Abstract
A CONTROVERSY ABOUT THE LINGUISTIC SITUATION IN CATALONIA: FIRST STEPS TOWARDS AN ANALYSIS On one hand, the Manifiesto por la igualdad de derechos linguîsticos en Cataluňa (March 1981) claims to start up a purely linguistic debate. In fact, the real situation is reversed. Catalan language appears a discriminatory weapon, able to lead to the dying out of Castilian. The Manifiesto tends to disqualify the «Other», the «Generalitat» (regional government of Catalonia). On the other hand, the answer of the Catalan institutions, mainly of the Executive Council of the Generalitat, is a supporting discourse. It shows its dependence on the central government to which it is addressed really. This linguistic argument takes place among the power plays between the central (Spanish) and local (Catalan) governments. It reveals opposite political standpoints towards the national Catalan fact.