Criteria for the legal framework of the official languages of the Republic of Catalonia and Aran

Abstract

This article proposes the criteria for the design of the legal framework for the official languages of the hypothetical Republic of Catalonia and Aran. After a brief explanation of the proposals about linguistic regime in modern Catalan constitutionalism and the basic principles which shape the current Catalan-Aranese linguistic law, it is defended that the legal framework of the official languages should be based on the following criteria: a constitutional declaration of the officialness of both Catalan and Occitan (or of the separate officialness of each one in the respective constitutions, in the case that a federal or confederative system is adopted for the Republic, with double officialness for the common institutions), in accordance with a territorial model; an enlarged definition of the concept of officialness by transferring to it the implications of the concept of own language, and removing the latter concept from the legal framework; and the maintenance, at least transitionally, of the individual linguistic rights currently recognized to the speakers of other languages in their dealings with all governmental institutions and with those under their dependence, as rights which are not inherent to the concept of officialness.

Keywords: official language, territoriality principle, linguistic rights.