The anonymity of Catalan and the authenticity of Estonian: two paths for the development of medium-sized languages

Abstract

Catalan and Estonian can be considered ‘medium-sized’ languages with some key common features that allow us to analyze the evolution of the two cases comparatively. Firstly, other formerly hegemonic languages (Spanish and Russian, respectively) have historically minoritized them. Secondly, the political equilibrium has now changed in such a way that the ‘medium-sized’ languages have been resituated in the public sphere, regaining some institutional recognition. In turn, this has caused the formerly dominating languages to be resituated too, where a high degree of contact between the two linguistic communities exists. Finally, in the globalization era, ideologies about (minoritized) languages may shift from identity-based values toward more pragmatic and instrumental ones. This article presents ethnographically collected data from both Tallinn and Barcelona (2008–2009), providing a reading of the Catalan case and evolution as seen through the Estonian experience. The study examines language-ideological constructs underlying the discourses of the linguistic groups in contact, how they affect and are affected by the context, how they interact with and co-modify each other and ultimately, how can they affect the process by which a ‘medium-sized’ language may be adopted by ‘new speakers' and acquires a stable position at the level of its public functions.

Keywords:

• Catalan
• Estonian
• language ideologies
• medium-sized languages
• bilingualism
• second language acquisition

Acknowledgements

Fieldwork for this article was conducted while I was the Catalan Visiting Lecturer at the University of Tartu, sponsored by the Ramon Llull Institute. I also benefited from the studentship Segimon Serrallonga 2008 (Torelló City Council) and the studentship Estophilus 2009 (Estonian Institute). A ‘La Caixa’ Foundation fellowship enabled me to work with these data at the University of California, San Diego. To all these institutions, I am grateful for their economic support. None of the views expressed in the paper, however, represent them. I am thankful to the participants in the study. Without them, I would not have been able to gather the necessary data that shaped it. Thanks go to Aina and Ahti Saares, Maria Kall, Merilin Kotta, Mona Lellsaar, Mall Orlova, and Anna Samokhvalova for their invaluable help with the recordings in Estonian and Russian. I am very grateful to professors Kathryn Woolard and Albert Bastardas-Boada for their comments and everlasting encouragement. A draft version of this article was presented in the frame of the 18th International Conference of Europeanists, Council for European Studies, Barcelona 22nd June 2011. My thanks to the organizers of the panel for giving me the opportunity to present this work there and to the conference audience for helpful comments and remarks, particularly to Jacqueline Urla, who discussed my paper in detail. Persisting errors are my own.