speakers at 61.3 %. But the generations born in the '70s
and '80s see the presence of Catalan as initial language growing
once again, and around 15 cohorts recover similar proportions to
the groups born during the 1930s and '40s. This growth of Catalan
cohort after cohort brings the number of initial Catalan-speakers
near to the figure for Spanish-speakers, but without catching them
up in the generation born from 1984-88, the youngest studied in
the EULC 2003.(3)
The secondary school study detects that, in the generation born
at the beginning of the '90s, the number of initial Catalan-speakers
does not exceed Spanish-speakers. But the distance between them
(3 percentage points) is not statistically significant. This would
confirm the tendency for the proportions to move together, with
a clear increasing trend for Catalan and a decreasing trend for
Spanish.
By contrast, the secondary school study detects an increase in
speakers who state that their initial language is both Catalan and
Spanish (14.1%). This growth, which is comparatively very considerable,
is not entirely surprising. In the adult population study (EULC
2003) this growth is only suspected as a trend, as until the cohorts
born during the '70s the number of initial speakers of both languages
did not reach 4%. In addition, although in the most recent age groups
(those born during the '80s) this percentage might outline an increasing
trend, it does so in a rather unclear way. So, the secondary school
study would indicate that this increase, beginning in the form of
a trend in the '70s, has been significantly consolidated among the
generations born at the beginning of the '90s, where the number
of initial speakers of both languages would be growing noticeably.
Graph 2 – Do you remember which language
you first spoke at home when you were little? according to the age
of the person surveyed. Statistics on language usages in Catalonia,
2003
If we include other variables in
the analysis, it is possible to profile in a little more detail
the characteristics of the group of secondary school students whose
initial language is Catalan. On one hand, we should highlight, as
might be expected, the presence of initial Catalan-speakers among
pupils born in Catalonia, as well as among those studying at private
schools, those who have parents with university education, those
with a mother working full-time outside the home, or those from
medium-sized towns (between 10,000 and 100,000 inhabitants) or small
ones (less than 10,000 inhabitants).
Comparing their initial language (“Do you remember which
language you spoke at home when you were little?”) with the
identification language (“What is your language?”),
we see that the number of answers with the two languages combined
increases (27.5%). By contrast, Spanish as identification language
(33.6%) is 9.3 percentage points below the percentage of initial
Spanish-speakers (42.9 %). In the case of Catalan, the reduction
is much smaller, with 36.5% of pupils identifying with this language.
The factors which most influence this difference between the initial
language and the identification language in favour of those who
identify with both languages at the same time, or even those who
identify only or above all with Catalan, are the type of school
and the size of the town, with public schools and smaller towns
showing the biggest increases in Catalan as identification language.
2.4. Family language
We detect that Catalan has a certain capacity for attraction,
in comparing the language that mothers and fathers speak with one
another and the initial language declared by the pupils. This happens
because a noticeable group of pupils – 7.5% of those surveyed
– state that Catalan is their initial language even though
their parents do not speak it with one another. This positive flow
towards Catalan from other languages and combinations does not go
unnoticed as a positive indicator on the inter-generational transmission
of Catalan in the population cohorts born at the beginning of the
'90s.
Family language usages, meanwhile, show notable complexity, above
all because of the interpretation of the concept of initial language
in the population of young people. Although a broad correlation
can be detected in the adult population between the language spoken
with parents and the initial language, younger generations show
some changes that do not go unnoticed. It has been shown that there
are important differences between the language pupils speak with
their parents and the language they state was the first they spoke
at home when they were small (initial language). The two variables
do not always correlate as much as might be predicted. 34.4% of
pupils speak Catalan with both parents, 5.5 points less than the
39.9% of initial Catalan-speakers. Meanwhile, in the Spanish-speaking
group, no significant difference is detected between the language
spoken with parents (44.6%) and the initial language (42.9%).
Comparing the language spoken between the parents when the pupil
was small and the language the pupil currently speaks with the parents,
we see that there is a greater tendency of Catalan-speaking parents
to transmit their own language than there is for Spanish-speaking
couples. See Table 1. The great majority of children of couples
who spoke Catalan between one another when they were little speak
Catalan with their parents (90.6%). These couples have transmitted
Catalan, and only 1.2% speak only or above all Spanish. Spanish
is at the opposite pole, with a much lower maintenance rate. A notably
lower quantity – 75.5% of the children of couples who spoke
Spanish with one another – currently speak to their parents
only or above all in Spanish. And, among those who do not, the percentage
of those speaking only Catalan is as high as 4.9%. Among those who
state that their parents speak equally Catalan and in Spanish, the
majority move towards Catalan: 50.5% currently speak to their parents
only or above all in Catalan, while the number of those who only
or above all speak to them in Spanish stand at 18.8%.
In the light of the above data it can be understood that, in Catalan-speaking
parents, the transmission of the language is interrupted in 9.4%
of cases, while for Spanish-speaking parents the percentage is 24.5%.
The difference – 15.1 points in favour of Catalan –
is a statistic to be borne in mind.
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