The Valencian Academy of Language rejects changing Valencia to the PP and Vox invention of 'Valéncia'

BarcelonaThe battle over language has resurfaced in the Valencian Community under the PP government, supported by Vox, but also in the city council of the capital, where Mayor María José Catalá has launched a campaign against the Catalan language and the city's name. This marks the first year of her term. He already announced that he wanted to Castilianize Valencia and its toponym to include a bilingual name with Valencia in Castilian Spanish and a secessionist Valencian version, Valencia, with the support of Vox and anti-Catalan groups; and in July of last year the City Council He approved it, sending the proposal to the Valencian government.However, this Friday the Valencian Academy of Language (AVL) issued a harsh report rejecting the change, according to reports. Levant And the ARA has confirmed it.

The regulatory body for Catalan in the Valencian Country, which collaborates with the Institut d'Estudis Catalans, has made it clear that the mayor's claim is completely unfounded. The institution's report, adopted by "an overwhelming majority," will be sent this Monday to the General Directorate of Local Administration of the Generalitat. Until then, the sources consulted warn that the fine print cannot be made public. ValenciaThe decision follows the same line as the one made in December 2016 when it gave the green light to the City Council, then controlled by Compromís, for the full normalization of the toponym in Catalan after four decades of democracy. At that time, the PP abstained from voting on Catalanization, but now, in a time of very low electoral support, it is once again raising the language battle.

The Generalitat has the authority to change toponymy, and the AVL has produced the required report, which adheres to the written tradition of the city's name, compatible with the evolution of pronunciation towards a and closed. But the political decision could disregard linguistic criteria, just as it has done with the recent attack on the language perpetrated in the education system by removing from the school curriculum the authors of Catalan literature who are not from the Valencian Country, that is, by excluding all Catalan and Balearic writers. Faced with this offensive, the Valencian Language Academy (AVL) already expressed in a statement "its concern that Valencian and Valencian literature may be perceived in an isolated and decontextualized way." The intention of the Valencian government, led by the Popular Party's Juanfran Pérez Llorca, is to separate the Valencian variant from the Catalan language, just as the Valencia City Council is doing, while simultaneously favoring Spanish in all areas and problematizing Valencian-language education with referendums in which In the end, there is a victory for the Catalan..

Mayor Catalá commissioned a tailor-made report from philologist and AVL member Aberlard Saragossà, a supporter of the form ValenciaDespite being in the absolute minority. Basically, it only receives support from anti-Catalan entities such as Lo Rat Penat or the Royal Academy of Valencian Culture [sic], which claims that Valencian is a different language from Catalan, something Saragossà does not maintain. In fact, after the report's findings were published in various media outlets, the spokesperson for the Valencian municipal government of the PP and Vox, Juan Carlos Caballero, issued a statement criticizing the AVL for having "missed" a "historic opportunity to get closer to linguistic reality" and reproaching it for "a lack of institutional loyalty." Lamenting having learned the news through the press, he said that this step distances it from the Valencian spoken in the city and from the "real pronunciation."

Vox, through its leader in the Valencian Parliament, José María Llanos, has advocated "strangling the AVL" until it "disappears," while President Pérez Llorca has remained neutral, although he has publicly defended his belief in the institution, despite the budget cuts. The PSPV-PSOE and Compromís parties have strongly opposed the name change of València and have maintained that, if they return to power, València will once again be València.