Table
3 Language usages with friends. Socio-demographic and linguistic
study at secondary schools in Catalonia, 2006
|
Always
Catalan |
A
great deal |
As
much Catalan as Spanish |
Little |
Never
Catalan |
With friends (from school) |
32,9 |
3,6 |
10,2 |
4,2 |
49,2 |
With friends (from outside school) |
30,9 |
3,7 |
10,01 |
5,2 |
50,1 |
One of the main factors explaining this reduction
in the use of Catalan in informal contexts compared to the contexts
mentioned before would be the strong link between the pupil's
initial language and the language used with friends. So, everything
indicates that, although initial Spanish-speakers make considerable
use of Catalan in formal contexts at school, in informal contexts
they maintain Spanish, their initial language. In addition, the
use of Spanish with friends by initial Spanish-speakers is high:
four out of every five (79.4%) never speak Catalan with friends
from school. Catalan-speakers, although they mainly use Catalan
with their friends, do so with much lower maintenance rates than
Spanish-speakers: only two-thirds of Catalan-speakers (67.7%)
always speak Catalan with their friends.
Concerning the type of school, it must be noted
that at private schools forming part of the public system, although
there is a lower relative presence of Catalan in the academic
sphere, a larger proportion of pupils speak Catalan with their
friends from outside school.
2.8.
Cultural consumption, new technologies and language
The television and the Internet are the two most widespread
cultural habits among pupils in the last year of compulsory secondary
education. Given their importance, the statistic indicating that
consumption in Catalan is very low in both media is an important
one: of the channels or websites most seen, only a quarter are
in Catalan. By contrast, in radio consumption, a less widespread
habit, Catalan has a greater presence (54.4%). Even in the reading
of books, Catalan has a considerable presence (53%), although
this percentage must be handled with care because of the possible
interference of school reading. In less popular practices, such
as reading newspapers and magazines, Catalan is also well-established
(43.6%). The lowest presence for Catalan is the cinema, where
the last film seen by nineteen out of every twenty pupils was
in Spanish.
Table 4 Language of cultural
consumption and ICT. Percentages. Socio-demographic and linguistic
study at secondary schools in Catalonia, 2006
|
Catalan |
Television |
28,7 |
Internet |
23,1 |
Radio |
54,4 |
Books |
53 |
Newspapers and magazines |
43,6 |
Cinema |
5 |
Focusing attention on the group of initial Catalan-speakers
and the group that generally uses Catalan more, these pupils consume
radio, newspapers, magazines and books, in Catalan. By contrast,
the television consumption of these Catalan-speakers did not exceed
50%. As for the most visited website, only one third stated that
this was a site in Catalan. In the cinema, the positive results
for Catalan are residual, to the point that the last film seen
by only one in every ten initial Catalan-speakers was in Catalan.
As opposed to initial Catalan-speakers, consumption in Catalan
by Spanish-speakers is always far below that of Catalan-speakers,
and only in the case of radio and books is consumption in Catalan
well established, very close to consumption in Spanish. In the
case of books, however, attention must be paid to possible interference
from academic reading.
2.9.
Opinions on linguistic usages
Concerning the results of the identification
with a linguistic group (“I belong to the group of those
who speak...”), the pupils are divided into three similarly
sized groups: those who state that they belong to the group of
those who speak only or above all Catalan (33.7%), the group of
those who speak only or above all Spanish (24.5%), and the group
of those who speak Catalan and Spanish equally (41.5%).
The majority of pupils indicate that, in general,
they currently use Catalan either averagely (47.9%), a great deal
(32.4%) or always (3.2%). On the perception of the development
of the use of the language over the last five years, all the responses
are quite balanced, and it seems that the most positive responses
prevail. But, concerning the forecast development over the next
few years, the majority of responses are opinions predicting stagnation
in the use of Catalan. The most positive views of the general
use of the language predominate among the people closest to Catalan,
either as their initial language or language of general usage.
But this same population is the one which sees the greatest stagnation
and most setbacks for the development of the use of Catalan, either
over the next five years or in future. The type of school does
not seem to be an influential factor affecting linguistic representation;
however, the size of municipality would be, as the perception
of the use of Catalan is most optimistic in medium-sized municipalities
(10,000-100,000).
No longer in the field of assessment of the
presence of Catalan, but rather concerning pupils preferences
for maintaining or changing language use, the majority of pupils
would prefer the use of Catalan to grow and for it to be spoken
always or a great deal. But it must be noted that it is the group
of pupils closest to Catalan (as initial language or in general
usage) which shows greatest uniformity concerning these preferences
for the use of the language to increase, while those closest to
Spanish tend to divide between those who would like it to be used
more and those who would prefer it to be used equally. In addition,
it is observed that opinions favourable to Catalan are highest
for the general usage of Catalan, without specifying a preference
for growing use in the current context (at school) or in future
adult life (in their future job).
3.
Multivariable analysis
The socio-linguistic situation at secondary schools is
organised based on five factors, with the first being most important
and the last the least important:(5)