Un estudio sociolingüístico sobre el catalán : Los efectos de la inmersión lingüística

This thesis analyzes the current state of the language immersion program in Catalonia after its implementation 30 years ago, and after the immigration wave of the last decade. The language immersion is a method of teaching a second language using a language of instruction different than the students’ mother tongue. The Catalan authorities use this as a method for preserving Catalan in the society.The aim of this study is to examine the use of Catalan at school and outside of school by students who have followed the language immersion program. Language attitudes play an important role for the maintenance of a minority language, as Catalan. Therefore, in this study, the informants’ attitudes towards Catalan have also been measured. The method applied is a quantitative method where the informants have answered a written questionnaire. The results show a high level of knowledge of Catalan and its frequent use in the classroom. In contrast, outside of school the Castilian language is more often used. The informants seem to have a positive attitude towards Catalan.The conclusion is that the language immersion works satisfactory in a school context but often fails outside of school.

A Quinta Essência de Agustina Bessa-Luís : la saveur aigre-douce de Macao

In the narrative A Quinta Essência Agustina Bessa-Luís proposes an original reading of the Portuguese postcolonial History, by reinvesting the topics of the intercultural relation and the meeting with the Other. In fact, in the troubled context of April 1974, the character of Jose Carlos Pessanha expatriates towards the East, more precisely towards Macao, one of the last Eastern colonies of the Portuguese colonial Empire. However, the characteristic of this tour of rediscovery of the East is that it makes the destiny of a character in search of himself coincide with the questioning of a country still looking for its own identity. Thus, in this voyage backwards into the Luso-Eastern History, the Author draws the portrait of a Nation-Empire split between the desire of incarnating this “genetic superiority of the Occident” and the fascination for the culture of the Other, symbolizing an “excess of otherness” (B. of Sousa Santos) in the Portuguese identity. Macao, will be the territory of an “entre-deux” and an intercultural circulation, as well as an emblematic ground to the expression of the “ambivalent and hybrid” position (colonizing/colonized) of Portugal in the Occident. As a consequence, the uncomfortable “non-inscription” (J. Gil) and the “nomadism” (Deleuze/Guattari) which characterizes José Carlos Pessanha, would be a reflection of yesterday’s and today’s Lusitanian epopee.