neofalantes as an active minority: understanding language practices and motivations for change...

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Bernadette ORourke* and Fernando Ramallo

Neofalantes as an active minority:understanding language practices andmotivations for change amongst newspeakers of Galician

Abstract: In this article we use Moscovicis (1976) notion o active minorities as a

ramework to explain the linguistic practices and motivations behind linguistic

change amongst new speakers o Galician. Revitalization policies since the 1980s

brought about changes in the symbolic and economic value o Galician on the

linguistic market. However, this has not been significant enough to change the

rules o social mobility and Spanish has continued to be the language o prestige.

Despite this, neofalantes new speakers o Galician have opted or linguisticchange and engage in the process o majority language displacement. We argue

that this displacement can at least in part be explained by a move away rom

unctionalist models o language contact and shif and towards an understandingo these processes rom a language conflict perspective. This allows us to explain

the practices o neofalantes as not simply deviations rom the sociolinguisticstatus quo but as reactions to it and as proponents o social change. To explore

the behavioural styles and practices o neofalantes as an active minority, weanalyse the discourses which emerge rom discussion groups involving twelve

new speakers o Galician about their sociolinguistic practices.

Keywords: new speakers, active minority, Galician, minority languages

DOI ./ijsl--

Introduction

As in other minority language contexts, the profile o new speakers o Galician

constitutes a sociolinguistically diverse group. This profile includes Spanish-

*Corresponding author: Bernadette ORourke:Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh.E-mail: [email protected] Ramallo:Universidade de Vigo, Spain. E-mail: [email protected]

2015 ORourke, Ramallo, published by de Gruyter. This work is licensed under the CreativeCommons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 License.

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Bernadette ORourke and Fernando Ramallo

speaking migrants rom other parts o Spain, immigrants rom outside o Spain

who acquire Galician as an additional language, as well as returning migrants

rom the Galician diaspora.O most significance, however, in terms o their over-

all size and visibility are new speakers who were born and raised in Galicia. Inthis article we will ocus specifically on this category o speakers, a category

which has acquired the generic label neofalantes (literally neo-speakers) in someacademic and popular discourse. This label reers to individuals or whom Span-

ish was their language o primary socialization, but who at some stage in their

lives (usually early to late-adolescence) have adopted Galician language practices

and on occasions displaced Spanish all together (ORourke and Ramallo 2011).

This article explores the process o and motivations behind majority languagedisplacement(ORourke and Ramallo 2013) in which many Galician new speakersare seen to engage. Majority language displacement, in difference to the more

widely studied phenomenon o minority language displacementdoes not tend toaffect the ormal structure o the language being displaced. Nor does it usually

lead to any reduction in paradigms, simplifications and loss o the languages

own eatures, and, ultimately language shif and loss, something which is re-

quently characteristic o minority language speakers who adopt majority lan-

guage practices (Aikhenvald 2012: 77). In the case o majority language displace-

ment, thereore, the process tends to be o a unctional nature. Here we will argue

that this displacement can at least in part be explained by looking at languagecontact rom a language conflict perspective. To do so, we draw on Moscovicis

(1976) notion o active minoritiesas a ramework to explain the linguistic prac-tices and motivations or linguistic change amongst new speakers o Galician.

Neofalantes and majority language displacement

Neofalantes constitute a relatively new sociolinguistic profile in Galicia. Theyshare a set o common linguistic trajectories, but with different social and ideo-

logical backgrounds. They constitute a profile o speaker which began to emerge

The number o new speakers with such profiles is however relatively small, particularly com-

pared with corresponding numbers in Catalonia and the Basque Country where migratory trends

have been more significant. Galicias economically and geographically isolated position in the

north-western corner o Spain did not attract the waves o Spanish-speaking workers to other

regions. Similarly, in a more contemporary context, Galicia has not experienced the same levels

o immigration rom outside o Spain experienced by some o Spains outer autonomous commu-

nities. Conversely, Galicia has a long history o out migration and emigration to Europe and

South America.

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Neofalantes as an active minority

in the 1960s. This profile was consolidated in the context o socio-political

changes in Galicia since the 1980s and to a certain extent more avourable lan-

guage policies or some o the other languages o Spain (including Galician,

Basque and Catalan) in the context o Spains transition to democracy.Neofalan-tes are essentially the product o the bilingual education policies in place in Gali-cia since the 1980s and which have brought recent generations o young Galicians

into contact with the Galician language in a ormal setting. For many o this

younger generation, particularly those residing in Galicias main urban centres,

Spanish is the language o the home. According to most recent sociolinguistic

data on Galician, less than 30 percent within the under twenty-five age cohort

had acquired Galician as their first language. This compares with sixty-five per-

cent in the over fifies age category. Figures are even more acute amongst Galicias

urban youth, with only eleven percent reporting Galician as their first language

(Instituto Galego de Estatstica 2008). It thus ollows that or a younger genera-

tion o Galicians, the education system has come to be their primary agent or the

production o the language.

As well as producing Galician speakers, the inclusion o the language in the

education system has instilled a greater sense o sociolinguistic awareness

amongst this younger generation. This has in turn eliminated many o the preju-

dicial belies historically associated with the language, linking it to backward-

ness and poverty. Over the past three decades, attitudes to Galician have changedsignificantly, particularly amongst a younger generation (Gonzlez Gonzlez

2011; Bouzada-Fernndez 2003; ORourke 2011; Observatorio da Cultura Galega

2011). Reading and writing skills in the language are also highest amongst

younger age groups, while nonetheless remaining below the corresponding stan-

dards acquired in Spanish (Silva Valdibia 2010).

While the inclusion o Galician in the education system plays an important

role in raising the status o the language, it does not however guarantee increased

levels o language use at a societal level. As Hornberger (2008: 1) and many others

have shown, schools alone are not enough to do the job. While almost ninety

percent o those under twenty-five say they can speak Galician well, only orty-

five percent report active use o the language. This figure drops to twenty percent

amongst young people living in urban contexts (Instituto Galego de Estatstica

2008). Despite increased institutional support or Galician, intergenerational trans-

mission continues to decline. Over the last twenty years, the percentage o mother-

tongue speakers o Galician ell rom sixty to orty-seven percent (Ramallo 2012).

However, these figures conceal some o the more positive changes which have

taken place at other levels (ORourke and Ramallo 2011). Over the past three dec-ades, there has been a notable increase in bilingual practices. Fify-seven percent

o Galicians under the age o twenty-five report bilingual behaviour in both Gali-

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cian and Spanish, with thirty-three percent reporting more Spanish than Gali-

cian and twenty-two percent more Galician than Spanish (Instituto Galego de

Estatstica 2008).The use o Galician amongst first language speakers o Spanish

is also shown to change over the lie-cycle o the individual. Seven percent reportincreased bilingual behaviour with a leaning toward predominant use o Galician

and a urther two percent report abandoning Spanish altogether in avour o

monolingual practices in Galician (Instituto Galego de Estatstica 2008). In most

cases, this change is down to personal reasons as opposed to work-rated mo-

tivations. Comparatively, first language speakers o Galician who report shifs to

Spanish seem to be more driven by its perceived value in instrumental as opposed

to integrative terms (Monteagudo 2012). This would seem to imply a more ethno-

cultural or identity-based rame or new speakers o Galician, as opposed to any

inherent value awarded the language as a orm o economic capital.

While language policy in Galicia has to a certain degree increased the sym-

bolic and economic value o Galician on the linguistic market (Bourdieu 1991),

this has not been sufficient to bring about a reversal o language shif. In the last

30 years, Galician became a requisite or access to public sector employment. As

a result certain niche markets emerged within the new Galician public adminis-

tration including jobs in the public media, education and local and regional ad-

ministrative bodies, giving employment to those who could show ormal skills in

the language. However, while the status o the language has been enhanced sincethe 1980s, Spanish remains the language o prestige and social mobility. We can

thus repeat the question that Ryan (1979) asked several decades ago about the

persistence o low-prestige languages. What prompts speakers o a dominant lan-

guage such as Spanish to adopt a non-prestige language such as Galician and to

engage in the process o majority language displacement (ORourke and Ramallo2013)?

Here, we wish to argue that this displacement can at least in part be explained

by looking at language groups which come into contact rom a language conflict

perspective. Existing models o language groups in contact have, as Williams

(1992: 121) highlights, tended to involve typologies and approaches that limit

what can be said about the inherent conflict between such groups. This, he

In language surveys carried out by Instituto Galego de Estatstica, language use is measured

on a our point scale ranging rom Galician only to Spanish only. Between these categories

are two other categories which include more Galician than Spanish and more Spanish than

Galician. These latter two categories capture varying degrees o reported bilingual linguistic

practices amongst Galicians.

Language conflict models have been studied at great length in Catalan and Occitan Socio-

linguistics. See, or example, Aracil (1965), Ninyoles (1975) and Gardy and Laont (1981).

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argues, marginalizes minority languages and at the same time makes it virtually

impossible to express anger and rustration by those aced with the process o

language shif, sentiments which, as we will see later, come across in new speaker

discourses. Williams suggests that the main reason or this is that there has beena tendency to view the process o language shif rom a unctionalist perspective

and thereore as consensual. This in turn plays down the potential or conflict

and ignores power relations. Thereore, within existing models we have been

unable to account or apparent deviations rom the sociolinguistic status quo

such as is revealed in the behaviour o new speakers.

In this context, Moscovicis (1976) notion o active minorities through whichhe put orward a dynamic perspective in the analysis o social reality and the

understanding o social change (and subsequent developments o the notion,

see or example, Moscovici et al. [1985], Moscovici et al. [1994] and Martin and

Hewstone [2010]) provides a particularly useul ramework within which to un-

derstand the linguistic practices and motivations or linguistic change amongst

new speakers.

Active minorities: a theoretical view

Moscovicis theory o active minorities looks at the conflict which takes place insociety, allowing a reflection on the motivations or action, decision-making and

change such as those evidenced in new speaker practices. Up until the 1970s, the

study o social influence was devoted mainly to the experimental analysis o con-

ormity within a group. Sheri (1936) and Asch (1952) related social influence to

the power o majorities and to the desire o the individual to share the same per-

spective with the group. For them social influence was mainly understood through

afunctionalist point o view, which insisted that conflict was avoided, thus lend-ing itsel to a harmonious society. From a unctionalist perspective, individuals

were seen to conorm to existing rules and norms, and more specifically to the

rules o the majority.

Active minorities can be defined as individuals or groups who through their

behaviour attempt to influence both the attitudes and practices o the majority

and in doing so, bring about social change. Some examples o active minorities

include environmentalists, squatters, eminist and nationalist movements and,

in our case here, neofalantismo (literally neo-speakerism or a new speakeristmovement). In his discussion o active minorities, Moscovici (1976) stressed in-

novation as the most important idea in his theory o social change. According tohim, social change arises rom the power o minorities and such change takes

place on the one hand because o conflict and on the other as a result o certain

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behavioural styles which are displayed by the active minority including consis-tency, rigidity, equality, investment and autonomy. Consistency, Moscovici pro-poses, is maniested through the repetition o the same message over time while

the behavioural style o rigidity orces the majority to understand the influence othe minority. Equality emphasises the desire o the minority to establish recipro-

cal relations with the majority. There is requently also an investment o time,

money and energy in a particular cause, underscoring the minoritys capacity o

sacrifice. Finally, an active minority ofen displays autonomy or independence in

judgement and thus a will to act according to its own principles. Subsequently,

extremism is ofen seen to become an element o autonomy because o its ten-

dency to emphasise a consistent and strict attitude. O these behavioural styles,

however, consistency is probably the most important in terms o social influence,

although in and o itsel is not sufficient as a means o explaining social change

(Mugny and Papastamou 1982). Through these behavioural styles, the minority

thus creates conflict between itsel and the majority by insisting on its individual

point o view and in doing so generates a polarisation within society. This can in

turn prompt action on the part o the majority either to conorm to the ideas o the

minority or conversely, to react against them by adopting a series o strategies to

curb the success o the minority. These strategies can involve the downgrading

and censuring o the active minority, something which is ofen maniested by ne-

gating the validity o their position and by emphasising their apparent absurdityand incoherence. The majority can also engage in the process o psychologization

whereby arguments are used to discredit the minority and those in the group.

. New speakers as an active minority

The emergence o an active minority o new speakers o Galician can be set within

Galicias broader socio-political context. This in turn must be set against the ideo-

logical basis on which thirty years o language policies in Galicia has been ramed.

Language policy in Galicia can be described as largely non-interventionist and

cautionary (Lorenzo 2005), reflecting the lukewarm levels o support or the pro-

motion o the language through the predominant conservative and centralist

policies o Galician branches o Spains centre-right Popular Party. Their handling

o the language question reflects an ideological position, which sought to main-

tain the linguistic (and consequently social) status quo in Galicia. In doing so it

aimed to reassure the dominant (albeit numerically smaller) Spanish-speaking

sectors o the population that their existing positions o power would remain un-changed. This approach, which was a consequence o neo-liberal principles, pro-

moted (although implicitly) the idea o harmonious bilingualism, and more

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recently riendly (cordial) bilingualism, that is the non-conflictive co-existenceo Castilian and Galician within the community (see Regueiro Tenreiro [1999] or

a uller discussion o the concept). Their approach to the language question con-

trasts with that proposed by the Galician Nationalist Party (Bloque NationalistaGalego) which views the language contact situation between Galician and Span-ish as conflictive and as one in which Galician speakers still remain in a domi-

nated socio-economic position. There has been a simultaneous undermining o

each others linguistic ideologies by both sides with the link between speaking

Galician and the more radical elements o nationalism emerging as one o the

outcomes o this political conrontation, thus replacing ormer social stigmas as-

sociated with the language such as rurality and poverty with newer ones such

as the link with nationalism (Bouzada- Fernndez 2003; Recalde Fernndez

2000; Santamarina 2000). The promotion o harmonious bilingualism by pre-

vious Galician Administrations and their criticism o the language conflict par-

adigm have, it could be argued, made the majority o Galicians less consciously

deensive about language issues in Galicia and subsequently more accepting o

Spanish as the seemingly value-neutral language (ORourke 2011). At the same

time, we suggest that such policies have unsettled the mood o an active minority

and as such contributed to the process o majority language displacement

amongst new speakers o Galician (ORourke 2014). Since the 1980s, other types

o active minorities have also come into existence, partly as a reaction to pro-Galician groups such as neofalantes. These anti-Galician groups strongly opposethe process o Galician language revitalization (see Regueira 2009), constructing

a discourse around the imposition o Galician and the subsequent injustices they

perceive to endure as Spanish speakers.

Here we argue that looking at the new speaker phenomenon rom the per-

spective o an active minority can in some way contribute to our understanding o

the motivations behind changes in the linguistic behaviour o neofalantes and inparticular, o their decisions to displace a more socially and economically power-

ul first language with one which offers less in terms o social mobility and pres-

tige. Becoming a new speaker thus requires innovative action through an appro-

priation o a new linguistic space as well as a commitment to the transormation

o society rom below. In doing so, there could be said to be a rejection o the ex-

isting status quo, through a shif away rom the majority language.

Methodology

To begin to explore the behavioural styles and practices o neofalantes as anactive minority, we analysed the discourses which emerged rom discussion

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groups involving twelve new speakers o Galician about their sociolinguistic

practices. Through this technique we sought to re-create a context o inormal

interaction which could be seen to replicate real situations where ideas and

points o view were negotiated (Edley and Litosseliti 2010), thus giving somesense o the salient social representations o new speakers as a collective. The

group discussion thereore provided us with a useul technique to tap into the

discursive production o new speakers perceptions o themselves as a social and

linguistic group. The respondents chosen or the study ranged in age between 18

and 25 years and consisted o university students and graduates. Spanish was the

language in which they were brought up speaking in the home and which they

reported using with amily and riends or at least the first fifeen years o their

lives. More than hal o the respondents included in the two ocus groups reported

passive exposure to Galician in the home and community and came rom homes

in which parents or grandparents spoke Galician but used Spanish when ad-

dressing their children. In our analysis o the data we explored ways in which

new speakers maniest behavioural styles and characteristics o active minorities

and how they position themselves as such. In the ollowing sections we discuss

excerptsrom the data which illustrate these styles and positions.

Motivations for change, perceptions from themajority and behavioural styles

In the discussion groups, new speakers presented the reasons behind changes in

their sociolinguistic behaviour and their motivations or adopting what in most

cases were predominantly Galician-language practices. The majority o respon-

dents in the two groups seemed to be driven by an awareness o Galicias sociolin-

guistic reality. They showed a strong sense o responsibility towards ensuring the

uture survival o the language, as well as a clear commitment to what they per-ceived as a situation o social and political injustice. This discourse is in many

ways reminiscent o other active minorities such as environmentalists and emi-

nist movements. As we see in Extract 1, Alberto (A) in act reers explicitly to neo-falantismo, constructing the idea o a newspeakerist type movement which he

The excerpts represented here constitute a literal transcription o the discussion groups and

no attempt was made to alter the linguistic quality o individual interventions. In the case o

some o the excerpts, the Galician used illustrates intererence with Spanish. In places where this

occurs, the words appear in roman.

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sees as the only way o increasing the number o Galician speakers in a contem-

porary Galician context:

Extract 1A: home eu penso que si, porque

unha forma de gaar falantes quedoutro xeito non habera pois nonatopo outra forma de que incorporexente galegos ou xente da socie-dade galega ao emprego da linguagalega se non e as, polo neofalan-tismo.

well I think so, because it is one

way o getting more speakers as

otherwise there wouldnt be any

well I cant think o any other way o

incorporating Galicians or people

in Galician society to use the Gali-

cian language other than through

neofalantismo.

In Extract 2, Susana (S) talked about the sense o responsibility and even guilt

that prompts neofalantes to initiate a change in their sociolinguistic behaviour:

Extract 2

S: Creo que tamn importante ese sen-timento de responsabilidade o de cul-pabilidade que senten muitos neofa-

lantes. dicir, chega un momento queti ves que tes unha responsabilidadecon respecto a ta lingua, que vivesnun pas que ten, que est vivindonunhas circunstancias especficas,non, e que ti es responsable diso,entn tamn decides dar o paso, poiscreo que importante motivo

I also think that the eeling o re-

sponsibility or guilt that many neo-

alantes eel is important. That is to

say, you reach a point where you seethat you have a responsibility to your

language, that you are living in a

country which has, that is going

through certain conditions, and that

you are responsible or that so you

also decide to take that step orward,

well I think it is an important reason

Similarly, in Extract 3, Mara (M) talked about a heightened sense o awareness o

the sociolinguistic context in Galicia. This sense o awareness was also accompa-

nied by eelings o shame on her part. She elt ashamed that she wasnt using the

language, even though it was a language she knew deep-down that she was able

speak. This realisation caused Mara certain unease and rustration as she strug-

gled to deal with the belie that she should speak Galician and was in act using

Spanish. It is thus this unresolved tension that leads to a state o dissonance (see

Festinger [1957] or a discussion o his theory on cognitive dissonance) and thediscomort attributed to such a state which caused her to take action and, as she

put it hersel, prompted her to go ahead (adiante) and to speak Galician:

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Extract 3

M: Pois de que fastidibame moitsimofalar casteln podendo falar galego,

dbame vergonza algunhas veces, edecidn que por que vou ter porquenon podo. Teo veinticuatro, buenoempecei con vintetrs as a tomar unpouco de conciencia e dixen buenopois adiante.

Well what annoyed me very much

was that I was speaking Castilian

when I knew I was able to speak Gali-cian, I was ashamed at times, and I

decided because I was going to be

why couldnt I. I am twenty-our now,

well I started to be more aware when

I was twenty-three and I said to

mysel, well go ahead.

States o dissonance caused by inconsistencies between the speakers ideological

commitment to Galician and his or her behavioural practices were reported on

requently as a stimulus and motivation or adopting Galician language practices.

Marcos (Ma), or example, saw the need to bring his linguistic behaviour in line

with an emerging political ideology o support or Galician nationalism. In late

adolescence he became a patriotic nationalist, as he put it himsel, a real ab-ertzale(a Basque word meaning patriot and generally used to mean Basque na-tionalist). He built a discourse around the juxtaposition o language and national

identity. His use o Spanish thus became inconsistent with such ideologies,

prompting him to adopt Galician-language practices. He told o inconsistencies inhis riends behaviour who, on the one hand supported the idea o political inde-

pendence or Galicia, but on the other, continued to speak Spanish. In compari-

son, he saw the need to resolve these tensions in his own linguistic behaviour by

switching to Galician and studying Galician Philology at University, ulfilling the

key ingredients required to fit the ofen stereotypical image o the Galician neofa-lante. Mara (M) added a similar comment, linking it more concretely to culturalties with the language and inconsistencies she perceived between playing the

bagpipes (something which has come to constitute a key ethnocultural symbol o

Galicianness) but at the same time continuing to speak Spanish:

Extract 4

M: O meu foi decisin puramentepoltica. (Risas).

Mine was a purely political deci-

sion (laughs)

Ma: Eu aos dezaoito era un abertzale docopn e era totalmente incoherenteque falara castel. Eu tia muitos

amigos, que si o independentismo,non sei que, eran , todos falabancasteln, a min pareciame incohe-

At eighteen I was a real abertzaleand it was totally contradictory that I

should be speaking Castilian. I have

a lot o riends who say they arepro-independence, or whatever,

they were , they all used to speak

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rentedel todo, por eso tamn escollnfiloloxa galega, pa estudiar , e foi to-talmente poltico. Compromiso cul-

tural o como queiras, pero realmentefoi por poltica,o sea porque era inco-herentecon mi ideario poltico

Castilian, it seemed completely inco-

herent to me, this is also why I chose

to study Galician Philology and it

was totally political. A cultural com-mitment or whatever youd like to

call it, but really it was politically

motivated, I mean because it was in-

consistent with my political ideals

M: Si, si de compromiso cultural Yes, yes a cultural commitment

Ma: Si Yes

M: Ami dbame vergonza tocar a gaitae falar casteln (risas). Queda moimal.

I was embarrassed that I was play-ing the bagpipes and at the same

time speaking Castilian. (laughs). It

looks bad.

Interestingly, and despite the widely-held stereotypical image o the new speaker

as a supporter o Galician nationalism (Iglesias and Ramallo 2003; Gonzlez

Gonzlez 2003; ORourke 2011), Marcos (Ma) was the only person who matched

this profile. However, even Marcos (perhaps in line with a general disapproval orthese political ideologies amongst others in the group), was careul to separate

out his use o Galician rom nationalist ideologies. Sandra (Sa) or example vehe-

mently rejected the patriotic nationalism which seemed to have influenced

Marcos linguistic transormation and instead moved beyond regional or national

politics, positioning her reasons or change within a discourse o linguistic

human rights:

Extract 5

Sa: Xa, joder! Pero non poltica abertz-ale, independentismo galego, sennpoltica, dicir, poltica no sentido dejoder!, unha lingua forma parte daspersoas e se defendes as persoas haique defender tamn as linguas. Nonsei, mis poltica non tan galega,senn poltica en xeral co mundo, non

sei.

[]

Right, but damn it! Im not talking

about the politics o Basque nation-

alism, Galician separatism, but

rather o politics, I mean, politics in

the sense o damn it!, a language

orms part o a people and i you

deend people you have also to

deend languages. I dont know, not

so much Galician politics, but poli-tics o the world in general, I dont

know.

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New speakers requently talked about a perceived downgrading and censuring o

their linguistic practices where their use o Galician was seen to be interpreted as

deviant and out o place. There thus seemed to be a process o psychologization

on the part o the majority, taken at least rom the way new speakers reported thearguments used to discredit them. Their behaviour was classified as obsessive

and dogmatic and was ofen disqualified through their stereotyping as nationalist

and by deault as radical and unwilling to compromise:

Extract 6

Ma: i e un problema para a propia linguaademais. Digo que (risas) falar galegoou ser neofalante tea sempre oucasi

sempre connotacins . Eu das pri-meiras veces que sando por a faleigalego, que fumos de camping, nosdixeron: ah sois de Cangas o delBloque5?

and it is a problem or the language

also. I would say that (laughs) speak-

ing Galician or being a new speaker

always has connotations . When I

first started speaking Galician, we

went camping, they said to us ah

are you rom Cangas or the Bloque?

M: (risas) (laughs)

Mo: Claro!, pero esa unha percepcinsocial que est en todas partes []

Sure! But this social perception is

everywhere

M: Sobre todo nas ciudades iso iden-tifican falar galego con afiliacinpoltica que moitas veces non as.Teo unha amiga mia neofalante yme di elaahora , pois ten certa afilia-cin, e me di, eu primeiro falei galegoy despois o outro impuxronme.

(risas).

Especially in the cities and thats

what they identiy with speaking

Galician with a particular political

affiliation which on a lot o occa-

sions it is not that at all. I have a

riend who is a new speaker and she

now says, well she is affiliated [polit-

ically] in some way, and she says, Ispoke Galician first and the other

was pushed on me (laughs).

As well as having to counteract a stereotypical image o new speakers as sup-

porters o Galician nationalism, new speakers highlighted a variety o other situ-

ations in which their sociolinguistic behaviour was marked, sometimes deviant

Cangas is a small costal-town close to the city o Vigo with a more strongly supportive

pro-independence population. TheBloquereers here to the Bloque Nacionalista Galego, one oGalicias nationalist parties.

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or simply out o place. Monica (Mo) talked about the hostile and even vicious

(virulenta) reaction rom certain people when she changed her sociolinguisticbehaviour to Galician, coupled with accusations o showing off and trying to be

different:

Extract 7

Mo: unha reaccin absolutamente viru-lenta nese sentido, mui virulenta.Dime, ti por que falas?, y ahora deque vas?, y te haces la interesantey, y era , era complicado.

a vicious reaction, very vicious.

Tell me, why are you speaking Gali-

cian? And what the hell are you

doing? And you are showing off ,

and it was , very complicated.

In turn, Mara (M) complained that her decision to become a Galician speaker was

something which she constantly needed to justiy, something which ofen led to

unpleasant situations:

Extract 8

M: xente que non va faca moito tempoera como constantemente terte quejustificar, non, e entn atoparme situ-

acins bastante desagradables non,tanto de xente de xente da miaidade como de xente maior []

people who I hadnt seen in a

while it was like you constantly had

to justiy yoursel to them, and so I

used to find mysel in airly unpleas-ant situations, both with people

people o my own age and older

people

According to Marcial (Mc), his decision to use Galician to write his school exam-

inations was seen as deviant. He claimed that because o his insistent use o Gali-

cian or this purpose, he was given lower grades in his exams. In theory, and in

line with policy changes since the 1980s, Galician speakers have the legal right to

use the language in institutional contexts such as the educational context re-

erred to here. However, in practice this is not always possible. While the link

between Marcials lower grade in his exam and the act that he used Galician may

be an exaggerated claim, it nonetheless highlighted new speakers negative per-

ceptions about other peoples reactions to the use o Galician:

Extract 9

Mc: Home eu tiven unha experiencia

con unha profesora que considero non? que prexudicounas calificacinsda da instituto por facer os exames

Well I I had an experience with a

teacher who I consider right? whohad a prejudice when it came to

giving grades in secondary school

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en galego, por falarlle en galego, dicir non o podo demostrar hoxe enda, non, vale a profesora non era

galega porque era de Zamora ou pora, y dicir, e xente coas mismascalificacins que a min psolle unhanota, xente con , e a min poispxome outra entonces consideroque puido ser por iso.

or doing exams in Galician, or

speaking in Galician, I mean I cant

prove it now, right? Ok the teacher

was not Galician because she wasrom Zamora or around there, and I

mean, they had the same grades as

me and she gave them one grade

people with , and she gave me an-

other so I think it could be because

o that.

Despite these situations, new speakers continued to be committed to using Gali-

cian and invested time and energy in the process. As Alberto (A) pointed out,

ideological commitment such as that described by these new speakers explains

why someone would decide and commit to becoming a Galician speaker, given

the difficulties that he and others in the group said this involved. Rather than

opening doors, he described speaking Galician as creating insurmountable bar-

riers. In practical terms, lie was thus seen to be inherently easier in Spanish, with

less conflict and less riction:

Extract 10A: De todos modos penso que si que ten

un grado de conciencia, igual nonpoltico pero si un pouco ideolxicoporque por pragmatismo non che levaa falar galego, dicir, o nico, dendeun punto de vista meramente prag-mtico o galego o que che levanta barreiras, dicir unha persoa que nontea ningn tipo de conciencia dimellor cantas menos linguas mellor,temos menos que aprender, menospolo que cuidarme, menos polo queatoparme xentecon a que igual teoroces Estupendo! eu por falar, porfalar casteln ningun ,bueno igualsi, pero moita menos xente vaime

criticar, pero por falar galego haixente que vaime dicir: ay yo no te

At any rate I think that i someone

has a degree o awareness, not nec-

essarily political but sort o ideologi-

cal because or pragmatic reasons

you are not going to speak Galician,

what I mean is that, the only thing,

rom a merely pragmatic point o

view all Galician does is create bar-

riers what I mean is that a person

who is not [linguistically] aware will

say perhaps the less languages the

better, we have less to learn, less to

look out or, less chance o running

into people with whom I may have a

run in. Great! I am going to speak,

speaking Castilian nobody , well

perhaps yes, ewer people are goingto criticize me, but i I speak Galician

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entiendo, hblame castellano!, nonsei que

there are people who will say to me

Ah, I dont understand, speak to

me in Castilian!, or I dont know

what

The behavioural styles o investment and consistency identified in Moscovicis

classification o active minorities requently emerged in discussions with neofa-lantes. Investment, or example, can be seen very clearly in the way new speakerstalked about their new linguistic practices and the effort they claimed to have

made in order to change their linguistic behaviour. This involved a process o

conscious decision-making and constant sacrifice which was required to endure

what they perceived as a stigmatization o their linguistic behaviour. Despite this

stigmatization, they nonetheless reported consistency in their linguistic be-

haviour, reusing to old to perceived pressures rom the majority and thereore

prompting them to continue to use Galician despite the odds.

In Extract 11, Marcial, or example pointed to the difficulties involved in be-

coming a Galician speaker, emphasising the investment o time that was required

in mastering the language. He also talked about being made un o or his more

hybridized way o speaking, where it was labelled as castrapo (literally the rago Castilian). Castrapo is a pejorative term used to describe both Galician and

Spanish speakers who try and are seen to ail to speak either language correctly.Despite these difficulties, Marcial nonetheless reported consistency in his

behaviour and showed clear determination to continue speaking Galician. The

position o sacrifice was, as we see in Extract 8 above, reinorced in Marcials (Mc)

claim that he was discriminated against or taking his exams in Galician, some-

thing which in theory is permitted in line with Galicias bilingual policies but

which in practice can sometimes be seen as deviant behaviour. He insisted that

he had to endure being made un o in class or using Galician. All o this made

the transition to becoming a Galician speaker somewhat difficult (algo duro).Yet, despite these criticisms, there was consistency in his behaviour and he re-

mained committed to using Galician:

Extract 11

Mc: A minpersonalmente cstome muito,muita xente se riou de min nese mo-mento, por falar galego e dican tifalas castrapo, bueno pssss , falo

castrapo e seguireino falando y sonneofalante hoxe en da polos motivosque sexan, non?, xa sexan polticos de

For me it was very difficult, a lot o

people laughed at me or speaking

Galician and they would say you

are speaking castrapo, well pahhh

, I speak castrapo and I still speakit and I am a new speaker today or

whatever reason, right? be they

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, non sei o porque simplemente med a gana iso, aguantei moita burla a xente pois sorprendeuse un pouco

y facan burla como dicindo falascastrapo y ti dis,bueno pero falareicastrapo pero non sei, ti tampoucofalas ben casteln (risas) e non sei.Foi algo duro ao principio.

linked to the politics o , I dont

know or simply because I eel like it

I put up with mockery people

surprised me a bit and they madeun o me as i to say you speak cas-trapo (laughs) and I dont know. Itwas difficult at the beginning.

Mara (M) talked about the difficulties involved in making the transition rom

being a Spanish to a Galician speaker but the sacrifice and investment in these

efforts were rewarded by her present state o satisaction which she now claimed

to enjoy through her Galician-speaking practices. She said, I have never elt

better (Eu nunca me sentn mellor):

Extract 12

M: Ao principio duro porque al-gunhas veces si que cambiar de linguacon xente coa que ests que tes unsentimento, quero dicir, un ,bueno

non me sale emmmm como un lazomuyforte sentimental como pode serunha nai, por exemplo, duro e al-gunhas veces pois pero Pero tamnmis duro saber que podes pasar isonunhas semanas nun mes e . Eununca me sentn mellor, por exemplo.

At the beginning it was difficult

because sometimes with those with

whom you have a close relationship,

I mean, a , I dont know like a

strong sentimental link that youmight have with a mother, or exam-

ple, it is difficult and sometimes well

but But what is more difficult is

knowing that you can get over that in

a ew weeks in a month and I never

elt better, or example.

Concluding comments

The new speaker category is one which until recently has not been given any

great deal o attention in the Galician sociolinguistic literature. Analyses o the

Galician sociolinguistic context have instead tended to ocus on models o inter-

generational transmission basing the sometimes pessimistic predictions o lin-

guistic vitality o the language on a decline in its intergenerational transmission

in the home and in the reproduction o Galician native speakers. This perspective

ignores the potential presented by new profiles o speakers, such as neofalanteso Galician.

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17/19


18/19


securing the uture survival o the language, as well as a clear commitment to

what they see as a situation o social and political injustice. Their discourse is

thus in many ways reminiscent o other active minorities such as environmental-

ists and eminist movements in their construction o neofalantismo or a new-speakerist type movement o their own.

Acknowledgements: This article was written during Bernadette ORourkes re-

search leave as part o an Arts and Humanities Research Council (UK) Fellowship

or the project New Speakers o Minority Languages and their role in Linguistic

Revitalization [Grant number AH/J00345X/1]. The article also benefitted rom

eedback rom members o the NEOPHON project (Nuevos hablantes, nuevasidentidades) unded by the SpanishMinisterio de Ciencia e Innovacinwithin the

Plan Nacional de I+D+i 20082011or the project Re. FFI2011-24781 and partici-pation in the EU COST Action IS1306 New Speakers in a Multilingual Europe:

Opportunities and Challenges. An earlier version o this paper was aired at the

First International Symposium on New Speakers o Minority Languages unded

by the Royal Society o Edinburgh Royal.

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