Valencian () or Valencian language
() is the official, historical and traditional name used in the
Valencian Community
The Valencian Community ( ca-valencia, Comunitat Valenciana, es, Comunidad Valenciana) is an autonomous community of Spain. It is the fourth most populous Spanish autonomous community after Andalusia, Catalonia and the Community of Madrid with ...
(
Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, i ...
), and unofficially in the
El Carche comarca
A ''comarca'' (, or , or ) is a traditional region or local administrative division found in Portugal, Spain and some of their former colonies, like Brazil, Nicaragua, and Panama. The term is derived from the term ''marca'', meaning a "march, ...
in
Murcia
Murcia (, , ) is a city in south-eastern Spain, the capital and most populous city of the autonomous community of the Region of Murcia, and the seventh largest city in the country. It has a population of 460,349 inhabitants in 2021 (about one ...
(
Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, i ...
),
to refer to the
Romance language
The Romance languages, sometimes referred to as Latin languages or Neo-Latin languages, are the various modern languages that evolved from Vulgar Latin. They are the only extant subgroup of the Italic languages in the Indo-European languages, I ...
also known as
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 ...
.
[«Otra sentencia equipara valenciano y catalán en las oposiciones, y ya van 13.»](_blank)
''20 minutos'', 7 January 2008.[Decreto 84/2008, de 6 de junio, del Consell, por el que se ejecuta la sentencia de 20 de junio de 2005, de la Sala de lo Contencioso-Administrativo del Tribunal Superior de Justicia de la Comunitat Valenciana](_blank)
The Valencian Community's 1982
Statute of Autonomy
Nominally, a Statute of Autonomy ( es, Estatuto de Autonomía, ca, Estatut d'Autonomia, gl, Estatuto de Autonomía, ast, Estatutu d'Autonomía, eu, Autonomia Estatutua) is a law hierarchically located under the constitution of a country and, u ...
and the
Spanish Constitution
The Spanish Constitution (Spanish, Asturleonese language, Asturleonese, and gl, Constitución Española; eu, Espainiako Konstituzioa; ca, Constitució Espanyola; oc, Constitucion espanhòla) is the Democracy, democratic law that is supreme l ...
officially recognise Valencian as the regional language.
As a
glottonym
Linguonym (from la, lingua / language, and gr, ὄνομα / name) also known as glossonym (from grc, γλῶσσα / language) or glottonym (from Attic Greek: γλῶττα / language), is a linguistic term that designates a proper name of an ...
, it is used for referring either to the language as a whole or to the Valencian specific linguistic forms.
According to philological studies, the varieties of this language spoken in the Valencian Community and El Carche cannot be considered a dialect restricted to these borders: the several
dialects of Valencian (Alicante's Valencian, Southern Valencian, Central Valencian or , Northern Valencian or Castellon's Valencian and Transitional Valencian) belong to the Western group of Catalan dialects.
Valencian displays transitional features between
Ibero-Romance languages
The Iberian Romance, Ibero-Romance or sometimes Iberian languagesIberian languages is also used as a more inclusive term for all languages spoken on the Iberian Peninsula, which in antiquity included the non-Indo-European Iberian language. are a ...
and
Gallo-Romance languages
The Gallo-Romance branch of the Romance languages includes in the narrowest sense the Langues d'oïl and Franco-Provençal. However, other definitions are far broader, variously encompassing the Occitano-Romance, Gallo-Italic, and Rhaeto-Roman ...
. Its similarity with
Occitan Occitan may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to the Occitania territory in parts of France, Italy, Monaco and Spain.
* Something of, from, or related to the Occitania administrative region of France.
* Occitan language
Occitan (; o ...
has led many authors to group it under the
Occitano-Romance languages
The Occitano-Romance or Gallo-Narbonnese ( ca, llengües occitanoromàniques; oc, lengas occitanoromanicas), or rarely East Iberian, is a branch of the Romance language group that encompasses the Catalan/Valencian and Occitan languages spoken i ...
.
There is a
political controversy within the Valencian Community regarding its status as a glottonym or as a language on its own, since official reports show that slightly more than half of the people in the Valencian Community consider it as a separate language, different from
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 ...
, although the same studies show that this percentage decreases dramatically among younger generations and people with higher studies.
According to the 2006
Statute of Autonomy
Nominally, a Statute of Autonomy ( es, Estatuto de Autonomía, ca, Estatut d'Autonomia, gl, Estatuto de Autonomía, ast, Estatutu d'Autonomía, eu, Autonomia Estatutua) is a law hierarchically located under the constitution of a country and, u ...
Valencian is regulated by the ,
by means of the
Castelló norms, which adapt Catalan orthography to Valencian idiosyncrasies. Due to not having been officially recognised for a long time, the number of speakers has severely decreased, and the influence of Spanish has led to the adoption of a huge number of
loanwords
A loanword (also loan word or loan-word) is a word at least partly assimilated from one language (the donor language) into another language. This is in contrast to cognates, which are words in two or more languages that are similar because the ...
.
Some of the most important works of
Valencian literature
Catalan literature is the name conventionally used to refer to literature written in the Catalan language. The focus of this article is not just the literature of Catalonia, but literature written in Catalan from anywhere, so that it includes writ ...
experienced a golden age during the
Late Middle Ages
The Late Middle Ages or Late Medieval Period was the Periodization, period of European history lasting from AD 1300 to 1500. The Late Middle Ages followed the High Middle Ages and preceded the onset of the early modern period (and in much of Eur ...
and
the Renaissance
The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...
. Important works include
Joanot Martorell
Joanot Martorell (; c. 1410 – 1465) was a Valencian knight and writer, best known for authoring the novel ''Tirant lo Blanch'', written in Valencian and published at Valencia in 1490. This novel is often regarded as one of the peaks of the l ...
's
chivalric romance
As a literary genre, the chivalric romance is a type of prose and verse narrative that was popular in the noble courts of High Medieval and Early Modern Europe. They were fantastic stories about marvel-filled adventures, often of a chivalric k ...
, and
Ausiàs March
Ausiàs March (Catalan and ; 1400March 3, 1459) was a medieval Valencian poet and knight from Gandia, Valencia. He is considered one of the most important poets of the "Golden Century" (''Segle d'or'') of Catalan/Valencian literature.
Biography
...
's poetry. The first book produced with
movable type
Movable type (US English; moveable type in British English) is the system and technology of printing and typography that uses movable components to reproduce the elements of a document (usually individual alphanumeric characters or punctuatio ...
in the
Iberian Peninsula
The Iberian Peninsula (),
**
* Aragonese and Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica''
**
**
* french: Péninsule Ibérique
* mwl, Península Eibérica
* eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in southwestern Europe, defi ...
was printed in the Valencian variety. The earliest recorded
chess
Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to disti ...
game with modern rules for moves of the
queen
Queen or QUEEN may refer to:
Monarchy
* Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom
** List of queens regnant
* Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king
* Queen dowager, the widow of a king
* Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...
and
bishop
A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution.
In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...
was in the Valencian poem (1475).
Official status
The official status of Valencian is regulated by the
Spanish Constitution
The Spanish Constitution (Spanish, Asturleonese language, Asturleonese, and gl, Constitución Española; eu, Espainiako Konstituzioa; ca, Constitució Espanyola; oc, Constitucion espanhòla) is the Democracy, democratic law that is supreme l ...
and the Valencian
Statute of Autonomy
Nominally, a Statute of Autonomy ( es, Estatuto de Autonomía, ca, Estatut d'Autonomia, gl, Estatuto de Autonomía, ast, Estatutu d'Autonomía, eu, Autonomia Estatutua) is a law hierarchically located under the constitution of a country and, u ...
, together with the
Law of Use and Education of Valencian.
Article 6 of the Valencian Statute of Autonomy sets the legal status of Valencian, providing that:
:*''The native language of the Valencian Community is Valencian.''
:*''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 their 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 framework, providing for implementation of a
bilingual education
In bilingual education, students are taught in two (or more) languages. It is distinct from learning a second language as a subject because both languages are used for instruction in different content areas like math, science, and history. The t ...
al 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 recognised under the
European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages
The European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages (ECRML) is a European treaty (CETS 148) adopted in 1992 under the auspices of the Council of Europe to protect and promote historical regional and minority languages in Europe. However, the ...
as "Valencian".
Distribution and usage
Distribution
Valencian is not spoken all over the
Valencian Community
The Valencian Community ( ca-valencia, Comunitat Valenciana, es, Comunidad Valenciana) is an autonomous community of Spain. It is the fourth most populous Spanish autonomous community after Andalusia, Catalonia and the Community of Madrid with ...
. 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
Spanish-speaking
Hispanophone and Hispanic refers to anything relating to the Spanish language (the Hispanosphere).
In a cultural, rather than merely linguistic sense, the notion of "Hispanophone" goes further than the above definition. The Hispanic culture is th ...
only, whereas Valencian is spoken to varying degrees elsewhere.
Additionally, it is also spoken by a reduced number of people in
El Carche, a rural area in the
Region of Murcia
The Region of Murcia (, ; es, Región de Murcia ), is an Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Spain located in the southeastern part of the Iberian Peninsula, on the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean coast. The region is in ...
adjoining the Valencian Community; nevertheless Valencian does not have any official recognition in this area. Although the Valencian language was an important part of the history of this zone, nowadays only about 600 people are able to speak Valencian in the area of El Carche.
Knowledge and usage
![Coneixement del valencià (domini promig)-Cens del 2001](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/24/Coneixement_del_valenci%C3%A0_%28domini_promig%29-Cens_del_2001.png)
In 2010 the
Generalitat Valenciana
The Generalitat Valenciana is the generic name covering the different self-government institutions under which the Spanish autonomous community of Valencia is politically organized.
It consists of seven institutions including the ''Corts Valen ...
published a study, ''Knowledge and Social use of Valencian'', which included a survey sampling more than 6,600 people in the provinces of Castellon, Valencia, and Alicante. The survey simply collected 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 Spanish-speaking areas)
* 26.2% answered they write Valencian "perfectly" or "quite well" (29.5% in the Valencian-speaking areas and 5.8% in the Spanish-speaking areas)
The survey shows that, although Valencian is still the common language in many areas in the Valencian Community, 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.
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
Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, Valencia and the Municipalities of Spain, third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is ...
and
Alicante
Alicante ( ca-valencia, Alacant) is a city and municipality in the Valencian Community, Spain. It is the capital of the province of Alicante and a historic Mediterranean port. The population of the city was 337,482 , the second-largest in t ...
, 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. 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 Spanish and consequently this becomes their preferred language.
Features of Valencian
![Catalan dialects-en](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/13/Catalan_dialects-en.png)
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
Catalan (; autonym: , ), known in the Valencian Community and Carche as ''Valencian'' (autonym: ), is a Western Romance language. It is the official language of Andorra, and an official language of three autonomous communities in eastern Spa ...
. 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 vowel chart](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/19/Valencian_vowel_chart.svg)
* The stressed vowel system of Valencian is the same as that of Eastern Catalan: , , , , , , and , with and being considerably lower than in EC.
** The vowels and are more open and centralised than in Spanish. This effect is more pronounced in unstressed syllables, where the phones are best transcribed . As the process is completely predictable, the latter symbols are not used elsewhere in the article.
** The vowel is somewhat retracted and is somewhat advanced both in stressed and unstressed syllables. and can be realised as mid vowels in some cases. This occurs more often with .
** The so-called "
open vowels
An open vowel is a vowel sound in which the tongue is positioned as far as possible from the roof of the mouth. Open vowels are sometimes also called low vowels (in U.S. terminology ) in reference to the low position of the tongue.
In the cont ...
", and , are generally as low as in most Valencian dialects. The phonetic realisations of approaches and is as open as (as in traditional
RP ''dog''). This feature is also found in
Balearic.
*** is slightly more open and centralised before liquids and in monosyllabics.
*** is most often a back vowel. In some dialects (including Balearic) can be unrounded.
** The vowel is slightly more fronted and closed than in Central Catalan (but less fronted and closed than in Majorcan). The precise phonetic realisation of the vowel in Valencian is
~ this vowel is subject to assimilation in many instances.
*** Stressed can be retracted to in contact with velar consonants (including the velarized ), and fronted to in contact with palatals. This is not transcribed in the article.
*** Final unstressed may have the following values:
~ ~
The tilde () or , is a grapheme with several uses. The name of the character came into English from Spanish, which in turn came from the Latin '' titulus'', meaning "title" or "superscription". Its primary use is as a diacritic (accent) in ...
depending on the preceding sounds and/or dialect, e.g. ''taula'' 'table'.
** All vowels are phonetically nasalised between nasal consonants or when preceding a syllable-final nasal.
** Vowels can be lengthened in some contexts.
* There are five general unstressed vowels . Although unstressed vowels are more stable than in Eastern Catalan dialects, there are many cases where they merge:
** In some Valencian varieties, unstressed and are realised as before labial consonants (e.g. ''coberts'' 'cutlery'), before a stressed syllable with a high vowel (e.g. ''sospira'' 'he/she sighs') and in some given names (e.g. ''Josep'' 'Joseph') (note also in some colloquial speeches initial unstressed is often diphthongized to , ''olor'' ) 'smell (
n.)'). Similarly, unstressed , and are realised as in contact with sibilants, nasals and certain approximants (e.g. ''eixam'' 'swarm', ''entendre'' 'to understand', ''clevill'' 'crevice'). Likewise (although not recommended by the AVL), unstressed merges with in contact with palatal consonants (e.g. ''genoll'' 'knee'), and especially (in this case it is accepted) in lexical derivation with the suffix -''ixement'' (e.g. ''coneixement'' 'knowledge'). In the Standard all these reductions are accepted ( → is only accepted in words with the suffix ''-ixement'').
** Many Valencian dialects, especially Southern Valencian, feature some sort of
vowel harmony
In phonology, vowel harmony is an Assimilation (linguistics), assimilatory process in which the vowels of a given domain – typically a phonological word – have to be members of the same natural class (thus "in harmony"). Vowel harmony is t ...
(''harmonia vocàlica''). This process is normally progressive (i.e. preceding vowels affect those pronounced afterwards) over the last unstressed vowel of a word; e.g. ''hora'' > 'hour'. However, there are cases where regressive metaphony occurs over pretonic vowels; e.g. ''tovallola'' > 'towel', ''afecta'' > 'affects'. Vowel harmony differs greatly from dialect to dialect, while many varieties assimilate both to the height and the quality of the preceding stressed vowel (e.g. ''terra'' 'Earth, land' and ''dona'' 'woman'); in other varieties, it is just the height that assimilates, so that ''terra'' and ''dona'' can be pronounced with either () or with (), depending on the speaker.
*** In a wider sense, vowel harmony can occur in further instances, due to different processes involving palatalisation, velarisarion and labialisation
**In certain cases, the unstressed become silent when followed or preceded by a stressed vowel: ''quinze anys'' .
**In certain accents, vowels occurring at the end of a
prosodic unit
In linguistics, a prosodic unit, often called an intonation unit or intonational phrase, is a segment of speech that occurs with a single prosodic contour ( pitch and rhythm contour). The abbreviation IU is used and therefore the full form is o ...
may be realized as centering diphthongs for special emphasis, so that ''Eh tu! Vine ací'' "Hey you! Come here!" may be pronounced . The non-syllabic is unrelated to this phenomenon as it is an unstressed non-syllabic allophone of that occurs after vowels, much like in Spanish.
Consonants
* The
voiced
Voice or voicing is a term used in phonetics and phonology to characterize speech sounds (usually consonants). Speech sounds can be described as either voiceless (otherwise known as ''unvoiced'') or voiced.
The term, however, is used to refer ...
stops are
lenited
In linguistics, lenition is a sound change that alters consonants, making them more sonorous. The word ''lenition'' itself means "softening" or "weakening" (from Latin 'weak'). Lenition can happen both synchronically (within a language at a pa ...
to approximants after a
continuant
In phonetics, a continuant is a speech sound produced without a complete closure in the oral cavity, namely fricatives, approximants, vowels, and trills. While vowels are included in continuants, the term is often reserved for consonant sounds. ...
, i.e. a vowel or any type of consonant other than a
stop
Stop may refer to:
Places
* Stop, Kentucky, an unincorporated community in the United States
* Stop (Rogatica), a village in Rogatica, Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Facilities
* Bus stop
* Truck stop, a type of rest stop for truck d ...
or
nasal (exceptions include after
lateral consonant
A lateral is a consonant in which the airstream proceeds along one or both of the sides of the tongue, but it is blocked by the tongue from going through the middle of the mouth. An example of a lateral consonant is the English ''L'', as in ''Larr ...
s). These sounds are realised as voiceless plosives in the coda in standard Valencian.
** can also be lenited in betacist dialects.
** is often elided between vowels following a stressed syllable (found notably in feminine participles, → , and in the suffix -''dor''); e.g. ''fideuà'' ( < ''fideuada'') '
fideuà
Fideuà (dialectal pronunciation of the Valencian word ''fideuada'' "large amount of noodles" from Hisp. Ar. ''fidáwš'') is a seafood dish originally from the coast of Valencia that is similar to paella, and even more so to arròs a banda, bu ...
', ''mocador'' 'tissue' (note this feature, although widely spread in South Valencia, is not recommended in standard Valencian,
except for reborrowed terms such as ''Albà'', ''Roà'', the previously mentioned ''fideuà'', etc.).
** Unlike other Catalan dialects, the clusters and never geminate or fortify in intervocalic position (e.g. ''poble'' 'village').
*The velar stops , are fronted to pre-velar position
before
front vowel
A front vowel is a class of vowel sounds used in some spoken languages, its defining characteristic being that the highest point of the tongue is positioned as far forward as possible in the mouth without creating a constriction that would otherw ...
s: ''qui'' ('who').
* Valencian has preserved in most of its varieties the mediaeval
voiced pre-palatal affricate (similar to the ''j'' in English "jeep") in contexts where other modern dialects have developed
fricative consonant
A fricative is a consonant produced by forcing air through a narrow channel made by placing two articulators close together. These may be the lower lip against the upper teeth, in the case of ; the back of the tongue against the soft palate in t ...
s (like the ''si'' in English "vision"), e.g. ''dijous'' ('Thursday').
** Note the fricative appears only as a voiced
allophone
In phonology, an allophone (; from the Greek , , 'other' and , , 'voice, sound') is a set of multiple possible spoken soundsor ''phones''or signs used to pronounce a single phoneme in a particular language. For example, in English, (as in ''s ...
of before vowels and voiced consonants; e.g. ''peix al forn'' 'oven fish'.
* Unlike other Catalan dialects, and do not geminate (in most accents): ''metge'' ('medic'), and ''cotxe'' ('car'). Exceptions may include learned terms like ''pidgin'' ('pidgin').
* In the Standard, intervocalic , e.g. ''setze'' ('sixteen'), and , e.g. ''potser'' ('maybe'), are recommended to be pronounced with a gemination of the stop element ( and , respectively).
* occurs in Balearic,
Alguerese, standard Valencian and some areas in southern Catalonia (e.g. ''viu'' , 's/he lives'). It has
merged
Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are business transactions in which the ownership of companies, other business organizations, or their operating units are transferred to or consolidated with another company or business organization. As an aspect ...
with
elsewhere.
** is realized as an approximant after continuants: ''avanç'' ('advance'). This is not transcribed in this article.
* Deaffrication of to in verbs ending in -''itzar'' and derivatives: ''analitzar'' ('to analise'), ''organització'' ('organization'). Also in words like ''botzina'' ('horn'), ''horitzó'' ('horizon') and ''magatzem'' ('storehouse') (c.f. ''guitza'' , 'bother').
* Most varieties of Valencian preserve final stops in clusters (e.g. , and ): ''camp'' 'field' (a feature shared with modern
Balearic). Dialectally, all final clusters can be simplified.
* is normally
velarised (), especially in the coda.
** is generally
dropped in the word ''altre'' ('other'), as well as in derived terms.
* is mostly retained in the coda (e.g. ''estar'' , 'to be'), except for some cases where it is dropped: ''arbre'' ('tree") and ''diners'' ('money').
In some dialects can be further dropped in combinatory forms with infinitives and pronouns.
* In some dialects, is pronounced or after . In the Standard only is accepted after (in the inchoative form with → ), and after : ''ells'' ('they'). In some variants the result may be an affricate.
Morphology
* The present first-person singular of verbs differs from Central Catalan. All those forms without final -''o'' are more akin to mediaeval Catalan and contemporary Balearic Catalan.
* Present subjunctive is more akin to medieval Catalan and Spanish; -''ar'' infinitives end , -''re'', -''er'' and -''ir'' verbs end in (in contemporary Central Catalan present subjunctive ends in ).
* An exclusive feature of Valencian is the
subjunctive
The subjunctive (also known as conjunctive in some languages) is a grammatical mood, a feature of the utterance that indicates the speaker's attitude towards it. Subjunctive forms of verbs are typically used to express various states of unreality ...
imperfect morpheme -''ra'': ('that he might come').
* Valencian has -''i''- as theme vowel for inchoative verbs of the third conjugation; e.g. ('s/he serves'), like North-Western Catalan. Although, again, this cannot be generalised since there are Valencian dialects that utilize -''ei''-, e.g. .
* In Valencian the simple past tense (e.g. 'he sang') is more frequently used in speech than in Central Catalan, where the periphrastic past (e.g. 'he sang') is prevailing and the simple past mostly appears in written language. The same, however, may be said of the Balearic dialects.
* The second-person singular of the present tense of the verb ('to be'), ('you are'), has been replaced by in colloquial speech.
* The infinitive ('to see') has the variant , which belongs to more informal and spontaneous registers.
* The usage of the periphrasis of obligation + + infinitive is widely spread in colloquial Valencian, instead of the Standard + (equivalent to English "have to").
;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 dialects (for instance the one spoken in
Vinaròs
Vinaròs () is a city located in eastern Spain and the capital of the Baix Maestrat in the province of Castelló. It is in the border between the Valencian Country and Catalonia. Vinaròs is a fishing harbour and tourist destination.
History
...
area) preserve etymological forms ''
lo'', ''
los
LOS, or Los, or LoS may refer to:
Science and technology
* Length of stay, the duration of a single episode of hospitalisation
* Level of service, a measure used by traffic engineers
* Level of significance, a measure of statistical significance ...
'' as in
Lleida
Lleida (, ; Spanish: Lérida ) is a city in the west of Catalonia, Spain. It is the capital city of the province of Lleida.
Geographically, it is located in the Catalan Central Depression. It is also the capital city of the Segrià comarca, as ...
. For the other unstressed object pronouns, etymological old forms (''
me'', ''
te'', ''
se'', ''
ne'', ''
mos
MOS or Mos may refer to:
Technology
* MOSFET (metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistor), also known as the MOS transistor
* Mathematical Optimization Society
* Model output statistics, a weather-forecasting technique
* MOS (filmm ...
'', ''
vos''...) can be found, depending on places, in conjunction with the more modern reinforced ones (''
em'', ''
et'', ''
es'', ''
en'', ''
ens'', ''
us''...).
** Several local variations for ''
nosaltres'', ''
vosaltres'' ('we, you'): , , , etc.; , , , etc.; also for the weak form ''mos''/-''mos'' instead of standard ''ens''/ns''/''-nos'' ('us') and ''vos''/-''vos'' instead of ''us''/-''vos'' ('you pl.'), the latter (''vos'', instead of ''us'') considered standard.
* 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.
*
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:
** , when it forms syllable with a pronoun: , ('s/he gives it to me')
** or , when it comes before a verb starting with consonant: (or ) ('s/he gives it')
** , when precedes a vowel or when coming after a vowel: ('s/he gives it to her/him'), ('you give it')
** , when it comes after a consonant or a semivowel: ('to give it').
* The personal pronoun ''
jo'' ('I') and the adverb ''
ja'' ('already') are not pronounced according to the spelling, but to the etymology ( and , instead of and ). Similar pronunciations can be heard in North-Western Catalan and Ibizan.
* The preposition ''
amb
AMB may refer to:
* Active magnetic bearing
* Advanced Memory Buffer, used in Fully Buffered DIMM memory
* Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, one of the armed sections of the Palestinian Fatah movement
* Ambergate railway station, abbreviation used in the ...
'' ('with') merges with ''
en'' ('in') in most Valencian dialects.
* Valencian preserves the mediaeval system of demonstratives with three different levels of demonstrative precision (''
este'' or ''
aquest''/''
açò''/''
ací'', ''
eixe'' or ''
aqueix''/''
això''/''
ahí'', ''
aquell''/''
allò''/''
allí'' or ''
allà'', where and are almost never used) (feature shared with modern Ribagorçan and Tortosan).
Vocabulary
Valencian vocabulary contains words both restricted to the Valencian-speaking domain, as well as words shared with other Catalan varieties, especially with
Northwestern ones. Words are rarely spread evenly over the Valencian community, but are usually contained to parts of it, or spread out into other dialectal areas. Examples include ''hui'' 'today' (found in all of Valencia except transitional dialects, in Northern dialects ''avui'') and ''espill'' 'mirror' (shared with Northwestern dialects, Central Catalan ''mirall''). There is also variation within Valencia, such as 'corn', which is ''dacsa'' in Central and Southern Valencian, but ''panís'' in Alicante and Northern Valencian (as well as in Northwestern Catalan). Since Standard Valencian is based on the Southern dialect, words from this dialect are often used as primary forms in the standard language, despite other words traditionally being used in other Valencian dialects. Examples of this are ''tomaca'' 'tomato' (which is ''tomata'' outside of Southern Valencian) and ''matalaf'' 'mattress' (which is ''matalap'' in most of Valencia, including parts of the Southern Valencian area).
Below are a selection of words which differ or have different forms in Standard Valencian and Catalan. In many cases, both standards include this variation in their respective dictionaries, but differ as to what form is considered primary. In other cases, Valencian includes colloquial forms not present in the IEC standard. Primary forms in each standard are shown in bold (and may be more than one form). Words in brackets are present in the standard in question, but differ in meaning from how the
cognate
In historical linguistics, cognates or lexical cognates are sets of words in different languages that have been inherited in direct descent from an etymology, etymological ancestor in a proto-language, common parent language. Because language c ...
is used in the other standard.
Varieties of Valencian
Standard Valencian
The
Academy of Valencian Studies (''Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua'', AVL), established by law in 1998 by the
Valencian autonomous government and constituted in 2001, is in charge of dictating the official rules governing the use of Valencian. Currently, the majority of people who write in Valencian use this standard.
Standard Valencian is based on the standard of the
Institute of Catalan Studies
The Institute for Catalan Studies ( ca, Institut d'Estudis Catalans, ), also known by the acronym IEC, is an academic institution which seeks to undertake research and study into "all elements of Catalan culture". It is based in Barcelona, Catalon ...
(''Institut d'Estudis Catalans'', IEC), used in
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 north ...
, with a few adaptations. This standard roughly follows the
Rules of Castelló (''Normes de Castelló'') from 1932, a set of othographic guidelines regarded as a compromise between the essence and style of
Pompeu Fabra
Pompeu Fabra i Poch (; Gràcia, Barcelona, 20 February 1868 – Prada de Conflent, 25 December 1948) was a Spanish engineer and grammarian. He was the main author of the normative reform of contemporary Catalan language.
Life
Pompeu Fabra w ...
's guidelines, but also allowing the use of Valencian idiosyncrasies.
Valencian dialects
![Subdialectes del valencià](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/24/Subdialectes_del_valenci%C3%A0.svg)
* Transitional Valencian (''valencià de transició'') or Tortosan (''tortosí''): spoken only in the northernmost areas of the province of
Castellon in towns like
Benicarló
Benicarló () is a city and municipality in the north of the province of Castelló, part of the Valencian Community, in the Mediterranean Coast between the cities of Vinaròs and Peníscola, not too far south from the Ebre River.
Tourism, ag ...
or
Vinaròs
Vinaròs () is a city located in eastern Spain and the capital of the Baix Maestrat in the province of Castelló. It is in the border between the Valencian Country and Catalonia. Vinaròs is a fishing harbour and tourist destination.
History
...
, the area of
Matarranya in Aragon (province of
Teruel
Teruel () is a city in Aragon, located in eastern Spain, and is also the capital of Teruel Province. It has a population of 35,675 in 2014 making it the least populated provincial capital in the country. It is noted for its harsh climate, with a ...
), and a southern border area of
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 north ...
surrounding
Tortosa
Tortosa (; ) is the capital of the ''Catalonia/Comarques, comarca'' of Baix Ebre, in Catalonia, Spain.
Tortosa is located at above sea level, by the Ebro river, protected on its northern side by the mountains of the Cardó Massif, of which Buin ...
, in the province of
Tarragona
Tarragona (, ; Phoenician: ''Tarqon''; la, Tarraco) is a port city located in northeast Spain on the Costa Daurada by the Mediterranean Sea. Founded before the fifth century BC, it is the capital of the Province of Tarragona, and part of Tar ...
.
** Word-initial and postconsonantal (Catalan and ) alternates with intervocalically; e.g. ''joc'' ('game'), but ''pitjor'' ('worse'), ''boja'' ('crazy') (Standard Valencian , ; ; Standard Catalan , and ).
** Final is not pronounced in infinitives; e.g. ''cantar'' (Standard ) ('to sing').
** Archaic
articles
Article often refers to:
* Article (grammar), a grammatical element used to indicate definiteness or indefiniteness
* Article (publishing), a piece of nonfictional prose that is an independent part of a publication
Article may also refer to:
G ...
''lo, los'' ('the') are used instead of ''el, els''; e.g. ''lo xic'' ('the boy'), ''los hòmens'' ('the men').
* Northern Valencian (''valencià septentrional'') or Castellon's Valencian (''valencià castellonenc''): spoken in an area surrounding the city of
Castellón de la Plana
Castellón de la Plana (officially in ca-valencia, Castelló de la Plana), or simply Castellón ( ca-valencia, Castelló, link=no) is the capital city of the province of Castellón, in the Valencian Community, Spain. It is located in the east ...
.
** Use of sound instead of standard in the third person singular of most verbs; e.g. ''(ell) cantava'' (Standard ) 'he sang'. Thus, Northern Valencian dialects contrast forms like ''(jo) cantava'' ('I sang') with ''(ell) cantava'' ('he sang'), but merges ''(jo) cante'' ('I sing') with ''(ell) canta'' ('he sings').
** Palatalization of > and > ; e.g. ''pots'' > ('cans, jars, you can'), ''dotze'' > ('twelve').
** Depalatalization of to by some speakers; e.g. ''caixa'' ('box').
* Central Valencian (''valencià central''), or ''Apitxat'', spoken in
Valencia
Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, Valencia and the Municipalities of Spain, third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is ...
city and its area, but not used as standard by the Valencian media.
** Sibilant merger: all voiced sibilants are devoiced (, , ); that is, ''apitxat'' pronounces ''casa'' ('house') and ''joc'' ('game'), where other Valencians would pronounce and (feature shared with
Ribagorçan).
**
Betacism
In historical linguistics, betacism (, ) is a sound change in which (the voiced bilabial plosive, as in ''bane'') and (the voiced labiodental fricative , as in ''vane'') are confused. The final result of the process can be either /b/ → or /v ...
, that is the merge of into ; e.g. ''viu'' (instead of ) ('he lives').
** Fortition (gemination) and vocalisation of final consonants; ''nit'' (instead of ) ('night').
** It preserves the strong simple past, which has been substituted by an analytic past (periphrastic past) with +
infinitive
Infinitive (abbreviated ) is a linguistics term for certain verb forms existing in many languages, most often used as non-finite verbs. As with many linguistic concepts, there is not a single definition applicable to all languages. The word is deri ...
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
This is a list of the 42 ''comarques'' (singular ''comarca'', , ) into which Catalonia is divided. A ''Comarcas of Spain, comarca'' is a group of municipalities of Catalonia, municipalities, roughly equivalent to a county in the US or a district ...
'' located in the southernmost part of the Valencia province and the northernmost part in the province of Alicante. This dialect is considered as Standard Valencian.
**
Vowel harmony
In phonology, vowel harmony is an Assimilation (linguistics), assimilatory process in which the vowels of a given domain – typically a phonological word – have to be members of the same natural class (thus "in harmony"). Vowel harmony is t ...
: the final syllable of a disyllabic word adopts a preceding open () or () if the final vowel is an unstressed - or -; e.g. ''terra'' ('earth, land'), ''dona'' ('woman').
** This dialect retain geminate consonants ( and ); e.g. ''guatla'' ('quail'), ''cotna'' ('rind').
** Weak pronouns are "reinforced" in front of the verb (''em, en, et, es'', etc.) contrary to other dialects which maintains "full form" (''me, ne, te, se'', etc.).
* Alicante's Valencian (''valencià alacantí''): spoken in the southern half of the province of
Alicante
Alicante ( ca-valencia, Alacant) is a city and municipality in the Valencian Community, Spain. It is the capital of the province of Alicante and a historic Mediterranean port. The population of the city was 337,482 , the second-largest in t ...
, and the area of
El Carche in Murcia.
** Intervocalic elision in most instances; e.g. ''roda'' ('wheel'), ''nadal'' ('Christmas').
** Yod is not pronounced in ; e.g. ''caixa'' ('box').
** Final is not pronounced in infinitives; e.g. ''cantar'' ('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').
Authors and literature
Middle Ages
* ''
'' (c. 1350). Liturgical drama. Listed as
Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity
The Proclamation of Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity was made by the Director-General of UNESCO starting in 2001 to raise awareness of intangible cultural heritage and encourage local communities to protect them and th ...
by
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...
.
Renaissance
*
Ausiàs March
Ausiàs March (Catalan and ; 1400March 3, 1459) was a medieval Valencian poet and knight from Gandia, Valencia. He is considered one of the most important poets of the "Golden Century" (''Segle d'or'') of Catalan/Valencian literature.
Biography
...
(Gandia, 1400 – Valencia, 3 March 1459). Poet, widely read in renaissance Europe.
*
Joanot Martorell
Joanot Martorell (; c. 1410 – 1465) was a Valencian knight and writer, best known for authoring the novel ''Tirant lo Blanch'', written in Valencian and published at Valencia in 1490. This novel is often regarded as one of the peaks of the l ...
(Gandia, 1413–1468). Knight and the author of the novel ''
Tirant lo Blanch
''Tirant lo Blanch'' ( ; modern spelling: ''Tirant lo Blanc'') is a chivalric romance written by the Valencian knight Joanot Martorell, finished posthumously by his friend Martí Joan de Galba and published in the city of Valencia in 1490 as an ...
''.
*
Isabel de Villena
Isabel de Villena (c.1430-Valencia, Crown of Aragon, 1490) was the illegitimate child of Enrique de Villena an unknown noblewoman who rose to become the abbess of the Real Monasterio de la Trinidad of Valencia. As the first major female writer of ...
(Valencia, 1430–1490). Religious poet.
*
Joan Roís de Corella
Joan Roís de Corella (; Gandia or Valencia, 1435 – Valencia, 1497) was a Catalan-language writer from the Kingdom of Valencia.
He was born into a minor noble family of Aragonese origin in either Gandia or Valencia and apparently followed ...
(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.
Media in Valencian
![RTVVexecutada](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/74/RTVVexecutada.jpg)
Until its dissolution in November 2013, the public-service
Ràdio Televisió Valenciana (RTVV) was the main broadcaster of radio and television in Valencian language. The Generalitat Valenciana constituted it in 1984 in order to guarantee the
freedom of information
Freedom of information is freedom of a person or people to publish and consume information. Access to information is the ability for an individual to seek, receive and impart information effectively. This sometimes includes "scientific, indigeno ...
of the Valencian people in their own language. It was reopened again in 2018 in the same location but under a different name, À Punt, and it is owned by À Punt Media, a group owned by the
Generalitat Valenciana
The Generalitat Valenciana is the generic name covering the different self-government institutions under which the Spanish autonomous community of Valencia is politically organized.
It consists of seven institutions including the ''Corts Valen ...
. The new television channel claims to be plural, informative and neutral for all of the Valencian population. It is bilingual, with a focus on the Valencian language. It's recognised as a regional TV channel.
Prior to its dissolution, the administration of RTVV under the
People's Party (PP) had been controversial due to accusations of ideological manipulation and lack of plurality. The news broadcast was accused of giving marginal coverage of the
Valencia Metro derailment
The Valencia Metro derailment occurred in Valencia, Spain's third largest city, on 3 July 2006 at 1 p.m. CEST (1100 UTC) between Jesús and Plaça d'Espanya stations on the Line 1 of the Metrovalencia mass transit system. At least 43 people ...
in 2006 and the indictment of President de la Generalitat
Francisco Camps
Francisco Enrique Camps Ortiz (born 28 August 1962) is a Spanish politician belonging to the Partido Popular (PP). He served as President of the Valencian Government, the Valencian regional administration, in the period 2003–2011, and is sti ...
in the
Gürtel scandal in 2009. Supervisors appointed by the PP were accused of
sexual harassment
Sexual harassment is a type of harassment involving the use of explicit or implicit sexual overtones, including the unwelcome and inappropriate promises of rewards in exchange for sexual favors. Sexual harassment includes a range of actions fro ...
.
In face of an increasing debt due to excessive expenditure by the PP, RTVV announced in 2012 a plan to shed 70% of its labour. The plan was nullified on 5 November 2013 by the
National Court after trade unions appealed against it. On that same day, the President de la Generalitat
Alberto Fabra
Alberto Fabra Part (Castellón de la Plana, born 6 April 1964) is a Spanish politician who belongs to the People's Party (Spain), People's Party. He was the fifth President of the Valencian Government since devolution was granted in 1982.
Pers ...
(also from
PP) announced RTVV would be closed, claiming that reinstating the employees was untenable. On 27 November, the legislative assembly passed the dissolution of RTVV and employees organised to take control of the broadcast, starting a campaign against the PP. Nou TV's last broadcast ended abruptly when Spanish police pulled the plug at 12:19 on 29 November 2013.
Having lost all revenues from advertisements and facing high costs from the termination of hundreds of contracts, critics question whether the closure of RTVV has improved the financial situation of the Generalitat, and point out to plans to benefit private-owned media. Currently, the availability of media in the Valencian language is extremely limited. All the other
autonomous communities in Spain
eu, autonomia erkidegoa
ca, comunitat autònoma
gl, comunidade autónoma
oc, comunautat autonòma
an, comunidat autonoma
ast, comunidá autónoma
, alt_name =
, map =
, category = Autonomous administra ...
, including the monolingual ones, have public-service broadcasters, with the Valencian Community being the only exception despite being the fourth most populated.
In July 2016 a new public corporation,
Valencian Media Corporation
Valencian Media Corporation (in Valencian, Corporació Valenciana de Mitjans de Comunicació, and in Spanish, Corporación Valenciana de Medios de Comunicación), also known by its acronyms CVMC or VMC, is an agency of the Generalitat Valenciana, ...
, was launched in substitution of RTVV. It manages and controls several public media in the Valencian Community, including the television channel À Punt, which started broadcasting in June 2018.
Politico-linguistic controversy
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 Language Academy (''Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua,'' AVL) considers Valencian and Catalan to be two names for 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"''](_blank)
Report from Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua
The Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua ("Valencian Academy of the Language"), also known by the acronym AVL, is an institution created on September 16, 1998, by the Valencian Parliament, which belongs to the set of official institutions that com ...
about denomination and identity of Valencian.
![Linguistic map Southwestern Europe-en](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ab/Linguistic_map_Southwestern_Europe-en.gif)
The AVL was established in 1998 by the PP-
UV government of
Eduardo Zaplana. According to
El País
''El País'' (; ) is a Spanish-language daily newspaper in Spain. ''El País'' is based in the capital city of Madrid and it is owned by the Spanish media conglomerate PRISA.
It is the second most circulated daily newspaper in Spain . ''El Pa ...
,
Jordi Pujol
Jordi Pujol Soley (, born 9 June 1930) is a Catalan politician who was the leader of the party Convergència Democràtica de Catalunya (CDC) from 1974 to 2003, and President of the Generalitat de Catalunya from 1980 to 2003.
Early life
Pujol was ...
, then president of Catalonia and of the
CiU
Convergence and Union ( ca, Convergència i Unió, CiU; ) was a Catalan nationalist electoral alliance in Catalonia, Spain. It was a federation of two constituent parties, the larger Democratic Convergence of Catalonia (CDC) and its smaller coun ...
, negotiated with Zaplana in 1996 to ensure the linguistic unity of Catalan in exchange for CiU support of the appointment of
José María Aznar
José María Alfredo Aznar López (; born 25 February 1953) is a Spanish politician who was the prime minister of Spain from 1996 to 2004. He led the People's Party (PP), the dominant centre-right political party in Spain.
A member of the Fre ...
as
Prime Minister of Spain
The prime minister of Spain, officially president of the Government ( es, link=no, Presidente del Gobierno), is the head of government of Spain. The office was established in its current form by the Constitution of 1978 and it was first regula ...
. Zaplana has denied this, claiming that "
ver, never, was I able to negotiate that which is not negotiable, neither that which is not in the negotiating scope of a politician. That is, the unity of the language".
The AVL orthography is based on the
Normes de Castelló
Normes de Castelló (, " Castelló's Norms"), also known as Normes del 32, are elementary orthographic guidelines that follow Pompeu Fabra's Catalan language norms for its Valencian variety. They were signed in 1932 in Castelló de la Plana by t ...
, a set of rules for writing Valencian established in 1932. A rival set of rules, called
Normes del Puig
The Norms of El Puig (Valencian: ''Normes d'El Puig''), also known as Norms of the RACV (Valencian: ''Normes de la RACV''), are the linguistic rules developed by the Royal Academy of Valencian Culture (RACV) (Valencian: ''Real Acadèmia de Cultu ...
, were established in 1979 by the
Royal Academy of Valencian Culture (''Real Acadèmia de Cultura Valenciana'', RACV), which considers itself a rival language academy to the AVL, and promotes an alternative orthography. Compared to Standard Valencian, this orthography excludes many words not traditionally used in the Valencian Community, and also prefers spellings such as ⟨ch⟩ for /tʃ/ and ⟨y⟩ for /j/ (as in
Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries
**Spanish cuisine
Other places
* Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...
).
Valencian is classified as a Western dialect, along with the North-Western varieties spoken in Western Catalonia (
Province of Lleida
The Province of Lleida (; Aranese Occitan: Lhèida ; es, Lérida ) is one of the four provinces of Catalonia. It lies in north-eastern Spain, in the western part of the autonomous community of Catalonia, and is bordered by the Provinces of ...
and most of the
Province of Tarragona
Tarragona (, ) is a province of eastern Spain, in the southern part of the autonomous community of Catalonia. It is bordered by the provinces of Castellón, Teruel, Zaragoza, Lérida and Barcelona and by the Mediterranean Sea.
The province's p ...
). 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 o]
Ethnologue
Despite the position of the official organizations, an opinion poll carried out between 2001 and 2004
showed that the majority (65%) of the Valencian people (both Valencian and Spanish speakers) consider Valencian different from Catalan: this position is promoted by people who do not use Valencian regularly. Furthermore, the data indicate that younger people educated in Valencian are much less likely to hold these views. According to an official poll in 2014,
52% of Valencians considered Valencian to be a language different from Catalan, while 41% considered the languages to be the same. This poll showed significant differences regarding age and level of education, with a majority of those aged 18–24 (51%) and those with a higher education (58%) considering Valencian to be the same language as Catalan. This can be compared to those aged 65 and above (29%) and those with only primary education (32%), where the same view has its lowest support.
The ambiguity regarding the term Valencian and its relation to Catalan has sometimes led to confusion and controversy. In 2004, during the drafting of the
European Constitution
The Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe (TCE; commonly referred to as the European Constitution or as the Constitutional Treaty) was an unratified international treaty intended to create a consolidated constitution for the European U ...
, the regional governments of Spain where a language other than Spanish is co-official were asked to submit translations into the relevant language in question. Since different names are used in Catalonia ("Catalan") and in the Valencian Community ("Valencian"), the two regions each provided one version, which were identical to each other.
See also
*
Pluricentric language
A pluricentric language or polycentric language is a language with several interacting codified standard forms, often corresponding to different countries. Many examples of such languages can be found worldwide among the most-spoken languages, inc ...
*
Valencian Sign Language
Valencian Sign Language ( ca-valencia, Llengua de signes valenciana ), or LSV,Also abbreviated as LSCV (for ''Llengua de signes de la Comunitat Valenciana'') and LSPV (for ''Llengua de signes del País Valencià'') is a sign language used by deaf ...
* (spelled ''xe'' in Modern Valencian)
* Similar linguistic controversies:
**
Andalusian language movement
Andalusian is a dialect of Spanish spoken in Andalusia, Spain. However, a recent fringe movement has aimed at the differentiation of Andalusian from Spanish and at its standardization. Several groups and organizations have emerged attempting to ...
**
Names given to the Spanish language
There are two names given in Spanish to the Spanish language: español ("Spanish") and castellano ("Castilian"). Spanish speakers from different countries or backgrounds can show a preference for one term or the other, or use them indiscriminat ...
**
Moldovan language
Moldovan (Romanian alphabet, Latin alphabet: ''limba moldovenească''; Moldovan Cyrillic alphabet: лимба молдовеняскэ), also known historically as Moldavian, is one of the two local names of the Romanian language in Moldova. " ...
**
Occitan language
Occitan (; oc, occitan, link=no ), also known as ''lenga d'òc'' (; french: langue d'oc) by its native speakers, and sometimes also referred to as ''Provençal'', is a Romance languages, Romance language spoken in Southern France, Monaco, Ital ...
**
Serbo-Croatian
Serbo-Croatian () – also called Serbo-Croat (), Serbo-Croat-Bosnian (SCB), Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian (BCS), and Bosnian-Croatian-Montenegrin-Serbian (BCMS) – is a South Slavic language and the primary language of Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and ...
Notes
References
Bibliography
*
* Colomina i Castanyer, Jordi, (1995). ''Els valencians i la llengua normativa.'' Textos universitaris.
Alicante
Alicante ( ca-valencia, Alacant) is a city and municipality in the Valencian Community, Spain. It is the capital of the province of Alicante and a historic Mediterranean port. The population of the city was 337,482 , the second-largest in t ...
: Institut de Cultura "Juan Gil-Albert". .
*
* Guinot, Enric (1999). ''Els fundadors del Regne de València''. Edicions 3i4, Valencia 1999.
*
Salvador i Gimeno, Carles (1951). ''Gramàtica valenciana''.Associació Cultural Lo Rat Penat. Valencia 1995. .
*
*
*
* Salvador i Gimeno, Carles (1963). ''Valencians i la llengua autòctona durant els segles XVI, XVII i XVIII''. Institució Alfons el Magnànim. Valencia. .
* Sanchis i Guarner, Manuel (1934, 1967). ''La llengua dels valencians''. Edicions 3i4, Valencia 2005. .
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Valor i Vives, Enric (1973). ''Curs mitjà de gramàtica catalana, referida especialment al País Valencià''. Grog Editions, Valencia 1999. .
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External links
Acadèmia Valenciana de la LlenguaValencian dictionaryInstitut Joan Lluís Vives; Documents
The origins and evolution of language secessionism in Valencia. An analysis from the transition period until todayArticle from ''El País'' (25 October 2005) regarding report on use of Valencian published by Servei d'Investicació i Estudis Sociolinguístics
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