Castilian Takes Backstage in the Balearic Islands: The Activation of Catalan Standardization Recursions in Facebook
Journal of Linguistic Anthropology
Published online on May 07, 2017
Abstract
This article explores the ideological consequences of recent language policy changes in the Balearic Islands, where Catalan and Castilian are the official languages. It will approach the intersection between minoritized language contexts and ideologies of standardization, focusing on negotiations of linguistic authority and linguistic differentiation at the individual level. In the frame of intense language ideological debates in the archipelago, I examine the interactions between members of two large Facebook communities to show how the ideological frame shifts toward one in which the relationship between Balearic varieties and the Catalan standard becomes central, and in which Castilian is only implicitly addressed.