Balearic Catalan

Different dialects of the Catalan language. The Balearic varieties are shown in lean tones.

The name balearic or balearic catalan (in catalan, català balearic) is the family of dialects of catalan that They are spoken in the Balearic Islands. The subdialects that form it are Majorcan (mallorquí) in Majorca, Menorcan (menorquí) on the island of Menorca, and Ibizan (eivissenc) in the Pitiusas (Illes Pitiüses) formed by Ibiza (Eivissa) and Formentera.

Background

The Catalan language was taken by inhabitants from Roussillon and Ampurdán ^{[citation required]} at the time of the conquest of Mallorca, for which characteristics are preserved dialects related to variants of these areas. However, the fact that the Balearic archipelago, due to its strategic position in the Mediterranean, became a commercial center and a bridge for the expansion of the Crown of Aragon, collaborated with lexical borrowings taken from other languages, such as French, Italian, Provençal and Greek. On the other hand, the 18th century British rule over Menorca introduced some words of English origin such as: xoc (chalk: “chalk”), escrú (screw: “screw”), etc.

In some ancient works, the Balearic Islands were considered an independent language and not a variant of Catalan.

Varieties

There are dialects within Balearic Catalan, listed in the following table:

• 

  IbicencoWestern IbiceneEasternUrban

• 

  MallorquinMajorityMallorquín PollencinoSollerico mall

• 

  MenorcanWestern juvenileEastern Menorcan

Features

The Balearic modality has the general characteristics of this dialectal block and these are different depending on the corresponding subdialect. However, the most common are:

• Phonetics:
  • In the combinations of verb+pronoun atone, the prosodic accent falls on this last element, except in ibicenic. For example, purchase-ne I would have.-"as a tonic syllable.
  • The words compass, in parts of the island of Mallorca, finished in - Yeah. They lose the "a". For example, Glory pronounced glòri.
  • Traditional Yodization. Absence of yoism except in the most chaplained speakers.
  • Distinction of v and b, pronouncing [v] the first and [b] the second.
  • The systematic elision of -r finale de palabra (in Catalonia it is only partial).
  • Loss of the ll between vowels. For example, collir to be pronounced as coiror ulleres Like ueres.

• Morphosintaxis:
  • General use of the salty article, except the people of Pollensa. Its general form is That's it./sa, That's it./ses and s' in front of vowel or hache, but according to the subdialect it can also adopt the forms so. (masc. sing.) or ets (masc. plural). Areas of use of salt and normal article (the/the, the/them, l'm ) also depend on the subdialect. Although in general, the normal article is used in front of words that are considered unique, such as Heaven (paraiso in religion), Demon, Sea... and in front of hours. For example, It's cel refers to the signing and The Cel refers to the paradise where the deceased go if they deserve it.
  • Use of personal article in/na, ♪ in front of personal names.
  • Zero Morphema in the first person of the singular of the indicative present. For example, what in central Catalan would be I sing (I sing) is said "jo cant".
  • In the verbs of the first conjugation (finished in -Aar.), the forms of the plural of first and second person are made with -Am, - Wow.. For example, cantam (laughs) cantau (sings)
  • In the verbs of the first conjugation (finished in -Aar.), the imperfect preterito of subjunctive is made with -a-I mean, cantàs, cantasis... Although nowadays Catalan forms have also spread e and in many places both are used normally.
  • In the combination of two or more atone pronouns preceded by a verbal form, if one is a direct complement (CD) and has the form the, the, etc. and another is of indirect supplement (CI), and has the form me., you, etc., aparece primero el pronombre de CD. Examples: I don't know. (giggles) He cries (he eats it).
• Léxico:
  • Much of its own lexicon, especially arcaisms preserved by the isolation of the islands and the different linguistic influences that have bathed them. The lexicon varies quite depending on the subdialect. Examples: al·lot for No (girl) moix for gat (gato), kissed for petó (beeth) ♪ for go (dog) or rat-pinyada for rat-penat (murder).

Sociolinguistic situation

Catalan is the language of the Balearic Islands (defined as such in its Statute of Autonomy) and co-official, along with Castilian, as it is throughout the State. The Balearic case is similar to that of Catalonia, since here the main factor in the expansion of Spanish has been immigration, to a much greater extent than linguistic substitution. The sociolinguistic situation of Catalan in the Balearic Islands is different depending on the island and the area, in Menorca and in most of Mallorca, in the Foreign Part, it is where Catalan is spoken the most, and in Palma and Ibiza it is where it is least is spoken. In addition, in tourist areas, English and German are spoken. Although with less impact, Italian is also a frequent language, especially in Formentera, which has a high rate of tourism of that nationality.

According to the 2001 census data of the Balearic Islands Institute of Statistics and the 2002 sociolinguistic data of the IEC, with respect to Catalan the population would be distributed as follows: 74.6 know how to speak it %, 93.1% understand it, 79.6% know how to read it, 46.9% know how to write it. For its part, according to a survey carried out in 2003 by the Secretariat for Language Policy, of the 1,113,114 inhabitants of the Balearic Islands, 749,100 (93.1%) understand it, while 600,500 (74.6%) know how to speak it., and it is the usual language for 404,800 people (45.7%).