Abstract

This research is an ethnographic exploration of linguistic behaviors of Castilian speakers in Catalonia, in Northern Spain. It examines, after five months of fieldwork in Barcelona, the factors that influence the learning process and the use of Catalan language. This was done through a case study with a Castilian immigrant family living in Santa Coloma de Gramenet With the collected data, the discourse of the informants toward language and their linguistic behaviors is analyzed. The emphasis is placed on the ideology of language and its relationship with identity. It addresses some current social and linguistic issues, and put them in the actual political and historical context.