What is the language spoken in Catalonia?
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.
Catalan independence movement
Following elections in 2003, the moderate nationalist Convergència i Unió (CiU), which had governed Catalonia since 1980, lost power to a coalition of left-wing parties composed of the Socialists' Party of Catalonia (PSC), the pro-independence Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (ERC) and a far-left/Green coalition (ICV-EUiA), headed by Pasqual Maragall. The government produced a draft for a new Statute of Autonomy, which was supported by the CiU and was approved by the parliament by a large majority. The draft statute then had to be approved by the Spanish parliament, which could make changes; it did so, removing clauses on finance and the language, and an article stating that Catalonia was a nation. When the amended statute was put to a referendum on 18 June 2006, the ERC, in protest, called for a "no" vote. The statute was approved, but turnout was only 48.9%. At the subsequent election, the left-wing coalition was returned to power, this time under the leadership of José Montilla.
The Partido Popular, which had opposed the statute in the Spanish parliament, challenged its constitutionality in the Spanish High Court of Justice. The case lasted four years. In its judgement, issued on 18 June 2010, the court ruled that fourteen articles in the statute were unconstitutional, and that 27 others were to be interpreted restrictively. The affected articles included those that gave preference to the Catalan language, freed Catalonia from responsibility for the finances of other autonomous communities, and recognised Catalonia as a nation. The full text of the judgement was released on 9 July 2010, and the following day a protest demonstration organised by the cultural organisation Òmnium Cultural was attended by over a million people, and led by José Montilla.
Politics of Catalonia
On the other side, Catalan remains the predominant language in middle-class and upper-class urban areas, as well as in the region's rural and small cities population. All in all, Spanish remains the language spoken by a significant portion of Catalans, particularly in working-class areas. For Catalan nationalists this is perceived, in the worst case, as a threat, in the best case, as a challenge to be confronted, because Catalan nationalism is centered on language rather than ethnicity.
Spaniards
Languages spoken in Spain include Spanish ("castellano" or "español") (74%), Catalan ("català", called "valencià" in the Valencian Community) (17%), Galician ("galego") (7%), and Basque ("euskara") (2%). Other languages are Asturian ("asturianu"), Aranese Gascon ("aranés"), Aragonese ("aragonés"), and Leonese, each with their own various dialects. Spanish is the official state language, although the other languages are co-official in a number of autonomous communities.
Catalan manual alphabet
The Catalan manual alphabet is used in Catalan Sign Language but wasn't officially recognized as one of Catalonia's official languages until 3 June 2010 when Law 17/2010 of the Catalan sign language (LSC) was approved by the government. The Catalan manual alphabet is single-handed and is extremely similar to the Spanish manual alphabet. As a result, people who use Spanish Sign Language can understand approximately up to 80% of the Catalan sign language.
Televisió de Catalunya
While the main language of all these channels is Catalan, Spanish is usually neither sub-titled nor dubbed, as it is generally accepted that all Catalan speakers are by default also Spanish speakers. Some programmes such as Polònia and APM use Spanish extensively, largely for effect. In the Aran Valley, there are programs in Aranese.
Languages of Catalonia
Lastly, since the Statute of Autonomy of 1979, Aranese—a Gascon Occitan dialect—has been official and subject to special protection in the Aran Valley. This small area of 7,000 inhabitants was the only place where Occitan (spoken mainly in France and some Italian valleys) received full official status. However, on 9 August 2006, when the new Statute came into force, Aranese became official throughout Catalonia.
Caló language
Caló (; ; ; ) is a language spoken by the Spanish and Portuguese Romani. It is a mixed language (referred to as a Para-Romani language in Romani linguistics) based on Romance grammar, with an adstratum of Romani lexical items through language shift by the Romani community. It is often used as an argot, a secret language for discreet communication amongst Iberian Romani. Catalan, Galician, Portuguese, and Spanish are closely related varieties that share a common root.
Menorca
The Catalan spoken in Menorca is a variety known as "Menorquí". Between "Menorquí" and standard Catalan, as with most Balearic dialects, the most distinctive difference is the different word used for the article "the", where "Menorquí" uses "es" for masculine and "sa" for feminine. Menorquí thus shares the source of its article with many Sardinian varieties (masc. sing. "su", fem sing. "sa"), rather than the standard Catalan "el" and "la", similar to other Romance languages (e.g. Spanish "el", "la", Italian "il", "la"), corresponding to a form which was historically used along the Costa Brava of Catalonia, from where it is supposed that the islands were repopulated after being conquered from the Moors.
Catalan language
Standard Catalan, virtually accepted by all speakers, is mostly based on Eastern Catalan, which is the most widely used dialect. Nevertheless, the standards of the Valencian Community and the Balearics admit alternative forms, mostly traditional ones, which are not current in eastern Catalonia.
Aranese dialect
In 2006, a new Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia was promulgated. Concerning Aranese, article 6.5 of the organic law establishes that "the Occitan language, called Aranese in Aran, is the language of this territory and is official in Catalonia, in accordance with the provisions of this Statute and the laws of linguistic normalization." In 2010, Law 35/2010 was subsequently passed and concerning Aranese in Catalonia reflecting the new constitutional framework.
National and regional identity in Spain
As of 2011, 95% of the population were able to understand Catalan, and 73% could speak it. In 2007, 32% named Catalan as the primary language that they actually did speak, against 50% for Spanish (Castilian); 7% spoke the two languages equally. The ethnolinguistic composition of the population has been heavily affected by extensive immigration from non-Catalan speaking parts of Spain, much of it associated with rapid growth in industry, since the late 19th century and more particularly between 1950 and 1975.
Aranese dialect
Aranese () is a standardized form of the Pyrenean Gascon variety of the Occitan language spoken in the Val d'Aran, in northwestern Catalonia close to the Spanish border with France, where it is one of the three official languages beside Catalan and Spanish. In 2010, it was named the third official language of the whole of Catalonia by the Parliament of Catalonia.
Education in Catalan
After the Spanish transition to democracy in 1978, the Catalan language was restored in the sphere of education in Spain for millions of speakers. The introduction of Catalan varied considerably depending on the territory. In Catalonia and the Balearic Islands a linguistic model was adopted according to which Catalan is the main vehicular language. A radically different model was followed in the Valencian Community in which parents are, in theory, able to choose which language their children are educated in. There also is some privately funded Catalan language education in Roussillon France.
Catalan language
Catalan shares many traits with the other neighboring Romance languages (Italian, Sardinian, Occitan, and Spanish). However, despite being spoken mostly on the Iberian Peninsula, Catalan has marked differences with the Iberian Romance group (Spanish and Portuguese) in terms of pronunciation, grammar, and especially vocabulary; showing instead its closest affinity with Occitan and to a lesser extent Gallo-Romance (French, Franco-Provençal, Gallo-Italian).
Catalan Americans
The Catalan or Catalonian ancestry is identified with the code 204 in the 2000 U.S. Census, with the name "Catalonian", which is in the group 200-299 Hispanic categories (including Spain). A total of 1,738 individuals who received the long-form Census questionnaire (which is given to 1 in 6 households) self-identified as Catalan Americans. In the same survey 1,660 people aged 5 or older indicated being able to speak the Catalan language, also with the name "Catalonian". Because the long-form samples a sixth of the population, that figure puts the estimate of Catalan speakers in the US in 2000 at around 10,000 people. However, 8067 people born in Catalonia live in the United States of America.
Principality of Catalonia
Today, Catalan is one of the three official languages of autonomous community of Catalonia, as stated in the Catalan Statute of Autonomy; the other two are Spanish, and Occitan in its Aranese variety. Catalan has no official recognition in "Northern Catalonia". Catalan has official status alongside Spanish in the Balearic Islands and in the Land of Valencia (where it is called "Valencian"), as well as Algherese Catalan alongside Italian in the city of Alghero and in Andorra as the sole official language.
Education in Catalan
Programs of education in the Catalan language exist today principally Andorra and the Catalan-speaking regions of Spain.
Culture of Spain
"Catalan", with its "Valencian" dialect is a Romance language, the national language of Andorra, and a co-official language in the Spanish autonomous communities of The Balearic Islands, Catalonia and Valencian Community, and in the city of Alghero in the Italian island of Sardinia. It is also spoken, although with no official recognition, in the autonomous communities of Aragon (in La Franja) and Murcia (in Carche) in Spain, and in the Roussillon region of southern France, which is more or less equivalent to the "département" of the Pyrénées-Orientales.
History of Catalan
Catalan originated from Vulgar Latin in the Pyrenees Mountains between France and Spain. It diverged from the other Romance languages in the 9th century. At that time, Catalan spread quickly throughout the Iberian peninsula when the Catalan counts conquered Muslim territory. By the 11th century, the Catalan language was present in several feudal documents. Catalan was present throughout the Mediterranean by the 15th century. This was during a time when the city of Valencia was thriving.
In 1659, the Treaty of Pyrenees was signed, beginning a suppression of the Catalan language. Louis XIV issued a decree that prohibited the use of the Catalan language in Northern Catalonia. The repression continued during the French Revolution when the First French Republic prohibited the usage of Catalan in linguistic education. The repression continued until recently, when finally the French government in 2007 promoted the usage of Catalan publicly and in education.
History of Catalonia
Franco's death initiated a period that came to be known as the "democratic transition", during which democratic liberties were restored, culminating in the Spanish Constitution of 1978. This constitution recognized the existence of multiple national communities within the Spanish State, which proposed the division of the country into autonomous communities. After the first general election in 1977 it was restored the Generalitat as a provisional government, headed by its president in exile Josep Tarradellas, and including representatives of the various leading forces of the time. In 1979, the new Statute of Autonomy was finally approved delegating more autonomy in matters of education and culture than the Republican 1932 Statute, but less in terms of the systems of justice and public order. In it, Catalonia is defined as a "nationality", Catalan is recognized as Catalonia's own language, and became co-official with Spanish. First election to the Parliament of Catalonia under this Statute gave the Catalan presidency to Jordi Pujol, a position he would hold until 2003. During this time he also led Convergència i Unió (Convergence and Unity, CiU) a center-right Catalan nationalist electoral coalition consisting of his own Convergència Democràtica de Catalunya (Democratic Convergence of Catalonia, CDC) and the smaller and more conservative Unió Democràtica de Catalunya (Democratic Union of Catalonia, UDC).
National language
Andorra's national language is Catalan; moreover Catalan is an official language in several territories in Spain (Catalonia, Valencian Community, Balearic Islands), and is spoken (without official recognition or status) in territories in Spain (the Catalan-Aragonese borderlands known as La Franja and the Murcian municipality of El Carche), France (Pyrénées Orientales) and in Italy (Alghero).
Institut d'Estudis Catalans
The IEC is known principally for its work in standardizing the Catalan language. The Institute's current president is Joandomènec Ros Aragonès, elected to the office for four years in 2013 and to a second term in 2017, following Salvador Giner, elected to the office for four years in 2005 and to a second term in 2009. The IEC is based in Barcelona, the capital of Catalonia, and the second largest city in Spain.
Languages of Catalonia
In this context, Catalan was the only language of instruction between 1979 and 2012. Thus, pupils were immersed in Catalan except for three hours per week of Spanish medium instruction. However, the most recent Spanish Education Law and some judicial sentences aim at increasing the time of instruction in Spanish for other subjects, if only one child per class asks it, even if the other families don't agree, because of complaints that current policies hinder the right to an education in Spanish.
Catalonia
Catalonia (; ; ; ;) is an autonomous community in Spain on the northeastern corner of the Iberian Peninsula, designated as a "nationality" by its Statute of Autonomy. Catalonia consists of four provinces: Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, and Tarragona. The capital and largest city is Barcelona, the second-most populated municipality in Spain and the core of the sixth most populous urban area in the European Union. It comprises most of the territory of the former Principality of Catalonia (with the remainder Roussillon now part of France's Pyrénées-Orientales, Occitanie). It is bordered by France (Occitanie) and Andorra (Andorra la Vella, Encamp, Escaldes-Engordany, La Massana and Sant Julià de Lòria) to the north, the Mediterranean Sea to the east, and the Spanish autonomous communities of Aragon to the west and Valencia to the south. The official languages are Catalan, Spanish, and the Aranese dialect of Occitan.
Catalonia
Other less plausible or recent theories suggest:In English, "Catalonia" is pronounced . The native name, "Catalunya", is pronounced in Central Catalan, the most widely spoken variety, whose pronunciation is considered standard. The Spanish name is "Cataluña" (), and the Aranese name is "Catalonha" ().
History of Catalonia
On 16 September 2005, the ICANN officially approved the domain.cat, the first domain for a language community.
Catalonia
The Parliament of Catalonia (in Catalan: "Parlament de Catalunya") is the legislative body of the Generalitat and represents the citizens of Catalonia. It is elected every four years by universal suffrage, and it has powers to legislate in different matters such as education, health, culture, internal institutional and territorial organization, election and control of the president of the Generalitat and the Government, budget and other affairs, according with the Statute of Autonomy. The last Catalan election was held on 21 December 2017, and its current president is Roger Torrent, incumbent since January 2018.
Catalonia
As of 2016, the official population of Catalonia was 7,448,332. About 1,104,782 residents had non-Spanish nationalities representing about 15% of the population.
Languages of Catalonia
Over 45% of respondents used Spanish to address their parents (versus 36% who choose Catalan). This is attributed to extensive migration from other areas in Spain during the second half of the 20th century, as a consequence of which many Catalans have one or both parents born outside Catalonia. However, a majority (52.6%) used Catalan with their children (compared to 42.3% for Spanish). This can be attributed to some Spanish-speaking citizens shifting from their native language to Catalan at home.
Languages of Catalonia
According to a 2008 survey, in everyday use, 45.9% of the population usually spoke Spanish, while 35.6% usually employed Catalan, and 12% of the population used either language habitually.
Costa Brava
Catalonia has two official languages, Catalan and Spanish. Most of the local population habitually speak Catalan, and all the population understand and can express themselves perfectly well in Spanish.
Languages of Catalonia
Some political parties and civic organizations denounce this situation in which a co-official language like Spanish is barred from public education, claiming that this is a severe breach of civic rights and against the spirit of free circulation of people within Spain. In September 2008 a demonstration was held in Barcelona to support full coexistence of both languages without linguistic discrimination of either. In June 2012 the Supreme Court of Spain ruled that schools must also use Spanish as a medium of instruction, if parents wish it, and cannot force Catalan-language education on the entire population, citing the disadvantage of the inability to be educated in the national language and the necessity of maintaining the ability for citizens to move from one part of Spain to another without learning the local language.
Catalan language
The word "Catalan" is derived from the territorial name of Catalonia, itself of disputed etymology. The main theory suggests that (Latin "Gathia Launia") derives from the name "Gothia" or "Gauthia" ("Land of the Goths"), since the origins of the Catalan counts, lords and people were found in the March of Gothia, whence "Gothland" > "Gothlandia" > "Gothalania" > "Catalonia" theoretically derived.
History of Catalonia
The Iberian language was a Paleohispanic language. The oldest inscriptions are dated from the end of the 5th century BC, and the most recent of the end of the first century BC, even at the beginning of the 1st century AD, after being gradually replaced by Latin. In its different variants, the Iberian language was spoken in a broad coastal strip stretching from southern Languedoc to Alicante.
Religion in Catalonia
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the major body of Mormonism, has more than 6,000 members and 15 places of worship as of 2014, most of them using Spanish as their liturgical language. Many Mormons in Catalonia are South American immigrants, and this is the reason why Spanish is the primary language of the Mormon communities in the country.
Balearic Islands
Both Catalan and Spanish are official languages in the islands. Catalan is designated as a "llengua pròpia", literally "own language" in its statute of autonomy. The Balearic dialect features several differences from standard Catalan. Practically all residents of the Balearic Islands speak Spanish fluently. In 2003 74.6% of the Islands' residents also knew how to speak Catalan and 93.1% could understand it. Other languages, such as English, German, French and Italian, are often spoken by locals, especially those who work in the tourism industry.
Education in Catalan
In Catalonia, a unitary linguistic model has been formed with Catalan as the main vehicular language known as an "immersion", "conjunction" or "single tuition language" model, based on the notion that "everybody has the right to education in Catalan" and this language "must normally be used as vehicular language, and for university and non-university learning and teaching", as stated in article 35 of the Catalonia Statute of Autonomy of 2006. It was first developed in the law of 1983 "Llei de Normalització Lingüística" (Law of Linguistic Normalization) approved in by the Parliament of Catalonia. Closely afterwards the model was deployed progressively around all Catalonia. At the time of 1986 the whole country was using Catalan as tuition language except for the subjects devoted to teach other languages, including Castilian. There are exemptions: the system recognises the right to receive primary education in their habitual language at the first school levels. Pupils joining the Catalan school system later can receive linguistic support if Catalan is not their first language. Teachers of subjects other than linguistics can use Castilian if they see fit. In 1998 the law saw some modifications
Politics of Catalonia
Catalan nationalist and federalist movements arose in the nineteenth century, and when the Second Republic was declared in 1931, Catalonia became an autonomous region. Following the fall of the Second Republic after the Spanish Civil War of 1936–39, the dictatorship of General Francisco Franco annulled Catalonia's autonomy statute and prohibited any public usage, official promotion or recognition of the Catalan language. Its private everyday use was never officially proscribed by law but diminished because of the political situation, mostly in the major urban nuclei. During the last decade of Franco's rule, there was a resurgence of nationalist sentiment in Catalonia and other 'historic' regions of Spain such as the Basque country.
History of Catalonia
The new Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia, approved by referendum, was contested by important sectors of the Spanish nationalism and the conservative People's Party, sending the law to the partisan Constitutional Court of Spain which, in 2010, decided to declare non valid some of the articles that established an autonomous Catalan system of Justice, better aspects of the financing, the status of the Catalan language or the references of Catalonia as a nation. As a response, on 10 July 2010, a successful demonstration was held, and the civil society started a process of organization in order to exert the right of self-determination. While the economic crisis affected profoundly Spain, CiU win the Catalan election of 2010, promising a fiscal agreement similar to the Basque. Its leader, Artur Mas, was appointed as president. Initially supported by the PP, his government carried out a program of austerity. During the National Day of Catalonia, on 11 September 2012, a massive demonstration in the streets of Barcelona organized by the organization Catalan National Assembly ("Assemblea Nacional Catalana", ANC) claimed for independence and a referendum of self-determination.
Aranese dialect
The Aran Valley is the only territory of all the linguistic domain of Occitania where Occitan has official recognition and institutional protection. According to Law 35/2010 passed by the Parliament of Catalonia, Aranese is considered to be not only a co-official language in the Aran Valley, but throughout Catalonia, being of preferential use in its natural territories (Valle de Arán).
Occitan language
Today, Occitan is an official language in Catalonia, where a subdialect of Gascon known as Aranese is spoken in the Val d'Aran. Occitan's closest relative is Catalan. Since September 2010, the Parliament of Catalonia has considered Aranese Occitan to be the officially preferred language for use in the Val d'Aran.
Catalan Countries
Catalan Countries (, ) refers to those territories where the Catalan language, or a variant of it, is spoken. They include the Spanish regions of Catalonia, Valencia, the Balearic Islands and parts of Aragon and Murcia, as well as Roussillon in France, the Principality of Andorra, and the city of Alghero in Sardinia (Italy). In the context of Catalan nationalism, the term is sometimes used in a more restricted way to refer to just Catalonia, Valencia and the Balearic Islands. The Catalan Countries do not correspond to any present or past political or administrative unit, though most of the area belonged to the Crown of Aragon in the Middle Ages. Parts of Valencia (Spanish) and Catalonia (Occitan) are not Catalan-speaking.
Valencian
Valencian ( or ; endonym: "valencià", "llengua valenciana", or "idioma valencià") is the traditional, historical and cultural linguistic variety of Catalan spoken in the Valencian Community, Spain. It's officially recognised as a language in the Statute of Autonomy of the Valencian Community signed in 1982 and approved by the Valencian regional government and the Spanish government. In the Valencian Community, Valencian is the traditional language and is co-official with Spanish. A standardized form exists, based on the Southern Valencian dialect.
Languages of Catalonia
Catalan has enjoyed special status since the approval of the Statute of Autonomy of 1979 which declares it to be the language "proper to Catalonia". Spanish had been the only official language for most of the period between the 18th century and 1975.
Northern Catalan
Northern Catalan (, , also known as "rossellonès") is a Catalan dialect mostly spoken in Northern Catalonia, but also extending in the northeast part of Southern Catalonia in a transition zone with Central Catalan.
Valencian Community
Spanish (Castilian or "castellano") has official status in all of Spain, including the Valencian Community. Aside from it, the Statute of Autonomy recognizes Valencian as the language proper to the Valencian people ("llengua pròpia"), and commends its protection and regulation to the Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua (AVL) under the Generalitat Valenciana. Valencian is also official in the autonomous communities of Catalonia and the Balearic Islands, where it is called Catalan.
Catalonia
The name Catalonia—"Catalunya" in Catalan, spelled "Cathalonia", or "Cathalaunia" in Medieval Latin—began to be used for the homeland of the Catalans ("Cathalanenses") in the late 11th century and was probably used before as a territorial reference to the group of counties that comprised part of the March of Gothia and March of Hispania under the control of the Count of Barcelona and his relatives. The origin of the name "Catalunya" is subject to diverse interpretations because of a lack of evidence.
List of diglossic regions
With the exception of Andorra, Catalan as spoken outside of Catalonia may be diglossic in various grades, from highly to barely diglossic. Diglossia in Catalan is typically stronger in some metropolitan areas than rural or sparsely populated areas.
Telemadrid
Telemadrid caused another big controversy in April 2007, when it aired a documentary called "Ciudadanos de segunda" (Second-class Citizens), which claimed that the Spanish language and the people who speak it were being persecuted in Catalonia in favor of the Catalan Language. This documentary caused outrage in Catalonia's political spheres. Josep Piqué, the leader of the Catalan branch of the Pardido Popular, said that the documentary didn't represent the reality of Catalonia. Meanwhile, the independentist Catalan party Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya demanded that the Generalitat de Catalunya respond to Telemadrid judicially, to no avail. local non-nationalist political parties such as Ciutadans de Catalunya, however, stated that the documentary reflected was largely accurate.
La Franja
The Catalan language is spoken by a significant proportion of the population of La Franja (47.1% of the population uses it as their usual language according to a survey by the Aragonese Institute of Statistics in 2013; percentage that rises to 73.6%-90% according to two surveys carried out with a smaller territorial scope also in 2013 by the Generalitat of Catalonia) This despite the fact that it is not an official language and has a very limited presence in education (where it is only available as an elective) and in administration and or public acts, resulting in severe deficiencies in writing skills of this language.
National and regional identity in Spain
Over the past few decades, a concept known as the Catalan Countries ("Països Catalans") has developed as a strand of Catalan nationalism advocated by the Valencian writer Joan Fuster. This is the idea that Catalonia, Valencia, the Balearic Islands and a few other places in Spain and in other European countries are united by the fact that they share Catalan as a historic language, and are in this way distinct from the rest of Spain. In Valencia, however, reservations are frequently expressed about being included in this concept.
Linguistic features of Spanish as spoken by Catalan speakers
The Spanish language is widely spoken in most of the Catalan-speaking territories, where it is partly characterized by language contact with the Catalan language. These territories are: Catalonia, the Valencian Community (except some inland areas which are only Spanish-speaking), the Balearic Islands, Andorra, and the easternmost areas of Aragon. This linguistic contact is encouraged by the fact that almost all of the Catalan speakers in these regions are Catalan–Spanish bilingual to a greater or lesser extent.
Languages of Spain
The languages of Spain (), or Spanish languages (), are the languages spoken or once spoken in Spain. Romance languages are the most widely spoken in Spain; of which Spanish, or Castilian, is the only language which has official status for the whole country. Various other languages have co-official or recognised status in specific territories, and a number of unofficial languages and dialects are spoken in certain localities.
Spaniards
Within Spain, there are various regional populations including the Andalusians, Castilians, the Catalans, Valencians and Balearics (who speak Catalan, a distinct Romance language in eastern Spain), the Basques (who live in the Basque country and north of Navarre and speak Basque, a non-Indo-European language), and the Galicians (who speak Galician, a descendant of old Galician-Portuguese).
Catalan language
Western Catalan comprises the two dialects of Northwestern Catalan and Valencian; the Eastern block comprises four dialects: Central Catalan, Balearic, Rossellonese, and Alguerese. Each dialect can be further subdivided in several subdialects. The terms "Catalan" and "Valencian" (respectively used in Catalonia and the Valencian Community) are two varieties of the same language. There are two institutions regulating the two standard varieties, the Institute of Catalan Studies in Catalonia and the Valencian Academy of the Language in the Valencian Community.
Principality of Catalonia
On several occasions during the first third of the 20th century, Catalonia gained and lost varying degrees of autonomy, recovering, after the proclamation of the Second Spanish Republic in 1931, the Generalitat as an institution of self-government, but as in most regions of Spain, Catalan autonomy and culture were crushed to an unprecedented degree after the defeat of the Second Spanish Republic (founded in 1931) in the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939) which brought Francisco Franco to power. Public use of the Catalan language was again banned after a brief period of general recuperation.
Languages of Catalonia
According to Ethnologue, about 18,000 deaf Catalans use Catalan Sign Language (LSC, "Llengua de signes catalana"). Since, like other deaf sign languages, LSC has no generally used written form, there is no literacy data.
List of official languages
Catalan:
Popular Unity Candidacy
The CUP defends the unity of the Catalan-speaking areas, or Catalan Countries, which they believe should be allowed to constitute an independent republic, according to the principles of self-determination. The CUP is also strongly in favor of the Catalan language, which should be the "preferential and common language" of the areas where it is traditionally spoken. Still, the 2012 CUP program refers to the advantages of multilingualism and encourages debate on the status that an independent Catalonia would grant to French and Spanish.
Catalan Sign Language
Since 1994, LSC has had official status, due to a law to promote the language promulgated by Generalitat de Catalunya. Catalonia was the first Spanish Autonomous Community to approve a law for a sign language.
Languages of Catalonia
The Spanish language developed from Vulgar Latin in the North of the Iberian Peninsula, expanding quickly to the South. It has lexical influences from Arabic and possible substrate influences from Basque and (to a lesser extent) Celtiberian. It has been the only official language in Spain for most periods since the eighteenth century.
Catalans
The Catalan language is a Romance language. It is the language closest to Occitan, and it also shares many features with other Romance languages such as Spanish, French, Portuguese, Aragonese, and Italian. There are a number of linguistic varieties that are considered dialects of Catalan, among them, the dialect group with the most speakers, Central Catalan.
Influence of Arabic on other languages
Arabic has notably influenced the Valencian variety of the Catalan language spoken in Spain south of Catalonia, more than Catalonia itself although it also left influences in Catalan. Due to more than 8 centuries of Arabic dominion in the Iberian Peninsula (Al-Andalus), hundreds of words from many fields (including Arabic inventions) have been adapted into Catalan; among many are "séquia" ("irrigation ditch"), "nòria" ("whaterwheel, noria"), "algorfa" ("loft"), "magatzem" ("warehouse"), "alfàbia" ("earthenware jar"), "barnús" ("bathrobe"), "aladroc" ("anchovy"), "dacsa" ("corn"), "safanòria" ("carrot"), "carxofa" ("artichoke"), "albergínia" ("aubergine"), "xirivia" ("parsnip"), "alfals" ("alfalfa"), "albercoc" ("apricot"), "tramús" ("lupin"), "corfa" ("bark, peel"), "xara" ("thicket"), "matalaf/matalàs" ("mattress"), "alacrà" ("scorpion"), "fardatxo" ("lizard") "alfàb(r)ega" ("basil"), etc. and expressions such as "a la babalà" ("randomly, to God's will") and "a betzef" ("abundance, plenty").
Catalonia
Today, Catalan is the main language of the Catalan autonomous government and the other public institutions that fall under its jurisdiction. Basic public education is given in Catalan, except for two hours per week of Spanish medium instruction. Businesses are required to display all information (e.g. menus, posters) at least in Catalan, under penalty of fines. There is no obligation to display this information in either Occitan or Spanish, although there is no restriction on doing so in these or other languages. The use of fines was introduced in a 1997 linguistic law that aims to increase the public use of Catalan and defend the rights of Catalan speakers.
Catalan language
Traditionally Catalan-speaking territories are sometimes called the (Catalan Countries), a denomination based on cultural affinity and common heritage, that has also had a subsequent political interpretation but no official status. Various interpretations of the term may include some or all of these regions.
Names of the Catalan language
In the twentieth century, after two dictatorships (those of Miguel Primo de Rivera and Francisco Franco) persecuted the Catalan language, controversy arose over language normalization in Valencia and the Balearic Islands, prompting a new mixed name: "català-valencià", and "català-valencià-balear".
Spaniards
Spaniards are a Romance ethnic group and nation. They are indigenous to Spain and share a common Spanish culture, history, ancestry, and language. Within Spain, there are a number of nationalisms and regionalisms, reflecting the country's complex history and diverse culture. Although the official language of Spain is commonly known as "Spanish", it is only one of the national languages of Spain, and is less ambiguously known as Castilian, a standard language based on the medieval romance speech of the early Kingdom of Castile in north-central Spain and the Mozarabic dialect of the Taifa of Toledo which was incorporated by the former in the 11th century. There are several commonly spoken regional languages, most notably Basque (a Paleohispanic language), Catalan and Galician (both Romance languages like Castilian). There are many populations outside Spain with ancestors who emigrated from Spain and who share a Hispanic culture; most notably in Hispanic America.
Catalan Countries
A 2004 poll in Valencia found that a majority of the population in this region considered Valencian to be a different language to Catalan. In 2015, the Spanish newspaper "ABC" reported that the Catalan government of Artur Mas had spent millions of euros to promote Catalanism in Valencia over the previous three years.
Catalan language
Since the Spanish transition to democracy (1975–1982), Catalan has been institutionalizated as an official language, language of education, and language of mass media; all of which have contributed to its increased prestige. In Catalonia, there is an unparalleled large bilingual European non-state speech community. The teaching of Catalan is mandatory in all schools, but it is possible to use Spanish for studying in the public education system of Catalonia in two situations – if the teacher assigned to a class chooses to use Spanish, or during the learning process of one or more recently arrived immigrant students. There is also some intergenerational shift towards Catalan.
Catalans
The Catalans (Catalan, French and Occitan: "catalans"; , Italian: "catalani") are the citizens of Catalonia, an autonomous community in Spain and the inhabitants of the Roussillon historical region in southeast France, today the Pyrénées Orientales departments, also called Catalonia Nord and "Pays Catalan" in French.
Plataforma per la Llengua
From 2000 La Plataforma per la Llengua started growing. Before, it was an organisation supported by Col•lectiu l’Esbarzer, but then, an associates basis and a professional structured were created. A new work methodology was applied, reports were written and a consumer net appear. Some events were organised in order to make citizens realise about the linguistic points and claim a business improvement as well as an autonomic government improvement of Catalonia, Valencian Community, Aragon and Balearic Islands and Spanish, French and Italian States.
In 2004, the first Festa de la Joguina en Català (The Game Party in Catalan) was celebrated some days before Christmas. Since then, it has been celebrated once a year to claim children can play in Catalan. In 2005, the first Festa d’Acollida d’Estudiants Universitaris Erasmus (Welcome party for university students with Erasmus Programme) in Barcelona to increase Catalan language in university courses and make new arrival students use Catalan in university courses. In 2005, the first Dia de Sant Jordi act (Saint George's Day), Catalonia’s patron, was celebrated in Plaça de Catalunya, in Barcelona, with other immigrants organisations to reclaim the use of Catalan as a common language. Since then, the organisation has worked together with a 30 immigrant organisations to established the linguistic diversity of Catalan Community and the use of Catalan as a cohesion tool, by using a hundred linguistic partners formed by a Catalan and a person who wants to learn it, and by videos about social cohesion in Catalan that have had a thousand visitors.
Northern Catalonia
Northern Catalonia ( , also known as "Catalunya Nord" ), French Catalonia or Roussillon refers to the Catalan-speaking and Catalan-culture territory ceded to France by Spain through the signing of the Treaty of the Pyrenees in 1659 in exchange of France's effective renunciation on the formal protection given to the recent founded Catalan Republic. The area corresponds exactly to the modern French "département" of the Pyrénées-Orientales which were historically part of Catalonia since the old County of Barcelona, and lasted during the times of the Crown of Aragon and the Principality of Catalonia until they were given to France by Spain.
Languages of Catalonia
According to the linguistic census elaborated by the Government of Catalonia corresponding to 2008, 45.92% of citizens over 15 years old declared Spanish as their [only] habitual language of use, versus 35.64% for Catalan, with 11.95% of complete bilinguals; a larger number claims Catalan as "their own language" (37.25% Catalan compared to 46.53% Spanish and 8.81% bilinguals).
Catalan language
In the 19th century, the region of Carche, in the province of Murcia was repopulated with Catalan speakers from the Land of Valencia. The Second Spanish Republic (1931–1939) saw a brief period of tolerance, with most restrictions against Catalan being lifted. Despite orthographic standardization in 1913 and the official status of the language during the Second Spanish Republic (1931–39) the Francoist dictatorship banned the use of Catalan in schools and in the public administration between 1939 and 1975.
Catalan language
The number of people known to be fluent in Catalan varies depending on the sources used. A 2004 study did not count the total number of speakers, but estimated a total of 9–9.5 million by matching the percentage of speakers to the population of each area where Catalan is spoken. The web site of the Generalitat de Catalunya estimated that as of 2004 there were 9,118,882 speakers of Catalan. These figures only reflect potential speakers; today it is the native language of only 35.6% of the Catalan population. According to "Ethnologue", Catalan had four million native speakers and five million second-language speakers in 2012.
The most important social characteristic of the Catalan language is that all the areas where it is spoken are bilingual in practice: together with the French language in Roussillon, with Italian in Alghero, with Spanish and French in Andorra and with Spanish in the rest of the territories.
Occitans
The Occitan language is still used to varying levels by between 100,000 and 800,000 speakers in southern France and northern Italy. Since 2006, the Occitan language is recognized as one of the official languages in Catalonia, an autonomous region of Spain.
Languages of Catalonia
By age groups, those between 10 and 29 have the highest level of Catalan-language literacy (e.g., 98.2% aged 10–14 understand it, and 85.2% can write it); this is attributed to these individuals having received their education in Catalan.
Northern Catalonia
French is the only official language in France as a whole and in these municipalities. Catalan, in its Northern Catalan variety, is recognized as a regional language only by the region of Languedoc-Roussillon; it then benefits from cultural support in education and in public medias, with some more regional power since the laws of regionalisation of France during the 1980s. It is estimated to be spoken by a 33% of the population, but understood by 49%.
Catalonia
The new Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia, approved after a referendum in 2006, was contested by important sectors of the Spanish society, especially by the conservative People's Party, which sent the law to the Constitutional Court of Spain. In 2010, the Court declared non valid some of the articles that established an autonomous Catalan system of Justice, better aspects of the financing, a new territorial division, the status of Catalan language or the symbolical declaration of Catalonia as a nation. This decision was severely contested by large sectors of Catalan society, which increased the demands of independence.A controversial independence referendum was held in Catalonia on 1 October 2017, using a disputed voting process. It was declared illegal and suspended by the Constitutional Court of Spain because it breached the 1978 Constitution. Subsequent developments saw, on 27 October 2017, a symbolic declaration of independence by the Parliament of Catalonia, the enforcement of direct rule by the Spanish government through the use of Article 155 of the Constitution, the dismissal of the Executive Council and the dissolution of the Parliament, with a snap regional election called for 21 December 2017. Former President Carles Puigdemont and five former cabinet ministers fled Spain whereas nine other cabinet members including vice-president Oriol Junqueras were jailed under various charges of rebellion, sedition, and misuse of public funds. Quim Torra became the 131st President of the Government of Catalonia on 15 May 2018, after the Spanish courts blocked three other candidates.
Principality of Catalonia
By the 9th century, Catalan had evolved from Vulgar Latin on both sides of the eastern end of the Pyrenees. From the 8th century on, the Catalan counts extended their territory southwards and westwards, conquering territories then occupied by Muslims, bringing their language with them. In the 11th century, feudal documents written in macaronic Latin begin to show Catalan elements. By the end of the 11th century, documents written completely or mostly in Catalan begin to appear, like the Complaints of Guitard Isarn, Lord of Caboet (ca. 1080–1095), or The Oath of peace and truce of count Pere Ramon (1098).
Catalan lived a golden age during the Late Middle Ages, reaching a peak of maturity and cultural plenitude, and expanded territorially as more lands were added to the dominions of the Crown of Aragon. Examples of this can be seen in the works of Majorcan Ramon Llull (1232–1315), the Four Great Chronicles (13th-14th centuries), and the Valencian school of poetry which culminated in Ausiàs March (1397–1459). Catalan became the language of the Kingdom of Majorca, as well the main language of the Kingdom of Valencia, particularly in coastal areas. It was also extended to Sardinia and it was used as an administrative language in Sicily and Athens. Between the 13th and 15th centuries this language was present all over the Mediterranean world, and it was one of the first basis of the Lingua Franca
Gascon language
Aranese, a southern Gascon variety, is spoken in Catalonia and has been greatly influenced recently by Catalan and Spanish. Both these influences tend to differentiate it more and more from the dialects of Gascon spoken in France. Since the 2006 adoption of the new statute of Catalonia, Aranese is co-official with Catalan and Spanish in Catalonia (before, this status was valid for the Aran Valley only).
Bilingual education
In addition to Castilian Spanish being the primary official language of Spain, the kingdom also has several co-official regional languages which enjoy equal and unbiased constitutional protection and promotion: Catalan/Valencian (in Catalonia, Valencia and the Balearic Islands), Galician (in Galicia), Basque (in the Basque Country and the northern zone of Navarre) and Aranese (in Val d'Aran, Catalonia).
Sant Lluís
Like the rest of Spain, almost every native resident is able to speak Spanish, (sometimes referred to as Castilian). However, the majority of the population can also speak Catalan, which is spoken throughout Catalonia, Valencia, and the Balearic Islands, and even has its own dialect spoken on the island, menorquí, a variant of the Balearic dialect; widespread throughout the Balearics.
Outline of Catalonia
Local government of CataloniaCulture of CataloniaLanguages in Catalonia
Official languages:
Catalonia
According to the linguistic census held by the Government of Catalonia in 2013, Spanish is the most spoken language in Catalonia (46.53% claim Spanish as "their own language"), followed by Catalan (37.26% claim Catalan as "their own language"). In everyday use, 11.95% of the population claim to use both languages equally, whereas 45.92% mainly use Spanish and 35.54% mainly use Catalan. There is a significant difference between the Barcelona metropolitan area (and, to a lesser extent, the Tarragona area), where Spanish is more spoken than Catalan, and the more rural Catalonia, where Catalan clearly prevails over Spanish.
Spanish naming customs
The Catalan-speaking territories also abide by the Spanish naming customs, yet usually the discrete surnames are joined with the word "i" ("and"), instead of the Spanish "y", and this practice is very common in formal contexts. For example, the former president of the Generalitat de Catalunya (Government of Catalonia) is formally called "El Molt Honorable Senyor Carles Puigdemont i Casamajó". Furthermore, the national language policy enumerated in article 19.1 of Law 1/1998 stipulates that "the citizens of Catalonia have the right to use the proper regulation of their Catalan names and surnames and to introduce the conjunction between surnames".
Catalonia
Since the Statute of Autonomy of 1979, Aranese (a dialect of Gascon Occitan) has also been official and subject to special protection in Val d'Aran. This small area of 7,000 inhabitants was the only place where a dialect of Occitan has received full official status. Then, on 9 August 2006, when the new Statute came into force, Occitan became official throughout Catalonia. Occitan is the mother tongue of 22.4% of the population of Val d'Aran. Catalan Sign Language is also officially recognised.
Catalan Countries
It is not official in Aragon, Murcia or the Pyrénées-Orientales, even though on 10 December 2007 the General Council of the Pyrénées-Orientales officially recognized Catalan, along with French, as a language of the department. In 2009, the Catalan language was declarated "llengua pròpia" (with the Aragonese language) of Aragon.
Province of Castellón
It is a bilingual territory whose inhabitants speak both Spanish and the local co-official language of Valencian/Catalan. Although Spanish and Catalan are closely related comprehension is limited: the language is a 'bridge' between Western Iberian and Gallo-Italian. There are marked distinctions in vocabulary and grammar which puts Catalan closer to Occitan in southern France and Italian (in frequently used words) which make it difficult for a monolingual speaker of Spanish to understand. Usage is a source of some controversy and political but not to the degree as in Catalonia.
Catalonia
Recently, some of these policies have been criticised for trying to promote Catalan by imposing fines on businesses. For example, following the passage of a March 2010 law on Catalan cinema, which establishes that half of the movies shown in Catalan cinemas must be in Catalan, a general strike of 75% of the cinemas took place. In Catalonia, on the other hand, there is a high social and political consensus on the language policies favoring Catalan, also among Spanish speakers and speakers of other languages. The United Nations Human Rights Committee ruled in 1993 against similar policies in Quebec stating that "A State may choose one or more official languages but it may not exclude outside the spheres of public life, the freedom to express oneself in a certain language". The US government, based on its Human Rights Report, questions the linguistic law and reports irregularities of the rights of the Spanish speakers in Catalonia. On the other hand, such organisations as Plataforma per la Llengua reported different violations of the linguistic rights of the Catalan speakers in Catalonia and the other Catalan-speaking territories in Spain, most of them caused by the institutions of the Spanish government in these territories.
Catalonia
There are several UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Catalonia:Literary use of the Catalan language is considered to have started with the religious text known as Homilies d'Organyà, written either in late 11th or early 12th century.
Languages of Catalonia
From all four Provinces of Catalonia, the largest number of habitual foreign language speakers are located in Girona.
List of revived languages
The Aranese language, a standardized form of the Pyrenean Gascon variety of the Occitan language spoken in the Aran Valley, in northwestern Catalonia is still spoken. Once considered to be an endangered language, spoken mainly by older people, it is now experiencing a renaissance; it enjoys co-official status with Catalan and Castilian (Spanish) in Catalonia, and since 1984 has been taught in schools.
Languages of Spain
In terms of the number of speakers and dominance, the most prominent of the languages of Spain is Spanish (Castilian), spoken by about 99% of Spaniards as a first or second language. Catalan (or Valencian) is spoken by 19%, Galician by 5%, and Basque by 2% of the population.
Catalan language
In Alicante province, Catalan is being replaced by Spanish and in Alghero by Italian. There are also well ingrained diglossic attitudes against Catalan in the Valencian Community, Ibiza, and to a lesser extent, in the rest of the Balearic islands.
Catalonia
After the end of Francoist Spain, the newly established self-governing democratic institutions in Catalonia embarked on a long-term language policy to recover the use of Catalan and has, since 1983, enforced laws which attempt to protect and extend the use of Catalan. This policy, known as the "linguistic normalisation" ("normalització lingüística" in Catalan, "normalización lingüística" in Spanish) has been supported by the vast majority of Catalan political parties through the last thirty years. Some groups consider these efforts a way to discourage the use of Spanish, whereas some others, including the Catalan government and the European Union consider the policies respectful, or even as an example which "should be disseminated throughout the Union".
Political divisions of Spain
The official names of the autonomous communities can be in Spanish only (which applies to the majority of them), in the co-official language in the community only (as in the Valencian Community and the Balearic Islands), or in both Spanish and the co-official language (as in the Basque Country, Navarre and Galicia). Since 2006, Occitan—in its Aranese dialect—is also a co-official language in Catalonia, making it the only autonomous community whose name has three official variants (Spanish: "Cataluña", Catalan: "Catalunya", Occitan: "Catalonha").
Romance languages
Catalan is the official language of Andorra. In Spain, it is co-official with Spanish (Castilian) in Catalonia, the Valencian Community, and the Balearic Islands, and it is recognized, but not official, in La Franja, and in Aragon. In addition, it is spoken by many residents of Alghero, on the island of Sardinia, and it is co-official in that city. Galician, with more than a million native speakers, is official together with Spanish in Galicia, and has legal recognition in neighbouring territories in Castilla y León. A few other languages have official recognition on a regional or otherwise limited level; for instance, Asturian and Aragonese in Spain; Mirandese in Portugal; Friulan, Sardinian and Franco-Provençal in Italy; and Romansh in Switzerland.
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.
National and regional identity in Spain
Aragon has its own language, Aragonese, with about 25,000 speakers, mainly in the mountainous north while Castilian is spoken in the southern two-thirds and Catalan is spoken along the eastern strip. Because of the prevalence of Castilian and the presence of Catalan, the language does not play as large a role in Aragonese identity as in some other locations, but it does enjoy some official recognition.