Catalan vs Pluricentric languages.

The main European languages spoken in the Americas—namely, English, Spanish, Portuguese and French—are pluricentric languages. In other words, they're spoken in different territories and by different communities. Each variety shows phonological, grammatical, lexical and semantic differences, as expected in any ethnic language, and are regulated by independent authorities. However, no variety is deemed inferior, discredited or less prestigious than the one spoken in the neighbouring state or at the other side of the Atlantic.

This is the case of British and American English, Peninsular and Brazilian Portuguese, Metropolitan and Canadian French and, last but not least, Peninsular, Mexican, Caribbean and South American Spanish. Not surprisingly, the Royal Spanish Academy regards the Rioplatense (Argentina and Uruguay) pronouns and conjugations as correct. Yet not only does Argentina have a different, as well as legitimate, standard language from Spain, but also Mexico. Actually, in Spain, we grew up watching Disney, Hanna-Barbera and Looney Tunes cartoons, as well as Peanuts, in Mexican Spanish (or rather 'neutral' Mexican-Colombian), because that's the traditional variety of dubbing. Hence, in Spanish, the Latin American varieties are considered as acceptable, prestigious and correct as the European one.

The situation in Europe is no different. The European varieties of French, such as Walloon (Belgium) and Franco-Provençal (Switzerland), aren't subordinated to the criteria of the French academy. Actually, the French typically say that both the Swiss and the Belgians have a thick accent, different from theirs. This is also the way German is conceived. As far as I know, nobody speaks proper German in Switzerland or Austria, but their own national varieties, which are often hard to understand for the Germans themselves. Likewise, nobody speaks proper German in Alsacia (France) and Trentino-South Tyrol (Italy). However, nobody questions the wholeness of these two languages and everyone accepts linguistic variation.

The main Western European languages serve as a model for other pluricentric languages, such as Macedonian and Bulgarian, Flemish and Dutch, Corsican and Italian, Serbian and Croatian or Danish and Norwegian, which, in turn, has two different standard languages: Bokmål and Nynorsk.

Nevertheless, there's one language that disrupts the harmonious pluricentric languages' status quo: Catalan. Catalonian nationalists, who are among the most snobbish, dishonest and manipulative people on Earth, are generally pissed off by the fact that Valencian has an independent standard language, which reasonably favours the local phonology, grammar and vocabulary. By confusing (historical) language and standard language, Catalonian politicians complain that their language has been split into different minor dialects.

What their arrogance doesn't allow them to understand is that the Valencian standard, as well as the largely documented historical name of it (valencià), is as legitimate as theirs. However, they appear to be much more satisfied with the situation in the Balearic Islands, where they've imposed the Catalonian variety at schools whereas children are taught to use their native dialect at home, in informal situations. This has made Balearic islanders diglossic.

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