Catalan language

Catalan (autoglottonym: català) is a polycentric Romance language spoken by some ten million people, including non-native speakers, in Catalonia, the Balearic Islands, Andorra, the Aragon Strip, Roussillon and the Sardinian city of Alghero, as well as in the Valencian Community and the Murcian region of El Carche, where it is called Valencian. It is also spoken in small communities around the world.

It has about ten million speakers, of which slightly less than half are native; its linguistic domain occupies an area of 68,730 km² and 13,529,127 inhabitants (2009), includes 1,687 municipal terms. Like the other Romance languages, Catalan derives from the Vulgar Latin spoken by the Romans who settled in Hispania during the Ancient Age.

Català is the autoglotonym and the official name in the autonomous communities of Catalonia and the Balearic Islands, in Andorra, in the Italian city of Alghero, in the Eastern Strip of Aragon, and is the traditional appellation in the Roussillon region of France. Valencià is the autoglotonym and the official name in the Valencian Community and the traditional one in the Murcian region of El Carche.

The degree of use and official status of Catalan varies greatly depending on the territory, ranging from no official status in France to being the only official language in Andorra, through co-official status in three Spanish autonomous communities and partial co-official status in the city of Alghero, in Italy. According to a study by the Statistical Institute of Catalonia in 2008, the Catalan language is the second most commonly used in Catalonia, after the Spanish language, which exceeds Catalan not only as a habitual language, but also as a mother tongue and identification language, although Catalan is the most used in five of the seven functional areas of Catalonia and 80% of the population knows how to speak it.

Each aspect and social context of the use of the language in Catalonia is studied by the Generalitat of Catalonia in order to promote its use, where it is the main language in education, in public administrations and in the public media; In addition, it invests annually in the promotion of Catalan both in Catalonia and in other territories.

Name

Catalan receives different names depending on where it is spoken, due to the large number of dialectal variants that are included under the name of «Catalan language». Catalan is the most widespread gluttony and the official name of the language in Catalonia, the Balearic Islands and Andorra, while in the Valencian Community the official name is Valencian ( valencià), and in the Italian city of Alghero the official name is algheros. To avoid the connotations that the name Catalan has for some, different proposals have been sought, from compromise names such as Catalan-Valencian-Balearic or neologisms such as Bacavés , or even singling out the name of the Catalan of Catalonia with the neologism catalunyès. Another name that was used in the past is llemosí (Limousin).

Historical, social and cultural aspects

Geographic distribution

Catalan/valencian territories

Catalan/valencian language in Spain Catalan-speaking Territories where the Catalan is official Catalan-speaking Territories where Catalan is not officialHistorically non-Catalan Territories where Catalan is official

Flags of the territories where Catalan/valencian is spoken.

The Catalan (or Valencian) language is spoken in four different countries:

• Andorra, where is the language itself and the only official language. It is the usual language of 43.8% of the population. For more information, see the article Languages of Andorra
• Spain
  • Catalonia, where is its own and co-official language along with Castilian and West (Aranian variety). There are various dialectal variants within the territory. It is the mother tongue of 31 % of the population.
  • The Balearic Islands, where it is its own and co-official language along with Spanish; different dialectal variants are spoken. It is the usual language of 46% of the population.
  • In most of the Valencian Community, where it has the consideration of its own language under the historical, linguistic and statutory name of Valencian and is official with the Spanish. There are various dialectal variants, including a common one between the north of the Valencian Community and the south of Catalonia. For the whole of the Valencian Community is the usual language of about 40% of the population.
  • In the eastern part of Aragon (Eastern Strip), territory formed by the districts of La Litera and Matarraña, and about half of the municipalities of the Ribagorza, Bajo Cinca and Bajo Aragón - Caspe. About 29 000 people have as usual the Catalan Language in Aragon, and although it has no official recognition, it is collected in the autonomous legislation on the use, protection and defense of the languages of Aragon, but without the word 'catalán' appear in the text.
  • In the area of El Carche, in the Region of Murcia. Because of a repopulation of valencians in the modern age.
• France
  • The former tributary territories of the county of Rosellón and Cerdaña, which formed part of the Hispanic Monarchy until the Peace of the Pyrenees (1659). They currently correspond to the almost entire department of the Eastern Pyrenees. Here the Catalan is not official and has gone far back to the French. Its use is minority, it is the usual language of 5.7% of the population.
• Italy
  • The Italian city of Alguer on the island of Sardinia, where in its al-war variant, in 2004, was the first language of 22.4 % and the usual language of 13.9 % of the population. Both the Italian State and the city of Alguer defend by law the official use of Catalan.

A denomination that tries to encompass all this linguistic area, not exempt from discussions due to the ideological nature that it has acquired, is that of Catalan Countries, coined at the end of the 19th century and popularized by Joan Fuster in his work Nosaltres els valencians ("We Valencians", 1962). Especially in the Valencian Community the term "Catalan countries" and the Pan-Catalanism associated with it has been the source of numerous controversies.

Sociolinguistic situation of Catalan

The most outstanding sociolinguistic characteristic of Catalan is that in all the territories where it is spoken it is in a situation of social bilingualism: with French in Roussillon, with Italian (more than with Sardinian) in Alghero, and with Spanish in the rest of its linguistic sphere, including Andorra,^{[citation required]} where it is the only official language according to the Andorran Constitution but where Spanish is also spoken and the French.

Knowledge of Catalan (2003-2004)

Catalan knowledge by region in 2011. (Source: IDESCAT).61-70 %71-80 %+81 %

(% of the population aged 15 and over).

Social use

(% of the population aged 15 and over).

Mother tongue

Catalonia

Several languages are spoken in Catalonia, the main ones being Catalan and Castilian or Spanish. In accordance with the Statute of Autonomy, both languages, along with Occitan (in its Aranese variant), are official.^{[citation required]} In addition, Catalan is considered the language own of Catalonia, while Occitan is considered the own language of the Aran Valley. Generally, the citizens of Catalonia are bilingual and know the two main languages, although they differ with respect to the language they have as their mother tongue. According to data from 2018, 99.8% of the citizens of Catalonia know how to speak Spanish, while 81.2% know how to speak Catalan. In addition, the use of one language or another by each speaker often depends on the social environment in which it is expressed. According to data from the Statistics Institute of Catalonia, in 2018, 36% of the citizens of Catalonia mainly used Catalan as their habitual language, 49% mainly Spanish, 7% both and 0.03% Aranese. 6% of the resident population of Catalonia habitually uses other languages.^{[citation required]} Aranese is the mother tongue of 22.4% of the population of the Aran Valley, the own of 27.1 % and the usual of 23.4 %.

In Catalonia the two main blocks of the Catalan language are spoken. The main exponent of the oriental language is the central dialect, which is spoken in the northern regions of Tarragona, Barcelona, and Gerona, in whose Pyrenean region traces of northern Catalan can be glimpsed. The western is typical of the western regions of Catalonia (province of Lleida and southern Tarragona) and shows features similar to the Valencian, with which it forms a continuum and at whose intersection is the Tortosino. Catalan is especially prevalent outside the Barcelona metropolitan area and Campo de Tarragona. The Generalitat has been developing legislation that promotes and protects the social use of Catalan. In 2018, Catalan was considered the mother tongue of 34.3% of the citizens of Catalonia (31.5% exclusively Catalan and 2.8% bilingual in Spanish), their own for 43.2 (36.3% exclusively Catalan and 6.9% bilingual in Spanish) and habitual use of 43.5 (36.1% exclusively Catalan and 7.4% bilingual in Spanish). The percentages of bilingual speakers include those who consider Spanish and Catalan together as their mother tongue, their own or habitually used.

The Spanish spoken in Catalonia has disparate features, without showing a specific dialect. Some Spanish speakers who are native to other regions of Spain show phonetic and dialectal features typical of their land of origin, while others neutralized these features, either at will, by contact with Catalan speakers, by the influence of the media, etc. etc. Catalan speakers who speak Spanish show some influences from their mother tongue and their features are sometimes stereotyped as those of all citizens of Catalonia when speaking Spanish. Spanish is not considered the language of Catalonia due to its origin, since it comes from the center of the peninsula. However, its use has been increasing since the XVI century in certain sectors of the population, mainly in urban environments, linked to the world editorial and the reading market. Despite everything, the situation was in practice monolingualism until the end of the XIX century, when the mass schooling of the population began (in Spanish), according to a study by the Centre for Research in Sociolinguistics and Communication of the University of Barcelona. Spanish-speaking immigrants who arrived in Catalonia generally adopted Catalan, for being the language of the street, until at least the 1930s. This situation changed radically with the great migratory wave that took place between 1950 and 1975, when in a short time native Catalans were increased by a million and a half immigrants without education, coming from all over Spain and especially from the poorest areas.

In 2018, Spanish was the mother tongue of 55.5% of the citizens of Catalonia (52.7% exclusively Spanish and 2.8% bilingual in Catalan), the language of 53.5 (46.6 % exclusively Spanish and 6.9% bilingual in Catalan), and the usual 56% (48.6% exclusively Spanish and 7.4% bilingual in Catalan). The percentages of bilingual speakers include those who jointly consider the Spanish and Catalan as mother tongue, own or habitually used.

The immigrant or foreign community living in Catalonia often maintains their mother tongue to communicate with their relatives or speakers of the same language who also reside in the territory. Apart from the Spanish spoken by immigrants from the rest of Spain and Latin America, Arabic and Romanian stand out above all, although their number extends considerably in cities such as Barcelona, with inhabitants of up to 131 nationalities, shows a wide linguistic repertoire, of which in addition to those mentioned, Berber, French, Portuguese, German, Russian, and English stand out. The statistical survey of linguistic uses of the Generalidad carried out in 2003 also revealed the significant presence of Galician speakers.^{[citation required]}

In Catalonia the most important factor of social bilingualism is immigration from the rest of Spain in the 20th century. It has been calculated that, without migration, the population of Catalonia would have gone from around 2 million people in 1900 to 2.4 in 1980, instead of the more than 6.1 million recorded on that date (and exceeding 7, 4 million in 2009); that is, the population without migration would have been only 39% in 1980.

Currently, according to the Statistics Institute of the Generalitat, the Catalan language is the second most commonly used in Catalonia, after the Castilian language, which surpasses Catalan not only as a habitual language, but also as a mother tongue and language of identification, ^{[citation required]} although Catalan is the most used in 5 of the 7 functional areas of Catalonia.^{[citation required]} According to data from the Statistics Institute of Catalonia (Idescat) for 2018, Catalan is the habitual language of 43% of the population of Catalonia (36% as habitual language and 7% bilingual with Spanish).. In absolute terms, 2,779,300 people have Catalan as their usual language (2,305,100 as their usual language and 474,200 bilingual with Spanish), compared to 3,566,700 (57.90%) who speak Spanish. Compared to the previous Idescat survey, there was an increase in absolute figures for habitual use of Catalan (2,933,300 compared to 2,850,000 in 2003) but a decline in relative values (47.6% compared to 50.7%). There is also a growth, both in absolute and relative values, of the inhabitants of Catalonia who habitually use both Spanish and Catalan (in absolute values there is almost a tripling, from 265,400 to 736,700; in relative values, the growth is from 4.7% to 12%), which translates into a decrease in the number of people who habitually only use Catalan.

Fewer of the inhabitants of Catalonia speak Catalan as their mother tongue than those who use it on a regular basis. According to Idescat, in 2008, 2,186,000 people (34.60%) had Catalan as their mother tongue (compared to 3,625,500, 58%, who speak Spanish). These figures include 236,500 who also have Spanish as their mother tongue. Similar phenomena to those described with the habitual language are shown in relation to the 2003 data: stabilization of speakers who have Catalan as their mother tongue (2,177,800 in 2003 compared to the aforementioned 2,186,000 in 2008), with decline in terms of relative (38.70 vs. 34.6%); increase in speakers whose mother tongues are Spanish and Catalan (from 141,600 to 236,500 speakers; increase from 2.5 to 3% in relative terms), with the consequent decrease in the number of people who consider Catalan exclusively Catalan as mother tongue.

In a similar sense, the citizens of Catalonia who consider Catalan as their language of identification are fewer (but not so markedly) than those who use it habitually. According to data from Idescat, in 2008, 2,770,500 people (49.3%) had Catalan as their language of identification (compared to 3,410,300, 55.30% who did so with Spanish). These figures include 542,800 people who also identify with Spanish. The same phenomena are shown as those relating to habitual and mother tongue with respect to the 2003 data: slight increase in the number of speakers who identify with Catalan (2,770,500 in 2003 compared to the aforementioned 2,770,500 in 2008), with decline in relative terms (49.3 vs. 46%); increase in speakers who identify with Catalan and Spanish (from 278,600 to 542,800 speakers; increase from 5 to 8.8% in relative terms), with a symmetric decrease in the number of people who identify exclusively with Catalan.

Regarding written knowledge, according to official data from 2007, 56.3% of the Catalan population knew how to write in Catalan.

It can be observed that Catalan remained the habitual language in absolute terms between 1980 and 2008, although slowly, instead of going backwards as in the Valencian Community or Roussillon. The decline in relative terms that has occurred in the period 2003-2008 is due to the significant arrival of immigrants in Catalonia, more than half a million in that period, 36% of whom speak Spanish as their mother tongue. Other studies, such as The second generation in Barcelona: a longitudinal study (March 2009), applied to the metropolitan area of Barcelona, indicate that approximately 80% of immigrants from the study area considered prefer to use the Spanish, a higher percentage than those who speak it because of their origin. The authors believe that this is the case because immigrants have settled in neighborhoods where Spanish is more common.

Functional areas of Catalonia.Metropolitan Area of Barcelona Campo de Tarragona Central Catalonia Poniente Rural High Pyrenees and Aran Ebro Earths

Regarding territorial distribution (data from 2008), the use of Catalan (exclusive, not counting those who also regularly speak Spanish) is predominant in the functional areas of the Girona Regions (50.9%), Lands del Ebro (72.8%), Poniente (64.4%), Central Catalonia (56.7%) and Alto Pyrenees and Aran (60.1%), where Catalan as the habitual (exclusive) language is used by more 50% of the population. The minor degrees of use occur in Campo de Tarragona (33.1%) and the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona (27.8%). Compared to the data from 2003, a percentage decline is observed in habitual speakers exclusive to Catalan in all areas, ranging from 8.8% in Poniente to 16.5% in Campo de Tarragona.

The Generalitat of Catalonia has carried out work to promote and strengthen the use of Catalan as the priority language in Catalonia. Both the autonomy statute of 1979 and that of 2006 define Catalan as the proper language of Catalonia. The 2006 statute further states that:

The Catalan [...] is the language of normal and preferential use of the public administrations and the public media of Catalonia, and is also the language normally used as a vehicle and learning in teaching.

Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia, Article 6.a.

Valencian Community

The Valencian-speaking part of the Valencian Community has a complex and plural sociolinguistic reality, due on the one hand to immigration from Spanish-speaking areas of Spain, and on the other hand to linguistic substitution, mainly in the cities of Valencia and Alicante. Currently, Spanish predominates in urban areas and Valencian in rural areas; the province of Castellón and the south of the province of Valencia are the areas where Valencian is spoken the most, and the province of Alicante and the metropolitan area of Valencia are the areas where it is least spoken.

In the Valencian Community there are two languages widely used and known among the autochthonous population: Valencian and Spanish, declared as official languages according to the Statute of Autonomy. Valencian is considered its own language, although Spanish is the language used by most of the population and the media, but both have a broad literary and cultural tradition. Likewise, in the Valencian Community there are two official linguistic predominances territorially for Spanish and Valencian, defined by the Law on the use and teaching of Valencian, based on the linguistic distribution of the century XIX.

The Castilian predominance is basically concentrated in a central and western interior strip, and an exclave (Aspe and Monforte del Cid) in the extreme south, comprising 25% of the territory and in which 13% of the population resides. population. In this territory some dialectal variants are used: churra and Murcian, although the latter is not agreed upon by all linguists due to the dialectal differences of Vega Baja del Segura and Villena with the eastern part of Murcia. The Valencian has a limited degree of knowledge in this area.

The predominance of Valencian is concentrated on the coast and adjoining regions, it covers 75% of the territory and 87% of the population resides there. In this area, 36.4% of the population claims to use it preferentially at home, according to a 2005 survey, compared to 54.5% who prefer Spanish. By area, the use of Valencian at home is predominant in areas of medium or low urban concentration in the area, while Spanish is predominant in large urban concentrations. The Spanish spoken in this area is broadly a standard with some phonetic and lexical features of its own or influenced by Valencian.

In the part of the Valencian Community where it is its own language, there is a process of linguistic substitution of Valencian (or Catalan) for Spanish. This has been almost completely completed in the city of Alicante and is well advanced in that of Valencia, although it is not yet important in rural areas. Until recently, many speakers were in a situation close to diglossia, which means that they used Catalan only in informal situations, while in institutionalized situations Spanish was used exclusively. But since it was taught in schools, its written knowledge has increased a lot, although in recent decades its social use has receded a lot. In addition, there has been significant immigration from other parts of Spain, which has contributed to the statistical predominance of Castilian in the community.

Balearic Islands

Catalan is the language of the Balearic Islands (so defined 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 de Mallorca and Ibiza it is where less 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 Statistics Institute 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%).

Eastern Strip of Aragon

Catalan is the traditional language of this territory called the Eastern Strip of Aragon. It is spoken by a significant sector of the population, being the territory where oral knowledge of Catalan is the most universal. 80.2% of adults know how to speak it, representing 33,743 Catalan speakers in the Strip (data from the latest survey, from 2014). In 2004 there were 42,000 people, 88.8% of the adult population. The reduction is mainly due to demographic causes, rather than sociolinguistic causes. In all of Aragon there are 55,513 Catalan speakers, according to census data. Despite all this, it is not an official language in the Strip or in Aragon, and it has almost no presence in public institutions, very limited in teaching, where it is only possible to study it as an elective, in the administration and in public events in general.

Andorra

The Andorran case is similar to that of Catalonia, since here the main factor in the expansion of Spanish and French has been immigration to a much greater extent than linguistic substitution. In addition, Catalan is the official language of Andorra, being therefore the only state in the world where this language is the only official one.

The fact that an independent state has it as its official language allows Catalan to have a certain presence in the international arena. Andorra's entry into the UN on July 28, 1993, allowed for the first time in history the use of Catalan in an assembly of this organization. Andorra also brought the Catalan language for the first time to the Eurovision Song Contest in 2004 with Marta Roure and the song "Jugarem a estimar-nos".

Maternal language chart of Andorra.

The linguistic reality of Andorra is the result of the great demographic transformation that the country has experienced since the second half of the 20th century: in 1940 foreigners residing in the country represented only 17%; in 1989 they represented 75.7% —historical maximum— and in 2007 they are around 65%. French is also often heard, due to the border situation of the Principality. Recently there has been a significant increase in the Portuguese-speaking population.

According to the Andorran government's Language Policy Service, Catalan is the mother tongue of 49.4% of the population of Andorran nationality, but only 29.9% of the total population uses it. On the contrary, Spanish is the most widespread mother tongue among the population of the Principality. Despite the growth of the population of Andorran and Portuguese nationalities, 43.4% declared that Spanish is their mother tongue. The study shows that in recent years there has been a deterioration in the position of the Catalan language in favor of from Castilian.

Regarding literacy, 100% of citizens know how to read and write. Spanish is the language that occupies first place with respect to the proportion of the population that learned to read and write, followed by French, and Catalan in third place.

According to the Social Observatory of Andorra of the Institute of Andorran Studies, the linguistic uses in Andorra are the following:

Language	Maternal language	Regular language
Catalan	38.8 %	58.3 %
Spanish	35.4 %	37.3 %
Portuguese	15%	3.5 %
French	5.4 %	2.2%
Other	5.5 %	0.5 %

Roussillon

Traditional districts of the department of Eastern Pyrenees. Toponymy in Catalan.

Decree on the Official Prohibition of the Catalan Language at the Rosellion.

In Roussillon, as in most of France, the process of linguistic substitution of the local language by French is well advanced, with the classic pattern whereby the language changes first in the cities and only later in the field. Currently, close to half of the population understands Catalan and between 20% and 30% are able to speak it, but their written knowledge and its social use is less than 10%.

The French royal decree of Louis XIV of April 2, 1700, with an application date of May 1 of the same year, drastically prohibited the use of the Catalan language in official, notarial and other documents, under penalty of invalidate the content. Since then, French has remained the only official language, and the only one used in public education.

The latest sociolinguistic data available to the Generalitat of Catalonia [19] (2004) show that French is the majority language in Roussillon, with a minority presence of Catalan. Usually, despite the widespread atmosphere of Catalanness, 92% of the population speaks French, 3.5% Catalan, 1% speak both languages and 3.5% speak other languages.

Regarding linguistic uses in various fields, it should be noted that 80.5% of those born in Roussillon speak only French in the family environment as opposed to 17.3% in which Catalan is present. In addition, the scope of the use of Catalan is increasingly reduced in the new generations and in immigrants. Only 6.3% of Roussillon students speak Catalan among themselves and 0.5% do so when they go to the doctor. However, linguistic awareness has not diminished and 62.9% of the inhabitants of Roussillon believe that children should learn Catalan.

Likewise, according to official statistics, 65.3% of the population understands Catalan, 31.7% can read it and 10.6% can write it. These results must be evaluated in parallel with the wishes in relation to the Catalan language. Thus, 57.9% of the population would like to speak Catalan and 62.9% would like their children to learn Catalan.

Alghero (Sardinia)

The city of Alghero (Sardinia, Italy) has a population of 43,831 (2009). The population of the city was replaced by Catalan settlers from the Panadés and Campo de Tarragona regions after a popular uprising against King Pedro the Ceremonious. At the end of 1354, the population was greatly reduced by famine, after half a year of siege, and the resistant Algheros were expelled or enslaved.

That is why, until relatively recently, the majority language in the city was Catalan, in its Alghero variety. Since the end of World War II, however, the immigration of Sardinian-speaking people and Italian-speaking schools, television, and newspapers have meant that fewer families have passed it on to their children. In 2004 the linguistic uses of the population of Alghero were the following:

Monument to the unity of the Catalan language in Alguer.

Alguer wall.

Until relatively recently, most of the area's inhabitants spoke Alghero, a dialectal variety of Catalan with influences from Sardinian and Italian. Catalan was replaced by Spanish as the official language during the 17th century, and, in the 18th century, by Italian.

In 1990, 60% of the local population still understood spoken Alghero although, for some time now, few families have transmitted it to their children. Even so, most people from Alghero over the age of 30 know how to speak it and different entities promote the language and culture, such as Òmnium Cultural, the Center María Montessori and the Obra Cultural de l'Alguer.

The latest sociolinguistic data from the Generalitat of Catalonia (2004) show that for 80.7% of the population of Alghero the vernacular language is Italian, the first language of 59.8% of the population and the habitual language of 83.1%. Catalan is the first language for 22.4% of the population, but less than 15% use it as their habitual language or consider it their own. The third language, Sardinian, shows a lower use.

The Italian State, by virtue of the Regulation on the protection of historical linguistic minorities, provides for the use of languages such as Catalan in public administration, in the educational system as well as the start-up of radio and television broadcasts by of the RAI provided that the status of language subject to guardianship is requested from the provincial council by municipalities in which fifteen percent of the population requests it. Previously, the Regional Council of Sardinia had recognized the equality in dignity of the Sardinian language with Italian throughout the island, as well as with other languages of a smaller scope, among which Catalan is cited, in the city of Alghero. The city, for its part, promulgates its protection and normalization in its statutes.

Geographical extension of the Catalan language

Due to their Catalan origin, the people of Alghero call their city Barceloneta, and there are cultural ties, fostered by the Generalitat of Catalonia as part of its investment program in spreading the Catalan language and culture around the world, between Catalonia and Alghero. Among its living traditions, the Cant de Sibil·la stands out, which is sung on Christmas Eve (as it happens in Mallorca).

In recent years there has been a revival of music sung in the local language. Among the most renowned protagonists of this new wave are artists such as the singer Franca Masu.

Varieties of dialects

Like the other Romance languages of the Peninsula, Catalan is notable for its uniformity and the dialectal variants are not too divergent and do not compromise mutual understanding. The dialect division currently used is the one that Manuel Milá y Fontanals proposed in 1861:

• the Eastern dialectal bloc (including the central, island and French dialects) and
• the Western dialectal block (which includes the Valencian and the Northwest).

The difference between these large groups is small, and the discrepancies affect phonetics (unstressed vowels), which are therefore not reflected in the writing, and small morphological and lexical variants.

The dialectal blocks cannot be delimited exactly because between one and the other there is always a transition strip, more or less wide (except in the insular ones, obviously). Furthermore, no block is entirely uniform: any block that exists can be divided into several dialects. Based on this, the Catalan language can be divided into two dialectal blocks and subdialects.

Catalan standards

Catalan-speaking areas with different dialect groups.

There are two main standards for the Catalan language:

• regulated by the Institut d'Estudis Catalans (IEC), the general standard, which is based on the spelling established by Pompeu Fabra but with the characteristics of the central Catalan more approximate to that of Barcelona, not influenced by Spanish; and
• the regulated by the Valencian Acadèmia of the Llengua (AVL), standard used in the Valencian Community and the Carche, which part of the lexicographic, literary tradition, and the genuine Valencian linguistic reality, as well as the consolidated standardization, from the so-called Castellón Rules.

The IEC standard, apart from being based on the characteristics of central Catalan, also takes characteristics from other dialects, considering them as standard.

Differences

The most noticeable difference between the two standards is the accentuation of many "e" tonic, for example: French, anglès, cafè, conèixer, comprèn (IEC) / French, English, brown, conéixer, compren (AVL) (English, French, coffee, know, understand). This is due to the different pronunciation of some "e" notes, especially the Ē (long "e") and the Ǐ (short "i") notes of Latin, in both blocks of Catalan (in the Eastern block they are pronounced [ɛ] and in Western they are pronounced [e]). Despite this, the AVL standard maintains the open accent "è", without pronouncing open in the western block, in some words such as: què, València , sèsam, plèiade, bèstia, sèrie and época (However, many words are already admitted with the acute accent, such as coffee, French, interest, stress, véncer, paréixer, església, sépia, cérvol, éter, merce, féiem, créiem, etc.).

Other divergences are the use of tl in some words by the AVL instead of tll as in ametla / ametlla (almond), espatla / espatlla (shoulder) or butla / butlla (bulla), the use of elided demonstrative determiners (este, eixe) as well as reinforced ones (aquest, aqueix) or the use of many common verb forms in Valencian, and many of them widespread in the western block, such as the forms of the subjunctive or the writing of inchoatives with both -ix- and - eix- or the preferential use of the morpheme -e of the first person singular of the present indicative in the first conjugation (-ar), since the other conjugations the morpheme is -ø: "jo comp", "jo te", "jo mor".

In the Balearic Islands, the IEC standard is used, adapted to the dialectal framework by the philological section of the University of the Balearic Islands, the advisory body of the Balearic Government. In this way, for example, the IEC indicates that it is correct to write "cantam" as "cantem" (we sing) and the University determines that the preferred form in the Islands must be "cantam" even in formal settings. Another characteristic of the Balearic standard is the writing of the first person singular of the present indicative, where there is no ending: "jo cant" (I sing), "jo tem" (I fear), "jo dorm" (I sleep).

In Alghero, the IEC has adapted the standard to the Alghero variety. In this standard one can find, among other characteristics, the article lo for general use, special possessives la mia, lo sou / la sua, lo tou / la tua, etc., use of the -v- in the imperfect tense in all conjugations: cantava (he sang), creixiva (grew), llegiva (read); use of many archaic words that are very common in Alghero: manco for menys (less), calqui u for algú (someone), qual / quala for quin / quina (which), etc. and adaptations of clitic pronouns.

Official Catalan certificates

It is necessary to differentiate between the certificates according to the territory in which they are obtained, since they are not exactly the same, although they are equivalent.

• In Catalonia, the Permanent Board of Catalan manages the certificates of the Directorate General for Linguistic Policy.

• In the Valencian Community, The Qualifying Board of Coneixements of Valencià is the entity that credits the knowledge of the Valencian. There are other certified entities, they are The Inter-University Commission for Standardization of Knowledge Accreditations of Valencian (CIEACOVA) and the Official Language School (EOI). These certificates are obtained from various levels: A1; A2; B1; B2; C1; C2; Administrative Language; Media Language and Text Correction.

• In the Balearic Islands, it is the General language policy directivethe one in charge of this type of certificate.

• The Ramon Llull Institute calls for evidence to obtain the Catalan certificate abroad. Allows to certify the following levels: A2, B1, B2, C1 and C2. Testing requires payment of fees, but there are countries that are exempt from payment of fees. The Ramon Llull Institute is a consortium composed of the Generality of Catalonia, the Government of the Balearic Islands and the City of Barcelona.

Historical development

In the centuryXII appears the first known literary text, the Homilies of Organyà.

As in all Romance languages, the change from Vulgar Latin to Catalan was gradual and it is not possible to determine when its history began. According to Coromines, the most radical changes must have occurred in the 7th and 8th centuries, but it is difficult to know precisely because the texts were written exclusively in an artificial Latin, alien to the language of use. Already in the 9th century and especially in the 10th and 11th centuries, words and even entire phrases appear interspersed in something that can already be called Catalan, and short documents such as the feudal oath of 1028 or the Greuges de Caboet from 1080-1090, entirely in Catalan. Forum Iudicum, a fragment of which is preserved in the library of the Abbey of Montserrat and which already presents more modern linguistic characteristics. Since 1150 there are already numerous written documents and towards the end of the XII century the first known text of a literary nature appears, the Organyà's homilies, a collection of sermons.

Medieval Catalan from this period presents many similarities with the Occitan language, with which it forms a dialect continuum that will differentiate over time until it forms clearly differentiated languages, already in the XIII. The first printed text in Catalan, the Obres e trobes en lahors de la Verge Maria, was published in 1474 in Valencia.

Catalan was formed in communities that populated both sides of the Pyrenees (Roussillon, Ampurias, Besalú, Cerdanya, Urgell, Pallars and Ribagorza counties) and spread south during the Reconquest in several phases: Barcelona and Tarragona, Lleida and Tortosa, the old Kingdom of Valencia, the Balearic Islands and Alghero.

Regarding Catalan as a foreign language, although it is not a very widespread language, it has a long tradition that goes back to the Middle Ages, due to the medieval expansion of the Aragonese Crown, and at the time it left its mark especially in the Italian Peninsula and in the Mediterranean nautical vocabulary. Currently, it is taught at several universities in Europe, the US and Latin America, as well as in numerous Catalan centers around the world.

Influence of Catalan on other languages

Throughout the Mediterranean, particularly in southern Italy and the islands of the Tyrrhenian Sea, there are languages and dialects that have been influenced by the Catalan language, among them are:

Similarly, the influence of Catalan was felt in the southwest of Andalusia due to Catalan emigration to those lands, with records still preserved in the living language of the century XXI.

Number of speakers

Territories where it has official status

In addition, the following table shows the population whose mother tongue is Catalan, in eastern and western dialects, with data from 2004:

Territories where it has no official status

Total

Educational field

With democracy, the Catalan language was recovered in education. However, the introduction of Catalan in the classroom was very uneven depending on the territory. Thus, while in Catalonia and the Balearic Islands a linguistic model has been adopted according to which Catalan is the main vehicular language, in the Valencian Community a model has been followed in which both Spanish and Valencian coexist as vehicular languages.

Media in Catalan

In the Catalan-speaking territories there are different means of communication in Catalan, which make up the so-called Catalan communication space. In the sphere of the press, it is worth mentioning the Catalan edition of La Vanguardia and El Periódico de Cataluña, the newspapers published only in Catalan El Punt Avui, Ara and L'Esportiu; the large regional press in Catalan (Segre, Regió7, Diari de Girona, El 9 Nou, etc.), the magazines in Catalan (El Temps, Sàpiens, etc.) and the numerous digital newspapers in Catalan (VilaWeb, Racó Català, Nació Digital, Ara.cat, 324.cat, Diari de Balears, etc.). As for radio, Catalunya Ràdio, IB3 Ràdio, À Punt FM and RAC1 stand out as general stations, Catalunya Informació as a 24-hour information station, and Catalunya Música, Ràdio Flaixbac, Flaix FM and RAC105 as music stations. Finally, with regard to television, we must mention TV3, IB3 Televisió, À Punt, Andorra Televisió, 8tv and Fibwi4 as general channels and 3/24, SX3/33, Esport3, Barça TV and Fibracat TV as channels thematic.

Writing system

The writing system also presents certain particular characteristics:

• The Catalan presents a unique feature, the writing of the -l- groaning: -l·l- (as in intel·ligent –intelligent–).
• The other feature is ny [.] (in Spanish it is equivalent to the "ñ") that is also found in afaan oromo, aragonés, ewe, gã, ganda, Hungarian, Indonesian, ladino, lingala, malayo, seSoto, swahili, valon, zhuang and Zulu.
• The graph - Got it. (pronounced [t accounting] if before there is a vowel and [it accounting] if before there is a consonant) represented in a few words (such as faig –I do/haya–, Maig –May–, mig - Medium- desig -I wish- puig -Hello. raig - Rayo- roig - Red. vaig - I'm going, veig - See-
• The "t+Consonant"for the representation of double consonants, like "tm", "tn", "tl", "tll"; or africation, like "tg" and "tj" (setmana, cotna, ametla, bitllet; jutge, platja).

Linguistic description

Catalan has some specific linguistic characteristics that differentiate it from the neighboring Romance languages and became their own with the local and peculiar evolution of Vulgar Latin to what is known as the Catalan language. The closest language to Catalan is Occitan, together with the one that forms the Occitano-Romance group. It has been discussed whether Catalan and Occitan should be considered a Gallo-Romance or Ibero-Romance language, without being able to establish a consensus. In a more conservative way, it can be affirmed that Catalan and Occitan are different elaborations of the same language, of a central Romanesque group, the Occitano-Romance, the question of whether this Occitan-Romance group is part of the Ibero-Romance or Gallo-Romance group or whether it is independent remains open.

Typology

Typologically, Catalan, like the other Western Romance languages, is an inflectional fusion language with SVO basic order and a preference for the initial syntactic head position (regens ante rectum or core-plugin).

The following characteristics are some of the mutations of Latin that have been made during the consolidation of Catalan, although other general characteristics are also shown.

Morphology

Catalan is an inflectional fusion language, with a morphology similar to that of other Western Romance languages. Nouns, adjectives, and many determiners have different forms depending on their number and grammatical gender. Personal pronouns also have different forms depending on the grammatical case, although the gender distinction is reduced to third person subject pronouns. The verb has a relatively complex inflection system, where each verb belongs to a type of conjugation (in Catalan, verbs are usually grouped into three conjugations characterized by the infinitive ending). All characteristics are shared by the western Romance languages.

Some peculiarities of Catalan are:

• A part of the Catalan (Baleares, Costa gerundense) has preserved the article called salat (. IPSE, IPSA, IPSU(M)), initially more extended in ancient Catalan than the form derived from ILLE, ILLU(M). This form of article has only been kept dominant in the Sardinian and is in danger, if not disappeared, in some areas of Provence and Sicily.
• The most common (and regulatory) articles are the, the, the, them (Now, in Western speaking, in the north of Castellón and in the war, masculine forms still persist I do., the).
• Contrary to the Iberian varieties, Catalan practiced certain elisions of final atonous vowels. Some are written, as the + home ▪ l'homeand others are oral: quinze anys [kin'za.s].
• The plural female is formed with - (house ▪ cases).
• There is the formation of the preterite by períphrasis with a few auxiliary verbal forms similar to those of the verb present an ("ir") originally derived from the Latin verb VADERE: jo vaig anar, You're gonna ring, The one's anar, nosaltres vam / vàrem anar, vosaltres vau / vàreu anar, ells van / varen anar (conjugation of the peripheral preterite of the verb go). This feature is shared by the West and some varieties of Aragonese.

Vocalism

Catalan Vocalic Alóphones.

West block mouths.

The vowel system is made up of eight different vowel sounds or vowel allophones:

• [i] "camI»
• [e] (e closed: “tegoes»
• [chuckles]‐] (e open: “mel»
• [a]: «casa»
• [chuckles] ] (or open: “horme»
• [o] (or closed: «lliçor»
• [u]:uHe refused»
• [chuckles]♫] (vol neutra):a» (intermediated sound between a and e), only used in Eastern Catalan.

There are minor differences in how these eight allophones are grouped into phonemes. Standard Eastern Catalan has seven vowel phonemes in opposition /i e ɛ a ɔ o u/, although in some varieties of Balearic Islands the eight previous allophones are in phonemic opposition. There are also differences in allophonic realization between the eastern and western dialects.

In stressed syllables, any of the sounds [ i e ɛ a ɔ o u ] can appear in Catalan.
In the unstressed syllable, however, a good number of neutralizations occur:

• In Eastern Catalan (central, Balearic, northern, war), the following are given:
  • /e oriented a/ (i.e., e and a) are neutralized in [ scrolls]
  • (i.e., or and u) are neutralized in [u]
• In Western Catalan (Northwest, Valencian), the atone system presents less reductions presenting a system with five atonous vowels [i e a o u]instead of the seven that can appear in tonic syllable. Note that these neutralizations have analogs in other western languages such as the West Bank.

Diphthongs and triphthongs

Unlike Spanish, they are usually descending. The pronunciations are according to the central dialect (Barcelona and surroundings). Examples:

• The following words include diptongos and therefore are monosyllables:

  mai 'never.' [maj] / No 'muchacho' [n]j] / rei "king" [chuckles]

  pau 'paz' [paw] / bou 'buey' [b]w] / neu 'nieve' [new]

  diu 'dice' [diw] / vuit 'Ocho' [bujt]

• The following words include hiatus and therefore are bisilables:

  Day 'day' ['di. ►

  cua 'cola' ['ku. ►

  diuen They say. ['diwambin]

The only ascending diphthongs are those of the type gu(a/o), gü(e/i) and qu(a/o), qü(e/i):

adjoining «water» ['aj.gwambi] (2 syllables)

ointment « ointment» [Ultimately] (2 syllables)

penguin «pingüino» [pigwi] (2 syllables)

filth «language» [.ε.gw].tě] (3 syllables)

quatre "four" ['kwa.t eclipse] (2 syllables)

qüestió « questioning» [kwambis.ti.'o] (3 syllables)

aqüífer « aquifer» [§.'kwi.f→ (3 syllables)

quota «cuota» ['kw..tě] (2 syllables)

Triphthongs are formed from those:

water “observe” [ambi.gwıj.'t randomized] (3 syllables)

liqüeu «liquad» [li.'kw transformationw] (2 syllables)

To form the hiatus, add an umlaut over the i or u:

raïm "uva" [rambi.'im] (2 syllables)

taüt «attaboy» [tambi.'ut] (2 syllables)

ruïna «ruin» [ru.'i.nambi] (3 syllables)

Historical evolution

• Common features with the group called Occitan, Gallo-Romanical and Galloitálic:
  • Fall of the final atone vowels except -A (MbulRU, FLō ▪ mur, flower) that oppose the Iberian group that preserves them with the exception of the -E in certain endings (wall but flower / choror italorromanic that keeps everything (wall, fiore).
• Common characteristics with the West:
  • Catalan presents a wealth of diptongos: ([aj] mai - never-, [eye] rei - Hey. intersection- [aw] cautious -cae-, [ew] beu - baby-, [ow] pou -pozo-...)
• Characteristics that oppose it to the West, Gallo-Roman and Galloitálic:
  • Conservation of -U- Latina (and absence of previous rounded vowels) (catalan ♪ [']una]Occitan Moon ['lyn,], French lune ['lyn], galoitálico ['lyna]).
  • The Eastern Catalan presents changes in obertura  ▪ */♪ roga proto-catalán and Balear ♪/♪ central Catalan e/‐ (LNAGNA  cat. fillya []e]α], occ. lenha [le]], with phonetically conditioned exceptions and some fluctuations). In Western Catalan,  converge in general e.
• Characteristics that oppose it to the west (genicly):
  • Reduction of AU-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O diftongue []] (CAULIS, PAUCU ▪ cab -col- poc -poco-).
• South West Romania features:
  • The group -ACT- becomes -ET. (LACTE, FACTU ▪ llet - Milk- fet - done-

Differences in interdialects:

• The vocálico system differs between the main dialectal varieties of Catalan, the vocal system of protorromance ♪ I, ♪ evolved in proto-catalan ♪ I, ♪ Subsequently the different varieties of Catalan differ in the way these vowels evolved in tonic syllable and closed syllable. Central standard catalan /*ambi/ ∞/ (so evolutions are simultaneously taken /*e/  /* and /* participant/  (except in contact with the liquids /r, l,),/), although with some additional complications), while in Western Catalan there is neutralization of /*e, * transformation/. Finally the varieties differ in the neutralization that occurs in atonous syllables that has greater reach in standard central Catalan.

The typical evolution of the tonic vowel system can be seen in this table:

Latin America	Proto-romance	proto- Catalan	Catalan central	Castellano / GLOSA
. FINE	/*i/ ♪ita	/*i/ ♪ida	/i/ vida [.....	/i/ vida
SICCU(M) PILU(M)	/*e/ ♪♫c ♪♫♪ ♪♫s	* ♪♫c ♪♫l ♪♫s	/ sec [s pillark] pel [p transformation] pes [pillars]	/e/ seco peI do. peso.
 PACKUS
. TIFRRA M gift(M) NbornVE(M) MgivingMBRU(M)	/ ♪ęrra ♪ęl(e) ♪ęGo. ♪ęmbr	/ ♪ęrra ♪ęl ♪ęβ ♪ęmbrę	/ terra [engineering] mel [m excited] /e/ neu [new] membre [шmemb margin]	/ie/ tierra miel nieGo. mieAwe
♫	/*a/	/*a/	/a/	/a/
.
MTVIT M MNSTRA F)CU(M)	/*// ♪ βi(t) ♪ stra ♪ Go	/*// ♪ β ♪ stra ♪ g	/// moru [m]u] morstra [m]st diagnosis] forc [f]k]	/we/ mueGo. muestra fueGo
Å FLшRE(M) HONшRE(M) RpinBURE(M)	/*o/ ♪ fl̄re ♪̄re ♪̄b.re ♪̄rca ♪̄rn ♪̄ndщs	/*o/ ♪ fl̄r ♪̄r ♪̄β.re ♪̄rca ♪̄rn ♪̄n(d)s	/o/ florr mushroomorrorcede rorure [rorwggle forrca [fo hungaryk] forrn [fo excitan] forns [fons]	/o/ florr mushroomorr rorble horrca horrno hornd
 F/25070/RCA FietyRNU(M) F/25070/NDUS
♫ Lhin CULNNEA	/*u/ ♪una *cuńa	/*u/ *una *cu a	/u/ lluna []un cunya [ku]ambi]	/u/ luna cuña

Consonants

The inventory of Catalan consonantal phonemes, specified by binary phonetic features, is summarized in the following table:

As can be seen, ten binary phonetic features are usually required to define the above consonant inventory univocally: [+/- dorsal], [+,- coronal], [+,- velar], [+/- sonorant ], [+/- affricate], [+/- nasal], [+/- lateral], [+/- multiple trill] and [+/- voiced] (the rest of the features used [+/- palatal] and [+/- labial] is redundant and can be deduced from combinations of the above). This number of features is high when compared to the minimum theoretical number of "abstract" necessary which is 5, since 2⁵ = 32 > 23 (phonemes).

Plosives

Plosives become voiceless in final position.

• /p/ p
• /b/ b bilabial in those dialects where the distinction is preserved with /v/ lipdental; in the other dialects v and b are mixed giving rise to the fricative [β]; [p] in final position.
• /t/ t dental.
• /d/ d dental, but it is [ð] fricative between vowels or liquids; [t] in final position.
• /k/ c before, or, or; What? (i) What? for /kw/ before, or, u; qü for /kw/ ante e, i; ch.
• /g/ g before, or, or; gu (i) gu for /gw/ before, or, u; gü for /gw/ ante e, i, articulated as /▪/ fricative between vowels or liquids, [k] in final position.

Africates

Affricates become voiceless in final position, but /ts/ and /tʃ// Final words followed by a vowel are voiced (/dz/ and /dʒ/.

• /ts/ ts
• /dz/ tz
• /t implied/ tx; sometimes ig at the end of the word; there are many exceptions.
• /d/ tj before, or, or; tg a, i; there are many exceptions.
  • In Valencia also pronounces the j before a, o, u and the g before e, i;

Fricatives

Fricatives in final position are pronounced voiceless, but at the end of the word the /s/ and /ʃ/ followed by a vowel are voiced.

• /f/ f
• /v/ v lipdental, in many dialects (the ones from Catalonia, Northern Valencian and Central) has mixed with b giving origin to the fricative bilabial /β/
• /s/ s; ss among vowels; also c before e, i and ç.
• /z/ z; s between vowels.
• / x; ix before vowel or at the end of the word in x.
  • There are many exceptions in Western Catalan.
• / j before a, o, u; g before e, i; ix at the end of the word when the next word begins with sound seal; there are many exceptions.
  • In Valencian and Western Catalan, this sound is only in ix
• The h is mute

Wide Sides

• /l/ La l Catalan is alveolar side guarded sound []]. It's different from the l Castilian.
  • l·l That's it. I groan, this is pronounced as l-l and appears only in intervocálica position.
  • The digit tl in intervocálica position resembles a l groaning l-l, as in espatla (man), except in words borrowed as athlete.
• /// llApproximate side palatal.
  • tll, it's a trigraph assimilated to a ll gemin []]Like in rotllo "rollo".

Vibrant

There are two trill sounds in Catalan.

• / vibrant simple, written r in all positions, except the initial.
• multiple /r/ vibrant, written r in initial position, rr between vowels.

Nasals

• /m/ m
  • The digit tm in intervocálica position is assimilated to a [m:] groaned, as in setmana "weekly", except in loans ritme "rithmo."
  • The digit mp at the end of syllable is reduced to [m], as in compte « Account», tempt Try.
• /n/ n
  • The digit tn in intervocálica position is assimilated to a [n:] groaned, as in cotna « leather, hard skin», except in loans like 'ètnia' "etnia."
• /// ny, palatal nasal, like the ñ Castilian.
• /EUR/ nasal guard, written as nc or ng in final position.

Historical evolution

• Characteristics of Western Romania:
  • Sonorization of - P-, T-, C- intervocálicas en -b-, -d-, -g- (CAPRA, CATENA, SECURU ▪ goat, chain, Sure.)

• Common features with the set called galorenic:
  • Maintenance of initial groups PL, CL, FL- (PLICARE, CLAVE, FLORE ▪ fold, clau, flower). This characteristic opposes Catalan to the Iberian languages (in Spanish) get there., in Portuguese chegar)
  • As in the French and the West, there is a sounding of final deaf seals when the first phenoma of the following word is a vowel or a sound consonant. These sonorizations affect seals [s], [t], [p], [CHUCKLES][k] and [tpit] becoming [z], [d], [b], [[g] and [d urge]. Examples (in Valencian pronunciation): "the homes" (men[els] and [ ]mes] - 2005 [el'z]mes]; "peix bo" (Good fish) [pej arc] and [b]] - 2005 [pej urge'b]]"blat bord"Wild wheat[blat] and [bo interval(t)] - 2005 [blad'bo luminous(t)].

• Common characteristics with the West (lenguadociano more precisely)
  • Caída de -N intervocálica converted final into lexicon (PANE, UNV ▪ pa -pan- vi -vin-). Unlike the Englishman, the plural retains this [n] (ex: breads, vins) except in some northern words.
  • Ensortment of final consonants: See [t], àrab [p], diàleg [k]...

• Specific characteristics, The most peculiar characteristics of Catalan are the following, which are hardly found in any other variety of Romania:
  • - Intervocálica converted implosive passes to - Wow. (PEDE, CR giftgiving ▪ *P giftd, *CR gifted peu 'pie', creure 'creer'
  • -C + e, i, final  - Wow. (*CRUC(E) ▪ ♪ ▪ creu 'cruz', PACE(M) ▪ pau 'paz'
  • Termination -TIS in the verbal bending (2^a person of the plural) have led to - Wow. (Example: MIRATIS "Look at you." *miratz ▪ *mirau ▪ Look./mireu.

• Other features, also original, have an extension superior to Romanesque languages.
  • Reduction of consonant groups -MB-, -ND- ◊ -m-, -n- (CAMBA, CUMBA, MANDARE, BINDA ▪ bed -Another bed, leg- coma -coma- Manar -mandar- Baby. -venda-), a characteristic shared with the Occitan Gascon and the Southern German.
  • Palatalization of L- initial (LUNA, LEGE ▪ ♪ -Line- llei -ley-). This feature is found in the foixeño (West) and astur-Leonese.
  • Palatalization of the group -NN- (ANNUS ▪ any -year-old, CANNA ▪ Canya -caña-), characteristic shared with Spanish.
  • Palatalization of - You... from -X-, SC- (COXA, PISCE ▪ cuixa -Mouse- peix -fish, fish-)
  • Maintenance of protoromanic Africans of J, G + e, i (JACTARE, GELARE gitar - lying down... gel -helar-)
  • Gemstone presence: setmana [mm], cotna [nn], espatlla []] (o espatla [ll]), intel·ligent [ll]. These are only common to the West and the italic varieties.

Loanwords

Most Catalan words come from Latin, although there are also a significant fraction of historical borrowings from other languages such as: Germanic languages such as Gothic (Ramon 'Ramón', espia 'spy', ganivet 'knife'... and place names ending in -reny, as Gisclareny) and more recently English (bar, web, revòlver...); other Romance languages such as French (brioix, garatge, fitxa...), Italian (piano, macarró, pantà, pilot...), Occitan (espasa 'sword', beutat, daurar, aimia, suffix -aire ...) and Spanish (bolero, lloro, burro...); Arabic (alcohol, sucre, alcova...and many place names such as Benicàssim, Albocàsser...), also Basque (esquerra 'left', isard 'chamois, rebeco, sarrio', estalviar... 'ahorrar', and many place names such as Aran and Benavarri...).

Other representations

Braille signography of the Catalan characters.

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Fonts

Notes