United We Speak: Catalan or Mallorquín?

When is a language a dialect, and when is a dialect a language? Opinion as to the distinction between the two is one on which you will find a lack of unanimity. Linguists themselves can’t agree.

If you are inclined to do so, you can go back far enough with most “languages” and argue that they are in fact dialects. It all depends where you want to start. But for current-day purposes, there are languages which are undeniably languages, one of them being Catalan. Or is it? A definition of a language is that it should be that of a “state”. You may have noticed that there is no Catalan “state”.

Alternatively, a language is a language if there exists a “standard” form, which is the case with Catalan. Except, of course, that there are variants. Nevertheless, the language has its own “code” in that dictionaries determine the standard form. The fact of there being variants does not negate a claim to being a language. Were it to, then English would fail the test. In the case of English, standard codes of language as set out by dictionaries, most obviously the Oxford English Dictionary, are important as there is no body which arbitrates on what is or isn’t standard English, as is the case with Spanish (Castilian) or French.

The problem with these variants, however, is the vagueness as to the language-dialect distinction. Let’s take Mallorquín. Is it a language? There is no Mallorcan state and there isn’t a specific language code, or at least as far as I am aware. Where it appears, in dictionary form, is in the work of Antoni Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll who included Balearic languages (or are they dialects) in an all-embracing Catalan dictionary.

Greater unanimity of opinion surrounds the political dimension as to whether a language is a language or a dialect. Think what you will of the politicisation of the language debate in Mallorca, but to deny the importance of politics would be to completely fail to understand the debate, and it is a debate that has been sparked into ever more controversial life by the leader of the Partido Popular (PP), José Ramón Bauzá, who has said he will reform the so-called law on linguistic normalisation if his party wins power in May next year. This would have the effect of relegating Catalan in favour of Castilian and the languages of the individual islands.

What Bauzá argues is that there is no such thing as a “unity of Catalan”. He seems to believe that Mallorquín and the other languages of the Balearics are that – languages, and not therefore dialects of Catalan. Why does he think this? The reasoning is political. If Mallorquín is distinct, then so is Mallorca from Catalonia. The political motive lies with his alliance with the Spanish state and not the aspirations of a Catalan state, language and all.

Bauzá has attempted to prove linguistically that Mallorquín is not a dialect by mentioning certain Catalan words that are not used in Mallorca or the Balearics. He has come unstuck, his theory being disproved by teachers at the institute in Inca from where a protest of schools in Mallorca is being planned against him. Moreover, even if they weren’t used, this wouldn’t prove anything. Dialects do tend to change words. Indeed Bauzá’s whole linguistic argument is preposterous. The Catalan lineage from the time of the conquest of the thirteenth century is indisputable, except by a few who claim that a brand of Catalan was imported directly from southern France. Mallorquín has fundamental differences to Catalan, such as with the definite articles “es” and “sa” (and even these aren’t used in all instances), but the differences are not so great as to suggest some sort of separate development or major divergence that might qualify it as a distinct language.

Town halls in Mallorca have responded to Bauzá by approving Catalan as Mallorca’s “own language”. Manacor has just followed the likes of Sa Pobla, Pollensa and Inca in doing so. Why should they do this? Apart from the political aspect, the town halls are their own local repositories of culture, and language is indivisible from culture. In Manacor, there is an additional political flavour. The mayor is Antoni Pastor, a member of the PP who does not see eye to eye with Bauzá.

But what makes this all the more curious is that claims for a Mallorquín language are therefore being denied by those who oppose Bauzá, be they from his own party or from the left of the political spectrum. So Mallorquín is a dialect, and to say it isn’t would be to deny the supremacy of Catalan. It is a somewhat bizarre argument when you consider nationalist pretensions to the existence of a Mallorquín language, though perhaps it isn’t so bizarre when you consider that in a different Catalan-speaking part of Spain, Valencia, the far-right has supported the notion of a separate language to the extent of calling for linguistic secession from Catalan.

Ultimately, it doesn’t really matter whether you call Mallorquín a dialect or a language. What does matter is where you stand on the issue politically. And that, it would appear, is all that matters.

Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.

Party Games: Bauzà’s lapse

The Partido Popular in the Balearics are making a video game/puppet version of themselves. It features the party’s leader, José Ramón Bauzà, pronounced Bowser. His number two is Calvia’s mayor Carlos Delgado, Charles Thin, represented by the old Goons’ character – Hercules Grytpype-Thynne, to whom he bears a not totally thin resemblance.

It’s a shame that Bowser is not a chameleon, but the Super Mario turtle – PP Bowser-style – combines in animated villainy with Grytpype-Thynne to make for a real hoot of an educational tool, one for the pupils of the Balearics. The big question is in which language they should be speaking. The preference should be Castilian. But this is too simple. There are also Catalan, Mallorquín, Menorquín, Ibicenco and Formenterense to take into account. The game does get somewhat complicated.

The solution is to make the animation a battle between Bowser and Grytpype, suitably cast as the Castilian-speaking villains, against hordes of Marios or Neddie Seagoons mouthing off in Catalan or versions thereof. But there’s a sub-plot, because we can’t be too sure about Bowser, as he’s prone to turn turtle. One day he says he’s going to kick Catalan into touch, and the next day he says that he hadn’t meant to say that, it was all the result of a “lapse” he had suffered during an early-morning radio interview.

Bowser has pumped out a whole load of oil onto the troubled waters of local language politics. He had done so by suggesting that, were he to become regional president next year, he would get rid of the law of 1986 which had granted Catalan dual-official status, a result of which would be to promote Castilian, together with the local languages, as the tongues of learning in schools – the so-called free selection, but without Catalan. He had done so, and then said he hadn’t meant it, having caused a hell of a stink in the process.

There is a fair old back story to all this.

Bauzà and Delgado were rivals for the leadership of the PP in March, the former winning quite comfortably. Before the leadership election took place, Delgado had some pretty harsh words for his rival, accusing him of having no credibility when it came to the language issue and of being opposed to free selection of language.

Delgado, on the other hand, is an advocate of free selection. He is unashamedly pro-Castilian and anti-Catalan, stating that Castilian is his “mother tongue”.

But since the leadership election, things have moved on. Firstly, Bauzà created something of a stir by making Delgado his number two, which didn’t go down a storm with the party’s moderate wing. Secondly, he managed to alienate this moderate wing by being perceived as being too close to the party’s national leader Mariano Rajoy; the insinuations are that he is something of a stooge. Thirdly, he increased this alienation by getting ever closer to Delgado, who is to the right of the party. So much so that, by the end of September, he was being branded a Delgado “clone” and, in an “Ultima Hora” blog, was said to have “adopted the anti-Catalan thesis” of Delgado.

It is against this background, therefore, that Bauzà did the radio interview, one in which he seemed to be following the Delgado line. The impression is of someone prone to vacillation and to misjudgment, which he quickly tried to rectify by claiming a lapse that allowed him to then try and distance himself from Delgado. But if he is capable of one lapse, then what other ones might he have? The words of Delgado regarding his credibility will be haunting him.

Bauzà might hope that when the elections for the regional presidency take place next spring, everyone will have forgotten about all this. It’s most unlikely. Though whether he has dented his chances are questionable. The PP will probably still win, but what confidence might there be in a president who seems far from sure-footed?

He should stick to video games. Bowser’s the one who always steals the game show. And he should be wary of Delgado. Grytpype-Thynne always managed to put one over on the fall-guy.

Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.