Reflexións sobre a situación sociolingüística galega dende o paradigma da complexidade

• Main Author: Sabela Labraña
• Format: Article
• Language: Catalan
• Published: Universidade de Santiago de Compostela 2011-01-01
• Series: Estudos de Linguistica Galega
• Online Access: http://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=305626393007

In this article the problematical situation of Galician society and language is approached in terms of the complexity paradigm. For centuries the shift from Galician to Spanish has led to social fragmentation, which threatens to divide society if it continues. Many initiatives, analyses and proposals have attempted to address the issue from various perspectives including sociolinguistics, but no solutions have been found for Galicia’s language problem. The sociolinguistic situation in Galicia may call for a new approach in order to interpret it in an innovative way: “The change of perspective produces a shift in the perception of reality which changes reality itself, therefore determining the change of the whole situation and the reactions towards it” (Nardone and Watzlawick 1995:38). Previous discussions have worked with a causal-linear approach adopted from the Newtonian-Cartesian paradigm within which both monolingualist and bilingualist proposals can be placed. Now we have a complexity paradigm at our disposal that allows us to explore other approaches to the situation. Complexity is one of the main features of current societies, systems and subsystems in which elements (individuals and organizations) interact as a network and hence are mutually interdependent. An overview of this paradigm could prove a useful tool in our quest for alternative solutions to the difficult linguistic situation in present-day Galicia.