Valencian language: Difference between revisions
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Nitsugagmx (talk | contribs) m The definition of Valencian should state first what it is (a language) before it states its characteristics (a dialect of the Catalan or a diglossic language of Catalan). Also saying that "some" residents think something is more acurate than "the" |
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'''Valencian''' ({{IPAc-en|v|ə|ˈ|l|ɛ|n|s|i|ən}} or {{IPAc-en|v|ə|ˈ|l|ɛ|n|ʃ|ən}}; [[endonym]]: ''valencià'') is the |
'''Valencian''' ({{IPAc-en|v|ə|ˈ|l|ɛ|n|s|i|ən}} or {{IPAc-en|v|ə|ˈ|l|ɛ|n|ʃ|ən}}; [[endonym]]: ''valencià'') is the language spoken in the [[Valencian Community]]{{sfn|Wheeler|2006|p=186}} in [[Spain]], where it is the traditional language and co-official with [[Spanish language|Spanish]].<ref name="Agreement">{{cite web |url= http://www.avl.gva.es/img/EdicionsPublicacions/AcordsGenerals/NOMENTITAT.pdf|urltrad= |title=Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua Agreement (AVL) |year= 2005 |editor= Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua |location= Valencia|language= Valencian}}</ref> A [[standard language|standardized]] [[Variety (linguistics)#Standard varieties|form]] exists, based on the Southern Valencian subdialect. |
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Valencian belongs to the Western group of [[Catalan language|Catalan]] dialects.<ref name="wheeler" /> Under the Valencian [[Statute of Autonomy]], the [[Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua|Valencian Academy of the Language]] (''Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua, AVL'') has been established as its [[language regulator|regulator]]. The AVL considers ''Catalan'' and ''Valencian'' to be simply [[names of Catalan language|two names]] for the same language.<ref>[http://www.avl.gva.es/img/EdicionsPublicacions/AcordsGenerals/NOMENTITAT.pdf ''"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.</ref> |
Valencian belongs to the Western group of [[Catalan language|Catalan]] dialects.<ref name="wheeler" /> Under the Valencian [[Statute of Autonomy]], the [[Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua|Valencian Academy of the Language]] (''Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua, AVL'') has been established as its [[language regulator|regulator]]. The AVL considers ''Catalan'' and ''Valencian'' to be simply [[names of Catalan language|two names]] for the same language.<ref>[http://www.avl.gva.es/img/EdicionsPublicacions/AcordsGenerals/NOMENTITAT.pdf ''"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.</ref> |
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Some of the most important works of [[ |
Some of the most important works of [[Valencian literature]] experienced a golden age during the [[Late Middle Ages]] and the [[Renaissance]]. Important works include [[Joanot Martorell]]'s [[chivalric romance]] ''[[Tirant lo Blanch]]'', and [[Ausiàs March]]'s poetry. The first book produced with movable type in the Iberian Peninsula was printed in the Valencian variety.<ref>''Trobes en llaors de la Verge Maria'' ("Poems of praise of the Virgin Mary") 1474.</ref>{{sfn|Costa Carreras|Yates|year=2009|pp=6–7}} |
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==Official status== |
==Official status== |
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Despite the position of the official organizations, which is also shared with |
Despite the position of the official organizations, which is also shared with some residents of Catalonia, the majority of Valencian speakers consider their language unique and different from Catalan.{{sfn|Lledó|2011|p=337}} This position is promoted by people who do not use Valencian regularly.{{sfn|Wheeler|2003|p=207}} There is a minority of scholars who defend the position of the Royal Academy of Valencian Culture (''Acadèmia de Cultura Valenciana'', RACV), which uses for Valencian an independent standard from Catalan.{{sfn|Lledó|2011|p=337}} |
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This clash of opinions has sparked much controversy. For example, during the drafting of the [[European Constitution]] in 2004, the Spanish government supplied the [[European Union|EU]] with translations of the text into [[Basque language|Basque]], [[Galician language|Galician]], Catalan, and Valencian, but the latter two were identical.<ref>Isabel I Vilar, Ferran. [http://www.mail-archive.com/infozefir@listserv.rediris.es/msg00442.html ''"Traducció única de la Constitució europea"'']. I-Zefir. 30 Oct 2004. 29 Apr 2009.</ref> |
This clash of opinions has sparked much controversy. For example, during the drafting of the [[European Constitution]] in 2004, the Spanish government supplied the [[European Union|EU]] with translations of the text into [[Basque language|Basque]], [[Galician language|Galician]], Catalan, and Valencian, but the latter two were identical.<ref>Isabel I Vilar, Ferran. [http://www.mail-archive.com/infozefir@listserv.rediris.es/msg00442.html ''"Traducció única de la Constitució europea"'']. I-Zefir. 30 Oct 2004. 29 Apr 2009.</ref> |
Revision as of 22:15, 30 December 2014
Valencian | |
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valencià | |
Pronunciation | Template:IPA-ca (Val.) Template:IPA-ca (WC) Template:IPA-ca (Tarr., bal.). Template:IPA-ca (EC) |
Native to | Spain |
Region | Valencian Community, Murcia (Carche); see also geographic distribution of Catalan |
Native speakers | 2.4 million (2004)[1] (Out of a Catalan speaking population of 11.5 million[citation needed]) |
Catalan alphabet (Latin script) | |
Official status | |
Official language in | In Spain: Valencian Community |
Regulated by | Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | – |
Glottolog | None |
![]() | |
Valencian (/vəˈlɛnsiən/ or /vəˈlɛnʃən/; endonym: valencià) is the language spoken in the Valencian Community[3] in Spain, where it is the traditional language and co-official with Spanish.[4] A standardized form exists, based on the Southern Valencian subdialect.
Valencian belongs to the Western group of Catalan dialects.[2] Under the Valencian Statute of Autonomy, the Valencian Academy of the Language (Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua, AVL) has been established as its regulator. The AVL considers Catalan and Valencian to be simply two names for the same language.[5]
Some of the most important works of Valencian literature experienced a golden age during the Late Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Important works include Joanot Martorell's chivalric romance Tirant lo Blanch, and Ausiàs March's poetry. The first book produced with movable type in the Iberian Peninsula was printed in the Valencian variety.[6][7]
Official status
The official status of Valencian is regulated by the Spanish Constitution and the Valencian Statute of Autonomy,[8] together with the Law of Use and Education of Valencian.
Article 6 of the Valencian Statute of Autonomy[8] sets the legal status of Valencian, providing that:
- Valencian is the Valencian Community's own language.
- Valencian is official within the Valencian Community, along with Spanish, which is the official language nationwide. Everyone shall have the right to know it and use it, and receive education in Valencian.
- No one can be discriminated against by reason of his language.
- Special protection and respect shall be given to the recuperation of Valencian.
- The Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua shall be the normative institution of the Valencian language.
The Law of Use and Education of Valencian develops this frame work, providing for implementation of a bilingual educational system, and regulating the use of Valencian in the public administration and judiciary system, where citizens can freely use it when acting before both.
Valencian is not one of the recognized languages of the European Union (23 official and 26 minority languages).
Authors and literature
Middle Ages
Misteri d'Elx (c. 1350). Liturgical drama. Listed as Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO.
Renaissance
Ausiàs March (Gandia, 1400 – Valencia, March 3, 1459). Poet, widely read in renaissance Europe.
Joanot Martorell (Gandia, 1413–1468). Knight and the author of the novel Tirant lo Blanch.
Isabel de Villena (Valencia, 1430–1490). Religious poetess.
Joan Roís de Corella (Gandia or Valencia, 1435 - Valencia, 1497). Knight and poet.
Obres e trobes en lahors de la Verge Maria (1474) The first book printed in Spain. It is the compendium of a religious poetry contest held that year in the town of Valencia.[7]
Standard Valencian
The Academy of Valencian Studies (Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua, AVL), created by the Valencian autonomous government, is in charge of dictating the official rules governing the use of Valencian.[9] Currently, the majority of people who write in Valencian use this standard.[10]
Standard Valencian is based on the standard of the Institute of Catalan Studies (Institut d'Estudis Catalans, IEC), used in Catalonia, with a few adaptations.[11] This standard roughly follows the Rules of Castelló from 1932,[12] a set of othographic guidelines regarded as a compromise between the essence and style of Pompeu Fabra's guidelines, but also allowing the use of Valencian idiosyncrasies.
Distribution and usage
Distribution
Valencian is not spoken all over the Valencian Community. Roughly a quarter of its territory, equivalent to 10% of the population (its inland part and areas in the extreme south as well), is traditionally Castilian-speaking only, whereas Valencian is spoken to varying degrees elsewhere.
Additionally, it is also spoken by a reduced number of people in Carche, a rural area in the Region of Murcia adjoining the Valencian Community; nevertheless Valencian does not have any official recognition in this area.
Knowledge and usage
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/24/Coneixement_del_valenci%C3%A0_%28domini_promig%29-Cens_del_2001.png/200px-Coneixement_del_valenci%C3%A0_%28domini_promig%29-Cens_del_2001.png)
In 2010 the Generalitat Valenciana published a study, Knowledge and Social use of Valencian,[13] which included a survey sampling more than 6,600 people in the provinces of Castellón, Valencia, and Alicante. The survey simply collects the answers of respondents and did not include any testing or verification. The results were:
Valencian was the language "always, generally, or most commonly used":
- at home: 31.6%
- with friends: 28.0%
- in internal business relations: 24.7%
For ability:
- 48.5% answered they speak Valencian "perfectly" or "quite well" (54.3% in the Valencian-speaking areas and 10% in the Castilian-speaking areas)
- 26.2% answered they write Valencian "perfectly" or "quite well" (29.5% in the Valencian-speaking areas and 5.8% in the Castilian-speaking areas)
The survey shows that, although Valencian is still the common language in many areas in the Land of Valencia, where slightly more than half of the Valencian population are able to speak it, most Valencians do not usually speak in Valencian in their social relations. The statistics hide the fact that in the areas where the language is still strong, most people use Valencian in preference to Castilian in all everyday situations.
Moreover, according to a survey in 2008, there is a downward trend in everyday Valencian users. The lowest numbers are in the major cities of Valencia and Alicante, where the percentage of everyday speakers is in single figures. All in all, in the 1993-2006 period, the number of speakers fell by 10 per cent.[14] One of the factors cited is the increase in the numbers of immigrants from other countries, who tend to favour using Spanish over local languages; accordingly, the number of residents who claim no understanding of Valencian sharply increased. One curiosity in the heartlands mentioned above, is that most of the children of immigrants go to public school and are therefore taught in Valencian and are far more comfortable speaking this with their friends. However, some children of Valencian speakers go to private schools run by the church where the curriculum is in Castilian and consequently this becomes their preferred language.
Valencian subdialects
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/24/Subdialectes_del_valenci%C3%A0.svg/200px-Subdialectes_del_valenci%C3%A0.svg.png)
- Transitional Valencian (valencià de transició or tortosí): spoken only in the northernmost areas of the province of Castellón in towns like Benicarló or Vinaròs, the area of Matarranya in Aragon (province of Teruel), and a southern border area of Catalonia surrounding Tortosa, in the province of Tarragona.
- Word-initial and postconsonantal /dʒ/ (Catalan /ʒ/ and /dʒ/~/ʒ/) alternates with [(j)ʒ] intervocalically; e.g. joc [ˈdʒɔk] 'game', but pitjor [piˈʒo] 'worse', boja [ˈbɔjʒa] 'crazy' (Standard Valencian /ˈdʒɔk/, /piˈdʒoɾ/; /ˈbɔdʒa/; Standard Catalan /ˈʒɔk/, /piˈdʒo/ and /ˈbɔʒə/).
- Final ⟨r⟩ [ɾ] isn't pronounced in infinitives; e.g. cantar [kanˈta] (instead of /kanˈtaɾ/) 'to sing'.
- Archaic articles lo, los ('the') are used instead of el, els; e.g. lo xic 'the boy', los hòmens 'the men'.
- Northern Valencian (valencià septentrional or castellonenc): spoken in an area surrounding the city of Castellón de la Plana.
- Use of [e] sound instead of standard ⟨a⟩ /a/ in the third person singular of most verbs; e.g. (ell) cantava [ˈkantave] (instead of /kanˈtava/) 'he sang'. Thus, Northern Valencian dialects contrast forms like (jo) cantava [kanˈtava] 'I sang' with (ell) cantava [kanˈtave] 'he sang', but merges (jo) cante [ˈkante] 'I sing' with (ell) canta [ˈkante] 'he sings'.
- Palatalization of ⟨ts⟩ /ts/ > [tʃ] and ⟨tz⟩ /dz/ > [dʒ]; e.g. pots /ˈpots/ > [ˈpotʃ] 'cans, jars, you can', dotze /ˈdodze/ > [ˈdodʒe] 'twelve'.
- Depalatalization of /ʃ/ to [sʲ]; e.g. caixa [ˈkajʃa] > [ˈkajsʲa] 'box'.
- Central Valencian (valencià central or apitxat), spoken in Valencia city and its area, but not used as standard by the Valencian media.
- Sibilant merger: all voiced sibilants get unvoiced (/dʒ/ > [tʃ], /dz/ > [ts], /z/ > [s]); that is, apitxat pronounces casa [ˈkasa] ('house') and joc [ˈtʃɔk] ('game'), where other Valencians would pronounce /ˈkaza/ and /ˈdʒɔk/ (feature shared with Ribagorçan).
- Betacism, that is the merge of /v/ into /b/; e.g. viu [ˈbiw] (instead of /ˈviw/) 'he lives'.
- It preserves the strong simple past, which has been substituted by an analytic past (periphrastic past) with vadere + infinitive in the rest of modern Catalan and Valencian variants. For example, aní instead of vaig anar 'I went'.
- Southern Valencian (valencià meridional): spoken in the contiguous comarques located in the southernmost part of the Valencia province and the northernmost part in the province of Alicante. This subdialect is considered as Standard Valencian.
- Vowel harmony: the final syllable of a disyllabic word adopts a preceding open ⟨e⟩ [ɛ] or ⟨o⟩ [ɔ] if the final vowel is an unstressed -⟨a⟩ or -⟨e⟩; e.g. terra [ˈtɛrɛ] ('earth, land'), dona [ˈdɔnɔ] ('woman').
- This subdialect retain geminate consonants (⟨tl⟩ /lː/ and ⟨tn⟩ /nː/); e.g. guatla [ˈɡwalːa] 'quail', cotna [ˈkonːa] 'rind'.
- Weak pronouns are "reinforced" in front of the verb (em, en, et, es, etc.) contrary to other subdialects which maintains "full form" (me, ne, te, se, etc.).
- Alicante Valencian (valencià alacantí): spoken in the southern half of the province of Alicante, and the area of Carche in Murcia.
- Intervocalic /d/ elision in all instances; e.g. roda [ˈrɔa] 'wheel', nadal [naˈaɫ] 'Christmas'.
- Yod is not pronounced in ⟨ix⟩ /jʃ/ > [ʃ]; e.g. caixa [ˈkaʃa] 'box'.
- Final ⟨r⟩ isn't pronounced in infinitives; e.g. cantar [kanˈta] 'to sing'.
- There are some archaisms like: ans instead of abans 'before', manco instead of menys 'less', dintre instead of dins 'into' or devers instead of cap a 'towards'.
- There are more interferences with Spanish than other dialects: assul (from azul) instead of blau (or atzur) 'blue', llimpiar (from limpiar) instead of netejar 'to clean' or sacar (from sacar) instead of traure 'take out'.
Features of Valencian
Note that this is a list of features of the main forms of Valencian as a group of dialectal varieties that differ from those of other Catalan dialects, particularly from the Central variety of the language. For more general information on the features of Valencian, see Catalan language. Note also that there is a great deal of variety within the Valencian Community, and by no means do the features below apply to every local version.
Phonology
Vowels
- Valencian has a system of seven stressed vowels /a/, /e/, /ɛ/, /i/, /o/, /ɔ/, and /u/; reduced to five in unstressed position (/a/ → [a]; /e/, /ɛ/ → [e]; /o/, /ɔ/ → [o]; /i/ → [i]; and /u/ → [u]) (feature shared with North-Western Catalan and Ribagorçan).
- In some Valencian subvarieties, unstressed /o/, /u/ and /ɔ/ merge with [u] before labial consonants (e.g. obert [uˈβɛɾt] 'open'), before a stressed syllable with a high vowel (e.g. conill [kuˈniʎ] 'rabbit'), in contact with palatal consonants (e.g. Josep [dʒuˈzɛp] 'Joseph') and in monosyllabic clitics; unstressed /a/, /e/, and /ɛ/ merge with [a] before nasals and sibilants (e.g. enclusa [aŋˈkluza] 'anvil', eixam [ajˈʃam] 'swarm'), and in some exceptional cases when preceding any consonant (e.g. clevill [klaˈviʎ] 'crevice'). Likewise, unstressed /e/ merges into [i] when in contact with palatal consonants (e.g. genoll [dʒiˈnoʎ] 'knee'), and especially in lexical derivation with -eixement/-aixement (e.g. coneixement [konejʃiˈment] 'knowledge').
- Many Valencian subdialects, especially Southern Valencian, feature some sort of vowel harmony (harmonia vocàlica). In Valencian this process is normally progressive (i.e. preceding vowels affect those pronounced afterwards) over the last unstressed vowel of a word; e.g. hora /ˈɔɾa/ > [ˈɔɾɔ] 'time'. However, there are cases where regressive metaphony occurs over pretonic vowels; e.g. tovallola /tovaˈʎɔla/ > [tɔvɔˈʎɔlɔ] 'towel', afecta /aˈfɛkta/ > [ɛˈfɛktɛ] 'affects'. Vowel harmony differs greatly from dialect to dialect, while many subvarities would alternate [ɛ] and [ɔ], according to the previous stressed vowel (e.g. terra [ˈtɛrɛ] 'Earth, land' and dona [ˈdɔnɔ] 'woman'); others will favor just one realization (either [ɛ] in all, or some, instances; or [ɔ]), thus, terra and dona can be pronounced [ˈtɛrɛ] and [ˈdɔnɛ] (by those who favor [ɛ]) or [ˈtɛrɔ] and [ˈdɔnɔ] (by those who favor [ɔ]).
- The so-called "open vowels" (vocals obertes), /ɛ/ and /ɔ/, are generally as low as /a/ in traditional Valencian. The phonetic realizations of /ɛ/ approaches [æ] (as in English land) and /ɔ/ is as open as [ɒ] (as in English dog) (feature shared with Balearic Catalan).
- The vowel /a/ is slightly fronted and closed than in Central Catalan (but less fronted and closed than in Majorcan).
Consonants
Bilabial | Labio- dental |
Dental/ Alveolar |
Palatal | Velar | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nasal | m | n | ɲ | ŋ | |
Plosive | p b | t d | k ɡ | ||
Affricate | ts dz | tʃ dʒ | |||
Fricative | f v | s z | ʃ (ʒ) | ||
Trill | r | ||||
Flap | ɾ | ||||
Approximant | j | w | |||
Lateral | l | ʎ |
- Voiced plosives /b d ɡ/ are lenited [β ð ɣ] after a continuant, i.e. a vowel or any type of consonant other than a stop or nasal (exceptions include /d/ after lateral consonants and /b/ after /f/). In the coda position (at the end of a word or syllable), these sounds are always realized as plosives except in some Valencian subvarieties, where they are lenited.
- Deletion of lenited /d/ between vowels following a stressed syllable (especially in feminine participles); e.g. fideuà [fiðeˈwaː] ( < fideuada).
- Unlike other Catalan dialects, /b/ and /ɡ/ are lenited in all instances[clarification needed] (e.g. poble [ˈpɔβle] 'village').
- The historical labiodental phoneme /v/ survives in most traditional subdialects, including the standard, but merger with /b/ is now dominant in Central and some Northern Valencian subvarieties.
- Valencian has preserved in most of its subvarieties the mediaeval voiced prepalatal affricate /dʒ/ (similar to the J in English "Jeep") in contexts where other modern dialects have developed fricatives /ʒ/ (like the si in English "vision"); this is a feature shared with modern Ribagorçan. The presence of /dʒ/ for /ʒ/ in Valencian reflects the historical change /ʒ/ > /dʒ/[citation needed] and the failure for /dʒ/ to become /ʒ/ (a feature shared with Occitan and standard Italian). Nonetheless, the fricative [ʒ] may appear as a voiced allophone of /ʃ/ before vowels and voiced consonants; e.g. peix espasa [ˈpejʒ asˈpaza] 'swordfish'.
- Deaffrication of /dz/ in verbs ending in -itzar; e.g. analitzar [analiˈzaɾ] 'to analize'.
- Most Valencian subdialects preserve final stops in clusters; e.g. [mp], [nt], [ŋk], and [ɫt]: camp [ˈkamp] (a feature shared with modern Balearic). The subdialect spoken in Benifaió and Almussafes, some 20 km (12 mi) south of Valencia, remarks these final consonants.[clarification needed]
- Contrary to Eastern Catalan dialects where all instances of /l/ are velarized (pronounced "dark"), Valencian alternates more often a clear l [l] in intervocalic position with a dark l [ɫ] in the coda. The same also occurs in English accents, such as Received Pronunciation or South African English, as opposed to Scottish or American English where /l/ is always dark.
- Valencian is the only modern variant that pronounces etymological final [ɾ] in all contexts, although this cannot be generalized since there are Valencian subvarieties which do not pronounce the final [ɾ] or only pronounce it in some contexts.
Morphology
- The present first-person singular of verbs differs from Central Catalan; e.g. -ar infinitive: parlar 'to speak' gives parle 'I speak' as opposed to parlo, -re infinitive: batre 'to beat' gives bat 'I beat' as opposed to bato, -er infinitive: témer 'to fear' give tem 'I fear' as opposed to temo, and -ir infinitive: sentir 'to feel' gives sent (pronounced [ˈseŋk]) 'I feel' as opposed to sento (all those forms without final -o are more akin to mediaeval Catalan and contemporary Balearic Catalan), and inchoative -ir verbs: patir 'to suffer' gives patisc or patesc ('I suffer') as opposed to pateixo.
- Present subjunctive is more akin to mediaeval Catalan and Spanish; -ar infinitives end ⟨e⟩, -re, -er and -ir verbs end in ⟨a⟩ (in contemporary Central Catalan present subjunctive ends in ⟨i⟩).
- An exclusive feature of Valencian is the subjunctive imperfect morpheme -ra: que ell vinguera ('that he might come').
- Valencian has -i- as theme vowel for inchoative verbs of the third conjugation; e.g. servix ('s/he serves'), like North-Western Catalan. Although, again, this cannot be generalized since there are Valencian subdialects that utilize -ei-, e.g. serveix.
- In Valencian the simple past tense (e.g. cantà 'he sang') is more frequently used in speech than in Central Catalan, where the periphrastic past (e.g. va cantar 'he sang') is prevailing and the simple past mostly appears in written language. The same, however, may be said of the Balearic dialects.[17]
- The second-person singular of the present tense of the verb ser ('to be'), ets ('you are'), has been replaced by eres in colloquial speech.
- Clitics
- In general, use of modern forms of the determinate article (el, els 'the') and the third-person unstressed object pronouns (el, els 'him, them'), though some subdialects (for instance the one spoken in Vinaròs area) preserve etymological forms lo, los as in Lleida. For the other unstressed object pronouns, etymological old forms (me, te, se, ne, mos, vos...) can be found, depending on places, in conjunction with the more modern reinforced ones (em, et, es, en, ens, us...).
- The adverbial pronoun hi ('there') is almost never used in speech and is replaced by other pronouns. The adverbial pronoun en ('him/her/them/it') is used less than in Catalonia and the Balearic Islands.[17]
- Combined weak clitics with li ('him/her/it') preserve the li, whereas in Central Catalan it is replaced by hi. For example, the combination li + el gives li'l in Valencian (l'hi in Central Catalan).
- The weak pronoun ho ('it') is pronounced as [ew] more often than in other dialects, especially when coming after another pronoun (e.g. m'ho dóna [mew ˈðona], dóna-m'ho [ˈdonamew] 's/he gives it to me'). However, when preceding a verb on its own it is pronounced as [u]: ho dóna [u ˈðona] 's/he gives it'. Moreover, after a verb ending in a vowel it is pronounced as [w] (e.g. dóna-ho [ˈdonaw] 'you give it'); while, when following a verb ending with a consonant it is pronounced as [o]: donar-ho [doˈnaɾo] 'to give it'.
- The personal pronoun jo ('I') and the adverb ja ('already') are not pronounced according to the spelling, but to the etymology ([ˈjɔ] and [ˈja], instead of /ˈ(d)ʒɔ/ and /ˈ(d)ʒa/). Similar pronunciations can be heard in North-Western Catalan and Ibizan.
- The preposition amb ('with') merges with en ('in') in most Valencian subdialects.
- Valencian preserves the mediaeval system of demonstratives with three different levels of demonstrative precision (este or aquest/açò/ací, eixe or aqueix/això/aquí, aquell/allò/allí or allà) (feature shared with modern Ribagorçan and Tortosí).
Vocabulary
- Different spelling of words with the same etymology
- Cardinal numbers (8, 19, 68, 200, 1 000 000): Huit, dèneu, seixanta-huit (pronounced 'xixanta-huit'), dos-cents, milió (pronounced 'milló') for vuit, dinou, seixanta-vuit, dues-centes, milió, although dos-centes is also found outside Valencian and in many regions of Catalonia seixanta is pronounced [ʃi'ʃanta], as in Valencian.
- Meua, teua, seua for meva, teva, seva, a feature shared with North-Western Catalan.
- Hui for avui.
- Ordinal numbers (5th, 6th, 20th): quint, sext, vigèsim for cinquè, sisè, vintè, although the former are also found outside Valencian: la quinta columna, el vigèsim regiment.
- Different choice of words
- For example, "please" in Catalonia is usually si us plau or sisplau, which is close to the French s'il vous plaît; In Valencian per favor is more common, which is closer to the Spanish por favor, although per favor is used in all the Catalan-speaking areas.[17]
Some other features, such as the use of molt de or the lack of hom or geminate l, are often given as examples of differences between Valencian varieties and other forms of the language. However, these are actually differences between colloquial and literary language and, again, may not apply to specific sub-dialects. Northern and southern variants of Valencian share more features with western Catalan (Lower Ebro river area for instance) than with central Valencian.[citation needed] Thus, some of the features listed previously do not apply to them.
Linguistic controversy
The vast majority of linguists hold that Catalan and Valencian are the same language, a position that is also shared by the majority of Valencian scholars.[18] The official regulating body of the language of the Valencian Community, the Academy of the Valencian Language (Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua, AVL) also declares the linguistic unity between Valencian and Catalan.[19][20]
[T]he historical patrimonial language of the Valencian people, from a philological standpoint, is the same shared by the autonomous communinites of Catalonia and Balearic islands, and Principality of Andorra. Additionally, it is the patrimonial historical language of other territories of the ancient Crown of Aragon [...] The different varieties of these territories constitute a language, that is, a "linguistic system" [...] From this group of varieties, Valencian has the same hierarchy and dignity as any other dialectal modality of that linguistic system [...]
Valencian is classified as a Western dialect, along with the North-Western varieties spoken in Western Catalonia (provinces of Lleida and most of Tarragona).[22][23] The various forms of Catalan and Valencian are mutually intelligible (ranging from 90% to 95%)[24]
The AVL, created by the Valencian government, is in charge of dictating the official rules governing the use of Valencian, and its standard is based on that of the Institute of Catalan Studies (Institut d'Estudis Catalans, IEC).[11] Currently, the majority of people who write in Valencian use this standard.[10]
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/ab/Linguistic_map_Southwestern_Europe-en.gif/300px-Linguistic_map_Southwestern_Europe-en.gif)
Despite the position of the official organizations, which is also shared with some residents of Catalonia, the majority of Valencian speakers consider their language unique and different from Catalan.[25] This position is promoted by people who do not use Valencian regularly.[26] There is a minority of scholars who defend the position of the Royal Academy of Valencian Culture (Acadèmia de Cultura Valenciana, RACV), which uses for Valencian an independent standard from Catalan.[25]
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.[27]
See also
- Catalan language
- Alguerese
- Balearic
- Valencian Sign Language
- Xe (interjection)
- Similar linguistic controversies
References
- ^ Míriam Luján, Carlos D. Martínez, Vicente Alabau, Evaluation of several Maximum Likelihood Linear Regression variants for language adaptation (PDF), Proceedings of the sixth international conference on Language Resources and Evaluation, LREC 2008,
the total number of people who speak Catalan is 7,200,000, (...). The Valencian dialect is spoken by 27% of all Catalan speakers.
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: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) citing Vilajoana, Jordi, and Damià Pons. 2001. Catalan, Language of Europe. Generalitat de Catalunya, Department de Cultura. Govern de les Illes Balears, Conselleria d’Educació i Cultura. - ^ a b M.H. Wheeler, "Catalan", in the Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics, 2006.
- ^ Wheeler 2006, p. 186.
- ^ Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua, ed. (2005). "Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua Agreement (AVL)" (PDF) (in Valencian). Valencia.
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(help) - ^ "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.
- ^ Trobes en llaors de la Verge Maria ("Poems of praise of the Virgin Mary") 1474.
- ^ a b Costa Carreras & Yates, pp. 6–7.
- ^ a b "Estatuto de Autonomía de la Comunitat Valenciana" (PDF). cortsvalencianes.es. 2006. Retrieved 2010.
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(help) - ^ Statute of Autonomy of the Valencian Community, article 6, section 4.
- ^ a b Lledó 2011, p. 339.
- ^ a b Lledó 2011, p. 338.
- ^ a b Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua 2005.
- ^ "Servei d'Investigació i Estudis Sociolingüístics (Knowledge and Social use of Valencian language)". Servei d’Investigació i Estudis Sociolingüístics. 2010. Retrieved 2010.
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(help) - ^ "El uso del valenciano cae siete puntos y ya sólo lo habla la mitad de la población". levante-emv.com. 26 September 2008. Retrieved 9 October 2010.
- ^ Lacreu i Cuesta, Josep (2002), "Valencian", Manual d'ús de l'estàndard oral (6th ed.), Valencia: Universitat de València, pp. 40–4, ISBN 84-370-5390-0.
- ^ "L'estàndard oral del valencià (2002)" (PDF). Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
- ^ a b c Badia i Margarit, Antoni M. (1995). Gramática de la llengua catalana: Descriptiva, normativa, diatópica, diastrática (in Catalan). Barcelona: Proa.
- ^ Lledó 2011, p. 336-337.
- ^ "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.
- ^ Lledó 2011, p. 344.
- ^ Original full text of Dictamen 1: D’acord amb les aportacions més solvents de la romanística acumulades des del segle XIX fins a l’actualitat (estudis de gramàtica històrica, de dialectologia, de sintaxi, de lexicografia…), la llengua pròpia i històrica dels valencians, des del punt de vista de la filologia, és també la que compartixen les comunitats autònomes de Catalunya i de les Illes Balears i el Principat d’Andorra. Així mateix és la llengua històrica i pròpia d’altres territoris de l’antiga Corona d’Aragó (la franja oriental aragonesa, la ciutat sarda de l’Alguer i el departament francés dels Pirineus Orientals). Els diferents parlars de tots estos territoris constituïxen una llengua, és a dir, un mateix «sistema lingüístic», segons la terminologia del primer estructuralisme (annex 1) represa en el Dictamen del Consell Valencià de Cultura, que figura com a preàmbul de la Llei de Creació de l’AVL. Dins d’eixe conjunt de parlars, el valencià té la mateixa jerarquia i dignitat que qualsevol altra modalitat territorial del sistema lingüístic, i presenta unes característiques pròpies que l’AVL preservarà i potenciarà d’acord amb la tradició lexicogràfica i literària pròpia, la realitat lingüística valenciana i la normativització consolidada a partir de les Normes de Castelló.
- ^ Feldhausen 2010, p. 5.
- ^ Wheeler 2005, pp. 2–3.
- ^ Central Catalan has 90% to 95% inherent intelligibility for speakers of Valencian (1989 R. Hall, Jr.), cited on Ethnologue.
- ^ a b Lledó 2011, p. 337.
- ^ Wheeler 2003, p. 207.
- ^ Isabel I Vilar, Ferran. "Traducció única de la Constitució europea". I-Zefir. 30 Oct 2004. 29 Apr 2009.
Bibliography
- Colomina i Castanyer, Jordi, (1995). Els valencians i la llengua normativa. Textos universitaris. Alicante: Institut de Cultura "Juan Gil-Albert". ISBN 84-7784-178-0.
- Costa Carreras, Joan; Yates, Alan (2009). The Architect of Modern Catalan: Selected Writings/Pompeu Fabra (1868–1948). Instutut d'Estudis Catalans & Universitat Pompeu Fabra & Jonh Benjamins B.V. pp. 6–7. ISBN 978 90 272 3264 9.
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(help) - Garcia Moya, Ricart (1942), Diccionari Històric del Idioma Valencià Modern, Valencia 2006, ISBN 84-934687-5-4
- Guinot, Enric (1999). Els fundadors del Regne de València. Edicions 3i4, Valencia 1999. ISBN 84-7502-592-7
- Lledó, Miquel Àngel (2011). "26. The Independent Standardization of Valencia: From Official Use to Underground Resistance". Handbook of Language and Ethnic Identity : The Success-Failure Continuum in Language and Ethnic Identity Efforts (Volume 2). New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 336–348. ISBN 978-0-19-539245-6.
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(help) - Feldhausen, Ingo (2010). Sentential Form and Prosodic Structure of Catalan. John Benjamins B.V. ISBN 978 90 272 5551 8.
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(help)Salvador i Gimeno, Carles (1951). Gramàtica valenciana. Associació Cultural Lo Rat Penat. Valencia 1995. ISBN 84-85211-71-5 . - Salvador i Gimeno, Carles (1963). Valencians i la llengua autòctona durant els segles XVI, XVII i XVIII. Institució Alfons el Magnànim. Valencia. ISBN 84-370-5334-X.
- Sanchis i Guarner, Manuel (1934, 1967). La llengua dels valencians. Edicions 3i4, Valencia 2005. ISBN 84-7502-082-8 .
- Ubieto Arteta, Antonio (1923, 1990), Orígenes del Reino de Valencia. Zaragoza 1979, ISBN 84-7013-154-0.
- Valor i Vives, Enric (1973). Curs mitjà de gramàtica catalana, referida especialment al País Valencià. Grog Editions, Valencia 1999. ISBN 84-85211-45-6 .
- Puerto Ferre, Teresa y Culla Hernandez, Joan Ignaci. Cronología Histórica de la Lengua Valenciana. Diputación de Valencia. Valencia. 2007. ISBN 978-84-7795-470-5.
- Puerto Ferre, Teresa. Lengua Valenciana una lengua suplantada. Diputación de Valencia. Valencia. 2006. ISBN 84-7795-406-2.
- Wheeler, Max; Yates, Alan; Dols, Nicolau (1999), Catalan: A Comprehensive Grammar, London: Routledge
- Wheeler, Max (2003). "5. Catalan". The Romance Languages. London: Routledge. pp. 170–208. ISBN 0-415-16417-6.
- Wheeler, Max (2005). The Phonology Of Catalan. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 54. ISBN 978-0-19-925814-7.
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External links
- Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua
- Valencian dictionary
- Institut Joan Lluís Vives
- Royal Academy of Valencian Culture
- Documents
- Disputing theories about Valencian origin Template:Es icon
- The origins and evolution of language secessionism in Valencia. An analysis from the transition period until today
- Article from El País (25 October 2005) regarding report on use of Valencian published by Servei d’Investicació i Estudis Sociolinguístics Template:Es icon
- Basic introduction to the Valencian Language