Catalan dialects
The dialects of the Catalan language feature a relative uniformity, especially when compared to other Romance languages;[4] both in terms of vocabulary, semantics, syntax, morphology, and phonology.[5] Mutual intelligibility between its dialects is very high,[6][7][8] estimates ranging from 90% to 95%.[9] The only exception is the isolated idiosyncratic Alguerese dialect.[4]
Overview
In 1861, linguist Manuel Milà i Fontanals split Catalan into two main dialects: Western and Eastern.[8][5] The most obvious phonetic difference lies in the treatment of unstressed a and e, which have merged to /ə/ in Eastern dialects, but remain distinct as /a/ and /e/ in Western dialects.[4][8] There are a few other differences in pronunciation, verbal morphology, and vocabulary.[6] Western Catalan comprises the two dialects of Northwestern Catalan and Valencian; the Eastern block comprises four dialects: Central Catalan, Balearic, Rossellonese or Northern Catalan, and Alguerese.[8] Each dialect can be further subdivided into several subdialects.
There are two spoken standards for the language based on the Eastern and Western dialects respectively:
- In Catalonia, the Institut d'Estudis Catalans (IEC) regulates the spoken standard based on Central Catalan, which has the highest number of speakers[8] and is spoken in the densely populated regions of the Barcelona province, the eastern half of the province of Tarragona, and most of the province of Girona.[8]
- In the Valencian Community, the Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua adapts the Fabran guidelines to the Valencian variety, and regulates an alternative spoken standard based on the Southern Valencian subdialect. Despite having fewer speakers than the Central Valencian subdialect,[10] Southern Valencian has been less influenced by Spanish. It is spoken in the South and North of the València and Alacante provinces respectively, in cities such as Gandia, Alcoi and Xàtiva.
Valencians are only surpassed in number of Catalan-speakers by Catalans themselves, representing approximately a third of the whole Catalan-speaking population.[10] Therefore, in the context of linguistic conflict, recognition and respect towards the dual standard, as well as the dual Catalan–Valencian denomination,[11] pacifies the tense central–periphery relations between Catalonia and the Valencian community.
| Block | WESTERN CATALAN | EASTERN CATALAN | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dialect | Northwestern | Valencian | Central | Balearic | Northern/Rossellonese | Alguerese |
| Area | Spain, Andorra | Spain | France | Italy | ||
| Andorra, Provinces of Lleida, western half of Tarragona, La Franja | Autonomous community of Valencia, Carche | Provinces of Barcelona, eastern half of Tarragona, most of Girona | Balearic islands | Roussillon/Northern Catalonia | City of Alghero in Sardinia | |
Pronunciation
Vowels
Catalan has inherited the typical vowel system of Vulgar Latin, with seven stressed phonemes: /a ɛ e i ɔ o u/, a common feature in Western Romance, except Spanish, Asturian, and Aragonese.[13] Balearic has also instances of stressed /ə/.[14] Dialects differ in the different degrees of vowel reduction,[15] and the incidence of the pair /ɛ e/.[16]
In Eastern Catalan (except Majorcan), unstressed vowels reduce to three: /a e ɛ/ → [ə]; /o ɔ u/ → [u]; /i/ remains distinct.[17] There are a few instances of unreduced [e], [o] in some words.[17] Alguerese has lowered [ə] to [a], similar to Eastern dialects spoken in the Barcelona metropolitan area (however, in the latter dialects the vowels are distinct as [ɐ] vs. [a]).
In Majorcan, unstressed vowels reduce to four: /a e ɛ/ follow the Eastern Catalan reduction pattern; however /o ɔ/ reduce to [o], with /u/ remaining distinct, as in Western Catalan.[18]
In Western Catalan, unstressed vowels reduce to five: /e ɛ/ → [e]; /o ɔ/ → [o]; /a u i/ remain distinct.[19][20] This reduction pattern, inherited from Proto-Romance, is also found in Italian and Portuguese.[19] Some Western dialects present further reduction or vowel harmony in some cases.[19][21]
Central, Western, and Balearic differ in the lexical incidence of stressed /e/ and /ɛ/.[16] Usually, words with /ɛ/ in central Catalan correspond to /ə/ in Balearic and /e/ in Western Catalan.[16] Words with /e/ in Balearic almost always have /e/ in central and western Catalan as well.[16] As a result, Western Catalan has a much higher incidence of /e/.[16]
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| Word pairs: the first with stressed root, the second with unstressed root | Western | Eastern | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Majorcan | Central | Northern | |||
| Front vowels |
gel ("ice") gelat ("ice cream") |
[ˈdʒɛl] [dʒeˈlat] | [ˈʒɛl] [ʒəˈlat] | [ˈʒel] [ʒəˈlat] | |
| pera ("pear") perera ("pear tree") |
[ˈpeɾa] [peˈɾeɾa] | [ˈpəɾə] [pəˈɾeɾə] | [ˈpɛɾə] [pəˈɾeɾə] | [ˈpeɾə] [pəˈɾeɾə] | |
| pedra ("stone") pedrera ("quarry") |
[ˈpeðɾa] [peˈðɾeɾa] | [ˈpeðɾə] [pəˈðɾeɾə] | |||
| banya ("he bathes") banyem ("we bathe") Majorcan: banyam ("we bathe") |
[ˈbaɲa] [baˈɲem] | [ˈbaɲə] [bəˈɲam] | [ˈbaɲə] [bəˈɲɛm] | [ˈbaɲə] [bəˈɲem] | |
| Back vowels |
cosa ("thing") coseta ("little thing") |
[ˈkɔza] [koˈzeta] | [ˈkɔzə] [koˈzətə] | [ˈkɔzə] [kuˈzɛtə] | [ˈkozə] [kuˈzetə] |
| tot ("everything") total ("total") |
[ˈtot] [toˈtal] | [ˈtot] [tuˈtal] | [ˈtut] [tuˈtal] | ||
Morphology
In verbs, the 1st person present indicative ending is -e (∅ in verbs of the 2nd and 3rd conjugation), or -o.
For parle, tem, sent (Valencian); parlo, temo, sento (North-Western). In verbs, the 1st person present indicative ending is -o, -i or ∅ in all conjugations.
For example, parlo (Central), parl (Balearic), parli (Northern), ('I speak').
| Conjugation class | Eastern Catalan | Western Catalan | Gloss | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Central | Northern | Balearic | Valencian | North-Western | ||
| First | parlo | parli | parl | parle or parlo | parlo | "I speak" |
| Second | temo | temi | tem | tem | temo | "I fear" |
| Third | sento | senti | sent | sent | sento | "I feel"/"I hear" |
In verbs, the inchoative desinences are -isc/-ixo, -ix, -ixen, -isca. In verbs, the inchoative desinences are -eixo, -eix, -eixen, -eixi.
In nouns and adjectives, maintenance of /n/ of medieval plurals in proparoxytone words.
E.g., hòmens 'men', jóvens 'youth'.
In nouns and adjectives, loss of /n/ of medieval plurals in proparoxytone words.
E.g., homes 'men', joves 'youth'.
Vocabulary
Despite its relative lexical unity, the two dialectal blocks of Catalan (Eastern and Western) show some differences in word choices.[24] Any lexical divergence within any of the two groups can be explained as an archaism. Also, usually Central Catalan acts as an innovative element.[24]
| Gloss | "mirror" | "boy" | "broom" | "navel" | "to exit" |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eastern Catalan | mirall | noi | escombra | llombrígol | sortir |
| Western Catalan | espill | xiquet | granera | melic | eixir |
References
- Feldhausen 2010, p. 6.
- Wheeler 2005, p. 2.
- Costa Carreras 2009, p. 4.
- Moll 1958, p. 47.
- Enciclopèdia Catalana, pp. 634–635.
- Wheeler 2005, p. 1.
- Costa Carreras & Yates 2009, p. 5.
- Feldhausen 2010, p. 5.
- Central Catalan has 90% to 95% inherent intelligibility for speakers of Valencian (1989 R. Hall, Jr.), cited on Ethnologue.
- Xarxa Cruscat de l'Institut d'Estudis Catalans
- "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 September 2015. Retrieved 28 September 2014.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
- Wheeler 2005, pp. 2–3.
- Enciclopèdia Catalana, p. 630.
- Wheeler 2005, pp. 37,53–54.
- Wheeler 2005, p. 37.
- Wheeler 2005, p. 38.
- Wheeler 2005, p. 54.
- Wheeler 2005, pp. 53–54.
- Wheeler 2005, p. 53.
- Carbonell & Llisterri 1999, pp. 54–55.
- Recasens 1996, pp. 75–76,128–129.
- Melchor & Branchadell 2002, p. 71.
- Wheeler 2005, pp. 53–55.
- Enciclopèdia Catalana, p. 632.
Bibliography
- 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. 54–55. ISBN 978-0-521-63751-0.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
- Feldhausen, Ingo (2010). Sentential Form and Prosodic Structure of Catalan. John Benjamins B.V. ISBN 978-90-272-5551-8.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
- Wheeler, Max (2005). The Phonology of Catalan. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-925814-7.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
- Costa Carreras, Joan; Yates, Alan (2009). The Architect of Modern Catalan: Selected Writings/Pompeu Fabra (1868–1948). Instutut d'Estudis Catalans & Universitat Pompeu Fabra & Jonh Benjamins B.V. ISBN 978-90-272-3264-9.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
- Moll, Francesc de B. (2006) [1958]. Gramàtica Històrica Catalana (in Catalan) (Catalan ed.). Universitat de València. ISBN 978-84-370-6412-3.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
- Recasens, Daniel (1996). Fonètica descriptiva del català: assaig de caracterització de la pronúncia del vocalisme i el consonantisme català al segle XX (2nd ed.). Barcelona: Institut d'Estudis Catalans. ISBN 9788472833128.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
- Melchor, Vicent de; Branchadell, Albert (2002). El catalán: una lengua de Europa para compartir (in Spanish). Bellaterra: Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. ISBN 84-490-2299-1.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
- Ferrater; et al. (1973). "Català". Enciclopèdia Catalana (in Catalan). 4 (1977, corrected ed.). Barcelona: Enciclopèdia Catalana. pp. 628–639. ISBN 84-85-194-04-7.