Bernard Weish
Bernard Weish or Bernard Weiss was a purported fictional linguist who has been cited as an authority to support theories on the differences between the Valencian and Catalan languages. There is speculation that the character was created either by proponents of Language secessionism such as the Blaverists to bolster their arguments, or by those who oppose secessionism / to mock it.
At the beginning of the 1980s, a Dr. Bernard Weiss, claimed to be a philologist specialising in Romance languages in the Department of the University of Munich. He circulated papers to blaverist meetings and contributed articles to the Valencian media in support of secessionist linguistic theories regarding Valencian and Catalan. His supposed expertise gave the Blaverists a scholarly source to support their claims, which they previous lacked from any other universities. Dr. Weiss also made the claim to have discovered 11th century manuscripts written in the Mozarabic language by Valencian troubadours such as Bertran Desdelueg, Luís Llach and Salvatore Coniglia.
Despite these assertions, for six years, Dr. Bernard Weiss remained hidden from public view and refused to be photographed, interviewed, or to take phone calls. When a journalist from the Levante-EMV Valencian newspaper contacted the University of Munich to verify Dr/ Weiss's credentials, the university states that no one by that name was employed there. Despite this discrepancy, the organisers of the First Congress of the Valencian Language, held in May 1985 in Elche, extended an invitation for Dr. Weiss to be the key speaker.
The Valencian newspaper Las Provincias, known for its support of Blaverism, published contradictory reports on whether or not Bernard Weiss actually attended the congress as the main lecturer. Some sources claimed he was in attendance, whilst other stated he was not. This discrepancy cast further doubt on the credibility of the supposed linguist.
After this public appearance, Bernard Weiss vanished from the literary scene and his works were not published again. Blaverists, who had previously fabricated his existence, were forced to admit the truth or face ridicule from their opponents. The alleged manuscripts have yet to be published or made available for public viewing.