Catalan, Valencian Català, Valencià Spoken in  Spain  Catalonia  Valencian Community  Balearic Islands (for Western Strip) (for Carche)  France Northern Catalonia in the Eastern Pyrenees department  Italy The city of Alghero in Sardinia  Andorra Total speakers 13,5 million (2009) Language family Indo-European Italic Romance Italo-Western Western Romance Gallo-Iberian Gallo-Romance Occitano-Romance Catalan, Valencian Official status Official language in In Spain: Catalonia, Valencian Community, Balearic Islands. In Andorra. In Italy: Alghero. Regulated by Institut d'Estudis Catalans Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua Language codes ISO 639-1 ca ISO 639-2 cat ISO 639-3 either: cat – Catalan cat – Valencian Linguasphere – Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. The Catalan-Valencian cultural domain Language Grammar Phonology and orthography Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua Institut d'Estudis Catalans History History of Catalonia · Counts of Barcelona Kingdom of Majorca · Kingdom of Valencia Crown of Aragon · Military history of Catalonia Catalan constitutions · Furs of Valencia Treaty of the Pyrenees · Nueva Planta decrees Geo-political divisions Catalonia · Valencian Community · Balearic Islands Northern Catalonia · Franja de Ponent Andorra · L'Alguer · Carxe All the above territories together: Països Catalans Government and Politics Generalitat de Catalunya Generalitat Valenciana Govern de les Illes Balears Consell General de les Valls (Andorra) General Council of the Pyrénées-Orientales Politics of Catalonia Catalan nationalism Traditions Castells · Correfoc · Falles · Sardana ·  Moros i cristians · Caganer · Tió de Nadal Muixeranga · Nit de Sant Joan Botifarra · Barça · Paella · Rumba Myths and legends Arts Catalan literature · Antoni Gaudí · Modernisme La Renaixença · Noucentisme · Joaquim Sorolla Salvador Dalí · Joan Miró · Antoni Tàpies Santiago Calatrava This box: view · talk · Decree banning the Catalan language Catalan (English pronunciation: /kætəˈlæn/, /ˈkætəlæn/, /ˈkætələn/;1 Catalan: català [kətəˈɫa] or [kataˈla]) is a Romance language, the national and the only official language of Andorra, and a co-official language in the Spanish autonomous communities of Catalonia, the Balearic Islands and Valencian Community, where it is known as Valencian (valencià [valensiˈa]), as well as in the city of Alghero on the Italian island of Sardinia. It is also spoken, with no official recognition, in the autonomous communities of Aragon (in La Franja) and Murcia (in Carche) in Spain, and in the historic Roussillon region of southern France, roughly equivalent to the current département of the Pyrénées-Orientales (Northern Catalonia). Although recognized as a regional language of the Région Pyrénées-Orientales 2 since 2007, Catalan has no official recognition in France, as French is the only official language of that country, according to the French Constitution of 1958.3 Contents 1 History 1.1 Middle Ages 1.2 18th century to the present: France 1.3 18th century to the present: Spain 1.4 Current number of speakers 2 Classification 3 Features of Catalan language 3.1 Vowel system 3.2 Consonant system 3.3 Morphology 3.4 Vocabulary 3.5 Writing System 4 Geographic distribution 4.1 Number of Catalan speakers 4.1.1 Territories where Catalan is official (or co-official) 4.1.2 Other territories 4.1.3 World 5 Dialects 6 Standards 7 Status of Valencian 8 Sounds and writing system 9 Grammar 10 Catalan names 11 Examples 12 English words of Catalan origin 13 See also 14 References 15 External links 15.1 Institutions 15.2 About the Catalan language 15.3 Monolingual dictionaries 15.4 Bilingual and multilingual dictionaries 15.5 Automated translation systems 15.6 Phrasebooks 15.7 Learning resources 15.8 Catalan-language online encyclopedia // History See also: History of Catalonia and Language politics in Spain under Franco Middle Ages The Catalan language developed from Vulgar Latin on both sides of the eastern end of the Pyrenees mountains (counties of Rosselló, Empúries, Besalú, Cerdanya, Urgell, Pallars and Ribagorça). It shares origin and features with Gallo-Romance, Ibero-Romance, and the Gallo-Italian speech types of Northern Italy. Though some hypothesize a historical split from languages of Occitan typology, the area from Liguria on the present Italian coast to Alicante in Spain can be viewed as a classic dialect continuum, with some perturbation as a result of political divisions and overlay of standard national languages.

As a consequence of the Aragonese and Catalan conquests from Al-Andalus to the south and to the west, it spread to present-day Catalonia, the Balearic Islands and most of the Valencian Community. In the 15th century, during the Valencian Golden Age, Catalan literature reached its apex, which was not matched again until La Renaixença, 4 centuries later. 18th century to the present: France After the Treaty of the Pyrenees, a royal decree by Louis XIV of France on 2 April 1700, prohibited the use of Catalan language in present-day Northern Catalonia in all official documents under the threat of being invalidated.4 Since then, the Catalan language has lacked official status in the Catalan-speaking region in France. On 10 December 2007, the General Council of the Pyrénées-Orientales officially recognized the Catalan language as one of the languages of the department in the ARTICLE 1 (a) of its Charte en faveur du Catalan5 (b), and seek to further promote it in public life and education. (a) «ARTICLE 1 : The General Council of the Pyrénées-Orientales officially recognizes, beside the French language, the Catalan as language of the department. (Le Conseil Général des Pyrénées-Orientales reconnaît officiellement, au côté de la langue française, le catalan comme langue du département.')» (b) Carta a favor del Català6 See also Language policy in France 18th century to the present: Spain After the Nueva Planta Decrees, administrative use of 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 in place of 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 initially forbidden, but was permitted from the early 1950s7 in the theatre. Publishing in Catalan continued throughout the dictatorship.8 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.9 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"), Ara ("Now") 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 (culture channel), Super3/3XL (cartoons channel) as well as a 24-hour news channel 3/24 and the sports channel Esport 3; in València Canal 9, 24/9 and Punt 2; in the Balearic islands IB3; in Catalonia there are also some private channels such as 8TV and Barça TV. There are also many local channels available in region in Catalan. Current number of speakers This section requires expansion. The number of persons fluent in Catalan varies depending on the sources used. 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, by matching 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 The ascription of Catalan to the Occitano-Romance branch of Gallo-Romance languages is not shared by all linguists, particularly those from Spanish-speaking areas; furthermore, many modern linguists consider any internal classification of the Romance languages a pointless task. According to Pierre Bec, its specific classification is as follows Indo-European languages Italic languages Romance languages Italo-Western languages Western Italo-Western languages Gallo-Romance Occitano-Romance Aquitanopirenenc stem. Catalan language Catalan bears varying degrees of similarity to the linguistic varieties subsumed under the cover term Occitan language. (See also Occitan language: Differences between Occitan and Catalan and Gallo-Romance languages.) The Crown of Aragon's monarchs between 1157 and 1410 were native speakers of Aragonese and Catalan languages as well as being proficient in Occitan.citation needed

Thus, as it should be expected from closely related languages, Catalan today shares many traits with other Romance languages, with similarities typically decreasing with geographical distance. Features of Catalan language Homilies of Organyà: First manuscript in Catalan As a member of the dialect continuum of Romance languages, Catalan evinces linguistic features similar to those of its closest neighbors (Occitan, Aragonese). The following features represent in some cases unique changes in the evolution of Catalan from Vulgar Latin; other features are common in other Romance-speaking areas. Vowel system Common features with Gallo-Romance: Loss of final unstressed vowels except -A (MURU 'wall', FLORE 'flower'→ mur, flor); cf. the maintenance of all final vowels except -E in Ibero-Romance (Spanish muro but flor); Italo-Romance maintains all final vowels (ITmuro, fiore). Common features with Occitan: Richness of diphthongs and monosyllabic words: ([aj] mai -never-, [ej] rei -king-, [aw] cau -he falls-, [ew] beu -he drinks-, [ow] pou -a well-...) Distinguishing features from Gallo-Romance: Preservation of Latin -Ū- as [u] (LUNA moon: Oriental Catalan lluna [ˈʎunə], Occidental Catalan lluna [ˈʎuna/ɛ], Occitan luna [ˈlyno], French lune [ˈlyn]). Features that distinguish Catalan from Spanish: Maintenance of Vulgar Latin stressed Ĕ and Ŏ (short "e" and "o") [ɛ] and [ɔ] respectively (TĔRRA 'land'→ terra [ˈtɛra]/[ˈtɛrə]; FŎCUS 'fire'→ foc [fɔk]); cf. Spanish diphthongs in tierra, fuego Distinguishing features from Occitan (generally): Diphthong -AU- reduced to open [ɔ] (CAULIS, PAUCU → col 'cabbage', poc 'not much'). Features shared with other Western Romance (Southern Lengadocian, Ibero-Romance): The group -ACT- becomes -ET (LACTE 'milk', FACTU 'done; fact' → *lleit, *feit → llet, fet) Consonant system Feature shared with Western Romance: Voicing of intervocalic -P-, -T-, -C- into -b-, -d-, -g- (CAPRA 'goat', CATENA 'chain', SECURU 'safe' → cabra, cadena, segur) Features shared with Gallo-Romance: Preservation of initial PL-, CL-, FL- (PLICARE 'fold', CLAVE 'key', FLORE 'flower' → aplegar 'to reach', clau, flor); cf. palatalization of these initial clusters in Spanish llegar, llave, Portuguese chegar, chave). As in French and Occitan, final voiceless consonants are voiced when the first sound of the next word is a vowel or a voiced consonant (progressive voicing assimilation. This voicing affects [s], [t], [p], [ʃ], [k] and [tʃ], which become [z], [d], [b], [ʒ], [ɡ] and [dʒ], respectively. Examples (in Valencian pronunciation): els homes 'the men' [els] + [ɔmes] → [elzɔmes]; peix bo 'good fish' [peʃ] + [bɔ] → [peʒbɔ]; blat bord 'bread wheat' [blat] + [boɾ(t)] → [bladˈboɾ(t)]. Features shared with Occitan (specifically Languedocien) Loss of word-final (originally intervocalic) -N: PANE, VINU → pa, vi 'bread', 'wine'. Unlike in Languedoc and Northern Catalan, plural forms conserve this [n]: pans, vins. De-voicing of final voiced consonants: verd [veɾt] 'green', àrab ['aɾap] 'Arabic' Catalan shows a rare evolution of an early [ts] (from Latin -D-, and -C- when followed by a front vowel E or I, or from the second-person plural verb ending -TIS) to-u [w]: PEDE(M) 'foot', CREDIT 'he believes'→ peu 'foot', (ell) creu CRUCE(M) → creu 'cross') Second-person plural verb ending -TIS: MIRATIS → *miratz → mirau → mirau/mireu 'you (pl.) look'. Consonantal palatalisations common to many modern Romance languages, resulting from the combination of a consonant plus yod (palatal semi-vowel) from a variety of sources: /k/ + [e], [i], [j] → *[ts] → [s]; CAELU 'sky, heaven'→ cel [sɛl]. /ɡ/ + [e], [i], [j] → *[dʒ] → [dʒ]/[ʒ]; GELU 'ice' → gel [dʒɛl]/[ʒɛl]. /j/ → *[dʒ] → [dʒ]/[ʒ]; IACTARE 'lay down' → gitar [dʒiˈtar]/[dʒiˈta]/[ʒiˈta] -L+yod-, -LL-, -C'L-, -T'L- → ll [ʎ]; MULIERE 'wife'→ muller ; CABALLU 'horse' → cavall, AURICULA 'ear'→ *oric'la → orella; UETULUS 'old' → *vet'lu → vell.In some cases like villa → vila 'town' the gemination has been simplified. -N+yod-, -GN-, -NN- → ny [ɲ]; LIGNA 'firewood' → llenya ; ANNUS 'year' → any (cf. Spanish año). Less common among Romance languages, but attested elsewhere: Palatalization of initial L- (LUNA 'moon', LEGE 'law' → lluna, llei). This feature can be found as well in the Foix dialect of Occitan and in Astur-Leonese. Palatalization of -X- [ks], -SC- sk to [jʃ]/[ʃ] (COXA 'thigh', PISCE 'fish' → cuixa, peix). Verbs of the third conjugation (-IRE) that took what was originally an inchoative infix (-ISC-) show this palatalization: SERVESCIT 'serve' (3sg pres indic)→ serveix/servix) Other innovations can also be found in other Romance languages: Reduction of consonant clusters -MB-, -ND- → -m-, -n- respectively: CAMBA 'leg', MANDARE 'to send, to lead', BINDA 'bandage'> cama, manar, bena, also found in Gascon and southern Languedoc. Presence of double consonants: setmana [səmˈmanə] 'week', cotna [ˈkonnə] 'pork rind, bitllet [biʎˈʎɛt] 'note, ticket', atleta [əlˈlɛtə] 'athlete', intel·ligent [intelliˈʒen(t)] 'intelligent' (also found in Italian). Morphology The definite articles el, la, els, les derive from Latin demonstratives ILLE, ILLA. The older forms lo (masc. sing.) and los (masc. pl.) are still common nowadays in some western dialects and in Algherese. Several varieties of the Catalan language (Balearic Islands, Costa Brava, and Tàrbena) have maintained an article called "salat" (< Latin IPSE, IPSA > es, sa), probably formed before the variants of ILLE developed. Singular articles are elided before vowel-initial words, in speech and writing: el + home > l'home 'the man', la+estació > l'estació 'the station'. Possessive adjectives are formed with the definite article (el meu gos 'my dog') like in Italian (il mio cane), Portuguese (o meu cão) and in many Occitan dialects (Roergas, Languedocien and Pyrenean Gascon). Weak forms of possessive adjectives (mon, ma, mos, mes, etc.) are fossilized for certain usages, as close familiar relatives or in order to express a high degree of affection (for instance: mon pare 'my dad'; in Valencian ma casa 'my home', ma vida 'my life'). Also note the postposition of the possessive to express particular nuances, e.g. casa meva (my home) as different from la meva casa (my house, a house of mine). Plurals are formed in a number of ways: -a becomes -es (casa 'house' > cases). Most consonant- and vowel-final words (except -a) add -s: noi 'boy' > nois, detall 'detail' > detalls Words ending in sibilants (-s, -ç, -x, -ig) and certain clusters (-sc, -st, -xt) may form plurals with -os: gos 'dog' > gossos, peix 'fish' > peixos Words ending in a stressed vowel often take -ns: pi 'pine' > pins, cinturó 'belt' > cinturons (but esquí 'ski' > esquís, tabú 'taboo' > tabús) Partitive: While Catalan patterns with Ibero-Romance in the lack of a partitive article (vull pa 'I want some bread', cf. Spanish quiero pan but French je veux du pain), it does have a partitive pronoun, like in Gallo-Romance languages: jo en tinc tres 'I have three of them'(Spanish tengo tres but French j'en ai trois). The construction used to express punctual/perfective aspect in the past tense is one of the most distinctive features of Catalan. It is a periphrasis formed with a special conjugation of anar 'to go', that comes from the Latin verb VADERE, plus the infinitive form of the main verb. For example: jo vaig dir 'I said'. This construction has almost completely replaced the historical simple past form (jo diguí), which corresponds to the Spanish preterit, French passé simple. Vocabulary

The basic vocabulary shows more affinities with the Gallo-Romance group than with Ibero-Romance. These similarities are most notable with Occitan (examples below are from Languedocian). FENESTRA > finestra -window- (Oc. fenèstra/finèstra, Fr. fenêtre, It. finestra) i VENTUS > ventana (Spa.), janela (Port.) MANDUCARE > menjar -to eat- (Oc. manjar, Fr. manger, It. mangiare) i COMEDERE > comer (Spa. and Port.) MATUTINU > matí -morning- (Oc. matin, Fr. matin, It. mattino/mattina) i HORA MANEANA > mañana (Spa.), amanhã (port.), PARABOLARE > parlar -to speak- (Oc. parlar, Fr. parler, It. parlare) i FAVOLARE > hablar (Spa.), falar (Port.). TABULA > taula -table- (Oc. taula, Fr. table, It. tavola) i MENSA > mesa (Spa. and Port.). Writing System The Catalan writing system has a number of distinctive features. The graph geminated L -l·l- is composed of an interpunct between two "l" (e.g. intel·ligent -intelligent- or novel·la -novel-) and is used to distinguish phonetically [ll] from [ʎ] (written "ll" like in Spanish). Another special digraph is "-ny-" [ɲ], found in Hungarian language and in some African languages. Also of note is the final digraph -ig, pronounced [tʃ] after a vowel (faig -I do-, maig -May-, puig -hill-, raig -thunder-, roig -red-, vaig -I go-, veig -I see-) and [itʃ] after a consonant (mig -half-, desig -desire-). The combination of 't' + consonant is pronounced as a geminate of the second consonant: "tm" [mm], "tn" [nn], "tl" [ll] and "tll" [ʎʎ] and the affrication: "ts" [ts], "tz" [dz], "tg" and "tj" [dʒ] (setmana -week-, cotna -pork rind-, Betlem -Betlehem-, bitllet -bank note-, potser -maybe-, dotze -twelve-, jutge -judge-, platja -beach-). Geographic distribution Catalan is spoken in: Catalonia (Catalunya), in Spain. Most of the Valencian Community (Comunitat Valenciana), in Spain, where it is called Valencian. An adjacent strip (La Franja) of Aragon, Spain, in particular the comarques of Ribagorça, Llitera, Baix Cinca, and Matarranya. Balearic Islands (Illes Balears i Pitiüses), in Spain. Andorra (Principat d'Andorra). Northern Catalonia (Catalunya Nord : name used officially for the first time on 10 December 2007 by the General Council of the Pyrénées-Orientales), in France. The city of Alghero (l'Alguer) in Sardinia, Italy. A small region in Murcia, Spain, known as Carche (El Carxe in Catalan). These areas are referred to by some as Catalan Countries (Catalan: Països Catalans), a denomination based on cultural affinity and common heritage, that has also had a subsequent political interpretation but no official status. Number of Catalan speakers Territories where Catalan is official (or co-official) Region Understands 10 Can speak 10 Catalonia (Spain) 6,502,880 5,698,400 Balearic Islands (Spain) 852,780 706,065 Valencian Community (as Valencian) (Spain) 3,448,780 2,407,951 Andorra 75,407 61,975 Northern Catalonia (France) 203,121 125,621 TOTAL 11,082,968 9,000,012 Figures relate to all self-declared capable speakers, not just native speakers. Other territories Region Understands 10 Can speak 10 Alguer (Sardinia, Italy) 20,000 17,625 Franja de Ponent 47,250 45,000 El Carxe (Murcia) No data No data Rest of World No data 350,000 TOTAL 417,250 412,625 Figures relate to all self-declared capable speakers, not just native speakers. World Region Understands 10 Can speak 10 Catalan-speaking territories (Europe) 11,082,968 9,000,621 Rest of World No data 350,000 TOTAL 11,082,968 9,412,637 Notes: The number of people who understand Catalan includes those who can speak it. Dialects In 1861, Manuel Milà i Fontanals proposed a division of Catalan into two major dialect blocks: Eastern Catalan and Western Catalan. The different Catalan dialects show deep differences in lexicon, grammar, morphology and pronunciation due to historical isolation. Each dialect also encompasses several regional varieties. 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).citation needed 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: [a e i o u]. Distinctions between e and a and o and u. Initial or post-consonantal x is an affricate /tʃ/ (there are exceptions in Xàtiva, xarxa, Xavier, xenofòbia... these are pronounced with /ʃ/). Between vowels or when final and preceded by i, it is /jʃ/. 1st person present indicative is -e or -o. Latin long /eː/ and short /i/ have become /e/. Inchoative verbs 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 /e/, /ɛ/ and /a/ become /ə/ when unstressed, and /o/, /ɔ/ and /u/ become [u]. Initial or post-consonantal x is the fricative /ʃ/. Between vowels or when final and preceded by i it is also /ʃ/. 1st person present indicative is -o, -i or there is no marker. Latin long /eː/ and short /i/ have become /ɛ/ (In most of Balearic Catalan they are pronounced [ə] and in Alguerese [e]). Inchoative verbs in -eix, -eixen, -eixi. The -n- of medieval nasal plural is dropped in proparoxytone 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 into two major dialect blocks and those blocks into individual dialects: Western Catalan North-Western Catalan Ribagorçà (from Ribagorça, a region of Catalonia) Pallarès (from Pallars) Ribagorçà (from Ribagorça) Tortosí (from Tortosa) South-Western (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 Vall de Gallinera Valencian municipalities Eastern Catalan 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 There are two main standards for Catalan language, one regulated by the Institut d'Estudis Catalans (IEC), general standard, with Pompeu Fabra's orthography as axis, keeping features from Central Catalan, and the other regulated by the Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua (AVL), 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 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 ([ɛ] in Eastern Catalan and [e] in Western Catalan). Despite this, AVL's standard keeps grave accent "è", without pronouncing this "e" [ɛ], 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 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 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 the Balearic Islands, IEC's standard is used but adapted for the 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) but the University says that the priority form in the Balearic Islands must be "cantam" in all fields. Another feature of the Balearic standard is the non-ending in the 1st person singular present indicative: "jo 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 definite article lo instead of el, special possessive pronouns and determinants la mia (mine), lo sou/la sua (his/her), lo tou/la tua (yours), and so on, the use of -v- 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. Status of Valencian Main article: Valencian This section does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (October 2009) Sub-varieties 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.11 All universities teaching Romance languages, and virtually all linguists, consider these two to be linguistic variants of the same language (similar to Canadian French versus Metropolitan French, and European versus Brazilian Portuguese).

There is a roughly continuous set of dialects covering the regional forms of Catalan/Valencian, with no break at the border between Catalonia and the Valencian Community,citation needed and the various forms of Catalan and Valencian are mutually intelligible.citation needed This is not to say that there are no differences between them; the speech of Valencians is recognizable both in pronunciation as well as in morphological and lexical peculiarities. However, these 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). What gets called a language (as opposed to a dialect) is defined partly by mutual comprehensibility as well as political and cultural factors. In this case, the perceived status of Valencian as a dialect of Catalan has historically had important political implications including Catalan nationalism and the idea of the Països Catalans or Catalan countries. Arguing that Valencian is a separate language may sometimes be part of an effort by Valencians to resist a perceived Catalan nationalist agenda aimed at incorporating Valencians into what they feel is a "constructed" nationality centered on Barcelona.citation needed As such, 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.citation needed 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.12 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 identical: the government of Catalonia accepted the Valencian translation without any changes under the premise that the Valencian standard is accepted by the norms set forth by the IEC.citation needed Catalan may be seen instead as a multi-centric language (much like English); there exist two standards, one for Oriental Catalan, regulated by the IEC, which is centered on Central Catalan (with slight variations to include Balearic verb inflection) and one for Occidental, regulated by the AVL, centered on Valencian. The AVL accepts the conventions set forth in the Normes de Castelló as the normative spelling, shared with the IEC that allows for the diverse idiosyncrasies of the different language dialects and varieties. As the normative spelling, these conventions are used in education, and most contemporary Valencian writers make use of them. Nonetheless, a small minority mainly of those who advocate for the recognition of Valencian as a separate language, use in a non-normative manner an alternative spelling convention known as the Normes del Puig. Sounds and writing system Main articles: Catalan phonology and Catalan orthography Vowels of Standard Eastern Catalan, from Carbonell & Llisterri (1999:62) Catalan consonants13 Bilabial Labio- dental Dental/ Alveolar Palatal Velar Nasal m n ɲ ŋ Plosive voiceless p t (c) ~ k voiced b d (ɟ) ~ ɡ Affricate voiceless (ts) tʃ voiced (dz) dʒ Fricative voiceless f s ʃ voiced (v) z ʒ Trill r Tap ɾ Approximant j w Lateral l ʎ Grammar Main article: Catalan 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 Maria Badia i Margarit was published, which also documents the Valencian and Balearic varieties. The grammar of Catalan follows the general pattern of Western Romance languages. The primary word order is SVO (Subject-Verb-Object).14 Substantives and adjectives are not declined by case, as in Classical Latin. There are two grammatical genders—masculine and feminine. Grammatical articles developed from Latin demonstratives. The form of the article depends on the gender and the number of the subject 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 subject 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 Catalan naming customs are similar to those of Spain; people receive two last names – their father's and their mother's – which are separated by the particle "i", meaning "and". (In Spanish the equivalent particle is written y, but often omitted altogether.) 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 This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. Some phrases in the Central dialect -Barcelona and outskirts-: Catalan: català [kətəˈɫa] Hello: hola [ˈɔɫə] Good-bye: adéu [əˈðew]; adéu-siau [əˈðew siˈaw]; siau [siˈaw]; 'déu [ˈdew] (colloquial use) Please: si us plau or sisplau [sisˈpɫaw]; per favor [ˈpəɾ fəˈβo] Thank you: gràcies [ˈɡɾasiəs]; mercès [məɾˈsɛs]; merci [ˈmɛɾsi] (colloquial use) Sorry: perdó [pəɾˈðo], em sap greu [əmsabˈɡɾew]; ho sento [uˈsentu] This one: aquest [əˈkɛt] (masc.); aquesta [əˈkɛstə] (fem.) How much?: quant val? [ˈkwamˈbaɫ]; quant és? [ˈkwanˈtes] Yes: sí [ˈsi] No: no [ˈno] I don't understand (it): no ho entenc [ˈnowənˈteŋ] Where's the bathroom?: On és el bany? [ˈoˈnezəɫˈβaɲ]; On és el lavabo? [ˈoˈnezəɫɫəˈβaβu]; On és el servei? [ˈoˈnezəɫsəɾˈβɛj] Generic toast: salut! [səˈɫut]; Bless you! (after sneezing): Jesús [ʒəˈzus]; salut! [səˈɫut] Do you speak Catalan? (informal singular, addressing as tu using 2nd person singular): Que parles català? [kəˈpaɾɫəz kətəˈɫa] Do you speak Catalan? (formal singular, addressing as vostè using 3rd person singular): Que parla català? [kəˈpaɾɫə kətəˈɫa] Do you speak Catalan? (informal plural, addressing as vosaltres using 2nd person plural): Que parleu català? [kəpəɾˈɫɛw kətəˈɫa] Do you speak Catalan? (formal plural, addressing as vostès using 3rd person plural): Que parlen català? [kəˈpaɾɫən kətəˈɫa] The same phrases pronounced as in the standard Valencian: Valencian: valencià [valensiˈa] Hello: hola [ˈɔla] Good-bye: adéu [aˈðew] Please: per favor [peɾ faˈvoɾ] Thank you: gràcies [ˈɡɾasies] Sorry: perdó [peɾˈðo]; ; ho sent [uˈsent] or [uˈseŋk] This one: este [ˈeste] (masc.); esta [ˈesta] (fem.) How much?: quant val? [ˈkwaɱˈvaɫ]; quant és? [ˈkwanˈtes] Yes: sí [ˈsi] No: no [ˈno] I don't understand: no ho entenc [ˈnowanˈteŋ] Where's the bathroom?: on és el bany? [oˈnezeɫˈβaɲ] Generic toast: salut! [saˈlut] Bless you! (after sneezing): Jesús! [dʒeˈzus]; salut! [saˈlut] Do you speak Valencian?: parles valencià? [ˈpaɾlez valensiˈa] 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.citation needed Aubergine, from Catalan albergínia15 through French Barracks, from Old Catalan barraca (hut) through French baraque.16 Another term Barracoon, from Catalan barraca (hut) through Spanish barracón.16 Surge, from Middle French, which took it from Old Catalan surgir15 Paella, Valencian Catalan, via Old French paele, ultimately from Latin patella (small dish)15 See also Catalan-speaking Countries portal Spain portal France portal Language portal Catalan language edition of Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Catalan orthography Catalan phonology Catalan conjugation 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 ^ Catalan. Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random House, Inc. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Catalan (accessed: March 20, 2010). ^ Charte en faveur du Catalan ^ French Constitution, 1958: Article 2. The language of the Republic shall be French. ^ L'interdiction de la langue catalane en Roussillon par Louis XIV; taken from the website "CRDP de l'académie de Montpellier" ^ "Charte en faveur du Catalan". Cg66.fr. 2004-07-28. http://www.cg66.fr/culture/patrimoine_catalanite/catalanite/charte.html. Retrieved 2010-05-16. dead link ^ "Carta a favor de la llengua i la cultura catalanes". Cg66.fr. 2004-07-28. http://www.cg66.fr/culture/patrimoine_catalanite/catalanite/index.html. Retrieved 2010-05-16. dead link ^ Marc Howard Ross, "Cultural Contestation in Ethnic Conflict", page 139. Cambridge University Press, 2007. ^ The Resurgence of Catalan Earl W. Thomas Hispania, Vol. 45, No. 1 (Mar., 1962), pp. 43–48 doi:10.2307/337523 ^ Orden del Excmo. Sr. Gobernador Civil de Barcelona. EL USO DEL IDIOMA NACIONAL EN TODOS LOS SERVICIOS PÚBLICOS. 1940. ^ a b c d e f 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]. Land of Valencia: Statistical data from 2001 census, from Institut Valencià d'Estadística, Generalitat Valenciana [3]. Balearic Islands: Statistical data from 2001 census, from Institut Balear d'Estadística, Govern de les Illes Balears [4]. Northern Catalonia: Media Pluriel Survey commissioned by Prefecture of Languedoc-Roussillon Region done in October 1997 and published in January 1998 [5]. Andorra: Sociolinguistic data from Andorran Government, 1999. Aragon: Sociolinguistic data from Euromosaic [6]. Alguer: Sociolinguistic data from Euromosaic [7]. Rest of World: Estimate for 1999 by the Federació d'Entitats Catalanes outside the Catalan Countries. ^ 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. ^ Isabel I Vilar, Ferran. “Traducció única de la Constitució europea.” I-Zefir. 30 Oct. 2004. 29 Apr. 2009 <http://www.mail-archive.com/infozefir@listserv.rediris.es/msg00442.html>. ^ Carbonell, Joan F.; Llisterri, Joaquim (1999), "Catalan", Handbook of the International Phonetic Association: A Guide to the usage of the International Phonetic Alphabet, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 61–65, ISBN 0-521-63751-1  ^ Wals.info ^ a b c Philip Babcock Gove, ed (1993). Webster's Third New International Dictionary. Merriam-Webster, inc.. ISBN 3-8290-5292-8.  ^ a b Collins English Dictionary. HarperCollins Publishers. 1991. ISBN 0-00-433286-5.  Wheeler, Max; Yates, Alan; Dols, Nicolau (1999), Catalan: A Comprehensive Grammar, London: Routledge  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 Catalan phrasebook on Wikitravel Learning resources Catalan Swadesh list of basic vocabulary words (from Wiktionary's Swadesh list appendix) 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 v · d · eRomance languages  Italo-Western  Gallo-Iberian Gallo-Italic Ligurian Brigasc · Genoese · Intemelio · Mentonasc · Monégasque Lombard Eastern · Gallo-Sicilian · Western Others Emiliano-Romagnolo · Piedmontese · Venetian Gallo-Rhaetian Langues d'oïl Burgundian · Champenois · Frainc-Comtou · French · Gallo · Lorrain · Norman · Picard · Poitevin · Saintongeais · Walloon Rhaeto-Romance Friulian · Ladin · Romansh Others Arpitan Occitano- Romance Catalan Algherese · Balearic · Central · Valencian Occitan Auvergnat · Gascon · Languedocien · Limousin · Old Occitan · Provençal · Shuadit · Vivaro-Alpine Ibero-Romance Astur-Leonese Asturian · Cantabrian · Extremaduran · Leonese · Mirandese Portuguese African (Angolan, Cape Verdean, Guinean, Mozambican, São Tomean) · East Timorese · Macanese · Brazilian · European (Barranquenho) Galician Eonavian · Fala Spanish (Castilian) African (Equatoguinean) · Latin American (South American, Caribbean, Central American, North American) · Asian · Peninsular (Ladino / Caló) Italo-Dalmatian Italian Central · Corsican (Gallurese) · Sassarese · Tuscan Neapolitan Southern Italian dialects Pyrenean Navarro-Aragonese (Aragonese) · Mozarabic Others Dalmatian · Istriot · Judeo-Italian · Sicilian  Eastern and Southern Eastern Romanian Moldovan · Vlach Others Aromanian · Istro-Romanian · Megleno-Romanian Southern Sardinian Campidanese · Logudorese Italics indicate extinct languages; bold indicates languages with more than 5 million speakers; languages between parenthesis are varieties of the language on their left. v · d · eLatin Union Member nations Andorra · Angola · Bolivia · Brazil · Cape Verde · Chile · Colombia · Costa Rica · Côte d'Ivoire · Cuba · Dominican Republic · East Timor · Ecuador · El Salvador · France · Guatemala · Guinea-Bissau · Haiti · Honduras · Italy · Mexico · Moldova · Monaco · Mozambique · Nicaragua · Panama · Paraguay · Peru · Philippines · Portugal · Romania · San Marino · São Tomé and Príncipe · Senegal · Spain · Uruguay · Venezuela Permanent observers Argentina · Holy See · Sovereign Military Order of Malta Official languages Catalan · French · Italian · Portuguese · Romanian · Spanish