The Valencian Academy of Language rejects changing Valencia for the invention of 'Valéncia' as PP and Vox want

BarcelonaThe battle for the language has returned to the forefront in the Valencian Country with the PP government with the support of Vox, but also in the municipal government of the capital city, where the mayor María José Catalá has waged a war against Catalan and the toponym of her city. The first year of her term already announced that she wanted to Castilianize València and its toponym to include a bilingual designation with Valencia in Spanish and a secessionist Valencian version, Valéncia, with the endorsement of Vox and anti-Catalanist groups; last July the City Council approved it, sending the proposal to the Valencian government; and this Friday the Valencian Academy of Language (AVL) has issued a harsh report in which it rejects the change, as reported by Levante and confirmed by ARA.

The regulatory body for Catalan in the Valencian Country, which collaborates with the Institute of Catalan Studies, has made it clear that the mayor's invention has no basis. 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, consulted sources warn that the fine print cannot be made public. The decision follows the same line as in December 2016 when the City Council, then led by Compromís, normalized the toponym in Catalan after four decades of democracy. At that time, the PP abstained from the Catalanization, but now, in very low electoral hours, it is once again raising the linguistic battle.

The Generalitat has the competence to change toponymy and the AVL has made the mandatory report. However, the political decision could ignore the linguistic criterion, in the same way that it has done with the recent attack on the language perpetrated in the education system with the elimination from the school curriculum of authors of Catalan literature who are not natives of the Valencian Country, i.e., with the exclusion of all Catalan and Balearic writers. Faced with this offensive, the AVL already stated in a statement its "concern that Valencian and Valencian literature may be perceived as isolated and decontextualized". The intention of the popular Valencian executive of Juanfran Pérez Llorca is to separate the Valencian variant from the Catalan language, in the same way that the City Council of València, while promoting Spanish in all areas and problematizing teaching in Valencian with referendums in which there is a victory for Catalan.

Mayor Catalá commissioned a tailor-made report from the philologist and AVL member Aberlard Saragossà, a supporter of the form Valéncia, despite being in the absolute minority. Basically, only anti-Catalanist entities such as Lo Rat Penat or the Real Acadèmia de Cultura Valenciana [sic] support him, who argue that Valencian is a different language from Catalan, which Saragossà does not argue. Vox has defended through its leader in the Valencian Courts, José María Llanos, "strangling the AVL" until it "disappears", while President Pérez Llorca has played it safe, although he has publicly defended that he believes in the institution, despite the budget cut. The PSPV-PSOE and Compromís have vehemently opposed the name change of València and have argued that, if they return to govern, València will once again be València.