Abstract
This chapter suggests that the post-philological approach, based on the search of episodes of discontinuity and rupture in the history of the Catalan language, and the focus on metalinguistic texts advocated by a glottopolitical framework are both important to the future of philological studies. I argue that both post-philology and the study of metalinguistic texts from a political and ideological point of view could be considered examples of a renewed philological approach to the texts and cultures of the Medieval and Early Modern Periods. I point out that close reading as well as the meticulous analysis of texts are extremely relevant, so long as the notion of text is not limited to the verbal or written. I also point out that the topics and texts analyzed in this book are highly relevant to an understanding of the language ideologies observed in various recent events in Spain. I highlight the discussion about the classification of the Catalan language among the Romance languages that began in the first quarter of the twenty-first century; the designation of the language spoken in the Region of Valencia, Valencian, and how this label has given rise to political conflict beyond the Catalan-speaking area; and the intense debate around educational language policy and the naming of local varieties of Catalan spoken in the Balearic Islands. Finally, I note that the Catalan independence referendum of October 1, 2017 prompts us to recognize the significance of philology, understood as the cultural study of the past in an effort to understand the present.
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Notes
- 1.
The main object of analysis in the glottopolitical approach is “metalinguistic discourse that, under different sets of ideological and material conditions, has produced politically relevant representations” of a language (Valle 2013, 19).
- 2.
Certainly, those scholars or philologists in search of relevant texts from a political, linguistic, and ideological point of view will always have to select depending on their own interests . James I . Porter explains that “Nietzsche was a master of philology in every sense […] (albeit with clear predilections for some areas within philology and a disregard for other areas of classics, principally material and visual culture)” (2010, 165).
- 3.
See Said and Said (1969, 1).
- 4.
- 5.
- 6.
“Not only was philology never enough for Nietzsche , which meant that philology , while in ways an end unto itself, in other ways was a conduit through which larger questions from adjacent areas of inquiry could be explored (chiefly, philosophy, psychology, and culture, usually in this ascending order )” (Porter 2010, 165).
- 7.
Rafanell explains that while the origin of this debate may be found already in the Middle Ages , the discussion between Menéndez Pidal (1869–1968) and Maria Alcover (1862–1932) at the beginning of the twentieth century could be considered a direct precedent (2006, 205).
- 8.
- 9.
See Lledó-Guilllem (2017).
- 10.
- 11.
See Woolard (2013, 61).
- 12.
However, the European Constitution “was knocked off course when France and the Netherlands rejected it in referendums in May and June 2005” ( BBC NEWS, March 25, 2007).
- 13.
“También se define la lengua valenciana como propia de la Comunitat Valenciana y el idioma valenciano, junto al castellano, los dos idiomas oficiales” (Ley Orgánica 1/ 2006 2). The Estatut de Autonomia was approved by the Organic Act (Ley Orgánica) 5/1982 of July 1st, 1982 (1).
- 14.
Valls explains that while some vocabulary and verbal conjugations used in the Valencian translation were different than the corresponding forms used in Barcelona or Girona, the Valencian forms would not have been so “shocking” for Catalan speakers of the so-called western Catalan variety that spreads from Andorra to the south of Catalonia (Valls , El País , 29 October 2004). Valls uses the form “chocante” to refer to certain features of the Catalan language used in the Valencian translation .
- 15.
Partit Socialista de Catalunya.
- 16.
“Los cuatro documentos entregados ayer [por anteayer] en Bruselas corresponden a tres lenguas, el catalán o catalán/valenciano, el gallego y el vasco” (Valls and Egurbide, El País, 6 November 2004).
- 17.
“La traducción ‘en vasco’, la traducción ‘en gallego’ y la traducción ‘en la lengua denominada ‘valenciano’ en la comunidad autónoma de Valencia y ‘catalán’ en la comunidad autónoma de Cataluña” (El Periódico de Aragón, 18 November 2004).
- 18.
The Catalan newspaper AVUI supported the idea that while the Valencian Estatut d’Autonomia used the term Valencian to refer to the historical language of the Region of Valencia, the term did not refer to a language from a scientific point of view. As a popular designation it should not appear in a judicial text (AVUI, 31 December 2004).
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Lledó-Guillem, V. (2018). Conclusion. In: The Making of Catalan Linguistic Identity in Medieval and Early Modern Times. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-72080-7_7
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