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Clashing Stances Towards Catalan: An Ethnographic Study in a Small University in Catalonia

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The Sociolinguistics of Higher Education

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Abstract

A case study of one Catalan university is presented in this chapter. The study examines how the language policies aimed at regulating the linguistic resources available at that higher education institution in Catalonia are interpreted by three different sets of agents at the university: international students, members of the administrative staff, and members of the teaching staff. The data were collected ethnographically, primarily by means of individual and group interviews and through participant observation of classroom practices and other events organised by the university to welcome international students. The analysis is developed from a discourse-analytical perspective and focuses on how individuals construct their stance towards the official language policies of the UC. The analysis shows how the different stakeholders construct contrasting interpretations of the principles of the language policy, highlighting the existence of tensions and ambiguities. The chapter highlights and explores the sources and the consequences of the clash between the different ideological positions at the university.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Explicit reference information for the UC’s official documents has been intentionally omitted, to preserve anonymity.

  2. 2.

    The project is ‘International Universities in Bilingual Communities (Catalonia, Basque Country and Wales): A Research Project’, funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (FFI2008-00585/FILO, 2009–2012) and its principal investigator is Josep M. Cots.

  3. 3.

    The C stands for the name of the city where the UC is located.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of English, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden

    Josep Soler

  2. Department of English and Linguistics, University of Lleida, Lleida, Spain

    Lídia Gallego-Balsà

Authors
  1. Josep Soler
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  2. Lídia Gallego-Balsà
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Josep Soler or Lídia Gallego-Balsà .

Appendix: Transcription Conventions

Appendix: Transcription Conventions

Verse

Verse x unintelligible syllable : long sound / rise \ fall Capital letters: loud voice […] text omitted [laughs] description of communicative features which accompany language (.) pause of less than one second {} translation inserted within the transcription of an extract ntx the sound of a click made with the tongue as a sign of disapproval

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Soler, J., Gallego-Balsà, L. (2019). Clashing Stances Towards Catalan: An Ethnographic Study in a Small University in Catalonia. In: The Sociolinguistics of Higher Education. Palgrave Pivot, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-16677-9_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-16677-9_4

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Pivot, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-16676-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-16677-9

  • eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)

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