AHC: 'Standard' Spanish ala Standard Italian?

[EMT]

We know that on unification, only 2.5% of Italy's population could speak standardized Italian, but from there, a native unifying language arose which helped glue the Italians together to form a more united nation. On the other hand, we have the Iberian peninsula which has shifted in various states of unity and disunity throughout its history but has never truly attempted to unify the people of the Iberian peninsula under a common identity, preferring a form of federalism from the union of crowns which gave the Spanish state its legitimacy. Not to mention the continued attempts to induce Portugal into a united Iberia which ultimately failed.

I'm wondering if anyone can present a scenario that sees the Iberians adopting a standard language. Being a unified nation kind of goes without saying but hey, I'll take a cool scenario that sees a fractured Iberia speaking the same language.

Let's say the POD has to be after the implosion of the Caliphate of Cordoba into taifas.

 

[Cahaya Purnama]

Latin or constructed language or similiar like heavily enginered Indonesian but now Spanish

 

[The Professor]

Well, Spain (like the UK with English) already had a majority language in Castilian. The other languages of the union were too large to be successfully removed but too small to become linguistic rivals.
The only way I could see motivation to create a standard Iberian language would be if union proceeded from a Portugal-Leon union merging with a Castile-Aragon. The former would have kept Leonese alive while the latter would have given Catalan more room to grow. With a larger polyglot there'd be more incentive to create a single standard.

 

[funnyhat]

On the other hand, we have the Iberian peninsula which has shifted in various states of unity and disunity throughout its history but has never truly attempted to unify the people of the Iberian peninsula under a common identity, preferring a form of federalism from the union of crowns which gave the Spanish state its legitimacy.

Wasn't this more or less Franco's objective during his dictatorship? (If we focus just on Spain, at least.)

 

[Falecius]

We know that on unification, only 2.5% of Italy's population could speak standardized Italian, but from there, a native unifying language arose which helped glue the Italians together to form a more united nation. On the other hand, we have the Iberian peninsula which has shifted in various states of unity and disunity throughout its history but has never truly attempted to unify the people of the Iberian peninsula under a common identity, preferring a form of federalism from the union of crowns which gave the Spanish state its legitimacy. Not to mention the continued attempts to induce Portugal into a united Iberia which ultimately failed.

I'm wondering if anyone can present a scenario that sees the Iberians adopting a standard language. Being a unified nation kind of goes without saying but hey, I'll take a cool scenario that sees a fractured Iberia speaking the same language.

Let's say the POD has to be after the implosion of the Caliphate of Cordoba into taifas.

I think that you underestimate the role of written language. While only a little fraction of Italians could speak Italian, it had been recognized as the standard variety of language for formal and written usage in the vast majority of the country (Piedmont being a partial exception, since French was widely used there in court) for centuries before the unification.* Nothing of the sort occurred in Spain, where at least Catalan and Galician (less so Basque, who however remained highly distinctive because it is, well, Basque) had a literary tradition and historical standardizion about as old as Castilian if not a bit more. This gave them, particularly Catalan, the strength to actively resist Madrid's attempts to enforce Castilian. I understand that they were perceived as "foreign" encroachment upon local tradition, as opposed to the common move of varied Italian groups toward a shared "ideal" standard that wasn't really seen as anyone's special patrimony (although it was obviously based mostly on Tuscan varieties).

* This did not prevent local vernaculars to develop written literary traditions, some of which pretty substantial.

 

[riggerrob]

Introduce the printing press at the earliest possible date.
Make Castilian the fashionable language for church, courts, business and dance music.