Construction and change of language attitudes in Catalonia

Abstract

Our experiences and reactions are shaped by the way we see the world. We do not respond to the world itself, but to our image of the world, to our mental representations and social constructions of reality, which are not entirely accurate. As Korzybski (1958) famously said, “a map is not the territory it represents” (p. 58). These images are captured by attitudes, which help making sense of the world and aid decision making by providing cognitive simplicity, as they divide the universe in things one likes, dislikes, or has no opinion about. Accordingly, language attitudes are a powerful force in language learning, interpersonal and intergroup dynamics, defining and expressing social identity, and language policies implementation, which makes them especially relevant in multilingual settings, where different languages coexist and people have to negotiate who speaks what language to whom and when. Such is the case of Catalonia, a bilingual Autonomous Community that also hosts a large number of foreigners, representing 14.5% of the total population.