How is catalan different from the rest of spain

This covers all cases from the extreme in which anyone employing both languages is considered bilingual, to the stringent situation in which only those using both tongues half of the time score as non-monolinguals. We built these data series for each EULP survey and combinations of them.

Most analysis were conducted on all available data; here we present results for the more robust less noisy time series. See Appendix S2 for details and to explore all existing results, which are consistent throughout. To characterize our data we use the model by Mira and Paredes , Mira et al. Only two equations are needed thanks to the normalized population.

Also, this is a compact version of the system. For detailed discussion of what the different parameters mean in practical terms, see Supporting Information 5 or extensive discussions in the literature by different authors Mira and Paredes, ; Mira et al. The stability of this model has been thoroughly characterized as a function of its parameters Colucci et al. Equation 1 are a generalization of the seminal Abrams-Strogatz model Abrams and Strogatz, that promoted non-linear differential equations for the study of language population dynamics even if earlier, similar approaches existed Baggs and Freedman, , The original equations did not include bilingualism on the grounds that it played a minor role for the languages under research.

This is not the case in the Catalan-Spanish coexistence scenario. Other valuable models consider bilingual situations Baggs and Freedman, , ; Heinsalu et al. Besides our familiarity with the chosen system of equations, the stability of the alternatives has not always been studied.

Some of these models do not contemplate stable, coexisting languages Minett and Wang, or do so only after alternative parameterizations are included Baggs and Freedman, It is intensely debated whether languages can coexist steadily in an asymptotic time, but it does not seem appropriate to barren that possibility beforehand.

Hence, we decided to conduct our analysis with equations that allow this scenario explicitly. To extract these parameters from the data we followed the fitting procedure described in Appendix S1 , which basically makes a fast, heuristic least square minimization. Also in Appendix S1 we compare the best and worst fits and provide plots of the fits from all data series and for all bilingualism thresholds. The most important result that we extract is that the Catalan-Spanish sociolinguistic system tends, under most circumstances analyzed, to a stable state in which both languages coexist.

The data also reveals a few counterintuitive insights that we examine in the next subsections. We can always track down the stability of the system to these two parameters and the initial conditions.

The other parameters in Eqs. Their trends as a function of the bilingualism threshold are discussed in Appendix S3.

Thanks to previous studies of the model Colucci et al. Similar conclusions are reached in both cases see Appendix S3 , but we focus on the fixed case now. Stability analysis.

Falling outside the shaded region implies that one of the languages will go extinct shaded region is consistent with, but does not imply, sustained coexistence. Error bars represent one standard deviation. This indicates that, outside Barcelona, Catalan and Spanish are perceived as more different from each other.

For each data set and each bilingualism threshold we derived several collections of parameters compatible with the corresponding time series. The existence of several good fits in each case allows us to perform a statistic analysis that bootstraps the variability of the parameters. More generous definitions of bilingualism are explained by models with larger interlinguistic similarity—i. Unluckily, the model and data available cannot offer a rigid constrain on the interlinguistic similarity.

This indeterminacy comes about because the system sits near a bifurcation point and the data is not enough to clarify the outcome of the competition dynamics. Such predictions must be taken with all the prudence possible: they are the results obtained with this model for the data available, and the seemingly open-ended nature of human dynamics does not allow us to have an all comprehensive understanding of the situation.

This invites us to be confident about the general conclusions. We registered the percentages of Spanish Fig. Figure 3 a—c shows how, consistently, our results indicate a middle-term coexistence between Spanish and Catalan, even for those configurations of parameters that imply the eventual extinction of one of the tongues.

For each set of parameters obtained after fitting the data, Eqs. The contributions to these intervals were weighted as indicated in the Supporting Information 1 , so that fits with larger residua contribute less than the more accurate ones.

Notwithstanding the bilingualism threshold, the model always predicts a less important role for Catalan language in a middle-term future. Meanwhile, Spanish stands as the dominating language for some definitions of bilingualism, and it is consistently the group projected to grow the most until This is home to large migrant groups from the rest of Spain and elsewhere notably Pakistan and China , while Barcelona itself is a very cosmopolitan city attracting large masses of tourists.

On the other hand, the rest of Catalonia while still containing notable urban areas and some regions with large migrant populations has a more rural character and is spread across larger territories. To further understand the linguistic reality of the system we segregated the data in those two broad geographical regions and repeated our analyses. The interlinguistic similarity again drops as the definition of bilingualism becomes more stringent Fig. This would naively suggest that the perceived prestige of Catalan is lower in the urban metropolis hence Spanish prestige would be higher , but our analysis indicates exactly the opposite: rural areas where Spanish is less spoken perceive Spanish as a more prestigious tongue.

The catch is that while the decay of Spanish and Catalan in the Barcelona area has been roughly symmetric over the last century and favors a strong bilingual group Supporting Fig. In Eqs. Figure 2 d—e summarize the differences between the perception that the two geographical areas have about Catalan and Spanish. The arrows in Fig. Again, both for the metropolitan and non-metropolitan areas, most configurations of the model are compatible with middle-term coexistence of the tongues.

Within Barcelona, Catalan would be the endangered language Supporting Fig. For almost every definition of bilingualism, Spanish would draw most of its new speakers right away from Catalan monolinguals Supporting Fig. Despite the larger prestige of Spanish in those regions, this would be possible due to the still large Catalan monolingual population outside the Barcelona area.

In this paper we analyzed the system of Spanish and Catalan coexistence using recent and thorough data surveys of language use and up-to-date models based on non-linear equations.

There is a gap between the theoretical developments and the empirical data available Seoane and Mira, The former often rely on concepts e. Furthermore, definitions of bilingualism within such mathematical model might differ from those in other linguistic subfields. Given the complex and subjective nature of the problem under research it is necessary to rely on the self-assessment of linguistic qualities—in this case, percentage of language use.

We wanted to conduct our analysis in the most general way possible given the data. Instead, we performed our analysis for all possible scenarios. This could potentially produce a wealth of models with antagonistic predictions, hence frustrating any robust conclusion.

This happens often in complex systems that sit midway between competing forces—which is the case here. Instead, our analysis renders a consistent picture across different data sources and for most different definitions of the bilingual group.

This picture is that of a long term coexistence between Spanish and Catalan in Catalonia, always along a bilingual group, and with a dominating role for Spanish while the group of monolingual Catalan speakers declines lightly. Further details hinge on the bilingualism threshold employed. The monolingual Catalan group is expected to be smaller than the Spanish one towards Fig. Similar results are obtained when segregating the data between Barcelona plus metropolitan area versus rest of Catalonia.

These mid-term predictions leave considerable room for action. Consequently, they are also daring and should be subjected to continuous revision as new data becomes available. The correctness of our analyses depends on some assumptions: i The data collected so far is reliable and significant about how the situation might evolve. Consequently, ii social and political circumstances should not vary considerably in the future. Unluckily there are no studies about how notable political events affect the smooth dynamics of the system.

This is also true for all other models of language shift Abrams and Strogatz, ; Baggs and Freedman, , ; Castellano et al. Should the socio-political stage change drastically e. Our equations might not be correct, so indeed this exercise should help us validate the model—even if some predictions lay far in the future. This seems to contradict other studies from sociolinguistics, which posit that bilingualism is a first step towards language loss as intergenerational transmission of one of the languages becomes weaker.

Actually, our model is compatible with the later situation too. See, e. In other words, the maths of population dynamics seem compatible with bilingual groups that grow to later coexist with both monolinguals e. In our work, the data constrains the model parameters, thus choosing the dynamics that better explain the observed evolutions. Attending to this, the raise of a bilingual group might not be an infallible indicator of future language decline.

However, our results suggest another potentially predictive observable: a marked asymmetry between the time evolution of both monolingual groups. This seems consistent with the corresponding asymmetry between the intergenerational transmission of both languages discussed in the literature Fishman, , and seems to better underpin the causality behind language shift.

In this paper we also quantified the perceived prestige of both languages and their interlinguistic similarity. Also, spatially segregated data reveals interesting differences across regions — notably the higher prestige of Spanish in the areas that, historically, had more Catalan speakers. In those regions also the perceived difference across languages is larger. In the estimation of these parameters we assume that all speakers perceive both languages similarly to each other, as an average person.

This is of course unrealistic, and it hints us at an important factor in the fate of systems of coexisting languages. Different speakers might perceive languages differently, especially so if they come from different social of geographic backgrounds notably including migrating populations.

The reasons for differing prestiges might be politically motivated, thus might result of paramount importance for the system that we study here. Extending the mathematical model to include these effects is beyond the scope of this paper, but we think that it is a pressing task, specially as the world becomes more interconnected.

It could be thought that an objection to our model and others similar is that the parameters are abstract and difficult to relate to more concrete features. Both steady states and the dynamical unfolding of the equations are intimately linked to their numerical values. Measures under different circumstances e. We assess these quantities indirectly by fitting the data to our model , but perceived prestige or similarity between tongues and other sociolinguistic characteristics can be directly reported in future surveys.

The teaching of Catalan is mandatory in schools, and teachers, doctors and other public-sector workers are legally required to use it.

Catalan is strongly associated with national pride — if you speak to someone in Spanish in Catalonia they might well answer you in Catalan. The language is spoken in other territories, such as Valencia, the Balearic Islands, Andorra where it is the official language , Sardinia and areas of southern France. Catalonia had a distinct history of its own long before it became part of Spain. It stretches back to the early Middle Ages when the County of Barcelona rose to pre-eminence in the 11th century.

The county was brought under the same royal rule as the neighbouring Kingdom of Aragon. The region became part of Spain in the 15th century when Ferdinand of Aragon married Isabel of Castille, uniting the two kingdoms. There was a resurgence of Catalan identity in the 19th century, which resulted in a push to preserve and promote the Catalan language. The region was given more autonomy under the Republican government of the early s, but when dictator General Francisco Franco came to power at the end of the Spanish Civil War, all autonomy was taken away and the use of Catalan was prohibited.

These days, caganers come in all kinds of modern versions, depicting everyone from Barack Obama to Cristiano Ronaldo with their trousers down. Towns across Catalonia hold competitions to see who can make the tallest human tower, an activity that is particularly popular during fiestas. Definitely not one for the faint-hearted.

While you can enjoy plenty of tapas in Catalonia, there are certain dishes and drinks that come specifically from the region. The Catalan architect was born in the town of Reus in and became one of the most famous practitioners of Catalan Modernism.

Catalonia has some of its own unique bank holidays that are not celebrated across Spain. Instead, Catalonia has its own music and dances, such as the sardana — a traditional group dance performed at popular celebrations and musically accompanied by a specific type of band known as coral. The Catalan economy is in a very different state to the rest of the Spanish economy, and has for a long time been the industrial powerhouse of the country.

Spanish is spoken in most of Barcelona,?? Addressing people in Catalan instead of Spanish is very well received, in my personal experience. Street names, road signs, notices and instructions that you see in Catalonia are usually written in Catalan first and foremost. To the uninitiated, it can be hard to work out if things are written in Catalan or Spanish. We hope that the above has been useful! If you are thinking of learning Catalan, Talk Languages may be able to help you find a personal tutor.

One of our language experts explains how to teach Spanish to children via videolink — speaking from her own personal experience. You can still prepare yourself with some basic Spanish phrases and vocab. Contact our friendly customer service team and start learning a language today!

This website uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website. Enquire Now. September 16, Are Catalan and Spanish the same? What are the most significant differences between Spanish and Catalan? The simple past tense Catalan has a simple past tense different from other Romance languages. Affricates tz, tg: These are quite harsh, explosive sounds with two hard consonants together.

Why is there controversy about speaking Spanish or Catalan in Spain? What advice can you give about Catalan?

Use the following seven tips to identify if you are reading Catalan or Spanish. Catalan uses consonant clusters whereas Spanish requires a vowel sound between consonant sounds most of the time. Share This Post:. Share on facebook.