Catalan dialects

The main dialects of Catalan^[1][2][3]

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 Valecian; the Eastern block comprises four dialects: Central Catalan, Balearic, Rossellonese, and Alguerese.^[8] Each dialect can be further subdivided in 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 Country, 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 less 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 Alacant 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.^[11] Therefore, in the context of linguistic conflict, recognition and respect towards the dual standard, as well as the dual Catalan–Valencian denomination,^[12] pacifies the tense central–periphery relations between Catalonia and the Valencian country.

Main dialectal divisions of Catalan^[8][13]

Block	WESTERN CATALAN		EASTERN CATALAN
Dialect	Northwestern	Valencian	Central	Balearic	Northern/Rossellonese	Alguerese
Area	Spanish state				French state	Italian state
	Provinces of Lleida, eastern half of Tarragona, La Franja	Autonomous community of Valencia	Provinces of Barcelona, western 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 É› e i É” o u/, a common feature in Western Romance, except Spanish.^[14] Balearic has also instances of stressed /É™/.^[15] Dialects differ in the different degrees of vowel reduction,^[16] and the incidence of the pair /É› e/.^[17]

In Eastern Catalan (except Majorcan), unstressed vowels reduce to three: /a e ɛ/ → [ə]; /o ɔ u/ → [u]; /i/ remains distinct.^[18] There are a few instances of unreduced [e], [o] in some words.^[18] Alguerese has lowered [ə] to [a].

In Majorcan, unstressed vowels reduce to four: /a e É›/ follow the Eastern Catalan reduction pattern; however /o É”/ reduce to [o], with /u/ remaining distinct, as in Western Catalan.^[19]

In Western Catalan, unstressed vowels reduce to five: /e ɛ/ → [e]; /o ɔ/ → [o]; /a u i/ remain distinct.^[20][21] This reduction pattern, inherited from Proto-Romance, is also found in Italian and Portuguese.^[20] Some Western dialects present further reduction or vowel harmony in some cases.^[20][22]

Central, Western, and Balearic differ in the lexical incidence of stressed /e/ and /É›/.^[17] Usually, words with /É›/ in central Catalan correspond to /É™/ in Balearic and /e/ in Western Catalan.^[17] Words with /e/ in Balearic almost always have /e/ in central and western Catalan as well.^[17] As a result, Western Catalan has a much higher incidence of /e/.^[17]

Different incidence of stressed /e/, /ə/, /ɛ/[17] Word Western Majorcan Eastern except Majorcan set ("thirst") /ˈset/ /ˈsət/ /ˈsɛt/ ven ("he sells") /ˈven/ /ˈvən/ /ˈbɛn/

General differences in the pronunciation of unstressed vowels in different dialects[8][23] Word Western Catalan Eastern Catalan North-Western Valencian Majorcan Central Northern mare ("mother") /ˈmaɾe/ /ˈmaɾə/ cançó ("song") /kanˈso/ /kənˈso/ posar ("to put") /poˈza(ɾ)/ /puˈza(ɾ)/ ferro ("iron") /ˈfɛro/ /ˈfɛru/

Detailed Examples of vowel reduction processes in different dialects^[24]

	Word pairs: the first with stressed root, the second with unstressed root	Western	Majorcan	Central
Front vowels	gel ("ice") gelat ("ice cream")	[ˈdʒɛɫ] [dʒeˈlat]	[ˈʒɛɫ] [ʒəˈɫat]	[ˈʒɛɫ] [ʒəˈɫat]
	pera ("pear") perera ("pear tree")	[ˈpeɾa] [peɾˈeɾa]	[ˈpəɾə] [pəɾˈeɾə]	[ˈpɛɾa] [pəɾ'eɾə]
	pedra ("stone") pedrera ("quarry")	[ˈpeðɾa] [peˈðɾeɾa]	[ˈpeðɾə] [pəˈðɾeɾə]	[ˈpeðɾə] [pəˈðɾeɾə]
	banya ("he bathes") banyem("we bathe") Majorcan: banyam("we bathe")	[ˈbaɲa] [baˈɲem]	[ˈbaɲə] [bəˈɲam]	[ˈbaɲə] [bəˈɲɛm]
Back vowels	cosa ("thing") coseta ("little thing")	[ˈkɔza] [koˈzeta]	[ˈkɔzə] [koˈzətə]	[ˈkɔzə] [kuˈzɛtə]
	tot ("everything") total ("total")	[ˈtot] [toˈtaɫ]	[ˈtot] [toˈtaɫ]	[ˈtot] [tuˈtaɫ]

Consonants

-

Morphology

In verbs, the 1st person present indicative ending is -e (∅ in verbs of the 2nd and 3rd conjugation), or -o.
E.g., parle, tem, sent (Valencian); parlo, temo, sento (North-Western). In verbs, the 1st person present indicative ending is -o, -i or ∅ in all conjugations.
E.g., parlo (Central), parl (Balearic), parli (Northern), ('I speak').

First person singular present indicative endings in different dialects

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.^[25] Any lexical divergence within any of the two groups can be explained as an archaism. Also, usually Central Catalan acts as an innovative element.^[25]

Selection of different words between Western and Eastern Catalan

Gloss	"mirror"	"boy"	"broom"	"navel"	"to exit"
Eastern Catalan	mirall	noi	escombra	melic	sortir
Western Catalan	espill	xiquet	granera	llombrígol	eixir

References

1. Feldhausen 2010, p. 6.
2. Wheeler 2005, p. 2.
3. Costa Carreras 2009, p. 4.
4. Moll 1958, p. 47.
5. Enciclopèdia Catalana, pp. 634–635.
6. Wheeler 2005, p. 1.
7. Costa Carreras & Yates 2009, p. 5.
8. Feldhausen 2010, p. 5.
9. Central Catalan has 90% to 95% inherent intelligibility for speakers of Valencian (1989 R. Hall, Jr.), cited on Ethnologue.
10. Xarxa Cruscat de l'Institut d'Estudis Catalans
11. Xarxa Cruscat de l'Institut d'Estudis Catalans
12. http://www.avl.gva.es/va/acords-AVL/main/03/document/NOMENTITAT.pdf
13. Wheeler 2005, pp. 2-3.
14. Enciclopèdia Catalana, p. 630.
15. Wheeler 2005, pp. 37,53-54.
16. Wheeler 2005, p. 37.
17. Wheeler 2005, p. 38.
18. Wheeler 2005, p. 54.
19. Wheeler 2005, pp. 53-54.
20. Wheeler 2005, p. 53.
21. 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.
22. Recasens 1996, pp. 75–76,128–129.
23. Melchor & Branchadell 2002, p. 71.
24. Wheeler 2005, pp. 53-55.
25. Enciclopèdia Catalana, p. 632.

Bibliography

• Feldhausen, Ingo (2010). Sentential Form and Prosodic Structure of Catalan. John Benjamins B.V. ISBN 978 90 272 5551 8.
• Wheeler, Max (2005). The Phonology Of Catalan. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 54. ISBN 978-0-19-925814-7.
• 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. pp. 6–7. ISBN 978 90 272 3264 9.
• Moll, Francesc de B. (2006) [1958]. Gramàtica Històrica Catalana (in Catalan) (Catalan ed.). Universitat de València. p. 47. ISBN 978-84-370-6412-3.
• Ferrater; et al. (1973). "Català". Enciclpèdia Catalana Volum 4 (in Catalan) (1977, corrected ed.). Barcelona: Enciclopèdia Catalana. pp. 628–639. ISBN 84-85-194-04-7.
• 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. pp. 75–76,128–129. ISBN 9788472833128.
• Melchor, Vicent de; Branchadell, Albert (2002). El catalán: una lengua de Europa para compartir (in Spanish). Bellaterra: Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. p. 71. ISBN 84-490-2299-1.