Language secessionism
Encyclopedia
Language secessionism is an attitude supporting the separation of a language variety from the language to which it normally belongs, in order to make this variety considered as a distinct language. This phenomenon was first analyzed by Catalan sociolinguistics
but it can be ascertained in other parts of the World.
, language secessionism is a quite recent phenomenon which has only developed since the 1970s. Language secessionism affects both Occitan and Catalan
languages with the following common features:
, there are three cases:
is identical to Romanian
. However, its official name in that country is "Moldovan" and at least one local linguist
has asserted that it is, in fact, a separate language in its own right. During the Soviet era, the USSR authorities officially recognized and promoted Moldovans
and Moldovan
as a distinct ethnicity and language. A Cyrillic alphabet was introduced in the Moldovan SSR to reinforce this claim. Since the independence of Moldova (in 1991), the official language switched to the Latin script
and underwent the same language reforms as Romanian, but has retained its name, Moldovan.
Nowadays, the Cyrillic alphabet remains in official use only on the territories controlled by the breakaway authorities of the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic
, where it is named "Moldovan", as opposed to the Latin script version used elsewhere, which the local authorities call "Romanian".
has a strong structural unity, according to the vast majority of linguists who specialize in Slavonic languages. However, the language is spoken by populations which have strong, different, national consciousness: Bosniaks
, Croats
, Montenegrins and Serbs
.
Since the breakup of Yugoslavia in 1991, Serbo-Croatian has lost its unitary codification and its official unitary status. It is now divided into four official languages which follow separate codifications: Croatian language
, Bosnian language
, Serbian language
and the Montenegrin language
.
The common, basic Serbo-Croatian system still exists in a strictly structuralist point of view: it is a pluricentric language
language, being cultivated through four voluntarily diverging varieties, Croatian language
, Bosnian language
, Montenegrin language
, and Serbian language
, which are each Ausbau languages.
On the contrary, the Serbo-Croatian kind of language secessionism is now a strongly consensual and institutional majority phenomenon. This makes legitimate to say that such a language secessionism has led to "Ausbau languages" in the cases of Croatian, Bosnian and Serbian, since their diverging evolutions now succeed in general practice.
was created by Afonso I of Portugal
in 1126 and expanded towards the Islamic south, like its neighbouring kingdoms. That southern part of Galicia (Portugal) became independent while the northern part of the country remained under the Kingdom of León
during the 12th century and early 13th century and later under the kingdom of Castile
(core and ethnic base for the future Spain).
But the culture was the same in both sides of the political border and attained great prestige during the Low Middle Ages
.
In the late 15th century, Castilian domination became harder, banishing their language in all official uses, including the church.
Galician Portuguese survived diglossically for the following centuries among the peasant population, but it suffered a strong Spanish influence and having a different evolution.
Meanwhile, the same language (under the reintegrationist view) remained fully official in Portugal, and it was carried across the world by Portuguese explorers, soldiers and colonists.
During the 19th century a revival movement arose. This movement defended the Galician language, and created a provisional norm, with Castilian ortography and heavy loanwords). When the autonomy was granted a norm and orthography (based in rexurdimento writers) (Galician literature) for a Galician language was created. This norm is taught and used in almost all schools, high-schools and universities of Galicia.
But the most writers (Castelao
, Risco, Otero Pedrayo) did not regret the tradicional Galician forms, some of them based in Spanish orthography, even though recognizing the essential linguistic unity, saying that the priority was achieving political autonomy and being read by the population. Other writers wrote with Portuguese-like orthography (like Guerra da Cal, e Carvalho Calero).
Reintegracionists defend that the official norm (released in 1982) was imposed by the Spanish state, with the covert intent of severing off Galician from Portuguese.
But this idea is rejected by the Real Academia Galega, supporters of the official norm.
The Reintegrationist and Lusist groups
are protesting against this (in their opinion) language secessionism, which they call Castrapism (something like "patois") or Isolationism
. Unlike in the case of Valencian Blaverism
, Isolationism has no impact in the scientific community of linguists, and it is supported for a few number of them, but has clear political support.
That discussion is only valid about nowadays, because nobody deny Galaico-Portuguese linguistic unity prior to 16th century.
recognises that a lot of the vocabulary of Filipino
is based on Tagalog
, the latest defenition given to the national language
tries to evade the use of the term 'Tagalog'.
Republic Act No. 7104, approved on August 14, 1991, created the Commission on the Filipino Language, reporting directly to the President and tasked to undertake, coordinate and promote researches for the development, propagation and preservation of Filipino and other Philippine languages. On May 13, 1992, the commission issued Resolution 92-1, specifying that Filipino is the
However, when one asks a person from Metro Manila what language he speaks, he will instantly answer Tagalog
.
(e.g. bana [husband] and Ilocano (e.g. ading - little brother)).
They also maintain that the term Tagalog
is the language of the Katagalughan or the Tagalog Region and puristic in a sense. It lacks certain phonemes like /f/ and /v/ which makes it not capable to produce some indigenous words like Ifugao and Ivatan.
Sociolinguistics
Sociolinguistics is the descriptive study of the effect of any and all aspects of society, including cultural norms, expectations, and context, on the way language is used, and the effects of language use on society...
but it can be ascertained in other parts of the World.
Common characteristics
In the Occitano-Catalan AreaOccitano-Romance languages
The Occitano-Romance branch of Romance languages encompasses the dialects pertaining to the Occitan and the Catalan languages situated in France , Spain , Andorra, Monaco, parts of Italy , and historically in the County of Tripoli and the...
, language secessionism is a quite recent phenomenon which has only developed since the 1970s. Language secessionism affects both Occitan and Catalan
Catalan language
Catalan is a Romance language, the national and only official language of Andorra and a co-official language in the Spanish autonomous communities of Catalonia, the Balearic Islands and Valencian Community, where it is known as Valencian , as well as in the city of Alghero, on the Italian island...
languages with the following common features:
- An unconscious refusal that Occitan and Catalan develop as normal communication languages in modern society. This is the principal reason which can explain linguistic secessonism in those subordinate languages. So language secessionism represents in fact an inability of reversing diglossiaDiglossiaIn linguistics, diglossia refers to a situation in which two dialects or languages are used by a single language community. In addition to the community's everyday or vernacular language variety , a second, highly codified variety is used in certain situations such as literature, formal...
and language shiftLanguage shiftLanguage shift, sometimes referred to as language transfer or language replacement or assimilation, is the progressive process whereby a speech community of a language shifts to speaking another language. The rate of assimilation is the percentage of individuals with a given mother tongue who speak...
. It goes with an ideology which idealizes the coexistence between the subordinated language (a variety of Occitan or Catalan) and the dominant language (French, Spanish, Italian), by denying or minimizing language conflict. Secessionists want to separate their dialect from their own whole language (Occitan or Catalan) which they brand as their main enemy, while they don't see the objective dominant language (French, Spanish, Italian) as a danger. - A breakaway from the tradition of Occitan and Catalan revivalist movements, which usually claim the unity of both languages since the 19th century.
- An often deliberate ignorance of the tradition of RomanceRomance languagesThe Romance languages are a branch of the Indo-European language family, more precisely of the Italic languages subfamily, comprising all the languages that descend from Vulgar Latin, the language of ancient Rome...
linguisticsLinguisticsLinguistics is the scientific study of human language. Linguistics can be broadly broken into three categories or subfields of study: language form, language meaning, and language in context....
which also claims the unity of Occitan and Catalan. - An exacerbation of the cultural identity linked to dialects which secessionism considers as separate languages.
- A lack of success (or a very marginal position) in linguisticLinguisticsLinguistics is the scientific study of human language. Linguistics can be broadly broken into three categories or subfields of study: language form, language meaning, and language in context....
scientific research . - An active lobbying in regional political circles.
- The support of a writing system or of any prescription which breaks up linguistic unity and exaggerates dialectal particular features.
In Catalan
In CatalanCatalan language
Catalan is a Romance language, the national and only official language of Andorra and a co-official language in the Spanish autonomous communities of Catalonia, the Balearic Islands and Valencian Community, where it is known as Valencian , as well as in the city of Alghero, on the Italian island...
, there are three cases:
- ValencianValencianValencian is the traditional and official name of the Catalan language in the Valencian Community. There are dialectical differences from standard Catalan, and under the Valencian Statute of Autonomy, the Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua has been established as its regulator...
language secessionism, or blaverismBlaverismBlaverism is a body of ideas in the Valencian Community, Spain that emerged with the Spanish transition to democracy after the death of Francisco Franco, and characterised by its opposition to Joan Fuster's book Nosaltres, els valencians , which revived the concept of Països Catalans which...
, appeared during the Democratic Transition at the end of the 1970s, after the fall of franquism. It is supported by some conservative circles of the Valencian society, which are branded as “post-franquist” by partisans of Catalan unity. It has variable impact in the population: Valencian people usually name their language “ValencianValencianValencian is the traditional and official name of the Catalan language in the Valencian Community. There are dialectical differences from standard Catalan, and under the Valencian Statute of Autonomy, the Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua has been established as its regulator...
” but are divided about the unity of CatalanCatalan languageCatalan is a Romance language, the national and only official language of Andorra and a co-official language in the Spanish autonomous communities of Catalonia, the Balearic Islands and Valencian Community, where it is known as Valencian , as well as in the city of Alghero, on the Italian island...
: some people agree in that “ValencianValencianValencian is the traditional and official name of the Catalan language in the Valencian Community. There are dialectical differences from standard Catalan, and under the Valencian Statute of Autonomy, the Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua has been established as its regulator...
” is just the regional name for “CatalanCatalan languageCatalan is a Romance language, the national and only official language of Andorra and a co-official language in the Spanish autonomous communities of Catalonia, the Balearic Islands and Valencian Community, where it is known as Valencian , as well as in the city of Alghero, on the Italian island...
” while other people think that “ValencianValencianValencian is the traditional and official name of the Catalan language in the Valencian Community. There are dialectical differences from standard Catalan, and under the Valencian Statute of Autonomy, the Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua has been established as its regulator...
” would be a distinct language from “CatalanCatalan languageCatalan is a Romance language, the national and only official language of Andorra and a co-official language in the Spanish autonomous communities of Catalonia, the Balearic Islands and Valencian Community, where it is known as Valencian , as well as in the city of Alghero, on the Italian island...
”. Blaverism has no impact in the scientific community of linguists. Valencian institutions and Valencian partisans of Catalan unity use the official norm of Catalan (as codified by Institut d'Estudis CatalansInstitut d'Estudis CatalansThe Institut d'Estudis Catalans , also known by the acronym IEC, is an academic institution which seeks to undertake research and study into "all elements of Catalan culture"....
and Acadèmia Valenciana de la LlenguaAcadèmia Valenciana de la LlenguaThe Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua , also known by the acronym AVL, is an institution created on September 16, 1998 by the Valencian Parliament, which belongs to the set of official institutions that compose the Generalitat Valenciana, according to the Act of Autonomy of the Valencian...
), while “Blavers” (partisans of blaverism) mostly write Valencian using a spin-off, nonstandard system called “normes del Puig”. - Balearic language secessionism is quite marginal and is supported by some cultural groups. It has very little impact in the population. It is included in a wider (but unorganized) tendency called “gonellisme”, which struggles against the standardization of Catalan.
- In Franja de Ponent (a Catalan-speaking strip in eastern AragonAragonAragon is a modern autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. Located in northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces : Huesca, Zaragoza, and Teruel. Its capital is Zaragoza...
), language secessionism is quite marginal. It appeared during the 2000s. It is supported only by a fraction of the already minority pro-AragoneseAragonese languageAragonese is a Romance language now spoken in a number of local varieties by between 10,000 and 30,000 people over the valleys of the Aragón River, Sobrarbe and Ribagorza in Aragon, Spain...
movements, they overstate a so-called Aragonese ancestry in the Catalan spoken in Aragon.
In Occitan
There are three cases in Occitan:- In the Auvernhat dialect, language secessionism has been supported since the 1970s by Pierre Bonnaud, which founded the Bonnaudian norm, the group Cercle Terre d'Auvergne and the review Bïzà Neirà. It has negligible impact in the population. Auvernhat cultural circles are divided between the unitary vision of Occitan (associated with the Occitan classical norm) and secessionism (associated with Bonnaudian norm).
- In the ProvençalProvençal languageProvençal is a dialect of Occitan spoken by a minority of people in southern France, mostly in Provence. In the English-speaking world, "Provençal" is often used to refer to all dialects of Occitan, but it actually refers specifically to the dialect spoken in Provence."Provençal" is also the...
dialect, language secessionism appeared during the 1970s with Louis Bayle and has been reactivated since the 1990s by Philippe Blanchet and groups like “Union Provençale” and “Collectif Provence”. This secessionism supports the Mistralian norm (but it doesn't represent all Mistralian norm users, since some of them claim traditionally the unity of Occitan). It has little impact in the population. Provençal cultural circles are divided between the unitary vision (supported by users of both Mistralian norm and classical norm) and the secessionist vision (only supported by some users of the Mistralian norm). The Regional Council of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'AzurProvence-Alpes-Côte d'AzurProvence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur or PACA is one of the 27 regions of France.It is made up of:* the former French province of Provence* the former papal territory of Avignon, known as Comtat Venaissin...
voted a resolution on the 5th of December 2003 which approved the principle of the unity of "Occitan or Langue d'Oc" and the fact that Provençal is a part of it. - In the GasconGascon languageGascon is usually considered as a dialect of Occitan, even though some specialists regularly consider it a separate language. Gascon is mostly spoken in Gascony and Béarn in southwestern France and in the Aran Valley of Spain...
dialect, language secessionism is claimed since the 1990s by Jean Lafitte, who created during the 2000s a group called "Institut Béarnais et Gascon". It has negligible impact in the population. Lafitte's secessionism supports two original writing systems: one is a nonstandard spin-off from the classical norm and the other one is a nonstandard spin-off from the Mistralian norm. Gascon cultural circles almost unanimously support the unitary vision of the Occitan language. In Aran Valley (a little Gascon Occitan-speaking area in SpainSpainSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
), Aranese, the local variety of GasconGascon languageGascon is usually considered as a dialect of Occitan, even though some specialists regularly consider it a separate language. Gascon is mostly spoken in Gascony and Béarn in southwestern France and in the Aran Valley of Spain...
, is officially recognized as a part of the Occitan language. The status of half autonomy of Aran Valley (1990) presents Gascon Aranese as “Aranese, the variety of the Occitan language peculiar to Aran ("Er aranés, varietat dera lengua occitana e pròpia d’Aran"). Similarly, the status of autonomy of CataloniaCataloniaCatalonia is an autonomous community in northeastern Spain, with the official status of a "nationality" of Spain. Catalonia comprises four provinces: Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, and Tarragona. Its capital and largest city is Barcelona. Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² and has an...
, as reformed in 2006, confirms it with the following expression: “The Occitan language, which is named Aranese in Aran” ("Era lengua occitana, denominada aranés en Aran").
In Romanian
The official standard language of MoldovaMoldova
Moldova , officially the Republic of Moldova is a landlocked state in Eastern Europe, located between Romania to the West and Ukraine to the North, East and South. It declared itself an independent state with the same boundaries as the preceding Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1991, as part...
is identical to Romanian
Romanian language
Romanian Romanian Romanian (or Daco-Romanian; obsolete spellings Rumanian, Roumanian; self-designation: română, limba română ("the Romanian language") or românește (lit. "in Romanian") is a Romance language spoken by around 24 to 28 million people, primarily in Romania and Moldova...
. However, its official name in that country is "Moldovan" and at least one local linguist
Vasile Stati
Vasile Stati is a Moldovan politician and linguist.- Biography :He studied history and philology at the Moldovan language Department of the State University of Chişinău....
has asserted that it is, in fact, a separate language in its own right. During the Soviet era, the USSR authorities officially recognized and promoted Moldovans
Moldovans
Moldovans or Moldavians are the largest population group of Moldova...
and Moldovan
Moldovan language
Moldovan is one of the names of the Romanian language as spoken in the Republic of Moldova, where it is official. The spoken language of Moldova is closer to the dialects of Romanian spoken in northeastern Romania, and the two countries share the same literary standard...
as a distinct ethnicity and language. A Cyrillic alphabet was introduced in the Moldovan SSR to reinforce this claim. Since the independence of Moldova (in 1991), the official language switched to the Latin script
Romanian alphabet
The Romanian alphabet is a modification of the Latin alphabet and consists of 31 letters:The letters Q , W , and Y were officially introduced in the Romanian alphabet in 1982, although they had been used earlier...
and underwent the same language reforms as Romanian, but has retained its name, Moldovan.
Nowadays, the Cyrillic alphabet remains in official use only on the territories controlled by the breakaway authorities of the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic
Transnistria
Transnistria is a breakaway territory located mostly on a strip of land between the Dniester River and the eastern Moldovan border to Ukraine...
, where it is named "Moldovan", as opposed to the Latin script version used elsewhere, which the local authorities call "Romanian".
In Serbo-Croatian
Serbo-CroatianSerbo-Croatian
Serbo-Croatian or Serbo-Croat, less commonly Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian , is a South Slavic language with multiple standards and the primary language of Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro...
has a strong structural unity, according to the vast majority of linguists who specialize in Slavonic languages. However, the language is spoken by populations which have strong, different, national consciousness: Bosniaks
Bosniaks
The Bosniaks or Bosniacs are a South Slavic ethnic group, living mainly in Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a smaller minority also present in other lands of the Balkan Peninsula especially in Serbia, Montenegro and Croatia...
, Croats
Croats
Croats are a South Slavic ethnic group mostly living in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and nearby countries. There are around 4 million Croats living inside Croatia and up to 4.5 million throughout the rest of the world. Responding to political, social and economic pressure, many Croats have...
, Montenegrins and Serbs
Serbs
The Serbs are a South Slavic ethnic group of the Balkans and southern Central Europe. Serbs are located mainly in Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and form a sizable minority in Croatia, the Republic of Macedonia and Slovenia. Likewise, Serbs are an officially recognized minority in...
.
Since the breakup of Yugoslavia in 1991, Serbo-Croatian has lost its unitary codification and its official unitary status. It is now divided into four official languages which follow separate codifications: Croatian language
Croatian language
Croatian is the collective name for the standard language and dialects spoken by Croats, principally in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Serbian province of Vojvodina and other neighbouring countries...
, Bosnian language
Bosnian language
Bosnian is a South Slavic language, spoken by Bosniaks. As a standardized form of the Shtokavian dialect, it is one of the three official languages of Bosnia and Herzegovina....
, Serbian language
Serbian language
Serbian is a form of Serbo-Croatian, a South Slavic language, spoken by Serbs in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Croatia and neighbouring countries....
and the Montenegrin language
Montenegrin language
Montenegrin is a name used for the Serbo-Croatian language as spoken by Montenegrins; it also refers to an incipient standardized form of the Shtokavian dialect of Serbo-Croatian used as the official language of Montenegro...
.
The common, basic Serbo-Croatian system still exists in a strictly structuralist point of view: it is a pluricentric language
Pluricentric language
A pluricentric language is a language with several standard versions, both in spoken and in written forms. This situation usually arises when language and the national identity of its native speakers do not, or did not, coincide.-English:...
language, being cultivated through four voluntarily diverging varieties, Croatian language
Croatian language
Croatian is the collective name for the standard language and dialects spoken by Croats, principally in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Serbian province of Vojvodina and other neighbouring countries...
, Bosnian language
Bosnian language
Bosnian is a South Slavic language, spoken by Bosniaks. As a standardized form of the Shtokavian dialect, it is one of the three official languages of Bosnia and Herzegovina....
, Montenegrin language
Montenegrin language
Montenegrin is a name used for the Serbo-Croatian language as spoken by Montenegrins; it also refers to an incipient standardized form of the Shtokavian dialect of Serbo-Croatian used as the official language of Montenegro...
, and Serbian language
Serbian language
Serbian is a form of Serbo-Croatian, a South Slavic language, spoken by Serbs in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Croatia and neighbouring countries....
, which are each Ausbau languages.
On the contrary, the Serbo-Croatian kind of language secessionism is now a strongly consensual and institutional majority phenomenon. This makes legitimate to say that such a language secessionism has led to "Ausbau languages" in the cases of Croatian, Bosnian and Serbian, since their diverging evolutions now succeed in general practice.
In Portuguese
The Portuguese kingdom, originally a southern county belonging to the kingdom of GaliciaKingdom of Galicia
The Kingdom of Galicia was a political entity located in southwestern Europe, which at its territorial zenith occupied the entire northwest of the Iberian Peninsula. Founded by Suebic king Hermeric in the year 409, the Galician capital was established in Braga, being the first kingdom which...
was created by Afonso I of Portugal
Afonso I of Portugal
Afonso I or Dom Afonso Henriques , more commonly known as Afonso Henriques , nicknamed "the Conqueror" , "the Founder" or "the Great" by the Portuguese, and El-Bortukali and Ibn-Arrik by the Moors whom he fought, was the first King of Portugal...
in 1126 and expanded towards the Islamic south, like its neighbouring kingdoms. That southern part of Galicia (Portugal) became independent while the northern part of the country remained under the Kingdom of León
Kingdom of León
The Kingdom of León was an independent kingdom situated in the northwest region of the Iberian Peninsula. It was founded in AD 910 when the Christian princes of Asturias along the northern coast of the peninsula shifted their capital from Oviedo to the city of León...
during the 12th century and early 13th century and later under the kingdom of Castile
Crown of Castile
The Crown of Castile was a medieval and modern state in the Iberian Peninsula that formed in 1230 as a result of the third and definitive union of the crowns and parliaments of the kingdoms of Castile and León upon the accession of the then King Ferdinand III of Castile to the vacant Leonese throne...
(core and ethnic base for the future Spain).
But the culture was the same in both sides of the political border and attained great prestige during the Low Middle Ages
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
.
In the late 15th century, Castilian domination became harder, banishing their language in all official uses, including the church.
Galician Portuguese survived diglossically for the following centuries among the peasant population, but it suffered a strong Spanish influence and having a different evolution.
Meanwhile, the same language (under the reintegrationist view) remained fully official in Portugal, and it was carried across the world by Portuguese explorers, soldiers and colonists.
During the 19th century a revival movement arose. This movement defended the Galician language, and created a provisional norm, with Castilian ortography and heavy loanwords). When the autonomy was granted a norm and orthography (based in rexurdimento writers) (Galician literature) for a Galician language was created. This norm is taught and used in almost all schools, high-schools and universities of Galicia.
But the most writers (Castelao
Castelão
There are two association football stadiums nicknamed Castelão:*Castelão , located in São Luís, Maranhão, Brazil*Castelão , located in Fortaleza, Ceará, Brazil-Other:...
, Risco, Otero Pedrayo) did not regret the tradicional Galician forms, some of them based in Spanish orthography, even though recognizing the essential linguistic unity, saying that the priority was achieving political autonomy and being read by the population. Other writers wrote with Portuguese-like orthography (like Guerra da Cal, e Carvalho Calero).
Reintegracionists defend that the official norm (released in 1982) was imposed by the Spanish state, with the covert intent of severing off Galician from Portuguese.
But this idea is rejected by the Real Academia Galega, supporters of the official norm.
The Reintegrationist and Lusist groups
Reintegrationism
Reintegrationism is the linguistic and cultural movement in Galicia which defends the unity of Galician and Portuguese as a single language. In other words, it postulates that Galician and Portuguese languages did not only share a common origin and literary tradition, but that they are in fact...
are protesting against this (in their opinion) language secessionism, which they call Castrapism (something like "patois") or Isolationism
Isolationism
Isolationism is the policy or doctrine of isolating one's country from the affairs of other nations by declining to enter into alliances, foreign economic commitments, international agreements, etc., seeking to devote the entire efforts of one's country to its own advancement and remain at peace by...
. Unlike in the case of Valencian Blaverism
Blaverism
Blaverism is a body of ideas in the Valencian Community, Spain that emerged with the Spanish transition to democracy after the death of Francisco Franco, and characterised by its opposition to Joan Fuster's book Nosaltres, els valencians , which revived the concept of Països Catalans which...
, Isolationism has no impact in the scientific community of linguists, and it is supported for a few number of them, but has clear political support.
That discussion is only valid about nowadays, because nobody deny Galaico-Portuguese linguistic unity prior to 16th century.
Tagalog and Filipino
Though the Komisyon sa Wikang FilipinoKomisyon sa Wikang Filipino
The Commission on the Filipino Language is the official regulating body of the Filipino language and the official government institution tasked with developing, preserving, and promoting the various local Philippine languages. It was established in accord with the 1987 Constitution of the...
recognises that a lot of the vocabulary of Filipino
Filipino language
This move has drawn much criticism from other regional groups.In 1987, a new constitution introduced many provisions for the language.Article XIV, Section 6, omits any mention of Tagalog as the basis for Filipino, and states that:...
is based on Tagalog
Tagalog language
Tagalog is an Austronesian language spoken as a first language by a third of the population of the Philippines and as a second language by most of the rest. It is the first language of the Philippine region IV and of Metro Manila...
, the latest defenition given to the national language
National language
A national language is a language which has some connection—de facto or de jure—with a people and perhaps by extension the territory they occupy. The term is used variously. A national language may for instance represent the national identity of a nation or country...
tries to evade the use of the term 'Tagalog'.
Republic Act No. 7104, approved on August 14, 1991, created the Commission on the Filipino Language, reporting directly to the President and tasked to undertake, coordinate and promote researches for the development, propagation and preservation of Filipino and other Philippine languages. On May 13, 1992, the commission issued Resolution 92-1, specifying that Filipino is the
However, when one asks a person from Metro Manila what language he speaks, he will instantly answer Tagalog
Tagalog language
Tagalog is an Austronesian language spoken as a first language by a third of the population of the Philippines and as a second language by most of the rest. It is the first language of the Philippine region IV and of Metro Manila...
.
Some Justifications of Separation
According to some Filipinologists (people who specialise in the study of Filipino as a language), the main reason why Filipino is distinct from Tagalog is that in the former, there is a presece of vocabulary coming from other indigenous languages, such as CebuanoCebuano language
Cebuano, referred to by most of its speakers as Bisaya , is an Austronesian language spoken in the Philippines by about 20 million people mostly in the Central Visayas. It is the most widely spoken of the languages within the so-named Bisayan subgroup and is closely related to other Filipino...
(e.g. bana [husband] and Ilocano (e.g. ading - little brother)).
They also maintain that the term Tagalog
Tagalog language
Tagalog is an Austronesian language spoken as a first language by a third of the population of the Philippines and as a second language by most of the rest. It is the first language of the Philippine region IV and of Metro Manila...
is the language of the Katagalughan or the Tagalog Region and puristic in a sense. It lacks certain phonemes like /f/ and /v/ which makes it not capable to produce some indigenous words like Ifugao and Ivatan.
See also
- Ausbausprache - Abstandsprache - DachspracheAusbausprache - Abstandsprache - DachspracheThe Ausbausprache – Abstandsprache – Dachsprache framework is a tool developed by sociolinguists for analysing and categorising the status of language varieties along the cline between autonomous languages on the one hand and dialects on the other. The terms were coined by Heinz Kloss...
- BlaverismBlaverismBlaverism is a body of ideas in the Valencian Community, Spain that emerged with the Spanish transition to democracy after the death of Francisco Franco, and characterised by its opposition to Joan Fuster's book Nosaltres, els valencians , which revived the concept of Països Catalans which...
- Bernard WeissBernard WeissBernard Weiss was a fictional linguist invented by unknown in order to back the theories that differentiate between Valencian and the Catalan language, but it might be also possible the reversed possibility: It was created by an opposer of the Language secessionism to ridicule it and the...
- Bernard Weiss
- DiasystemDiasystemIn the field of structural dialectology, a diasystem or polylectal grammar is an analysis set up to encode or represent a range of related varieties...
- DiglossiaDiglossiaIn linguistics, diglossia refers to a situation in which two dialects or languages are used by a single language community. In addition to the community's everyday or vernacular language variety , a second, highly codified variety is used in certain situations such as literature, formal...
- Language ideologyLanguage ideologyIn sociolinguistics and linguistic anthropology, a language or linguistic ideology is a systematic construct about how particular ways of using languages carry or are invested with certain moral, religious, social, and political values, giving rise to implicit assumptions that people have about a...
- Language planningLanguage planningLanguage planning is a deliberate effort to influence the function, structure, or acquisition of languages or language variety within a speech community. It is often associated with government planning, but is also used by a variety of non-governmental organizations, such as grass-roots...
- Language policyLanguage policyMany countries have a language policy designed to favour or discourage the use of a particular language or set of languages. Although nations historically have used language policies most often to promote one official language at the expense of others, many countries now have policies designed to...
- Language shiftLanguage shiftLanguage shift, sometimes referred to as language transfer or language replacement or assimilation, is the progressive process whereby a speech community of a language shifts to speaking another language. The rate of assimilation is the percentage of individuals with a given mother tongue who speak...
- SeparatismSeparatismSeparatism is the advocacy of a state of cultural, ethnic, tribal, religious, racial, governmental or gender separation from the larger group. While it often refers to full political secession, separatist groups may seek nothing more than greater autonomy...