“It’s not that I don’t like Valencian, it’s just that you can’t use it”: Language practices and ideologies of migrant adolescents in Castelló de la Plana

Abstract

This article explores the linguistic practices and ideologies of a sample of immigrant secondary school students from Castelló de la Plana (Valencian Country) through a qualitative analysis of the discourses in which they recontextualise their language practices in different socialisation spaces. The aim is to understand the process through which their linguistic repertoires and identities take shape, and to check the extent to which they become new speakers of Catalan and/or Spanish. Results show that the home space is the only field where immigrant languages still dominate their language practices, whereas the classroom becomes the only space for learning and using Catalan, albeit to a limited extent. On the other hand, peer group socialisation is characterised by a restricted use of immigrant languages and an extensive use of Spanish, which they consider key to create new relationships within the host society. Although there is not a clear-cut rejection of Catalan, to which they recognise a legitimate status on a territorial and historical basis, they consider it a resource restricted to the practices of its native speakers, a group to which they do not feel they belong.

Keywords: new speakers, immigration, language practices, language ideologies, Valencian Country.