The Catalan (as a Catalan: Ca català ) is a Langue pertaining to the Romance branch of the family of the Indo-European Langues. It counts between 9,1 and 10 million speakers in Catalogne, in the Valencian Pays (where it is called Valencian), in the Balearic Islands, a small portion of the Aragon (the Franja de Ponent ), in Andorre (where it is only the Official language), in major the part of the the Eastern Pyrenees) and with Alghero in Sardinia. It is resulting from the vulgar Latin of the Catalan Pyrenees (v. 900). Since, in certain territories of the Catalan Countries (mainly those built-in within the Kingdom of Spain), it was subject to the influence of the Spanish Castillan or , as testify some to many doublets ( cercar / buscar , restar / quedar , vós / vostè , etc). It is however completely absurd to present it as a dialect of the Spanish (just like it would be erroneous to introduce French like a dialect of Italian), being even surely slightly former to him.

In opposition to the Castilian , which was essential in fact (and often of force) on most of Spain, a strong claim was born in Catalogne requiring the official recognition from the Catalan, who was reacquise as of the death of Franco. This recognition was required also by the Spanish government near the European commission in 2004 (because approximately 10 million people speaks the Catalan in Europe, much more than the Danish, the Maltais or the Estonian and as much, for example, than the Swedish). Today, in the European Union, it is possible to use the Catalan, although it is not official language.

The intercommunicability (oral and written) between the various alternatives of the Catalan is approximately 95%. One distinguishes usually two dialectal big families. Firstly, the " family; orientale" who includes/understands the central Catalan, spoken in Barcelona and Girone, and the insular Catalan, spoken in the Balearic Islands and the Roussillonnais. The second big family is called - by opposition - “Western” and gathers the Catalan north-Westerner, spoken around Lleida, as well as Valencian. Comprehension (oral and written) with the Occitan is also rather good. In addition to the Occitan (see sentence 1), the Catalan refers common with the French or more precisely the Former French (sentences 2 and 3), the Rhéto-roman and the Castillan (sentence 4):

  1. EM fraud/EM F pena that OJ sigui/siga which digui/diga in veu Alta el that tots pensem: caldria anarchist has consultar el metge, això No F not course badly has ningú.
    (occitan: oc me dòl that siá ieu that diga of votz auta çò that totes pensam: calriá anarchist consultar lo metge, aquò F not course of evil has degun.)
    (French: that pains to me to aloud say what we all think: it would be necessary to go to consult the doctor, that does not make of evil to anybody).

  2. Ca the art of traduïr be molt difícil. (Spanish: be el arte to traducir are muy difícil )
  3. Ca the pacific police force són. (Spanish: be tired fuerzas LED orden its pacíficas )
  4. Ca Han of comunicar of seguida the notícia/nova Al director (Spanish: be Han de/Tienen that Deben comunicar in seguida noticia Al director ''; French: '' they must communicate immediately the news with the director ).

Some French words of Catalan origin: Sardane ( Ca sardana ), ─ Apricot ( Ca albercoc ) itself loan E with Arabic ( rear Al-barquq ), who had taken it with the Greek ( grc barc ), which had borrowed from the Latin , ─ eggplant ( Ca albergínia ) also borrowed to him from Arabic (rear Al-bâdindjân ), which had taken it with Persian, which had taken in India, ─ hut ( Ca barraca )…

History

  • 9th century: the Catalan is a form of Romance language resulting from the Vulgar Latin , spoken in the Hispanic Marche established by the Carolingian Empire, to which belonged also the Andorre.
  • Beginning of the 12th century: first hard copies of the Catalan found on fragments of versions of the Forum Iudicum and book of sermons Homilies d' Organyà .
  • 1275 : Raymond Lulle (Ramon Llull) (1235 - 1315) written the Book of Nice and the three Wise Men ( nice Llibre LED I els very savis ), whose subject is the theology of the three monotheisms. It is considered that it is the birth certificate of the Catalan like recognized idiom and literary language independent of the occitan.
  • Of 12th with the 14th century, influence of the literature occitane and the Troubadour S.
  • 1490: publication with Valence of the chivalrous Romance Drawing the White ( Tie lo Blanc ), written by Joanot Martorell.
  • After the annexation of the Roussillon, of the Conflent, the Cerdagne and the Vallespir, Louis XIV prohibits the Catalan in his edict of the April 2nd 1700: " the use of the Catalan feels reluctant and is contrary with the honor of the French nation ".
  • 19th century: after an eclipse with and with, one witnesses a rebirth ( Renaixença ) of the Catalan letters, induced by the Romantisme, so much in poetry with Jacint Verdaguer (1845 - 1902) or Joan Maragall (1860 - 1911), that theater with Àngel Guimerà (1845 - 1924) and novel with Narcís Oller (1846 - 1930).
  • 1912 : Pompeu Fabra (1868 - 1948), grammairien and lexicographer, publishes his grammar which unifies finally the Catalan orthography ( Gramàtica of the llengua catalana ).
  • 1967 : first concert of the Catalan singer Lluís Llach (1948 -), symbol of resistance of the Catalan language against the Francoism (song the Estaca ).
  • 1979 : with the autonomy of the Catalonia and other autonomous communities of Catalan language, the Catalan regains his statute of Co-official language, lost since the end of the II {{E}} Spanish République (1931 - 1936).
  • 1993 : first speech as a Catalan with the United Nations, pronounced by Òscar Ribas Reig, at the time of the entry of the Andorra (Principality of Andorra) with UNO.
  • 2005 : November 16th, the President of the Comité of the Areas Peter Straub signs an agreement which for the first time, allows the use of the Catalan, the Basque and the Galician in an institution of the European Union. The former president of the Generalitat de Catalunya, Pasqual Maragall ( which was President of the Committee of the Areas of 1996 to 1998 ) addressed himself officially and for the first time at the Committee of the Areas as a Catalan.

Writing and orthography

The Catalan uses the Latin alphabet enriched by Digramme S, of diacritics (Acute accent, Grave accent, Point median in the digraph L·L (called: ela geminada), Cedilla under C , Dieresis) and of diacritic letters ( U after G and Q , I in front of X and G ). There exist many diphthongs, represented by pairs of vowels.

The alphabet is the following:

a (with), B, C (c), D (dj), E (E E), F, G (gu, ig) H I (í I), J K L (L, L·L) m N (ny) O (ó ò) p Q (qu) R (rr) S (S) T (tg, tj, tx) U (ú U) v W X (ix) there, z

The letters between brackets are the possible alternatives (with diacritic, in digraphs…) who do not count like independent letters. One class vowels carrying an acute accent after the simple ones and before those carrying the low register then the dieresis. When Homonyme S are distinguished by the stressing, the final accent precedes the other places ( animà before ànima ).

Pronunciation

Only the principal differences with French are indicated (on the basis of central Catalan, near to the alternative Inhabitant of Barcelona) Attention, differences in pronunciation consequent with the alternatives of Lleida, Andorra or with the Rossellonès:

  • has and E , in not accentuated position, is like the E not German tonic: català = keteLa , televisió= telebizio , camí (way) = kemi , cama (leg) = kame .
  • O in not accentuated position decides or : offered (offered) = oufertt , named (only) = nouméss , ferro (iron) = ferrou .
  • U always marked or : vingut (come) = binngoutt , bufar (to blow) = puffed out .
  • H : always dumb, even after a C in certain proper names: Bosch = bosk .
  • L : more velar than in French, near to the “ L sinks” English or of the L hard Polish or Russian: català= keuteuLa .
  • L ( L palatal or wet): like the L of “girl” llengua (language) = yenngoue , palla (straw) = straw .
  • Tl : L palatal doubled: batlle (mayor) = ballye .
  • L·L ( L geminated): double L (to distinguish it from the L palatal): collar·lega (colleague) = coul-lègueu , INTEL•ligent = inntel-ligenn .
  • m and N never gives place to nasal vowels: món (world) = my , crawled (slope) = slope .
  • ny (palatal N ): like the gn French or the Castilian ñ : juny (June), Catalunya (Catalonia), Perpinyà (Perpignan).
  • R : as in Castilian, rolled slightly in the body of a word, more strongly at the head of the word or if it is doubled, generally dumb in the terminations.
  • v : v as in French decides, he decides in a degraded way B in certain southernmost speeches (zones of Valence and Tarragona).
  • ig : tch decides: puig (mountain) = poutch , mig (half) = mitch , except exception: càstig (punishment) = kasstik .
  • X : decides like the CH French at the beginning of a word: Xina (China), after a consonant: marxa (walk) or after a I or a diphthong: caixa (case); in the other cases he decides as in French (boxed, taxi, examination).
  • have , with the , I.E.(internal excitation) , have , oi , or is diphthongs as a Catalan, not to confuse with the “false diphthongs” of French: little (foot) = pèou , rei (king) = rèi , taula (table) = taouleu , bou (ox) = bo' or .

Statute and diffusion

The Catalan is used daily and its use tends to extend. Interdict under Free, it remained a spoken language. Since the news Spanish Constitution of 1978, this language is become again official in Catalogne, with the Balearic Islands and in the Valencian Pays (under the denomination of Valencian) with equality with the Castilian (and the Aranais with the Val of Aran). One finds in Catalonia an abundant Catalan literature and all the bookstores, including in large surfaces, propose works written or translated in this language. In the same way, the road signs as a Catalan, is only doubled in Castillan on the highway axes. The Catalan universities give their courses as a Catalan preferably (cf a realistic illustration in the film the potluck ), including very technical courses (management of the data-processing networks or veterinary medicine for example). The majority of the theses are supported, as that was the case before 1750 of Perpignan to Valence, as a Catalan. Others are constant in Castilian and a considerable share in English, always according to the base of the voluntariate of the candidate.

The Télévision (CCRTV) is diffused as a Catalan on TV3 since 1981 like on other public channels: into analogical on Canal33, cultural and sporting chain, and infantile K3/300 chain and series, but on TDT (TNT), K3 and 300 are separate and is added there a chain of information continues 3/24 and an interactive chain. With Valence, there exists also Canal 9, Punt 2, and in Andorra, Andorra TV. Are added there private channels like FLAIX TV, Pirineu TV, Barcelona TV, 8TV, Urbe TV, Canal català, 25 TV or Localia. Very many Radios is emitted as a Catalan: public Catalan women (Catalunya Ràdio, Catalunya Música, Catalunya Informació, ICat FM) or Spanish (Radio5, or private (Rac1, Rac 105), Flaix FM, FlaixBAC etc…). All these programs are available in Northern Catalogne (Roussillon and Cerdagne) where is added there a radio station Ràdio Arrels of Perpignan which emits since 1981 (older French radio to emit exclusively in a language other than French.).

In the department of the the Eastern Pyrenees (in the area of Languedoc-Roussillon), it is possible to find control panels road bilingual French/Catalan.

Specimen: the Our Father

Ca '' Pare nostre that esteu in el concealment. ''
'' Sigui santificat el vostre name, ''
'' vingui has nosaltres el vostre reign, ''
'' faci' S will vostra it voluntat, ''
'' així with will terra COM are F in el concealment. ''
'' El nostre Pa of cada dia, ''
'' doneu-Nos senyor el dia of avui, ''
'' I perdoneu the nostres culpes, ''
'' així COM nosaltres perdonem els nostres deutors. ''
'' I No permeteu that caiguem with the temptació ''
'' years deslliureu-Nos of qualsevol badly. ''
'' Amén. ''

Examples

See too

Related articles

External bonds

Linguistic resources

  • Catalan for all: to learn the Catalan for the French-speaking people

  • Conjugation from the verbs: all the verbs (in particular the irregular ones!)
  • Institute of Estudis Catalans: the Academy of the Catalan language (also a dictionary on line proposes)

Dictionaries

  • Diccionari català-valencià-balear : complete dictionary of the alternatives

  • Freelang Dictionary - Dictionary Catalan-French/French-Catalan
  • Diccionari Invers of Llengua Catalana

others

  • Països Catalans (recursos): resources on the Catalan French Countries soon…

  • Associació of Carried dels Països Catalans: Association of the Door of the Catalan Countries located at Salses (in 4 languages)
  • ppcc.cat free: to have a free domain name in ppcc.cat! (as a Catalan)
  • Guia de Catalunya I dels Països Catalans: Guide Catalonia and Catalan Countries in 4 languages

Be-X-old: Каталянскаямова Nds-nl: Kattelaans Simple: Catalan language Zh-min-nan: Catalunya-gí

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