Classification
Catalan occurs as Romance language. Based on data from a Ethnologue, its specific classification is a member of the East Iberian branch of the Ibero-Romance branch of the Gallo-Iberian branch of the Western subcomplex of the Italo-Western complex of the Romance group of the Italic branch of the Indo-European language family. It shares several features by owning each Spanish and French, and is the language close to Occitan, and is typically thought of as a rather "transitory" language between a Iberian and Gallic languages when comparing the modern descendent of Latin.

Geographic distribution

Estimates of the total of Catalan speakers deviate from either 4 million to twelve million. [http://www.caib.es/conselleries/educacio/dgpoling/user/catalaeuropa/reduides/tripticangles.pdf] (pdf), [http://www.brazilbrazil.com/roman.html], [http://193.2.100.60/SALTMIL/history/review.htm], [http://www.scbwi.org/pubs/bulletin/bull_archives/jan_feb_2003/intl_news.htm], [http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=CLN].

Catalan is spoken around: Catalonia in Spain. An adjacent strip of Aragon, Spain, in particular a comarques of Baixa Ribagorça, Llitera, Baix Cinca, and Matarranya. Balearic Islands in Spain. Andorra. Part of the Land of Valencia in Spain, where a language is officially known as Valencian. Northern Catalonia in France. The city of Alghero (''l'Alguer) in Sardinia, an island in Italy. A little area inside Murcia, Spain, known as el Carche inside Castilian and el Carxe in Catalan/Valencian.

Tons these areas come informally known as Catalan countries (Catalan Països Catalans), a denominatiin depending originally on ethnical affinity & most common heritage, that a bit of keep close at hand later interpreted politically.

Official status
Catalan is the official language of Andorra. These are co-official in the Spanish regions of Catalonia, the Balearic Islands, and Valencia, and in the Sardinian city of Alghero, in Italy. It has there are no official status in the area of Aragon where it is spoken, however has gained a select few recognition by Aragonese laws since 1990. It has there is no official status in the more web pages in which these are spoken.

Number of Catalan speakers

Territories where Catalan is official

Other territories

World

Notes: A total of humans world health organization know Catalan includes victims world health organization could speak it.

Sources: Catalonia: Statistic information of 2001 nosecount, from either Institut 500'Estadística diamond state Catalunya, Generalitat catalana [http://www.idescat.net/territ/BasicTerr?TC=5&V0=3&V1=3&V3=876&V4=17&ALLINFO=TRUE&PARENT=1&CTX=B]. Land of Valencia: Technical indicator information from either either 2001 nose count, from Institut Valencià five hundred'Estadística, Generalitat Valenciana [http://ive.infocentre.gva.es/pls/portal/docs/PAGE/IVE_PEGV/CONTENTS/cvcifras/2004/val/cvx2004_02.pdf]. Balearic Islands: Technical indicator information from either either 2001 nose count, from Institut Balear 500'Estadística, Govern diamond state les Illes Balears [http://www.caib.es/ibae/demo/catala/t2.htm]. Northern Catalonia: Media Pluriel Survey licensed by Prefecture of Languedoc-Roussillon Region done within October 1997 & published in January 1998 [http://www.linmiter.net/information_catalan.html]. Andorra: Sociolinguistic information from either Andorran Government, 1999 [http://www.catala.ad/CatalaAnd/DadSocLin.htm]. Aragon: Sociolinguistic information from either Euromosaic [http://www.uoc.edu/euromosaic/web/document/catala/an/e19/e19.html]. Alguer: Sociolinguistic information from either Euromosaic [http://www.uoc.edu/euromosaic/web/homect/index2.html]. Rest of Globe: Estimate for 1999 per Federació five hundred'Entitats Catalanes outside a Catalan Countries.

Dialects
proposed a dialectal section of Catalan inside 2 major blockades: Eastern Catalan & American Catalan.

No accurate linguistic border between 1 accent & an additional because there exists about universally the idiom transition zone of occasionally size between pairs of geographically identified accent, (except for idiom specific to an island). A independent difference between each interferes come: American Catalan (Axis o Branca del Català Occidental): Unstressed vowels: . Distinctions between e & the & o & u''. Initial or even post-consonatic x is affricative . First human of Declarative's present desinence is -e or even -o. Inchoative within -ix, -ixen, -isca Maintenance of mediaeval rhinal plural form around proparoxiton words: hòmens, jóvens Specific Vocabulary: espill, xiquet, granera, melic... Eastern Catalan (Axis o Branca del Català Oriental): Unstressed vowels . A unstressed vowels e & the becomes /?/ & o & u becomes /u/. Initial or even post-consonatic x is continuant . First human of Declarative's present desinence is -o, -i personally or even ø. Inchoative around -eix, -eixen, -eixi. The -north- of mediaeval rhinal plural form lessens inside proparoxiton words: homes, joves. Specific Vocabulary: mirall, noi, escombra, llombrígol... Additionally, neither accent is entirely homogeneous: any idiom may be subdivided into many subdialects. Catalan may be subdivided within 2 major dialectal blockades & victims blockades into single idiom:

Watch Catalan dialect examples for examples of each idiom.

The status of Valencian
A poster in Catalan from the Spanish trade union federation displayed in Valencia A issue, when by owning Serbian and Croatian, of whether Catalan and Valencian be different languages or even but idiom has been a subject of political agitation many days fallowing a Franco era. A latest political contention on Valencian occurred on the occasion of the approval of the European Constitution within 2004. A Spanish government supplied a EU by owning translations of a text into Basque, Catalan, Galician, & Valencian, however the Catalan & Valencian versions were monovular. When professing a unity of a Catalan language, a Spanish government claimed to become constitutionally attached to make distinct Catalan & Valencian versions because a Legislative act of the Autonomous Land of Valencia calls the regional language "Valencian", patch that of Catalonia calls its regional language "Catalan". Within practice, a "Catalan", "Valencian", & "Balearic" versions of the EU constitution come monovular, although occasionally compromises across spelling can keep around been included within making the two then.

Virtually all todays (21st century) Valencian speakers & writers have spelling conventions (Normes delaware Castelló, 1932) that leave many diverse mannerism of Valencian, Balearic, N-American Catalan, & Eastern Catalan.

100% universities teaching Romance languages, & most linguists, assume these a lot to exist as linguistic variants of the equivalent language (similar to Canadian French versus Metropolitan French). the criterion utilized by virtually all linguists to decide whether 2 language varieties come a separate language is the criterion of reciprocal intelligibility; by this criterion Valencian & more varieties of Catalan come idiom of the equivalent language. Assume as well a website of the Valencian universities: Universitat Jaume I personally diamond state Castelló, Universitat diamond state València or even ''Universitat 500'Alacant.

Still, differences clean survive: the accent of the Valencian is placeable, there are differences within subjunctive terminations, & there are a prominent total of words unique to Valencian; however victims differences are non any wider than among Northward-American Catalan & Eastern Catalan. In point of fact, Northern Valencian (spoken in the Castelló province & Matarranythe vale, a strip of Aragon) is further similar to the Catalan of the moo Ebro basin (spoken in southern half of Tarragona province and another strip of Aragon) than to apitxat'' Valencian (spoken around 50'Horta, in the province of Valencia).

Sounds and writing system

Grammar

History
Catalan developed per 9th century from Vulgar Latin on both sides of the eastern a share of Pyrenees mountains (counties of Roussillon, Empuries, Besalú, Cerdagne, Urgell, Pallars and Ribagorça). It shares features using Gallo-romance & Ibero-romance, & it can exist as said to be around its beginnings those days are gone than an nonconcentric idiom of Occitan (or of American Romance). A language was spread in the south per Reconquista within many phases: Barcelona & Tarragona, Lleida & Tortosa, a ancient Kingdom of Valencia, & transplanted to the Balearic Islands & fifty'Alguer (Alghero).

Catalan was exported in a 13th century to Balearic Islands & a new created Valencian Kingdom per Catalan & Aragonese encroacher (note that a front yard of Catalan language however touch a share of what is today the region of Aragon). When you took this cycle, well-nigh 100% of the Muslim people of the Balearic Islands were expelled, however numerous Muslim peasants remained within numerous rural arewhen of the Valencian Kingdom, as experienced happened prior to in the moo Ebro basin (or Catalunya Nova).

When you took a Thirteenth, Fourteenth & Fifteenth centuries a Catalan language was significant in the Mediterranean region. Barcelona was a pre-leading city & port of the therefore-alleged Aragonese Empire, a confederation nominally ruled per King of Aragon (Aragon, Catalonia, Roussillon, Valencia, a Balearic Islands, Sicily, & — later on — Sardinia & Naples). Tons prose writers of this era utilized a title 'Catalan' for their most common language (e.g. a Catalan Ramon Muntaner, the Majorcan Ramon Llull, etc.) the matter is thomwhen more complicated among the poets, as it wrote within a rather unreal Langue d'Oc in the tradition of the troubadors. Italian rancor of this Catalan dominance appears to develop been one of a wellsprings of the then-alleged "Black Legend". In a period of a Fifteenth & Sixteenth centuries a city of Valencia profits pre-note in a confederation, due to many factors, including demographic changes & the fact that the royal court moved there. Presumptively following of this shift in a balance of power inside a confederation, in the 15th century the title 'Valencian' starts to exist as utilized by writers from either Valencia to refer to their language.

In a 16th century the title 'Llemosí' (that is to say, "the Occitan dialect of Limoges") is first documented when existence wont to refer to this language. This attribution has there is no philological base, however these are explicable per complex sociolinguistic frame of Catalan poetry of this era (Catalan versus troubadoresque Occitan). Ausias March himself was not sure enough what to call for even a language he was writing inside (these are clearly nearer to his contemporary Catalan or Valencian than to the archaic Occitan).

So, when you took a 16th century, virtually all of a Valencian elite group switched languages to Castilian Spanish, equally may be seen around a balance of languages of printed books in Valencia city: at a beginning of century Latin & Catalan (or even Valencian) were the independent languages of the click, however per prevent of the century Spanish was the independent language of the click. However, rural areas & urban working classes continued to speak their common language.

In the period of the foremost half of the 19th century Catalan & Valencian had a major revival among urban élites due to the Renaixença, a romantic cultural movement. A results of this revival persist to this day.

When you took a Franco regime (1939-1975), the apply of Catalan was banned, along by having more regional languages inside Spain like Basque and Galician. As a result a dying of Franco around 1975 & a restoration of democracy, a ban was lifted & a Catalan language is at present utilized inside politics, education and a media, including the newspapers Avui ('In todays world'), "El Punt" ('A Point') & El Periódico delaware Catalunya (sharing content by using its Spanish release & by having ''El Periòdic five hundred'Andorra, printed inside Andorra; El Periódico de Catalunya has Spanish-language & Catalan-language editions, by owning monovular content) & a television channels of Televisió de Catalunya'' (TVC): TV3 & CanaFifty 33/K3 (culture & cartoons channel) likewise as a Xxiv hour news channel 3/24; there are also numerous local trend lines available around area around Catalan, like BTV and CityTV (Barcelona), Canal L'Hospitalet (50'Hospitalet first state Llobregat) & Canal Terrassa (Terrassa).

Examples
A bit of most common Catalan phrases (pronounced when in the Central dialect -Barcelona & outskirts-):

Catalan: Català *hello: hola *good-bye: adéu (pl.) please: si united states of america plau *thank busy people: gràcies *sorry: perdó *that 1: aquest (fem.) how lot?: quant val? *yes: sí *there are no: no *I don't read: There are no ho entenc *where's a bathroom?: in és el bany? *generic toast: salut! ; Do professional people speak English?: ''Que parla 50'anglès? *Do wise shoppers speak Catalan?: Que parla el català?

Learning Catalan
Digui, digui... Curs first state català by the the estrangers. The catalan Enchiridion. — Alan Yates & Toni Ibarz. — Generalitat first state Catalunya. Departament first state Cultura, 1993. -- ISBN 84-393-2579-7. Teach Yourself Catalan. — McGraw-Hill, 1993. — ISBN 0844237558. Conversational Catalan. — Toni Ibarz & Alexander Ibarz. — Routledge, 2005. — ISBN 0415234123.

Catalan courses come given at several universities in the EU & United states.

English word of Catalan origin
Barracks, from barraca'', utilized for many sort of buildings.