Wikipedia

Reintegrationism

Reintegrationism (Galician and Portuguese: reintegracionismo; Galician: [rejnteɣɾaθjoˈnizmʊ, -asjo-], European Portuguese: [ʁɛĩtɨɣɾɐsjuˈniʒmu]) is the linguistic and cultural movement in Galicia which advocates for the unity of Galician and Portuguese as a single language. In other words, the movement postulates that Galician and Portuguese languages not only shared a common origin and literary tradition, but that they are in fact variants of the same language even today. According to this, Galicia should re-integrate into the Community of Portuguese Language Countries.[citation needed]

The opposite view holds that Portuguese and Galician should be viewed as distinct languages, which is called Isolationism.[citation needed]

Controversy edit

There are two main views in Galicia about the Galician language:[citation needed]

  • The isolationist considers Galician and Portuguese to be two distinct languages, although they are closely related.[citation needed] Isolationists favour differentiated rules of writing and spelling between Galician and Portuguese. In this fashion, Galician spelling follows the model of Spanish orthography and its own traditional conventions, which converge with it in some aspects. Its standard norm, the "NOMIGa", is elaborated by the Real Academia Galega (Royal Galician Academy) and the Instituto da Língua Galega (Institute for Galician Language).
The majority of the Galician population was educated in Spanish only (as official use of Galician was forbidden for centuries.[1] [page needed] [2] [page needed] [clarification needed : In which sense was it "forbidden"?] especially in Francoist Spain[3])
In this fashion, it is argued that Galician would be faithful to its history and etymology and subsequently its written norm would be more scientific and precise.[citation needed] Thus, it would allow Galician speakers to have direct access to a world culture and it would also clarify some spelling problems of the isolationist norm (for example in terms of stress).[4][5]
A number of Portuguese linguists and authors such as Luís Lindley Cintra, Manuel Rodrigues Lapa, Fernando Venâncio, Carlos Reis or Malaca Casteleiro have expressed their agreement with the reintegrationist views.[6]

Genesis of the debate edit

Authors such as Castelao, among others, stated that Galician should gradually merge with Portuguese, namely in its written form.[7][8]

The Lusitanian and Galician languages are the same.

— Padre Feijóo, Theatro Critico Universal, 1726

There are two opinions on the orthographic norms of our native language: the phonetic ... influenced by the domination of Spanish, and another one ... where etymology is its main and most logical attribute ... because (Portuguese orthography) is the natural orthography of the Galician language, and I cannot understand how there still are not only doubts about this, but even opinions against it ... with no scientific basis.

— Roberto Blanco Torres, La unificación ortográfica del idioma gallego, 1930

There is a reason why our language is the same as in Portugal ... Our languages must become the same one again.

— Otero Pedrayo, Discursos Parlamentarios, 1933

Galician is a wide-spread and useful language which—with small variations—is spoken in Brazil, Portugal and in the Portuguese colonies.

— Castelao, Sempre en Galiza, 1944

However, political issues forced the resignation of Carvalho Calero and, consequently, the 1979 pro-reintegrationist norms were revoked. The new official norms and reforms passed from 1982 onwards would be strongly pro-isolationist.[9]

Practicalities edit

In writing, the most obvious differences from the official norm (NOMIGa) are (according to AGAL):[10]

  • Use of ⟨nh⟩ instead of the letter ⟨ñ⟩ to represent the palatal nasal sound. For example: caminho instead of camiño (way).
  • Use of ⟨mh⟩ instead of ⟨nh⟩ to represent the velar nasal sound. For example: algumha instead of algunha.
  • Use of the digraph ⟨lh⟩ instead of ⟨ll⟩ to represent the palatal lateral sound. For example: coelho instead of coello (rabbit)
  • Use of ⟨çom⟩/⟨ção⟩ and ⟨çons⟩/⟨ções⟩ instead of the suffix ⟨ción⟩ and ⟨cións⟩. For example: associaçom/associação instead of asociación and associaçons/associações instead of asociacións (association, associations)
  • Preference for the use of suffixes ⟨aria⟩ and ⟨vel⟩ over ⟨ería⟩ and ⟨ble⟩ or even ⟨bel⟩. For example: livraria instead of librería (bookshop); incrível instead of incrible or incríbel (incredible)
  • Use of ⟨ss⟩ between vowels, when appropriate, instead of the simplified ⟨s⟩ for all cases. For example: associação instead of asociación
  • Use of either ⟨x⟩, ⟨j⟩ or ⟨g⟩ preceding ⟨e⟩ or ⟨i⟩, according to the etymology of the word, instead of ⟨x⟩ for all cases. For example: hoje instead of hoxe (today), geral instead of xeral (general), but exército as in exército (army)
  • Use of ⟨m⟩ instead of ⟨n⟩ at the end of a word. For example: som instead of son (sound)
  • Use of a wider range of accentuation signs instead of the simplified single stroke. For example: português instead of portugués (Portuguese), comentário instead of comentario (commentary). Note that the official orthography, being a calque of the Spanish one in that respect, does not cater for any difference between open and closed vowels, since Spanish does not have them.
  • Avoidance of specific lexical choices introduced by Spanish

Galician members of the European Parliament (such as José Posada, Camilo Nogueira and Xosé Manuel Beiras) have used spoken Galician when addressing the chamber and have used standard Portuguese orthography to encode their Galician speech. In all cases, these interventions and encodings have been accepted by the Parliament as a valid form of Portuguese, that is, an official language of the European Union.[11][12][13]

Furthermore, members of Galician reintegrationist associations have been regularly present at meetings of the Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries. In 2008, Galician delegates were invited as speakers to the Portuguese Parliament when discussing the new spelling norms for the Portuguese language.[14]

Political implications edit

As with many other aspects of Galician society and culture, language is deeply politicized in Galicia.[citation needed] Traditionally, the defence and promotion of the Galician language has been linked to Galician independence, yet this is often considered a simplification.[citation needed] Likewise, different political groups and parties have adopted different approaches to the "isolationism vs reintegrationism" polemic.[citation needed] For example, AGAL members have often expressed that this is merely a linguistic, hence scientific, discussion, and that it should not become the arena for political fights among the community of Galician speakers.[15][16][17]

See also edit

Notes edit

  1. ^ Freitas, M.P. (2008). A represión linguística en Galiza no S.XX. Ed. Xerais.
  2. ^ Callón, Carlos (2022). O libro negro da língua galega. Ed. Xerais.
  3. ^ Minahan, James (2000). One Europe, many nations: a historical dictionary of European national groups. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. p. 279. ISBN 0-313-04866-5. Following Franco's 1939 victory, the Galicians suffered severe punishment – their culture was suppressed, and edicts were issued forbidding the speaking, teaching, or publishing of books or newspapers in the Galician language.
  4. ^ Accentuation section on the 'Critical Study' to the ILG-RAG norm, by AGAL Archived 15 October 2012 at the Wayback Machine. Access date 1 September 2011
  5. ^ Article about the 'Continuum' of the norms in Galicia. Access date 1 September 2011
  6. ^ On the opening of the Galician Academy for Portuguese Language. Access date 8 October 2008
  7. ^ Selected quotes of Castelao and other Galician classics Archived 5 October 2008 at the Wayback Machine, commenting on Galician language and politics
  8. ^ Selected quotes Galician classics on Reintegrationism and the Galician-Portuguese issue, commenting on Galician language and politics
  9. ^ Biography of Carvalho Calero Archived 11 May 2008 at the Wayback Machine, explaining the development of the language norm and his implication in it
  10. ^ "Associaçom Galega da Língua".
  11. ^ O galego já é oficial na Uniom Europeia[permanent dead link], by José Manuel Barbosa, 2004
  12. ^ O galego na União Europea, sound file, by Camilo Nogueira, Celso Álvarez Cáccamo et al., 2004
  13. ^ Interview to Manuel Garcia: "I spoke Galician in the European Parliament" Archived 17 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine, 2005
  14. ^ Presença galega no parlamento português na comunicaçom social Archived 17 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine, 2008
  15. ^ O reintegracionismo deve rachar com a imagem de marginalidade e seitarismo Archived 17 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine, Forum da Língua, 2004
  16. ^ Interview to Maurício Castro: O conhecimento e interesse polo reintegracionismo está hoje mais estendido socialmente Archived 17 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine, 2006
  17. ^ Outeiro Archived 24 April 2008 at the Wayback Machine, op. cit.

Further reading edit

External links edit

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