Menorca local dialect heritage initiative

The Menorca Island Council initiated a process to declare the local dialect and the ‘article salat’ as Immaterial Cultural Heritage. A philological report commissioned for this purpose argued that standard Catalan presents a threat of ‘linguistic homogenization’ to the local way of speaking.

The initiative faced political criticism from groups such as Més per Menorca and PSOE Menorca, with the latter suggesting the move could serve as a political tool rather than addressing the declining social use of Catalan.

Subsequently, the initiative encountered legal challenges. The association Fem-ho en Català filed an administrative complaint alleging irregularities regarding the contracts used to justify the heritage declaration. The complaint claims the reports were commissioned from a former official lacking philological or linguistic university degrees and alleges that the author did not obtain the required authorization to perform work outside of municipal duties. The association is calling for an investigation into these matters, citing public sector contract laws regarding technical solvency.