Language uses: three considerations on conceptual delimitation, consolidation and modifiability

Abstract

This paper returns to some fundamental issues that have always formed part of the sociolinguistic and political debate on the evolution of language uses in Catalan society, making three considerations that seek to clarify these points. Firstly, it provides a clearer outline of two different fields of use, namely institutionalised (or institutional) uses and individualised (or individual) uses. In order to define more closely the conceptual distinction between these two basic types of use and to lend greater precision and transparency to the terms by which they are designated, it is proposed that professional uses and private uses, respectively, should be employed. Secondly, insistence is placed on the need to identify and distinguish the degree of consolidation of language behaviour habits in their various stages. Thirdly, it is recalled that in Catalan sociolinguistic history and in the debate on language policy there has been a certain fluctuation —a pendulum effect— with respect to the importance attributed to one or the other of these two basic types of language use. The paper poses the need to weigh appropriately the interdependence and complementarity of professional and private uses, insisting that the importance of both types should be acknowledged without emphasising either to the detriment of the other.

Key words: professional language uses, private language uses, language behaviour habits, Catalan language policy.