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Competing ideologies of linguistic authority amongst new speakers in contemporary Galicia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 May 2013

Bernadette O'Rourke  and
Fernando Ramallo
Bernadette O'Rourke
Affiliation:
Department of Languages & Intercultural Studies, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, Scotland EH14 4ASB.M.A.O'[email protected]
Fernando Ramallo
Affiliation:
Facultade de Filoloxía e Tradución, Universidade de Vigo, Praza das Cantigas, s/n, 36310 Vigo, [email protected]
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Abstract

While in many indigenous minority-language situations traditional native speaker communities are in decline, new speakers are emerging in the context of revitalization policies. Such policies, however, can have unforeseen consequences and lead to tensions between newcomers and existing speakers over questions of ownership, legitimacy, and authenticity. This article examines these tensions in the case of Galician in northwestern Spain, where “new speakers” have emerged in the context of revitalization policies since the 1980s. The subsequent spread of the language outside traditional Galician strongholds and into what were predominantly Spanish spaces complicates the traditional ideology about sociolinguistic authenticity and ownership and raises questions about who are the legitimate speakers of Galician, who has authority, and the potential tensions that such questions generate. To illustrate the tensions and paradoxes that new and native speakers face in this postrevitalization context, we draw on three discussion groups consisting of sixteen young Galicians. (New speakers, authority, authenticity, minority languages, Galician)*

Type
Articles
Information
Language in Society , Volume 42 , Issue 3 , June 2013 , pp. 287 - 305
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013 

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