The intergenerational transmission of Catalan in mixed-language couples on the island of Formentera

Abstract

The object of this study is to investigate which language or languages are transmitted from parents to children in mixed-language couples in which one of the members has Catalan as the first language (L1) and the other one has a language different from Catalan (Spanish or others) on the island of Formentera. The study also analyzes the possible factors that have influenced the choice of languages and which linguistic ideologies are deduced from the interviews carried out with nine participants from the island. It also seeks to determine more about the subjective ethnolinguistic vitality of Catalan among the interviewees and how they use it.

Keywords: intergenerational transmission, sociolinguistics, substitution, linguistic ideologies, Catalan.