ABSTRACT
This chapter first introduces the research methodology used for the study and then discusses how it has guided our data collection and analysis. To capture Spain’s linguistic diversity, the analysis focuses on four autonomous communities: Catalonia, the Balearic Islands, the Basque Country and Galicia. Additionally, it explores three areas that have traditionally constituted the main targets of linguistic regulation and policies aimed at enhancing regional languages: education, the media and public spaces. Within these areas, we then identified eight episodes of raising claims concerning linguistic policies between 2005 and 2015 resulting from proposed and attempted changes to the existing linguistic model and affecting language uses in these policy areas. Building upon an extensive collection and qualitative analysis of current literature, newspapers, periodicals and other media, the analysis delves into various dimensions in each of the cases: the scope, the actors involved in the conflicts, the addressees (i.e. the people the claimants want to reach) and the channel and political levels involved. In all, the chapter provides a detailed picture of the relations of conflict on language policy between multiple political and social actors at both the national and regional levels in Spain, and within the regional level as well.
