Catalan language
Catalan (;Laurie Bauer, 2007, The Linguistics Student's Handbook, Edinburgh; also  or  autonym: català  ) is a Romance language derived from Vulgar Latin and named after the medieval Principality of Catalonia, in northeastern modern Spain and adjoining parts of France. It is the national and only official language of Andorra, and a co-official language of the Spanish autonomous communities of Catalonia, the Balearic Islands, and Valencia (where the language is known as Valencian, and there exist regional standards). It also has semi-official status in the commune of Alghero, situated on the northwestern coast of the island of Sardinia (Italy), where a variant of it is spoken. It is also spoken with no official recognition in parts of the Spanish autonomous communities of Aragon (La Franja) and Murcia (Carche), and in the historic region of Roussillon/Northern Catalonia, roughly equivalent to the department of Pyrénées-Orientales in modern France. All  these territories are often called Catalan Countries.

According to the Statistical Institute of Catalonia, in 2013 the Catalan language is the second most commonly used in Catalonia, after Spanish, as a native or self-defining language: 7% of the population self-identifies with both Catalan and Spanish equally, 36,4% with Catalan and 47,5% only Spanish.http://www.idescat.cat/economia/inec?tc=3&id=da01&dt=2008&lang=en In 2003 the same studies concluded no language preference for self-identification within the population above 15 years old: 5% self-identified with both languages, 44,3% with Catalan and 47,5 with Spanish. Comparing these statistics with the same study made by this official institute 10 years after in 2013, we notice the fast decline Catalan language has had in a short time, mostly due to the fast increase of non-Catalan immigration. In order to integrate new comers, the Generalitat de Catalunya (Catalonia's official Autonomous Institutions) spends part of its annual budget on the promotion of the use of Catalan in Catalonia and in other territories.Datos lingüísticos en Cataluña

Catalan evolved from Vulgar Latin in the Middle Ages around the eastern Pyrenees. During the Low Middle Ages it saw a golden age as the literary and dominant language of the Crown of Aragon, and was widely used all over the Mediterranean. The union of Aragon with the other territories of Spain in 1479 marked the start of the decline of the language. In 1659 Spain ceded Northern Catalonia to France, and Catalan was banned in both states in the early 18th century. 19th-century Spain saw a Catalan literary revival, which culminated in the 1913 orthographic standardization, and the official status of the language during the Second Spanish Republic (1931–39). However, the Francoist dictatorship (1939–75) banned the use of Catalan in schools and in the public administration, again.

Since the Spanish transition to democracy (1975–1982), Catalan has been recognized as an official language, a language of education, and a language of mass media, all of which have contributed to its increased prestige. There is no parallel in Europe for such a large, bilingual, non-state speech community.

Catalan dialects are relatively uniform, and are mutually intelligible. They are divided into two blocks, Eastern and Western, differing mostly in pronunciation. The terms "Catalan" and "Valencian" (respectively used in Catalonia and the Valencian Community) are two varieties of the same language."Dictamen de l'Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua sobre els principis i criteris per a la defensa de la denominació i l'entitat del valencià". Report from Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua about denomination and identity of Valencian. 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.

Catalan shares many traits with its neighboring Romance languages. However, though mostly situated in the Iberian Peninsula today, Catalan differs more from Iberian Romance (such as Spanish and Portuguese) in terms of vocabulary, pronunciation, and grammar than from Gallo-Romance (Occitan, French, Gallo-Italic languages, etc.) due to its historical origin and human and cultural links with the ancient Languedoc and its people.Marc Howard Ross, Cultural Contestation in Ethnic Conflict, page 139. Cambridge University Press, 2007. Thus, the similarities are naturally most notable with eastern Occitan.

Catalan has an inflectional grammar. Nouns have two genders (masculine, feminine), and two numbers (singular, plural). Pronouns are also inflected for case, animacy and politeness, and can be combined in very complex ways. Verbs are split in several paradigms and are inflected for person, number, tense, aspect, mood, and gender. In terms of pronunciation, Catalan has many words ending in a wide variety of consonants and some consonant clusters, in contrast with many other Romance languages.

Etymology and pronunciation

thumb|Catalan Countries (Països Catalans): NE modern Spain (Catalonia, Valencian Community and Balearic Islands), SE. France (Roussillon, touching the Pyrenees) and Comune of Alghero (NW coast of Sardinia, Island belonging to Italy)|242x242px
thumb|239x239px|The Crown of Aragon in 1443. King James the Conqueror [1208-1276] dictated his autobiographical chronicles entirely in Catalan. A small part of these vast territories are what we call nowadays the Catalan Countries.

The word Catalan derives from the territory of Catalonia, itself of disputed etymology. The main theory suggests that Catalunya (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.

In English, the term referring to a person first appears in the mid 14th century as Catelaner, followed in the 15th century as Catellain (from French). It is attested a language name since at least 1652. Catalan can be pronounced as ,  or .

The endonym is pronounced  in the Eastern Catalan dialects, and  in the Western dialects. In the Valencian Community, the term valencià () is frequently used instead. The names "Catalan" and "Valencian" are two names for the same language. See also status of Valencian below.

History

thumb|Homilies d'Organyà (12th century)|266x266px
thumb|192x192px|Fragment of the Greuges de Guitard Isarn (ca. 1080–1095), one of the earliest texts written almost completely in Catalan, predating the famous Homilies d'Organyà by a century
thumb|right|240x240px

Middle Ages

By the 9th century, Catalan had evolved from Vulgar Latin on both sides of the eastern end of the Pyrenees, as well as the territories of the Roman province of Hispania Tarraconensis to the south. From the 8th century onwards the Catalan counts extended their territory southwards and westwards at the expense of the Muslims, bringing their language with them. This process was given definitive impetus with the separation of the County of Barcelona from the Carolingian Empire in 988.

In the 11th century, documents written in macaronic Latin begin to show Catalan elements, with texts written almost completely in Romance appearing by 1080. Old Catalan shared many features with Gallo-Romance, diverging from Old Occitan between the 11th and 14th centuries.

During the 11th and 12th centuries the Catalan rulers expanded up to north of the Ebro river, and in the 13th century they conquered the Land of Valencia and the Balearic Islands. The city of Alghero in Sardinia was repopulated with Catalan speakers in the 14th century. The language also reached Murcia, which became Spanish-speaking in the 15th century.

In the Low Middle Ages, Catalan went through a golden age, reaching a peak of maturity and cultural richness. Examples include the work of Majorcan polymath Ramon Llull (1232–1315), the Four Great Chronicles (13th–14th centuries), and the Valencian school of poetry culminating in Ausiàs March (1397–1459). By the 15th century, the city of Valencia had become the sociocultural center of the Crown of Aragon, and Catalan was present all over the Mediterranean world. During this period, the Royal Chancery propagated a highly standardized language. Catalan was widely used as an official language in Sicily until the 15th century, and in Sardinia until the 17th. During this period, the language was what Costa Carreras terms "one of the 'great languages' of medieval Europe".

Martorell's outstanding novel of chivalry Tirant lo Blanc (1490) shows a transition from Medieval to Renaissance values, something that can also be seen in Metge's work. The first book produced with movable type in the Iberian Peninsula was printed in Catalan.Trobes en llaors de la Verge Maria ("Poems of praise of the Virgin Mary") 1474.

Start of the modern era
With the union of the crowns of Castille and Aragon (1479), the use of Spanish gradually became more prestigious. Starting in the 16th century, Catalan literature experienced a decline, the language came under the influence of Spanish, and the urban and literary classes became bilingual.

French state: 18th to 20th centuries
thumb|Official Decree Prohibiting the Catalan Language in France|249x249px
thumb|right|188x188px|"Speak French, be clean", school wall in Ayguatébia-Talau, 2010

With the Treaty of the Pyrenees (1659), Spain ceded the northern part of Catalonia to France, and soon thereafter the local Catalan varieties came under the influence of French, which in 1700 became the sole official language of the region.

Shortly after the French Revolution (1789), the French First Republic prohibited official use of, and enacted discriminating policies against, the nonstandard languages of France (patois), such as Catalan, Alsatian, Breton, Occitan, Flemish, and Basque.

Following the French capture of Algeria (1833), that region saw several waves of Catalan-speaking settlers. People from the Spanish Alacant province settled around Oran, whereas Algiers received immigration from Northern Catalonia and Minorca. Their speech was known as patuet. By 1911, the number of Catalan speakers was around 100,000. After the declaration of independence of Algeria in 1962, almost all the Catalan speakers fled to Northern Catalonia (as Pieds-Noirs) or Alacant.

Nowadays, France only recognizes French as an official language. Nevertheless, on 10 December 2007, the General Council of the Pyrénées-Orientales officially recognized Catalan as one of the languages of the department  and seeks to further promote it in public life and education.

Spanish state: 18th to 20th centuries

The decline of Catalan continued in the 16th and 17th centuries. The defeat of the pro-Habsburg coalition in the War of Spanish Succession (1714) initiated a series of laws which, among other centralizing measures, imposed the use of Spanish in legal documentation all over Spain.

In parallel, however, the 19th century saw a Catalan literary revival (Renaixença), which has continued up to the present day. This period starts with Aribau's Ode to the Homeland (1833); followed in the second half of the 19th century, and the early 20th by the work of Verdaguer (poetry), Oller (realist novel), and Guimerà (drama).

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.

Present day
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 students. There is also some intergenerational shift towards Catalan.

In Andorra, Catalan has always been the sole official language. Since the promulgation of the 1993 constitution, several policies favouring Catalan have been enforced, like Catalan medium education.

On the other hand, there are several language shift processes currently taking place. In Northern Catalonia, Catalan has followed the same trend as the other minority languages of France, with most of its native speakers being 60 or older (as of 2004). Catalan is studied as a foreign language by 30% of the primary education students, and by 15% of the secondary. The cultural association La Bressola promotes a network of community-run schools engaged in Catalan language immersion programs.

In the 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.

Classification and relationship with other Romance languages
thumb|188x188px|Chart of Romance languages based on structural and comparative criteria (not on socio-functional ones). Koryakov (2001) includes Catalan in Occitano-Romance, distinct from Iberian Romance.
The ascription of Catalan to the Occitano-Romance branch of Gallo-Romance languages is not shared by all linguists and philologists, particularly among Spanish ones, such as Ramón Menéndez Pidal.

According to Pèire Bèc, its specific classification is as follows:
 Romance languages
 Italo-Western languages
 Western Romance languages
 Gallo-Iberian languages
 Gallo-Romance languages (alternatively classified as Iberian Romance language)
 Occitano-Romance languages (alternatively classified as East Iberian language)
 Catalan language

Catalan bears varying degrees of similarity to the linguistic varieties subsumed under the cover term Occitan language (see also differences between Occitan and Catalan and Gallo-Romance languages). Thus, as it should be expected from closely related languages, Catalan today shares many traits with other Romance languages.

Relationship with other Romance languages
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).

According to Ethnologue, the lexical similarity between Catalan and other Romance languages is: 87% with Italian; 85% with Portuguese and Spanish; 76% with Ladin; 75% with Sardinian; and 73% with Romanian.

+Lexical comparison of 24 words among Western Romance languages:17 cognates with Gallo-Romance, 5 isoglosses with Iberian Romance, 3 isoglosses with Occitan, and 1 unique word. Gloss  Catalan  Occitan  (Campidanese) Sardinian Italian  French  Spanish  Portuguese  Romaniancousin cosí  cosin  fradili  cugino cousin primoprimovărbrothergermàfraire fradi fratellofrèrehermanoirmãofratenephewnebotnebot nabodi nipoteneveusobrinosobrinhonepotsummerestiuestiu beranu estateétéverano, estíoPortuguese and Spanish have estiagem and estiaje, respectively, for drought, dry season or low water levels.verão, estiovarăeveningvespreser, vèspre sera serasoirtarde-nochePortuguese and Spanish have véspera and víspera, respectively, for eve, or the day before.tarde, serãosearămorningmatímatin menjanu mattinamatinmañanamanhã, matinadimineațăfrying panpaellapadena paella padellapoêlesarténfrigideira, fritadeiratigaiebedllitlièch, lèit letu lettolitcama, lechocama, leitopatbirdocellaucèl pilloni uccellooiseauave, pájaroave, pássaropasăredog gos, cagos, canh cani  cane chien perro, cancão, cachorro câineplum pruna pruna pruna prugna prune ciruelaameixa prunăbutter mantega bodre  burru, butiru  burro beurre mantequilla, mantecamanteiga unt Gloss  Catalan  Occitan  (Campidanese) Sardinian  Italian  French  Spanish  Portuguese  Romanianpiece tros tròç, petaçarrogupezzo morceau, pièce pedazo, trozoSpanish also has trozo, and it is actually a borrowing from Catalan tros. Colón 1993, p 39. Portuguese has troço, but aside from also being a loanword, it has a very different meaning: "thing", "gadget", "tool", "paraphernalia".pedaço, bocado bucatăgray gris grisgrisugrigio gris gris, pardoModern Spanish also has gris, but it is a modern borrowing from Occitan. The original word was pardo, which stands for "reddish, yellow-orange, medium-dark and of moderate to weak saturation. It also can mean ochre, pale ochre, dark ohre, brownish, tan, greyish, grey, desaturated, dirty, dark, or opaque." cinza, gris grihot calent caud callenti caldo chaud calientequente caldtoo much massa tròp tropu troppo trop demasiadodemais, demasiadopreato want volervòlerbollivolerevouloir quererquerera voito take prendreprene, prendrepigaiprendere prendre tomar, prender tomar, levara prinde, a luato pray pregar pregarpregaipregare prier rezar/rogar rezar, orar, pregar a se rugato ask demanar/preguntar demandar dimandai, preguntai domandare demander pedir, preguntar pedir, perguntar a cere, a întrebato search cercar/buscar cercarciccai cercare chercher buscar procurar, buscar  a cerceta, a căutato arrive arribar arribararribaiarrivare arriver llegar, arribar chegar a ajungeto speak parlar parlarchistionnai, fueddai parlare parler hablar, parlar falar, palrear a vorbito eatmenjarmanjarpappaimangiaremangercomer. manyar in lunfardo (papear in slang)comer (papar in slang)a mânca
+ Catalan and Spanish cognates with different meanings Latin  Catalan Spanish  acostar"to bring closer" acostar"to put to bed"  llevar"to remove; wake up" llevar"to take"  traure"to remove" traer"to bring"  cercar"to search" cercar"to fence"  colgar"to bury" colgar"to hang"  muller"wife" mujer"woman or wife"

During much of its history, and especially during the Francoist dictatorship (1939–1975), the Catalan language has often been degraded as a mere dialect of Spanish. This view, based on political and ideological considerations, has no linguistic validity. Spanish and Catalan have important differences in their sound systems, lexicon, and grammatical features, placing the language in a number of respects closer to Occitan (and French).

There is evidence that, at least from the  2nd century, the vocabulary and phonology of Roman Tarraconensis was different from the rest of Roman Hispania. Differentiation has arisen generally because Spanish, Asturian, and Galician-Portuguese share certain peripheral archaisms (Spanish hervir, Asturian/Portuguese ferver vs. Catalan bullir, Occitan bolir "to boil") and innovatory regionalisms (Sp novillo, Ast nuviellu vs. Cat torell, Oc taurèl "bullock"), while Catalan has a shared history with the Western Romance innovative core, especially Occitan.

Like all Romance languages, Catalan has a handful of native words which are rare or only found in Catalan. These include: 
 verbs:  ‘to fasten; transfix’ > confegir ‘to compose, write up’,  > conjuminar ‘to combine, conjugate’,  > deixondar/-ir ‘to wake; awaken’,  ‘to thicken; crowd together’ > desar ‘to save, keep’,  > enyorar ‘to miss, yearn, pine for’,  ‘to investigate, track’ > Old Catalan enagar ‘to incite, induce’,  > OCat ujar ‘to exhaust, fatigue’,  > apaivagar ‘to appease, mollify’,  > rebutjar ‘to reject, refuse’;
 nouns:  > brisa ‘pomace’,  > boga ‘reedmace’,  > cadarn ‘catarrh’,  > congesta ‘snowdrift’,  > deler ‘ardor, passion’,  > freu ‘brake’,  > (a)llau ‘avalanche’,  > vora ‘edge, border’,  > pestriu ‘fish species’,  ‘live coal’ > espurna ‘spark’,  > tardaó > tardor ‘autumn’.

The Gothic superstrate has had different outcomes in Spanish and Catalan. For example, Catalan  "mud" and  "to roast", of Germanic origin, contrast with Spanish  and , of Latin origin; whereas Catalan  "spinning wheel" and  "temple", of Latin origin, contrast with Spanish  and , of Germanic origin.

The same happens with Arabic loanwords. Thus, Catalan alfàbia "large earthenware jar" and rajola "tile", of Arabic origin, contrast with Spanish tinaja and teja, of Latin origin; whereas Catalan oli "oil" and oliva "olive", of Latin origin, contrast with Spanish aceite and aceituna. However, the Arabic element in Spanish is generally much more prevalent.

Situated between two large linguistic blocks (Iberian Romance and Gallo-Romance), Catalan has many unique lexical choices, such as enyorar "to miss somebody", apaivagar "to calm down somebody", or rebutjar "reject".

Geographic distribution

Catalan-speaking territories

+ Catalan-speaking territories in dark gray; non Catalan-speaking territories belonging to regions with a Catalan-speaking majority, in light gray 

Catalan-speaking territories are sometimes called the Països Catalans (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.

+ Territories where Catalan is spokenState  Territory  Catalan name  Notes Andorra   Andorra  Andorra  A sovereign state where Catalan is the national and the sole official language. The Andorrans speak a Western Catalan variety. France   Northern Catalonia  Catalunya Nord  Roughly corresponding to the département of Pyrénées-Orientales. Spain   Catalonia  Catalunya  In the Aran Valley (northwest corner of Catalonia), in addition to Occitan, which is the local language, Catalan, Spanish and French are also spoken.  Valencian Community  Comunitat Valenciana  Excepting some regions in the west and south which have been Aragonese/Spanish-speaking since at least the 18th century. The Western Catalan variety spoken there is known as "Valencian". La Franja  La Franja  A part of the Autonomous Community of Aragon, specifically a strip bordering Western Catalonia. It comprises the comarques of Ribagorça, Llitera, Baix Cinca, and Matarranya.  Balearic Islands  Illes Balears  Comprising the islands of Mallorca, Menorca, Eivissa and Formentera.  Carche  El Carxe  A small region of the Autonomous Community of Murcia, settled in the 19th century. Italy  22px Alghero  L'Alguer  A city in the Province of Sassari, on the island of Sardinia, where the peculiar Alguerese dialect is spoken.

Number of speakers
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.Población según lengua habitual. Datos comparados 2003-2008. Cataluña. Año 2008, Encuesta de Usos Lingüísticos de la población (2003 y 2008), Instituto de Estadística de Cataluña 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.

 Territory  State  Understand Sources:
 Catalonia: Statistic data of 2001 census, from Institut d'Estadística de Catalunya, Generalitat de Catalunya .
 Land of Valencia: Statistical data from 2001 census, from Institut Valencià d'Estadística, Generalitat Valenciana .
 Land of Valencia: Statistical data from 2001 census, from Institut Valencià d'Estadística, Generalitat Valenciana .
 Balearic Islands: Statistical data from 2001 census, from Institut Balear d'Estadística, Govern de les Illes Balears .
 Northern Catalonia: Media Pluriel Survey commissioned by Prefecture of Languedoc-Roussillon Region done in October 1997 and published in January 1998 .
 Andorra: Sociolinguistic data from Andorran Government, 1999.
 Aragon: Sociolinguistic data from Euromosaic .
 Alguer: Sociolinguistic data from Euromosaic .
 Rest of World: Estimate for 1999 by the Federació d'Entitats Catalanes outside the Catalan Countries.  Can speak     6,502,880  5,698,400     3,448,780  2,407,951     852,780  706,065  Roussillon    203,121  125,621     75,407  61,975  La Franja (Aragon)    47,250  45,000 22px Alghero (Sardinia)  20,000  17,625  Carche (Murcia)    No data  No data Total Catalan-speaking territories 11,150,218  9,062,637 Rest of World  No data  350,000 Total  11,150,218  9,412,637
1. The number of people who understand Catalan includes those who can speak it.
2. Figures relate to all self-declared capable speakers, not just native speakers.

 Level of knowledge of the Catalan language 
 Area Speak Understand Read Write Catalonia 84.7 97.4 90.5 62.3 Valencian Community 57.5 78.1 54.9 32.5 Balearic Islands 74.6 93.1 79.6 46.9 Roussillon 37.1 65.3 31.4 10.6 Andorra 78.9 96.0 89.7 61.1 Franja Oriental of Aragón 88.8 98.5 72.9 30.3 Alghero 67.6 89.9 50.9 28.4
(% of the population 15 years old and older).

 Social use 

 Area At home Outside home Catalonia 45 51 Valencian Community 37 32 Balearic Islands 44 41 Roussillon 1 1 Andorra 38 51 Franja Oriental of Aragón 70 61 Alghero 8 4
(% of the population 15 years old and older).

 Native language 

AreaPeoplePercentageCatalonia2 813 00038.5%Valencian Community1 047 00021.1%Balearic Islands392 00036.1%Andorra26 00033.8%Franja Oriental of Aragon33 00070.2%Roussillon35 0008.5%Alghero8 00020%TOTAL4 353 00031.2%
Red Cruscat del Instituto de Estudios Catalanes

Phonology

The Catalan phonology varies depending on the dialect. Notable features include:
 Marked contrast of the vowel pairs /ɛ e/ and /ɔ o/, like in other Western Romance languages, except Spanish.
 Lack of diphthongization of Latin short ĕ, ŏ, like in Galician and Portuguese, and unlike French, Spanish and Italian.
 Abundance of diphthongs containing /w/, like in Galician and Portuguese.

In contrast with other Romance languages, Catalan has many monosyllabic words; and those ending in a wide variety of consonants and some consonant clusters. Also, Catalan has final obstruent devoicing, thus featuring many couplets like amic "(male friend") vs. amiga ("female friend").

Central Catalan is considered the standard pronunciation of the language. The descriptions below are mostly for this variety.Wheeler 2005 takes the same approach For the differences in pronunciation of the different dialects, see the section pronunciation of dialects in this article.

Vowels
The vowel phonemes of Standard Eastern Catalan|thumb|250px|right|Vowels of Standard Eastern Catalan

Catalan has inherited the typical vowel system of Vulgar Latin, with seven stressed phonemes: , a common feature in Western Romance, except Spanish. Balearic has also instances of stressed /ə/. Dialects differ in the different degrees of vowel reduction, and the incidence of the pair /ɛ e/.

In Central Catalan, unstressed vowels reduce to three: ; ;  remains distinct. The other dialects have different vowel reduction processes (see the section pronunciation of dialects in this article).
+Examples of vowel reduction processes in Central CatalanThe root is stressed in the first word and unstressed in the second Front vowelsBack vowelsWordpairgel ("ice")gelat ("ice cream")pedra ("stone")pedrera ("quarry")banya ("he bathes") banyem ("we bathe")cosa ("thing")coseta ("little thing")tot ("everything")total ("total")IPAtranscription [ˈʒɛl][ʒəˈlat][ˈpeðɾə][pəˈðɾeɾə][ˈbaɲə][bəˈɲɛm][ˈkɔzə][kuˈzɛtə][ˈtot][tuˈtal]

Consonants
+Catalan consonants Bilabial Alveolar/ Dental Palatal Velar  Nasal     Plosive voiceless    ~  voiced    ~  Affricate voiceless   voiced   Fricative voiceless    voiced ()   Approximant central   lateral   Tap  Trill 

The consonant system of Catalan is rather conservative, shared with most modern Western Romance languages.
  has a velarized allophone in syllable coda position in most dialects. However,  is velarized irrespective of position in Eastern dialects like Majorcan and standard Eastern Catalan.
  occurs in Balearic, Alguerese, standard Valencian and some areas in southern Catalonia. It has merged with  elsewhere.
 Voiced obstruents undergo final-obstruent devoicing: .
 Voiced stops become lenited to approximants in syllable onsets, after continuants: . Exceptions include  after lateral consonants, and  after . In coda position, these sounds are realized as stops, except in some Valencian dialects where they are lenited.
 There is some confusion in the literature about the precise phonetic characteristics of , , , . Some sources describe them as "postalveolar". Others as "back alveolo-palatal", implying that the characters  would be more accurate. However, in all literature only the characters for palato-alveolar affricates and fricatives are used, even when the same sources use  for other languages like Polish and Chinese.. Here Recasens labels these Catalan sounds as "laminoalveolars palatalitzades". Here the authors label these Catalan sounds as "laminal postalveolar"
 The distribution of the two rhotics  and  closely parallels that of Spanish. Between vowels, the two contrast, but they are otherwise in complementary distribution: in the onset,  appears unless preceded by a consonant. Dialects vary in regards to rhotics in the coda with Western Catalan generally featuring  and Central Catalan dialects featuring a weakly trilled  unless it precedes a vowel-initial word in the same prosodic unit, in which case  appears.
 In careful speech, , ,  may be geminated. Geminated  may also occur. Some analyze intervocalic  as the result of gemination of a single rhotic phoneme.Wheeler, Max W. (1979), Phonology Of Catalan, Oxford: Blackwell, ISBN 978-0-631-11621-9 This is similar to the common analysis of Spanish and Portuguese rhotics.See  for more information.

Phonological evolution

Sociolinguistics
Catalan sociolinguistics studies the situation of Catalan in the world and the different varieties that this language presents. It is a subdiscipline of Catalan philology and other affine studies and has as an objective to analyse the relation between the Catalan language, the speakers and the close reality (including the one of other languages in contact).

 Preferential subjects of study 
 Dialects of Catalan
 Variations of Catalan by class, gender, profession, age and level of studies
 Process of linguistic normalisation
 Relations between Catalan and Spanish or French
 Perception on the language of Catalan speakers and non-speakers
 Presence of Catalan in several fields: tagging, public function, media, professional sectors

Dialects

Overview
thumb|right|300px|Main dialects of Catalan
The dialects of the Catalan language feature a relative uniformity, especially when compared to other Romance languages; both in terms of vocabulary, semantics, syntax, morphology, and phonology. Mutual intelligibility between dialects is very high, estimates ranging from 90% to 95%. The only exception is the isolated idiosyncratic Alguerese dialect.

Catalan is split in two major dialectal blocks: Eastern Catalan, and Western Catalan. The main difference lies in the treatment of unstressed a and e; which have merged to /ə/ in Eastern dialects, but which remain distinct as /a/ and /e/ in Western dialects. There are a few other differences in pronunciation, verbal morphology, and vocabulary.

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.

Central Catalan is considered the standard pronunciation of the language and has the highest number of speakers. It 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.

+Main dialectal divisions of CatalanBlockWestern CatalanEastern CatalanDialectNorthwesternValencianCentralBalearicNorthern/RosselloneseAlguerese AreaSpainFranceItalyProvinces of Lleida, western half of Tarragona, La FranjaAutonomous community of ValenciaProvinces of Barcelona, eastern half of Tarragona, most of GironaBalearic islandsRoussillon/Northern CataloniaCity of Alghero in Sardinia

Pronunciation

Vowels
Catalan has inherited the typical vowel system of Vulgar Latin, with seven stressed phonemes: , a common feature in Western Romance, except Spanish. Balearic has also instances of stressed /ə/. Dialects differ in the different degrees of vowel reduction, and the incidence of the pair /ɛ e/.

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

In Majorcan, unstressed vowels reduce to four:  follow the Eastern Catalan reduction pattern; however  reduce to , with  remaining distinct, as in Western Catalan.

In Western Catalan, unstressed vowels reduce to five: ; ;  remain distinct. This reduction pattern, inherited from Proto-Romance, is also found in Italian and Portuguese. Some Western dialects present further reduction or vowel harmony in some cases.

Central, Western, and Balearic differ in the lexical incidence of stressed /e/ and /ɛ/. Usually, words with /ɛ/ in Central Catalan correspond to /ə/ in Balearic and /e/ in Western Catalan. Words with /e/ in Balearic almost always have /e/ in Central and Western Catalan as well. As a result, Central Catalan has a much higher incidence of /ɛ/.

+Different incidence of stressed /e/, /ə/, /ɛ/WordWesternMajorcanEasternexcept Majorcanset ("thirst")/ˈset//ˈsət//ˈsɛt/ven ("he sells")/ˈven//ˈvən//ˈbɛn/+General differences in the pronunciation of unstressed vowels in different dialectsWord Western CatalanEastern CatalanNorthwesternValencianMajorcanCentralNorthernmare ("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 Word pairs: the first with stressed root,the second with unstressed rootWesternMajorcanCentralFrontvowelsgel ("ice")gelat ("ice cream")[ˈdʒɛl][dʒeˈlat][ˈʒɛl][ʒəˈlat][ˈʒɛl][ʒəˈlat]pera ("pear")perera ("pear tree")[ˈpeɾa][peɾˈeɾa][ˈpəɾə][pəɾˈeɾə][ˈpɛɾə][pəɾˈeɾə]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]Backvowelscosa ("thing")coseta ("little thing")[ˈkɔza][koˈzeta][ˈkɔzə][koˈzətə][ˈkɔzə][kuˈzɛtə]tot ("everything")total ("total")[ˈtot][toˈtal][ˈtot][toˈtal][ˈtot][tuˈtal]

Consonants

Morphology
Western Catalan: In verbs, the ending for 1st-person present indicative is -e in verbs of the 1st conjugation and -∅ in verbs of the 2nd and 3rd conjugations in most of the Valencian Community, or -o in all verb conjugations in the Northern Valencian Community and Western Catalonia.E.g. parle, tem, sent (Valencian); parlo, temo, sento (Northwestern Catalan).

Eastern Catalan: In verbs, the ending for 1st-person present indicative is -o, -i, or -∅ in all conjugations. E.g. parlo (Central), parl (Balearic), and parli (Northern), all meaning ('I speak').
+1st-person singular present indicative forms Conjugation  Eastern Catalan  Western Catalan  Gloss Central  Northern  Balearic  Valencian  Northwestern 1st parlo  parli  parl  parle or parlo  parlo  'I speak' 2nd temo  temi  tem  tem or temo  temo 'I fear' 3rd  sento  senti  sent  sent or sento  sento  'I feel', 'I hear'  poleixo  poleixi  poleix or polesc  polisc or pol(e)ixo  pol(e)ixo  'I polish'

Western Catalan: In verbs, the inchoative endings are -isc/-ixo, -ix, -ixen, -isca.

Eastern Catalan: In verbs, the inchoative endings are -eixo, -eix, -eixen, -eixi.

Western Catalan: In nouns and adjectives, maintenance of  of medieval plurals in proparoxytone words.E.g. hòmens 'men', jóvens 'youth'.

Eastern Catalan: In nouns and adjectives, loss of  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. Any lexical divergence within any of the two groups can be explained as an archaism. Also, usually Central Catalan acts as an innovative element.
+Selection of different words between Western and Eastern Catalan Gloss"mirror""boy""broom""navel""to exit" Eastern Catalanmirallnoiescombramelicsortir Western Catalanespillxiquetgranerallombrígoleixir

Standards

thumb|left|300px|Casa de Convalescència, Headquarters of the Institut d'Estudis Catalans
+Written varieties Catalan (IEC) Valencian (AVL) glossanglèsanglésEnglishconèixerconéixerto knowtreuretrauretake outnéixernàixerto be borncàntircànterpitcherrodóredóroundmevameuamy, mineametllaametlaalmondestrellaestrelastarcopcolphitllagostallangostalobsterhomeshòmensmenserveiserviciservice

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.

The most notable difference between both standards is some tonic  accentuation, for instance: francès, anglès (IEC) – francés, anglés (AVL). Nevertheless, AVL's standard keeps the grave accent , without pronouncing this  as , in some words like: què ('what'), or València. Other divergences include the use of  (AVL) in some words instead of  like in ametla/ametlla ('almond'), espatla/espatlla ('back'), the use of elided demonstratives (este 'this', eixe 'that') in the same level as reinforced ones (aquest, aqueix) or the use of many verbal forms common in Valencian, and some of these common in the rest of Western Catalan too, like subjunctive mood or inchoative conjugation in -ix- at the same level as -eix- or the priority use of -e morpheme in 1st person singular in present indicative (-ar verbs): jo compre instead of jo compro ('I buy').

In the Balearic Islands, IEC's standard is used but adapted for the Balearic dialect by the University of the Balearic Islands's philological section. In this way, for instance, IEC says it is correct writing cantam as much as cantem ('we sing') but the University says that the priority form in the Balearic Islands must be "cantam" in all fields. Another feature of the Balearic standard is the non-ending in the 1st person singular present indicative: jo compr ('I buy'), jo tem ('I fear'), jo dorm ('I sleep').

In Alghero, the IEC has adapted its standard to the Alguerese dialect. In this standard one can find, among other features: the definite article lo instead of el, special possessive pronouns and determinants la mia ('mine'), lo sou/la sua ('his/her'), lo tou/la tua ('yours'), and so on, the use of -v-  in the imperfect tense in all conjugations: cantava, creixiva, llegiva; the use of many archaic words, usual words in Alguerese: manco instead of menys ('less'), calqui u instead of algú ('someone'), qual/quala instead of quin/quina ('which'), and so on; and the adaptation of weak pronouns.

In 2011, the Aragonese government passed a decree for the establishment of a new language regulator of Catalan in La Franja (the so-called Catalan-speaking areas of Aragon). The new entity, designated as Acadèmia Aragonesa del Català, shall allow a facultative education in Catalan and a standardization of the Catalan language in La Franja.

 Status of Valencian

thumb|right|220px|Subdialects of Valencian

Valencian is classified as a Western dialect, along with the northwestern varieties spoken in Western Catalonia (provinces of Lleida and the western half of Tarragona). The various forms of Catalan and Valencian are mutually intelligible (ranging from 90% to 95%)Central Catalan has 90% to 95% inherent intelligibility for speakers of Valencian (1989 R. Hall, Jr.), cited in Ethnologue.

Linguists, including Valencian scholars, deal with Catalan and Valencian as the same language. The official regulating body of the language of the Valencian Community, the Valencian Academy of Language (Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua, AVL) declares the linguistic unity between Valencian and Catalan varieties."Dictamen de l'Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua sobre els principis i criteris per a la defensa de la denominació i l'entitat del valencià". Report from Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua about denomination and identity of Valencian.

The AVL, created by the Valencian parliament, is in charge of dictating the official rules governing the use of Valencian, and its standard is based on the Norms of Castelló (Normes de Castelló). Currently, everyone who writes in Valencian uses this standard, except the Royal Academy of Valencian Culture (Acadèmia de Cultura Valenciana, RACV), which uses for Valencian an independent standard.

Despite the position of the official organizations, an opinion poll carried out between 2001 and 2004Casi el 65% de los valencianos opina que su lengua es distinta al catalán, según una encuesta del CIS showed that the majority of the Valencian people consider Valencian different from Catalan. This position is promoted by people who do not use Valencian regularly. Furthermore, the data indicates that younger generations educated in Valencian are much less likely to hold these views. A minority of Valencian scholars active in fields other than linguistics defends the position of the Royal Academy of Valencian Culture (Acadèmia de Cultura Valenciana, RACV), which uses for Valencian a standard independent from Catalan.List of RACV academics

This clash of opinions has sparked much controversy. For example, during the drafting of the European Constitution in 2004, the Spanish government supplied the EU with translations of the text into Basque, Galician, Catalan, and Valencian, but the latter two were identical.Isabel I Vilar, Ferran. "Traducció única de la Constitució europea". I-Zefir. 30 Oct 2004. 29 Apr 2009.

Vocabulary

Word choices
Despite its relative lexical unity, the two dialectal blocks of Catalan (Eastern and Western) show some differences in word choices. Any lexical divergence within any of the two groups can be explained as an archaism. Also, usually Central Catalan acts as an innovative element.

Literary Catalan allows the use of words from different dialects, except those of very restricted use. However, from the 19th century onwards, there has been a tendency towards favoring words of Northern dialects to the detriment of others, 

Latin and Greek loanwords
Like other languages, Catalan has a large list of loanwords from Greek and Latin. This process started very early, and one can find such examples in Ramon Llull's work. In the 14th and 15th centuries Catalan had a far greater number of Greco-Latin loanwords than other Romance languages, as is attested for example in Roís de Corella's writings.

Word formation
The process of morphological derivation in Catalan follows the same principles as the other Romance languages, where agglutination is common. Many times, several affixes are appended to a preexisting lexeme, and some sound alternations can occur, for example elèctric [əˈlɛktrik] ("electrical") vs. electricitat [ələktrisiˈtat]. Prefixes are usually appended to verbs, as in preveure ("foresee").

There is greater regularity in the process of word-compounding, where one can find compounded words formed much like those in English.
+Common types of word compounds in CatalanTypeExampleGlosstwo nouns, the second assimilated to the firstpaper moneda"banknote paper"noun delimited by an adjectiveestat major"military staff"noun delimited by another noun and a prepositionmàquina d'escriure"typewriter"verb radical with a nominal objectparacaigudes"parachute"noun delimited by an adjective, with adjectival valuepit-roig"robin" (bird)

Writing system
thumb|right|200px|The word novel·la ("novel") in a dictionary. The geminated L (l·l) is a distinctive character used in Catalan.
thumb|upright=0.8|Billboard in Barcelona (detail), showing the word il·lusió ("illusion")

Main forms A  B  C  D  E  F  G  H  I  J  K  L  M  N  O  P  Q  R  S  T  U  V  W  X  Y  ZModified forms À   Ç   È É  Í Ï L·L Ò Ó Ú Ü
Catalan uses the Latin script, with some added symbols and digraphs. The Catalan orthography is systematic and largely phonologically based.

+Pronunciation of Catalan special characters and digraphs (Central Catalan) PronunciationExamplesç/s/feliç [fəˈlis] ("happy")gu/ɡ/ ([ɡ]~[ɣ]) before i and eguerra [ˈɡɛrə] ("war")/ɡw/ elsewhereguant [ˈɡwan] ("glove")ig[tʃ] in final positionraig [ˈratʃ] ("trickle")ix/ʃ/ ([jʃ] in some dialects)caixa [ˈkaʃə] ("box")l·lNormatively /l:/, but usually /l/novel·la [nuˈβɛlə] ("novel")ny/ɲ/Catalunya [kətəˈɫuɲə] ("Catalonia")qu/k/ before i and equi [ˈki] ("who")/kw/ before other vowelsquatre [ˈkwatrə] ("four")ss/s/Intervocalic s is pronounced /z/grossa [ˈɡɾɔsə] ("big-)"casa [ˈkazə] ("house")tg, tj[ddʒ]fetge [ˈfeddʒə] ("liver"), mitjó [midˈdʒo] ("sock")tx[tʃ]despatx [dəsˈpatʃ] ("office")tz[ddz]dotze [ˈdoddzə] ("twelve")

+Letters and digraphs with contextually conditioned pronunciations (Central Catalan) NotesExamplesc/s/ before i and ecorresponds to ç in other contextsfeliç ("happy-") - felices ("happy-")caço ("I hunt") - caces ("you hunt")g/ʒ/ before e and icorresponds to j in other positionsenvejar ("to envy") - envegen ("they envy")final g + stressed i, and final ig before other vowels,are pronounced [tʃ]corresponds to j~g or tj~tg in other positionsboig ['bɔtʃ] ("mad-") - boja ['bɔʒə] ("mad-") - boges ['bɔʒəs] ("mad-")desig [də'zitʃ] ("wish") - desitjar ("to wish") - desitgem ("we wish")gu/ɡ/ before e and icorresponds to g in other positionsbotiga ("shop") - botigues ("shops")gü/ɡw/ before e and icorresponds to gu in other positionsllengua ("language") - llengües ("languages")qu/k/ before e and icorresponds to q in other positionsvaca ("cow") - vaques ("cows")qü/kw/ before e and icorresponds to qu in other positionsobliqua ("oblique-") - obliqües ("oblique-")x[ʃ]~[tʃ] initially and in onsets after a consonant[ʃ] after iotherwise, [ɡz] before stress, [ks] afterxarxa [ˈʃarʃə] ("net")guix [ˈɡiʃ] ("chalk")exacte [əɡˈzaktə] ("exact"), fax [ˈfaks] ("fax")

Grammar

The grammar of Catalan is similar to other Romance languages. Features include:
 Use of definite and indefinite articles.
 Nouns, adjectives, pronouns, and articles are inflected for gender (masculine and feminine), and number (singular and plural). There is no case inflexion, except in pronouns.
 Verbs are highly inflected for person, number, tense, aspect, and mood (including a subjunctive).
 There are no modal auxiliaries.
 Word order is freer than in English.

Gender and number inflection
thumb|right|150px|Gender and number inflection of the word gat ("cat")
+Regular noun with definite article: el gat ("the cat")  masculine  feminine singular el gat  la gata plural els gats  les gates+Adjective with 4 forms: verd ("green")  masculine  feminine singular verd  verda plural verds  verdes+Adjective with 3 forms: feliç ("happy")  masculine  feminine singular feliçplural feliços  felices+Adjective with 2 forms:  ("indifferent")  masculine  feminine singular plural s
In gender inflection, the most notable feature is (compared to Portuguese, Spanish or Italian), the loss of the typical masculine suffix -o. Thus, the alternance of -o/-a, has been replaced by ø/-a. There are only a few exceptions, like minso/minsa ("scarce"). Many not completely predictable morphological alternations may occur, such as:
 Affrication: boig/boja ("insane") vs. lleig/lletja ("ugly")
 Loss of n: pla/plana ("flat") vs. segon/segona ("second")
 Final obstruent devoicing: sentit/sentida ("felt") vs. dit/dita ("said")

Catalan has few suppletive couplets, like Italian and Spanish, and unlike French. Thus, Catalan has noi/noia ("boy"/"girl") and gall/gallina ("cock"/"hen"), whereas French has garçon/fille and coq/poule.

There is a tendency to abandon traditionally gender-invariable adjectives in favour of marked ones, something prevalent in Occitan and French. Thus, one can find bullent/bullenta ("boiling") in contrast with traditional bullent/bullent.

As in the other Western Romance languages, the main plural expression is the suffix -s, which may create morphological alternations similar to the ones found in gender inflection, albeit more rarely.
The most important one is the addition of -o- before certain consonant groups, a phonetic phenomenon that does not affect feminine forms: el pols/els polsos ("the pulse"/"the pulses") vs. la pols/les pols ("the dust"/"the dusts").

Determiners
right|150px|thumb|Sign in the town square of Begur, Catalonia, Spain. In Plaça de la vila (literally "square of the town"), since the noun vila ("town") is feminine singular, the definite article carries the corresponding form, la ("the").
+Definite article in Standard Catalan (elided forms in brackets)  masculine  feminine singular el (l')  la (l') plural els  les+Contractions of the definite articlepreposition a  de  perarticle  el al (a l')  del (de l')  pel (per l') els als  dels pels+Indefinite article  masculine  feminine singular un  una plural uns  unes

The inflection of determinatives is complex, specially because of the high number of elisions, but is similar to the neighboring languages. Catalan has more contractions of preposition + article than Spanish, like dels ("of + the [plural]"), but not as many as Italian (which has sul, col, nel, etc.).

Central Catalan has abandoned almost completely unstressed possessives (mon, etc.) in favour of constructions of article + stressed forms (el meu, etc.), a feature shared with Italian.

Personal pronouns
+Catalan stressed pronouns    singular  plural 1st person jo, mi  nosaltres 2nd person  informal tu  vosaltres formal vostèvostès respectful(vós)Archaic in most dialects. 3rd person  masculine ell  ells feminine ella  elles

The morphology of Catalan personal pronouns is complex, specially in unstressed forms, which are numerous (13 distinct forms, compared to 11 in Spanish or 9 in Italian). Features include the gender-neutral ho and the great degree of freedom when combining different unstressed pronouns (65 combinations).

Catalan pronouns exhibit T–V distinction, like all other Romance languages (and most European languages, but not Modern English). This feature implies the use of a different set of second person pronouns for formality.

This flexibility allows Catalan to use extraposition extensively, much more than French or Spanish. Thus, Catalan can have m'hi recomanaren ("they recommended me to him"), whereas in French one must say ils m'ont recommandé à lui, and Spanish me recomendaron a él. This allows the placement of almost any nominal term as a sentence topic, without having to use so often the passive voice (as in French or English), or identifying the direct object with a preposition (as in Spanish).

Verbs
+ Simple forms of a regular verb of the first conjugation: portar ("to bring")Non-finiteFormInfinitive portarGerund portantPast participleportat (portat, portada, portats, portades)Indicativejotu ell / ella[vostè]nosaltresvosaltres[vós]ells / elles[vostès]Present portoportesportaportemporteuportenImperfectportavaportaves portavaportàvemportàveuportavenPreterite (archaic)portíportares portàportàremportàreuportarenFutureportaréportaràsportaràportaremportareuportaranConditionalportariaportariesportariaportaríemportaríeuportarienSubjunctivejotu ell / ella[vostè]nosaltresvosaltres[vós]ells / elles[vostès]PresentportiportisportiportemporteuportinImperfectportésportéssisportésportéssimportéssiuportessinImperativejotu ell / ella[vostè]nosaltresvosaltres[vós]ells / elles[vostès] —  — portaportiportemporteuportin
Like all the Romance languages, Catalan verbal inflection is more complex than the nominal. Suffixation is omnipresent, whereas morphological alternations play a secondary role. Vowel alternances are active, as well as infixation and suppletion. However, these are not as productive as in Spanish, and are mostly restricted to irregular verbs.

The Catalan verbal system is basically common to all Western Romance, except that most dialects have replaced the synthetic indicative perfect with a periphrastic form of anar ("to go") + infinitive.

Catalan verbs are traditionally divided into three conjugations, with vowel themes -a-, -e-, -i-, the last two being split into two subtypes. However, this division is mostly theoretical. Only the first conjugation is nowadays productive (with about 3500 common verbs), whereas the third (the subtype of servir, with about 700 common verbs) is semiproductive. The verbs of the second conjugation are fewer than 100, and it is not possible to create new ones, except by compounding.

Syntax
The grammar of Catalan follows the general pattern of Western Romance languages. The primary word order is SVO (subject–verb–object).The World Atlas of Language Structures. wals.info.

Catalan names

In Spain, every person officially has two surnames, one of which is the father's first surname and the other is the mother's first surname. The law contemplates the possibility of joining both surnames with the Catalan conjunction i ("and").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"

Sample text
Selected text from Manuel de Pedrolo's 1970 novel Un amor fora ciutat ("A love affair outside the city").
OriginalWord-for-word translationFree translationTenia prop de divuit anys quan vaig conèxierI was having close to eighteen years, when I go [past auxiliary] know (=I met)I was about eighteen years old when I meten Raül, a l'estació de Manresa.the Raül, at the station of (=in) Manresa. Raül, at Manresa railway station.El meu pare havia mort, inesperadament i encara jove,The my father had died, unexpectedly and still young,My father had died, unexpectedly and still young,un parell d'anys abans, i d'aquells tempsa couple of years before, and of those times a couple of years before; and from that timeconservo un record de punyent solitud.I keep a memory of acute loneliness I still harbour memories of great loneliness.Les meves relacions amb la mareThe my relations with the motherMy relationship with my motherno havien pas millorat, tot el contrari, not had at all improved, all the contrary, had not improved; quite the contrary,potser fins i tot empitjoravenperhaps even they were worsening and arguably it was getting even worsea mesura que em feia gran.at step that (=in proportion as) myself I was making big (=I was growing up).as I grew up.No existia, no existí mai entre nosaltres,  Not it was existing, not it existed never between us,There did not exist, at no point had there ever existed between us una comunitat d'interessos, d'afeccions. a community of interests, of affections. shared interests or affection.Cal creure que cercava... una personaIt is necessary to believe that I was seeking... a person I guess I was seeking... a personen qui centrar la meva vida afectiva.in whom to center the my life affective.in whom I could center my emotional life.

Loanwords in Catalan and English
English wordCatalan wordCatalan meaningNotes aubergine albergínia"eggplant" Eng < Fr < Cat. barracks barraca"mud hut"Eng < Fr baraques < Cat/Sp barracas. barracoon barracó or barracot"improvised hut"Eng < Spanish barracón < barraca (Sp < Cat). surgesorgir"to arise"Eng < Middle French sourgir < Old Catalan surgir. paellapaella"small cooking pot" Eng < Cat < Old French pael(l)e (mod. poêle ‘skillet’) < Latin patella ‘small pan’ (> Sp padilla). cul-de-sac cul-de-sac"with no exit" French < Old Catalan/Occitan (> English). capicua cap i cua"ends like it starts" cucumber cogombre"fruit used in salads"Eng < Old French / Occitan cocombre.

See also

Organizations
 Institut d'Estudis Catalans (Catalan Studies Institute)
 Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua (Valencian Academy of the Language)
 Òmnium Cultural
 Plataforma per la Llengua
Varieties
 Western Catalan
 Eastern Catalan
 Central Catalan
 Balearic
 Valencian
 Northern Catalan
 Alguerese
Other
 Languages of Catalonia
 Linguistic features of Spanish as spoken by Catalan speakers
 Languages of France
 Languages of Italy
 Languages of Spain
 Normes de Castelló
 Pompeu Fabra
Scholars
 Marina Abràmova

References

Bibliography
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

External links

Institutions
 Consorci per a la Normalització Lingüística
 Institut d'Estudis Catalans
 Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua
 Secretaria de Política Lingüística de la Generalitat de Catalunya

About the Catalan language
 Gramàtica de la Llengua Catalana (Catalan grammar)
 verbs.cat (Catalan verb conjugations with online trainers)
 Catalan and its dialects

Monolingual dictionaries
 Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, from the Institut d'Estudis Catalans
 Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, from Enciclopèdia Catalana
 Diccionari Català-Valencià-Balear d'Alcover i Moll
 Diccionari Valencià online
 Diccionari Invers de la Llengua Catalana (dictionary of Catalan words spelled backwards)

Bilingual and multilingual dictionaries
 Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana Multilingüe from Enciclopèdia Catalana (Catalan ↔ English, French, German and Spanish)
 DACCO open source, collaborative dictionary (Catalan–English)
 Webster's Online Dictionary, The Rosetta Edition (Catalan–English)
 Optimot: Catalan language consults, dictionary and thesaurus of Generalitat of Catalonia

Automated translation systems
 Traductor automated, online translations of text and web pages (Catalan ↔ English, French and Spanish)
 SisHiTra automated, online translations of text and web pages (Catalan–Spanish)
 apertium.org Apertium (free software) translates text, documents or web pages, online or offline, between Catalan and Aranese, English, Esperanto, French, Occitan, Portuguese and Spanish
 translate.google.com online translations Catalan <> English and other languages

Phrasebooks
 Catalan phrasebook on Wikivoyage
 Basic Catalan phrases (with audio)
 Catalan language with audio

Learning resources
 Catalan Swadesh list of basic vocabulary words, from Wiktionary's Swadesh-list appendix
 Interc@t, set of electronic resources for learning the Catalan language and culture
 Learn Catalan!, an introduction for the Catalonia-bound traveler
 On-line Catalan resources

Catalan-language online encyclopedia
 Enciclopèdia Catalana

Category:Catalan language
Category:Subject–verb–object languages