Catalan and Occitan: comparative test cases for a theory of language maintenance and shift

A study of the social factors underlying the differences concerning lang maintenance & shift between two closely related ethnic minority langs, Catalan & Occitan. The proposed analytical framework distinguishes four types of social mobilization: ethnicity, ethnic movements, ethnic nationalism, & geographic nationalism. The central hypothesis is that whereas adoption of the dominant lang is more likely to occur with subordinate groups whose social mobilization is primarily based on ethnicity, maintenance of the minority lang is more likely with groups whose basic social focus is nationalism. Catalonia, which has maintained its lang in spite of long-standing political repression, is argued to be a case of nationalism; Occitania, on the other hand, whose lang is giving way to French, is argued to be essentially a case of ethnicity. 1 Figure, 3 Maps, 1 Appendix, 130 References. P. Farrell