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".
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
Main article: Catalonia § 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
Further information: History of Catalan
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
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 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
See also: Nation state
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
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 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
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 (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:
Romance languages
Italo-Western languages
Western Romance languages
Gallo-Iberian languages
Gallo-Romance languages
Occitano-Romance languages
Catalan language
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
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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; it shows 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][clarification needed]
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
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 CataloniaCataloniaAlgheroLa
FranjaValencian
CommunityCarcheSardinia
(Italy)Aragon
(Spain)Murcia
(Spain)FranceAndorraBalearic Islands
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
Main 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
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
Catalan consonants[89]
Bilabial Alveolar
/ Dental Palatal Velar
Nasal m n ɲ ŋ
Plosive voiceless p t c ~ k
voiced b d ɟ ~ ɡ
Affricate voiceless ts tʃ
voiced dz dʒ
Fricative voiceless f s ʃ
voiced (v) z ʒ
Approximant central j w
lateral l ʎ
Tap ɾ
Trill 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/ > [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
Main article: Phonological history of Catalan
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
Main article: Catalan 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 No
