Uma tríade indissolúvel: neofalantismo, identidade e qualidade de língua

Abstract

The following article explores the connections between language quality, identity, linguistic norm and the so called neo-falantism (which refer to new speakers) to be seen from the end of the Dictatorship to the present. The introduction examines the situation of Galician language in the 1970s to show its setback inside the family, within the neighborhood and in religious practice. Part Two, deals with the linguistic tactics used by the late Franco regime, to create a definite boundary between Spanish and the other languages with which it convives within the same state, as well as the limitations imposed on the latter. The third section, which becomes the actual nucleus of the article, draws attention to the emergence of the new-speaking subject and account the main characteristics of the neo-falantism process: commitment, decision, interpellation, tenacity, trust and conception of politics as the ‘art of the impossible’. Finally, the fourth section shows the particular difficulties that the newspeaking subject must face: “class” of language to use, depending on the link between language normative confusion, dependence on Spanish favored by the RAG & ILG standard and careless complicity of the Galician government and of broad sectors that include a significant part of the defenders of the own language.