Language
Galician
The Galician language –the galego– belongs to the Romance language group –like French or Catalonian– and it is the result of the evolution of Latin introduced by the Romans on the north west of the Iberian Peninsula. From 9th century the language spoken on this area was so different from Latin that we can consider the existence of two languages: Latin and Galician. The oldest literary document we know at present is the satirical "cantiga" (song) Ora faz ost'o senhor de Navarra, written at the end of 1100 by Joam Soares de Pavia. The first non-literary documents in Galician language were Noticia de Torto (1211) and the Will of Afonso II of Portugal (1214)., which are examples of the medieval tabellionic prose, date back from the beginning of 13th century. That was the most magnificent period in Galician literature. The Galician language became the language of lyrical poetry in almost the entire Peninsula. We must properly speak about Galician-Portuguese lyrical poetry, since until the middle of the 14th century both languages constituted an common trunk.
At the end of this medieval period Galician and literature went into a decadence period. The factors which caused this progressive slump were different: the settlement in Galicia of a foreign nobility, etc. In this political context, Galician was absent from written uses during a long period of three centuries –16th, 17th and 18th– called Séculos Escuros (Dark Centuries).
In the 18th century there were accusing voices from the so-called "enlightened" that showed their worry about Galician underdevelopment and offered renewing proposals in economic, social and culture life.
"Rexurdimento" (resurgence) is the name of our culture regeneration movement which took place along 19th century. Cantares Gallegos, the first work totally written in Galician language, by Rosalia de Castro, published in 1863, inaugurated the full "Rexurdimento". The first Galician grammars and Dictionaries, essential for its standardizing, appeared in the 19th century.
Galician's consolidation did not take place until the 20th century. A recovery of Galician as literary, cultural and historical language was confirmed towards the end of 20th century. Galician did not live a standardized situation yet and this fact produced a backing down in social means (upper and middle classes) and in concrete geographical areas (urban).
Short description of organisation represented in project
The dynamic and sensitizing activity of Galician use in every level of public life is directed through the Secretaría Xeral de Política Lingüística (General Secretariat of Linguistic Policy). Its main purpose is to promote the use de Galician in society by means of different spreading actions, providing the means to achieve a full "galeguización" (change into Galician), fighting against the traditional prejudices and promoting positive attitudes.
Territory where language is spoken
Galician language geographical limits are delimited by the Autonomous Community of Galicia and the most western areas of Asturias, León and Zamora. Galicia has more than 2 800 000 inhabitants.
Sociolinguistic data available for language
Galician is the language of most Galician population: from the 2 800 000 inhabitants of Galicia, almost two and a half million consider Galician their usual language. This high level of speakers puts Galician in a exceptional situation in comparison with other minority languages, and shows its validity in every kind of communicative situations. The last statistic data show that Galician is in a favourable context. In spite of the historical difficulties which led Galician to a long isolation from the formal fields, the successive generations of Galician people have kept their own language throughout the years.
The advance in Galician social recovery has been fixed by our increase in the use of language in public life. A qualitative increase has been produced immediately after the language official status and, especially, after the incorporation of Galician in the areas of education, administration and media. This greater presence of Galician in areas it had been traditionally isolated from, has led to a change of values with respect the language. Nowadays we can check that the Galician's favourable inclination has considerably increased in the last twenty years: 72% of the population have a good attitude in front of the autochthonous language of Galicia; 68,7% think that Galician is similar or more useful than Spanish, and 66% think that Galician should be the language used in schools.
These and other aspects are reflected in the Social-linguistic Map of Galicia, MSG, an important work done thanks to an agreement between Xunta of Galicia and the Social-linguistic seminar of the Royal Academy of Galicia. The study has been structured in three volumes: Starting Language and linguistic competence, Linguistic uses in Galicia and Linguistic attitudes in Galicia. It has been elaborated from 38 897 polls which projected the opinion of a representative example of the citizenship. The map which collected the linguistic uses in the different social, cultural and geographical dimensions of the country between 1994 and 1997 constitutes at present the most reliable tool for the sociological analysis of Galician language.
Parallel to the conquest of prestigious areas, the speakers' linguistic competence has considerably increased, mainly due to the result of the introduction of Galician and literary subjects in schools programmes in 1979.
Although more than two thirds of the population live in the rural area, the language knowledge level in towns is especially important when analyzing the linguistic competence evolution, since these places speak more in Spanish and traditionally have marked the linguistic habits in the country. Nowadays we can check that the competence either in an oral level (95% of the population understand Galician and 80% can speak it) or in writing (almost 30% can write it) is very high.
This data contrast with the decrease of monolingual Galician speakers which the MSG records. The schooling in Spanish language of the fathers' and mothers' generation and the influence of the mass media are two of the factors which caused the generation break in the use of Galician according to age groups.
Legal status of language
The promulgation of the Statute of Autonomy of Galicia in 1981 instituted Galician as the own language of Galicia which "everybody has the right to know and use" and at the same time gave the public powers the responsibility to see Galician normalization in every field. The Linguistic Normalization Law unanimously approved in the Parliament on the 15th of June 1983 developed the Statute warrant and controlled the citizens' rights to use Galician, especially falling upon the administration, education and media fields.
After the Law promulgation, different orders and decrees which complement the legal setting and ensure the full recovery of Galician in local, judicial, military Administration have been successively approved. This legislative setting offers the possibility of communicating in Galician language with the different administrations which act in Galicia, the recognition of the names of Galicia places as the only official form for our toponymy. Besides, by virtue of the Linguistic Normalization Law, local and autonomic administrations must write all their official documents in Galician; the incorporation of the Galician language in education from primary education is established and the promotion of Galician language is guaranteed where there are emigrants and in the territories bordering our Community.
During twenty years of application of the Linguistic Normalization Law, there have been done significant advances for the normalization area at a legal level. Galician knowledge is a requirement to access the Administration post according to the Public Function Law and Galician has improved its consideration in the new Local Regime Law also approved in 1997, apart from having clear laws about the consumers’ linguistic rights, the products labelling, etc.
Common challenges facing the language
A linguistic normalization planning was unanimously approved in the Parliament of Galicia on the 22nd of September 2004. This text is structured in seven social sectors: Administration; education, family and young people; media and culture; economy; health; society; foreign promotion. Beside, the document includes numerous specific actions (445) in order to achieve its aims. One of the main goals of the linguistic normalization planning is to extend the use of Galician in information technology.
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