Menorcan or Minorcan ( ca, menorquí, es, menorquín) is a dialect of

Catalan Catalan may refer to: Catalonia From, or related to Catalonia: * Catalan language, a Romance language * Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia Places * 13178 Catalan, asteroid #1 ...

spoken on the island of

Menorca Menorca or Minorca (from la, Insula Minor, , smaller island, later ''Minorica'') is one of the Balearic Islands located in the Mediterranean Sea belonging to Spain. Its name derives from its size, contrasting it with nearby Majorca. Its capi ...

, in the Balearic Islands. It is very similar linguistically to the Mallorcan (''mallorquí'') and Ibizan (''eivissenc'') dialects of Catalan spoken in the Balearic islands. It also has many similarities to English and French, as well as containing anglicisms of the British rule on the island. Some examples are ''xoc'' ('chalk'), ''boínder'' ('bow-window') or ''bòtil'' ('bottle'). Until the 17th century, the Minorcan subdialect had been a very uniform variant of

Eastern Catalan The Catalan dialects feature a relative uniformity, especially when compared to other Romance languages; both in terms of vocabulary, semantics, syntax, morphology, and phonology. Mutual intelligibility between its dialects is very high, estim ...

(and therefore, with few differentiating points Balearic), and today it is still in certain aspects, especially by the closure of unstressed in , which is one of the main differences that the phonetics of Menorca presents in relation to Mallorca (except for Sóller and its dialect, which otherwise has some points of resemblance to that of Ciutadella). A point in which Menorca remained outside the evolutionary process of continental Catalan was with the use of stressed "ə", which was general throughout the island. This uniformity is maintained until the end of the 19th century. From the twentieth century, the stressed "ə" became in a closed "e" in Maó, and the same transfer was made in

Alaior Alaior (, , ; previously in Spanish, ''Alayor'') is a municipality on the island of Menorca, in the Balearic Islands, Spain. It is situated 12 km from the capital, Maó. In 2005 it had a population of 8,671 and it covers an area of 109.77&nb ...

and

Mercadal Es Mercadal is a town and municipality in northern Menorca in the Spanish Balearic Islands. Etymology The name "Mercadal" derives from the Latin language ''mercatum'', meaning "market". In 1301, King James II of Majorca James II ( ca, Jau ...

. Instead, in

Ferreries Ferreries is a municipality on the island of Menorca, in the Spanish autonomous community of the Balearic Islands. Its name is derived from the Catalan word ''ferrer'' ("blacksmith"), which in turn, comes from Latin Latin (, or , ) is a cl ...

and Ciutadella, the neutral sound had been maintained, partly for psychological reasons, according to the statement of

Francesc de Borja Moll i Casasnovas Francesc de Borja Moll Casanovas (10 October 1903 – 18 February 1991) was a catalan linguist, philologist and editor from Menorca. He wrote many books on the Catalan language and its varieties spoken on the Balearic Islands. He was also the ma ...

, for the reaction of the ciutadelenses against the mahoneses, a consequence of secular antipathies. The pronunciation of the closed "e" of Mahon has been mocked by the ciutadelenses, and that has inhibited the progression of its use in the western sector of the island. Another notable difference between the cities of the island, Mahón and Ciutadella, is the intonation.Ciutadella-Maó. Greu vs. agut en dos parlars menorquins
Not so resistant had shown the western sector of the island with the influence coming from

Catalonia Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a '' nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy. Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the nort ...

to Mahón of the morphemes flexives ''-és'', ''-essis'', ''-essin''. Sixty years ago, the primitive forms ''-às'', ''-assis'', ''-assin'' were substituted in Ciutadella. In the treatment of the atonic group "ua", the Menorcan follows the example of the Mallorcan and removes the last vowel, but pronouncing "u" instead of "o": ''aigu'', ''llegu'', ''Pascu''. The weak "i" between vowels is lost, although in the imperfect preterite in western Menorquín, the "i" is felt, pronouncing ''deia'', ''veía'', etc. The deafening of the "ll" is also given: ''gúə'' (agulla), ''véə'' (vella), ''fúə'' (fulla), ''uréə'' (orella), ''páə'' (palla). This same phenomenon occurs in certain villas in Mallorca, especially in Sóller,

Alcúdia Alcúdia () is a municipality and township of the Spanish autonomous community of the Balearic Islands. It is the main tourist centre in the North of Majorca on the eastern coast. It is a large resort popular with families. Most of the hotel ...

and

Capdepera Capdepera is a small municipality on Majorca, one of the Balearic Islands, Spain. Capdepera is a historical village just 8 km from Artà. Originally there had been a watchtower where the Castle of Capdepera stands today which was used to guar ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Menorquin Catalan dialects Menorca Culture of Menorca