Page 48 - 《客語及少數族群語言政策》附錄_少數語言法律

effectively helps to achieve the normal use of Catalonia's own language and which at the same time
guarantees a scrupulous respect of the linguistic rights of all citizens.

II. The legal framework

The present legal framework of the Catalan language is defined by the 1978 Spanish Constitution and by the
1979 Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia.
The former, recognising the diversity of peoples within the Spanish State, states in article 3 that "Castilian is
the official Spanish language of the State" and that, as the official language "all Spaniards have the duty to
learn it and the right to use it". Furthermore, the Constitution states that "the other Spanish languages shall
also be official in their respective autonomous communities as laid down in their Statutes".
Article 3 of the Statute of Autonomy states "1. Catalan is Catalonia's own language. 2. Catalan is the official
language of Catalonia, as is Castilian, which is official throughout Spain. 3. The Generalitat will guarantee the
normal and official use of both languages, will take the appropriate measures in order to ensure that they are
learnt and will create the conditions which will allow them to attain full equality with respect to the rights and
duties of the citizens of Catalonia. 4. The Aranese 3 tongue shall be taught and shall be the object of special
respect and protection".
These statutory provisions were further developed by Act No. 7 of 18th April 1983, on normalization linguistic in
Catalonia, of great importance in the history of the language, which signalled the end to sanctions against
Catalan; the fourteen years it has been in force have made possible the spread of knowledge of the language
among most of the population, and a policy agreed by all sectors of society, which has led to a process of
normal linguistic use.

During the time the Act has been in force, important changes have taken place: in the technological field,
computers and information networks have become of general use; in the cultural and commercial field, free
trade has been established, and this has spread to cultural interchanges, especially in the communication and
audio-visual world; in the political field, on the one hand Spain has joined the European Economic Community,
now called the European Union, governed by a multilingual principle, and on the other hand the Generalitat has
taken over responsibility for many of the competencies laid down in the Statute; in the social and sociolinguistic
field, proficiency in Catalan has become widespread - though it has not always resulted in a similar increase in
public use - and a considerable change in immigration flows has taken place. Furthermore, language law in our
country has developed considerably, due partly to the jurisprudence of the Constitutional Tribunal and partly to
Catalan legislation and to doctrinal studies. Finally, the contents of various resolutions passed by the European
Parliament have to be pointed out: that of 30th November 4 1987, on the languages and cultures of regional
and ethnic minorities in the European Community; that of 11th December 1990, on the situation of languages
in the Community and that of the Catalan language, and that of 9th February 1994, on cultural and linguistic
minorities of the European Community. Moreover, the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages,
adopted in the form of a Convention by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe on 5th November
1992, is worth mentioning, as is the Universal Declaration of Linguistic Rights, approved by the World
Conference of Linguistic Rights on 6th June 1996 in Barcelona, which received the unanimous support of the
Congress of Deputies and the Parliament of Catalonia.

III. The aims of this Act

All these circumstances have made it advisable to amend and update the 1983 Act and to renew the political
and social agreement reached at that time, in order to be able to consolidate the process promoted by the Act
on linguistic normalization in Catalonia in the fields of government and education, to adapt the media and
cultural industries to today's needs and to fix linguistic regulations directed at the socio-economic world; all this
with a view to moving towards full and complete proficiency in Catalan and its normal use, which can make a
new thrust in the social use of the language feasible.
Amending and updating the 1983 Act also has to make it possible to reaffirm the statutory commitment to
achieving full equality regarding linguistic rights and duties, and especially, those of learning both official
languages and of using them, which means that, in accordance with the existing statutory framework, the
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