Catalan language

(b) Carta a favor del Català»Carta a favor de la llengua i la cultura catalanes

: See also Language policy in France

After the Nueva Planta Decrees, administrative use and education in Catalan was also banned in the territories of the Spanish Kingdom. It was not until the Renaixença that use of the Catalan language started to recover.

In Francoist Spain (1939–1975), the use of Spanish over Catalan was promoted, and public use of Catalan was discouraged by official propaganda campaigns. The use of Catalan in government-run institutions and in public events was banned. During later stages of the Francoist regime, certain folkloric or religious celebrations in Catalan were resumed and tolerated. Use of Catalan in the mass media was forbidden, but was permitted from the early 1950sMarc Howard Ross, [http://books.google.com/books?id=Oe4popSDfW0C&printsec=frontcover&hl=en#PPA139,M1 "Cultural Contestation in Ethnic Conflict"], page 139. Cambridge University Press, 2007. in the theatre. Publishing in Catalan continued throughout the dictatorship.The Resurgence of Catalan Earl W. Thomas Hispania, Vol. 45, No. 1 (Mar., 1962), pp. 43–48 doi:10.2307/337523 There was no official prohibition of speaking Catalan in public or in commerce, but all advertising and signage had to be in Spanish alone, as did all written communication in business.Orden del Excmo. Sr. Gobernador Civil de Barcelona. EL USO DEL IDIOMA NACIONAL EN TODOS LOS SERVICIOS PÚBLICOS. 1940.

: See also Language politics in Spain under Franco

Following the death of Franco in 1975 and the restoration of democracy, the use of Catalan increased partly because of new affirmative action and subsidy policies and the Catalan language is now used in politics, education and the Catalan media, including the newspapers Avui ("Today"), El Punt ("The Point") and El Periódico de Catalunya (sharing content with its Spanish release and with El Periòdic d'Andorra, printed in Andorra); and the television channels of Televisió de Catalunya (TVC): TV3, the main channel, and Canal 33K3 (culture and cartoons channel) as well as a 24-hour news channel 3/24 and the TV series channel 300; in València Canal 9 and Punt 2; in the Balearic islands IB3; there are also many local channels available in region in Catalan, such as BTV and 8TV (in the metropolitan area of Barcelona), Barça TV, Canal L'Hospitalet (L'Hospitalet de Llobregat), Canal Terrassa (Terrassa), Televisió de Sant Cugat TDSC (Sant Cugat del Vallès), Televisió de Mataró TVM (Mataró) and Catalan-dubbed television programs.

The number of persons fluent in Catalan varies depending on the sources used. The figures given below in the boxes were taken from the Wikipedia Catalan language site: The total of just over 9 million fluent speakers approximates the 9+ million speakers counted by the Catalan government in 2007.

The Wikipedia Catalan language site in Spanish uses a different method of counting by enumerating people who consider Catalan to be their mother tongue or language of identity, which gives a lower number than the actual number of people who can speak the language fluently. The number of habitual speakers given as 4.4 million and speakers as 7.7 million. In the face of evidence to the contrary, the figures are too low on the Spanish language site.

The 2004 language study cited below in this article does not indicate the total number of speakers, but an estimate of 9-9.5 million can be made, if one takes the trouble to match the percentage of speakers to the population of each area where Catalan is spoken ("Sociolinguistic Situation in Catalan-speaking Areas." cited in the Section, External Links, of this article) The web site of the Generalitat gives the number as of June 2007 as 9,118,882 speakers of Catalan.

Classification

• Catalonia: Statistic data of 2001 census, from Institut d'Estadística de Catalunya, Generalitat de Catalunya »http://www.idescat.net/territ/BasicTerr?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 »http://ive.infocentre.gva.es/pls/portal/docs/PAGE/IVE_PEGV/CONTENTS/cvcifras/2004/val/cvx2004_02.pdf.
• Land of Valencia: Statistical data from 2001 census, from Institut Valencià d'Estadística, Generalitat Valenciana [http://www.ive.es].
• Balearic Islands: Statistical data from 2001 census, from Institut Balear d'Estadística, Govern de les Illes Balears »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 »http://www.linmiter.net/information_catalan.html.
• Andorra: Sociolinguistic data from Andorran Government, 1999.
• Aragon: Sociolinguistic data from Euromosaic »http://www.uoc.edu/euromosaic/web/document/catala/an/e19/e19.html.
• Alguer: Sociolinguistic data from Euromosaic »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.

Dialects

There is no precise linguistic border between one dialect and another because there is nearly always a transition zone of some size between pairs of geographically separated dialects (except for dialects specific to an island). The main difference between the two blocks is their treatment of unstressed vowels, in addition to a few other features:

• Western Catalan (Bloc o Branca del Català Occidental):
  • Unstressed vowels: . Distinctions between e and a and o and u.
  • Initial or post-consonantal x is an affricate (there are exceptions in Xàtiva, xarxa, Xavier, xenofòbia... these are pronounced with ). Between vowels or when final and preceded by i, it is .
  • 1st person present indicative is -e or -o.
  • Latin long and short have become .
  • Inchoative in -ix, -ixen, -isca
  • Maintenance of medieval nasal plural in proparoxytone words: hòmens, jóvens
  • Specific vocabulary: espill, xiquet, granera, melic...
• Eastern Catalan (Bloc o Branca del Català Oriental):
  • The vowels , and become ə when unstressed and , and become .
  • Initial or post-consonantal x is the fricative . Between vowels or when final and preceded by i it is also .
  • 1st person present indicative is -o, -i or there is no marker.
  • Latin long and short have become (In most of Balearic Catalan they are pronounced and in Alguerese ).
  • Inchoative in -eix, -eixen, -eixi.
  • The -n- of medieval nasal plural is dropped in proparoxytone words: homes, joves.
  • Specific Vocabulary: mirall, noi, escombra, llombrígol...

• North-Western Catalan
  • Ribagorçà (from Ribagorça, a region of Catalonia)
  • Pallarès (from Pallars)
  • Lleidatà (from Lleida province)
  • Andorrà (from Andorra)
• Transitional Valencian or Ebrenc
  • Ampostí (from Amposta)
  • Tortosí (from Tortosa)
  • Catalan from Matarranya
  • Vinarossenc (from Vinaròs)
  • Valencian from Maestrat (a region of Valencia)
• Valencian
  • Castellonenc (from region of Plana)
  • Apitxat, or Central Valencian
  • Southern Valencian
  • Alacantí (from the Alicante's metropolitan area and most of Vinalopó valley)
  • Majorcan from Tàrbena and la Vall de Gallinera Valencian municipalities

• Northern Catalan, or ''rossellonès (from Roussillon)''
• Central Catalan
  • Salat (from the Costa Brava)
  • Barceloní (from Barcelona)
  • Tarragoní (from Tarragona)
  • Xipella
• Balearic
  • Mallorquí (from Majorca, Mallorca in Catalan)
  • Menorquí (from Minorca, Menorca in Catalan)
  • Eivissenc (from Ibiza and Formentera, Eivissa in Catalan)
• Alguerese (from the Italian city of Alghero)

Standards of Catalan language

IEC's Standard, apart from the basis of Central Catalan features, takes also other dialects features considering as standard. Despite this, the most notable difference between both standards is some tonic "e" accentuation, for instance: francès, anglès (IEC) - francés, anglés (AVL) (French, English), cafè (IEC) - café (AVL) (coffee), conèixer (IEC) - conéixer (to know), comprèn (IEC) - comprén (AVL) (he understands). This is because of the different pronunciation of some tonic "e", especially tonic Ē (long "e") and Ǐ (breves "i") from Latin, in both Catalan blocks ( in Eastern Catalan and »e in Western Catalan). Despite this, AVL's standard keeps grave accent "è", without pronouncing this "e" , in some words like: què (what), València, èter (ether), sèsam (sesame), sèrie (series) and època (age).

There are also some other divergences like the tl use by AVL in some words instead of tll like in ametlaametlla (almond), espatlaespatlla (back) or butlabutlla (bull), the use of elided demonstratives (este this, eixe that (near)) in the same level as reinforced ones (aquest, aqueix) or the use of many verbal forms common in Valencian, and some of these common in the rest of Western Catalan too, like subjunctive mood or inchoative conjugation in -ix- at the same level as -eix- or the priority use of -e morpheme in 1st person singular in present indicative (-ar verbs): "jo compre" (I buy) instead of "jo compro".

In Balearic Islands, IEC's standard is used but adapted into Balearic dialect by the University of the Balearic Islands's philological section, Govern de les Illes Balears'''s consultative organ. In this way, for instance, IEC says it is correct writing "''cantam" as much as "cantem" (we sing) and University says that priority form in Balearic Islands must be "cantam" in all fields. Another feature of Balearic standard is the non-ending in 1st person singular in present indicative: "jo cant" (I sing), "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 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- 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.

The status of Valencian

Vowels

Grammar

The first descriptive and normative grammar book of modern Catalan was written by Pompeu Fabra in 1918. In 1995 a new grammar by Antoni M. Badía i Margarit was published, which also documents the Valencian and Balearic varieties.

The grammar of Catalan mostly follows the general pattern of Western Romance languages.

Substantives and adjectives are not declined by case, as in Classical Latin. There are two grammatical genders—masculine and feminine.

Grammatical articles originally developed from Latin demonstratives. The actual form of the article depends on the gender and the number and the first sounds of the word and can be combined with prepositions that precede them. A unique feature of Catalan is a definite article that may precede personal names in certain contexts. Its basic form is en and it can change according to its environment (the word "en" has also other lexical meanings). One of the common usages of this article is in the word can, a combination of "la casa" shortened to ca (house) and en, which here means "the". For example "la casa d'en Sergi" becomes "Can Sergi" meaning "the house of Sergi", "Sergi's house".

Verbs are conjugated according to tense and mood similarly to other Western Romance languages—present and simple preterite are based on classical Latin, future is formed from infinitive followed by the present form of the auxiliary verb haver (written together and not considered periphrastic), and periphrastic tenses are formed from the conjugated auxiliary verbs haver (to have) and ésser (to be) followed by the past participle. A unique tense in Catalan is the periphrastic simple preterite, which is formed of "vaig", "vas" (or "vares"), "va", "vam" (or "vàrem"), "vau" (or "vàreu") and "van" (there is the usual wrong idea these forms are the conjugated forms of "anar", which means "to go"), which is followed by the infinitive of the verb. Thus, "Jo vaig parlar" (or more simply "Vaig parlar") means "I spoke".

Nominative pronouns are often omitted, as the person can be usually derived from the conjugated verb. The Catalan rules for combination of the object pronoun clitics with verbs, articles and other pronouns are significantly more complex than in most other Romance languages; see Weak pronouns in Catalan.

Catalan names

For example, the full name of the architect Antoni Gaudí is Antoni Gaudí i Cornet after his parents: Francesc Gaudí i Serra and Antònia Cornet i Bertran, meaning he was son of Gaudí and Cornet.

Examples

Some phrases in the Central dialect -Barcelona and outskirts-:

• Catalan: català
• Hello: hola
• Good-bye: adéu ; adéu-siau ; siau ; déu (colloquial use)
• Please: si us plau or sisplau ; per favor
• Thank you: gràcies ; mercès ; merci (colloquial use)
• Sorry: perdó , em sap greu ; ho sento
• This one: aquest (masc.); aquesta (fem.)
• How much?: quant val? ; quant és?
• Yes: sí
• No: no
• I don't understand (it): no ho entenc
• Where's the bathroom?: On és el bany? ; On és el lavabo?
• Generic toast: salut! ;
• Bless you! (after sneezing): Jesús ; salut!
• Do you (2nd person singular) speak Catalan?: (Tu) Parles català?
• Do you (3rd person singular) speak Catalan?: (Vostè) Parla català?
• Do you (2nd person plural) speak Catalan?: (Vosaltres) Parleu català?
• Do you (3nd person plural) speak Catalan?: (Vostès) Parlen català?

• Valencian: valencià
• Hello: hola
• Good-bye: adéu
• Please: per favor
• Thank you: gràcies
• Sorry: perdó ; ; ho sento or ho lamento
• This one: este (masc.); esta (fem.)
• How much?: quant val? ; quant és?
• Yes: sí
• No: no
• I don't understand: no ho entenc
• Where's the bathroom?: on és el bany?
• Generic toast: salut!
• Bless you! (after sneezing): Jesús! ; salut!
• Do you speak Valencian?: parles valencià?

Learning Catalan

• Digui, digui... Curs de català per a estrangers. A Catalan Handbook. — Alan Yates and Toni Ibarz. — Generalitat de Catalunya. Departament de Cultura, 1993. -- ISBN 84-393-2579-7.
• Teach Yourself Catalan. — Alan Yates. — McGraw-Hill, 1993. — ISBN 0340194995.
• Colloquial Catalan. — Toni Ibarz and Alexander Ibarz. — Routledge, 2005. — ISBN 0-415-23412-3.
• speakcat On-line basic course »http://intercat.cesca.es/speakcat/
• Parla.Cat The Official free on-line complete course »http://www.parla.cat
• Catalan Grammar.— Joan Gili.— Dolphin Book Company (Oxford: 1993).— ISBN 0852150784.

Voluntaris per la Llengua is a Catalan language learning programme.

English words of Catalan origin

• Aioli, from all i oli, a typical sauce made by mixing olive oil and garlic with a mortar and pestle.
• Aubergine, from Catalan albergínia
• Barracks, from old Catalan barraca (hut) through French baraque. Another term Barracoon, from Catalan barraca (hut) through Spanish barracón.
• Surge, from Catalan surgir, via Middle French
• Paella, Valencian Catalan, via Old French paele, ultimately from Latin patella (small dish)

See also

• Catalan orthography
• Institut d'Estudis Catalans (Catalan Studies Institute)
• Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua (Valencian Academy of the Language)
• Pompeu Fabra
• Catalan literature
• Languages of France
• Languages of Italy
• Languages of Spain
• Names of Catalan language
• Catalan names
• .cat - The first top-level domain based on language and culture
• Alguerese
• Balearic
• Valencian
• Spanish (Spain) keyboard layout, used to type Catalan
• Òmnium Cultural
• Plataforma per la Llengua

References

External links

• »Sociolinguistic situation in Catalan-speaking areas. Tables. Official data about sociolinguistic situation in Catalan-speaking areas: Catalonia (2003), Andorra (2004), the Balearic Islands (2004), Aragonese Border (2004), Northern Catalonia (2004), Alghero (2004) and Valencia (2004).

Institutions

• »Institut d'Estudis Catalans
• »Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua
• »Secretaria de Política Lingüística de la Generalitat de Catalunya

About the Catalan language

• »Ethnologue report for Catalan
• »GRAMÀTICA CATALANA A Catalan grammar

Monolingual dictionaries

• »Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana from the Institut d'Estudis Catalans
• »Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana from Enciclopèdia Catalana
• »Diccionari Català-Valencià-Balear d'Alcover i Moll
• »Diccionari valencià online
• »Diccionari Invers de la Llengua Catalana Dictionary of Catalan words spelled backwards

Bilingual and multilingual dictionaries

• »Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana Multilingüe from Enciclopèdia Catalana (Catalan < > Spanish, English, French and German)
• »DACCO. Open source, collaborative dictionary (Catalan < > English)
• »Dictionary from »Webster's Online Dictionary - the Rosetta Edition (Catalan < > English)
• »Catalan-English-Catalan dictionary

Automated translation systems

• »Traductor Automated, on-line translations of text and web pages (Catalan < > English, French and Spanish)
• »SisHiTra Automated, on-line translations of text and web pages (Catalan < > Spanish)
• »apertium.org – Apertium (free software) translates text, documents or web pages, on-line or off-line, between Catalan and English, Aranese, Spanish, French, Occitan, Portuguese and Esperanto

Phrasebooks

• on

Learning resources

• »Learn Catalan Online with Volunteers
• »Interc@t. Set of electronic resources for learning the Catalan language and culture.
• »Learn Catalan!. An introduction for the Catalonia-bound traveler.
• »On-line Catalan resources
• »parla.cat

Catalan-language online encyclopedia

• »Enciclopèdia Catalana