La relación entre el catalán y el castellano: estudio sobre las actitudes lingüísticas en hablantes bilingües de Cataluña

Abstract

On November 9th 2014 a consultation, also known as the Catalan independence referendum, took place in Catalonia, Spain. It was a non-binding vote on the political future of Catalonia, held by its Government (Generalitat de Catalunya). Language, which in Catalonia is Catalan in its national form, plays a great role when we talk about the nationalism that exists in Catalonia. The aim of this master thesis is to look more closely at the status of the Catalan language related to the question of the Catalan independence. To be able to do this it is essential to consider the linguistic attitudes that are important in the definition of a linguistic society and the maintenance of a language. This thesis is based in an analysis of linguistic attitudes in the relationship between the Catalan and the Spanish language among speakers who see themselves as bilinguals. The study was realised in Sitges, and the method used is questionnaires. The analysis is based upon the answers of 30 informants, classified by age, sex and education level. The usage of the Catalan language has increased a lot lately and the Catalan people use the language in both their private and social life, but as we can see from the investigation, the level of prestige of the Catalan language is less strong among women than among men.