ABSTRACT
Spain is characterised by overlapping linguistic diversity, where a monolingual centre coexists with various linguistic communities at the sub-national level. Thus, multiple layers of national identity, social conflict and value formation converge. Whereas during the Francoist dictatorship (1939–1975) languages were politically repressed and Castilian was enforced as the only national language, the democratic transition opened a window of opportunity for the design and implementation of policies aimed at boosting local languages in bilingual regions, as in the case of Catalonia, Galicia, the Basque Country and the Balearic Islands. This chapter then offers an overview of the Spanish linguistic labyrinth by analysing the various institutions and policies established at the national and regional levels since the 1980s and assesses whether and how they have managed to accommodate this diversity. It thus argues that the initial consensus of the early years of democratisation was superseded by oscillating levels of linguistic political conflicts, which, however, showed an exponential growth with the turn of the 21st century.
