The institution of linguistic dissidence in the Balearic Islands: ideological dynamics of Catalan standardisation

This thesis describes ethnographically the recent institution of linguistic dissidence in the Balearic Islands, understood as the establishment of a belief in the archipelago’s socio-political field that claims ‘Balearic’, and not the current Catalan, must share official status with Castilian as its authentic autochthonous language.

Three associations of language activists created in 2013 are responsible for this development. This thesis analyses two years of social media activity of the three language activist associations, together with other materials. Findings show how activists engaged in a struggle for the legitimisation of an alternative standard that revolved around authenticity ideologies, while they simultaneously secured and advanced the anonymity value of Castilian. Social media was instrumental for these purposes, as it provided activists representational control to articulate discourses about language and to police language practices.

This thesis also examines the implications that this development represented for Catalan standardisation. I interviewed 11 language planners working at different institutions in the Balearic Islands and two Catalan language advocates. The interviews provided accounts on the ways institutional actors police the standard variety. After finding a vertical distribution of standard practices among institutional actors, the analysis focuses on a local planner’s social media practices.

In all, this thesis advances three arguments about the activists’ strategic adoption of the standard language regime, the existence of an identification need in the Balearic linguistic market, and the role of minoritisation on standardisation.