Catalan Language (Wikipedia)

Catalan language
Catalan (/ˈkætəlæn, -ən, ˌkætəˈlæn/;[5] autonym: català; Eastern Catalan: [kətəˈla]) is a Western Romance
Catalan
language derived from Vulgar Latin and named after the medieval Principality of Catalonia, in northeastern
modern Spain. It is the only official language of Andorra,[6] and a co-official language of the Spanish Catalan–Valencian–Balearic
autonomous communities of Catalonia, the Balearic Islands and Valencia (where the language is known as català
Valencian). It also has semi-official status in the Italian comune of Alghero.[7] It is also spoken in the Pronunciation [kətəˈla]
eastern strip of Aragon, in some villages of the region of Murcia called Carche and in the Pyrénées-
Native to Andorra, France, Italy,
Orientales department of France. These territories are often called Països Catalans or "Catalan Countries". Spain
Catalan evolved from Vulgar Latin in the Middle Ages around the eastern Pyrenees. 19th-century Spain saw
Native speakers 4.1 million[1] (2012)
Total number of
a Catalan literary revival,[8][9] culminating in the early 1900s.
speakers: More than
10 million (L1 plus L2;
2018)[2]
Contents Language family Indo-European

Italic
Etymology and pronunciation
History Romance
Middle Ages Western
Start of the modern era Romance
France: 19th to 20th centuries Gallo-
Spain: 18th to 20th centuries Romance[3]
Present day
Occitano-
Classification and relationship with other Romance languages Romance[3]
Relationship with other Romance languages
Catalan
Geographic distribution
Catalan-speaking territories Early form Old Catalan
Number of speakers Standard forms Catalan (regulated by
Level of knowledge
the IEC)
Social use Valencian (regulated by
Native language the AVL)
Phonology Writing system Latin (Catalan
Vowels alphabet)
Consonants Catalan Braille
Phonological evolution Signed forms Signed Catalan
Sociolinguistics Official status
Preferential subjects of study
Dialects Official language in
Andorra
Overview
Also in 3
Pronunciation
communities of
Vowels
Spain:
Consonants
Morphology Balearic
Vocabulary Islands
Standards Catalonia
Status of Valencian Valencian
Vocabulary
Community (as
Word choices Valencian)
Latin and Greek loanwords Recognised minority Alghero (Sardinia,
Word formation language in Italy)
Writing system Aragon (Spain)
Grammar Pyrénées-
Gender and number inflection Orientales (France)
Determiners
Regulated by Institut d'Estudis
Personal pronouns
Catalans
Verbs Acadèmia Valenciana
Syntax de la Llengua
Catalan names Language codes
Sample text
ISO 639-1 ca (https://www.loc.go
Loanwords in Catalan and English v/standards/iso639-2/p
See also hp/langcodes_name.php?
References iso_639_1=ca)
Bibliography ISO 639-2 cat (https://www.loc.g
External links ov/standards/iso639-2/

php/langcodes_name.ph
p?code_ID=75)
Etymology and pronunciation ISO 639-3 cat
The word Catalan is derived from the territorial name of Catalonia, itself of disputed etymology. The main Glottolog stan1289 (http://glott
olog.org/resource/lang
theory suggests that Catalunya (Latin Gathia Launia) derives from the name Gothia or Gauthia ("Land of
uoid/id/stan1289)[4]
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.[10][11] Linguasphere 51-AAA-e
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 /ˈkætəlæn/, /kætəˈlæn/ or /ˈkætələn/.[5]
The endonym is pronounced [kətəˈla] in the Eastern Catalan dialects, and [kataˈla] in the Western dialects.
In the Valencian Community, the term valencià [valensiˈa] is frequently used instead. The names "Catalan"
and "Valencian" are two names for the same language.[12][13] See also status of Valencian below.
History
Territories where Catalan is spoken and is official
Territories where Catalan is spoken but is not official
Middle Ages Territories where Catalan is not historically spoken
but is official
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.[16] 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.[16] This process was given definitive impetus with the separation of the County of
Barcelona from the Carolingian Empire in 988.[9]
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.[17]
During the 11th and 12th centuries the Catalan rulers expanded up to north of the Ebro river,[16] and in the 13th
century they conquered the Land of Valencia and the Balearic Islands.[9] The city of Alghero in Sardinia was Catalan Countries (Països Catalans):
repopulated with Catalan speakers in the 14th century. The language also reached Murcia, which became Spanish- (In orange, strict Catalan-speaking area)
speaking in the 15th century.[18] NE modern Spain (Catalonia, Valencian
Community and Balearic Islands), SE.
In the Low Middle Ages, Catalan went through a golden age, reaching a peak of maturity and cultural richness.[16] France (Roussillon, touching the
Pyrenees) and Comune of Alghero (NW
Examples include the work of Majorcan polymath Ramon Llull (1232–1315), the Four Great Chronicles (13th–14th
coast of Sardinia, Island belonging to
centuries), and the Valencian school of poetry culminating in Ausiàs March (1397–1459).[16] By the 15th century, the
Italy)
city of Valencia had become the sociocultural center of the Crown of Aragon, and Catalan was present all over the
Mediterranean world.[16] During this period, the Royal Chancery propagated a highly standardized language.[16]
Catalan was widely used as an official language in Sicily until the 15th century, and in Sardinia until the 17th.[18]
During this period, the language was what Costa Carreras terms "one of the 'great languages' of medieval Europe".[9]
Martorell's outstanding[16] 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.[16] The first book produced with movable type in the Iberian
Peninsula was printed in Catalan.[19][9]
Start of the modern era

The Crown of Aragon in 1443. King
With the union of the crowns of Castille and Aragon (1479), the use of Spanish gradually became more prestigious[18] James the Conqueror [1208–1276]
and marked the start of the decline of the Catalan.[9][8] Starting in the 16th century, Catalan literature came under the dictated his autobiographical chronicles
influence of Spanish, and the urban and literary classes became bilingual.[18] entirely in Catalan. Some of this territory
nowadays makes up the Catalan
With the Treaty of the Pyrenees (1659), Spain ceded the northern part of Catalonia to France, and soon thereafter the Countries.
local Catalan varieties came under the influence of French, which in 1700 became the sole official language of the
region.[6][20]
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
Following the French capture of Algeria (1833), that region saw several waves of Catalan-speaking settlers. People from the
Spanish Alacant province settled around Oran, whereas Algiers received immigration from Northern Catalonia and Menorca.
Their speech was known as patuet. By 1911, the number of Catalan speakers was around 100,000. After the declaration of
independence of Algeria in 1962, almost all the Catalan speakers fled to Northern Catalonia (as Pieds-Noirs) or Alacant.[21]
Nowadays, France 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[22] and seeks to further promote
it in public life and education.
Spain: 18th to 20th centuries

The decline of Catalan continued in the 16th and 17th centuries. 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 Homilies d'Organyà (12th
documentation all over Spain. century)
In parallel, however, the 19th century saw a Catalan literary revival (Renaixença), which has continued up to the present
day.[6] 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).[23]
In the 19th century, the region of Carche, in the province of Murcia was repopulated with Catalan speakers from the Land
of Valencia.[24] The Second Spanish Republic (1931–1939) saw a brief period of tolerance, with most restrictions against
Catalan being lifted.[6] Despite orthographic standardization in 1913 and the official status of the language during the
Second Spanish Republic (1931–39) the Francoist dictatorship banned the use of Catalan in schools and in the public
administration between 1939 and 1975.[25][8]
Present day
Fragment of the Greuges de Guitard
Since the Spanish transition to democracy (1975–1982), Catalan has been institutionalized as an official language, Isarn (ca. 1080–1095), one of the
language of education, and language of mass media; all of which have contributed to its increased prestige.[26] In earliest texts written almost
Catalonia, there is an unparalleled large bilingual European non-state linguistic community.[26] The teaching of Catalan is completely in Catalan,[14][15]
predating the famous Homilies
mandatory in all schools,[6] but it is possible to use Spanish for studying in the public education system of Catalonia in
d'Organyà by a century
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.[27] There is also some intergenerational shift towards Catalan.[6]
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.[28] 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.[29] In order 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.[30][31]
In Andorra, Catalan has always been the sole official language.[6] Since the promulgation of the 1993 constitution, several Linguistic map of Southwestern
policies favouring Catalan have been enforced, like Catalan medium education.[6] Europe
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).[6] Catalan is studied
as a foreign language by 30% of the primary education students, and by 15% of the secondary.[6] 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.[26] There is also well ingrained diglossia in the Valencian Community, Ibiza, and to a
lesser extent, in the rest of the Balearic islands.[6]
Classification and relationship with other Romance languages

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.
According to Pèire Bèc, its specific classification is as follows:
Romance languages
Italo-Western languages
Western Romance languages

Gallo-Iberian languages
Gallo-Romance languages (alternatively classified as Iberian Romance language)
Occitano-Romance languages (alternatively classified as East Iberian language)
Catalan language
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

Catalan shares many traits with the other neighboring Romance languages (Italian, Sardinian, Occitan, French, Spanish
and Portuguese among others).[24] 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 Official Decree Prohibiting the
Occitan[33][34][35] and to a lesser extent Gallo-Romance (Franco-Provençal, French, Gallo- Catalan Language in France
Italian).[36][37][38][39][33][34][35]
According to Ethnologue, the lexical similarity between Catalan and other Romance languages is: 87% with Italian; 85%
with Portuguese and Spanish; 76% with Ladin; 75% with Sardinian; and 73% with Romanian.[40]
"Speak French, be clean", school

wall in Ayguatébia-Talau, 2010
Chart of Romance languages based

on structural and comparative criteria
(not on socio-functional ones).
Koryakov (2001) includes Catalan in
Occitano-Romance, distinct from
Iberian Romance.[32]
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.[37][38]
(Campidanese)
Gloss Catalan Occitan Italian French Spanish Portuguese Romanian
Sardinian
cousin cosí cosin fradili cugino cousin primo primo văr
brother germà fraire fradi fratello frère hermano irmão frate
nephew nebot nebot nebodi nipote neveu sobrino sobrinho nepot
summer estiu estiu beranu estate été verano, estío[41] verão, estio[41] vară
ser,
evening vespre seru sera soir tarde, noche[42] tarde, serão[42] seară
vèspre
morning matí matin mangianu mattina matin mañana manhã, matina dimineață
frying frigideira,
paella padena paella padella poêle sartén tigaie
pan fritadeira
bed llit lièch, lèit letu letto lit cama, lecho cama, leito pat
bird ocell 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
mantequilla,
butter mantega bodre burru, butiru burro beurre manteiga unt
manteca
tròç, morceau, pedaço,
piece tros arrogu pezzo pedazo, trozo[43] bucată
petaç pièce bocado
gri,[45]
gray gris gris canu grigio gris gris, pardo[44] cinza, gris sur,
cenușiu
hot calent caud callenti caldo chaud caliente quente cald
too demais,
massa tròp tropu troppo trop demasiado prea
much demasiado
to want voler vòler bolli(ri) volere vouloir querer querer a vrea
prene, a prinde,
to take prendre pigai prendere prendre tomar, prender apanhar, levar
prendre a lua
orar, rezar,
to pray pregar pregar pregai pregare prier rezar/rogar a se ruga
pregar
dimandai, pedir, a cere, a
to ask demanar/preguntar demandar domandare demander pedir, preguntar
preguntai perguntar întreba
to procurar, a cerceta,
cercar/buscar cercar circai cercare chercher buscar
search buscar a căuta
to arrive arribar arribar arribai arrivare arriver llegar, arribar chegar a ajunge
to chistionnai,
parlar parlar parlare parler hablar, parlar falar, palrar a vorbi
speak fueddai
comer (manyar in comer (papar
to eat menjar manjar pappai mangiare manger lunfardo; papear in in slang), a mânca
slang) manjar
Catalan and Spanish cognates with different meanings[39]

Latin Catalan Spanish
ACCOSTARE acostar "to bring closer" acostar "to put to bed"
"to remove;
LEVARE llevar llevar "to take"
wake up"
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.[34][35] This
view, based on political and ideological considerations, has no linguistic validity.[34][35] Spanish and Catalan have important differences in their sound systems, lexicon,
and grammatical features, placing the language in features closer to Occitan (and French).[34][35]
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.[33]
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.[46][33]
Like all Romance languages, Catalan has a handful of native words which are rare or only found in Catalan. 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’, PISTRICE > pestriu ‘fish species’, PRŪNA ‘live coal’ > espurna ‘spark’,
TARDĀTIŌNEM > tardaó > tardor ‘autumn’.
[47]
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.[33]
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.[33] However, the Arabic element in Spanish is generally
much more prevalent.[33]
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".[33]
Geographic distribution
Catalan-speaking territories
Traditionally Catalan-speaking territories are sometimes called the Països Catalans (Catalan Traditionally Catalan-speaking territories in dark
grey; non-Catalan-speaking territories belonging
Countries), a denomination based on cultural affinity and common heritage, that has also had a
to traditionally Catalan-speaking regions in light
subsequent political interpretation but no official status. Various interpretations of the term may grey
include some or all of these regions.
France
Territories where Catalan is spoken[24]
Andorra Northern Catalonia
Catalan
State Territory Notes
name
La Catalonia
A sovereign state where Catalan is the national Franja Sardinia
Andorra Andorra and the sole official language. The Andorrans Aragon (Italy)
Andorra (Spain)
speak a Western Catalan variety.
Catalunya Roughly corresponding to the département of Alghero

France Northern
Nord Pyrénées-Orientales.[24]
Catalonia
Balearic Islands
In the Aran Valley (northwest corner of Catalonia),
Catalunya in addition to Occitan, which is the local language, Valencian
Catalonia Community
Catalan, Spanish and French are also spoken.[24]
Excepting some regions in the west and south
Carche
which have been Aragonese/Spanish-speaking
Comunitat Murcia
Valencian
Valenciana since at least the 18th century.[24] The Western
Community Catalan variety spoken there is known as (Spain)
"Valencian".
Spain A part of the Autonomous Community of Aragon,

specifically a strip bordering Western Catalonia. It
La Franja
La Franja comprises the comarques of Ribagorça, Llitera,
Baix Cinca, and Matarranya.
Illes Comprising the islands of Mallorca, Menorca,

Balearic
Balears Ibiza and Formentera.
Islands
A small area of the Autonomous Community of

El Carxe
Carche Murcia, settled in the 19th century.[24]
A city in the Province of Sassari, on the island of

Italy L'Alguer Sardinia, where the peculiar Algherese dialect is
Alghero
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.[48] The web site of the Generalitat de Catalunya estimated
that as of 2004 there were 9,118,882 speakers of Catalan.[49] These figures only reflect potential speakers; today it is the native language of only 35.6% of the Catalan
population.[50] According to Ethnologue, Catalan had four million native speakers and five million second-language speakers in 2012. The most 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[51] Can speak 2[51]
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[52] 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%
[53][54][55]
Phonology
Catalan phonology varies by dialect. Notable features include:[56]
Marked contrast of the vowel pairs /ɛ e/ and /ɔ o/, as in other Western Romance languages, other than Spanish.[56]
Lack of diphthongization of Latin short ĕ, ŏ, as in Galician and Portuguese, but unlike French, Spanish, or Italian.[56]
Abundance of diphthongs containing /w/, as in Galician and Portuguese.[56]
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.[56]
Additionally, Catalan has final obstruent devoicing, which gives rise to an abundance of such couplets as amic "(male friend") vs. amiga ("female friend").[56]
Central Catalan pronunciation is considered to be standard for the language.[57] The descriptions below are mostly representative of this variety.[58] For the differences in
pronunciation between the different dialects, see the section on pronunciation of dialects in this article.
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.[56] Balearic also has instances of stressed /ə/.[60] Dialects differ in the
different degrees of vowel reduction,[61] and the incidence of the pair /ɛ e/.[62]
In Central Catalan, unstressed vowels reduce to three: /a e ɛ/ > [ə]; /o ɔ u/ > [u]; /i/ remains distinct.[63] 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[64]

The root is stressed in the first word and unstressed in the second
Front vowels Back vowels Vowels of Standard Eastern
Catalan[59]
pedra banya ("he
gel ("ice") cosa ("thing") tot
Word ("stone") bathes")
gelat ("ice coseta ("little ("everything")
pair pedrera banyem ("we
cream") thing") total ("total")
("quarry") bathe")
IPA [ˈʒɛl] [ˈpeðɾə] [ˈbaɲə] [ˈkɔzə] [ˈtot]
transcription [ʒəˈlat] [pəˈðɾeɾə] [bəˈɲɛm] [kuˈzɛtə] [tuˈtal]
Consonants
Catalan consonants[65]
Alveolar
Bilabial Palatal Velar
/ Dental
Nasal m n ɲ ŋ
voiceless p t c~k
Plosive
voiced b d ɟ~ɡ
voiceless ts tʃ
Affricate
voiced dz dʒ
voiceless f s ʃ
Fricative
voiced (v) z ʒ
central j w
Approximant
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.[66] However, /l/ is velarized irrespective of position in Eastern dialects like
Majorcan[67] and standard Eastern Catalan.
/v/ occurs in Balearic,[68] Alguerese, standard Valencian and some areas in southern Catalonia.[69] It has merged with /b/ elsewhere.[70]
Voiced obstruents undergo final-obstruent devoicing: /b/ > [p], /d/ > [t], /ɡ/ > [k].[71]
Voiced stops become lenited to approximants in syllable onsets, after continuants: /b/ > [β], /d/ > [ð], /ɡ/ > [ɣ].[72] Exceptions include /d/ after lateral
consonants, and /b/ after /f/. In coda position, these sounds are realized as stops,[73] except in some Valencian dialects where they are lenited.[74]
There is some confusion in the literature about the precise phonetic characteristics of /ʃ/, /ʒ/, /tʃ/, /dʒ/. Some sources[68] describe them as
"postalveolar". Others[75][76] 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.[77][78][76]
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.[79]
In careful speech, /n/, /m/, /l/ may be geminated. Geminated /ʎ/ may also occur.[68] Some analyze intervocalic [r] as the result of gemination of a single
rhotic phoneme.[80] This is similar to the common analysis of Spanish and Portuguese rhotics.[81]
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 analyse 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 normalisation
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
The dialects of the Catalan language feature a relative uniformity, especially when compared to other Romance
languages;[39] both in terms of vocabulary, semantics, syntax, morphology, and phonology.[85] Mutual intelligibility
between dialects is very high,[24][86][57] estimates ranging from 90% to 95%.[87] The only exception is the isolated
idiosyncratic Alguerese dialect.[39]
Catalan is split in two major dialectal blocks: Eastern Catalan, and Western Catalan.[57][85] 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.[39][57] There are a few other differences in pronunciation, verbal morphology, and vocabulary.[24]
Western Catalan comprises the two dialects of Northwestern Catalan and Valencian; the Eastern block comprises four
dialects: Central Catalan, Balearic, Rossellonese, and Alguerese.[57] Each dialect can be further subdivided in several
subdialects. The terms "Catalan" and "Valencian" (respectively used in Catalonia and the Valencian Community) are two
varieties of the same language.[88] 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.
Main dialects of Catalan[82][83][84]
Central Catalan is considered the standard pronunciation of the language and has the highest number of speakers.[57] 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.[57]
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.[56]
Main dialectal divisions of Catalan[57][89]

Block Western Catalan Eastern Catalan
Dialect Northwestern Valencian Central Balearic Northern/Rossellonese Alguerese
Spain, Andorra Spain France Italy
Area Andorra, Provinces of Lleida, Autonomous Provinces of Barcelona, City of

Balearic Roussillon/Northern
western half of Tarragona, La community of eastern half of Tarragona, Alghero in
islands Catalonia
Franja Valencia, Carche most of Girona 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.[56]
Balearic has also instances of stressed /ə/.[60] Dialects differ in the different degrees of vowel reduction,[61] and the incidence of the pair /ɛ e/.[62]
In Eastern Catalan (except Majorcan), unstressed vowels reduce to three: /a e ɛ/ > [ə]; /o ɔ u/ > [u]; /i/ remains distinct.[63] There are a few instances of unreduced [e], [o]
in some words.[63] Alguerese 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.[90]
In Western Catalan, unstressed vowels reduce to five: /e ɛ/ > [e]; /o ɔ/ > [o]; /a u i/ remain distinct.[91][92] This reduction pattern, inherited from Proto-Romance, is also
found in Italian and Portuguese.[91] Some Western dialects present further reduction or vowel harmony in some cases.[91][93]
Central, Western, and Balearic differ in the lexical incidence of stressed /e/ and /ɛ/.[62] Usually, words with /ɛ/ in Central Catalan correspond to /ə/ in Balearic and /e/ in
Western Catalan.[62] Words with /e/ in Balearic almost always have /e/ in Central and Western Catalan as well.[62] As a result, Central Catalan has a much higher incidence
of /ɛ/.[62]
General differences in the pronunciation of unstressed vowels in different

dialects[57][94]
Different incidence of stressed /e/, /ə/, /ɛ/[62] Western Catalan Eastern Catalan
Word
Eastern Northwestern Valencian Majorcan Central Northern
Word Western Majorcan
except Majorcan
mare ("mother") /ˈmaɾe/ /ˈmaɾə/
set ("thirst") /ˈset/ /ˈsət/ /ˈsɛt/
cançó ("song") /kanˈso/ /kənˈso/
ven ("he sells") /ˈven/ /ˈvən/ /ˈbɛn/
posar ("to put") /poˈza(ɾ)/ /puˈza(ɾ)/
ferro ("iron") /ˈfɛro/ /ˈfɛru/
Detailed examples of vowel reduction processes in different dialects[64]

Word pairs:
the first with stressed root, Western Majorcan Central
the second with unstressed root
gel ("ice") [ˈdʒɛl] [ˈʒɛl] [ˈʒɛl]
gelat ("ice cream") [dʒeˈlat] [ʒəˈlat] [ʒəˈlat]
pera ("pear") [ˈpeɾa] [ˈpəɾə] [ˈpɛɾə]
perera ("pear tree") [peˈɾeɾa] [pəˈɾeɾə] [pəˈɾeɾə]
Front
vowels pedra ("stone") [ˈpeðɾa] [ˈpeðɾə] [ˈpeðɾə]
pedrera ("quarry") [peˈðɾeɾa] [pəˈðɾeɾə] [pəˈðɾeɾə]
banya ("he bathes")
[ˈbaɲa] [ˈbaɲə] [ˈbaɲə]
banyem("we bathe")
[baˈɲem] [bəˈɲam] [bəˈɲɛm]
Majorcan: banyam("we bathe")
cosa ("thing") [ˈkɔza] [ˈkɔzə] [ˈkɔzə]
Back coseta ("little thing") [koˈzeta] [koˈzətə] [kuˈzɛtə]
vowels tot ("everything") [ˈtot] [ˈtot] [ˈtot]
total ("total") [toˈtal] [toˈtal] [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

Eastern Catalan Western Catalan
Conjugation Gloss
Central Northern Balearic Valencian Northwestern
1st parlo parli parl parle or parlo parlo 'I speak'
2nd temo temi tem tem or temo temo 'I fear'
pure sento senti sent sent or sento sento 'I feel', 'I hear'
3rd
inchoative poleixo poleixi poleix or polesc polisc or pol(e)ixo pol(e)ixo 'I polish'
Western Catalan: In verbs, the inchoative endings are -isc/-ixo, -ix, -ixen, -isca.
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'.
Vocabulary
Despite its relative lexical unity, the two dialectal blocks of Catalan (Eastern and Western) show some differences in word choices.[33] Any lexical divergence within any
of the two groups can be explained as an archaism. Also, usually Central Catalan acts as an innovative element.[33]
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
Standard Catalan, virtually accepted by all speakers,[26] is
mostly based on Eastern Catalan,[57][95] which is the most Written varieties
widely used dialect. Nevertheless, the standards of the Catalan (IEC) Valencian (AVL) gloss
Valencian Community and the Balearics admit alternative anglès anglés English
forms, mostly traditional ones, which are not current in eastern
conèixer conéixer to know
Catalonia.[95]
treure traure take out
The most notable difference between both standards is some néixer nàixer to be born
Casa de Convalescència, tonic ⟨e⟩ accentuation, for instance: francès, anglès (IEC) –
càntir cànter pitcher
Headquarters of the Institut d'Estudis francés, anglés (AVL). Nevertheless, AVL's standard keeps the
Catalans grave accent ⟨è⟩, while pronouncing it as /e/ rather than /ɛ/, in rodó redó round
some words like: què ('what'), or València. Other divergences meva meua my, mine
include the use of ⟨tl⟩ (AVL) in some words instead of ⟨tll⟩ like ametlla ametla almond
in ametla/ametlla ('almond'), espatla/espatlla ('back'), the use of elided demonstratives (este 'this', eixe 'that') in
estrella estrela star
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 - cop colp hit
ix- at the same level as -eix- or the priority use of -e morpheme in 1st person singular in present indicative (-ar llagosta llangosta lobster
verbs): jo compre instead of jo compro ('I buy'). homes hòmens men
In the Balearic Islands, IEC's standard is used but adapted for the Balearic dialect by the University of the servei servici service
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 Alguerese 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 Alguerese: 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,[96] 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.[97] 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
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).[57][89] The various forms of Catalan and Valencian are mutually intelligible (ranging from 90% to 95%)[87]
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.[13]
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,
[T]he historical patrimonial language of the Valencian an opinion poll carried out between 2001 and
people, from a philological standpoint, is the same shared
2004[99] showed that the majority of the
by the autonomous communities of Catalonia and Balearic
islands, and Principality of Andorra. Additionally, it is the Valencian people consider Valencian different
patrimonial historical language of other territories of the from Catalan. This position is promoted by
ancient Crown of Aragon [...] The different varieties of people who do not use Valencian regularly.[26]
these territories constitute a language, that is, a "linguistic
Furthermore, the data indicates that younger
system" [...] From this group of varieties, Valencian has the
same hierarchy and dignity as any other dialectal modality generations educated in Valencian are much less
of that linguistic system [...] likely to hold these views. A minority of
Ruling of the Valencian Language Academy of 9 February Valencian scholars active in fields other than
2005, extract of point 1.[13][98] 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.[100]
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.[101]
Subdialects of Valencian
Vocabulary
Word choices
Despite its relative lexical unity, the two dialectal blocks of Catalan (Eastern and Western) show some differences in word choices.[33] Any lexical divergence within any
of the two groups can be explained as an archaism. Also, usually Central Catalan acts as an innovative element.[33]
Literary Catalan allows the use of words from different dialects, except those of very restricted use.[33] 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. [33]
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.[33] 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.[33] 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,[102] 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").[102]
There is greater regularity in the process of word-compounding, where one can find compounded words formed much like those in English.[102]
Common types of word compounds in Catalan[102]

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
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 ÈÉ ÍÏ L·L ÒÓ ÚÜ
Catalan uses the Latin script, with some added symbols and digraphs.[103] The Catalan orthography is systematic and largely phonologically based.[103] 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.[104]
Pronunciation of Catalan special characters and digraphs (Central Catalan)[105]
Pronunciation Examples[105]
ç /s/ feliç [fəˈlis] ("happy")
/ɡ/ ([ɡ~ɣ]) before i and e guerra [ˈɡɛrə] ("war")
gu The word novel·la ("novel") in
/ɡw/ elsewhere guant [ˈɡwan] ("glove") a dictionary. The geminated L
ig [tʃ] in final position raig [ˈratʃ] ("trickle") (l·l) is a distinctive character
used in Catalan.
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")
/k/ before i and e qui [ˈki] ("who")
qu Billboard in Barcelona (detail),
/kw/ before other vowels quatre [ˈkwatrə] ("four")
showing the word il·lusió
/s/ grossa [ˈɡɾɔsə] ("big-FEMININE)" ("illusion")
ss
Intervocalic s is pronounced /z/ 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)[105]
Notes Examples[105]
/s/ before i and e feliç ("happy-MASCULINE-SINGULAR") - felices ("happy-FEMININE-PLURAL")
c
corresponds to ç in other contexts caço ("I hunt") - caces ("you hunt")
/ʒ/ before e and i
envejar ("to envy") - envegen ("they envy")
corresponds to j in other positions
g final g + stressed i, and final ig before other

boig ['bɔtʃ] ("mad-MASCULINE") - boja ['bɔʒə] ("mad-FEMININE") -boges ['bɔʒəs] ("mad-FEMININE
vowels,
PLURAL")
are pronounced [tʃ]
desig [də'zitʃ] ("wish") - desitjar ("to wish") - desitgem ("we wish")
corresponds to j~g or tj~tg in other positions
/ɡ/ before e and i
gu botiga ("shop") - botigues ("shops")
corresponds to g in other positions
/ɡw/ before e and i
gü llengua ("language") - llengües ("languages")
corresponds to gu in other positions
/k/ before e and i
qu vaca ("cow") - vaques ("cows")
corresponds to q in other positions
/kw/ before e and i
qü obliqua ("oblique-FEMININE") - obliqües ("oblique-FEMININE PLURAL")
corresponds to qu in other positions
[ʃ~tʃ] initially and in onsets after a consonant xarxa [ˈʃarʃə] ("net")
x [ʃ] after i guix [ˈɡiʃ] ("chalk")
otherwise, [ɡz] before stress, [ks] after exacte [əɡˈzaktə] ("exact"), fax [ˈfaks] ("fax")
Grammar
The grammar of Catalan is similar to other Romance languages. Features include:[106]
Use of definite and indefinite articles.[106]

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.[106]
Verbs are highly inflected for person, number, tense, aspect, and mood (including a subjunctive).[106]
There are no modal auxiliaries.[106]
Word order is freer than in English.[106]
Gender and number inflection

Gender and number inflection
of the word gat ("cat")
Regular noun with definite article: el Adjective with 4 forms: Adjective with 3 forms: Adjective with 2 forms:
gat ("the cat") verd ("green") feliç ("happy") indiferent ("indifferent")
masculine feminine masculine feminine masculine feminine masculine feminine
singular el gat la gata singular verd verda singular feliç singular indiferent
plural els gats les gates plural verds verdes plural feliços felices 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.[56] There are only a few exceptions, like minso/minsa ("scarce").[56] Many not completely predictable morphological alternations may occur, such
as:[56]
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.[56]
There is a tendency to abandon traditionally gender-invariable adjectives in favour of marked ones, something prevalent in Occitan and French. Thus, one can find
bullent/bullenta ("boiling") in contrast with traditional bullent/bullent.[56]
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.[56] 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").[107]
Determiners
Definite article in Standard Catalan Contractions of the definite article

Indefinite article
(elided forms in brackets)[108] preposition
masculine feminine
masculine feminine a de per
singular un una
singular el (l') la (l') el al (a l') del (de l') pel (per l')
article plural uns unes
plural els les els als dels pels
The inflection of determinatives is complex, specially because of the high number of elisions, but is similar to the neighboring languages.[102] 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.).[102]
Central Catalan has abandoned almost completely unstressed possessives (mon, etc.) in favour of constructions of article
+ stressed forms (el meu, etc.), a feature shared with Italian.[102]
Personal pronouns
The morphology of Catalan personal pronouns is complex,
Catalan stressed pronouns[109]
specially in unstressed forms, which are numerous (13 distinct
forms, compared to 11 in Spanish or 9 in Italian).[102] Features singular plural
include the gender-neutral ho and the great degree of freedom 1st person jo, mi nosaltres
Sign in the town square of Begur,
when combining different unstressed pronouns (65 informal tu vosaltres Catalonia, Spain. In plaça de la vila
combinations).[102]
2nd person formal vostè vostès (literally "square of the town"), since
the noun vila ("town") is feminine
Catalan pronouns exhibit T–V distinction, like all other respectful (vós)[110] singular, the definite article carries
Romance languages (and most European languages, but not the corresponding form, la ("the").
masculine ell ells
Modern English). This feature implies the use of a different set 3rd person
of second person pronouns for formality. feminine ella elles
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.[102] 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).[102]
Verbs
Like all the Romance languages, Catalan verbal inflection is
Simple forms of a regular verb of the first conjugation: portar ("to bring")[111]
more complex than the nominal. Suffixation is omnipresent,
whereas morphological alternations play a secondary role.[102] Non-finite Form
Vowel alternances are active, as well as infixation and Infinitive portar
suppletion. However, these are not as productive as in Spanish, Gerund portant
and are mostly restricted to irregular verbs.[102]
Past participle portat (portat, portada, portats, portades)
The Catalan verbal system is basically common to all Western ell / ella vosaltres ells / elles
Indicative jo tu nosaltres
Romance, except that most dialects have replaced the synthetic [vostè] [vós] [vostès]
indicative perfect with a periphrastic form of anar ("to go") + Present porto portes porta portem porteu porten
infinitive.[102]
Imperfect portava portaves portava portàvem portàveu portaven
Catalan verbs are traditionally divided into three conjugations, Preterite (archaic) portí portares portà portàrem portàreu portaren
with vowel themes -a-, -e-, -i-, the last two being split into two Future portaré portaràs portarà portarem portareu portaran
subtypes. However, this division is mostly theoretical.[102]
Conditional portaria portaries portaria portaríem portaríeu portarien
Only the first conjugation is nowadays productive (with about
ell / ella vosaltres ells / elles
3500 common verbs), whereas the third (the subtype of servir, Subjunctive jo tu nosaltres
[vostè] [vós] [vostès]
with about 700 common verbs) is semiproductive. The verbs of
Present porti portis porti portem porteu portin
the second conjugation are fewer than 100, and it is not
possible to create new ones, except by compounding.[102] Imperfect portés portéssis portés portéssim portéssiu portessin
ell / ella vosaltres ells / elles
Imperative jo tu nosaltres
[vostè] [vós] [vostès]
— — porta porti portem porteu portin
Syntax
The grammar of Catalan follows the general pattern of Western Romance languages. The primary word order is subject–verb–object.[112] 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."[113]
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.[114] The law contemplates the
possibility of joining both surnames with the Catalan conjunction i ("and").[114][115]
Sample text
Selected text[116] from Manuel de Pedrolo's 1970 novel Un amor fora ciutat ("A love affair outside the city").
Original Word-for-word translation[116] Free translation

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

English
Catalan word Catalan meaning Notes
word
barracks barraca "mud hut" Eng < Fr baraques < Cat/Sp barracas.[117]
barracó or
barracoon "improvised hut" Eng < Spanish barracón < barraca (Sp < Cat).[117]
barracot
surge sorgir "to arise" Eng < Middle French sourgir < Old Catalan surgir.[118]
Eng < Cat < Old French pael(l)e (mod. poêle ‘skillet’) < Latin patella ‘small pan’ (> Sp
paella paella "small cooking pot"
padilla).[118]
cul-de-sac cul-de-sac "with no exit" French < Old Catalan/Occitan (> English).[118]
capicua cap i cua "ends like it starts"
"fruit used in
cucumber cogombre Eng < Old French / Occitan cocombre.[118]
salads"
See also
Organizations
Institut d'Estudis Catalans (Catalan Studies Institute)

Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua (Valencian Academy of the Language)
Òmnium Cultural
Plataforma per la Llengua
Scholars
Marina Abràmova
Other
Languages of Catalonia
Linguistic features of Spanish as spoken by Catalan speakers
Languages of France
Languages of Italy
Languages of Spain
Normes de Castelló
Pompeu Fabra
References
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2. "InformeCAT 50 dades sobre la llengua catalana" (https://www.plataforma-llengua.cat/media/upload/pdf/informecat2018_1528713023.pdf) (PDF) (in
Catalan). 7 June 2018. Report on the Catalan language by Plataforma per la Llengua based on recent reference sociolinguistic surveys
3. Some Iberian scholars may alternatively classify Catalan as Iberian Romance/East Iberian.
4. Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2017). "Catalan" (http://glottolog.org/resource/languoid/id/stan1289). Glottolog 3.0.
Jena, Germany: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
5. Laurie Bauer, 2007, The Linguistics Student's Handbook, Edinburgh (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Catalan)
6. Wheeler 2010, p. 191.
7. Minder, Raphael (21 November 2016). "Italy's Last Bastion of Catalan Language Struggles to Keep It Alive" (https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/21/worl
d/europe/catalan-italy-alghero.html). The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331 (https://www.worldcat.org/issn/0362-4331). Retrieved 21 January 2017.
8. Wheeler 2010, p. 190–191.
9. Costa Carreras & Yates 2009, pp. 6–7.
10. García Venero 2006.
11. Burke 1900, p. 154.
12. Lledó 2011, p. 334–337.
13. Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua 2005.
14. Veny 1997, pp. 9–18.
15. Moran 2004, pp. 37–38.
16. Costa Carreras & Yates, pp. 6–7.
17. Riquer 1964.
18. Wheeler 2010, p. 190.
19. Trobes en llaors de la Verge Maria ("Poems of praise of the Virgin Mary") 1474.
20. "L'interdiction de la langue catalane en Roussillon par Louis XIV" (https://web.archive.org/web/20101214055235/http://crdp-montpellier.fr/cd66/artscult/
fichesVauban/cdvauban/PERIODES/moyenagetempsmodernes/chateaucollioureinterdictioncatalan.pdf) (PDF). "CRDP, Académie de Montpellier.
Archived from the original (http://www.crdp-montpellier.fr/cd66/artscult/fichesVauban/cdvauban/PERIODES/moyenagetempsmodernes/chateaucolliour
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21. Marfany 2002.
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Nord" (https://web.archive.org/web/20110309142734/http://www.cg66.fr/199-la-catalanitat-a-catalunya-nord.htm). Archived from the original (http://ww
w.cg66.fr/199-la-catalanitat-a-catalunya-nord.htm) on 9 March 2011. Retrieved 13 March 2011.
23. Costa Carreras 2007, pp. 10–11.
24. Wheeler 2005, p. 1.
25. Burgen, Stephen (22 November 2012). "Catalan: a language that has survived against the odds" (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/nov/22/cat
alan-language-survived). The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077 (https://www.worldcat.org/issn/0261-3077). Retrieved 18 January 2017.
26. Wheeler 2003, p. 207.
27. "Cataluña ordena incumplir las sentencias sobre el castellano en las escuelas" (http://www.abc.es/sociedad/20130909/abci-cataluna-ordena-incumplir-
sentencias-201309081829.html) [Catalonia orders violate the judgments on the Castilian in schools] (in Spanish). Retrieved 10 September 2013.
28. "Idescat. Annual indicators. Language uses. First language, language of identification and habitual language. Results" (http://www.idescat.cat/economi
a/inec?tc=3&id=da01&dt=2008&lang=en). www.idescat.cat.
29. "Idescat. Demographics and quality of life. Language uses. First language, language of identification and habitual language. 2003. Results" (http://ww
w.idescat.cat/economia/inec?tc=3&id=DA01&lang=en&dt=200300&x=12&y=8). www.idescat.cat. Retrieved 21 January 2017.
30. Datos lingüísticos en Cataluña (http://www20.gencat.cat/portal/site/Llengcat/menuitem.b318de7236aed0e7a129d410b0c0e1a0/?vgnextoid=69f4f9465f
f61110VgnVCM1000000b0c1e0aRCRD&vgnextchannel=69f4f9465ff61110VgnVCM1000000b0c1e0aRCRD&vgnextfmt=default) Archived (https://web.
archive.org/web/20140415001016/http://www20.gencat.cat/portal/site/Llengcat/menuitem.b318de7236aed0e7a129d410b0c0e1a0/?vgnextoid=69f4f94
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31. "CPNL" (https://www.cpnl.cat).
32. Koryakov 2001.
33. Enciclopèdia Catalana, p. 632.
34. Feldhausen 2010, p. 4.
35. Schlösser 2005, p. 60f.
36. Marc Howard Ross, Cultural Contestation in Ethnic Conflict (https://books.google.com/books?id=Oe4popSDfW0C&printsec=frontcover&hl=en#PPA13
9,M1), page 139. Cambridge University Press, 2007.
37. Jud 1925.
38. Colón 1993, pp. 33–35.
39. Moll 1958, p. 47.
40. Simons, Gary F.; Fennig, Charles D. (2018). "Ethnologue: Languages of the World, Twenty-first edition" (https://www.ethnologue.com/language/cat).
Ethnologue. Dallas, Texas: SIL International. Retrieved 30 March 2018.
41. Portuguese and Spanish have estiagem and estiaje, respectively, for drought, dry season or low water levels.
42. Portuguese and Spanish have véspera and víspera, respectively, for eve, or the day before.
43. 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".
44. 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.
45. A 20th century introduction from French.
46. Colón 1993, p. 55.
47. Bruguera 2008, p. 3046.
48. "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)" (http://www20.gencat.cat/portal/site/Llengcat/menuitem.b318de7236aed0e7a129d410b0c0e1a0/?vgnextoid=11a1d4b73920b110VgnVCM100
0008d0c1e0aRCRD&vgnextchannel=11a1d4b73920b110VgnVCM1000008d0c1e0aRCRD&vgnextfmt=default&newLang=en_GB). Generalitat of
Catalonia. 7 August 2008. Retrieved 13 March 2012.
49. "Catalan, language of Europe" (https://web.archive.org/web/20121222153758/http://www20.gencat.cat/docs/Llengcat/Documents/Publicacions/Catal
a%20llengua%20Europa/Arxius/cat_europa_angles_07.pdf) (PDF). Generalitat of Catalonia. Archived from the original (http://www20.gencat.cat/docs/
Llengcat/Documents/Publicacions/Catala%20llengua%20Europa/Arxius/cat_europa_angles_07.pdf) (PDF) on 22 December 2012. Retrieved 13 March
2012.
50. Población según lengua habitual. Datos comparados 2003–2008. Cataluña. Año 2008 (http://www.idescat.cat/territ/BasicTerr?TC=5&V0=3&V1=3&V3
=3325&V4=3326&ALLINFO=TRUE&PARENT=25&CTX=B), Encuesta de Usos Lingüísticos de la población (2003 y 2008), Instituto de Estadística de
Cataluña
51. Sources:
Catalonia: Statistic data of 2001 census, from Institut d'Estadística de Catalunya, Generalitat de Catalunya [1] (http://www.idescat.net/territ/BasicTe
rr?TC=5&V0=3&V1=3&V3=876&V4=17&ALLINFO=TRUE&PARENT=1&CTX=B).
Land of Valencia: Statistical data from 2001 census, from Institut Valencià d'Estadística, Generalitat Valenciana "Archived copy" (https://web.archiv
e.org/web/20050906084332/http://ive.infocentre.gva.es/pls/portal/docs/PAGE/IVE_PEGV/CONTENTS/cvcifras/2004/val/cvx2004_02.pdf) (PDF).
Archived from the original (http://ive.infocentre.gva.es/pls/portal/docs/PAGE/IVE_PEGV/CONTENTS/cvcifras/2004/val/cvx2004_02.pdf) (PDF) on 6
September 2005. Retrieved 23 June 2005..
Land of Valencia: Statistical data from 2001 census, from Institut Valencià d'Estadística, Generalitat Valenciana [2] (http://www.ive.es/) Archived (ht
tps://web.archive.org/web/20150216011800/http://www.ive.es/) 16 February 2015 at the Wayback Machine.
Balearic Islands: Statistical data from 2001 census, from Institut Balear d'Estadística, Govern de les Illes Balears [3] (http://www.caib.es/ibae/demo/
catala/t2.htm).
Northern Catalonia: Media Pluriel Survey commissioned by Prefecture of Languedoc-Roussillon Region done in October 1997 and published in
January 1998 "Archived copy" (https://web.archive.org/web/20050414192723/http://linmiter.net/information_catalan.html). Archived from the
original (http://www.linmiter.net/information_catalan.html) on 14 April 2005. Retrieved 23 June 2005..
Andorra: Sociolinguistic data from Andorran Government, 1999.
Aragon: Sociolinguistic data from Euromosaic [4] (http://www.uoc.edu/euromosaic/web/document/catala/an/e19/e19.html).
Alguer: Sociolinguistic data from Euromosaic [5] (http://www.uoc.edu/euromosaic/web/homect/index2.html).
Rest of World: Estimate for 1999 by the Federació d'Entitats Catalanes outside the Catalan Countries.
52. Enquesta d'usos lingüístics de la població. 2018 (https://www.idescat.cat/novetats/?id=3329). IDESCAT/Generalitat de Catalunya, 2019.
53. Red Cruscat del Instituto de Estudios Catalanes
54. "Tv3 - Telediario: La salud del catalán - YouTube" (https://web.archive.org/web/20150516115058/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjurosw5isu).
Archived from the original (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjurosw5isu) on 16 May 2015.
55. "www.noticies.cat" (https://web.archive.org/web/20071124091243/http://www.noticies.cat/pnoticies/notItem.jsp?item=noticia&idint=223737). Archived
from the original (http://www.noticies.cat/pnoticies/notitem.jsp?item=noticia&idint=223737) on 24 November 2007.
58. Wheeler 2005 takes the same approach
59. Carbonell & Llisterri 1999, p. 62.
60. Wheeler 2005, pp. 37, 53–54.
61. Wheeler 2005, p. 37.
62. Wheeler 2005, p. 38.
63. Wheeler 2005, p. 54.
64. Wheeler 2005, pp. 53–55.
65. Carbonell & Llisterri 1999, pp. 61–65.
66. Recasens & Espinosa 2005, p. 20.
68. Carbonell & Llisterri 1992, p. 53.
69. Veny 2007, p. 51.
70. Wheeler 2005, p. 13.
71. Lloret 2003, p. 278.
72. Wheeler 2005, p. 10.
73. Hualde, José (1992). Catalan. Routledge. p. 368. ISBN 978-0-415-05498-0.
75. Recasens, Fontdevila & Pallarès 1995, p. 288.
77. Recasens 1993. Here Recasens labels these Catalan sounds as "laminoalveolars palatalitzades".
78. Recasens & Pallarès 2001. Here the authors label these Catalan sounds as "laminal postalveolar".
79. Padgett 2003, p. 2.
80. Wheeler 1979.
81. See Bonet, Eulàlia; Mascaró, Joan (1997). "On the Representation of Contrasting Rhotics". In Martínez-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.
83. Wheeler 2005, p. 2.
84. Costa Carreras 2009, p. 4.
85. Enciclopèdia Catalana, pp. 634–635.
86. Costa Carreras & Yates 2009, p. 5.
87. Central Catalan has 90% to 95% inherent intelligibility for speakers of Valencian (1989 R. Hall, Jr.), cited in Ethnologue.
88. "Dictamen de l'Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua sobre els principis i criteris per a la defensa de la denominació i l'entitat del valencià" (http://www.a
vl.gva.es/va/acords-AVL/main/03/document/NOMENTITAT.pdf) Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20150923181117/http://www.avl.gva.es/va/acord
s-AVL/main/03/document/NOMENTITAT.pdf) 23 September 2015 at the Wayback Machine. Report from Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua about
denomination and identity of Valencian.
89. Wheeler 2005, pp. 2–3.
90. Wheeler 2005, pp. 53–54.
91. Wheeler 2005, p. 53.
92. Carbonell & Llisterri 1999, pp. 54–55.
93. Recasens 1996, pp. 75–76, 128–129.
94. Melchor & Branchadell 2002, p. 71.
95. Wheeler 2003, p. 170.
96. Decreto 89/2011, de 5 de abril, del Gobierno de Aragón, por el que se aprueban los Estatutos de la Academia Aragonesa del Catalán. BOA núm. 77,
de 18 de abril de 2011 (http://www.boa.aragon.es/cgi-bin/EBOA/BRSCGI?CMD=VEROBJ&MLKOB=592553980606)
97. Ley 10/2009, de 22 de diciembre, de uso, protección y promoción de las lenguas propias de Aragón BOE núm. 30, de 4 de febrero de 2010. (https://w
ww.boe.es/buscar/doc.php?id=BOE-A-2010-1711)
98. 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.
99. "Casi el 65% de los valencianos opina que su lengua es distinta al catalán, según una encuesta del CIS" (http://www.lavanguardia.mobi/slowdevice/no
ticia/51262801790/Casi-el-65-de-los-valencianos-opina-que-su-lengua-es-distinta-al-catalan-segun-una-encuesta-del-CIS.html).
100. List of RACV academics (http://www.racv.es/vcia/vista-listado-academicos-numero) Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20161214031455/http://ww
w.racv.es/vcia/vista-listado-academicos-numero) 14 December 2016 at the Wayback Machine
101. Isabel I Vilar, Ferran. "Traducció única de la Constitució europea" (http://www.mail-archive.com/infozefir@listserv.rediris.es/msg00442.html). I-Zefir. 30
Oct 2004. 29 Apr 2009.
103. Wheeler 2005, p. 6.
104. Carreras, Joan Costa, ed. (2009). The Architect of Modern Catalan: Selected writings (https://books.google.com/books?id=cUu_apMqBF0C).
Translated by Yates, Alan. John Benjamins Publishing. ISBN 9027289247.
105. Wheeler 2005, p. 7.
106. Swan 2001, pp. 97–98.
107. Enciclopèdia Catalana, p. 630–631.
108. Fabra 1926, pp. 29–30.
109. Fabra 1926, p. 42.
110. Archaic in most dialects.
111. Fabra 1926, pp. 70–71.
112. The World Atlas of Language Structures (http://wals.info/languoid/lect/wals_code_ctl). wals.info.
113. Wheeler, Yates & Dols 1999.
114. Wheeler 2005, p. 8.
115. 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"
116. Swan 2001, p. 112.
117. Collins English Dictionary.
118. Gove 1993.
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Gallego, Rosa; Sanz, Juan Carlos (2001). Diccionario Akal del color (in Spanish). Akal. ISBN 978-84-460-1083-8.
García Venero, Maximiano (7 July 2006). Historia del nacionalismo catalán: 2a edición (https://books.google.com/?id=nUABAAAAMAAJ). 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 català, llengua de govern: la política lingüística de la Mancomunitat de Catalunya (1914–1924)" (https://www.raco.cat/in
dex.php/RLD/article/view/302594). 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) (https://books.google.com/?id=oUydX_3rG0A
C&pg=PA337&dq=IEC+AVL+catalan#v=onepage&q=IEC%20AVL%20catalan&f=false). New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 336–348. ISBN 978-0-
19-539245-6.
Lloret, Maria-Rosa (April 2003). "The Phonological Role of Paradigms: The Case of Insular Catalan". Written at Amsterdam & Philadelphia. In Auger,
Julie; Clements, J. Clancy; Vance, Barbara (eds.). Contemporary Approaches to Romance Linguistics: Selected Papers from the 33rd Linguistic
Symposium on Romance Languages. Language. 83. Bloomington, Indiana: John Benjamins. p. 278. doi:10.1353/lan.2007.0098 (https://doi.org/10.135
3%2Flan.2007.0098).
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 (https://books.google.com/?id=HpKVwFYoxGgC&print
sec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false) (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 (https://books.google.com/?id=RXqT88QcKjUC&pg=PA38&dq=greuges+guitard+isarn#
v=onepage&q=greuges%20guitard%20isarn&f=false) (in Catalan). Barcelona: Publicacions de l'Abadia de Monsterrat. pp. 55–93. ISBN 84-7826-568-
6.
Moran, Josep (2004). Estudis d'història de la llengua catalana (https://books.google.com/?id=RXqT88QcKjUC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=f
alse) (in Catalan). Barcelona: Publicacions de l'Abadia de Montserrat. pp. 37–38. ISBN 84-8415-672-9.
Padgett, Jaye (2003). Systemic Contrast and Catalan Rhotics. University of California, Santa Cruzp=2.
Recasens, Daniel (1993). "Fonètica i Fonologia". Enciclopèdia Catalana.
Recasens, Daniel; Fontdevila, Jordi; Pallarès, 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 (https://doi.org/10.1016%2FS0095-4470%2895%2980031-X).
Recasens, Daniel (1996). Fonètica descriptiva del català: assaig de caracterització de la pronúncia del vocalisme i el consonantisme català al segle
XX (2nd ed.). Barcelona: Institut d'Estudis Catalans. pp. 75–76, 128–129. ISBN 9788472833128.
Recasens, Daniel; Pallarès, Maria Dolors (2001). De la fonètica a la fonologia: les consonants i assimilacions consonàntiques del català. 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 (https://doi.org/10.1017%2FS0025100305
001878).
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 (https://doi.org/10.1017%2FS0025100306002829).
Riquer, Martí de (1964). "Vol.1". Història de la Literatura Catalana (in Catalan). Barcelona: Ariel.
Russell-Gebbett, Paul, ed. (1965). Mediaeval Catalan Linguistic Texts (https://books.google.com/?id=y_4GMwEACAAJ). Dolphin Book Co. Ltd.,
Oxford.
Schlösser, 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 (https://books.google.com/?id=6UIuWj9fQfQ
C&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false). Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521779395.
Thomas, Earl W. (1962). "The Resurgence of Catalan". Hispania. 45 (1): 43–48. doi:10.2307/337523 (https://doi.org/10.2307%2F337523).
JSTOR 337523 (https://www.jstor.org/stable/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 (https://books.google.com/?id=lULWOT1o0SsC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=f
alse). 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 (https://books.google.com/?id=F2SRqDzB50wC&printsec=frontcov
er#v=onepage&q&f=false). 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 (https://books.google.com/?id=OMaXD1caT
iEC&pg=PA17&dq=greuges+guitard+isarn#v=onepage&q=greuges%20guitard%20isarn&f=false). Barcelona: Publicacions de l'Abadia de Montserrat.
pp. 9–18. ISBN 84-7826-894-4.
Veny, Joan (2007). Petit Atles lingüístic del domini català. 1 & 2. Barcelona: Institut d'Estudis Catalans. p. 51. ISBN 978-84-7283-942-7.
External links
Catalan language (https://curlie.org/Science/Social_Sciences/Linguistics/Languages/Natural/Indo-European/Italic/Romance/Catalan) at Curlie
Institutions
Consorci per a la Normalització Lingüística (http://www.cpnl.cat/)

Institut d'Estudis Catalans (http://www.iec.cat/)
Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua (https://web.archive.org/web/20070209204015/http://www.avl.gva.es/)
Secretaria de Política Lingüística de la Generalitat de Catalunya (http://www.gencat.net/presidencia/llengcat/)
About the Catalan language
Gramàtica de la Llengua Catalana (https://web.archive.org/web/20110529085634/http://www2.iec.cat/institucio/seccions/Filologica/gramatica/default.a

sp) (Catalan grammar)
verbs.cat (http://www.verbs.cat/) (Catalan verb conjugations with online trainers)
Catalan and its dialects (https://web.archive.org/web/20121222153529/http://www.gereon.greenheart.es/catala.php?lan=en)
Monolingual dictionaries
Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana (https://web.archive.org/web/20080227174641/http://dlc.iec.cat/), from the Institut d'Estudis Catalans

Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana (http://ec.grec.net/cgi-bin/AppDLC3.exe?APP=CERCADLC&GECART=), from Enciclopèdia Catalana
Diccionari Català-Valencià-Balear d'Alcover i Moll (https://web.archive.org/web/20040826061207/http://dcvb.iecat.net/)
Diccionari Valencià online (https://web.archive.org/web/20081109082452/http://www.trobat.com/servicis/dvo.php)
Diccionari Invers de la Llengua Catalana (http://www.dilc.org/) (dictionary of Catalan words spelled backwards)
Bilingual and multilingual dictionaries
Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana Multilingüe (http://www.grec.cat/cgibin/mlt00.pgm) from Enciclopèdia Catalana (Catalan ↔ English, French, German
and Spanish)
DACCO (http://www.catalandictionary.org/) open source, collaborative dictionary (Catalan–English)
Webster's Online Dictionary (https://web.archive.org/web/20040404095431/http://www.websters-online-dictionary.org/definition/Catalan-english/), The
Rosetta Edition (Catalan–English)
Optimot: Catalan language consults, dictionary and thesaurus of Generalitat of Catalonia (https://web.archive.org/web/20110923150637/http://www14.
gencat.cat/llc/AppJava/index.jsp)
Automated translation systems
Traductor (https://web.archive.org/web/20070701132905/http://traductor.gencat.net/text.do) automated, online translations of text and web pages

(Catalan ↔ English, French and Spanish)
SisHiTra (https://web.archive.org/web/20080503195427/http://sishitra.iti.upv.es/) automated, online translations of text and web pages (Catalan–
Spanish)
apertium.org (http://apertium.org) Apertium (free software) translates text, documents or web pages, online or offline, between Catalan and Aranese,
English, Esperanto, French, Occitan, Portuguese and Spanish
translate.google.com (https://translate.google.com/translate_t?hl=&ie=UTF-8&text=frontera&sl=ca&tl=en#ca%7Cen) online translations Catalan <>
English and other languages
Phrasebooks
Catalan phrasebook on Wikivoyage

Basic Catalan phrases (with audio) (http://www.surfacelanguages.com/language/Catalan)
Catalan language with audio (http://www.easycatalan.com)
Learning resources
Catalan Swadesh list of basic vocabulary words (https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix:Catalan_Swadesh_list), from Wiktionary's Swadesh-list
appendix (https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix:Swadesh_lists)
Interc@t (https://archive.is/20060721163713/http://www.intercat.gencat.net/eng/index.html), set of electronic resources for learning the Catalan
language and culture
Learn Catalan! (https://web.archive.org/web/20091027154219/http://geocities.com/learn_catalan/), an introduction for the Catalonia-bound traveler
On-line Catalan resources (http://catalunya-lliure.com/recursos.html)
Catalan-language online encyclopedia
Enciclopèdia Catalana (http://www.enciclopedia.cat/)
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Catalan Language (Wikipedia)

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Catalan Language (Wikipedia)

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Catalan language

Contents Language family Indo-European

Bibliography ISO 639-2 cat (https://www.loc.g

External links ov/standards/iso639-2/

Etymology and pronunciation ISO 639-3 cat

Start of the modern era

Spain: 18th to 20th centuries

Classification and relationship with other Romance languages

According to Pèire Bèc, its specific classification is as follows:

Western Romance languages

Gallo-Romance languages (alternatively classified as Iberian Romance language)

Occitano-Romance languages (alternatively classified as East Iberian language)

Relationship with other Romance languages

"Speak French, be clean", school

Chart of Romance languages based

Catalan and Spanish cognates with different meanings[39]

Catalunya Roughly corresponding to the département of Alghero

Spain A part of the Autonomous Community of Aragon,

Illes Comprising the islands of Mallorca, Menorca,

A small area of the Autonomous Community of

A city in the Province of Sassari, on the island of

Territory State Understand 1[51] Can speak 2[51]

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

Examples of vowel reduction processes in Central Catalan[64]

The consonant system of Catalan is rather conservative.

Preferential subjects of study

Main dialectal divisions of Catalan[57][89]

Area Andorra, Provinces of Lleida, Autonomous Provinces of Barcelona, City of

General differences in the pronunciation of unstressed vowels in different

Detailed examples of vowel reduction processes in different dialects[64]

1st-person singular present indicative forms

Selection of different words between Western and Eastern Catalan

Latin and Greek loanwords

Common types of word compounds in Catalan[102]

Pronunciation of Catalan special characters and digraphs (Central Catalan)[105]

Letters and digraphs with contextually conditioned pronunciations (Central Catalan)[105]

g final g + stressed i, and final ig before other

Use of definite and indefinite articles.[106]

Gender and number inflection

Affrication: boig/boja ("insane") vs. lleig/lletja ("ugly")

Definite article in Standard Catalan Contractions of the definite article

Original Word-for-word translation[116] Free translation

Loanwords in Catalan and English

Institut d'Estudis Catalans (Catalan Studies Institute)

Consorci per a la Normalització Lingüística (http://www.cpnl.cat/)

Gramàtica de la Llengua Catalana (https://web.archive.org/web/20110529085634/http://www2.iec.cat/institucio/seccions/Filologica/gramatica/default.a

Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana (https://web.archive.org/web/20080227174641/http://dlc.iec.cat/), from the Institut d'Estudis Catalans

Traductor (https://web.archive.org/web/20070701132905/http://traductor.gencat.net/text.do) automated, online translations of text and web pages

Catalan phrasebook on Wikivoyage

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Catalan_language&oldid=927497948"

This page was last edited on 22 November 2019, at 21:20 (UTC).

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