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Wikipedia

Catalan language

Catalan (/ˈkætələn, -æn, ˌkætəˈlæn/;[3][4] autonym: català, Eastern Catalan: [kətəˈla]), known in the Valencian Community and Carche as Valencian (autonym: valencià), is a Western Romance language. It is the official language of Andorra,[5] and an official language of three autonomous communities in eastern Spain: Catalonia, the Valencian Community, and the Balearic Islands. It also has semi-official status in the Italian comune of Alghero.[6] It is also spoken in the Pyrénées-Orientales department of France and in two further areas in eastern Spain: the eastern strip of Aragon and the Carche area in the Region of Murcia. The Catalan-speaking territories are often called the Països Catalans or "Catalan Countries".

Catalan
Valencian
català, valencià
Pronunciation[kətəˈla], [valensiˈa]
Native toSpain, Andorra, France, Italy
EthnicityAragonese
Balears
Catalans
Valencians
Andorrans
SpeakersL1: 4.1 million (2012)[1]
L2: 5.1 million
Total: 9.2 million
Early form
Standard forms
Latin (Catalan alphabet)
Catalan Braille
Signed Catalan
Official status
Official language in
Recognised minority
language in
Regulated byInstitut d'Estudis Catalans
Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua
Language codes
ISO 639-1ca
ISO 639-2cat
ISO 639-3cat
Glottologstan1289
Linguasphere51-AAA-e
  Territories where Catalan is spoken and is official
  Territories where Catalan is spoken but is not official
  Territories where Catalan is not historically spoken but is official
This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA.
A speaker of Catalan (Majorcan dialect).
Artur Mas, former president of Catalonia, discussing individual identity, collective identity and language.

The language evolved from Vulgar Latin in the Middle Ages around the eastern Pyrenees. Nineteenth-century Spain saw a Catalan literary revival,[7][8] culminating in the early 1900s.

Etymology and pronunciation

 
Catalan Countries (Països Catalans): (In orange, strict Catalan-speaking area) NE modern Spain (Catalonia, Valencian Community and Balearic Islands), SE. France (Roussillon, touching the Pyrenees) and Comune of Alghero (NW coast of Sardinia, an island belonging to Italy)
 
The Crown of Aragon in 1443. King James the Conqueror [1208–1276] dictated his autobiographical chronicles entirely in Catalan. Some of this territory nowadays makes up the Catalan Countries.

The word Catalan is derived from the territorial name of Catalonia, itself of disputed etymology. The main theory suggests that Catalunya (Latin Gathia Launia) derives from the name Gothia or Gauthia ("Land of the Goths"), since the origins of the Catalan counts, lords and people were found in the March of Gothia, whence Gothland > Gothlandia > Gothalania > Catalonia theoretically derived.[9][10]

In English, the term referring to a person first appears in the mid 14th century as Catelaner, followed in the 15th century as Catellain (from French). It is attested a language name since at least 1652. The word Catalan can be pronounced in English as /ˈkætələn/, /ˈkætəlæn/ or /ˌkætəˈlæn/.[11][4]

The endonym is pronounced [kətəˈla] in the Eastern Catalan dialects, and [kataˈla] in the Western dialects. In the Valencian Community and Carche, the term valencià [valensiˈa, ba-] is frequently used instead. Thus, the name "Valencian", although often employed for referring to the varieties specific to the Valencian Community and Carche, is also used by Valencians as a name for the language as a whole,[12] synonymous with "Catalan".[13][12] Both uses of the term have their respective entries in the dictionaries by the Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua[note 1] and the Institut d'Estudis Catalans.[note 2] See also status of Valencian below.

History

 
Homilies d'Organyà (12th century)
 
Fragment of the Greuges de Guitard Isarn (ca. 1080–1095), one of the earliest texts written almost completely in Catalan,[14][15] predating the famous Homilies d'Organyà by a century
 
Linguistic map of Southwestern Europe

Middle Ages

By the 9th century, Catalan had evolved from Vulgar Latin on both sides of the eastern end of the Pyrenees, as well as the territories of the Roman province of Hispania Tarraconensis to the south.[8] From the 8th century onwards the Catalan counts extended their territory southwards and westwards at the expense of the Muslims, bringing their language with them.[8] This process was given definitive impetus with the separation of the County of Barcelona from the Carolingian Empire in 988.[8]

In the 11th century, documents written in macaronic Latin begin to show Catalan elements,[15] with texts written almost completely in Romance appearing by 1080.[15] Old Catalan shared many features with Gallo-Romance, diverging from Old Occitan between the 11th and 14th centuries.[16]

During the 11th and 12th centuries the Catalan rulers expanded southward to the Ebro river,[8] and in the 13th century they conquered the Land of Valencia and the Balearic Islands.[8] The city of Alghero in Sardinia was repopulated with Catalan speakers in the 14th century. The language also reached Murcia, which became Spanish-speaking in the 15th century.[17]

In the Low Middle Ages, Catalan went through a golden age, reaching a peak of maturity and cultural richness.[8] Examples include the work of Majorcan polymath Ramon Llull (1232–1315), the Four Great Chronicles (13th–14th centuries), and the Valencian school of poetry culminating in Ausiàs March (1397–1459).[8] By the 15th century, the city of Valencia had become the sociocultural center of the Crown of Aragon, and Catalan was present all over the Mediterranean world.[8] During this period, the Royal Chancery propagated a highly standardized language.[8] Catalan was widely used as an official language in Sicily until the 15th century, and in Sardinia until the 17th.[17] During this period, the language was what Costa Carreras terms "one of the 'great languages' of medieval Europe".[8]

Martorell's outstanding[8] novel of chivalry Tirant lo Blanc (1490) shows a transition from Medieval to Renaissance values, something that can also be seen in Metge's work.[8] The first book produced with movable type in the Iberian Peninsula was printed in Catalan.[18][8]

Start of the modern era

Spain

With the union of the crowns of Castille and Aragon in 1479, the Spanish kings ruled over different kingdoms, each with its own cultural, linguistic and political particularities, and they had to swear by the Laws of each territory before the respective Parliaments. But after the War of the Spanish Succession, Spain became an Absolute monarchy under Philip V, which led to the assimilation of the Crown of Aragon by the Crown of Castile through the Nueva Planta decrees, as a first step in the creation of the Spanish nation-state; as in other contemporary European states, this meant the imposition of the political and cultural characteristics of the dominant groups.[19][20] Since the political unification of 1714, Spanish assimilation policies towards national minorities have been a constant.[21][22][23][24][25]

 
School map of Spain from 1850. On it, the State is shown divided into four parts:- "Fully constitutional Spain", which includes Castile and Andalusia, but also the Galician-speaking territories. - "Annexed or assimilated Spain": the territories of the Crown of Aragon, the larger part of which, with the exception of Aragon proper, are Catalan-speaking-, "Foral Spain", which includes Basque-speaking territories-, and "Colonial Spain", with the last overseas colonial territories.

The process of assimilation began with secret instructions to the corregidores of the Catalan territory: they "will take the utmost care to introduce the Castilian language, for which purpose he will give the most temperate and disguised measures so that the effect is achieved, without the care being noticed."[26] From there, actions in the service of assimilation, discreet or aggressive, were continued, and reached to the last detail, such as, in 1799, the Royal Certificate forbidding anyone to "represent, sing and dance pieces that were not in Spanish."[27] Anyway, the use of Spanish gradually became more prestigious[17] and marked the start of the decline of Catalan.[8][7] Starting in the 16th century, Catalan literature came under the influence of Spanish, and the nobles, part of the urban and literary classes became bilingual.[17]

France

With the Treaty of the Pyrenees (1659), Spain ceded the northern part of Catalonia to France, and soon thereafter the local Catalan varieties came under the influence of French, which in 1700 became the sole official language of the region.[5][28]

Shortly after the French Revolution (1789), the French First Republic prohibited official use of, and enacted discriminating policies against, the regional languages of France, such as Catalan, Alsatian, Breton, Occitan, Flemish, and Basque.

France: 19th to 20th centuries

 
Official decree prohibiting the Catalan language in France
 
"Speak French, be clean", school wall in Ayguatébia-Talau (Northern Catalonia), 2010

Following the French establishment of the colony of Algeria from 1830 onward, it received several waves of Catalan-speaking settlers. People from the Spanish Alicante province settled around Oran, whereas Algiers received immigration from Northern Catalonia and Menorca.

Their speech was known as patuet.[29] By 1911, the number of Catalan speakers was around 100,000.[30] After the declaration of independence of Algeria in 1962, almost all the Catalan speakers fled to Northern Catalonia (as Pieds-Noirs)[31] or Alacant.[32]

The government of France formally recognizes only French as an official language. Nevertheless, on 10 December 2007, the General Council of the Pyrénées-Orientales officially recognized Catalan as one of the languages of the department[33] and seeks to further promote it in public life and education.

Spain: 18th to 20th centuries

In Spain, the decline of Catalan continued into the 18th century. The defeat of the pro-Habsburg coalition in the War of Spanish Succession (1714) initiated a series of laws which, among other centralizing measures, imposed the use of Spanish in legal documentation all over Spain.

However, the 19th century saw a Catalan literary revival (Renaixença), which has continued up to the present day.[5] This period starts with Aribau's Ode to the Homeland (1833); followed in the second half of the 19th century, and the early 20th by the work of Verdaguer (poetry), Oller (realist novel), and Guimerà (drama).[34] In the 19th century, the region of Carche, in the province of Murcia was repopulated with Valencian speakers.[35] Catalan spelling was standardized in 1913 and the language became official during the Second Spanish Republic (1931–1939). The Second Spanish Republic saw a brief period of tolerance, with most restrictions against Catalan lifted.[5]

The Catalan language and culture were frowned upon during the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939) and the subsequent decades in Francoist Catalonia. The Francoist dictatorship (1939–1975) imposed the use of Spanish in schools and in public administration in all of Spain. However, in 1944, it became mandatory by law for universities with Romance Philology to include the subject of Catalan Philology.[citation needed] Numerous and prestigious cultural contests were created to reward works produced in Catalan. In January 1944, the "Eugenio Nadal" award was created. In 1945, with the sponsorship and subsidy of the Government, the centenary of Mossèn Cinto Verdaguer was celebrated. In 1947 the Joan Martorell prize for novels in Catalan was awarded. In 1949, the Víctor Català award for short novels in Catalan and the Aedos awards for biographies, the Josep Ysart award for essays, and the Ossa Menor award, later renamed Carles Riba, were created. In 1951, a national prize was awarded to poetry in Catalan with the same financial amount as Spanish poetry. That same year, Selecta Editions was founded for works written in Catalan. And the Joanot Martorell is awarded to Josep Pla for his work El carrer estret. In subsequent years (50s, 60s and 70s) countless awards were born, such as the Lletra d'Or, Amadeu Oller for poetry, the Sant Jordi for novels (endowed with 150,000 pesetas), the Honor Award of Catalan Letters, the Verdaguer, the Josep Pla Prize, the Mercè Rodoreda Prize for short stories and narratives.[36] The first Catalan-language TV show was broadcast during the Franco period, in 1964.[37] The Francoist dictatorship (1939–1975) banned the use of Catalan in schools and in public administration.[38][7] At the same time, oppression of the Catalan language and identity was carried out in schools, through governmental bodies, and in religious centers.[39] Franco's desire for a homogenous Spanish population resonated with some Catalans in favor of his regime, primarily members of the upper class, who began to reject the use of Catalan. Despite all of these hardships, Catalan continued to be used privately within households, and it was able to survive Francisco Franco's dictatorship. Several prominent Catalan authors resisted the suppression through literature.[40]

In addition to the loss of prestige for Catalan and its prohibition in schools, migration during the 1950s into Catalonia from other parts of Spain also contributed to the diminished use of the language. These migrants were often unaware of the existence of Catalan, and thus felt no need to learn or use it. Catalonia was the economic powerhouse of Spain, so these migrations continued to occur from all corners of the country. Employment opportunities were reduced for those who were not bilingual.[41]

Present day

Since the Spanish transition to democracy (1975–1982), Catalan has been institutionalized as an official language, language of education, and language of mass media; all of which have contributed to its increased prestige.[42] In Catalonia, there is an unparalleled large bilingual European non-state linguistic community.[42] The teaching of Catalan is mandatory in all schools,[5] but it is possible to use Spanish for studying in the public education system of Catalonia in two situations – if the teacher assigned to a class chooses to use Spanish, or during the learning process of one or more recently arrived immigrant students.[43] There is also some intergenerational shift towards Catalan.[5]

More recently, several Spanish political forces have tried to increase the use of Spanish in the Catalan educational system. As a result, in May 2022 the Spanish Supreme Court urged the Catalan regional government to enforce a measure by which 25% of all lessons must be taught in Spanish.[44]

According to the Statistical Institute of Catalonia, in 2013 the Catalan language is the second most commonly used in Catalonia, after Spanish, as a native or self-defining language: 7% of the population self-identifies with both Catalan and Spanish equally, 36.4% with Catalan and 47.5% only Spanish.[45] In 2003 the same studies concluded no language preference for self-identification within the population above 15 years old: 5% self-identified with both languages, 44.3% with Catalan and 47.5% with Spanish.[46] To promote use of Catalan, the Generalitat de Catalunya (Catalonia's official Autonomous government) spends part of its annual budget on the promotion of the use of Catalan in Catalonia and in other territories, with entities such as Consorci per a la Normalització Lingüística [ca; es] (Consortium for Linguistic Normalization)[47][48]

In Andorra, Catalan has always been the sole official language.[5] Since the promulgation of the 1993 constitution, several policies favoring Catalan have been enforced, like Catalan medium education.[5]

On the other hand, there are several language shift processes currently taking place. In the Northern Catalonia area of France, Catalan has followed the same trend as the other minority languages of France, with most of its native speakers being 60 or older (as of 2004).[5] Catalan is studied as a foreign language by 30% of the primary education students, and by 15% of the secondary.[5] The cultural association La Bressola promotes a network of community-run schools engaged in Catalan language immersion programs.

In Alicante province, Catalan is being replaced by Spanish and in Alghero by Italian.[42] There is also well ingrained diglossia in the Valencian Community, Ibiza, and to a lesser extent, in the rest of the Balearic islands.[5]

During the 20th century many Catalans emigrated or went into exile to Venezuela, Mexico, Cuba, Argentina and other South American countries. They formed a large number of Catalan colonies that today continue to maintain the Catalan language.[49][50] They also founded many Catalan casals (associations).[51]

Classification and relationship with other Romance languages

 
Chart of Romance languages based on structural and comparative criteria, not on socio-functional ones. FP: Franco-Provençal, IR: Istro-Romanian.

One classification of Catalan is given by Pèire Bèc:

However, the ascription of Catalan to the Occitano-Romance branch of Gallo-Romance languages is not shared by all linguists and philologists, particularly among Spanish ones, such as Ramón Menéndez Pidal.

Catalan bears varying degrees of similarity to the linguistic varieties subsumed under the cover term Occitan language (see also differences between Occitan and Catalan and Gallo-Romance languages). Thus, as it should be expected from closely related languages, Catalan today shares many traits with other Romance languages.

Relationship with other Romance languages

Some include Catalan in Occitan, as the linguistic distance between this language and some Occitan dialects (such as the Gascon language) is similar to the distance among different Occitan dialects. Catalan was considered a dialect of Occitan until the end of the 19th century[52] and still today remains its closest relative.[53]

Catalan shares many traits with the other neighboring Romance languages (Occitan, French, Italian, Sardinian as well as Spanish and Portuguese among others).[35] However, despite being spoken mostly on the Iberian Peninsula, Catalan has marked differences with the Iberian Romance group (Spanish and Portuguese) in terms of pronunciation, grammar, and especially vocabulary; showing instead its closest affinity with languages native to France and northern Italy, particularly Occitan[54][55][56] and to a lesser extent Gallo-Romance (Franco-Provençal, French, Gallo-Italian).[57][58][59][60][54][55][56]

According to Ethnologue, the lexical similarity between Catalan and other Romance languages is: 87% with Italian; 85% with Portuguese and Spanish; 76% with Ladin and Romansh; 75% with Sardinian; and 73% with Romanian.[1]

Lexical comparison of 24 words among Romance languages:
17 cognates with Gallo-Romance, 5 isoglosses with Iberian Romance, 3 isoglosses with Occitan, and 1 unique word.[58][59]
Gloss Catalan Occitan (Campidanese) Sardinian Italian French Spanish Portuguese Romanian
cousin cosí cosin fradili cugino cousin primo primo, coirmão văr
brother germà fraire fradi fratello frère hermano irmão frate
nephew nebot nebot nebodi nipote neveu sobrino sobrinho nepot
summer estiu estiu istadi estate été verano, estío[61] verão, estio[61] vară
evening vespre ser, vèspre seru sera soir tarde, noche[62] tarde, serão[62] seară
morning matí matin mangianu mattina matin mañana manhã, matina dimineață
frying pan paella padena paella padella poêle sartén frigideira, fritadeira tigaie
bed llit lièch, lèit letu letto lit cama, lecho cama, leito pat
bird ocell, au aucèl pilloni uccello oiseau ave, pájaro ave, pássaro pasăre
dog gos, ca gos, canh cani cane chien perro, can cão, cachorro câine
plum pruna pruna pruna prugna prune ciruela ameixa prună
butter mantega bodre burru, butiru burro beurre mantequilla, manteca manteiga unt
piece tros tròç, petaç arrogu pezzo morceau, pièce pedazo, trozo[63] pedaço, bocado bucată
gray gris gris canu grigio gris gris, pardo[64] cinzento, gris gri,[65] sur, cenușiu
hot calent caud callenti caldo chaud caliente quente cald
too much massa tròp tropu troppo trop demasiado demais, demasiado prea
to want voler vòler bolli(ri) volere vouloir querer querer a vrea
to take prendre prene, prendre pigai prendere prendre tomar, prender apanhar, levar a lua
to pray pregar pregar pregai pregare prier orar orar, rezar, pregar a se ruga
to ask demanar/preguntar demandar dimandai, preguntai domandare demander pedir, preguntar pedir, perguntar a cere, a întreba
to search cercar/buscar cercar circai cercare chercher buscar procurar, buscar a căuta
to arrive arribar arribar arribai arrivare arriver llegar, arribar chegar a ajunge
to speak parlar parlar chistionnai, fueddai parlare parler hablar, parlar falar, palrar a vorbi
to eat menjar manjar pappai mangiare manger comer (manyar in lunfardo; papear in slang) comer (papar in slang), manjar a mânca
Catalan and Spanish cognates with different meanings[60]
Latin Catalan Spanish
accostare acostar "to bring closer" acostar "to put to bed"
levare llevar "to remove;
wake up"
llevar "to take"
trahere traure "to remove" traer "to bring"
circare cercar "to search" cercar "to fence"
collocare colgar "to bury" colgar "to hang"
mulier muller "wife" mujer "woman or wife"

During much of its history, and especially during the Francoist dictatorship (1939–1975), the Catalan language was ridiculed as a mere dialect of Spanish.[55][56] This view, based on political and ideological considerations, has no linguistic validity.[55][56] Spanish and Catalan have important differences in their sound systems, lexicon, and grammatical features, placing the language in features closer to Occitan (and French).[55][56]

There is evidence that, at least from the 2nd century a.d., the vocabulary and phonology of Roman Tarraconensis was different from the rest of Roman Hispania.[54] Differentiation arose generally because Spanish, Asturian, and Galician-Portuguese share certain peripheral archaisms (Spanish hervir, Asturian and Portuguese ferver vs. Catalan bullir, Occitan bolir "to boil") and innovatory regionalisms (Sp novillo, Ast nuviellu vs. Cat torell, Oc taurèl "bullock"), while Catalan has a shared history with the Western Romance innovative core, especially Occitan.[66][54]

Like all Romance languages, Catalan has a handful of native words which are unique to it, or rare elsewhere. These include:

  • verbs: cōnfīgere 'to fasten; transfix' > confegir 'to compose, write up', congemināre > conjuminar 'to combine, conjugate', de-ex-somnitare > deixondar/-ir 'to wake; awaken', dēnsāre 'to thicken; crowd together' > desar 'to save, keep', īgnōrāre > enyorar 'to miss, yearn, pine for', indāgāre 'to investigate, track' > Old Catalan enagar 'to incite, induce', odiāre > OCat ujar 'to exhaust, fatigue', pācificāre > apaivagar 'to appease, mollify', repudiāre > rebutjar 'to reject, refuse';
  • nouns: brīsa > brisa 'pomace', buda > boga 'reedmace', catarrhu > cadarn 'catarrh', congesta > congesta 'snowdrift', dēlīrium > deler 'ardor, passion', fretu > freu 'brake', lābem > (a)llau 'avalanche', ōra > vora 'edge, border', pistrīce 'sawfish' > pestriu > pestiu 'thresher shark, smooth hound; ray', prūna 'live coal' > espurna 'spark', tardātiōnem > tardaó > tardor 'autumn'.[67]

The Gothic superstrate produced different outcomes in Spanish and Catalan. For example, Catalan fang "mud" and rostir "to roast", of Germanic origin, contrast with Spanish lodo and asar, of Latin origin; whereas Catalan filosa "spinning wheel" and templa "temple", of Latin origin, contrast with Spanish rueca and sien, of Germanic origin.[54]

The same happens with Arabic loanwords. Thus, Catalan alfàbia "large earthenware jar" and rajola "tile", of Arabic origin, contrast with Spanish tinaja and teja, of Latin origin; whereas Catalan oli "oil" and oliva "olive", of Latin origin, contrast with Spanish aceite and aceituna.[54] However, the Arabic element in Spanish is generally much more prevalent.[54]

Situated between two large linguistic blocks (Iberian Romance and Gallo-Romance), Catalan has many unique lexical choices, such as enyorar "to miss somebody", apaivagar "to calm somebody down", and rebutjar "reject".[54]

Geographic distribution

Catalan-speaking territories

Traditionally Catalan-speaking territories in dark gray; non-Catalan-speaking territories belonging to traditionally Catalan-speaking regions in light gray

Traditionally Catalan-speaking territories are sometimes called the Països Catalans (Catalan Countries), a denomination based on cultural affinity and common heritage, that has also had a subsequent political interpretation but no official status. Various interpretations of the term may include some or all of these regions.

Territories where Catalan is spoken[35]
State Territory Catalan name Notes
Andorra Andorra Andorra A sovereign state where Catalan is the national and the sole official language. The Andorrans speak a Western Catalan variety.[a]
France Northern Catalonia Catalunya Nord Roughly corresponding to the département of Pyrénées-Orientales.[35]
Spain Catalonia Catalunya In the Aran Valley (northwest corner of Catalonia), in addition to Occitan, which is the local language, Catalan, Spanish and French are also spoken.[35]
Valencian Community Comunitat Valenciana Excepting some regions in the west and south which have been Aragonese/Spanish-speaking since at least the 18th century.[35] The Western Catalan variety spoken there is known as "Valencian".

La Franja
La Franja A part of the Autonomous Community of Aragon, specifically a strip bordering Western Catalonia. It comprises the comarques of Ribagorça, Llitera, Baix Cinca, and Matarranya.
Balearic Islands Illes Balears Comprising the islands of Mallorca, Menorca, Ibiza and Formentera.
Carche El Carxe A small area of the Autonomous Community of Murcia, settled in the 19th century.[35]
Italy Alghero L'Alguer A city in the Province of Sassari, on the island of Sardinia, where the Algherese dialect is spoken.

Number of speakers

The number of people known to be fluent in Catalan varies depending on the sources used. A 2004 study did not count the total number of speakers, but estimated a total of 9–9.5 million by matching the percentage of speakers to the population of each area where Catalan is spoken.[68] The web site of the Generalitat de Catalunya estimated that as of 2004 there were 9,118,882 speakers of Catalan.[69] These figures only reflect potential speakers; today it is the native language of only 35.6% of the Catalan population.[70] According to Ethnologue, Catalan had 4.1 million native speakers and 5.1 million second-language speakers in 2021.[1]

 
Geographical distribution of Catalan language by official status

According to a 2011 study the total number of Catalan speakers is over 9.8 million, with 5.9 million residing in Catalonia. More than half of them speak Catalan as a second language, with native speakers being about 4.4 million of those (more than 2.8 in Catalonia).[71] Very few Catalan monoglots exist; basically, virtually all of the Catalan speakers in Spain are bilingual speakers of Catalan and Spanish, with a sizable population of Spanish-only speakers of immigrant origin (typically born outside Catalonia or whose parents were both born outside Catalonia)[citation needed] existing in the major Catalan urban areas as well.

In Roussillon, only a minority of French Catalans speak Catalan nowadays, with French being the majority language for the inhabitants after a continued process of language shift. According to a 2019 survey by the Catalan government, 31.5% of the inhabitants of Catalonia have Catalan as first language at home whereas 52.7% have Spanish, 2.8% both Catalan and Spanish and 10.8% other languages.[72]

Spanish is the most spoken language in Barcelona (according to the linguistic census held by the Government of Catalonia in 2013) and it is understood almost universally. According to this census of 2013 Catalan is also very commonly spoken in the city of 1,501,262: it is understood by 95% of the population, while 72.3% over the age of 2 can speak it (1,137,816), 79% can read it (1,246.555), and 53% can write it (835,080).[73] The proportion in Barcelona who can speak it, 72.3%,[74] is lower than that of the overall Catalan population, of whom 81.2% over the age of 15 speak the language. Knowledge of Catalan has increased significantly in recent decades thanks to a language immersion educational system. An important social characteristic of the Catalan language is that all the areas where it is spoken are bilingual in practice: together with the French language in Roussillon, with Italian in Alghero, with Spanish and French in Andorra and with Spanish in the rest of the territories.

Territory State Understand 1[75] Can speak 2[75]
Catalonia Spain 6,502,880 5,698,400
Valencian Community Spain 3,448,780 2,407,951
Balearic Islands Spain 852,780 706,065
Roussillon France 203,121 125,621
Andorra Andorra 75,407 61,975
La Franja (Aragon) Spain 47,250 45,000
Alghero (Sardinia) Italy 20,000 17,625
Carche (Murcia) Spain No data No data
Total Catalan-speaking territories 11,150,218 9,062,637
Rest of World No data 350,000
Total 11,150,218 9,412,637
1.^ The number of people who understand Catalan includes those who can speak it.
2.^ Figures relate to all self-declared capable speakers, not just native speakers.

Level of knowledge

Area Speak Understand Read Write
Catalonia[76] 81.2 94.4 85.5 65.3
Valencian Community 57.5 78.1 54.9 32.5
Balearic Islands 74.6 93.1 79.6 46.9
Roussillon 37.1 65.3 31.4 10.6
Andorra 78.9 96.0 89.7 61.1
Franja Oriental of Aragón 88.8 98.5 72.9 30.3
Alghero 67.6 89.9 50.9 28.4

(% of the population 15 years old and older).

Social use

Area At home Outside home
Catalonia 45 51
Valencian Community 37 32
Balearic Islands 44 41
Roussillon 1 1
Andorra 38 51
Franja Oriental of Aragón 70 61
Alghero 8 4

(% of the population 15 years old and older).

Native language

Area People Percentage
Catalonia 2,813,000 38.5%
Valencian Community 1,047,000 21.1%
Balearic Islands 392,000 36.1%
Andorra 26,000 33.8%
Franja Oriental of Aragon 33,000 70.2%
Roussillon 35,000 8.5%
Alghero 8,000 20%
TOTAL 4,353,000 31.2%

[77][78][79]

Phonology

Catalan phonology varies by dialect. Notable features include:[80]

In contrast to other Romance languages, Catalan has many monosyllabic words, and these may end in a wide variety of consonants, including some consonant clusters.[80] Additionally, Catalan has final obstruent devoicing, which gives rise to an abundance of such couplets as amic ("male friend") vs. amiga ("female friend").[80]

Central Catalan pronunciation is considered to be standard for the language.[81] The descriptions below are mostly representative of this variety.[82] For the differences in pronunciation between the different dialects, see the section on pronunciation of dialects in this article.

Vowels

 
Vowels of Standard Eastern Catalan[83]

Catalan has inherited the typical vowel system of Vulgar Latin, with seven stressed phonemes: /a ɛ e i ɔ o u/, a common feature in Western Romance, with the exception of Spanish.[80] Balearic also has instances of stressed /ə/.[84] Dialects differ in the different degrees of vowel reduction,[85] and the incidence of the pair /ɛ e/.[86]

In Central Catalan, unstressed vowels reduce to three: /a e ɛ/ > [ə]; /o ɔ u/ > [u]; /i/ remains distinct.[87] The other dialects have different vowel reduction processes (see the section pronunciation of dialects in this article).

Examples of vowel reduction processes in Central Catalan[88]
The root is stressed in the first word and unstressed in the second
Front vowels Back vowels
Word
pair
gel ("ice")
gelat ("ice cream")
pedra ("stone")
pedrera ("quarry")
banya ("he bathes")
banyem ("we bathe")
cosa ("thing")
coseta ("little thing")
tot ("everything")
total ("total")
IPA
transcription
[ˈʒɛl]
[ʒəˈlat]
[ˈpeðɾə]
[pəˈðɾeɾə]
[ˈbaɲə]
[bəˈɲɛm]
[ˈkɔzə]
[kuˈzɛtə]
[ˈtot]
[tuˈtal]

Consonants

The consonant system of Catalan is rather conservative.

  • /l/ has a velarized allophone in syllable coda position in most dialects.[90] However, /l/ is velarized irrespective of position in Eastern dialects like Majorcan[91] and standard Eastern Catalan.
  • /v/ occurs in Balearic,[92] Algherese, standard Valencian and some areas in southern Catalonia.[93] It has merged with /b/ elsewhere.[94]
  • Voiced obstruents undergo final-obstruent devoicing: /b/ > [p], /d/ > [t], /ɡ/ > [k].[95]
  • Voiced stops become lenited to approximants in syllable onsets, after continuants: /b/ > [β], /d/ > [ð], /ɡ/ > [ɣ].[96] Exceptions include /d/ after lateral consonants, and /b/ after /f/. In coda position, these sounds are realized as stops,[97] except in some Valencian dialects where they are lenited.[98]
  • There is some confusion in the literature about the precise phonetic characteristics of /ʃ/, /ʒ/, /tʃ/, /dʒ/. Some sources[92] describe them as "postalveolar". Others[99][100] as "back alveolo-palatal", implying that the characters ⟨ɕ ʑ tɕ dʑ⟩ would be more accurate. However, in all literature only the characters for palato-alveolar affricates and fricatives are used, even when the same sources use ⟨ɕ ʑ⟩ for other languages like Polish and Chinese.[101][102][100]
  • The distribution of the two rhotics /r/ and /ɾ/ closely parallels that of Spanish. Between vowels, the two contrast, but they are otherwise in complementary distribution: in the onset of the first syllable in a word, [r] appears unless preceded by a consonant. Dialects vary in regards to rhotics in the coda with Western Catalan generally featuring [ɾ] and Central Catalan dialects featuring a weakly trilled [r] unless it precedes a vowel-initial word in the same prosodic unit, in which case [ɾ] appears.[103]
  • In careful speech, /n/, /m/, /l/ may be geminated. Geminated /ʎ/ may also occur.[92] Some analyze intervocalic [r] as the result of gemination of a single rhotic phoneme.[104] This is similar to the common analysis of Spanish and Portuguese rhotics.[105]

Phonological evolution

Sociolinguistics

Catalan sociolinguistics studies the situation of Catalan in the world and the different varieties that this language presents. It is a subdiscipline of Catalan philology and other affine studies and has as an objective to analyze the relation between the Catalan language, the speakers and the close reality (including the one of other languages in contact).

Preferential subjects of study

  • Dialects of Catalan
  • Variations of Catalan by class, gender, profession, age and level of studies
  • Process of linguistic normalization
  • Relations between Catalan and Spanish or French
  • Perception on the language of Catalan speakers and non-speakers
  • Presence of Catalan in several fields: tagging, public function, media, professional sectors

Dialects

Overview

 
Main dialects of Catalan[106][107][108]

The dialects of the Catalan language feature a relative uniformity, especially when compared to other Romance languages;[60] both in terms of vocabulary, semantics, syntax, morphology, and phonology.[109] Mutual intelligibility between dialects is very high,[35][110][81] estimates ranging from 90% to 95%.[1] The only exception is the isolated idiosyncratic Algherese dialect.[60]

Catalan is split in two major dialectal blocks: Eastern and Western.[81][109] The main difference lies in the treatment of unstressed a and e; which have merged to /ə/ in Eastern dialects, but which remain distinct as /a/ and /e/ in Western dialects.[60][81] There are a few other differences in pronunciation, verbal morphology, and vocabulary.[35]

Western Catalan comprises the two dialects of Northwestern Catalan and Valencian; the Eastern block comprises four dialects: Central Catalan, Balearic, Rossellonese, and Algherese.[81] Each dialect can be further subdivided in several subdialects. The terms "Catalan" and "Valencian" (respectively used in Catalonia and the Valencian Community) refer to two varieties of the same language.[111] There are two institutions regulating the two standard varieties, the Institute of Catalan Studies in Catalonia and the Valencian Academy of the Language in the Valencian Community.

Central Catalan is considered the standard pronunciation of the language and has the largest number of speakers.[81] It is spoken in the densely populated regions of the Barcelona province, the eastern half of the province of Tarragona, and most of the province of Girona.[81]

Catalan has an inflectional grammar. Nouns have two genders (masculine, feminine), and two numbers (singular, plural). Pronouns additionally can have a neuter gender, and some are also inflected for case and politeness, and can be combined in very complex ways. Verbs are split in several paradigms and are inflected for person, number, tense, aspect, mood, and gender. In terms of pronunciation, Catalan has many words ending in a wide variety of consonants and some consonant clusters, in contrast with many other Romance languages.[80]

Main dialectal divisions of Catalan[81][112]
Block Western Catalan Eastern Catalan
Dialect Northwestern Valencian Central Balearic Northern/Rossellonese Algherese
Area Spain, Andorra Spain France Italy
Andorra, Provinces of Lleida, western half of Tarragona, La Franja Autonomous community of Valencia, Carche Provinces of Barcelona, eastern half of Tarragona, most of Girona Balearic islands Roussillon/Northern Catalonia City of Alghero in Sardinia

Pronunciation

Vowels

Catalan has inherited the typical vowel system of Vulgar Latin, with seven stressed phonemes: /a ɛ e i ɔ o u/, a common feature in Western Romance, except Spanish.[80] Balearic has also instances of stressed /ə/.[84] Dialects differ in the different degrees of vowel reduction,[85] and the incidence of the pair /ɛ e/.[86]

In Eastern Catalan (except Majorcan), unstressed vowels reduce to three: /a e ɛ/ > [ə]; /o ɔ u/ > [u]; /i/ remains distinct.[87] There are a few instances of unreduced [e], [o] in some words.[87] Algherese has lowered [ə] to [a].

In Majorcan, unstressed vowels reduce to four: /a e ɛ/ follow the Eastern Catalan reduction pattern; however /o ɔ/ reduce to [o], with /u/ remaining distinct, as in Western Catalan.[113]

In Western Catalan, unstressed vowels reduce to five: /e ɛ/ > [e]; /o ɔ/ > [o]; /a u i/ remain distinct.[114][115] This reduction pattern, inherited from Proto-Romance, is also found in Italian and Portuguese.[114] Some Western dialects present further reduction or vowel harmony in some cases.[114][116]

Central, Western, and Balearic differ in the lexical incidence of stressed /e/ and /ɛ/.[86] Usually, words with /ɛ/ in Central Catalan correspond to /ə/ in Balearic and /e/ in Western Catalan.[86] Words with /e/ in Balearic almost always have /e/ in Central and Western Catalan as well.[vague][86] As a result, Central Catalan has a much higher incidence of /ɛ/.[86]

Different incidence of stressed /e/, /ə/, /ɛ/[86]
Word Western Eastern
Majorcan Central Northern
set ("thirst") /ˈset/ /ˈsət/ /ˈsɛt/ /ˈset/
ven ("he sells") /ˈven/ /ˈvən/ /ˈbɛn/ /ˈven/
General differences in the pronunciation of unstressed vowels in different dialects[81][117]
Word Western Eastern
Northwestern Valencian Majorcan Central Northern
mare ("mother") /ˈmaɾe/ /ˈmaɾə/
cançó ("song") /kanˈso/ /kənˈso/ /kənˈsu/
posar ("to put") /poˈza(ɾ)/ /puˈza(ɾ)/
ferro ("iron") /ˈfɛro/ /ˈfɛru/
Detailed examples of vowel reduction processes in different dialects[88]
Word pairs:
the first with stressed root,
the second with unstressed root
Western Eastern
Majorcan Central Northern
Front
vowels
gel ("ice")
gelat ("ice cream")
[ˈdʒɛl]
[dʒeˈlat]
[ˈʒɛl]
[ʒəˈlat]
[ˈʒel]
[ʒəˈlat]
pera ("pear")
perera ("pear tree")
[ˈpeɾa]
[peˈɾeɾa]
[ˈpəɾə]
[pəˈɾeɾə]
[ˈpɛɾə]
[pəˈɾeɾə]
[ˈpeɾə]
[pəˈɾeɾə]
pedra ("stone")
pedrera ("quarry")
[ˈpeðɾa]
[peˈðɾeɾa]
[ˈpeðɾə]
[pəˈðɾeɾə]
banya ("he bathes")
banyem ("we bathe")
Majorcan: banyam ("we bathe")
[ˈbaɲa]
[baˈɲem]
[ˈbaɲə]
[bəˈɲam]
[ˈbaɲə]
[bəˈɲɛm]
[ˈbaɲə]
[bəˈɲem]
Back
vowels
cosa ("thing")
coseta ("little thing")
[ˈkɔza]
[koˈzeta]
[ˈkɔzə]
[koˈzətə]
[ˈkɔzə]
[kuˈzɛtə]
[ˈkozə]
[kuˈzetə]
tot ("everything")
total ("total")
[ˈtot]
[toˈtal]
[ˈtot]
[tuˈtal]
[ˈtut]
[tuˈtal]

Consonants

Morphology

Western Catalan: In verbs, the ending for 1st-person present indicative is -e in verbs of the 1st conjugation and -∅ in verbs of the 2nd and 3rd conjugations in most of the Valencian Community, or -o in all verb conjugations in the Northern Valencian Community and Western Catalonia.
E.g. parle, tem, sent (Valencian); parlo, temo, sento (Northwestern Catalan).

Eastern Catalan: In verbs, the ending for 1st-person present indicative is -o, -i, or -∅ in all conjugations.
E.g. parlo (Central), parl (Balearic), and parli (Northern), all meaning ('I speak').

1st-person singular present indicative forms
Conjugation Eastern Catalan Western Catalan Gloss
Central Northern Balearic Valencian Northwestern
1st parlo parli parl parle parlo 'I speak'
2nd temo temi tem tem temo 'I fear'
3rd pure sento senti sent sent sento 'I feel', 'I hear'
inchoative poleixo poleixi poleix or polesc polisc or polesc pol(e)ixo 'I polish'

Western Catalan: In verbs, the inchoative endings are -isc/-esc, -ix, -ixen, -isca/-esca.

Eastern Catalan: In verbs, the inchoative endings are -eixo, -eix, -eixen, -eixi.

Western Catalan: In nouns and adjectives, maintenance of /n/ of medieval plurals in proparoxytone words.
E.g. hòmens 'men', jóvens 'youth'.

Eastern Catalan: In nouns and adjectives, loss of /n/ of medieval plurals in proparoxytone words.
E.g. homes 'men', joves 'youth' (Ibicencan, however, follows the model of Western Catalan in this case[118]).

Vocabulary

Despite its relative lexical unity, the two dialectal blocks of Catalan (Eastern and Western) show some differences in word choices.[54] Any lexical divergence within any of the two groups can be explained as an archaism. Also, usually Central Catalan acts as an innovative element.[54]

Selection of different words between Western and Eastern Catalan
Gloss "mirror" "boy" "broom" "navel" "to exit"
Eastern Catalan mirall noi escombra llombrígol sortir
Western Catalan espill xiquet granera melic eixir

Standards

 
Casa de Convalescència, Headquarters of the Institut d'Estudis Catalans
Written varieties
Catalan (IEC) Valencian (AVL) gloss
anglès anglés English
conèixer conéixer to know
treure traure take out
néixer nàixer to be born
càntir cànter pitcher
rodó redó round
meva meua my, mine
ametlla ametla almond
estrella estrela star
cop colp hit
llagosta llangosta lobster
homes hòmens men
servei servici service

Standard Catalan, virtually accepted by all speakers,[42] is mostly based on Eastern Catalan,[81][119] which is the most widely used dialect. Nevertheless, the standards of the Valencian Community and the Balearics admit alternative forms, mostly traditional ones, which are not current in eastern Catalonia.[119]

The most notable difference between both standards is some tonic ⟨e⟩ accentuation, for instance: francès, anglès (IEC) – francés, anglés (AVL). Nevertheless, AVL's standard keeps the grave accent ⟨è⟩, while pronouncing it as /e/ rather than /ɛ/, in some words like: què ('what'), or València. Other divergences include the use of ⟨tl⟩ (AVL) in some words instead of ⟨tll⟩ like in ametla/ametlla ('almond'), espatla/espatlla ('back'), the use of elided demonstratives (este 'this', eixe 'that') in the same level as reinforced ones (aquest, aqueix) or the use of many verbal forms common in Valencian, and some of these common in the rest of Western Catalan too, like subjunctive mood or inchoative conjugation in -ix- at the same level as -eix- or the priority use of -e morpheme in 1st person singular in present indicative (-ar verbs): jo compre instead of jo compro ('I buy').

In the Balearic Islands, IEC's standard is used but adapted for the Balearic dialect by the University of the Balearic Islands's philological section. In this way, for instance, IEC says it is correct writing cantam as much as cantem ('we sing') but the University says that the priority form in the Balearic Islands must be cantam in all fields. Another feature of the Balearic standard is the non-ending in the 1st person singular present indicative: jo compr ('I buy'), jo tem ('I fear'), jo dorm ('I sleep').

In Alghero, the IEC has adapted its standard to the Algherese dialect. In this standard one can find, among other features: the definite article lo instead of el, special possessive pronouns and determinants la mia ('mine'), lo sou/la sua ('his/her'), lo tou/la tua ('yours'), and so on, the use of -v- /v/ in the imperfect tense in all conjugations: cantava, creixiva, llegiva; the use of many archaic words, usual words in Algherese: manco instead of menys ('less'), calqui u instead of algú ('someone'), qual/quala instead of quin/quina ('which'), and so on; and the adaptation of weak pronouns.

In 2011,[120] the Aragonese government passed a decree approving the statutes of a new language regulator of Catalan in La Franja (the so-called Catalan-speaking areas of Aragon) as originally provided for by Law 10/2009.[121] The new entity, designated as Acadèmia Aragonesa del Català, shall allow a facultative education in Catalan and a standardization of the Catalan language in La Franja.

Status of Valencian

 
Subdialects of Valencian

Valencian is classified as a Western dialect, along with the northwestern varieties spoken in Western Catalonia (provinces of Lleida and the western half of Tarragona).[81][112] Central Catalan has 90% to 95% inherent intelligibility for speakers of Valencian.[1]

Linguists, including Valencian scholars, deal with Catalan and Valencian as the same language. The official regulating body of the language of the Valencian Community, the Valencian Academy of Language (Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua, AVL) declares the linguistic unity between Valencian and Catalan varieties.[12]

[T]he historical patrimonial language of the Valencian people, from a philological standpoint, is the same shared by the autonomous communities of Catalonia and Balearic islands, and Principality of Andorra. Additionally, it is the patrimonial historical language of other territories of the ancient Crown of Aragon [...] The different varieties of these territories constitute a language, that is, a "linguistic system" [...] From this group of varieties, Valencian has the same hierarchy and dignity as any other dialectal modality of that linguistic system [...]

Ruling of the Valencian Language Academy of 9 February 2005, extract of point 1.[12][122]

The AVL, created by the Valencian parliament, is in charge of dictating the official rules governing the use of Valencian, and its standard is based on the Norms of Castelló (Normes de Castelló). Currently, everyone who writes in Valencian uses this standard, except the Royal Academy of Valencian Culture (Acadèmia de Cultura Valenciana, RACV), which uses for Valencian an independent standard.

Despite the position of the official organizations, an opinion poll carried out between 2001 and 2004[123] showed that the majority of the Valencian people consider Valencian different from Catalan. This position is promoted by people who do not use Valencian regularly.[42] Furthermore, the data indicates that younger generations educated in Valencian are much less likely to hold these views. A minority of Valencian scholars active in fields other than linguistics defends the position of the Royal Academy of Valencian Culture (Acadèmia de Cultura Valenciana, RACV), which uses for Valencian a standard independent from Catalan.[124]

This clash of opinions has sparked much controversy. For example, during the drafting of the European Constitution in 2004, the Spanish government supplied the EU with translations of the text into Basque, Galician, Catalan, and Valencian, but the latter two were identical.[125]

Vocabulary

Word choices

Despite its relative lexical unity, the two dialectal blocks of Catalan (Eastern and Western) show some differences in word choices.[54] Any lexical divergence within any of the two groups can be explained as an archaism. Also, usually Central Catalan acts as an innovative element.[54]

Literary Catalan allows the use of words from different dialects, except those of very restricted use.[54] However, from the 19th century onwards, there has been a tendency towards favoring words of Northern dialects to the detriment of others, even though nowadays there is a greater freedom of choice.[clarify][54]

Latin and Greek loanwords

Like other languages, Catalan has a large list of loanwords from Greek and Latin. This process started very early, and one can find such examples in Ramon Llull's work.[54] In the 14th and 15th centuries Catalan had a far greater number of Greco-Latin loanwords than other Romance languages, as is attested for example in Roís de Corella's writings.[54] The incorporation of learned, or "bookish" words from its own ancestor language, Latin, into Catalan is arguably another form of lexical borrowing through the influence of written language and the liturgical language of the Church. Throughout the Middle Ages and into the early modern period, most literate Catalan speakers were also literate in Latin; and thus they easily adopted Latin words into their writing—and eventually speech—in Catalan.

Word formation

The process of morphological derivation in Catalan follows the same principles as the other Romance languages,[126] where agglutination is common. Many times, several affixes are appended to a preexisting lexeme, and some sound alternations can occur, for example elèctric [əˈlɛktrik] ("electrical") vs. electricitat [ələktrisiˈtat]. Prefixes are usually appended to verbs, as in preveure ("foresee").[126]

There is greater regularity in the process of word-compounding, where one can find compounded words formed much like those in English.[126]

Common types of word compounds in Catalan[126]
Type Example Gloss
two nouns, the second assimilated to the first paper moneda "banknote paper"
noun delimited by an adjective estat major "military staff"
noun delimited by another noun and a preposition màquina d'escriure "typewriter"
verb radical with a nominal object paracaigudes "parachute"
noun delimited by an adjective, with adjectival value pit-roig "robin" (bird)

Writing system

 
The word novel·la ("novel") in a dictionary. The geminated L (l·l) is a distinctive character used in Catalan.
 
Billboard in Barcelona (detail), showing the word il·lusió ("illusion")
Main forms A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Modified forms À Ç É È Í Ï L·L Ó Ò Ú Ü

Catalan uses the Latin script, with some added symbols and digraphs.[127] The Catalan orthography is systematic and largely phonologically based.[127] Standardization of Catalan was among the topics discussed during the First International Congress of the Catalan Language, held in Barcelona October 1906. Subsequently, the Philological Section of the Institut d'Estudis Catalans (IEC, founded in 1911) published the Normes ortogràfiques in 1913 under the direction of Antoni Maria Alcover and Pompeu Fabra. In 1932, Valencian writers and intellectuals gathered in Castelló de la Plana to make a formal adoption of the so-called Normes de Castelló, a set of guidelines following Pompeu Fabra's Catalan language norms.[128]

Pronunciation of Catalan special characters and digraphs (Central Catalan)[129]
Pronunciation Examples[129]
ç /s/ feliç [fəˈlis] ("happy")
gu /ɡ/ ([ɡ~ɣ]) before i and e guerra [ˈɡɛrə] ("war")
/ɡw/ elsewhere guant [ˈɡwan] ("glove")
ig [tʃ] in final position raig [ˈratʃ] ("trickle")
ix /ʃ/ ([jʃ] in some dialects) caixa [ˈkaʃə] ("box")
ll /ʎ/ lloc [ʎɔk] ("place")
l·l Normatively /l:/, but usually /l/ novel·la [nuˈβɛlə] ("novel")
ny /ɲ/ Catalunya [kətəˈɫuɲə] ("Catalonia")
qu /k/ before i and e qui [ˈki] ("who")
/kw/ before other vowels quatre [ˈkwatrə] ("four")
ss /s/
Intervocalic s is pronounced /z/
grossa [ˈɡɾɔsə] ("big-feminine)"
casa [ˈkazə] ("house")
tg, tj [ddʒ] fetge [ˈfeddʒə] ("liver"), mitjó [midˈdʒo] ("sock")
tx [tʃ] despatx [dəsˈpatʃ] ("office")
tz [ddz] dotze [ˈdoddzə] ("twelve")
Letters and digraphs with contextually conditioned pronunciations (Central Catalan)[129]
Notes Examples[129]
c /s/ before i and e
corresponds to ç in other contexts
feliç ("happy-masculine-singular") - felices ("happy-feminine-plural")
caço ("I hunt") - caces ("you hunt")
g /ʒ/ before e and i
corresponds to j in other positions
envejar ("to envy") - envegen ("they envy")
final g + stressed i, and final ig before other vowels,
are pronounced [tʃ]
corresponds to j~g or tj~tg in other positions
boig ['bɔtʃ] ("mad-masculine") - boja ['bɔʒə] ("mad-feminine") -boges ['bɔʒəs] ("mad-feminine plural")
desig [də'zitʃ] ("wish") - desitjar ("to wish") - desitgem ("we wish")
gu /ɡ/ before e and i
corresponds to g in other positions
botiga ("shop") - botigues ("shops")
/ɡw/ before e and i
corresponds to gu in other positions
llengua ("language") - llengües ("languages")
qu /k/ before e and i
corresponds to c in other positions
vaca ("cow") - vaques ("cows")
/kw/ before e and i
corresponds to qu in other positions
obliqua ("oblique-feminine") - obliqües ("oblique-feminine plural")
x [ʃ~tʃ] initially and in onsets after a consonant
[ʃ] after i
otherwise, [ɡz] before stress, [ks] after
xarxa [ˈʃarʃə] ("net")
guix [ˈɡiʃ] ("chalk")
exacte [əɡˈzaktə] ("exact"), fax [ˈfaks] ("fax")

Grammar

The grammar of Catalan is similar to other Romance languages. Features include:[130]

Gender and number inflection

 
Gender and number inflection of the word gat ("cat")
Regular noun with definite article: el gat ("the cat")
masculine feminine
singular el gat la gata
plural els gats les gates
Adjective with 4 forms:
verd ("green")
masculine feminine
singular verd verda
plural verds verdes
Adjective with 3 forms:
feliç ("happy")
masculine feminine
singular feliç
plural feliços felices
Adjective with 2 forms:
indiferent ("indifferent")
masculine feminine
singular indiferent
plural indiferents

In gender inflection, the most notable feature is (compared to Portuguese, Spanish or Italian), the loss of the typical masculine suffix -o. Thus, the alternance of -o/-a, has been replaced by ø/-a.[80] There are only a few exceptions, like minso/minsa ("scarce").[80] Many not completely predictable morphological alternations may occur, such as:[80]

  • Affrication: boig/boja ("insane") vs. lleig/lletja ("ugly")
  • Loss of n: pla/plana ("flat") vs. segon/segona ("second")
  • Final obstruent devoicing: sentit/sentida ("felt") vs. dit/dita ("said")

Catalan has few suppletive couplets, like Italian and Spanish, and unlike French. Thus, Catalan has noi/noia ("boy"/"girl") and gall/gallina ("cock"/"hen"), whereas French has garçon/fille and coq/poule.[80]

There is a tendency to abandon traditionally gender-invariable adjectives in favor of marked ones, something prevalent in Occitan and French. Thus, one can find bullent/bullenta ("boiling") in contrast with traditional bullent/bullent.[80]

As in the other Western Romance languages, the main plural expression is the suffix -s, which may create morphological alternations similar to the ones found in gender inflection, albeit more rarely.[80] The most important one is the addition of -o- before certain consonant groups, a phonetic phenomenon that does not affect feminine forms: el pols/els polsos ("the pulse"/"the pulses") vs. la pols/les pols ("the dust"/"the dusts").[131]

Determiners

 
Sign in the town square of Begur, Catalonia, Spain. In plaça de la vila (literally "square of the town"), since the noun vila ("town") is feminine singular, the definite article carries the corresponding form, la ("the").
Definite article in Standard Catalan
(elided forms in brackets)[132]
masculine feminine
singular el (l') la (l')
plural els les
Contractions of the definite article
preposition
a de per
article el al (a l') del (de l') pel (per l')
els als dels pels
Indefinite article
masculine feminine
singular un una
plural uns unes

The inflection of determinatives is complex, specially because of the high number of elisions, but is similar to the neighboring languages.[126] Catalan has more contractions of preposition + article than Spanish, like dels ("of + the [plural]"), but not as many as Italian (which has sul, col, nel, etc.).[126]

Central Catalan has abandoned almost completely unstressed possessives (mon, etc.) in favor of constructions of article + stressed forms (el meu, etc.), a feature shared with Italian.[126]

Personal pronouns

Catalan stressed pronouns[133]
  singular plural
1st person jo, mi nosaltres
2nd person informal tu vosaltres
formal vostè vostès
respectful (vós)[134]
3rd person masculine ell ells
feminine ella elles

The morphology of Catalan personal pronouns is complex, especially in unstressed forms, which are numerous (13 distinct forms, compared to 11 in Spanish or 9 in Italian).[126] Features include the gender-neutral ho and the great degree of freedom when combining different unstressed pronouns (65 combinations).[126]

Catalan pronouns exhibit T–V distinction, like all other Romance languages (and most European languages, but not Modern English). This feature implies the use of a different set of second person pronouns for formality.

This flexibility allows Catalan to use extraposition extensively, much more than French or Spanish. Thus, Catalan can have m'hi recomanaren ("they recommended me to him"), whereas in French one must say ils m'ont recommandé à lui, and Spanish me recomendaron a él.[126] This allows the placement of almost any nominal term as a sentence topic, without having to use so often the passive voice (as in French or English), or identifying the direct object with a preposition (as in Spanish).[126]

Verbs

Simple forms of a regular verb of the first conjugation: portar ("to bring")[135]
Non-finite Form
Infinitive portar
Gerund portant
Past participle portat (portat, portada, portats, portades)
Indicative jo tu ell / ella
[vostè]
nosaltres vosaltres
[vós]
ells / elles
[vostès]
Present porto portes porta portem porteu porten
Imperfect portava portaves portava portàvem portàveu portaven
Preterite (archaic) portí portares portà portàrem portàreu portaren
Future portaré portaràs portarà portarem portareu portaran
Conditional portaria portaries portaria portaríem portaríeu portarien
Subjunctive jo tu ell / ella
[vostè]
nosaltres vosaltres
[vós]
ells / elles
[vostès]
Present porti portis porti portem porteu portin
Imperfect portés portéssis portés portéssim portéssiu portessin
Imperative jo tu ell / ella
[vostè]
nosaltres vosaltres
[vós]
ells / elles
[vostès]
porta porti portem porteu portin

Like all the Romance languages, Catalan verbal inflection is more complex than the nominal. Suffixation is omnipresent, whereas morphological alternations play a secondary role.[126] Vowel alternances are active, as well as infixation and suppletion. However, these are not as productive as in Spanish, and are mostly restricted to irregular verbs.[126]

The Catalan verbal system is basically common to all Western Romance, except that most dialects have replaced the synthetic indicative perfect with a periphrastic form of anar ("to go") + infinitive.[126]

Catalan verbs are traditionally divided into three conjugations, with vowel themes -a-, -e-, -i-, the last two being split into two subtypes. However, this division is mostly theoretical.[126] Only the first conjugation is nowadays productive (with about 3500 common verbs), whereas the third (the subtype of servir, with about 700 common verbs) is semiproductive. The verbs of the second conjugation are fewer than 100, and it is not possible to create new ones, except by compounding.[126]

Syntax

The grammar of Catalan follows the general pattern of Western Romance languages. The primary word order is subject–verb–object.[136] However, word order is very flexible. Commonly, verb-subject constructions are used to achieve a semantic effect. The sentence "The train has arrived" could be translated as Ha arribat el tren or El tren ha arribat. Both sentences mean "the train has arrived", but the former puts a focus on the train, while the latter puts a focus on the arrival. This subtle distinction is described as "what you might say while waiting in the station" versus "what you might say on the train."[137]

Catalan names

In Spain, every person officially has two surnames, one of which is the father's first surname and the other is the mother's first surname.[138] The law contemplates the possibility of joining both surnames with the Catalan conjunction i ("and").[138][139]

Sample text

Selected text[140] from Manuel de Pedrolo's 1970 novel Un amor fora ciutat ("A love affair outside the city").

Original Word-for-word translation[140] Free translation
Tenia prop de divuit anys quan vaig conèixer I was having close to eighteen years, when I go [past auxiliary] know (=I met) I was about eighteen years old when I met
en Raül, a l'estació de Manresa. the Raül, at the station of (=in) Manresa. Raül, at Manresa railway station.
El meu pare havia mort, inesperadament i encara jove, The my father had died, unexpectedly and still young, My father had died, unexpectedly and still young,
un parell d'anys abans, i d'aquells temps a couple of years before, and of those times a couple of years before; and from that time
conservo un record de punyent solitud. I keep a memory of acute loneliness I still harbor memories of great loneliness.
Les meves relacions amb la mare The my relations with the mother My relationship with my mother
no havien pas millorat, tot el contrari, not had at all improved, all the contrary, had not improved; quite the contrary,
potser fins i tot empitjoraven perhaps even they were worsening and arguably it was getting even worse
a mesura que em feia gran. at step that (=in proportion as) myself I was making big (=I was growing up). as I grew up.
No existia, no existí mai entre nosaltres, Not it was existing, not it existed never between us, There did not exist, at no point had there ever existed between us
una comunitat d'interessos, d'afeccions. a community of interests, of affections. shared interests or affection.
Cal creure que cercava... una persona It is necessary to believe that I was seeking... a person I guess I was seeking... a person
en qui centrar la meva vida afectiva. in whom to center the my life affective. in whom I could center my emotional life.

See also

Notes

  1. ^ The Valencian Normative Dictionary of the Valencian Academy of the Language states that Valencian is a "Romance language spoken in the Valencian Community, as well as in Catalonia, the Balearic Islands, the French department of the Pyrénées-Orientales, the Principality of Andorra, the eastern flank of Aragon and the Sardinian town of Alghero (unique in Italy), where it receives the name of 'Catalan'."
  2. ^ The Catalan Language Dictionary of the Institut d'Estudis Catalans states in the sixth definition of "Valencian" that, in the Valencian Community, it is equivalent to Catalan language.
  1. ^ Although in business and daily life other languages are common, and due to immigration Catalan mother-tongue speakers are only 35.7% of the population. See Languages of Andorra.

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  61. ^ a b Portuguese and Spanish have estiagem and estiaje, respectively, for drought, dry season or low water levels.
  62. ^ a b Portuguese and Spanish have véspera and víspera, respectively, for eve, or the day before.
  63. ^ Spanish also has trozo, and it is actually a borrowing from Catalan tros. Colón 1993, p 39. Portuguese has troço, but aside from also being a loanword, it has a very different meaning: "thing", "gadget", "tool", "paraphernalia".
  64. ^ Modern Spanish also has gris, but it is a modern borrowing from Occitan. The original word was pardo, which stands for "reddish, yellow-orange, medium-dark and of moderate to weak saturation. It also can mean ochre, pale ochre, dark ohre, brownish, tan, greyish, grey, desaturated, dirty, dark, or opaque." Gallego, Rosa; Sanz, Juan Carlos (2001). Diccionario Akal del color (in Spanish). Akal. ISBN 978-84-460-1083-8.
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  122. ^ Original full text of Dictamen 1: D'acord amb les aportacions més solvents de la romanística acumulades des del segle XIX fins a l'actualitat (estudis de gramàtica històrica, de dialectologia, de sintaxi, de lexicografia…), la llengua pròpia i històrica dels valencians, des del punt de vista de la filologia, és també la que compartixen les comunitats autònomes de Catalunya i de les Illes Balears i el Principat d'Andorra. Així mateix és la llengua històrica i pròpia d'altres territoris de l'antiga Corona d'Aragó (la franja oriental aragonesa, la ciutat sarda de l'Alguer i el departament francés dels Pirineus Orientals). Els diferents parlars de tots estos territoris constituïxen una llengua, és a dir, un mateix «sistema lingüístic», segons la terminologia del primer estructuralisme (annex 1) represa en el Dictamen del Consell Valencià de Cultura, que figura com a preàmbul de la Llei de Creació de l'AVL. Dins d'eixe conjunt de parlars, el valencià té la mateixa jerarquia i dignitat que qualsevol altra modalitat territorial del sistema lingüístic, i presenta unes característiques pròpies que l'AVL preservarà i potenciarà d'acord amb la tradició lexicogràfica i literària pròpia, la realitat lingüística valenciana i la normativització consolidada a partir de les Normes de Castelló.
  123. ^ "Casi el 65% de los valencianos opina que su lengua es distinta al catalán, según una encuesta del CIS" [Almost 65% of Valencians believe that their language is different from Catalan, according to a CIS survey]. La Vanguardia (in Spanish). Europa Press. 9 December 2004.
  124. ^ [List of RACV academics]. Real Acadèmia de Cultura Valenciana (in Valencian). Archived from the original on 14 December 2016.
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  127. ^ a b Wheeler 2005, p. 6.
  128. ^ Carreras, Joan Costa, ed. (2009). The Architect of Modern Catalan: Selected writings. Translated by Yates, Alan. John Benjamins Publishing. ISBN 978-9027289247.
  129. ^ a b c d Wheeler 2005, p. 7.
  130. ^ a b c d e f Swan 2001, pp. 97–98.
  131. ^ Enciclopèdia Catalana, pp. 630–631.
  132. ^ Fabra 1926, pp. 29–30.
  133. ^ Fabra 1926, p. 42.
  134. ^ Archaic in most dialects.
  135. ^ Fabra 1926, pp. 70–71.
  136. ^ "Catalan". World Atlas of Language Structures (WALS) Online.
  137. ^ Wheeler, Yates & Dols 1999.
  138. ^ a b Wheeler 2005, p. 8.
  139. ^ article 19.1 of Law 1/1998 stipulates that "the citizens of Catalonia have the right to use the proper regulation of their Catalan names and surnames and to introduce the conjunction between surnames"
  140. ^ a b Swan 2001, p. 112.

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  • Gove, Philip Babcock, ed. (1993). Webster's Third New International Dictionary. Merriam-Webster, Inc. ISBN 3-8290-5292-8.
  • Grau Mateu, Josep (2015). El català, llengua de govern: la política lingüística de la Mancomunitat de Catalunya (1914–1924). Revista de llengua i dret, 64.
  • Guinot, Enric (1999). Els fundadors del Regne de València: replobament, antroponímia i llengua a la València medieval. Valencia: Tres i Quatre. ISBN 8475025919.
  • Hualde, José (1992). Catalan. Routledge. p. 368. ISBN 978-0-415-05498-0.
  • Jud, Jakob (1925). Problèmes de géographie linguistique romane (in French). Paris: Revue de Linguistique Romane. pp. 181–182.
  • Koryakov, Yuri (2001). Atlas of Romance languages. Moscow.
  • Lledó, Miquel Àngel (2011). "26. The Independent Standardization of Valencia: From Official Use to Underground Resistance". Handbook of Language and Ethnic Identity : The Success-Failure Continuum in Language and Ethnic Identity Efforts (Volume 2). New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 336–348. ISBN 978-0-19-539245-6.
  • Lloret, Maria-Rosa (2004). "The Phonological Role of Paradigms: The Case of Insular Catalan". In Auger, Julie; Clements, J. Clancy; Vance, Barbara (eds.). Contemporary Approaches to Romance Linguistics: Selected Papers from the 33rd Linguistic Symposium on Romance Languages. Philadelphia: John Benjamins. p. 278.
  • Marfany, Marta (2002). Els menorquins d'Algèria (in Catalan). Barcelona: Abadia de Montserrat. ISBN 84-8415-366-5.
  • Melchor, Vicent de; Branchadell, Albert (2002). El catalán: una lengua de Europa para compartir (in Spanish). Bellaterra: Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. p. 71. ISBN 84-490-2299-1.
  • Moll, Francesc de B. (2006) [1958]. Gramàtica Històrica Catalana (in Catalan) (Catalan ed.). Universitat de València. p. 47. ISBN 978-84-370-6412-3.
  • Moran, Josep (1994). Treballs de lingüística històrica catalana (in Catalan). Barcelona: Publicacions de l'Abadia de Monsterrat. pp. 55–93. ISBN 84-7826-568-6.
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External links

Institutions

  • Consorci per a la Normalització Lingüística
  • Institut d'Estudis Catalans
  • Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua

About the Catalan language

  • llengua.gencat.cat, by the Government of Catalonia
  • (Catalan grammar), from the Institute for Catalan Studies
  • Gramàtica Normativa Valenciana (2006, Valencian grammar), from the Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua
  • verbs.cat (Catalan verb conjugations with online trainers)
  • LEXDIALGRAM – online portal of 19th-century dialectal lexicographical and grammatical works of Catalan hosted by the University of Barcelona

Monolingual dictionaries

  • DIEC2, from the Institut d'Estudis Catalans
  • Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana Archived 18 May 2016 at the Portuguese Web Archive, from Enciclopèdia Catalana
  • Diccionari Català-Valencià-Balear d'Alcover i Moll 26 August 2004 at the Wayback Machine, from the Institut d'Estudis Catalans
  • Diccionari Normatiu Valencià (AVL), from the Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua
  • diccionarivalencia.com (online Valencian dictionary)
  • Diccionari Invers de la Llengua Catalana (dictionary of Catalan words spelled backwards)

Bilingual and multilingual dictionaries

  • Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana Multilingüe (Catalan ↔ English, French, German and Spanish), from Enciclopèdia Catalana
  • DACCO – open source, collaborative dictionary (Catalan–English)

Automated translation systems

  • Traductor automated, online translations of text and web pages (Catalan ↔ English, French and Spanish), from gencat.cat by the Government of Catalonia

Phrasebooks

  • Catalan phrasebook on Wikivoyage

Learning resources

  • Catalan Swadesh list of basic vocabulary words, from Wiktionary's Swadesh-list appendix

Catalan-language online encyclopedia

  • Enciclopèdia Catalana

catalan, language, catala, redirects, here, ship, catala, surname, catalá, catalan, autonym, català, eastern, catalan, kətəˈla, known, valencian, community, carche, valencian, autonym, valencià, western, romance, language, official, language, andorra, official. Catala redirects here For the ship see SS Catala For the surname see Catala Catalan ˈ k ae t el e n ae n ˌ k ae t e ˈ l ae n 3 4 autonym catala Eastern Catalan keteˈla known in the Valencian Community and Carche as Valencian autonym valencia is a Western Romance language It is the official language of Andorra 5 and an official language of three autonomous communities in eastern Spain Catalonia the Valencian Community and the Balearic Islands It also has semi official status in the Italian comune of Alghero 6 It is also spoken in the Pyrenees Orientales department of France and in two further areas in eastern Spain the eastern strip of Aragon and the Carche area in the Region of Murcia The Catalan speaking territories are often called the Paisos Catalans or Catalan Countries CatalanValenciancatala valenciaPronunciation keteˈla valensiˈa Native toSpain Andorra France ItalyEthnicityAragoneseBalearsCatalansValenciansAndorransSpeakersL1 4 1 million 2012 1 L2 5 1 millionTotal 9 2 millionLanguage familyIndo European ItalicLatino FaliscanRomanceItalo WesternWestern RomanceGallo Romance 2 Occitano Romance 2 CatalanEarly formOld CatalanStandard formsCatalan regulated by the IEC Valencian regulated by the AVL Writing systemLatin Catalan alphabet Catalan BrailleSigned formsSigned CatalanOfficial statusOfficial language inAndorra Autonomous communities of Spain Balearic Islands Catalonia Valencian Community as Valencian Recognised minoritylanguage inAlghero Sardinia Italy Aragon Spain Pyrenees Orientales Occitanie France Regulated byInstitut d Estudis CatalansAcademia Valenciana de la LlenguaLanguage codesISO 639 1 span class plainlinks ca span ISO 639 2 span class plainlinks cat span ISO 639 3 a href https iso639 3 sil org code cat class extiw title iso639 3 cat cat a Glottologstan1289Linguasphere51 AAA e Territories where Catalan is spoken and is official Territories where Catalan is spoken but is not official Territories where Catalan is not historically spoken but is officialThis article contains IPA phonetic symbols Without proper rendering support you may see question marks boxes or other symbols instead of Unicode characters For an introductory guide on IPA symbols see Help IPA source source source source source source source source source source source source source source A speaker of Catalan Majorcan dialect source source source source source source source source source source source source source source track Artur Mas former president of Catalonia discussing individual identity collective identity and language The language evolved from Vulgar Latin in the Middle Ages around the eastern Pyrenees Nineteenth century Spain saw a Catalan literary revival 7 8 culminating in the early 1900s Contents 1 Etymology and pronunciation 2 History 2 1 Middle Ages 2 2 Start of the modern era 2 2 1 Spain 2 2 2 France 2 3 France 19th to 20th centuries 2 4 Spain 18th to 20th centuries 2 5 Present day 3 Classification and relationship with other Romance languages 3 1 Relationship with other Romance languages 4 Geographic distribution 4 1 Catalan speaking territories 4 2 Number of speakers 4 2 1 Level of knowledge 4 2 2 Social use 4 2 3 Native language 5 Phonology 5 1 Vowels 5 2 Consonants 5 3 Phonological evolution 6 Sociolinguistics 6 1 Preferential subjects of study 6 2 Dialects 6 2 1 Overview 6 3 Pronunciation 6 3 1 Vowels 6 3 2 Consonants 6 4 Morphology 6 5 Vocabulary 7 Standards 8 Status of Valencian 9 Vocabulary 9 1 Word choices 9 2 Latin and Greek loanwords 9 3 Word formation 10 Writing system 11 Grammar 11 1 Gender and number inflection 11 2 Determiners 11 3 Personal pronouns 11 4 Verbs 11 5 Syntax 12 Catalan names 13 Sample text 14 See also 15 Notes 16 References 17 Works cited 18 External linksEtymology and pronunciation EditMain article Catalonia Etymology and pronunciation Catalan Countries Paisos Catalans In orange strict Catalan speaking area NE modern Spain Catalonia Valencian Community and Balearic Islands SE France Roussillon touching the Pyrenees and Comune of Alghero NW coast of Sardinia an island belonging to Italy The Crown of Aragon in 1443 King James the Conqueror 1208 1276 dictated his autobiographical chronicles entirely in Catalan Some of this territory nowadays makes up the Catalan Countries The word Catalan is derived from the territorial name of Catalonia itself of disputed etymology The main theory suggests that Catalunya Latin Gathia Launia derives from the name Gothia or Gauthia Land of the Goths since the origins of the Catalan counts lords and people were found in the March of Gothia whence Gothland gt Gothlandia gt Gothalania gt Catalonia theoretically derived 9 10 In English the term referring to a person first appears in the mid 14th century as Catelaner followed in the 15th century as Catellain from French It is attested a language name since at least 1652 The word Catalan can be pronounced in English as ˈ k ae t el e n ˈ k ae t el ae n or ˌ k ae t e ˈ l ae n 11 4 The endonym is pronounced keteˈla in the Eastern Catalan dialects and kataˈla in the Western dialects In the Valencian Community and Carche the term valencia valensiˈa ba is frequently used instead Thus the name Valencian although often employed for referring to the varieties specific to the Valencian Community and Carche is also used by Valencians as a name for the language as a whole 12 synonymous with Catalan 13 12 Both uses of the term have their respective entries in the dictionaries by the Academia Valenciana de la Llengua note 1 and the Institut d Estudis Catalans note 2 See also status of Valencian below History EditFurther information History of Catalan Homilies d Organya 12th century Fragment of the Greuges de Guitard Isarn ca 1080 1095 one of the earliest texts written almost completely in Catalan 14 15 predating the famous Homilies d Organya by a century Linguistic map of Southwestern Europe Middle Ages Edit Further information Old Catalan and Phonological history of Catalan By the 9th century Catalan had evolved from Vulgar Latin on both sides of the eastern end of the Pyrenees as well as the territories of the Roman province of Hispania Tarraconensis to the south 8 From the 8th century onwards the Catalan counts extended their territory southwards and westwards at the expense of the Muslims bringing their language with them 8 This process was given definitive impetus with the separation of the County of Barcelona from the Carolingian Empire in 988 8 In the 11th century documents written in macaronic Latin begin to show Catalan elements 15 with texts written almost completely in Romance appearing by 1080 15 Old Catalan shared many features with Gallo Romance diverging from Old Occitan between the 11th and 14th centuries 16 During the 11th and 12th centuries the Catalan rulers expanded southward to the Ebro river 8 and in the 13th century they conquered the Land of Valencia and the Balearic Islands 8 The city of Alghero in Sardinia was repopulated with Catalan speakers in the 14th century The language also reached Murcia which became Spanish speaking in the 15th century 17 In the Low Middle Ages Catalan went through a golden age reaching a peak of maturity and cultural richness 8 Examples include the work of Majorcan polymath Ramon Llull 1232 1315 the Four Great Chronicles 13th 14th centuries and the Valencian school of poetry culminating in Ausias March 1397 1459 8 By the 15th century the city of Valencia had become the sociocultural center of the Crown of Aragon and Catalan was present all over the Mediterranean world 8 During this period the Royal Chancery propagated a highly standardized language 8 Catalan was widely used as an official language in Sicily until the 15th century and in Sardinia until the 17th 17 During this period the language was what Costa Carreras terms one of the great languages of medieval Europe 8 Martorell s outstanding 8 novel of chivalry Tirant lo Blanc 1490 shows a transition from Medieval to Renaissance values something that can also be seen in Metge s work 8 The first book produced with movable type in the Iberian Peninsula was printed in Catalan 18 8 Start of the modern era Edit Spain Edit With the union of the crowns of Castille and Aragon in 1479 the Spanish kings ruled over different kingdoms each with its own cultural linguistic and political particularities and they had to swear by the Laws of each territory before the respective Parliaments But after the War of the Spanish Succession Spain became an Absolute monarchy under Philip V which led to the assimilation of the Crown of Aragon by the Crown of Castile through the Nueva Planta decrees as a first step in the creation of the Spanish nation state as in other contemporary European states this meant the imposition of the political and cultural characteristics of the dominant groups 19 20 Since the political unification of 1714 Spanish assimilation policies towards national minorities have been a constant 21 22 23 24 25 School map of Spain from 1850 On it the State is shown divided into four parts Fully constitutional Spain which includes Castile and Andalusia but also the Galician speaking territories Annexed or assimilated Spain the territories of the Crown of Aragon the larger part of which with the exception of Aragon proper are Catalan speaking Foral Spain which includes Basque speaking territories and Colonial Spain with the last overseas colonial territories The process of assimilation began with secret instructions to the corregidores of the Catalan territory they will take the utmost care to introduce the Castilian language for which purpose he will give the most temperate and disguised measures so that the effect is achieved without the care being noticed 26 From there actions in the service of assimilation discreet or aggressive were continued and reached to the last detail such as in 1799 the Royal Certificate forbidding anyone to represent sing and dance pieces that were not in Spanish 27 Anyway the use of Spanish gradually became more prestigious 17 and marked the start of the decline of Catalan 8 7 Starting in the 16th century Catalan literature came under the influence of Spanish and the nobles part of the urban and literary classes became bilingual 17 France Edit With the Treaty of the Pyrenees 1659 Spain ceded the northern part of Catalonia to France and soon thereafter the local Catalan varieties came under the influence of French which in 1700 became the sole official language of the region 5 28 Shortly after the French Revolution 1789 the French First Republic prohibited official use of and enacted discriminating policies against the regional languages of France such as Catalan Alsatian Breton Occitan Flemish and Basque France 19th to 20th centuries Edit Official decree prohibiting the Catalan language in France Speak French be clean school wall in Ayguatebia Talau Northern Catalonia 2010 See also Language policy in France Vergonha and Patuet Following the French establishment of the colony of Algeria from 1830 onward it received several waves of Catalan speaking settlers People from the Spanish Alicante province settled around Oran whereas Algiers received immigration from Northern Catalonia and Menorca Their speech was known as patuet 29 By 1911 the number of Catalan speakers was around 100 000 30 After the declaration of independence of Algeria in 1962 almost all the Catalan speakers fled to Northern Catalonia as Pieds Noirs 31 or Alacant 32 The government of France formally recognizes only French as an official language Nevertheless on 10 December 2007 the General Council of the Pyrenees Orientales officially recognized Catalan as one of the languages of the department 33 and seeks to further promote it in public life and education Spain 18th to 20th centuries Edit See also Nueva Planta decrees Language politics in Spain under Franco and Anti Catalanism In Spain the decline of Catalan continued into the 18th century The defeat of the pro Habsburg coalition in the War of Spanish Succession 1714 initiated a series of laws which among other centralizing measures imposed the use of Spanish in legal documentation all over Spain However the 19th century saw a Catalan literary revival Renaixenca which has continued up to the present day 5 This period starts with Aribau s Ode to the Homeland 1833 followed in the second half of the 19th century and the early 20th by the work of Verdaguer poetry Oller realist novel and Guimera drama 34 In the 19th century the region of Carche in the province of Murcia was repopulated with Valencian speakers 35 Catalan spelling was standardized in 1913 and the language became official during the Second Spanish Republic 1931 1939 The Second Spanish Republic saw a brief period of tolerance with most restrictions against Catalan lifted 5 The Catalan language and culture were frowned upon during the Spanish Civil War 1936 1939 and the subsequent decades in Francoist Catalonia The Francoist dictatorship 1939 1975 imposed the use of Spanish in schools and in public administration in all of Spain However in 1944 it became mandatory by law for universities with Romance Philology to include the subject of Catalan Philology citation needed Numerous and prestigious cultural contests were created to reward works produced in Catalan In January 1944 the Eugenio Nadal award was created In 1945 with the sponsorship and subsidy of the Government the centenary of Mossen Cinto Verdaguer was celebrated In 1947 the Joan Martorell prize for novels in Catalan was awarded In 1949 the Victor Catala award for short novels in Catalan and the Aedos awards for biographies the Josep Ysart award for essays and the Ossa Menor award later renamed Carles Riba were created In 1951 a national prize was awarded to poetry in Catalan with the same financial amount as Spanish poetry That same year Selecta Editions was founded for works written in Catalan And the Joanot Martorell is awarded to Josep Pla for his work El carrer estret In subsequent years 50s 60s and 70s countless awards were born such as the Lletra d Or Amadeu Oller for poetry the Sant Jordi for novels endowed with 150 000 pesetas the Honor Award of Catalan Letters the Verdaguer the Josep Pla Prize the Merce Rodoreda Prize for short stories and narratives 36 The first Catalan language TV show was broadcast during the Franco period in 1964 37 The Francoist dictatorship 1939 1975 banned the use of Catalan in schools and in public administration 38 7 At the same time oppression of the Catalan language and identity was carried out in schools through governmental bodies and in religious centers 39 Franco s desire for a homogenous Spanish population resonated with some Catalans in favor of his regime primarily members of the upper class who began to reject the use of Catalan Despite all of these hardships Catalan continued to be used privately within households and it was able to survive Francisco Franco s dictatorship Several prominent Catalan authors resisted the suppression through literature 40 In addition to the loss of prestige for Catalan and its prohibition in schools migration during the 1950s into Catalonia from other parts of Spain also contributed to the diminished use of the language These migrants were often unaware of the existence of Catalan and thus felt no need to learn or use it Catalonia was the economic powerhouse of Spain so these migrations continued to occur from all corners of the country Employment opportunities were reduced for those who were not bilingual 41 Present day Edit Since the Spanish transition to democracy 1975 1982 Catalan has been institutionalized as an official language language of education and language of mass media all of which have contributed to its increased prestige 42 In Catalonia there is an unparalleled large bilingual European non state linguistic community 42 The teaching of Catalan is mandatory in all schools 5 but it is possible to use Spanish for studying in the public education system of Catalonia in two situations if the teacher assigned to a class chooses to use Spanish or during the learning process of one or more recently arrived immigrant students 43 There is also some intergenerational shift towards Catalan 5 More recently several Spanish political forces have tried to increase the use of Spanish in the Catalan educational system As a result in May 2022 the Spanish Supreme Court urged the Catalan regional government to enforce a measure by which 25 of all lessons must be taught in Spanish 44 According to the Statistical Institute of Catalonia in 2013 the Catalan language is the second most commonly used in Catalonia after Spanish as a native or self defining language 7 of the population self identifies with both Catalan and Spanish equally 36 4 with Catalan and 47 5 only Spanish 45 In 2003 the same studies concluded no language preference for self identification within the population above 15 years old 5 self identified with both languages 44 3 with Catalan and 47 5 with Spanish 46 To promote use of Catalan the Generalitat de Catalunya Catalonia s official Autonomous government spends part of its annual budget on the promotion of the use of Catalan in Catalonia and in other territories with entities such as Consorci per a la Normalitzacio Linguistica ca es Consortium for Linguistic Normalization 47 48 In Andorra Catalan has always been the sole official language 5 Since the promulgation of the 1993 constitution several policies favoring Catalan have been enforced like Catalan medium education 5 On the other hand there are several language shift processes currently taking place In the Northern Catalonia area of France Catalan has followed the same trend as the other minority languages of France with most of its native speakers being 60 or older as of 2004 5 Catalan is studied as a foreign language by 30 of the primary education students and by 15 of the secondary 5 The cultural association La Bressola promotes a network of community run schools engaged in Catalan language immersion programs In Alicante province Catalan is being replaced by Spanish and in Alghero by Italian 42 There is also well ingrained diglossia in the Valencian Community Ibiza and to a lesser extent in the rest of the Balearic islands 5 During the 20th century many Catalans emigrated or went into exile to Venezuela Mexico Cuba Argentina and other South American countries They formed a large number of Catalan colonies that today continue to maintain the Catalan language 49 50 They also founded many Catalan casals associations 51 Classification and relationship with other Romance languages Edit Chart of Romance languages based on structural and comparative criteria not on socio functional ones FP Franco Provencal IR Istro Romanian One classification of Catalan is given by Peire Bec Romance languages Italo Western languages Western Romance languages Gallo Iberian languages Gallo Romance languages Occitano Romance languages Catalan languageHowever the ascription of Catalan to the Occitano Romance branch of Gallo Romance languages is not shared by all linguists and philologists particularly among Spanish ones such as Ramon Menendez Pidal Catalan bears varying degrees of similarity to the linguistic varieties subsumed under the cover term Occitan language see also differences between Occitan and Catalan and Gallo Romance languages Thus as it should be expected from closely related languages Catalan today shares many traits with other Romance languages Relationship with other Romance languages Edit Some include Catalan in Occitan as the linguistic distance between this language and some Occitan dialects such as the Gascon language is similar to the distance among different Occitan dialects Catalan was considered a dialect of Occitan until the end of the 19th century 52 and still today remains its closest relative 53 Catalan shares many traits with the other neighboring Romance languages Occitan French Italian Sardinian as well as Spanish and Portuguese among others 35 However despite being spoken mostly on the Iberian Peninsula Catalan has marked differences with the Iberian Romance group Spanish and Portuguese in terms of pronunciation grammar and especially vocabulary showing instead its closest affinity with languages native to France and northern Italy particularly Occitan 54 55 56 and to a lesser extent Gallo Romance Franco Provencal French Gallo Italian 57 58 59 60 54 55 56 According to Ethnologue the lexical similarity between Catalan and other Romance languages is 87 with Italian 85 with Portuguese and Spanish 76 with Ladin and Romansh 75 with Sardinian and 73 with Romanian 1 Lexical comparison of 24 words among Romance languages 17 cognates with Gallo Romance 5 isoglosses with Iberian Romance 3 isoglosses with Occitan and 1 unique word 58 59 Gloss Catalan Occitan Campidanese Sardinian Italian French Spanish Portuguese Romaniancousin cosi cosin fradili cugino cousin primo primo coirmao vărbrother germa fraire fradi fratello frere hermano irmao fratenephew nebot nebot nebodi nipote neveu sobrino sobrinho nepotsummer estiu estiu istadi estate ete verano estio 61 verao estio 61 varăevening vespre ser vespre seru sera soir tarde noche 62 tarde serao 62 searămorning mati matin mangianu mattina matin manana manha matina dimineațăfrying pan paella padena paella padella poele sarten frigideira fritadeira tigaiebed llit liech leit letu letto lit cama lecho cama leito patbird ocell au aucel pilloni uccello oiseau ave pajaro ave passaro pasăredog gos ca gos canh cani cane chien perro can cao cachorro caineplum pruna pruna pruna prugna prune ciruela ameixa prunăbutter mantega bodre burru butiru burro beurre mantequilla manteca manteiga untpiece tros troc petac arrogu pezzo morceau piece pedazo trozo 63 pedaco bocado bucatăgray gris gris canu grigio gris gris pardo 64 cinzento gris gri 65 sur cenușiuhot calent caud callenti caldo chaud caliente quente caldtoo much massa trop tropu troppo trop demasiado demais demasiado preato want voler voler bolli ri volere vouloir querer querer a vreato take prendre prene prendre pigai prendere prendre tomar prender apanhar levar a luato pray pregar pregar pregai pregare prier orar orar rezar pregar a se rugato ask demanar preguntar demandar dimandai preguntai domandare demander pedir preguntar pedir perguntar a cere a intrebato search cercar buscar cercar circai cercare chercher buscar procurar buscar a căutato arrive arribar arribar arribai arrivare arriver llegar arribar chegar a ajungeto speak parlar parlar chistionnai fueddai parlare parler hablar parlar falar palrar a vorbito eat menjar manjar pappai mangiare manger comer manyar in lunfardo papear in slang comer papar in slang manjar a mancaCatalan and Spanish cognates with different meanings 60 Latin Catalan Spanishaccostare acostar to bring closer acostar to put to bed levare llevar to remove wake up llevar to take trahere traure to remove traer to bring circare cercar to search cercar to fence collocare colgar to bury colgar to hang mulier muller wife mujer woman or wife During much of its history and especially during the Francoist dictatorship 1939 1975 the Catalan language was ridiculed as a mere dialect of Spanish 55 56 This view based on political and ideological considerations has no linguistic validity 55 56 Spanish and Catalan have important differences in their sound systems lexicon and grammatical features placing the language in features closer to Occitan and French 55 56 There is evidence that at least from the 2nd century a d the vocabulary and phonology of Roman Tarraconensis was different from the rest of Roman Hispania 54 Differentiation arose generally because Spanish Asturian and Galician Portuguese share certain peripheral archaisms Spanish hervir Asturian and Portuguese ferver vs Catalan bullir Occitan bolir to boil and innovatory regionalisms Sp novillo Ast nuviellu vs Cat torell Oc taurel bullock while Catalan has a shared history with the Western Romance innovative core especially Occitan 66 54 Like all Romance languages Catalan has a handful of native words which are unique to it or rare elsewhere These include verbs cōnfigere to fasten transfix gt confegir to compose write up congeminare gt conjuminar to combine conjugate de ex somnitare gt deixondar ir to wake awaken densare to thicken crowd together gt desar to save keep ignōrare gt enyorar to miss yearn pine for indagare to investigate track gt Old Catalan enagar to incite induce odiare gt OCat ujar to exhaust fatigue pacificare gt apaivagar to appease mollify repudiare gt rebutjar to reject refuse nouns brisa gt brisa pomace buda gt boga reedmace catarrhu gt cadarn catarrh congesta gt congesta snowdrift delirium gt deler ardor passion fretu gt freu brake labem gt a llau avalanche ōra gt vora edge border pistrice sawfish gt pestriu gt pestiu thresher shark smooth hound ray pruna live coal gt espurna spark tardatiōnem gt tardao gt tardor autumn 67 The Gothic superstrate produced different outcomes in Spanish and Catalan For example Catalan fang mud and rostir to roast of Germanic origin contrast with Spanish lodo and asar of Latin origin whereas Catalan filosa spinning wheel and templa temple of Latin origin contrast with Spanish rueca and sien of Germanic origin 54 The same happens with Arabic loanwords Thus Catalan alfabia large earthenware jar and rajola tile of Arabic origin contrast with Spanish tinaja and teja of Latin origin whereas Catalan oli oil and oliva olive of Latin origin contrast with Spanish aceite and aceituna 54 However the Arabic element in Spanish is generally much more prevalent 54 Situated between two large linguistic blocks Iberian Romance and Gallo Romance Catalan has many unique lexical choices such as enyorar to miss somebody apaivagar to calm somebody down and rebutjar reject 54 Geographic distribution EditCatalan speaking territories Edit Main article Catalan Countries Traditionally Catalan speaking territories in dark gray non Catalan speaking territories belonging to traditionally Catalan speaking regions in light gray Northern Catalonia Catalonia Alghero LaFranja ValencianCommunity Carche Sardinia Italy Aragon Spain Murcia Spain France Andorra Balearic IslandsTraditionally Catalan speaking territories are sometimes called the Paisos Catalans Catalan Countries a denomination based on cultural affinity and common heritage that has also had a subsequent political interpretation but no official status Various interpretations of the term may include some or all of these regions Territories where Catalan is spoken 35 State Territory Catalan name NotesAndorra Andorra Andorra A sovereign state where Catalan is the national and the sole official language The Andorrans speak a Western Catalan variety a France Northern Catalonia Catalunya Nord Roughly corresponding to the departement of Pyrenees Orientales 35 Spain Catalonia Catalunya In the Aran Valley northwest corner of Catalonia in addition to Occitan which is the local language Catalan Spanish and French are also spoken 35 Valencian Community Comunitat Valenciana Excepting some regions in the west and south which have been Aragonese Spanish speaking since at least the 18th century 35 The Western Catalan variety spoken there is known as Valencian La Franja La Franja A part of the Autonomous Community of Aragon specifically a strip bordering Western Catalonia It comprises the comarques of Ribagorca Llitera Baix Cinca and Matarranya Balearic Islands Illes Balears Comprising the islands of Mallorca Menorca Ibiza and Formentera Carche El Carxe A small area of the Autonomous Community of Murcia settled in the 19th century 35 Italy Alghero L Alguer A city in the Province of Sassari on the island of Sardinia where the Algherese dialect is spoken Number of speakers Edit The number of people known to be fluent in Catalan varies depending on the sources used A 2004 study did not count the total number of speakers but estimated a total of 9 9 5 million by matching the percentage of speakers to the population of each area where Catalan is spoken 68 The web site of the Generalitat de Catalunya estimated that as of 2004 there were 9 118 882 speakers of Catalan 69 These figures only reflect potential speakers today it is the native language of only 35 6 of the Catalan population 70 According to Ethnologue Catalan had 4 1 million native speakers and 5 1 million second language speakers in 2021 1 Geographical distribution of Catalan language by official status According to a 2011 study the total number of Catalan speakers is over 9 8 million with 5 9 million residing in Catalonia More than half of them speak Catalan as a second language with native speakers being about 4 4 million of those more than 2 8 in Catalonia 71 Very few Catalan monoglots exist basically virtually all of the Catalan speakers in Spain are bilingual speakers of Catalan and Spanish with a sizable population of Spanish only speakers of immigrant origin typically born outside Catalonia or whose parents were both born outside Catalonia citation needed existing in the major Catalan urban areas as well In Roussillon only a minority of French Catalans speak Catalan nowadays with French being the majority language for the inhabitants after a continued process of language shift According to a 2019 survey by the Catalan government 31 5 of the inhabitants of Catalonia have Catalan as first language at home whereas 52 7 have Spanish 2 8 both Catalan and Spanish and 10 8 other languages 72 Spanish is the most spoken language in Barcelona according to the linguistic census held by the Government of Catalonia in 2013 and it is understood almost universally According to this census of 2013 Catalan is also very commonly spoken in the city of 1 501 262 it is understood by 95 of the population while 72 3 over the age of 2 can speak it 1 137 816 79 can read it 1 246 555 and 53 can write it 835 080 73 The proportion in Barcelona who can speak it 72 3 74 is lower than that of the overall Catalan population of whom 81 2 over the age of 15 speak the language Knowledge of Catalan has increased significantly in recent decades thanks to a language immersion educational system An important social characteristic of the Catalan language is that all the areas where it is spoken are bilingual in practice together with the French language in Roussillon with Italian in Alghero with Spanish and French in Andorra and with Spanish in the rest of the territories Territory State Understand 1 75 Can speak 2 75 Catalonia Spain 6 502 880 5 698 400Valencian Community Spain 3 448 780 2 407 951Balearic Islands Spain 852 780 706 065Roussillon France 203 121 125 621Andorra Andorra 75 407 61 975La Franja Aragon Spain 47 250 45 000Alghero Sardinia Italy 20 000 17 625Carche Murcia Spain No data No dataTotal Catalan speaking territories 11 150 218 9 062 637Rest of World No data 350 000Total 11 150 218 9 412 6371 The number of people who understand Catalan includes those who can speak it 2 Figures relate to all self declared capable speakers not just native speakers Level of knowledge Edit Area Speak Understand Read WriteCatalonia 76 81 2 94 4 85 5 65 3Valencian Community 57 5 78 1 54 9 32 5Balearic Islands 74 6 93 1 79 6 46 9Roussillon 37 1 65 3 31 4 10 6Andorra 78 9 96 0 89 7 61 1Franja Oriental of Aragon 88 8 98 5 72 9 30 3Alghero 67 6 89 9 50 9 28 4 of the population 15 years old and older Social use Edit Area At home Outside homeCatalonia 45 51Valencian Community 37 32Balearic Islands 44 41Roussillon 1 1Andorra 38 51Franja Oriental of Aragon 70 61Alghero 8 4 of the population 15 years old and older Native language Edit Area People PercentageCatalonia 2 813 000 38 5 Valencian Community 1 047 000 21 1 Balearic Islands 392 000 36 1 Andorra 26 000 33 8 Franja Oriental of Aragon 33 000 70 2 Roussillon 35 000 8 5 Alghero 8 000 20 TOTAL 4 353 000 31 2 77 78 79 Phonology EditMain article Catalan phonology Catalan phonology varies by dialect Notable features include 80 Marked contrast of the vowel pairs ɛ e and ɔ o as in other Western Romance languages other than Spanish 80 Lack of diphthongization of Latin short ĕ ŏ as in Galician and Portuguese but unlike French Spanish or Italian 80 Abundance of diphthongs containing w as in Galician and Portuguese 80 In contrast to other Romance languages Catalan has many monosyllabic words and these may end in a wide variety of consonants including some consonant clusters 80 Additionally Catalan has final obstruent devoicing which gives rise to an abundance of such couplets as amic male friend vs amiga female friend 80 Central Catalan pronunciation is considered to be standard for the language 81 The descriptions below are mostly representative of this variety 82 For the differences in pronunciation between the different dialects see the section on pronunciation of dialects in this article Vowels Edit Vowels of Standard Eastern Catalan 83 Catalan has inherited the typical vowel system of Vulgar Latin with seven stressed phonemes a ɛ e i ɔ o u a common feature in Western Romance with the exception of Spanish 80 Balearic also has instances of stressed e 84 Dialects differ in the different degrees of vowel reduction 85 and the incidence of the pair ɛ e 86 In Central Catalan unstressed vowels reduce to three a e ɛ gt e o ɔ u gt u i remains distinct 87 The other dialects have different vowel reduction processes see the section pronunciation of dialects in this article Examples of vowel reduction processes in Central Catalan 88 The root is stressed in the first word and unstressed in the second Front vowels Back vowelsWordpair gel ice gelat ice cream pedra stone pedrera quarry banya he bathes banyem we bathe cosa thing coseta little thing tot everything total total IPAtranscription ˈʒɛl ʒeˈlat ˈpedɾe peˈdɾeɾe ˈbaɲe beˈɲɛm ˈkɔze kuˈzɛte ˈtot tuˈtal Consonants Edit Catalan consonants 89 Bilabial Alveolar Dental Palatal VelarNasal m n ɲ ŋPlosive voiceless p t c kvoiced b d ɟ ɡAffricate voiceless ts tʃvoiced dz dʒFricative voiceless f s ʃvoiced v z ʒApproximant central j wlateral l ʎTap ɾTrill r The consonant system of Catalan is rather conservative l has a velarized allophone in syllable coda position in most dialects 90 However l is velarized irrespective of position in Eastern dialects like Majorcan 91 and standard Eastern Catalan v occurs in Balearic 92 Algherese standard Valencian and some areas in southern Catalonia 93 It has merged with b elsewhere 94 Voiced obstruents undergo final obstruent devoicing b gt p d gt t ɡ gt k 95 Voiced stops become lenited to approximants in syllable onsets after continuants b gt b d gt d ɡ gt ɣ 96 Exceptions include d after lateral consonants and b after f In coda position these sounds are realized as stops 97 except in some Valencian dialects where they are lenited 98 There is some confusion in the literature about the precise phonetic characteristics of ʃ ʒ tʃ dʒ Some sources 92 describe them as postalveolar Others 99 100 as back alveolo palatal implying that the characters ɕ ʑ tɕ dʑ would be more accurate However in all literature only the characters for palato alveolar affricates and fricatives are used even when the same sources use ɕ ʑ for other languages like Polish and Chinese 101 102 100 The distribution of the two rhotics r and ɾ closely parallels that of Spanish Between vowels the two contrast but they are otherwise in complementary distribution in the onset of the first syllable in a word r appears unless preceded by a consonant Dialects vary in regards to rhotics in the coda with Western Catalan generally featuring ɾ and Central Catalan dialects featuring a weakly trilled r unless it precedes a vowel initial word in the same prosodic unit in which case ɾ appears 103 In careful speech n m l may be geminated Geminated ʎ may also occur 92 Some analyze intervocalic r as the result of gemination of a single rhotic phoneme 104 This is similar to the common analysis of Spanish and Portuguese rhotics 105 Phonological evolution Edit Main article Phonological history of CatalanSociolinguistics EditCatalan sociolinguistics studies the situation of Catalan in the world and the different varieties that this language presents It is a subdiscipline of Catalan philology and other affine studies and has as an objective to analyze the relation between the Catalan language the speakers and the close reality including the one of other languages in contact Preferential subjects of study Edit Dialects of Catalan Variations of Catalan by class gender profession age and level of studies Process of linguistic normalization Relations between Catalan and Spanish or French Perception on the language of Catalan speakers and non speakers Presence of Catalan in several fields tagging public function media professional sectorsDialects Edit Main article Catalan dialects Overview Edit Main dialects of Catalan 106 107 108 The dialects of the Catalan language feature a relative uniformity especially when compared to other Romance languages 60 both in terms of vocabulary semantics syntax morphology and phonology 109 Mutual intelligibility between dialects is very high 35 110 81 estimates ranging from 90 to 95 1 The only exception is the isolated idiosyncratic Algherese dialect 60 Catalan is split in two major dialectal blocks Eastern and Western 81 109 The main difference lies in the treatment of unstressed a and e which have merged to e in Eastern dialects but which remain distinct as a and e in Western dialects 60 81 There are a few other differences in pronunciation verbal morphology and vocabulary 35 Western Catalan comprises the two dialects of Northwestern Catalan and Valencian the Eastern block comprises four dialects Central Catalan Balearic Rossellonese and Algherese 81 Each dialect can be further subdivided in several subdialects The terms Catalan and Valencian respectively used in Catalonia and the Valencian Community refer to two varieties of the same language 111 There are two institutions regulating the two standard varieties the Institute of Catalan Studies in Catalonia and the Valencian Academy of the Language in the Valencian Community Central Catalan is considered the standard pronunciation of the language and has the largest number of speakers 81 It is spoken in the densely populated regions of the Barcelona province the eastern half of the province of Tarragona and most of the province of Girona 81 Catalan has an inflectional grammar Nouns have two genders masculine feminine and two numbers singular plural Pronouns additionally can have a neuter gender and some are also inflected for case and politeness and can be combined in very complex ways Verbs are split in several paradigms and are inflected for person number tense aspect mood and gender In terms of pronunciation Catalan has many words ending in a wide variety of consonants and some consonant clusters in contrast with many other Romance languages 80 Main dialectal divisions of Catalan 81 112 Block Western Catalan Eastern CatalanDialect Northwestern Valencian Central Balearic Northern Rossellonese AlghereseArea Spain Andorra Spain France ItalyAndorra Provinces of Lleida western half of Tarragona La Franja Autonomous community of Valencia Carche Provinces of Barcelona eastern half of Tarragona most of Girona Balearic islands Roussillon Northern Catalonia City of Alghero in SardiniaPronunciation Edit Vowels Edit Catalan has inherited the typical vowel system of Vulgar Latin with seven stressed phonemes a ɛ e i ɔ o u a common feature in Western Romance except Spanish 80 Balearic has also instances of stressed e 84 Dialects differ in the different degrees of vowel reduction 85 and the incidence of the pair ɛ e 86 In Eastern Catalan except Majorcan unstressed vowels reduce to three a e ɛ gt e o ɔ u gt u i remains distinct 87 There are a few instances of unreduced e o in some words 87 Algherese has lowered e to a In Majorcan unstressed vowels reduce to four a e ɛ follow the Eastern Catalan reduction pattern however o ɔ reduce to o with u remaining distinct as in Western Catalan 113 In Western Catalan unstressed vowels reduce to five e ɛ gt e o ɔ gt o a u i remain distinct 114 115 This reduction pattern inherited from Proto Romance is also found in Italian and Portuguese 114 Some Western dialects present further reduction or vowel harmony in some cases 114 116 Central Western and Balearic differ in the lexical incidence of stressed e and ɛ 86 Usually words with ɛ in Central Catalan correspond to e in Balearic and e in Western Catalan 86 Words with e in Balearic almost always have e in Central and Western Catalan as well vague 86 As a result Central Catalan has a much higher incidence of ɛ 86 Different incidence of stressed e e ɛ 86 Word Western EasternMajorcan Central Northernset thirst ˈset ˈset ˈsɛt ˈset ven he sells ˈven ˈven ˈbɛn ˈven General differences in the pronunciation of unstressed vowels in different dialects 81 117 Word Western EasternNorthwestern Valencian Majorcan Central Northernmare mother ˈmaɾe ˈmaɾe canco song kanˈso kenˈso kenˈsu posar to put poˈza ɾ puˈza ɾ ferro iron ˈfɛro ˈfɛru Detailed examples of vowel reduction processes in different dialects 88 Word pairs the first with stressed root the second with unstressed root Western EasternMajorcan Central NorthernFrontvowels gel ice gelat ice cream ˈdʒɛl dʒeˈlat ˈʒɛl ʒeˈlat ˈʒel ʒeˈlat pera pear perera pear tree ˈpeɾa peˈɾeɾa ˈpeɾe peˈɾeɾe ˈpɛɾe peˈɾeɾe ˈpeɾe peˈɾeɾe pedra stone pedrera quarry ˈpedɾa peˈdɾeɾa ˈpedɾe peˈdɾeɾe banya he bathes banyem we bathe Majorcan banyam we bathe ˈbaɲa baˈɲem ˈbaɲe beˈɲam ˈbaɲe beˈɲɛm ˈbaɲe beˈɲem Backvowels cosa thing coseta little thing ˈkɔza koˈzeta ˈkɔze koˈzete ˈkɔze kuˈzɛte ˈkoze kuˈzete tot everything total total ˈtot toˈtal ˈtot tuˈtal ˈtut tuˈtal Consonants Edit This section needs expansion You can help by adding to it March 2014 Morphology Edit Western Catalan In verbs the ending for 1st person present indicative is e in verbs of the 1st conjugation and in verbs of the 2nd and 3rd conjugations in most of the Valencian Community or o in all verb conjugations in the Northern Valencian Community and Western Catalonia E g parle tem sent Valencian parlo temo sento Northwestern Catalan Eastern Catalan In verbs the ending for 1st person present indicative is o i or in all conjugations E g parlo Central parl Balearic and parli Northern all meaning I speak 1st person singular present indicative forms Conjugation Eastern Catalan Western Catalan GlossCentral Northern Balearic Valencian Northwestern1st parlo parli parl parle parlo I speak 2nd temo temi tem tem temo I fear 3rd pure sento senti sent sent sento I feel I hear inchoative poleixo poleixi poleix or polesc polisc or polesc pol e ixo I polish Western Catalan In verbs the inchoative endings are isc esc ix ixen isca esca Eastern Catalan In verbs the inchoative endings are eixo eix eixen eixi Western Catalan In nouns and adjectives maintenance of n of medieval plurals in proparoxytone words E g homens men jovens youth Eastern Catalan In nouns and adjectives loss of n of medieval plurals in proparoxytone words E g homes men joves youth Ibicencan however follows the model of Western Catalan in this case 118 Vocabulary Edit Despite its relative lexical unity the two dialectal blocks of Catalan Eastern and Western show some differences in word choices 54 Any lexical divergence within any of the two groups can be explained as an archaism Also usually Central Catalan acts as an innovative element 54 Selection of different words between Western and Eastern Catalan Gloss mirror boy broom navel to exit Eastern Catalan mirall noi escombra llombrigol sortirWestern Catalan espill xiquet granera melic eixirStandards EditMain articles Institut d Estudis Catalans and Academia Valenciana de la Llengua Casa de Convalescencia Headquarters of the Institut d Estudis Catalans Written varieties Catalan IEC Valencian AVL glossangles angles Englishconeixer coneixer to knowtreure traure take outneixer naixer to be borncantir canter pitcherrodo redo roundmeva meua my mineametlla ametla almondestrella estrela starcop colp hitllagosta llangosta lobsterhomes homens menservei servici serviceStandard Catalan virtually accepted by all speakers 42 is mostly based on Eastern Catalan 81 119 which is the most widely used dialect Nevertheless the standards of the Valencian Community and the Balearics admit alternative forms mostly traditional ones which are not current in eastern Catalonia 119 The most notable difference between both standards is some tonic e accentuation for instance frances angles IEC frances angles AVL Nevertheless AVL s standard keeps the grave accent e while pronouncing it as e rather than ɛ in some words like que what or Valencia Other divergences include the use of tl AVL in some words instead of tll like in ametla ametlla almond espatla espatlla back the use of elided demonstratives este this eixe that in the same level as reinforced ones aquest aqueix or the use of many verbal forms common in Valencian and some of these common in the rest of Western Catalan too like subjunctive mood or inchoative conjugation in ix at the same level as eix or the priority use of e morpheme in 1st person singular in present indicative ar verbs jo compre instead of jo compro I buy In the Balearic Islands IEC s standard is used but adapted for the Balearic dialect by the University of the Balearic Islands s philological section In this way for instance IEC says it is correct writing cantam as much as cantem we sing but the University says that the priority form in the Balearic Islands must be cantam in all fields Another feature of the Balearic standard is the non ending in the 1st person singular present indicative jo compr I buy jo tem I fear jo dorm I sleep In Alghero the IEC has adapted its standard to the Algherese dialect In this standard one can find among other features the definite article lo instead of el special possessive pronouns and determinants la mia mine lo sou la sua his her lo tou la tua yours and so on the use of v v in the imperfect tense in all conjugations cantava creixiva llegiva the use of many archaic words usual words in Algherese manco instead of menys less calqui u instead of algu someone qual quala instead of quin quina which and so on and the adaptation of weak pronouns In 2011 120 the Aragonese government passed a decree approving the statutes of a new language regulator of Catalan in La Franja the so called Catalan speaking areas of Aragon as originally provided for by Law 10 2009 121 The new entity designated as Academia Aragonesa del Catala shall allow a facultative education in Catalan and a standardization of the Catalan language in La Franja Status of Valencian Edit Catalan Wikisource has original text related to this article AVL Dictamen sobre els principis i criteris per a la defensa de la denominacio i l entitat del valencia Main articles Valencian Valencian language controversy Blaverism and Anti Catalanism Subdialects of Valencian Valencian is classified as a Western dialect along with the northwestern varieties spoken in Western Catalonia provinces of Lleida and the western half of Tarragona 81 112 Central Catalan has 90 to 95 inherent intelligibility for speakers of Valencian 1 Linguists including Valencian scholars deal with Catalan and Valencian as the same language The official regulating body of the language of the Valencian Community the Valencian Academy of Language Academia Valenciana de la Llengua AVL declares the linguistic unity between Valencian and Catalan varieties 12 T he historical patrimonial language of the Valencian people from a philological standpoint is the same shared by the autonomous communities of Catalonia and Balearic islands and Principality of Andorra Additionally it is the patrimonial historical language of other territories of the ancient Crown of Aragon The different varieties of these territories constitute a language that is a linguistic system From this group of varieties Valencian has the same hierarchy and dignity as any other dialectal modality of that linguistic system Ruling of the Valencian Language Academy of 9 February 2005 extract of point 1 12 122 The AVL created by the Valencian parliament is in charge of dictating the official rules governing the use of Valencian and its standard is based on the Norms of Castello Normes de Castello Currently everyone who writes in Valencian uses this standard except the Royal Academy of Valencian Culture Academia de Cultura Valenciana RACV which uses for Valencian an independent standard Despite the position of the official organizations an opinion poll carried out between 2001 and 2004 123 showed that the majority of the Valencian people consider Valencian different from Catalan This position is promoted by people who do not use Valencian regularly 42 Furthermore the data indicates that younger generations educated in Valencian are much less likely to hold these views A minority of Valencian scholars active in fields other than linguistics defends the position of the Royal Academy of Valencian Culture Academia de Cultura Valenciana RACV which uses for Valencian a standard independent from Catalan 124 This clash of opinions has sparked much controversy For example during the drafting of the European Constitution in 2004 the Spanish government supplied the EU with translations of the text into Basque Galician Catalan and Valencian but the latter two were identical 125 Vocabulary EditWord choices Edit Despite its relative lexical unity the two dialectal blocks of Catalan Eastern and Western show some differences in word choices 54 Any lexical divergence within any of the two groups can be explained as an archaism Also usually Central Catalan acts as an innovative element 54 Literary Catalan allows the use of words from different dialects except those of very restricted use 54 However from the 19th century onwards there has been a tendency towards favoring words of Northern dialects to the detriment of others even though nowadays there is a greater freedom of choice clarify 54 Latin and Greek loanwords Edit Like other languages Catalan has a large list of loanwords from Greek and Latin This process started very early and one can find such examples in Ramon Llull s work 54 In the 14th and 15th centuries Catalan had a far greater number of Greco Latin loanwords than other Romance languages as is attested for example in Rois de Corella s writings 54 The incorporation of learned or bookish words from its own ancestor language Latin into Catalan is arguably another form of lexical borrowing through the influence of written language and the liturgical language of the Church Throughout the Middle Ages and into the early modern period most literate Catalan speakers were also literate in Latin and thus they easily adopted Latin words into their writing and eventually speech in Catalan Word formation Edit The process of morphological derivation in Catalan follows the same principles as the other Romance languages 126 where agglutination is common Many times several affixes are appended to a preexisting lexeme and some sound alternations can occur for example electric eˈlɛktrik electrical vs electricitat elektrisiˈtat Prefixes are usually appended to verbs as in preveure foresee 126 There is greater regularity in the process of word compounding where one can find compounded words formed much like those in English 126 Common types of word compounds in Catalan 126 Type Example Glosstwo nouns the second assimilated to the first paper moneda banknote paper noun delimited by an adjective estat major military staff noun delimited by another noun and a preposition maquina d escriure typewriter verb radical with a nominal object paracaigudes parachute noun delimited by an adjective with adjectival value pit roig robin bird Writing system Edit The word novel la novel in a dictionary The geminated L l l is a distinctive character used in Catalan Billboard in Barcelona detail showing the word il lusio illusion Main article Catalan orthography Main forms A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y ZModified forms A C E E I I L L o O U UCatalan uses the Latin script with some added symbols and digraphs 127 The Catalan orthography is systematic and largely phonologically based 127 Standardization of Catalan was among the topics discussed during the First International Congress of the Catalan Language held in Barcelona October 1906 Subsequently the Philological Section of the Institut d Estudis Catalans IEC founded in 1911 published the Normes ortografiques in 1913 under the direction of Antoni Maria Alcover and Pompeu Fabra In 1932 Valencian writers and intellectuals gathered in Castello de la Plana to make a formal adoption of the so called Normes de Castello a set of guidelines following Pompeu Fabra s Catalan language norms 128 Pronunciation of Catalan special characters and digraphs Central Catalan 129 Pronunciation Examples 129 c s felic feˈlis happy gu ɡ ɡ ɣ before i and e guerra ˈɡɛre war ɡw elsewhere guant ˈɡwan glove ig tʃ in final position raig ˈratʃ trickle ix ʃ jʃ in some dialects caixa ˈkaʃe box ll ʎ lloc ʎɔk place l l Normatively l but usually l novel la nuˈbɛle novel ny ɲ Catalunya keteˈɫuɲe Catalonia qu k before i and e qui ˈki who kw before other vowels quatre ˈkwatre four ss s Intervocalic s is pronounced z grossa ˈɡɾɔse big feminine casa ˈkaze house tg tj ddʒ fetge ˈfeddʒe liver mitjo midˈdʒo sock tx tʃ despatx desˈpatʃ office tz ddz dotze ˈdoddze twelve Letters and digraphs with contextually conditioned pronunciations Central Catalan 129 Notes Examples 129 c s before i and e corresponds to c in other contexts felic happy masculine singular felices happy feminine plural caco I hunt caces you hunt g ʒ before e and i corresponds to j in other positions envejar to envy envegen they envy final g stressed i and final ig before other vowels are pronounced tʃ corresponds to j g or tj tg in other positions boig bɔtʃ mad masculine boja bɔʒe mad feminine boges bɔʒes mad feminine plural desig de zitʃ wish desitjar to wish desitgem we wish gu ɡ before e and i corresponds to g in other positions botiga shop botigues shops gu ɡw before e and i corresponds to gu in other positions llengua language llengues languages qu k before e and i corresponds to c in other positions vaca cow vaques cows qu kw before e and i corresponds to qu in other positions obliqua oblique feminine obliques oblique feminine plural x ʃ tʃ initially and in onsets after a consonant ʃ after i otherwise ɡz before stress ks after xarxa ˈʃarʃe net guix ˈɡiʃ chalk exacte eɡˈzakte exact fax ˈfaks fax Grammar EditMain article Catalan grammar The grammar of Catalan is similar to other Romance languages Features include 130 Use of definite and indefinite articles 130 Nouns adjectives pronouns and articles are inflected for gender masculine and feminine and number singular and plural There is no case inflexion except in pronouns 130 Verbs are highly inflected for person number tense aspect and mood including a subjunctive 130 There are no modal auxiliaries 130 Word order is freer than in English 130 Gender and number inflection Edit Gender and number inflection of the word gat cat Regular noun with definite article el gat the cat masculine femininesingular el gat la gataplural els gats les gates Adjective with 4 forms verd green masculine femininesingular verd verdaplural verds verdes Adjective with 3 forms felic happy masculine femininesingular felicplural felicos felices Adjective with 2 forms indiferent indifferent masculine femininesingular indiferentplural indiferentsIn gender inflection the most notable feature is compared to Portuguese Spanish or Italian the loss of the typical masculine suffix o Thus the alternance of o a has been replaced by o a 80 There are only a few exceptions like minso minsa scarce 80 Many not completely predictable morphological alternations may occur such as 80 Affrication boig boja insane vs lleig lletja ugly Loss of n pla plana flat vs segon segona second Final obstruent devoicing sentit sentida felt vs dit dita said Catalan has few suppletive couplets like Italian and Spanish and unlike French Thus Catalan has noi noia boy girl and gall gallina cock hen whereas French has garcon fille and coq poule 80 There is a tendency to abandon traditionally gender invariable adjectives in favor of marked ones something prevalent in Occitan and French Thus one can find bullent bullenta boiling in contrast with traditional bullent bullent 80 As in the other Western Romance languages the main plural expression is the suffix s which may create morphological alternations similar to the ones found in gender inflection albeit more rarely 80 The most important one is the addition of o before certain consonant groups a phonetic phenomenon that does not affect feminine forms el pols els polsos the pulse the pulses vs la pols les pols the dust the dusts 131 Determiners Edit Sign in the town square of Begur Catalonia Spain In placa de la vila literally square of the town since the noun vila town is feminine singular the definite article carries the corresponding form la the Definite article in Standard Catalan elided forms in brackets 132 masculine femininesingular el l la l plural els les Contractions of the definite article prepositiona de perarticle el al a l del de l pel per l els als dels pels Indefinite article masculine femininesingular un unaplural uns unesThe inflection of determinatives is complex specially because of the high number of elisions but is similar to the neighboring languages 126 Catalan has more contractions of preposition article than Spanish like dels of the plural but not as many as Italian which has sul col nel etc 126 Central Catalan has abandoned almost completely unstressed possessives mon etc in favor of constructions of article stressed forms el meu etc a feature shared with Italian 126 Personal pronouns Edit Catalan stressed pronouns 133 singular plural1st person jo mi nosaltres2nd person informal tu vosaltresformal voste vostesrespectful vos 134 3rd person masculine ell ellsfeminine ella ellesMain article Catalan personal pronouns The morphology of Catalan personal pronouns is complex especially in unstressed forms which are numerous 13 distinct forms compared to 11 in Spanish or 9 in Italian 126 Features include the gender neutral ho and the great degree of freedom when combining different unstressed pronouns 65 combinations 126 Catalan pronouns exhibit T V distinction like all other Romance languages and most European languages but not Modern English This feature implies the use of a different set of second person pronouns for formality This flexibility allows Catalan to use extraposition extensively much more than French or Spanish Thus Catalan can have m hi recomanaren they recommended me to him whereas in French one must say ils m ont recommande a lui and Spanish me recomendaron a el 126 This allows the placement of almost any nominal term as a sentence topic without having to use so often the passive voice as in French or English or identifying the direct object with a preposition as in Spanish 126 Verbs Edit Simple forms of a regular verb of the first conjugation portar to bring 135 Non finite FormInfinitive portarGerund portantPast participle portat portat portada portats portades Indicative jo tu ell ella voste nosaltres vosaltres vos ells elles vostes Present porto portes porta portem porteu portenImperfect portava portaves portava portavem portaveu portavenPreterite archaic porti portares porta portarem portareu portarenFuture portare portaras portara portarem portareu portaranConditional portaria portaries portaria portariem portarieu portarienSubjunctive jo tu ell ella voste nosaltres vosaltres vos ells elles vostes Present porti portis porti portem porteu portinImperfect portes portessis portes portessim portessiu portessinImperative jo tu ell ella voste nosaltres vosaltres vos ells elles vostes porta porti portem porteu portinLike all the Romance languages Catalan verbal inflection is more complex than the nominal Suffixation is omnipresent whereas morphological alternations play a secondary role 126 Vowel alternances are active as well as infixation and suppletion However these are not as productive as in Spanish and are mostly restricted to irregular verbs 126 The Catalan verbal system is basically common to all Western Romance except that most dialects have replaced the synthetic indicative perfect with a periphrastic form of anar to go infinitive 126 Catalan verbs are traditionally divided into three conjugations with vowel themes a e i the last two being split into two subtypes However this division is mostly theoretical 126 Only the first conjugation is nowadays productive with about 3500 common verbs whereas the third the subtype of servir with about 700 common verbs is semiproductive The verbs of the second conjugation are fewer than 100 and it is not possible to create new ones except by compounding 126 Syntax Edit Main article Catalan syntax The grammar of Catalan follows the general pattern of Western Romance languages The primary word order is subject verb object 136 However word order is very flexible Commonly verb subject constructions are used to achieve a semantic effect The sentence The train has arrived could be translated as Ha arribat el tren or El tren ha arribat Both sentences mean the train has arrived but the former puts a focus on the train while the latter puts a focus on the arrival This subtle distinction is described as what you might say while waiting in the station versus what you might say on the train 137 Catalan names EditMain article Catalan names In Spain every person officially has two surnames one of which is the father s first surname and the other is the mother s first surname 138 The law contemplates the possibility of joining both surnames with the Catalan conjunction i and 138 139 Sample text EditSelected text 140 from Manuel de Pedrolo s 1970 novel Un amor fora ciutat A love affair outside the city Original Word for word translation 140 Free translationTenia prop de divuit anys quan vaig coneixer I was having close to eighteen years when I go past auxiliary know I met I was about eighteen years old when I meten Raul a l estacio de Manresa the Raul at the station of in Manresa Raul at Manresa railway station El meu pare havia mort inesperadament i encara jove The my father had died unexpectedly and still young My father had died unexpectedly and still young un parell d anys abans i d aquells temps a couple of years before and of those times a couple of years before and from that timeconservo un record de punyent solitud I keep a memory of acute loneliness I still harbor memories of great loneliness Les meves relacions amb la mare The my relations with the mother My relationship with my motherno havien pas millorat tot el contrari not had at all improved all the contrary had not improved quite the contrary potser fins i tot empitjoraven perhaps even they were worsening and arguably it was getting even worsea mesura que em feia gran at step that in proportion as myself I was making big I was growing up as I grew up No existia no existi mai entre nosaltres Not it was existing not it existed never between us There did not exist at no point had there ever existed between usuna comunitat d interessos d afeccions a community of interests of affections shared interests or affection Cal creure que cercava una persona It is necessary to believe that I was seeking a person I guess I was seeking a personen qui centrar la meva vida afectiva in whom to center the my life affective in whom I could center my emotional life See also Edit Spain portal Andorra portal France portal Italy portal Language portalOrganizationsInstitut d Estudis Catalans Catalan Studies Institute Academia Valenciana de la Llengua Valencian Academy of the Language Omnium Cultural Plataforma per la LlenguaScholarsMarina Abramova Germa Colon Dominique de Courcelles Marti de Riquer Arthur Terry Lawrence VenutiOtherLanguages of Catalonia Linguistic features of Spanish as spoken by Catalan speakers Languages of France Languages of Italy Languages of Spain Normes de Castello Pompeu FabraNotes Edit The Valencian Normative Dictionary of the Valencian Academy of the Language states that Valencian is a Romance language spoken in the Valencian Community as well as in Catalonia the Balearic Islands the French department of the Pyrenees Orientales the Principality of Andorra the eastern flank of Aragon and the Sardinian town of Alghero unique in Italy where it receives the name of Catalan The Catalan Language Dictionary of the Institut d Estudis Catalans states in the sixth definition of Valencian that in the Valencian Community it is equivalent to Catalan language Although in business and daily life other languages are common and due to immigration Catalan mother tongue speakers are only 35 7 of the population See Languages of Andorra References Edit a b c d e Catalan at Ethnologue 25th ed 2022 a b Some Iberian scholars may alternatively classify Catalan as Iberian Romance East Iberian Definition of CATALAN a b Definition of Catalan Dictionary com www dictionary com a b c d e f g h i j k Wheeler 2010 p 191 Minder Raphael 21 November 2016 Italy s Last Bastion of Catalan Language Struggles to Keep It Alive The New York Times Archived from the original on 1 January 2022 Retrieved 21 January 2017 a b c Wheeler 2010 pp 190 191 a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Costa Carreras amp Yates 2009 pp 6 7 Garcia Venero 2006 Burke 1900 p 154 Definition of CATALAN a b c d Academia Valenciana de la Llengua 9 February 2005 Acord de l Academia Valenciana de la Llengua AVL adoptat en la reunio plenaria del 9 de febrer del 2005 pel qual s aprova el dictamen sobre els principis i criteris per a la defensa de la denominacio i l entitat del valencia PDF in Valencian p 52 Archived from the original PDF on 23 September 2015 Retrieved 16 February 2013 Lledo 2011 pp 334 337 Veny 1997 pp 9 18 a b c Moran 2004 pp 37 38 Riquer 1964 a b c d Wheeler 2010 p 190 Trobes en llaors de la Verge Maria Poems of praise of the Virgin Mary 1474 Sales Vives Pere 22 September 2020 L Espanyolitzacio de Mallorca 1808 1932 in Catalan El Gall editor p 422 ISBN 9788416416707 Antoni Simon Els origens historics de l anticatalanisme paginas 45 46 L Espill nº 24 Universitat de Valencia Mayans Balcells Pere 2019 Croniques Negres del Catala A L Escola in Catalan del 1979 ed p 230 ISBN 978 84 947201 4 7 Lluis Garcia Sevilla 2021 Recopilacio d accions genocides contra la nacio catalana in Catalan Base p 300 ISBN 9788418434983 Bea Segui Ignaci 2013 En cristiano Policia i Guardia Civil contra la llengua catalana in Catalan Cossetania p 216 ISBN 9788490341339 Enllac al Manifest Galeusca on en l article 3 es denuncia l asimetria entre el castella i les altres llengues de l Estat Espanyol inclosa el catala Archived from the original on 19 July 2008 Retrieved 2 August 2008 Radatz Hans Ingo 8 October 2020 Spain in the 19th century Spanish Nation Building and Catalonia s attempt at becoming an Iberian Prussia ResearchGate de la Cierva Ricardo 1981 Historia general de Espana Llegada y apogeo de los Borbones in Catalan Planeta p 78 ISBN 8485753003 de la Cierva Ricardo 1981 Historia general de Espana Llegada y apogeo de los Borbones in Catalan Planeta p 78 ISBN 8485753003 L interdiction de la langue catalane en Roussillon par Louis XIV PDF CRDP Academie de Montpellier Archived from the original PDF on 14 December 2010 Angela Rosa Menages Joan Lluis Monjo El patuet valencia un reflex linguistic de la societat algeriana colonial 1830 1962 PDF Archived PDF from the original on 21 September 2013 Plataforma per la llengua The Catalan Language PDF Archived PDF from the original on 7 March 2022 Marfany Marta Simo Marta Marfany 2002 Els menorquins d Algeria in Catalan L Abadia de Montserrat ISBN 978 84 8415 366 5 Marfany 2002 Charte en faveur du Catalan Archived from the original on 22 December 2012 Retrieved 18 June 2010 La catalanitat a la Catalunya Nord Archived from the original on 9 March 2011 Retrieved 13 March 2011 Costa Carreras amp Yates 2009 pp 10 11 a b c d e f g h i Wheeler 2005 p 1 Una polemica literaria sota el franquisme Palavracomum in Catalan Primera emision de un programa en catalan RTVE in European Spanish 30 July 2018 Burgen Stephen 22 November 2012 Catalan a language that has survived against the odds The Guardian Retrieved 18 January 2017 Casademont Enric Pujol 2020 Culture language and politics The Catalan cultural resistance during the Franco regime 1939 1977 PDF Catalan Historical Review 13 69 84 Archived PDF from the original on 9 October 2022 CORNELLA DETRELL JORDI 2011 Literature as a Response to Cultural and Political Repression in Franco s Catalonia Boydell amp Brewer ISBN 978 1 85566 201 8 JSTOR 10 7722 j cttn346z Rendon Silvio 2007 The Catalan premium language and employment in Catalonia Journal of Population Economics 20 3 669 686 doi 10 1007 s00148 005 0048 5 hdl 10016 291 ISSN 0933 1433 JSTOR 20730773 S2CID 29009762 a b c d e Wheeler 2003 p 207 Armora Esther 9 September 2013 Cataluna ordena incumplir las sentencias sobre el castellano en las escuelas Catalonia orders violate the judgments on the Castilian in schools ABC in Spanish Retrieved 10 September 2013 You are here ANSAmed Catalonia Supreme Court 25 of lessons must be in Spanish 21 January 2022 Retrieved 21 January 2022 Idescat Annual indicators Language uses First language language of identification and habitual language Results Institut d Estadistica de Catalunya Idescat Demographics and quality of life Language uses First language language of identification and habitual language 2003 Results Institut d Estadistica de Catalunya Retrieved 21 January 2017 2010 Language Policy Report Generalitat de Catalunya Archived from the original on 15 April 2014 CPNL Consorci per a la Normalitzacio Linguistica Consorci per a la Normalitzacio Linguistica Consorci per a la Normalitzacio Linguistica CPNL Catalan language resources Joshua Project joshuaproject net Retrieved 3 November 2022 Philip D Rasico La llengua dels mallorquins de San Pedro Argentina PDF Archived PDF from the original on 16 November 2020 COMUNITATS CATALANES A L EXTERIOR index catalansalmon com Retrieved 3 November 2022 Friend Julius W 2012 Stateless Nations Western European Regional Nationalisms and the Old Nations Palgrave Macmillan p 80 ISBN 978 0 230 36179 9 Retrieved 5 March 2016 Smith Nathaniel B Bergin Thomas Goddard 1984 An Old Provencal Primer New York Garland p 9 ISBN 0 8240 9030 6 a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Enciclopedia Catalana p 632 a b c d e Feldhausen 2010 p 4 a b c d e Schlosser 2005 p 60f Ross Marc Howard 2007 Cultural Contestation in Ethnic Conflict Cambridge University Press p 139 ISBN 9781139463072 a b Jud 1925 a b Colon 1993 pp 33 35 a b c d e Moll 2006 p 47 a b Portuguese and Spanish have estiagem and estiaje respectively for drought dry season or low water levels a b Portuguese and Spanish have vespera and vispera respectively for eve or the day before Spanish also has trozo and it is actually a borrowing from Catalan tros Colon 1993 p 39 Portuguese has troco but aside from also being a loanword it has a very different meaning thing gadget tool paraphernalia Modern Spanish also has gris but it is a modern borrowing from Occitan The original word was pardo which stands for reddish yellow orange medium dark and of moderate to weak saturation It also can mean ochre pale ochre dark ohre brownish tan greyish grey desaturated dirty dark or opaque Gallego Rosa Sanz Juan Carlos 2001 Diccionario Akal del color in Spanish Akal ISBN 978 84 460 1083 8 A 20th century introduction from French Colon 1993 p 55 Bruguera 2008 p 3046 Sociolinguistic situation in Catalan speaking areas Tables Official data about the sociolinguistic situation in Catalan speaking areas Catalonia 2003 Andorra 2004 the Balearic Islands 2004 Aragonese Border 2004 Northern Catalonia 2004 Alghero 2004 and Valencian Community 2004 Generalitat of Catalonia 7 August 2008 Retrieved 13 March 2012 Catalan language of Europe PDF Generalitat of Catalonia archived from the original PDF on 22 December 2012 retrieved 13 March 2012 Poblacion segun lengua habitual Datos comparados 2003 2008 Cataluna Ano 2008 Encuesta de Usos Linguisticos de la poblacion 2003 y 2008 Instituto de Estadistica de Cataluna Informe sobre la situacio de la llengua catalana Report on the situation of the Catalan language PDF in Catalan Xarxa CRUSCAT 2011 archived from the original PDF on 23 January 2013 Geli Carles 8 July 2019 El uso del catalan crece lo entiende el 94 4 y lo habla el 81 2 El Pais in Spanish ISSN 1134 6582 Retrieved 8 July 2019 Departament d Estadistica Ajuntament de Barcelona 2011 Coneixement del catala Evolucio de les caracteristiques de la poblacio de Barcelona Knowledge of Catalan in Barcelona Ajuntament de Barcelona in Catalan Archived from the original on 31 December 2015 Retrieved 13 November 2015 Coneixement del catala Evolucio de les caracteristiques de la poblacio de Barcelona Knowledge of Catalan in Barcelona Ajuntament de Barcelona in Catalan 2011 Archived from the original on 31 December 2015 Retrieved 13 November 2015 a b Sources Catalonia Statistic data of 2001 census from Institut d Estadistica de Catalunya Generalitat de Catalunya 1 Land of Valencia Statistical data from 2001 census from Institut Valencia d Estadistica Generalitat Valenciana Archived copy PDF Archived from the original PDF on 6 September 2005 Retrieved 23 June 2005 a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a CS1 maint archived copy as title link Land of Valencia Statistical data from 2001 census from Institut Valencia d Estadistica Generalitat Valenciana 2 Archived 16 February 2015 at the Wayback Machine Balearic Islands Statistical data from 2001 census from Institut Balear d Estadistica Govern de les Illes Balears 3 Archived 1 January 2006 at the Wayback Machine Northern Catalonia Media Pluriel Survey commissioned by Prefecture of Languedoc Roussillon Region done in October 1997 and published in January 1998 Information catalan Archived from the original on 14 April 2005 Retrieved 23 June 2005 Andorra Sociolinguistic data from Andorran Government 1999 Aragon Sociolinguistic data from Euromosaic 4 Alguer Sociolinguistic data from Euromosaic 5 Rest of World Estimate for 1999 by the Federacio d Entitats Catalanes outside the Catalan Countries Enquesta d usos linguistics de la poblacio 2018 Survey of the linguistic usage of the population 2018 IDESCAT Generalitat de Catalunya in Catalan 2019 Red Cruscat del Instituto de Estudios Catalanes Tv3 Telediario La salud del catalan YouTube YouTube Archived from the original on 16 May 2015 El catala no avanca en la incorporacio de nous parlants Catalan is not progressing in the incorporation of new speakers Telenoticies in Catalan 23 October 2007 Archived from the original on 24 November 2007 a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Enciclopedia Catalana p 630 a b c d e f g h i j k Feldhausen 2010 p 5 Wheeler 2005 takes the same approach Carbonell amp Llisterri 1999 p 62 a b Wheeler 2005 pp 37 53 54 a b Wheeler 2005 p 37 a b c d e f g Wheeler 2005 p 38 a b c Wheeler 2005 p 54 a b Wheeler 2005 pp 53 55 Carbonell amp Llisterri 1999 pp 61 65 Recasens amp Espinosa 2005 p 20 Recasens amp Espinosa 2005 p 3 a b c Carbonell amp Llisterri 1992 p 53 Veny 2007 p 51 Wheeler 2005 p 13 Lloret 2004 p 278 Wheeler 2005 p 10 Hualde Jose 1992 Catalan Routledge p 368 ISBN 978 0 415 05498 0 Recasens amp Espinosa 2005 p 1 Recasens Fontdevila amp Pallares 1995 p 288 a b Recasens amp Espinosa 2007 p 145 Recasens 1993 Here Recasens labels these Catalan sounds as laminoalveolars palatalitzades Recasens amp Pallares 2001 Here the authors label these Catalan sounds as laminal postalveolar Padgett 2009 p 432 Wheeler 1979 See Bonet Eulalia Mascaro Joan 1997 On the Representation of Contrasting Rhotics In Martinez Gil Fernando Morales Front Alfonso eds Issues in the Phonology and Morphology of the Major Iberian Languages Georgetown University Press ISBN 978 0 87840 647 0 for more information Feldhausen 2010 p 6 Wheeler 2005 p 2 Costa Carreras amp Yates 2009 p 4 a b Enciclopedia Catalana pp 634 635 Costa Carreras amp Yates 2009 p 5 Dictamen de l Academia Valenciana de la Llengua sobre els principis i criteris per a la defensa de la denominacio i l entitat del valencia Resolution of the Academia Valenciana de la Llengua concerning the principles and criteria for protecting the name and identity of Valencian PDF in Valencian Academia Valenciana de la Llengua 2005 archived from the original PDF on 23 September 2015 a b Wheeler 2005 pp 2 3 Wheeler 2005 pp 53 54 a b c Wheeler 2005 p 53 Carbonell amp Llisterri 1999 pp 54 55 Recasens 1996 pp 75 76 128 129 Melchor amp Branchadell 2002 p 71 Moll Francesc de B 1968 Gramatica catalana referida especialment a les Illes Balears Palma de Mallorca Editorial Moll ISBN 84 273 0044 1 OCLC 2108762 a b Wheeler 2003 p 170 Decreto 89 2011 de 5 de abril del Gobierno de Aragon por el que se aprueban los Estatutos de la Academia Aragonesa del Catalan BOA num 77 de 18 de abril de 2011 Ley 10 2009 de 22 de diciembre de uso proteccion y promocion de las lenguas propias de Aragon BOE num 30 de 4 de febrero de 2010 Original full text of Dictamen 1 D acord amb les aportacions mes solvents de la romanistica acumulades des del segle XIX fins a l actualitat estudis de gramatica historica de dialectologia de sintaxi de lexicografia la llengua propia i historica dels valencians des del punt de vista de la filologia es tambe la que compartixen les comunitats autonomes de Catalunya i de les Illes Balears i el Principat d Andorra Aixi mateix es la llengua historica i propia d altres territoris de l antiga Corona d Arago la franja oriental aragonesa la ciutat sarda de l Alguer i el departament frances dels Pirineus Orientals Els diferents parlars de tots estos territoris constituixen una llengua es a dir un mateix sistema linguistic segons la terminologia del primer estructuralisme annex 1 represa en el Dictamen del Consell Valencia de Cultura que figura com a preambul de la Llei de Creacio de l AVL Dins d eixe conjunt de parlars el valencia te la mateixa jerarquia i dignitat que qualsevol altra modalitat territorial del sistema linguistic i presenta unes caracteristiques propies que l AVL preservara i potenciara d acord amb la tradicio lexicografica i literaria propia la realitat linguistica valenciana i la normativitzacio consolidada a partir de les Normes de Castello Casi el 65 de los valencianos opina que su lengua es distinta al catalan segun una encuesta del CIS Almost 65 of Valencians believe that their language is different from Catalan according to a CIS survey La Vanguardia in Spanish Europa Press 9 December 2004 Llistat dels Academics de numero List of RACV academics Real Academia de Cultura Valenciana in Valencian Archived from the original on 14 December 2016 Isabel i Vilar Ferran 30 October 2004 Traduccio unica de la Constitucio europea Unique translation of the European Constitution I Zefir in Valencian Retrieved 29 April 2009 a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Enciclopedia Catalana p 631 a b Wheeler 2005 p 6 Carreras Joan Costa ed 2009 The Architect of Modern Catalan Selected writings Translated by Yates Alan John Benjamins Publishing ISBN 978 9027289247 a b c d Wheeler 2005 p 7 a b c d e f Swan 2001 pp 97 98 Enciclopedia Catalana pp 630 631 Fabra 1926 pp 29 30 Fabra 1926 p 42 Archaic in most dialects Fabra 1926 pp 70 71 Catalan World Atlas of Language Structures WALS Online Wheeler Yates amp Dols 1999 a b Wheeler 2005 p 8 article 19 1 of Law 1 1998 stipulates that the citizens of Catalonia have the right to use the proper regulation of their Catalan names and surnames and to introduce the conjunction between surnames a b Swan 2001 p 112 Works cited EditDictamen sobre els principis i criteris per a la defensa de la denominacio i l entitat del valencia in Catalan Academia Valenciana de la Llengua 9 February 2005 Bonet Eulalia Mascaro Joan 1997 On the Representation of Contrasting Rhotics In Martinez Gil Fernando Morales Front Alfonso eds Issues in the Phonology and Morphology of the Major Iberian Languages Georgetown University Press ISBN 978 0 87840 647 0 Britton A Scott 2011 Catalan Dictionary amp Phrasebook New York Hippocrene Books ISBN 978 0781812580 Bruguera Jordi 2008 Historia interna del catalan lexico formacion de palabras y fraseologia In Ernst Gerhard ed Romanische Sprachgeschichte Vol 3 Berlin New York Walter de Gruyter pp 3045 3055 Burke Ulrik Ralph 1900 A History of Spain from the Earliest Times to the Death of Ferdinand the Catholic Longmans Green and Co p 154 Carbonell Joan F Llisterri Joaquim 1992 Catalan Journal of the International Phonetic Association 22 1 2 53 doi 10 1017 S0025100300004618 S2CID 249411809 Carbonell Joan F Llisterri Joaquim 1999 Catalan Handbook of the International Phonetic Association A Guide to the usage of the International Phonetic Alphabet Cambridge Cambridge University Press pp 61 65 ISBN 0 521 63751 1 Collins English Dictionary HarperCollins Publishers 1991 ISBN 0 00 433286 5 Colon Germa 1993 El lexic catala dins la Romania Biblioteca Linguistica Catalana Valencia Universitat de Valencia ISBN 84 370 1327 5 Costa Carreras Joan Yates Alan 2009 The Architect of Modern Catalan Selected Writings Pompeu Fabra 1868 1948 Instutut d Estudis Catalans amp Universitat Pompeu Fabra amp Jonh Benjamins B V pp 6 7 ISBN 978 90 272 3264 9 Fabra Pompeu 1926 Gramatica Catalana in Catalan 4th ed Barcelona Institut d Estudis Catalans Feldhausen Ingo 2010 Sentential Form and Prosodic Structure of Catalan John Benjamins B V ISBN 978 90 272 5551 8 Ferrater et al 1973 Catala Enciclopedia Catalana Volum 4 in Catalan 1977 corrected ed Barcelona Enciclopedia Catalana pp 628 639 ISBN 84 85 194 04 7 Gallego Rosa Sanz Juan Carlos 2001 Diccionario Akal del color in Spanish Akal ISBN 978 84 460 1083 8 Garcia Venero Maximiano 7 July 2006 Historia del nacionalismo catalan 2a edicion Ed Nacional Retrieved 25 April 2010 Gove Philip Babcock ed 1993 Webster s Third New International Dictionary Merriam Webster Inc ISBN 3 8290 5292 8 Grau Mateu Josep 2015 El catala llengua de govern la politica linguistica de la Mancomunitat de Catalunya 1914 1924 Revista de llengua i dret 64 Guinot Enric 1999 Els fundadors del Regne de Valencia replobament antroponimia i llengua a la Valencia medieval Valencia Tres i Quatre ISBN 8475025919 Hualde Jose 1992 Catalan Routledge p 368 ISBN 978 0 415 05498 0 Jud Jakob 1925 Problemes de geographie linguistique romane in French Paris Revue de Linguistique Romane pp 181 182 Koryakov Yuri 2001 Atlas of Romance languages Moscow Lledo Miquel Angel 2011 26 The Independent Standardization of Valencia From Official Use to Underground Resistance Handbook of Language and Ethnic Identity The Success Failure Continuum in Language and Ethnic Identity Efforts Volume 2 New York Oxford University Press pp 336 348 ISBN 978 0 19 539245 6 Lloret Maria Rosa 2004 The Phonological Role of Paradigms The Case of Insular Catalan In Auger Julie Clements J Clancy Vance Barbara eds Contemporary Approaches to Romance Linguistics Selected Papers from the 33rd Linguistic Symposium on Romance Languages Philadelphia John Benjamins p 278 Marfany Marta 2002 Els menorquins d Algeria in Catalan Barcelona Abadia de Montserrat ISBN 84 8415 366 5 Melchor Vicent de Branchadell Albert 2002 El catalan una lengua de Europa para compartir in Spanish Bellaterra Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona p 71 ISBN 84 490 2299 1 Moll Francesc de B 2006 1958 Gramatica Historica Catalana in Catalan Catalan ed Universitat de Valencia p 47 ISBN 978 84 370 6412 3 Moran Josep 1994 Treballs de linguistica historica catalana in Catalan Barcelona Publicacions de l Abadia de Monsterrat pp 55 93 ISBN 84 7826 568 6 Moran Josep 2004 Estudis d historia de la llengua catalana in Catalan Barcelona Publicacions de l Abadia de Montserrat pp 37 38 ISBN 84 8415 672 9 Padgett Jaye December 2009 Systemic Contrast and Catalan Rhotics The Linguistic Review 26 4 431 doi 10 1515 tlir 2009 016 S2CID 15197551 Recasens Daniel 1993 Fonetica i Fonologia Enciclopedia Catalana Recasens Daniel Fontdevila Jordi Pallares Maria Dolors 1995 Velarization Degree and Coarticulatory Resistance for l in Catalan and German Journal of Phonetics 23 1 288 doi 10 1016 S0095 4470 95 80031 X Recasens Daniel 1996 Fonetica descriptiva del catala assaig de caracteritzacio de la pronuncia del vocalisme i el consonantisme catala al segle XX 2nd ed Barcelona Institut d Estudis Catalans pp 75 76 128 129 ISBN 9788472833128 Recasens Daniel Pallares Maria Dolors 2001 De la fonetica a la fonologia les consonants i assimilacions consonantiques del catala Barcelona Editorial Ariel ISBN 978 84 344 2884 3 Recasens Daniel Espinosa Aina 2005 Articulatory positional and coarticulatory characteristics for clear l and dark l evidence from two Catalan dialects Journal of the International Phonetic Association 35 1 1 20 doi 10 1017 S0025100305001878 S2CID 14140079 Recasens Daniel Espinosa Aina 2007 An Electropalatographic and Acoustic Study of Affricates and Fricatives in Two Catalan Dialects Journal of the International Phonetic Association 37 2 145 doi 10 1017 S0025100306002829 S2CID 14275190 Riquer Marti de 1964 Vol 1 Historia de la Literatura Catalana in Catalan Barcelona Ariel Russell Gebbett Paul ed 1965 Mediaeval Catalan Linguistic Texts Dolphin Book Co Ltd Oxford Schlosser Rainer 2005 Die romanischen Sprachen Munich C H Beck Swan Michael 2001 Learner English A Teacher s Guide to Interference and Other Problems Volume 1 Cambridge University Press ISBN 9780521779395 Thomas Earl W 1962 The Resurgence of Catalan Hispania 45 1 43 48 doi 10 2307 337523 JSTOR 337523 Wheeler Max W 1979 Phonology of Catalan Oxford Blackwell ISBN 978 0 631 11621 9 Wheeler Max Yates Alan Dols Nicolau 1999 Catalan A Comprehensive Grammar London Routledge Wheeler Max 2003 5 Catalan The Romance Languages London Routledge pp 170 208 ISBN 0 415 16417 6 Wheeler Max 2005 The Phonology of Catalan Oxford Oxford University Press p 54 ISBN 978 0 19 925814 7 Wheeler Max 2006 Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics Wheeler Max 2010 Catalan Concise Encyclopedia of Languages of the World Oxford Elsevier pp 188 192 ISBN 978 0 08 087774 7 Veny Joan 1997 greuges de Guitard isarn Senyor de Caboet 1080 1095 Homenatge a Arthur Terry Barcelona Publicacions de l Abadia de Montserrat pp 9 18 ISBN 84 7826 894 4 Veny Joan 2007 Petit Atles linguistic del domini catala Vol 1 amp 2 Barcelona Institut d Estudis Catalans p 51 ISBN 978 84 7283 942 7 External links EditCatalan language at Wikipedia s sister projects Definitions from Wiktionary Media from Commons Textbooks from Wikibooks Phrasebook from Wikivoyage Catalan Edition from Wikipedia Data from Wikidata This article s use of external links may not follow Wikipedia s policies or guidelines Please improve this article by removing excessive or inappropriate external links and converting useful links where appropriate into footnote references November 2016 Learn how and when to remove this template message Catalan language at CurlieInstitutions Consorci per a la Normalitzacio Linguistica Institut d Estudis Catalans Academia Valenciana de la LlenguaAbout the Catalan language llengua gencat cat by the Government of Catalonia Gramatica de la Llengua Catalana Catalan grammar from the Institute for Catalan Studies Gramatica Normativa Valenciana 2006 Valencian grammar from the Academia Valenciana de la Llengua verbs cat Catalan verb conjugations with online trainers Catalan and its dialects LEXDIALGRAM online portal of 19th century dialectal lexicographical and grammatical works of Catalan hosted by the University of BarcelonaMonolingual dictionaries DIEC2 from the Institut d Estudis Catalans Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana Archived 18 May 2016 at the Portuguese Web Archive from Enciclopedia Catalana Diccionari Catala Valencia Balear d Alcover i Moll Archived 26 August 2004 at the Wayback Machine from the Institut d Estudis Catalans Diccionari Normatiu Valencia AVL from the Academia Valenciana de la Llengua diccionarivalencia com online Valencian dictionary Diccionari Invers de la Llengua Catalana dictionary of Catalan words spelled backwards Bilingual and multilingual dictionaries Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana Multilingue Catalan English French German and Spanish from Enciclopedia Catalana DACCO open source collaborative dictionary Catalan English Automated translation systems Traductor automated online translations of text and web pages Catalan English French and Spanish from gencat cat by the Government of CataloniaPhrasebooks Catalan phrasebook on WikivoyageLearning resources Catalan Swadesh list of basic vocabulary words from Wiktionary s Swadesh list appendixCatalan language online encyclopedia Enciclopedia Catalana Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Catalan language amp oldid 1131098120, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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