former Crown of Aragon has stayed constant up to the modern day (Appendix 4). For that reason, the historical term 'Valencian' has existed together with the term 'Catalan', a fact which is documented in certain Valencian sources (Appendix 5) and which has become commonplace in Romance studies and in Valencian universities for the past few decades. Likewise, there are quite a few examples of attempts to avoid using one name or the other when referring to the linguistic system as a whole, via compound or syncretic terms such as 'the Valencian and Catalan language' (Appendix 6), as well as examples of suggestions of names that integrate various elements in an attempt to solve terminological diversity (Appendix 7).
Moreover, 'Valencian' is the term set down in the Statute of Autonomy of the Valencian Community. Therefore, in keeping with tradition and with statutory law, the AVL is of the opinion that the most appropriate term for referring to the autochthonous language of the Valencian Community is 'Valencian', a name which has been legally safeguarded, since it is one of the most important identifying characteristics of our people. This name can be used to refer to the language as a whole—the one which we share with the other regions of the former Crown of
Aragon which were previously mentioned. It may also be used, however, in a more semantically restricted way to refer specifcally to that variety of the language which is unique to Valencia. Along these same lines, it is perfectly valid to use the term 'Valencian language' without that necessarily implying that the language is different from the one used in those regions already mentioned.
It is true that in Spain there are two equally legal terms for this language: 'Valencian', as established in the Statute of Autonomy of the Comunidad Valenciana, and 'Catalan', as recognised by the Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia and that of the Balearic Islands, and supported by Spanish legal ordinance (Annexe 8) and jurisprudence (Annexe 9). The existence of these two terms may cause misunderstandings in some circles concerning linguistic unity, especially outside of the shared linguistic region. For this reason, the AVL considers it necessary that the relevant regional governments work together with the Spanish government in adopting appropriate measures (such as authorising the use of syncretic formulas, etc.) for harmonising the duality of designation of our language, especially outside the language's area, and projecting an image of a language which is unified rather than fragmented. These formulae should be slowly introduced into academia and other areas as well. In this way, the legitimate presence of the name 'Valencian' outside of our community could be assured in a coherent fashion, while simultaneously reconciling philological reality with the Valencian legal and social reality.
Concerning the codification of language, it must be kept in mind that not all languages have chosen to follow a single, exclusive set of guidelines. There are codification models which are extremely centralist in nature and base themselves on one single literary variety (such as Italian, which is based primarily on the literary language of Florence); there are other models thatuse a variety of the language which was created based on elements from different dialects (such as Euskera Batua, or "unified Basque"); then there are others which respect the different varieties that exist within the language (such as Portuguese as used in Portugal and Brazil). It is this latter solution which the AVL considers to be the most appropriate one for our language and the ideal way of
