Abstract
This chapter uses a sociolinguistic and glottopolitical approach to examine the Romance languages in Spain. The theoretical framework positions language conflict as an analytical instrument, to the extent that the current language distribution is considered not to be a result of consensus but one of control by authority that gives way to a four-tier linguistic hierarchy: official language, co-official languages, protected languages and unprotected languages. A critical evaluation of the situation for each language in the different territories in which they are spoken is presented, and the chapter concludes with a brief discussion of the emergence of the minority language “new speaker”, a social (and political) subject who, with their praxis, is responsible for the future of some of these languages.
