Catalan in a Multilingual and Diverse Society
Code: 45503 ECTS Credits: 5| Degree | Type | Year |
|---|---|---|
| Advanced Studies in Catalan Language and Literature | OP | 1 |
Contact
- Name:
- Albert Branchadell Gallo
- Email:
- albert.branchadell@uab.cat
Teachers
- (External) Esteve Valls Alecha
Teaching groups languages
You can view this information at the end of this document.
Prerequisites
None.
Objectives and Contextualisation
This course offers basic tools and knowledge for a correct understanding of the challenges facing the Catalan language in modern multilingual and digital societies. It addresses issues of a global nature (languages on social media, information chaos and manipulation, gender identities, cancel culture, political narratives, etc.) and, above all, local issues, particularly the political, legal, and demographic factors affecting the use of Catalan, the media, the management of multilingualism in the classroom and on social media, the teaching and learning of second languages, the catosphere, the creation of digital content in Catalan, code-switching, language interference, and the introduction and adaptation of loanwords.
Learning Outcomes
- CA18 (Competence) Produce academic analyses and reports on the social uses of the Catalan language in a multilingual society.
- CA19 (Competence) Prepare reports on the linguistic adequacy of oral or written formal texts from the scientific, business, advertising, institutional and cultural fields in general.
- CA20 (Competence) Introduce the gender perspective in the analysis of the social uses of the Catalan language.
- KA24 (Knowledge) Recognise the specificities of the sociolinguistic reality of the Catalan language in the different territories.
- KA25 (Knowledge) Identify the global and local challenges of the Catalan language in a multilingual and digital society.
- KA25 (Knowledge) Identify the global and local challenges of the Catalan language in a multilingual and digital society.
- KA26 (Knowledge) Identify the effects of language contact and linguistic interference on media and digital content platforms.
- SA25 (Skill) Use the appropriate instruments to study the use of the different social and functional varieties of the Catalan language in today's society.
- SA26 (Skill) Apply the linguistic regulations that affect the different varieties and the legislation that determines the use of languages.
- SA27 (Skill) Evaluate the different aspects of linguistic coding in a multilingual and digital society.
- SA28 (Skill) Analyse the language models used by the media and digital content platforms.
- SA28 (Skill) Analyse the language models used by the media and digital content platforms.
Content
1. The Legal Status of the Catalan Language: Political and Legal Conditions
Duration: 2 sessions
Content: Critical presentation of the legal framework of the Catalan language in the different Catalan-speaking territories, with an emphasis on the scope and limits of dual official status and the regulation of linguistic uses in the territories of the Spanish State, including the "normative and jurisprudential regression" since 2010. (The specific case of the regression in education is addressed in detail in point 3.)
2. Demographics and Demolinguistics in Catalan-Speaking Territories
Duration: 4 sessions
Content: Critical presentation of the demographic conditions that affect the use (regular or secondary) of Catalan, with an emphasis on the intergenerational transmission of the language and its situation among young people.
3. The Catalan Language in Education: Assessment and Challenges
Duration: 5 sessions
Content: Critical presentation of the linguistic and educational models in Catalan-speaking territories, with an emphasis on the normative and jurisprudential regression affecting the use of Catalan in schools, the characteristics and results of the model deployed in Catalonia, and the role of Catalan in higher education in a context of internationalization.
4. The Catalan Language in the Media and Social Networks
Duration: 4 sessions
Content: Critical presentation of the situation of the Catalan language in the communications market, with an emphasis on the capacity (or lack thereof) of the media to articulate the linguistic community and the challenges and opportunities of social networks.
5. The Catalan Language in the Digital World: Vitality, Diglossia, or Digital Extinction?
Duration: 2 sessions
Content: Critical presentation of the situation of the Catalan language in the digital world, with emphasis on thethreat of digital extinction and public policies to prevent it.
6. The quality of the Catalan language in the digital age: development or degradation?
Duration: 2 sessions
Content: Critical presentation of the state of the Catalan language corpus in the digital age, with emphasis on the challenges of terminological expansion (within the framework of the tension between authenticity and communicative urgency) and the degradation of the heritage language in the current context of globalization and language contact.
7. The Continuity of the Linguistic Community: Between Consolidation and Destructuring
Duration: 3 sessions
Content: Critical presentation of the current situation and future prospects of the Catalan linguistic community, with emphasis on the role of the linguistic authority (the linguistic authorities) in a pluricentric framework, the dynamics of destandardization and restandardization, and the de facto compartmentalization of the community due to differential models and norms of use.
Activities and Methodology
| Title | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Type: Directed | |||
| Presentation of topics, classroom practices and group reinforcement exercises | 24 | 0.96 | KA24, KA25, KA26, SA25, SA26, SA27, SA28, KA24 |
| Type: Supervised | |||
| Tutored work | 26 | 1.04 | CA18, CA19, CA20, KA24, KA25, KA26, SA25, SA26, SA27, SA28, CA18 |
| Type: Autonomous | |||
| Study of the subject - Critical reading of texts - Data analysis - Writing of papers | 55 | 2.2 | CA18, CA19, CA20, KA24, KA25, KA26, SA25, SA26, SA27, SA28, CA18 |
Lectures, discussion of articles, oral presentations and other practical activities.
Note: 15 minutes of a class will be reserved, within the calendar established by the center/degree, for students to complete the surveys to evaluate the performance of the teaching staff and to evaluate the subject/module.
Annotation: Within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.
Assessment
Continous Assessment Activities
| Title | Weighting | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Demolinguistic analysis | 25% | 5 | 0.2 | CA18, CA20, KA24, KA25, SA25, SA26 |
| Diagnosis regarding the digital world | 25% | 5 | 0.2 | CA18, CA19, CA20, KA24, KA25, KA26, SA25, SA26, SA27, SA28 |
| Essay on the future of the linguistic community | 25% | 5 | 0.2 | CA18, CA19, CA20, KA24, KA25, KA26, SA25, SA26, SA27, SA28 |
| Opinion on a practical case (education) | 25% | 5 | 0.2 | CA18, CA20, KA24, KA25, SA25, SA26 |
Continuous assessment
The continuous assessment consists of four activities (two will be done in class and two more, at home) that will each contribute 25% of the final grade:
- Writing a demolinguistic analysis (extraction and interpretation of data).
- Writing an opinion based on a practical case on language and school.
- Elaboration of a diagnosis of Catalan in the digital world and writing an intervention proposal.
- Writing an essay on the consolidation or destructuring of the linguistic community in the digital age.
Recovery systems
Students must have been assessed in a set of activities whose weight is equivalent to a minimum of 2/3 of the total grade. Students with a final grade between 3,5 and 4,9 have the right to reevaluation.
On the single assessment, will apply the same assessment method as continuous assessment will be used. 4 On the single assessment, will apply the same assessment method as continuous assessment will be used.
Single assessment
The student can request a single assessment for this subject. In this case, they will be required to submit all the assessment activities scheduled on the date to be set and to complete the two face-to-face assessment activities in the classroom.
In the case of the single assessment, in order to be able to take the retake, students must have previously been assessed in all assessment activities. In addition, students must have obtained a final grade of between 3.5 and 4.9.
General remarks
On carrying out each evaluation activity, lecturers will inform students (on Moodle) of the procedures to be followed for reviewing all grades awarded, and the date on which sucha review will take place.
Students will obtain a Not assessed/Not submitted course grade unless they have submitted more than 1/3 of the assessment items.
In the event of a student committing any irregularity that may lead to a significant variation in the grade awarded to an assessment activity, the student will be given a zero for this activity, regardless of any disciplinary process that may take place. In the event of several irregularities in assessment activities of the same subject, the student will be given a zero as the final grade for this subject.
Those assessment acts in which there have been irregularities are not recoverable.
In the event that tests or exams cannot be taken onsite, they will be adapted to an online format made available through the UAB's virtual tools (original weighting will be maintained). Homework, activities and class participation will be carried out through forums, wikis and/or discussion on Teams, etc. Lecturers will ensure that students are able to access these virtual tools, or will offer them feasible alternatives.
AI
In this subject, the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies is not allowed in any of its phases. Any work that includes fragments generated with AI will be considered a lack of academic honesty and may lead to a partial or total penalty in the grade of the activity, or greater sanctions in serious cases.
Bibliography
Ballester, Maria (2025): «El marc regulador de l’ensenyament de i en català, entre la fluctuació normativa i la judicialització dels conflictes». Revista de Llengua i Dret, Journal of Language and Law, 83, 71-93. https://doi.org/10.58992/rld.i83.2025.4407
Cunliffe, Daniel (2019): «Minority Languages and Social Media». Dins Hogan-Brun, Gabrielle; O’Rourke, Bernadette (eds.): The Palgrave Handbook of Minority Languages and Communities. Londres: Palgrave Macmillan.
Enquesta d'usos lingüístics de la població 2023. 2023. Llengua catalana
Generalitat de Catalunya (2025): Pacte Nacional per la Llengua. Barcelona: Generalitat de Catalunya, Departament de Política Lingüística.
Junyent, Carme (amb Bel Zabala) (2020): El futur del català depèn de tu. Barcelona: La Campana.
Massaguer, Marina (2024): «No-catalanoparlants internacionals a Catalunya: mobilitat, desigualtats i llengua catalana». Revista de Llengua i Dret - Journal of Language and Law, 81, 32-50. https://doi.org/10.58992/rld.i81.2024.4177
Massaguer, Marina; Flors-Mas, Avel·lí; Vila, F. Xavier (2021):Català, youtubers i instagramers. Un punt de partida per promoure l’ús de la llengua. Barcelona: Generalitat de Catalunya, Departament de Cultura.
Pradilla, Miquel Àngel; Marí, Isidor (coord.) (2022): Un marc sociolingüístic igualitari per a la llengua catalana. Barcelona: Generalitat de Catalunya, Departament de Cultura.
Pradilla, Miquel Àngel (2024). Normativitat, (re)estandardització i glotopolítica. Noves mirades des de la sociolingüística catalana. València: Universitatde València.
Sendra, Montserrat (2025): Contra la diglòssia digital. Polítiques públiques orientades a promoure la presència de les llengües minoritzades i minoritàries al món digital. Barcelona / Brussel·les: Fundació Irla / Coppieters Foundation.
Serra, Joan M. (2024): L’ús parlat del català. En un tombant decisiu. Barcelona: Publicacions de l'Abadia de Montserrat.
Spolsky, Bernard (2009): Language Management. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Vila, F. Xavier (2019): «Models de política lingüística i els seus condicionaments sociolingüístics: aplicacions al cas de Catalunya». Revista d’Estudis Autonòmics i Federals - Journal of Self-Government, 30, 97-145.
Software
Microsoft Office package or similar.
Groups and Languages
Please note that this information is provisional until 30 November 2025. You can check it through this link. To consult the language you will need to enter the CODE of the subject.
| Name | Group | Language | Semester | Turn |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| (TEm) Theory (master) | 1 | Catalan | first semester | afternoon |