The legal-constitutional conflict of the Spanish language

Abstract

In turbulent times, the protection of language becomes necessary and obligatory, and when the State does not implement the constitutional and moral mandate out of apathy or because it is not politically correct, problems arise and often the remedy does not make it possible to repair the damage caused to society. The Spanish Constitution of 1978 improved the constitutional text of the Second Republic in linguistic matters, but it was not brave enough to deal with the issue with the identity and rigour that was expected in the long term. Now, more than ever, due to nationalist and pro-independence currents, and in view of the most recent jurisprudence and political events, it is observed that the Spanish language is being attacked with manifest hatred and rancour by some autonomous governments, with the aim of reducing the teaching load in Spanish and sanctioning the legitimate use of the Spanish language by public institutions. This is not the spirit of the Constitution, nor the democratic civic-mindedness that politicians and legislators should display, which is why the study of the matter is more than necessary at this time in order to encourage the enactment of a law to protect the Spanish language at all levels and to respect linguistic variety on the basis of reciprocity, in order to live in coexistence within the constitutional framework of 1978.