Language Rights and Linguistic Groups: From International Law to Domestic Legal Protection (The Case of Spain)

In this chapter, we address the relationship between international law and domestic legislation to protect language rights and groups speaking sub-state’s languages. In the first part, the contribution of international and European instances is analyzed through the identification of three great models of protection applicable to the idiomatic field: the human rights model, the protection of linguistic minorities and the protection of linguistic diversity, highlighting their respective reception by the Spanish State. In the second part, after the definition of the general characteristics of the protection of language rights and linguistic groups in Spain, the different legal systems applicable to the Catalan language in four regions and the current legislation and its jurisprudential application are compared from the perspective of the normalization aim of the local language. Finally, the recent jurisprudence of the Constitutional Court on the of languages in the Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006 and its limitative impact on the language policies aimed at protecting and promoting the local language is analyzed.

Keywords: Constitutional jurisdiction, International law, Language rights, Linguistic groups, Official status.