UC Berkeley

This dissertation examines language choice and language ideologies in Catalonia, Spain. Catalonia is a multilingual region characterized by a minoritized autochthonous language (Catalan), ongoing political conflict surrounding autonomy and independence, and major demographic transformation. Together, these conditions make Catalonia a compelling site for examining ideological distinctions between languages. The dissertation investigates which languages are used most often for messages about different topics in Catalonia’s vernacular linguistic landscape (LL), defined here as expressive, non-commercial public signage whose language choice is not governed by language-policy requirements (e.g., graffiti, stickers, posters, banners, and community murals). To examine why different language–topic combinations may feel more natural or appropriate in the LL, the dissertation pairs a topic-based analysis of approximately 10,000 signs from 21 Catalan towns and neighborhoods with interview data from 60 Catalan–Spanish bilinguals born and raised in Catalonia. It shows that language choice in public writing is not random but shaped by socially shared beliefs about language and identity. In doing so, it highlights vernacular signage as both a site of multilingual practice and a valuable window into broader ideological processes that shape language use in contemporary Catalonia. The analysis is guided by the following research questions:1. RQ1. Which languages are used most often for different topics in Catalonia’s vernacular linguistic landscape?2. RQ2. To what extent do language–topic patterns vary across communities with different linguistic profiles?3. RQ3. What language ideologies are revealed by locally raised Catalans’ interpretations of language choice in the linguistic landscape?The topic-based analysis of Catalonia’s vernacular LL reveals clear domain divergence. Catalan predominates in societally oriented signs about national and partisan politics, social causes, and community issues, while Spanish and English are far more common in intimate signs about vulgar or taboo topics and sentimentality. These patterns are generally consistent among the 21 towns and neighborhoods, which span both the Spanish-dominant Barcelona Metropolitan Area and the more Catalan-dominant regional territories outside it. However, cross-site variation is more visible for societal topics, where Spanish appears at higher rates in the Barcelona Metropolitan Area; for intimate topics, the dominance of Spanish and English remains stable even in more Catalan-dominant areas. Taken together, these patterns suggest that broad social beliefs about language shape language choice across topics, while local demographics affect how strongly those patterns appear in each site.Qualitative interview data illuminate some of the ideologies that shape these distributions. Participants’ metalinguistic evaluations indicate their perceptions that Catalan indexes local belonging, is commonly used by community organizations and progressive groups, and aligns with pro-independence political stances. In discussions of community-oriented signage, Catalan was linked to local authenticity and insider status. Participants trace an association between Catalan and progressive causes back to the dictatorship of Francisco Franco and extend that throughline into the present by viewing political graffiti in Catalan as a symbol of resistance to a Spanish state some of them describe as repressive.By contrast, participants’ explanations of vulgar/taboo and sentimental signage point to a different ideological cluster. Spanish and English are cast as global languages associated with popular culture and youth prestige. Many participants feel that the registers and formulaic phrases often observed in sexual, derogatory, and amorous graffiti are heavily shaped by socialization in television, movies, music, and other entertainment domains where offerings in Spanish and English are substantially greater than in Catalan. As a result, they perceive Spanish and English as more impactful for messages related to vulgarity, insults, and love in public signage. Although Catalan is associated with belonging, civic engagement, and favorable social qualities, its rarity in vulgar and sentimental signage led many Catalan-dominant participants to question whether the language is viewed as fully usable across all registers. The substantial presence of English in intimate signage suggests that register gaps long noted for Catalan are filled not only by Spanish, but also by globalized English.At the same time, many interviewees link Spanish in vulgar and sentimental signage to presumed sign creator identities, often ascribing authorship to immigrants and socioeconomically marginalized groups they perceive as more Spanish speaking. Such perspectives reveal how evaluations of language in the LL can serve as proxies for broader judgments about class, migration, and belonging. In speaking about sentimentality specifically, some interviewees associate the mother tongue with strong emotions, reinforcing their belief that creators of intimate signage are from Spanish-dominant groups. Finally, they view foreign languages as effective for drawing attention in public signage, an ideology they believe could help explain the strong presence of English throughout the corpus.Methodologically, this dissertation demonstrates how topic-based coding and interview-supported interpretation can reveal ideological patterns in the LL that aggregate language counts alone would obscure. In doing so, it contributes to Catalan sociolinguistics by showing how minoritized and hegemonic languages come to be associated with different topics, registers, speakers, and forms of belonging in the public domain amid demographic change and political tension.