Menorca linguistic heritage initiative faces legal challenges

Legal challenges have emerged regarding an initiative by Menorca councillor Joan Pons Torres to declare the Menorquí dialect and salt article as Immaterial Cultural Heritage of Menorca (BICIM). The initiative aims to protect the dialect from the influence of standard Catalan.

An administrative complaint has been filed by the association Fem-ho en Català following reports that the contracts used to justify the declaration may be null and void. The complaint alleges that the reports were commissioned from Sili Pons Sabater, a former official without philological or linguistic university degrees. Furthermore, it is reported that the municipal administration has certified that the author of the reports did not seek or receive the required authorization for compatibility to perform work outside her municipal duties.

The association is calling for an investigation into these irregularities, citing the public sector contract law, which mandates technical solvency and proper authorization for such contracts. The reports in question have resulted in payments totaling 8,125 euros.