Menor uso pese a mayor estatus: discursos sobre el valor de la lengua en Galicia

Abstract

Abstract This paper contributes to the literature on the current discrepancy between the use of and attitudes towards Galician. Previous studies attribute this conflict to the higher prestige of Spanish as the language of social mobility, together with stereotypes of rurality still linked to the vernacular language. Instead of focusing on prestige as a value that explains the progressive shift to Spanish, this paper examines the discursive processes of prestige attribution to uncover the ideological underpinnings of speakers’ motivations. The critical analysis of the attitudes expressed in 72 semi-structured interviews reveals that, when discursively constructing their evaluations, speakers do not necessarily reproduce traditional linguistic prejudices. Instead, they resort to discourses of authenticity, anonymity, linguistic rights, or discourses about the value of bilingualism vs monolingualism to justify their opinions. Sometimes, the ideologies mobilized by these discourses naturalize attitudes and behaviors that undermine the normalization of Galician, even if the speakers overtly express positive attitudes towards the language.

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