Language policies of Francoist Spain

rdf:langString Language policies of Francoist Spain

rdf:langString During the dictatorship of Francisco Franco from 1939 to 1975, policies were implemented in an attempt to increase the dominance of the Spanish language, also known as Castilian, over the other languages of Spain. Franco's regime had Spanish nationalism as one of its bases. Under his dictatorship, the Spanish language was declared Spain's only official language. The use of other languages in the administration was either banned, discouraged or frowned upon depending on the particular circumstances and timing, while the use of non-Castilian names for newborns was forbidden in 1938, except for foreigners. The situation evolved from the harshest years of the immediate afterwar (especially the 1940s, also the 1950s) to the relative tolerance of the last years (late 1960s and early 1970s); Franco died in 1975, and his successor Juan Carlos of Spain began the Spanish transition to democracy.