L’extensió del castellà a la Catalunya contemporània

Traditionally, the historical spread of Castilian in Catalonia has been studied from formal and elite contexts, but little is known about the effect of Spain’s language policies on the middle or lower-income classes, i.e. the majority of the Catalan population. This study presents an analysis of the life stories of Catalan-speaking people who are over 90 years of age. It aims to describe in a qualitative manner how the use of Castilian in Catalonia spread throughout the 20th century. Specifically, this study aims to answer two research questions. Firstly, how the bilingualization process of the Catalan population in the first half of the 20th century occurred. Secondly, when and how most of the Catalan population chose to converge to Castilian in intergroup encounters.