El comportament lingüístic dels individus dins de l'Administració

Resum

Based on the working staff of a Catalan public administration office (the city hall of Sant Boi de Llobregat), in a work context where the language normalization process is in a more advanced stage than at other social levels, the author of this sociolinguistics study analyses the language behaviour of these people, who use Catalan in their daily work. Firstly, the communicative elements and context are described. In this part, a distinction is made between Catalan speakers and non- Catalan speakers, and, in both cases, the degree of knowledge (good or poor) of the Catalan language. Even though the research takes place in a working setting, the author establishes a clear difference between the professional working environment and the non-professional working environment, which affect the language behaviour of each individual. Furthermore, there are also two communication channels: the written one (where the use of Catalan is properly organized) and the oral one, which also includes communication of the staff with groups of people. Secondly, with the aid of a graph that clarifies how the Catalan and Castilian languages are switched around depending on different factors and levels already specified, the author presents the analysis of different types of language behaviour, both coming from Catalan speakers and non-Catalan speakers. Lastly, the conclusions of the study are explained. According to the author, its aims are only to offer an overall and general view but it may be the first step towards a more exhaustive and realistic work.