The UIB rejects Vox's "Gonellism" in a report

PalmThe University of the Balearic Islands (UIB) has categorically rejected the proposals of the Speaker of the Balearic Parliament, Gabriel Le Senne, which it sees as bordering on linguistic secession. In a non-binding report submitted to the Parliament's governing board, and accessed by ARA Baleares, the university's Technical Commission on Linguistic Advice expresses its opposition to the proposals of the Speaker, who also heads the provincial executive committee of the Vox party. Le Senne, who denies the unity of the Catalan language, insists that none of the speeches "made in Mallorcan (or any of the Balearic varieties) be translated into standard Catalan." Among other things, he requested that the definite article be retained in the transcripts of members' speeches in the Parliament's official record. In response to this request, the governing board agreed to consult with the UIB.

In the report, the university rejects Vox's use of the terms "Mallorcan language" and "Balearic language." "The scientific and official name of the Islands' own language is Catalan," it emphasizes. "Nor can one speak of translating a supposed Mallorcan or Balearic language into Catalan, given that it is the same language," the document continues, asserting that the unity of Catalan is "recognized by the international scientific community" and regional legislation. Furthermore, it argues that both the literary and informal articles "coexist in the Islands." "The Balearic article is particularly characteristic of spontaneous speech," the text continues: "Formal registers, and especially written language, have always used the general article." In this regard, it emphasizes that in the Parliament, the highest representative institution of the Balearic Islands, "the context objectively requires a formal or standard register and, therefore, the use of the definite article." Specifically regarding the Parliament's official record, the report states that "the context objectively requires a formal or standard register and, therefore, the use of the definite article." "This fact is not contrary to maintaining the fidelity of the members' discourse, since it involves adapting it to a convention (the written language) in accordance with the rules of the Catalan language and its adherence to the formal or standard register," it explains. Regarding the use of formal variants, the report distinguishes between "variants recognized by the rules as belonging to the formal register, which can be used normally, and colloquial variants not recognized by the rules as belonging to the formal register." In the latter case, it continues, "they must be replaced by the corresponding form recognized in the regulations, since substituting one for the other does not imply a change in meaning." Regarding vocabulary use, the document considers "it appropriate to use any genuine form of Balearic Catalan, provided it is part of the standard and is a distinct lexical item, not merely a variant of form."

Second report requesting respect for formal register

The University of the Balearic Islands (UIB) had already advocated for linguistic unity in a report submitted to the Catalan Parliament in 1984. In the text, Joan Miralles, then director of the university's Department of Catalan Philology and General Linguistics, urged adherence to the "long tradition" of maintaining a "unified and cultivated language" in formal registers. He also emphasized that most parliaments opt for a standard form of their language and considered "the use of a parliamentary record with linguistic forms characteristic of a popular-colloquial type of language entirely inappropriate." However, out of fidelity to the message conveyed by the parliamentarians, he recommended that the exact words they used be retained, avoiding synonyms or translations, even when they were Castilianisms, which are transcribed in italics.

The text promoted by Vox presented a series of reasons for requesting another statement from the UIB. He demanded a reassessment of the situation, taking into account the new Grammar of the Institut d'Estudis Catalans (IEC) and Article 3.3 of the Spanish Constitution, which states that "the richness of the different linguistic varieties of Spain is a cultural heritage that shall be the object of special respect and protection." He also cited the Statute of Autonomy, which calls for "protection" of the island varieties of Catalan.

(This information is being expanded)