Sources of variation in Galician multilinguals’ attitudes
towards Galician, Spanish, English and French
Fuentes de variación en las actitudes de los
multilingües gallegos hacia el gallego, el castellano, el
inglés y el francés
Jean-Marc Dewaele
University of London
j.dewaele@bbk.ac.uk
Carmen Pena Diaz
Universidad de Alcalá
carmen.pena@uah.es
ABSTRACT
In this study we investigate the sources of individual differences in the
language attitudes of 125 students enrolled in a language school in La
Coruña (Galicia). Adopting a multicompetence perspective (Cook, 2012),
we assumed that the presence of a particular language in the mind of a
multilingual may affect attitudes towards the other languages. Considering
the unique status, prestige and history of Galician, Spanish, English and
French in La Coruña, we also assumed that differences in attitudes towards
these languages could be linked more or less strongly to various
background variables in participants such as self-perceived proficiency,
type of upbringing (monolingual or bilingual), age of onset of learning,
exposure to foreign languages through television and visits to the foreign
country, gender and age. The results of statistical analyses confirm that
connections exist in the attitudes toward the different languages, and that
the independent variables have different effects on the attitudes towards
the four language.
Keywords: Attitudes, multilingualism, Galicia
Revista Nebrija de Lingüística Aplicada a la Enseñanza de Lenguas (RNAEL) ISSN 1699-6569
Vol. 12 Núm. 25 (2018) doi: 10.26378/rnlael225293
Recibido: 14/089/2018 / Aprobado: 7/11/2018
Publicado bajo licencia de Creative Commons Reconocimiento Sin Obra Derivada 4.0 Internacional
RESUMEN
En este trabajo se investiga la variación de las diferencias individuales
en las actitudes de lenguaje de 125 estudiantes matriculados en una
escuela de idiomas en La Coruña (Galicia). Siguiendo la teoría de la
multicompetencia (Cook, 2012), establecemos que la presencia de una
lengua concreta en la mente de un multilingüe puede variar su actitud
hacia otras lenguas. Teniendo en cuenta el estatus único, el prestigio y la
historia del gallego, castellano, inglés y francés en La Coruña,
establecimos la premisa de que las diferencias en las actitudes hacia estos
idiomas podrían estar relacionadas con variables del contexto tales como
la autopercepción de la competencia, el tipo de educación (monolingüe o
bilingüe), la edad de inicio del aprendizaje, la exposición a idiomas
extranjeros a través de la televisión, así como los viajes al extranjero, el
género y la edad. Los resultados de los análisis estadísticos muestran que
existe relación entre las actitudes hacia los diferentes idiomas, y que las
variables independientes tienen diferentes efectos sobre las actitudes
hacia los cuatro idiomas.
Palabras clave: actitudes lingüísticas, multilingüismo, Galicia
1. INTRODUCTION
The study of linguistic attitudes, which are speakers’ opinions, ideas
and prejudices about a language, has been a key area in
sociolinguistic studies for the last 40 years. It gives researchers an
insight into the process of what speakers actually think about their
speech production and their identity. Language is not neutral and
from the moment we deliver an utterance we are also consciously
or unconsciously expressing our views, judgements and thoughts.
As Tabouret-Keller (1997: 315) states “the language spoken by
somebody and his or her identity as a speaker of this language is
inseparable. […] Language acts are acts of identity.” This process
affects not only the individual everyday interactions, but also at a
macrosociological level. Being this fundamental in any linguistic
community, when more than one language is spoken in one same
community, attitudes acquire a greater importance, as they
normally not only include attitudes towards the language itself but
towards speakers of a particular language (Fasold 1984: 148).
Furthermore, the status and importance of a language in a particular
society are individual but originate in-group behaviour. For this
reason, Baker (1988) stresses the importance of attitudes in the
discussion of bilingualism.
In regions where different languages co-exist, linguistic
choices become marked and can either simply reflect social group
behaviour, personal preferences, traditional or customary use or
ideological positioning, amongst others.
Spain has a linguistic diversity comparable to Switzerland,
Belgium or Canada. However, it does not have a state language
policy of protection and promotion of its internal linguistic diversity,
but each bilingual region regulates its own linguistic policy and is in
charge of protecting and promoting its minority language. As is
normally the case in this type of socio-linguistic context, there is an
important difference between the perspectives of monolingual
Spanish language users and that of plurilingual other languages
users (Catalan-Valencian, Galician and Basque). Spanish is the
common language for all Spanish citizens and on the other hand,
the common languages of the four different regions1 which are
officially bilingual, Catalonia and the Valencian Community, Galicia
and the Basque country. As in other diglossic and bilingual areas of
the world, conflicts arise from the setting in which the common
language (Spanish or Castellano in this case) is considered a taboo
by a significant part of the population in the monolingual regions
where monolinguals find it suspicious that there are bilingual regions
and see them as possible separatists and also in the bilingual ones,
where people find it difficult to accept that no matter which the first
language is, all citizens in Spain can understand each other perfectly
in Spanish.
The aim of this paper is not to report on the language
attitudes in a mini-census approach but rather to investigate to what
extent sources of individual differences are comparable across
languages and whether the language attitudes of Galician students
towards Spanish, Galician, English and French are interrelated. It
also assumes that just as linguistic systems influence each other in
the mind of multilingual users (cf. Cook 2012), attitudes towards
various languages also exert an influence on each other (Dewaele
2016).
2. SOCIOHISTORICAL AND GEOGRAPHICAL CONTEXT
Galician is a co-official language of the North-western region of
Spain called Galicia. The galego language belongs to the Romance
language group –like French or Catalonian– and it is the result of
the evolution of Latin introduced by the Romans on the north west
of the Iberian Peninsula. Galician's consolidation did not take place
until the 20th century. A recovery of Galician as literary, cultural
and historical language was confirmed towards the end of 20th
century. Galician was not standardized yet and this had a negative
effect on social prestige and affected its geographical spread (less
widely used in cities).
Since the middle of the 12th Century, when Galicia became
part of the Castilian Crown, Galician started its differentiation from
Portuguese, slowly losing its prestige with regard to the dominant
Castilian classes and language (Ramallo 2007: 21). There were
attempts to strengthen its status (Rexurdimento), but the middle
classes imitated the habits of the more prestigious Spanish upper
classes, for whom Spanish was the language of choice. Spanish was
the only language considered official during Franco’s reign and
Galician thus became considered a dialect used by the rural lower
classes. With the promulgation of the Statute of Autonomy of
Galicia in 1981 and the transition into democracy, Galician was given
the status of co-official language and its normalization began to take
place in all fields of public institutions and powers, especially
administration, education and media, however, as Herreiro-Baleiro
(2002: 297) states, according to the Law of Linguistic Normalization,
Galicians have the right to know Galician and the duty to know
Spanish, which places Galician in a disadvantageous position with
regard to the Spanish language.
The legislative setting in which different orders and decrees
regulate the use of Galician in local, judicial, military and
administration allow the use of Galician with local and autonomic
administrations who must write all their official documents in
Galician; it has been incorporated into education from primary level
and the promotion of the Galician language is guaranteed where
there are immigrants and in the territories bordering the
Community.
The Secretaría Xeral de Política Lingüística (General
Secretariat of Linguistic Policy) is the organism monitoring Galician
use at every level of public life. It is also responsible for the
promotion of the use of Galician in society, providing the means to
achieve a full "galeguización" (change into Galician), fighting against
the traditional prejudices and promoting positive attitudes.
Galician is the language of almost two and a half million of
the 2,800,000 inhabitants of Galicia. According to A Sociedade
Galega e o Idioma: a evolución sociolingüística de Galicia (1992-
2003), published by the Language Section of the Council for Galician
Culture, the majority of people still learn to speak in Galician,
although nearly half the population learns to speak in Castilian or in
both languages. This publication also states that although nearly all
of the older generation said their first words in Galician and consider
it their first language, it is not the case amongst younger people. In
general, it is in the rural setting, i.e. in villages and in the coastal
areas, that more people use Galician whereas in cities and inland
areas Spanish is generally more widely used. A decrease in the
number of people who learn to speak in Galician has been observed
over the last few years, and more and more people are now being
brought up as bilingual speakers.
Since the co-official status was granted, there has been a
greater presence of Galician in areas where it had been traditionally
been absent. The Social-linguistic Map of Galicia, MSG, an important
work done thanks to an agreement between Xunta de Galicia (the
regional government) and the Social-linguistic seminar of the Royal
Academy of Galicia, shows a change in values with respect to the
language: 72% of the population have a good attitude towards
Galician; 68,7% think that Galician is similar or more useful than
Spanish, and 66% think that Galician should be the language used
in schools. This study, which constitutes the most reliable tool for
the sociological analysis of Galician language, was elaborated from
polls which projected the opinion of a representative example of the
population and collected information from the different social,
cultural and geographical dimensions. It was introduced in 1992
and the last results are from the year 2004, although published
completely in 2009. Concerning linguistic attitudes, the most
striking feature was that in contrast with the general positive results
found towards Galician, the number of speakers is lower amongst
the young population who have a positive attitude yet speak
relatively Galician (O’Rourke 2005). In further studies taken from
the same MSG data2, it was found that youngsters who normally
speak Spanish have more negative views towards Galician than
expected; it was also revealed that Galician in general played a
discrete role in young people’s identity, they valued negatively those
who code-switched, and even pretended to have a lower level of
linguistic competence in Galician than they actually had. The
younger people also had prejudiced and negative stereotypes of
Galician speakers. On a more positive note, the research did show
a favourable attitude towards linguistic diversity and plurilingualism
and an improvement in the social prestige of Galician.
Summarising the results, the number of people who normally
speak Galician has gone down from 61% to 39%. The opposite has
happened to Spanish. The main difference which has occurred
between the MSG from 1992 and 2004 is in the monolingual
population, the Galician monolinguals were over 30% in the 1992
MSG whereas only 16% now. With Spanish, figures have shown an
increase from 13% to 25.8%. Although there does not seem to be
a direct link between the use of Galician and ideology, the use of
Galician increases among those with left-wing inclinations and the
use of Spanish increase on the other side of the political spectrum.
There are three broad types of speakers in Galicia:
monolingual Spanish speakers, Galician speakers and the bilingual
ones. Each will be described.
Monolingual Spanish
In the first group are those who usually speak Spanish, understand
Galician, but were brought up speaking only Spanish and it is their
everyday language of use. However, despite the fact that they
publicly show positive attitudes towards Galician, they do not
actually consider it as important as Spanish or even English and may
no teach their children Galician. Their preference for their children’
schooling is the denominated “bilingual” education in which Galician
and Spanish are used on a 50% basis3. These speakers mainly live
in cities or larger towns. During the Spanish Transition, an important
part of a whole generation was brought up as Spanish speakers
although their parents’ main language was Galician. They normally
have a strong Spanish national identity and consider Spanish as the
language that will allow them to study and work both inside and
outside Galicia.
Galician speakers
The Galician speakers can be subdivided into two further groups:
the monolingual Galicians, those who live in rural areas and who
have problems speaking Spanish and those who choose to speak
Galician all the time even though they are fully bilingual. The first
are normally older people who have never left their place of origin
and have problems communicating in Spanish. Whichever their
attitude is, they are less likely to speak Spanish. The latter are on
the opposite side of the scale, i.e. younger generations with higher
levels of education and living in cities or larger urban centres. They
may have been brought up in Spanish or Galician, but have a strong
Galician identity, can speak Spanish but prefer and choose to use
normativo Galician (the standardised official variety) perfectly and
raise their children in Galician. They would also opt for more
teaching hours in Galician at school. Their choice of Galician over
Spanish typically reflects their political ideology. This group is a good
example of how changes in social values affect the attitudes and
intergroup relations. As Galician is used by intellectuals and socially
empowered individuals, the social value of the language is increased
in this group and so is its prestige. Not all varieties of Galician are
equally appreciated. Loureiro-Rodriguez, Boggess and Goldsmith
(2013) found significant differences in Galician high school students’
attitudes towards standard Galician, non-standard Galician and
Spanish. They particularly disliked non-standard Galician and a
Galician accent in Spanish.
Bilingual speakers
The bilingual group is the largest and it includes different socio-
cultural classes, age groups and geographical areas. They use
Galician or Spanish depending on the situation and context.
Normally if an interlocutor uses either, the bilingual will answer in
the same language. O'Rourke’s (2005, 2006) study of 725 Galician
university students in Vigo showed that positive attitudes towards
Galician were strongly linked to Galician national sentiment and that
these contributed to changes in the language behaviours of younger
users of Galician.
3. SECOND AND FOREIGN LANGUAGES IN GALICIA
As in the rest of Spain, students study a first foreign language in
primary education, typically English, and can choose a second
foreign language (French, Portuguese or German) at secondary
level. French is the preferred option for this second foreign
language.
Older generations may have received most of their schooling
in Spanish with Galician as an obligatory subject throughout their
primary and secondary education. Education curricula before the
nineties included the study of foreign languages at ages ranging
from 8 to 10 years old.
The first foreign language is, to a very wide extent, English.
In fact, in 2009 the Galician government introduced a “plurilingual
education” CLIL project similar to those in Madrid or Andalucía, in
which 144 Primary and Secondary schools use English (80% of all
the schools), French (15%) or Portuguese (5%) as one of their
languages of instruction in a third of their school hours (in subjects
such as art, mathematics, music, biology, geology and physical
education). This programme wants to make most Galician schools
“plurilingual”. This issue has become quite controversial, as those
who want more teaching hours in Galician claim it will reduce them.
Concerns have also been voiced about the negative effects of CLIL
on academic performance. González Gándara’s (2015) study of
academic grades of 747 pupils from 13 primary schools in Galicia
over a two-year period showed that “there were no negative effects
on academic performance caused by CLIL” (2015: 13).
A study by Dewaele (2012) on variation in self-perceived
proficiency in Spanish, Galician, English and French among 122
Galician students (i.e. the sample on which the current study is
based) showed that they felt maximally proficient in Spanish,
somewhat less so in Galician, and less still in English and French.
Early Spanish-Galician bilinguals scored significantly higher than the
participants who had been brought up monolingually on
comprehension and writing in Galician and in speaking, reading and
writing in French. The language(s) of upbringing had no effect on
self-perceived proficiency in Spanish nor English, nor on speaking
and reading Galician. Participants who had had their education in
bilingual Spanish-Galician schools felt significantly more proficient
in Galician compared to those who had gone to monolingual schools.
Age of onset of acquisition was found to have an effect for Galician,
English and French, with an early start being linked to high level of
proficiency. Participants with more positive attitudes towards
Galician, English and French (but not Spanish) reported significantly
higher levels of proficiency. Participants who had stayed in French-
or English-speaking countries or watched television programmes
regularly in these languages rated their proficiency in these two
languages significantly higher than those who had not been abroad
on a number of skills. No gender differences emerged, but older
participants were found to score lower on oral self-perceived
proficiency in Galician, English and French but not in Spanish.
4. LANGUAGE ATTITUDES
Gardner (1985) defined attitude as “an evaluative reaction to some
referent or attitude object, inferred on the basis of the individual
beliefs or opinions about the referent” (1985: 9). Attitudes are at
the core of his model, yet they are not attitudes towards a particular
language but rather attitudes towards its speakers and towards
speaking that language. As Dörnyei, Cziser and Németh (2006) have
shown, attitudes towards various languages are linked to
macrocontextual and geopolitical factors (2006: 423).
Lasagabaster (2001) has shown that the knowledge of
previous languages affects attitudes towards subsequent foreign
languages. In his study on Basque university students with Basque
L1, Spanish L1 and bilingual speakers, he found that the different
first languages affected not only attitudes towards Spanish and
Basque (the two official languages in the Basque Autonomous
Community) but also towards English (the foreign language), which
had been learned in instructed settings. Further studies in the same
context showed that Basque students’ most positive attitudes were
towards English and their own L1 (Basque or Spanish) (Ibarraran,
Lasagabaster and Sierra 2007; Lasagabaster 2004, 2005).
A study by Huguet, Lapresta and Madariaga (2008) on
language attitudes towards regional and foreign languages in three
Spanish regions (Huesca, Teruel and Zaragoza) in Aragon showed
that school children have, on average, the most positive attitudes
towards Spanish, followed by Aragonese, English, French and
Catalan (which is spoken in the eastern fringe of the province).
Further analysis showed that attitudes towards Aragonese and
English were similar across the three regions, but that Catalan and
French were more popular in the east while participants had more
positive attitudes towards Spanish in the Teruel region (2008: 286).
Age was not related to language attitudes. Participants who
attended Catalan classes had more positive attitudes towards that
language. The social status of the family had little effect on
attitudes, except on English, which were more positive among
children from higher social status families. The participants’ home
language had no effect on their attitudes towards Aragonese,
English and French, but it did have an effect on attitudes towards
Spanish and Catalan. Children from bilingual homes scored lower on
attitudes towards Spanish than those from monolingual Spanish
homes and higher on their attitudes towards Catalan (2008: 287).
Dewaele (2005) found a similar pattern in attitudes towards
foreign languages among Flemish high school students: attitudes
towards English were much more positive than those towards
French. Participants with a strong regional identity (i.e. Flemish)
displayed more negative attitudes towards French than participants
with a stronger national identity (Belgian). The more negative
attitude towards French was attributed to the tense socio-political
relations between the Dutch and French-speaking communities in
Belgium while English is generally perceived to be a ‘cool’ lingua
franca. This departure point could be used as a hypothesis of what
occurs in Galicia.
The effect of age of onset of learning on language attitudes
and motivation has been studied in a number of studies. The early
introduction of English (at the age of 4) seems to have exerted a
positive influence on Basque students’ attitudes (Cenoz 2001; Cenoz
& Gorter 2005, 2017). However, Tragant (2006) reported than
Catalan students who had started learning English at 11 had more
positive attitudes towards the language than participants who had
started at age 8. Learners who had had more hours of exposure to
English also held more positive attitudes (Tragant & Muñoz 2000).
In a more decontextualised study of multilinguals’ perceptions
and attitudes towards their languages, Dewaele (2010a, b) found
that languages that have been acquired later in life typically score
lower on affective dimensions such as perceived emotionality,
richness, colourfulness, warmth but not necessarily on more
instrumental dimensions such as perceived usefulness. The use of
languages acquired later in life typically elicits higher levels of
foreign language anxiety (Dewaele 2010a).
5. MULTICOMPETENCE
Vivian Cook pointed out that learning a new language has
consequences beyond the linguistic realm. The L2 user gains
multicompetence which “involves the whole mind of the speaker,
not simply their first language (L1) or their second. It assumes that
someone who knows two or more languages is a different person
from a monolingual and so needs to be looked at in their own right
rather than as a deficient monolingual.” (2012: 1). Dewaele and
Pavlenko (2003) highlighted the dynamic nature of an individual's
multicompetence. It is constantly evolving through use and
exposure to different languages. As a consequence, we posited that
no two individuals can have perfectly isomorphic multicompetence.
Comparing languages in contact in the multilingual’s mind with
liquid paint on a canvas, the authors argued that: “two liquid colours
that blend unevenly, i.e. some areas will take on the new colour
resulting from the mixing, but other areas will retain the original
colour while still other may look like the new colour, but a closer
look may reveal a slightly different hue according to the viewer's
angle” (2003: 137). In other words, the languages in the mind of
the multilingual constitute a highly complex system in a state of
flux, as new linguistic input can cause widespread change with some
parts of the system remaining unaffected (Dewaele & Pavlenko
2003).
6. METHOD
6.1 Participants
The sample consists of 92 women and 30 men (aged 15-65, mean
age = 34) who were students at the Escuela Oficial de Idiomas in La
Coruña (Galicia, Spain). As such they cannot be seen as a
representative sample of the Galician population, because all had
voluntarily enrolled in the language school and are therefore
expected to have more favourable attitudes towards foreign
languages than the general population. However, there is no reason
to believe that their attitudes towards the local languages would
differ from other inhabitants of the region of La Coruña. Forty-eight
participants grew up with Spanish as their L1, 17 grew up with
Galician as their L1, and the remaining 57 grew up with both Spanish
and Galician from birth. The sample consists of 3 trilinguals, 97
quadrilinguals, 20 pentalinguals, and 2 sextalinguals. All had studied
-or were studying- French and English at secondary school, and
were studying French. A majority (n = 81) had spent some time in
an English-speaking country and 30 watched an English programme
on television at least once a week. Similarly, a large group (n = 84)
had spent some time in France and 49 watched a French programme
on television at least once a week.
Twelve participants had studied another Romance language
(Portuguese or Catalan) and 10 had studied another Germanic
language (German).
The mean Age of Onset of Acquisition (AOA) of learning of Spanish
was 1.5 years (SD = 2.1), it was 5.5 years for Galician (SD = 8.5),
12.3 years for English (SD = 12.0) and 18.2 years for French (SD =
10.1).
A look at the distribution of AOA shows an important shift
across languages. A majority of participants had started with
Spanish before age 3 (87.6%) compared to 60.9% for Galician,
5.6% for English and only 1.9% for French.
The largest proportion of participants (52%) had started
English between the age of 8 and 12. This bulge fell in the next AOA
bracket for French, where 36.8% started between the age of 13 and
18 and another 31.1% started learning French after their secondary
education (see table 1)
AOA
Spanish
Galician
English
French
N
N
%
N
N
%
Birth
52
37
32.2
0
0
0.0
1-3
54
33
28.7
7
2
1.9
4-7
12
18
15.7
24
1
0.9
8-12
3
12
10.4
64
31
29.2
13-18
0
7
6.1
15
39
36.8
19+
0
8
7.0
12
33
31.1
TOTAL
121
115
100
122
106
100
Table 1: Distribution of participants according to AOA brackets for the
different languages
Seventy participants had had – or were having – their
secondary education in Spanish-medium school, 42 had been– or
were- in bilingual Galician-Spanish schools.
Participants rated their proficiency levels in speaking,
comprehending, reading and writing on a 4-point Likert scale. The
highest average score was for Spanish (mean = 3.96), followed by
Galician (mean = 3.46), English (mean = 2.54), and French (mean
= 2.23).
6.2 The research instrument
The study received ethical approval at the first author’s research
institution. Attitudes towards the different languages were
measured through scales consisting of 10 items (from Lasagabaster
2007, who based it on Baker 1992) with 4-point Likert scales,
ranging from “totally agree to “totally disagree”. These were the
items: I like hearing X spoken; X should be taught to all pupils in
the region of Galicia; I like speaking X; X is an easy language to
learn; There are not more useful languages to learn than X; I prefer
to be taught in X; Learning X enriches my cultural knowledge; I
would not mind marrying a speaker of X; X is a language worth
learning; If I have children, I would like them to be speakers of X
regardless of other languages they may know.
Cronbach alpha analyses revealed strong internal consistency
reliability for the attitude scales in the different languages: Spanish
(alpha = .87), Galician (alpha = .89), English (alpha = .77) and
French (alpha = .73).
A series of one-sample Kolmogorov-Smirnov tests revealed
that the attitude values for the four languages are normally
distributed (Kolmogorov-Smirnov Z values vary between .8 to 1.2,
all p = ns). As a consequence, parametric statistics were used, with
the exception of self-perceived proficiency values, which were not
normally distributed.
Printed versions of the anonymous questionnaire in English
were collected by Flor Gonzales who was a teacher at the Escuela
Oficial de Idiomas.
6.3 Research design
The following independent variables were selected in the present
design: 1) self-perceived proficiency; 2) type of upbringing
(monolingual or bilingual); 3) monolingual vs bilingual schooling; 4)
age of onset of learning the language; 5) exposure to foreign
languages through television and visits to the country; 6) gender;
7) and age. Sample sizes may vary across the analyses because
some participants did not provide data for all the dependent
variables.
Hypotheses
1) Attitudes towards the four languages will differ.
2) Higher levels of self-perceived proficiency will be linked to more
positive attitudes in all languages.
3) Bilinguals from birth (Spanish/Galician) will have more
moderated attitudes towards both languages.
4) Monolingual versus bilingual schooling will have an effect on
attitudes towards the two local languages but not the foreign
languages.
5) Independent variables of a more general nature, such as Age of
onset of acquisition (AoA), exposure to the languages, could equally
affect the local and the foreign languages.
6) Gender and age may affect language attitudes towards the local
languages.
7) Attitudes towards the four languages will be connected.
Analysis
Attitudes were most positive towards Spanish, followed by English,
French, and finally Galician (see figure 1). A series of paired t-tests
revealed that the attitudes towards Spanish were significantly
higher than for Galician (t (123) = -6.7, p < .0001). The attitudes
towards English were also significantly more favourable than those
towards French (t (125) = 3.9, p < .0001). No difference existed
between attitudes towards Galician and French (t (123) = -0.74, p
= ns).
Figure 1: Attitudes towards the four languages
We hypothesised that participants with more positive
attitudes towards a language would rate their proficiency higher in
that language. A Spearman rank correlation analysis revealed a
highly significant positive relationship between attitudes to Galician,
English and French and self-perceived proficiency in the four skills
in these languages (table 1). However, no such link existed between
attitudes towards Spanish and self-perceived proficiency in that
language.
Spanish
Galician
English
French
Speak
0.05
0.47***
0.41***
0.38***
Comprehend
-0.01
0.42***
0.40***
0.34***
Read
-0.04
0.41***
0.35***
0.41***
Write
0.00
0.45***
0.43***
0.33***
*** p < .0001
Table 1: The relationship between language attitude and self-perceived
proficiency (Spearman Rho)
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
Spanish Galician English French
Attitude
Participants who grew up in bilingual (Spanish/Galician)
families had significantly more positive attitudes towards Galician (t
(115.3) = -2.0, p < .046) and more negative attitudes towards
Spanish (t (115.3) = 2.1, p < .036) compared to participants who
grew up in monolingual families. There was no significant difference
between both groups in their attitudes neither towards French nor
towards English. As the group of participants in monolingual
families included both Galician and Spanish-speaking families, we
decided to dig a little bit deeper by examining the effect of the first
language(s) of participants on their attitudes towards their
languages. A multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) indicated
a significant effect: Wilks’ lambda = 0.71, F (8, 224) = 4.83, p <
0.001, η2 = 0.16. A closer look at between-subject effects showed
a significant effect of first language(s) on attitudes towards Galician
(F = 10.9, p < .0001) and Spanish (F = 10.7, p < .0001), but not
on English (F = 0.9, p = ns) nor French (F = 0.7, p = ns).
As expected, the scores for both Galician and Spanish of the
bilinguals from birth were halfway between scores those who had
been brought up in one language only. It is striking also that the
attitudes towards Galician of the Spanish monolinguals were
considerably lower than that of the Galician monolinguals towards
Spanish.
The type of schooling turned out to have no effect on
language attitudes: participants who went to monolingual or
bilingual schools had similar attitudes towards Galician (t (120) = -
1.0, p = ns), towards Spanish (t (117) = 1.4, p = ns), English (t
(119) = 1.3, p = ns), and French (t (119) = 0, p = ns).
Age of onset of acquisition correlated negatively with
attitudes towards Galician (r = -.273, p < .003), in other words,
those who had started with Galician at a younger age had more
positive attitudes towards that language. No such relationship
emerged between AoA for Spanish (r = -.18, p = ns), nor English (r
= -.12, p = ns), nor French (r = .13, p = ns).
Participants who had more exposure to English through
television and film had significantly more positive attitudes towards
that language (r (122) = .383, p < .0001). The same pattern
emerged for French (r (122) = .347, p < .0001).
The 83 participants who had spent some time in an English-
speaking country also had more positive attitudes towards English
(mean = 29.6) compared to the 43 participants who had not been
abroad (t (122) = 2.89, p < .005) (mean = 26.6). Surprisingly, no
such pattern was found for French where the 86 participants who
had spent some time there had no more favourable attitudes
towards French (mean = 26.9) compared to the 40 participants who
had not been in France (t (122) = 0.92, p = ns) (mean = 26.1).
Gender was not found to have any significant effect on
attitudes towards the various languages. Male and female
participants did not differ in their attitudes towards Galician (t (122)
= -.114, p = ns), Spanish (t (122) = 1.0, p = ns), English (t (122)
= -1.1, p = ns), nor French (t (122) = -.442, p = ns).
Age was correlated negatively with attitudes towards Galician
(r (122) = -.29, p < .001) but positively with Spanish (r (122) =
.20, p < .035). No significant relationships emerged between age
and attitudes towards English (r = -.06, p = ns), nor French (r = -
.16, p = ns). In order to see more clearly where the age differences
were situated in the attitudes towards the local languages, we
divided our sample in three groups: the young group (aged 16-21,
n = 17), the medium group (22-47, n = 80), and the older group
(48-65, n = 19). An ANOVA revealed a significant effect of age
group on attitudes towards Galician (df = 2, F = 4.3, p < 0.015, η2
= .07) and a non-significant effect on Spanish (df = 2, F = 1.8, p =
ns). A Scheffé post-hoc analysis showed that the attitudes of the
older group towards Galician were significantly less positive (p <
.01) that those of the two younger groups (see figure 2).
Figure 2: Differences in attitude towards Galician and Spanish
among three age groups
0
10
20
30
40
16-21 22-47 48-65
Attitude
Age group
Galician
Spanish
Finally, we wondered whether attitudes towards the various
languages would be connected. A Pearson correlation analysis
revealed significant positive correlations between attitudes towards
Galician and attitudes towards French (r = .23, p < .01), between
attitudes towards Spanish and attitudes towards English (r = .36, p
< .0001) and French (r = .25, p < .006). There was also a
significant relationship between attitudes toward French and English
(r = .40, p < .0001). Interestingly, no relationship emerged
between attitudes towards Galician and Spanish (r = -.10, p = ns).
7. DISCUSSION
The findings in the present study mirror to a certain extent
those for variation in self-perceived proficiency on the same
population (Dewaele 2012). Indeed, attitudes, just as proficiency
levels, were highest for Spanish and significantly lower for English
and French. Only the position for Galician is different: while
participants rated their proficiency in Galician half-way between
Spanish and the two foreign languages, their attitudes towards
Galician are the least positive of the four languages. The most
positive attitudes towards Spanish reflect the pattern uncovered in
Aragon for Spanish and Aragonese (Huguet, Lapresta & Madariaga
2008). The relatively low score for Galician also resonates with the
following observation by O’Rourke (2018): “While official language
policies in Galicia since the 1980s have increased the potential for
language use through bilingual educational policies, these policies
have failed to convert the large pool of potential speakers amongst
a younger generation of Galicians into active language users” (2018:
407).
Sources of variation in attitudes towards to the four
languages turned out to be quite different (see table 2 for an
overview).
Independent variable
Spanish
Galician
English
French
Proficiency
ns
***
***
***
Early bilingualism
*
*
ns
ns
Schooling
ns
ns
ns
ns
AoA
ns
**
ns
ns
Exposure to media
NA
NA
***
***
Lived abroad
NA
NA
**
ns
Gender
ns
ns
ns
ns
Age
*
**
ns
ns
NA: not applicable, ns: not significant, * p < .05, ** p < .01, *** p < .001
Table 2: Overview of the relationships between independent variables
and attitudes towards the four languages
Participants who were brought up bilingually in Spanish and
Galician had more nuanced attitudes towards these two languages
compared to those with monolingual upbringings. This was the
same pattern that Huguet, Lapresta and Madariaga (2008) found in
Aragon. However, the language(s) of upbringing had no effect on
French or English. Participants who had had their education in
bilingual Spanish-Galician schools did not differ in their language
attitudes compared to those who had gone to monolingual schools.
Participants with more positive attitudes towards Galician,
English and French rated their self-perceived proficiency in the four
skills in these languages higher. No such relationship was found for
Spanish. This could be explained by the fact that both self-perceived
proficiency in Spanish and attitudes towards that language were
near ceiling. It is likely that a dominant and very frequently used
language rules the hearts and minds of users, and that the language
therefore occupies a unique position. Little investment is needed to
maintain proficiency and positive attitudes in the dominant
language. However, given the possibility of not using Galician,
English and French in Galicia, participants need to make a conscious
effort to attain a high level of proficiency in the language, and a
positive attitude towards these languages will thus be linked to a
higher level of (self-perceived) proficiency (cf. Gardner 1985),
though not necessarily a higher frequency of use (cf. O'Rourke
2006).
Age of onset of acquisition was only found to have an effect
on attitudes towards Galician, with younger starters displaying more
positive attitudes towards that language.
The quantity of exposure to foreign languages through
television and film was linked to more positive attitudes towards
these languages. This is obviously not a direct cause-effect
relationship, as more positive attitudes towards French or English
might be the reason why participants would tune in to these
channels rather than channels in the local languages. The same
argument applies to the link between stay abroad and attitudes
towards the foreign languages. Those who had stayed in English-
speaking countries displayed more positive attitudes towards the
language, but that was not the case for French. It is possible that
participants had actually been discouraged by negative feedback by
French speakers on their performance (Dewaele 2010b). Indeed,
English speakers seem to have a less normative view on accuracy
of expression, while the French might react more strongly to non-
target-like features.
While gender was not linked to attitudes towards the local and
not the foreign languages, participants’ age was correlated with
attitudes towards the local languages. A closer look at three age
groups revealed that the more favourable attitudes towards Spanish
and the less favourable attitudes towards Galician were most
pronounced in the oldest group of participants, reflecting the
findings in O'Rourke’s (2001, 2005, 2006). This difference might be
linked to the finding in Dewaele (2012) that the older participants
felt significantly less proficient in oral Galician and more proficient
in Spanish. In that case it could be argued that older participants’
lack of proficiency in the language caused them to have less
favourable attitudes towards Galician (which seems to be a universal
phenomenon, i.e. unknown is unloved), rather than an active dislike
of the language. Older participants had less schooling in Galician
and could only study it formally as one more subject in their
curricula, whereas younger participants received bilingual education
with more teaching hours in Galician than previous generations,
thus less proficiency being directly linked to less favourable
attitudes.
Participants felt more proficient in is Spanish, which is not
surprising as it is the language to which they are mostly exposed to,
and it is also the language that is mostly used. Galician is used by a
significant percentage of participants, but mostly by bilinguals and
not as their only language of everyday use. An important number of
participants were what was previously denominated “monolingual
speakers”, i.e. those who had been brought up in either language/s
but who have a strong Galician identity and choose to make Galician
their everyday language, the language in which they were brought
up is not a significant variable. The results might have been different
if the research had been conducted on a wider sample of population.
However, as could be expected, education in a bi- or multilingual
school boosts proficiency in all languages (Dewaele 2012) and
Basque (Cenoz & Gorter 2017), but surprisingly, not the attitudes
towards that language. It is equally important to remember that our
participants’ attitudes towards the foreign languages might not be
shared by the rest of the Galician population. Since our participants
were enrolled in foreign language courses, one might expect that
their attitudes towards these languages were substantially more
positive than that of the general population in Galicia.
Finally, attitudes towards the four languages were
significantly positively correlated, with the exception of the
relationship between Galician and Spanish. This provides evidence
that with the exception of the default language (Spanish), language
learners have broadly similar positive attitudes towards all the lesser
used or foreign languages. This could be a reflection of their unique
multicompetence (Cook 2012; Dewaele 2016), i.e. the appreciation
of the uniqueness and beauty of the languages they might not yet
fully master.
8. CONCLUSION
The present study investigated the sources of individual differences
in the attitudes of 125 Galician multilinguals towards Galician,
Spanish, English and French. Patterns not only diverged between
the “local languages”, Galician and Spanish, but also between the
two foreign languages, English and French. Self-perceived
proficiency, type of upbringing, age of onset of learning, language
exposure through television, visits to the foreign country and age
had different (or null) effects on attitudes towards the four
languages. With the exception of the relationship between Galician
and Spanish, positive relationships existed between attitudes
towards the other languages. This confirms previous findings that
language attitudes are linked to a wide range of micro and
macrocontextual and geopolitical factors and well as unique learner-
internal sociobiographical variables and linguistic profiles (Dewaele
2010b; Dörnyei et al. 2006; Huguet et al. 2008; Lasagabaster
2001).
Acknowledgment
We would like to thank Flor Gonzales for collecting the data and the
anonymous reviewers for their excellent comments.
NOTES
1 The term “regions” refers to the Comunidades Autónomas, the geopolitical
territories into which Spain is divided.
2 http://www.consellodacultura.org/arquivos/cdsg/loia/socio.php?idioma=2&id=
5#h742
3 This is the most recent linguistic law (Decreto 79/2010 from 20th May 2010)
which regulates the languages used in non-university education levels.
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