During the dictatorship of Francisco Franco from 1939 to 1975, policies were implemented in an attempt to increase the dominance of the Spanish language over the other languages of Spain. Franco's regime had Spanish nationalism as its main ideological base. 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 names in other languages for newborns was forbidden in 1938, except for foreigners.
The situation evolved from the harshest years of the immediate afterward (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.
In Basque, Catalan, and Galician nationalism in the early 20th century, language was a central topic and defined both groups national identities, specifically the Basque, Catalan, and Galician languages, respectively. Language was more stressed in Catalan and Galician nationalism than Basque nationalism, however, which preferred to stress race and ethnicity over language. Catalan and Galician nationalist communities taught their language and culture to immigrant communities in an effort to assimilate them and preserve their national identity, while Basque nationalists were more opposed to immigration in general.
In politics, Basque, Catalan, and Galician politicians preferred to speak their native language over Spanish to differentiate themselves from Spanish politicians. In 1932, the Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 1932 was implemented and made Catalan the co-official language of Catalonia, together with Spanish.[1] The Statute of Autonomy of the Basque Country of 1936 established Basque as the co-official language of the Basque Country, together with Spanish. Similarly, the Statute of Autonomy of Galicia of 1936 established Galician as the co-official language of Galicia, together with Spanish.[2]
As part of the nationalistic efforts:
In the first decade of Franco's rule, languages other than Castilian were "confined to private spaces".
In the regime's most radical discourse, languages other than Spanish were often considered "dialects" in the sense of speeches that were not developed enough to be "real languages". Basque was different enough that it could not be taken as a debased form of Spanish but was despised as a rural language of limited currency, unfit for modern discourse. This never happened at the academic level, though.
All these policies became less strict and more permissive as time passed.
The Press Law of Manuel Fraga Iribarne replaced the pre-publication censorship with after-the-fact punishments.
Most notably, several sporting organizations—including FC Barcelona and Athletic Bilbao, among others—were forced to change their names from the local language to Spanish.
CA Osasuna was allowed to maintain its Basque name, unlike other football teams with non-Spanish names.