Linguistic integration of the resident German population in Mallorca

Abstract

This article presents some of the results of the doctoral thesis Linguistic Integration of the Resident German Population in Mallorca. Due to the complex sociolinguistic situation of the Balearic Islands, the features of the group under analysis (demographic weight, residential motivations, etc.) make the process of integration into the receiving community considerably difficult. The speech community of the islands is characterised by the coexistence of two official languages: Catalan and Spanish. This coexistence, however, has never been balanced, as Catalan has always been subject to repressive politics from the Spanish government, often putting at risk its survival. From the second half of the 20th century, political repression of Catalan coincides with the development of mass tourism and brings about the first wave of immigrants, mostly from Spanish-speaking communities on the mainland. With the transition to democracy, and the approval of the Balearic statue of autonomy, Catalan obtains the status of official language together with Spanish, increasing its social presence in many spheres. However, the prevalence of conservative parties in the Government of the Balearic Islands has meant that the recovery of Catalan has been inadequate.
The almost exclusive dedication to the tourist industry has, from the 1990s, brought with it a continuous influx of immigrants. This new migratory wave is very heterogeneous, composed of mostly British and German immigrants. The continuous increase of German residents over subsequent decades has brought about the creation of a social infrastructure designed to provide services to residents and tourists of this nationality in their own language. This social network facilitates the arrival of new residents but at the same time diminishes the need for interrelation with the host linguistic community. Along these lines, the demographic explosion suffered as a consequence of tourist development on a large scale contributes to a new process of Spanish dissemination that becomes the lingua franca among the members of different linguistic groups, mainly in coastal areas and in the capital city. In turn, Catalan is scarcely used, largely due to the use of Spanish by the native population in communicative exchanges with resident foreigners. All these aspects have a decisive influence on the linguistic integration process of the resident German population on the island and they favour the predominant use of Spanish that enjoys greater prestige and higher social visibility as it is the language that “everybody speaks”.

Key words: Mallorca, Balearic Islands, linguistic integration, demolinguistics, immigration, tourism, language uses, language skills, language attitudes.