Thanks for the comments. I can address what you said

Yes, Catalá and Valenciano are the same language as if you want to get linguistic about it, it is only the mutual intelligibility that counts and I’m sure that it is above the normally accepted 90% that is considered to be the benchmark for telling whether something is simply a dialect and whether it is it’s own language. The percentage is really a number that is difficult to arrive at, but I am sure the number is above 90. The writing really doesn’t matter as writing systems are not considered when talking about intelligibility. Also, the distinction is more of a political thing than anything (as you know a lot about Spanish culture, this shouldn’t come as a shock to you!). This debate will rage on forever really. Mostly, people from Valencia and Catalunya do not want to be seen as the same people. Thus the Valencian’s decided ‘Well, if we call our Catalá as ‘Valencianá’ then we won’t be related to Catalunya and it can be our own.’ This position is still held by many today. Some debate the origin of Catalá and Valencianá as coming from different language families, but that is unlikely considering their proximity and intelligibility.

Yeah, the police forces are totally different. I knew that it was only the three, thus like you said, the ‘more or less’ for someone that doesn’t know much about the autonomous communities there is so much to talk about just to explain what is going on with regards to them. The thought was to throw in something to make them simply more than ’states’ as we have here, but rather ’self-governing’ bodies that can do more.
Don’t get me started about the Guardia Civil. They were what I feared when I was living there ‘under the radar’. They are a strange bunch, not to mention the funny hats they where. They would gladly take over Spain if they have the chance.

I wasn’t clear about the Franco situation in my article. Yes, Franco’s death was in 1975 and in 1978 the Constitution was passed since it took that long to basically get everything straightened up after the death. I should have mentioned that.

I know about the language references. The hardest part for me as I’m bilingual is constantly referring to the names in ‘Spanish’ since it’s so much easier for me. ‘Pais Vasco’ means much more to be than ‘Basque Country’ . The same with Castellano and Castilian. Honestly, the language thing is what I know more since I’m a linguist. The history thing I just know from reading and from when I went to school in Spain.

It’s just something that you find in all my blogs, I always tend to write the names and things in Spanish but translate into English once in a while since I am so accustomed to write in Spanish and obviously use the correct Spanish names.

Castellano is the ‘official’ language as declared in the 1978 Constitution where they say

‘El castellano es la lengua española oficial del Estado. Todos los españoles tienen el deber de conocerla y el derecho a usarla.’

This is a sociolinguistic difference that is made all the time. An ‘official’ language is something that is declared as the language of a country. A National language is a language that is de facto spoken in a certain area (i.e English in America is a National language, NOT official).

Yes, Euskadi, Catalunya and Galicia did receive their autonomous status first because of historical reasons. It just so happens that they are also the regions that have different languages in Spain.

Thanks for the comments! They were helpful and I always welcome comments and debates about what I write. I have to say thanks for filling the holes in my article!

Is català the same as valencià? It is. For all intents and purposes, they are one in the same. Okay, so perhaps not in the minds of the locals, but try comparing texts between the two.

Nice qualifier about autonomous police forces “more or less.” Really, the only full-fledged police forces are Ertzaintza (Euskadi) and els Mossos d’Esquadra (Catalunya). There is an autonomous police force in Andalucía, but they only guard the presidential palace (San Telmo), the parliament building, and other government offices. Essentially, there are local police in municipalities, national police for crowd control in big cities, and if you’re lucky enough to be somewhere else, i.e., a nice rural backwater (or quaint rural village), all that exists is the Guardia Civil, which still has the legacy of wanting to take over the country.

Also, you are confusing Franco’s death with the implementation of the new constitution. Franco died in 1975, not 1978. Specifically, he died November 20 of that year, which was the same date of death of José Antonio Primo de Rivera. They kept him alive until that date for that central reason, thus the Weekend Update jokes on the new NBC program “Saturday Night (Live)”: “Good evening, tonight’s top story, Generalísimo Francisco Franco is still dead.” Also, it took quite a bit to get to that constitution, as Juan Carlos had to clear out a lot of the ancien régime in order to facilitate things. ETA helped with the 1973 assassination of Luis Carrero Blanco, but Carlos Arias Navarro was not going anywhere without a fight. For that matter, the old guard has not been completely cleared out to this day (see Fraga, Manuel).

As for language references, you can call the, erm, “national” language “Castilian” (a translation of “castellano”) if you want. I do.

Finally, in addition to (and because of) the historical context, Euskadi, Catalunya, and Galicia received autonomous status almost immediately because they were granted that status under the Second Republic. The new monarchy has tried to follow the order of the Second Republic when it comes to the granting of statutes of autonomy, so sure enough, after those three came Andalucía, which las Cortes had passed but the president did not sign because the Civil War broke out.

That’s all I got for now. Have a wonderful night!

Great post and please Euskal Herria – just kidding again.

It’s really interesting that alot of players abroad are from the Basque region.

Ryan – we want to see your thesis. =)

What makes Catalan even more complicated is the relationship with the “other” Catalan countries, creating even more polarizing politics in places like Valencia.