Language secessionism (also known as linguistic secessionism or linguistic separatism) is an attitude supporting the separation of a language variety from the language to which it has thitherto been considered to belong, in order for the said variety to be considered a distinct language. This attitude was first analyzed in Catalan sociolinguisticsFor example:
STRUBELL Miquel (1991) "Catalan in Valencia: the story of an attempted secession", Swiss Academy of Social Science Colloquium on Standardization: Parpan / Chur (Grisons) 15–20 April 1991 PRADILLA Miquel Àngel (1999) "El secessionisme lingüístic valencià", in: PRADILLA Miquel Àngel (1999) (ed.) La llengua catalana al tombant del mil·leni, Barcelona: Empúries, p. 153-202. Article "secessionisme lingüístic", in: RUIZ I SAN PASCUAL Francesc, & SANZ I RIBELLES Rosa, & SOLÉ I CAMARDONS Jordi (2001) Diccionari de sociolingüística, coll. Diccionaris temàtics, Barcelona: Enciclopèdia Catalana. but it is attested in other parts of the world.
In Arabic
Sociolinguistic background The Arab world is characterized by diglossia: local dialects dominate the sphere of daily communication, while Standard Arabic carries high prestige and is used in formal writing and speaking.
This situation has important political and social implications. Modern Standard Arabic is the official language of all Arab countries, and enjoys the status of a global language. Standard Arabic is also the lingua sacra of Islam, which further increases its importance. However, a claim could be made that it is no one's first language, since Arab children acquire their local dialect in the natural process of generational language transmission, and learn Standard Arabic later, when they begin formal education.Versteegh, Kees, et al. Encyclopedia of Arabic Language and Linguistics / Vol. II, Eg-Lan.Brill, 2007, pp. 8-18. Proficiency in Standard Arabic provides insight into a vast literary tradition spanning over 1,500 years. However, proponents of recognizing local Arabic dialects as official languages claim that the discrepancy between spoken vernaculars and Standard Arabic is just too wide, rendering proficiency in Standard Arabic unattainable for most.
In Egyptian Arabic Egyptian linguistic separatism is the most well-developed linguistic separatism in the Arab World. The most popular platform diffusing the idea of the Modern Egyptian Language (rather than the Egyptian dialect) is the Egyptian Arabic Wikipedia also known as Wikipedia Masry or Maṣrī. It was the first Wikipedia written in one of the many Arabic dialects. Importantly, the idea of Egyptian linguistic separatism goes further back, to thinkers such as Salama Musa, Bayyūmī Qandīl, Muḥsin Luṭfī as-Sayyid, and the Liberal Egyptian Party.
Egyptian linguistic separatism does not simply claim that Egyptian Arabic should become the official language of Egypt, which in and of itself is a matter decided by politicians, not linguists. However, proponents of Egyptian linguistic separatism, such as Bayyūmī Qandīl, substantiate their political demands with pseudoscientific claims.
Linguistic separatism remains a fringe movement within Egyptian society. The idea remains particularly attractive to Coptic Christians and liberals, who see Egyptian nationalism as an alternative to Pan-Arabism and Pan-Islamism.
In Catalan and Occitan
Common characteristics In the Occitano-Romance languages, language secessionism is a quite recent phenomenon that has developed only since the 1970s. Language secessionism affects both Occitan and Catalan languages with the following common features:SUMIEN Domergue (2006) La standardisation pluricentrique de l'occitan: nouvel enjeu sociolinguistique, développement du lexique et de la morphologie, coll. Publications de l'Association Internationale d'Études Occitanes 3, Turnhout: Brepols, p. 49.
A breakaway from the tradition of Occitan and Catalan 19th century revivalist movements, which usually support the internal unity of each of these languages. An often deliberate ignorance of the tradition of Romance linguistics.BEC Pierre (1970–71) (collab. Octave NANDRIS, Žarko MULJAČIĆ) Manuel pratique de philologie romane, Paris: Picard, 2 vol. An exacerbation of the cultural identity linked to dialects, which secessionism considers as separate languages. A lack of success (or a very marginal position) in linguistic scientific research.Georg Kremnitz, "Une approche sociolinguistique", in F. Peter Kirsch, & Georg Kremnitz, & Brigitte Schlieben-Lange (2002) Petite histoire sociale de la langue occitane: usages, images, littérature, grammaires et dictionnaires, coll. Cap al Sud, F-66140 Canet: Trabucaire, p. 109-111 [updated version and partial translation from: Günter Holtus, & Michael Metzeltin, & Christian Schmitt (1991) (dir.) Lexikon der Romanistischen Linguistik. Vol. V-2: Okzitanisch, Katalanisch, Tübingen: Niemeyer] An active lobbying in regional political circles. The support of a writing system or of any prescription, which breaks up linguistic unity and exaggerates dialectal particular features.
In Catalan In Catalan, there are three cases: Valencian language secessionism, or blaverism, appeared during the democratic transition of 1975–1981, after the fall of Francoism. It is supported by some conservative circles of Valencian society, who are branded "post-Francoist" by their rivals who consider Valencian and Catalan one and the same language. It has a variable impact on the population: Valencian people usually call their language "Valencian" but are divided about the unity of Catalan: some people agree that "Valencian" is just the regional name for "Catalan" but others consider "Valencian" a distinct language from "Catalan". Blaverism has very little impact in the linguistic community. Valencian institutions and Valencian partisans of Catalan unity use the official norm of Catalan (as codified by Institut d'Estudis Catalans and Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua), while "Blavers" (partisans of blaverism) mostly write Valencian using an alternative standard called "Normes del Puig" (codified by the Royal Academy of Valencian Culture). Balearic language secessionism vis-à-vis Catalan is quite marginal and is supported by a few cultural groups. It has very little impact on the population. It is included in a wider (but unorganized) tendency called "gonellisme", which struggles against the standardization of Catalan. In Franja de Ponent (a Catalan-speaking strip in eastern Aragon), language secessionism is quite marginal. It appeared during the 2000s. It is supported only by a fraction of the already minority pro-Aragonese movements, who overstate a so-called Aragonese ancestry in the Catalan spoken in Aragon.
In Occitan There are three cases in Occitan: In the Auvernhat dialect, language secessionism has been supported since the 1970s by Pierre Bonnaud, who founded the Bonnaudian norm, the group Cercle Terre d'Auvergne and the review Bïzà Neirà. It has negligible impact in the population, where knowledge of the language is in any case at best residual. Auvernhat cultural circles are divided between the unitary vision of Occitan (associated with the Occitan classical norm) and secessionism (associated with Bonnaudian norm). In the Provençal dialect, language secessionism appeared during the 1970s with Louis Bayle and has been reactivated since the 1990s by Philippe Blanchet and groups like "Union Provençale" and "Collectif Provence". This secessionism supports the Mistralian norm (but it does not represent all Mistralian norm users, since some of them claim traditionally the unity of Occitan). It has little impact in the population, whose knowledge of the language is anyway residual. Provençal cultural circles are divided between the unitary vision (supported by users of both Mistralian norm and classical norm) and the secessionist vision (supported by some users of the Mistralian norm). The Regional Council of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur voted a resolution on 5 December 2003 that approved the principle of the unity of "Occitan or Langue d'Oc" and the fact that Provençal is a part of it. In the Gascon dialect, language secessionism is claimed since the 1990s by Jean Lafitte, who created during the 2000s a group called "Institut Béarnais et Gascon". It has negligible impact in the population. Lafitte's secessionism supports two original writing systems: one is a nonstandard spin-off from the classical norm and the other one is a nonstandard spin-off from the Mistralian norm. Gascon cultural circles almost unanimously support the unitary vision of the Occitan language. In Aran Valley (a little Gascon Occitan-speaking area in Spain), Aranese, the local variety of Gascon, is officially recognized as a part of the Occitan language. The status of semi-autonomy of Aran Valley (1990) presents Gascon Aranese as "Aranese, the variety of the Occitan language peculiar to Aran ("Er aranés, varietat dera lengua occitana e pròpia d'Aran"). Similarly, the status of autonomy of Catalonia, as reformed in 2006, confirms it with the following expression: "The Occitan language, which is named Aranese in Aran" ("Era lengua occitana, denominada aranés en Aran").
In Galician-Portuguese
Galician and Portuguese were born in the Kingdom of Galicia, in the north-west of the Iberian Peninsula. From there it spread southward, into what would later become the Kingdom of Portugal, and later around the world as a result of colonization.
Since Galicia came under the rule of the Kingdom of Castile, and later of the Kingdom of Spain, the Galician-Portuguese language entered into a situation of diglossia with the Castilian language. Over time, two linguistic currents emerged: one that sought to keep Galician as a regional language subordinated to Castilian, and another that sought to maintain the unity of Galician-Portuguese.
Today, the movement that managed to prevail at the institutional level was the secessionist one, as a result of a decision made without consensus by People's Alliance, the predecessor of the People's Party. Thus, by means of the Filgueira Decree,Decreto Filgueira (2015), documentary by the AGAL a Galician with a Castilian-based orthography was made official.
On the other hand, there is also Eonavian secessionism. The Academy of the Asturian Language and the Government of the Principality of Asturias promote the idea that the Galician variety spoken in the Eo-Navia comarca is a separate language, and they use Asturianized linguistic norms for this speech variety.
In Spanish
In Andalusia, there is a fringe movement aimed at promoting the Andalusian dialect as a separate language from Spanish.
In Hindi and Urdu
The national language of Pakistan and official languages in many parts of India, the Delhi dialect has become the basis of Modern Standard Hindi and Modern Standard Urdu. Grammatically, Hindi and Urdu are the same language, Hindustani, but they differ in their literary and academic vocabulary. Hindi tends to adopt Sanskrit words and purges literary words borrowed from Persian, while Urdu does the opposite. In essence, apart from their scripts, the lexicon is what distinguishes Urdu and Hindi. There are additional Indo-Aryan languages that are counted as Hindi but are not the same as Hindustani. They are considered Hindi languages but may not be close to the Delhi dialect.
In Romanian
The official standard language of Moldova is identical to Romanian. However, Vasile Stati, a local linguist and politician, has asserted his opinion that Moldovan is a separate language in his Dicționar moldovenesc-românesc (Moldovan–Romanian dictionary).Un monument al minciunii și al urii – 'Dicționarul moldovenesc-românesc' al lui Vasile Stati in Contrafort magazine, no. 7-8 (105-106) / July–August 2003