'Catalan' (''català'' or []) is a
Romance language, the
national language of
Andorra, and a
co-official language in the
Spanish autonomous communities of
Balearic Islands,
Catalonia and
Valencia , and in the
city of
L'Alguer in the
Italian island of
Sardinia. It is also spoken, although with no official recognition, in the
autonomous communities of
Aragon (in
La Franja) and
Murcia (in
El Carxe) in
Spain, and in
Northern Catalonia, a
historical region of Catalonia in southern
France, which is more or less equivalent to the ''
département'' of the
Pyrénées-Orientales.
Classification
The ascription of
Catalan to the
Occitano-Romance branch of
Gallo-Romance languages is not shared by all linguists. According to the
Ethnologue, its specific classification is as follows:
[1]
★
Indo-European languages
★
★
Italic languages
★
★
★
Romance languages
★
★
★
★
Italo-Western languages
★
★
★
★
★
Western Italo-Western languages
★
★
★
★
★
★
Gallo-Iberian languages
★
★
★
★
★
★
★
Ibero-Romance languages
★
★
★
★
★
★
★
★ East Iberian languages
Catalan is very similar to
Occitan. (See also
Occitan language: Differences between Occitan and Catalan and
Gallo-Romance languages.)
Although Catalan language is often thought of as a transitional language between the
Iberian Romance languages (such as Spanish) and
Gallo-Romance languages (such as French), this characterization is not accurate. For instance, phonologically, Catalan is more similar to
Portuguese than to
Italian,
Spanish or
French.
Like many modern languages, Catalan contains numerous words originally borrowed from other languages:
Germanic (''Ramon'':
[2] Raymond, ''espia'': spy,
[3] ''ganivet'': knife, ''guerra'': war... and the place-names finished with ''-reny'', as Gliscareny),
French (''brioix'': brioche, ''garatge'': garage, ''fitxa'': card...),
Italian (''piano'': piano, ''macarró'': macaroni, ''pantà'': marsh, ''finestra'': window, ''porta'': gate...),
Occitan (''espasa'': sword, ''beutat'': beauty, ''daurar'': to gild, suffixal ''-aire''...),
Arabic and
Mozarabic (''alcohol'': spirit, ''sucre'': sugar, ''alcova'': bedroom... and most of toponymy like ''
Benicàssim,
Albocàsser...)'', from
Spanish (''senzill'': easy, ''xoriço'': kind of salami, ''amo'': owner, ''burro'': donkey...), from
Basque (''esquerra'': left, ''isard'': surly, ''estalviar'': to save money... and toponymy as ''
Aran'',
Benavarri or
Algerri...) and from
English (''bar'', ''web'', ''revòlver''...)
Geographic distribution
Main articles: Catalan countries
Catalan is spoken in:
★
Catalonia (''Catalunya''), in
Spain.
★ Coastal areas in the
Valencian Community (''Comunitat Valenciana''), in Spain, where it's called
Valencian.
★
An adjacent strip (''Franja de Ponent'') of
Aragon,
Spain, in particular the ''
comarques'' of
Ribagorça,
Llitera,
Baix Cinca, and
Matarranya.
★
Balearic Islands (''Illes Balears i Pitiüsses''), in Spain.
★
Andorra (''Principat d'Andorra'').
★
Northern Catalonia (''Catalunya Nord'') (unofficial names), in
France.
★ The city of
Alghero (''l'Alguer'') on
Sardinia.
★ A small region in
Murcia, Spain, known as
Carxe in Catalan.
All these areas may be known as
Catalan Countries (Catalan: ''Països Catalans''), a denomination based on cultural affinity and common heritage, that have also had a subsequent political interpretation but no official status.
Number of Catalan speakers
Territories where Catalan is official
| Region | Understands | Can speak |
| Catalonia (Spain) | 6,949,195 | 6,043,088 |
| Balearic Islands (Spain) | 931,989 | 746,792 |
| Valencian Community (as ''Valencian'') (Spain) | 3,648,443 | 2,547,661 |
| Andorra | 75,407 | 61,975 |
| 'TOTAL' | '11,605,034' | '9,399,516' |
Other territories
| Region | Understands | Can speak |
| Alghero (Sardinia, Italy) | 20,000 | 17,625 |
| Northern Catalonia (France) | 203,121 | 125,622 |
| Franja de Ponent (Spain) | 47,250 | 45,000 |
| Carxe (Murcia, Spain) | No data | No data |
| Rest of World | No data | 350,000 |
| 'TOTAL' | '270,371' | '538,247' |
World
'''Notes:''' The number of people who understand Catalan includes those who can speak it.
'''Sources:''' 'Catalonia':
Statistic data of 2001 census, from ''Institut d'Estadística de Catalunya, Generalitat de Catalunya'' [1]. 'Land of Valencia': Statistical data from 2001 census, from ''Institut Valencià d'Estadística, Generalitat Valenciana'' [2]. 'Balearic Islands': Statistical data from 2001 census, from ''Institut Balear d'Estadística, Govern de les Illes Balears'' [3]. 'Northern Catalonia': ''Media Pluriel'' Survey commissioned by Prefecture of Languedoc-Roussillon Region done in October 1997 and published in January 1998 [4]. 'Andorra':
Sociolinguistic data from Andorran Government, 1999. 'Aragon': Sociolinguistic data from Euromosaic [5]. 'Alguer': Sociolinguistic data from Euromosaic [6]. 'Rest of World': Estimate for 1999 by the ''Federació d'Entitats Catalanes'' outside the Catalan Countries.
Dialects

Dialectal Map of Catalan Language
In 1861,
Manuel Milà i Fontanals proposed a division of Catalan into two major dialect blocks:
Eastern Catalan and
Western Catalan. Each dialect also encompasses several regional varieties. Educated
Central Catalan is an Eastern Catalan dialect, which can be considered the standard pronunciation of the language.
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 affricate (there are exceptions in Xàtiva, xarxa, Xavier, xenofòbia... these are pronounced ). Between vowels or when final and preceded by ''i'', it is .
★
★ 1st person present indicative is -e or -o.
★
★ Latin tonical vowels Ē (long "e") and Ǐ (short "i") are pronounced [e].
★
★ Inchoative in -ix, -ixen, -isca
★
★ Maintenance of medieval nasal plural in proparoxiton words: hòmens, jóvens
★
★ Specific Vocabulary: espill, xiquet, granera, melic...
★ 'Eastern Catalan' (''Bloc o Branca del Català Oriental''):
★
★ The vowels ''e'' and ''a'' become /ə/ when unstressed and ''o'' and ''u'' become /u/.
★
★ Initial or post-consonantal ''x'' is the fricative . Between vowels or final preceded by ''i'' it is also .
★
★ 1st person present indicative is -o, -i or ø.
★
★ Latin tonical vowels Ē (long "e") and Ǐ (short "i") are pronounced (In most of Balearic they are pronounced [ə] and in Alguerese [e]).
★
★ Inchoative in -eix, -eixen, -eixi.
★
★ The -n- of medieval nasal plural is dropped in proparoxiton words: homes, joves.
★
★ Specific Vocabulary: mirall, noi, escombra, llombrígol...
In addition, neither
dialect is completely homogeneous: any dialect can be subdivided into several sub-dialects. Catalan can be subdivided in two major dialect blocks and those blocks into individual dialects:
See
Catalan dialect examples for examples of each dialect.
Standards of Catalan language

Pompeu Fabra, Father of Catalan orthography
There are two main standards for Catalan language, one regulated by '
Institut d'Estudis Catalans', general standard, with
Pompeu Fabra's orthography as axis keeping features from Central Catalan, and other regulated by '
Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua', restricted scale standard, focused on valencian standardization on the basis of
Normes de Castelló, that is,
Pompeu Fabra's orthography but more adapted to
Western Catalan pronunciation and features of Valencian dialects.
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 tonical "e" accentuation, for instance: ''francès'' or ''anglès'' (IEC) - ''francés'' (French) or ''anglés''(English) (AVL), ''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 tonical "e", specially tonical 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) i ''època'' (age).
There are also some other divergences like the 'tl' use by AVL in some words instead of 'tll' like in ''ametla''/''ametlla'' (almond), ''espatla''/''espatlla'' (back) or ''butla''/''butlla'' (bull), the use of elided demonstratives (''este'' this , ''eixe'' that (near)) in the same level as reinforced ones (aquest, aqueix) or the use of lots of 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 singular person in indicative present (-ar verbs): "jo compre" (I buy) instead of "jo compro".
In
Balearic Islands, IEC's standard is used but adapted into Balearic dialect by
University of the Balearic Islands's philological section,
Govern de les Illes Balears's consultant 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 singular person in indicative present: "jo cant" (I sing), "jo tem" (I fear), jo "dorm" (I sleep).
In
L'Alguer, IEC has adapted his standard into
Alguerese dialect. In this standard one can find, among all features: the 'lo' article instead of ''el'', special possessive pronouns and determinants 'la mia' (my), 'lo sou/la sua' (his/her), 'lo tou/la tua' (your), and so on, the use of '-v- at imperfect tense' in all conjugations: ''cantava'', ''creixiva'', ''llegiva''; the use of lots of 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
The official language academy of the
Valencian Community (the
Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua) considers ''Catalan'' and ''Valencian'' simply to be two names for the same language
[4]. There is a roughly continuous set of
dialects covering the various regional forms of Catalan/Valencian, with no break at the border between Catalonia and the Valencian Community (i.e. villages contiguous to both sides of the border speak exactly the same), and the various forms of Catalan language, among them, the Valencian ones, are mutually intelligible. All universities teaching Romance languages, and virtually all linguists, consider these all to be linguistic variants of the same language (similar to
Canadian French versus Metropolitan French).
Nevertheless, differences do exist: Valencian accent is recognisable, there are differences in subjunctive terminations, and there are a large number of words unique to Valencian varieties; but those differences are not any wider than among North-Western Catalan and Eastern Catalan. In fact, Northern Valencian (spoken in the Castelló province and Matarranya valley, a strip of
Aragon) is more similar to the Catalan of the lower
Ebro basin (spoken in southern half of
Tarragona province and another strip of Aragon) than to ''apitxat'' Valencian (spoken in the area of
L'Horta, in the province of Valencia).
The
Valencian language has often been seen as a dialect of Catalan due to their mutual intelligibility. However, the issue of ''language'' versus ''dialect'' is as much a matter of politics as of linguistics. By the criterion of mutual intelligibility, Valencian and other varieties of Catalan are dialects of a single language; but according to this criterion,
Galician and
Portuguese are also dialects of a single language, as are
Norwegian and
Swedish, a contentious conclusion in either case. A language is defined by several factors,
political ones among others.
What gets called a ''language'' is defined in part by mutual comprehensibility, but also by political and cultural factors. Historically, the perceived status of Valencian as a "dialect of Catalan" has had important political implications including
Catalan nationalism and the idea of the ''Països Catalans'' or "
Catalan countries." Conversely, some Valencians who advocate distinguishing the languages do so to resist a perceived Catalan nationalist agenda aimed at absorbing Valencian language and identity, and incorporating Valencians into a constructed nationality centered on Catalonia. However, this idea is mostly supported by right-wing organisations who usually don't support actual use of Valencian, but rather fear a possible union between Catalonia and Valencia towards their independence. It should be noted as well that it is common consensus amongst linguists that both Valencian and Catalan refer to the same language.
Similarly to
Serbian and
Croatian, the issue of whether Catalan and Valencian constitute different languages or merely dialects has been the subject of political agitation several times since the end of the Franco era. The latest political controversy regarding Valencian occurred on the occasion of 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 Catalan and Valencian versions were identical. While professing the unity of the Catalan language, the Spanish government claimed to be constitutionally bound to produce distinct Catalan and Valencian versions because the Statute of Autonomy of the Valencian Community refers to the language as "Valencian". In practice, the Catalan, Valencian, and Balearic versions of the EU constitution are almost identical, although small compromises over spelling may have been involved in making them so.
Valencian and
Central Catalan have fewer differences from one another than do
American English and
English English (that is, the
English of
England), although this is partially because the English
phonetical system is much more complex than that of Catalan. The differences between English English and American English are very similar to those between Valencian and Catalan. For example, English English and American English have a different vowel system, as do Valencian and Catalan. In Valencia, as in America, the language is generally
rhotic (that is, final "r" is pronounced); in Catalonia, as in England, it generally is not. There are pairs of words similar to "truck"/"lorry" or "cookie"/"biscuit", for example ''"mirall"''/''"espill"'' (meaning "mirror") or ''"rentar"''/''"llavar"'' ("to wash"). There are different spellings for the same word à la ''"color"''/''"colour"'', for example ''"seva"''/''"seua"'' ("his"); although in this case the pronunciation is not the same, it is a common feature in dialectal and not-so-old Catalan to turn intervocalic "u" into "v", so ''"seva"'' and ''"seua"'' are phonologically identical (/'seua/), although phonetically different (['sevɘ] ''vs.'' ['sewa].) There are differences in conjugation just like "lit"/"lighted", for example, ''"acomplix"''/''"acompleix"'' ("accomplishes"). There are verbal forms which are not frequently used in either dialect - "aní"/"vaig anar", just like "I advise that he come"/"I advise him to come". In short, much like English, Catalan is a multi-centric language - there exist two standards, one for Oriental Catalan, regulated by the IEC, which is centered around Barcelonese Catalan (with slight variations to include Balearic verb flexion) and one for Occidental, regulated by the AVL, centered around Valencian.
Most current (21st century) Valencian speakers and writers use spelling conventions (such as
Normes de Castelló, 1932) that allow for several diverse idiosyncrasies of the different language varieties.
Sounds and writing system
Grammar
Main articles: Catalan grammar
An interesting feature of Catalan language, as compared to most other modern Romance languages, is its complex and extremely conservative system of pronoun
clitics.
History
Catalan language developed by the
9th century from
Vulgar Latin on both sides of the eastern part of
Pyrenees mountains (counties of
Roussillon,
Empuries,
Besalú,
Cerdanya,
Urgell,
Pallars and
Ribagorça). It shares features with Gallo-romance and Ibero-romance, and it could be said to be in its beginnings no more than an eccentric dialect of
Occitan (or of Western Romance). It is said by language experts that Catalan was originally spoken by peasants, but was picked up by all other people in the social heirachy.
As a consequence of the Catalan
conquests from Al-Andalus to the south and to the west, it spread to all present-day
Catalonia,
Balearic Islands and most of
Valencia.
On the
15th century, during
Valencian Golden Age, Catalan language reached its highest cultural splendor, which could not be comparable again until
La Renaixença, 4 centuries later.
: ''See also
History of Catalonia''
After the
Treaty of the Pyrenees, a
royal decree by
Louis XIV of France on April 2, 1700 prohibited the usage of Catalan language in present-day
Northern Catalonia in all official documents under the threat of being invalidated
[5]. Since then, Catalan language has lacked official status in that Catalan-speaking region in France.
: ''See also
Language policy in France''
After
Nueva Planta Decrees, administrative usage and education in Catalan was also banned in the territories of the Spanish Kingdom. It was not until
Renaixença period, that Catalan language started to recover.
In
Francoist Spain (1939-1975), the usage of
Castilian over Catalan was promoted, and public use of Catalan was discouraged and repressed. In spite of this, several thousand books were published in Catalan. Franco's effort to portray Catalan as an archaic dialect still allowed the publication of, for example, older poetry. Some modern works were sneaked under censorship by pretending that they were older.
: ''See also
Language politics in Spain under Franco''
Following the death of Franco in 1975 and the restoration of democracy, the usage 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 33/K3 (culture and cartoons channel) as well as a 24-hour news channel 3/24 and the TV series channel 300; there are also many local channels available in region in Catalan, such as BTV and Td8 (in the metropolitan area of Barcelona), Canal L'Hospitalet (L'Hospitalet de Llobregat), Canal Terrassa (Terrassa), Televisió de Sant Cugat TDSC (Sant Cugat del Vallès), Televisió de Mataró TVM (Mataró).
Examples
Some common 'Catalan' phrases (pronounced as in the
Central dialect -Barcelona and outskirts-):
★ Catalan: '''Català'''
★ Hello: '''hola'''
★ Good-bye: '''adéu''' ; '''adéu siau'''
★ Please: '''si us plau'''
★ Thank you: '''gràcies''' ; '''mercès'''
★ Sorry: '''perdó''' , '''ho sento'''
★ This one: '''aquest''' (masc.); '''aquesta''' (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?''' ; '''on és el lavabo?'''
★ Generic toast: '''salut!''' ;
★ Do you speak English?: '''Que parla (l')anglès?'''
★ Do you speak Catalan?: '''Que parla (el) català?'''
Some useful 'Valencian' phrases (pronounced as in the ''
standard Valencian''):
★ Valencian: '''valencià'''
★ Hello: '''hola'''
★ Good-bye: '''adéu'''
★ Please: '''per favor'''
★ Thank you: '''gràcies'''
★ Sorry: '''perdó''' ; '''ho sent''' or ; '''ho lamente'''
★ This one: '''este''' (masc.); '''esta''' (fem.)
★ That one (near): '''eixe''' (masc.); '''eixa''' (fem.)
★ That one (far): '''aquell''' (masc.); '''aquella''' (fem.)
★ How much?: '''quant val?''' ; '''quant és?''' ; '''quant costa?'''
★ Yes: '''sí'''
★ No: '''no'''
★ I don't understand: '''no ho entenc''' ; '''no ho comprenc'''
★ Where's the bathroom?: '''on està el bany?''' ; '''on està el servici?'''
★ Generic toast: '''Jesús''' ; '''salut'''
★ Do you speak English?: '''parla anglés?''' ; '''sap parlar en anglés?'''
★ Do you speak Valencian?: '''parla valencià?''' ; '''sap parlar en 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''. — McGraw-Hill, 1993. — ISBN 0-8442-3755-8.
★ ''Colloquial Catalan''. — Toni Ibarz and Alexander Ibarz. — Routledge, 2005. — ISBN 0-415-23412-3.
Catalan courses are given at many universities both in Europe and in North America.
A free online Catalan course will be available from autumn 2007 at www.parlar.cat.
English words of Catalan origin
★
Allioli, from ''all i oli'', a typical sauce made by mixing
olive oil and
garlic with a
mortar and pestle.
★
Barracks, from old Catalan ''barraca'' (
hut) through
French ''baraque''.
[6]
★
Barracoon, from Catalan ''barraca'' (
hut) through
Spanish ''barracón''.
Pop Culture
In the
Aubrey–Maturin series by
Patrick O'Brian, the character of the naval surgeon
Stephen Maturin speaks Catalan natively, being of Irish-Catalan heritage. O'Brian himself was also fluent in Catalan.
In the 2002 film
L'Auberge espagnole by
Cédric Klapisch the character of Isabelle asks a Professor if he can speak in Spanish instead of Catalan to help accommodate the
ERASMUS_programme students (who don't understand Catalan).
In one notorious episode (The Girl Who Breaks Down) in the seventh cycle of
America's Next Top Model, the
models had to learn the Catalan language for
commercial for
Secret deodorant.
See also
★
Institut d'Estudis Catalans (Catalan Studies Institute)
★
Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua (Valencian Academy of the Language)
★
Pompeu Fabra
★
Catalan literature
★
Languages of France
★
★
★
Catalan names
★
★
Balearic
References
1. Ethnologue Report
2. ''Ramon'' in ''Diccionari Català Anglès'', Salvador Oliva i Angela Buxton, ''et al.'', Enciclopèdia Catalana, Barcelona, 2001, ISBN 84-85194-39-X.
3. ''Ramon'' in ''Diccionari Anglès Català'', Salvador Oliva i Angela Buxton, ''et al.'', Enciclopèdia Catalana, Barcelona, 2001, ISBN 84-85194-78-0.
4. 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 - Report from Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua about denomination and identity of Valencian.
5. http://www.crdp-montpellier.fr/cd66/artscult/fichesVauban/cdvauban/PERIODES/moyenagetempsmodernes/chateaucollioureinterdictioncatalan.pdf
6. Collins English Dictionary, , , , HarperCollins Publishers, 1991, ISBN 0-00-433286-5
External links
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
★
Catalan resources in the Web
★
GRAMÀTICA CATALANA A Catalan grammar
Dictionaries and phrasebooks
★
Catalan English Dictionary from
Webster's Online Dictionary - the Rosetta Edition
★
Diccionari Català de l'IEC
★
Diccionari Català-Valencià-Balear d'Alcover i Moll
★
Online Catalan dictionary from Enciclopèdia Catalana
★
Diccionari Invers de la Llengua Catalana
★
DACCO. Open source English-Catalan / Catalan-English dictionary project.
★ on
★
Learn Catalan!. An introduction for the Catalonia-bound traveler.
★
Interc@t. Set of electronic resources for learning the Catalan language and culture.
★
SisHiTra Online Spanish-Catalan / Catalan-Spanish text and web translator.
★
Traductor Online Catalan to English, French and Spanish and back translator.
Catalan-language media
★
''Televisió de Catalunya''
★
''Radiotelevisió valenciana''
★
''Catalunya Ràdio''
★
''RNE Ràdio 4 Catalunya''
★
El Periódico
★
Diari ''El Punt'' — Catalan-language daily newspaper
★
''VilaWeb'' The main Catalan online newspaper
★
Catalan Wikibooks
Catalan-language web searching
★
Yahoo! Català Searching in Catalan
★
Nosaltres.com
★
Google (Catalan language)
Catalan-language online encyclopedia
★
Enciclopèdia Catalana
★
Viquipèdia (Wikipedia in Catalan)