Just to clarify: the package was from the Real Academia de Cultura
Valenciana, not from what I said below.
Also, Millie pointed out some of the text in Wikipedia, which does not
support Valencian as a separate language. In fact the Wikipedia article
discusses the issue in detail:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valencian
On Fri, 22 Sep 2006, Rebecca S. Guenther wrote:
> Dear Havard:
>
> It seems we need to have a more complete rationale for this decision,
> given what they have done to try to get this approved.
>
> I received a large package from l'Academia Valenciana de la Llengua with
> much supporting evidence-- but in the end it still doesn't seem to meet
> the criteria. I think we will need to prepare something with more
> details. Also, I would want to send a written letter to the people who
> sent me the package at that academy (no email was included).
>
> Here is some analysis that Millie did after we looked at the contents of
> the package:
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
> Rebecca:
>
> I found some information of interest on the Web relating to the
> issue of Catalan/Valencian. Apparently the official body in change of
> language matters for Valencia is the Academia Valenciana de la
> Llengua. The members of this body (according to Wikipedia) are appointed
> by the local government so the opinion of the body could change according
> to political policies and the political party in control.
> Of particular interest is a document that was issued by the
> Academia Valenciana de la Llengua in February 2005. I have attached a
> printout of portions of the document. The Academia recognizes
> "Valencian" as the legal and official designation of the local language,
> but recognizes that other names are also used.
> The following paragraphs are rough translations of the marked
> portions of the document.
>
> 1) As is known, one sector of Valencian society considers that the
> language of the Valencians is the same as the language that is spoken in
> other parts of the former Kingdom of Aragon, while another sector
> considers that it is a different language.
>
> 2) The language of the Valencians, from the point of view of philology, is
> also the language that is shared by the communities of Catalonia, the
> Balearic Islands and Andorra. The different speech forms of these
> territories constitute a single language, that is to say a "linguistic
> system".
>
> The Academia recognizes that there are certain characteristics of
> the language of Valencia that differ from the language used in other
> places. However, it compares this situation to the usage of Portuguese in
> Portugal and Brazil or the usage of English in various countries.
>
> I noticed that the spelling in this document conforms to certain
> "Catalan" usage. The dictionary of the Real Academia de Cultura
> Valenciana which you provided uses a different spelling practice,
> especially regarding the use of "ll" in words for collection,
> collaboration, etc.
>
> Since the Academia Valenciana de la Llengua is the official body
> on language matters, I think we should follow its view that there is one
> language used in Valencia, Catalonia and the Balearic Islands. We
> currently call that language "Catalan" and "Valencian" could be added as
> another name for the same language.
>
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Havard: I'll send you the mail address to send such a letter.
>
> Rebecca
>
> On Tue, 19 Sep 2006, [iso-8859-1] Håvard Hjulstad wrote:
>
> > Dear Sirs,
> >
> > It seems that we may not have properly informed you about the following:
> > ISO 639 RAs Joint Advisory Committee (JAC) has decided not to encode
> > Valencian in ISO 639-2 (or in ISO 639-3, which will be published
> > soon).
> >
> > Best regards,
> > Håvard Hjulstad
> > (secretary of ISO 639 RAs-JAC)
> >
> > --------------------
> > Håvard Hjulstad
> > Standard Norge / Standards Norway
> > direkte tel / direct tel: (+47) 67838645
> > mailto:[log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>
> > http://www.standard.no/ <http://www.standard.no/>
> > --------------------
> >
> >
>
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