In May, 1995, the Popular Party (pp) won the local elections in Valencia; it has been governing Valencia ever since. One of the principal lines of action by various governments that have succeeded each other during this period has been the continuous attack on the autochthonous language of Valencia; i.e., Catalan. Basically, the actions have manifested themselves on two fronts: on the one hand, the government has attempted to define Valencian as a separate and distinct entity from Catalan in legal matters; on the other, it has agitated and consistently kept alive the language conflict at the heart of Valencian society. It has done this by commission and omission, and it has acted in the political arena as well as in social, cultural, or academic contexts. In this article, we propose to review these actions, with a special focus on legislation. To do so, we have tried to adhere to the chronological order of developments. This approach allows one to deduce that none of these circumstances is a coincidence; rather, each is the fruit of some clearly defined political objectives.

It is in this manner that we could sum up the pp language policy in four main sections. One section we would define as the relentless and frenzied attack on the name of the language, from social and legal quarters both. Thus, the Valencian Administration has censured and prohibited without the least hesitancy the use or reference to Catalan or the Catalan language in all types of statutes, schoolbooks, certificates and degrees, etc. Its actions against university degrees in Catalan Language and Literature have been especially serious.

Another key point has been the revitalization of language secessionism. The pp Government has devoted great efforts to legally separating Valencian and Catalan. Such was the purpose of the first measure it undertook upon taking power in the Generalitat Valenciana (Autonomous Government of Valencia): the repeal of the section of the order that recognized Valencian administrative certificates as equivalent to those issued by the Generalitat de Catalunya (the Autonomous Government of Catalonia) and those of the Govern Balear (the Government of the Balears).

The creation of the Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua (Academy of the Valencian Language), or avl, a body charged, according to the text of the law that established it, with defining the Valencian language and determining the standards that govern its use, must be viewed from this same perspective. Inevitably, the members of this body have been named, controlled and directed from the political sphere, so much so that many members of the Academy are or have been active members of the pp and the psoe, the two political parties who struck the deal on the Academy.

Finally we would mention the ongoing conflict between the academic world and the teaching profession, focused especially on language standards and curricular and bibliographic materials. This conflict is the consequence of everything we have mentioned earlier.

In a word, then, a policy of constant conflict in everything having to do with the language in order to discourage or prevent its use and at the same time, when such discouragement or prevention is impossible, to make Valencian a separate and distinct language from Catalan.

Derechos fundamentales
      Derechos lingüísticos
Derecho administrativo especial
      Regulación de la actividad cultural
Administración territorial
      Administración Autonómica
           Lenguas oficiales