Languages of Catalonia
According to the official government of Catalonia, Catalan is the second most spoken language of the region, after Spanish (over 35% of Catalans use exclusively Catalan as their first language, while 11% of Catalans use equally both Catalan and Spanish). It is the most spoken language in many comarques of Catalonia, with the exception of the Barcelona metropolitan area (Barcelonès plus surrounding comarques) and Camp de Tarragona. Catalan is a compulsory subject in schools and enjoys equals rights with Spanish throughout Catalonia.
Names of the Catalan language
During the Muslim presence in Iberia and the "Reconquista", it was known as "chrestianesch" ('Christianish'), or "lingua chrestianica", or "christianica" ('Christian language'), and contrasted with Classical languages, like Arabic and Hebrew; that are linked to Islamic and Judaic traditions. With the language expanding beyond Catalonia, names that indicated its place of origin were favoured: "catalanesch" (or "cathalanesch"), "valencianesch" and "balearica" or "maioricensis". Likewise, the monarchy became associated with the language, which neutralized the political divisions of its territory. The increased range of the language had the effect of unifying the territory that it came to be spoken in, a fact that successive rulers took advantage of to neutralize political divisions, as was recorded by Ramon Muntaner. The first written reference to Catalan appears in the "regles de trobar" (Rules of the Trobadour's Art, ca. 1290), written in Occitan in Sicily by the Catalan troubadour and monk Jofre of Foixà: ""si tu trobes en cantar proençals alcun mot que i sia frances o catalanesch..."" (If you find a French or Catalan word in a troubadour song...) By the end of Middle Ages, Latin was less of a universal language, provoking Catalan to receive other names that remarked a local character and the political divisions of the time: "materna lingua" (or "maternus sermo"), "maioricensis" (in the Kingdom of Majorca), "valencianesch" (in the Kingdom of Valencia). Similarly, when Castile and Aragon were united in the fifteenth century, the range of the Catalan name was reduced to simply mean "from Catalonia" and confusion about the origin of the language led to the apparition of names such as "lemosin", or "llemosí" (Limousin). Before the Renaixença, which revitalized Catalan-language culture, some unpopular terms such as "llemosí-català", "català i valencià", and "bacavès" (after "balear-català-valencià") were created.