Constitutional Framework for Linguistic Pluralism in Spain
Models of Linguistic Management
The solution discussed allows staff members of minority language communities to enjoy the right to use their language in dealings with public authorities, provided they are accompanied throughout the territory where another official language is declared. The normal condition for the application of this model is the territorial dispersion of the minority language speakers. Given its intrinsic organizational complexity, this model has been rarely applied.
The Constitutional Framework: A Sui Generis Formula
The formula adopted by the Spanish Constitutional Framework is not strictly speaking either personal or territorial. It is a sui generis formula of dual official status. This approach is adopted because the Constitution aims to provide legal translation for existing social bilingualism. The Constitution displayed an innovative capacity, producing a legal framework suited to the Spanish linguistic reality: official status as an expression of bilingualism.
A fundamental element shaping this framework is the enabling pattern for ad hoc arrangements for each Autonomous Community (CC. AA.). The Constitution calls upon the Statute of Autonomy to determine the scope of the official status of the “other Spanish languages.” This means that the Constitution already imposes this official status, but the Statutes have the function of enabling case-by-case modulation of the scope of that official status. This represents an early acceptance of the modulations that the Statute of Autonomy can provide, integrating them into the block of constitutionality, although their practical effect may only be deployed upon the promulgation of the Statute of Autonomy.
Constitutional Principles of Bilingualism
The Constitutional Court (TC) has advised on the technical difficulty of regulating this matter. The management of linguistic pluralism presents remarkable complexity, not only because of the difficulties in defining the scope of constitutional mandates and laws but also due to its impact on matters of considerable symbolic and affective importance within the regional structure of the state.
Major Constitutional Principles and Values
What are these major constitutional principles and values that order the complex bilingual reality of Spain?
Freedom of Language
Freedom of language is fundamental, but this assertion requires nuance:
A. Public Power Intervention and Official Status
In principle, the choice to speak or not speak, or to use one language or another, should be external to public power, falling under the scope of free expression. However, public power legislates and acts administratively in many ways regarding language. The first and foremost intervention is the declaration of official status, which is a public decision determining, through specific rules, which language the authority commits to using when communicating with citizens, and which language will be given legal effect.
B. Language Planning and Legitimacy
Another area of intervention is “language planning,” which involves action and processes such as:
- Normalization: Creating the conditions for the normal exercise of linguistic rights or the reconfiguration of community language status.
- Normativization: (Also called internal planning) Comprehensive measures for encoding rules that govern a language, including its alphabet, writing, etc.
To what extent are such interventions legitimate? To what extent are these actions compatible with the fundamental freedom of language? The answer is clear: since the government must inevitably communicate with citizens, declaring its commitment to do so in the language or languages spoken by the population is a natural way to guarantee freedom of use.
Individual vs. Collective Dimensions of Language Freedom
What lies at the heart of all this is that freedom of language has two dimensions—one individual and one collective—which correspond to the two roles language holds: language can be seen as personal property, but it is also a collective tool through which individuals are integrated socially. These two aspects of the freedom of language have a different nature and may even clash. The individual aspect is part of freedom of expression.