Die Orthographie-Debatte im "Diario de Barcelona" 1796 und ihr soziolinguistisches Umfeld

Abstract

Catalan linguistic historiography applies the categories of "linguistic conflict", which are quite useful for describing the current situation, also to the pre-Renaissance period. This period, still aristocratic, nevertheless shows a very different sociolinguistic structure, generally characterized by the absence of awareness of a linguistic conflict. The controversy over Catalan spelling that took place in the Diario de Barcelona in 1796 therefore seems more like the creation of a literary genre with the aim of distracting the public than a serious discussion. However, there are two linguistic attitudes that are typical of the time, as evidenced by the comparison with other documents: on the one hand “happy bilingualism” which, despite using the Castilian language, expresses esteem for Catalan and its philological tradition and, by doing so, rejects the process of Catalan being substituted by Spanish; and, on the other hand, a "frustrated" position that recognizes this process without having the means (yet) for a defence of Catalan. For both positions, Spanish is the point of reference and essential as a language of culture. At the end of the 18th century, a specific Catalan identity shows up, which continues to use Castilian as means of expression. Catalan, however, is still being written, a very important factor for the Renaixença. Now, under different sociolinguistic conditions, language has truly become the subject of public conflict.