I was initially drawn to the Catalan language because of my interest in Football Club Barcelona. I often saw the club’s motto, Més que un club. At first I just assumed it was Spanish. One day I learned that it was, despite the difference coming down to only a letter (Cat. “Més” vs Sp. “Más”), not Spanish at all. Instead it was Catalan, a distinct language with its own history and identity. That discovery made me become interested in the Catalan language and culture more broadly. I also learned about about the historical suppression of Catalan during Francisco Franco’s dictatorship, when the language was banned from public use and therefore became strongly associated with regional identity and resistance. The motto, Més que un club ("more than a club" in English), heald real meaning, because the club's stadium was one of the few places locals could speak their language freely. Even today, I have learned through some of my Spanish freinds that the political relationship between Catalonia and the central Spanish government remains tense, as seen in events such as the 2017 Catalonia independence "referendum". The El Clásico soccer games, Barcelona vs Real Madrid, is also politically charged. It is sometimes considered a rivalry between the Catalan people and the Spanish government, not just that between two soccer clubs.
This topic relates directly to the Catalan language because Catalan is simply a marker of identity, autonomy, and historical memory. To engage with this subject, I should try to learn specific vocabulary related to politics, nationalism, and history, as well as knowledge about historical and modern language policies, Catalan-Spanish bilingualism , and regional variation amongst the Catalan speaking areas. In addition, I am interested in the linguistic and historical positioning of Catalan within the Romance languages—particularly its development and its divergence from other languages such as Spanish, Occitan, and French. This study of historical linguistics of Catalan requires me to first improve my basic understanding and grasp of the language.
Replies