The phonology of Catalan, a Romance language, has a certain degree of dialectal variation. Although there are two main dialects, one based on Eastern Catalan and one based on Valencian, various studies have focused on different Catalan varieties; for example, Wheeler (1979) and Mascaró (1976) analyze Central Eastern varieties——the former focusing on the educated speech of Barcelona and the latter focusing more on the vernacular of Barcelona—— and Recasens (1986) has a careful phonetic study of Central Eastern Catalan.^[1][2] While there are two standard dialects (Eastern and Western), this article deals with features of all or most dialects as well as regional pronunciation differences. Catalan IPA: (català IPA: or []) is a Romance language, the national language of Andorra, and a co-official language in the Spanish autonomous communities of Balearic Islands, Catalonia and Valencia, and in the city of LAlguer in the Italian island of Sardinia. ... Catalan grammar is the grammar of the Catalan language. ... Phonological Features Several characteristic features of Catalan as a Romance language (SAMPA phonetic scheme used): Like Occitan, losing of Latin final unstressed vowels, except -A; and then after some of the resulting consonantic groups a support vowel [ə] appears. ... The Institut dEstudis Catalans (IEC) is an academic institution. ... The Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua (Valencian Academy of Language) is an institution created on September 16, 1998, which depends on the Presidency of the Generalitat Valenciana. ... The territory that now constitutes the autonomous community of Catalonia in Spain, and the adjoining Catalan region of France, was first settled during the Middle Palaeolithic. ... History of Spain series Prehistoric Spain Roman Spain Medieval Spain - Visigoths - Al-Andalus - Age of Reconquest Age of Expansion Age of Enlightenment Reaction and Revolution First Spanish Republic The Restoration Second Spanish Republic Spanish Civil War The Dictatorship Transition to Democracy Modern Spain Topics Economic History Military History Social History... Coat of arms of Aragon, 15th century The Crown of Aragon is a term used to refer to the permanent union of multiple titles and states in the hands of the King of Aragon. ... // The origins of the military force in Catalonia, soar to the 13th century, with the Sagramental, the fraternity among several villages to guarantee their own security, made through oath, due to this so called. ... // Origin: The Corts of Barcelona The Catalan constitutions were promulgated by the Corts of Barcelona (corts being the Catalan for courts). ... Furs of Valencia (Furs de València, in Catalan) were the laws of the Kingdom of Valencia during most of Middle Ages and Early modern Europe. ... The Treaty of the Pyrenees was a treaty signed in 1659 to end the war between France and Spain that had begun in 1635 during the Thirty Years War. ... The Nueva Planta decrees (Spanish:Decretos de Nueva Planta, Catalan: Decrets de Nova Planta) were a number of decrees signed between 1707 and 1716 by Philip V—the first Bourbon king of Spain—shortly after the end of the War of the Spanish Succession. ... The terms Catalan Countries (Catalan: Països Catalans) or Catalanofonia (quite similar, in the linguistic sense, to the French Francophonie, the Portuguese Lusofonia or the Spanish Hispanophone) includes all the territories where the Catalan language is spoken. ... This article is about the Spanish Autonomous Community. ... Capital Valencia Official language(s) Valencian and Spanish Area  â€“ Total  â€“ % of Spain Ranked 8th  23,255 km²  4. ... Capital Palma de Mallorca Official language(s) Spanish and Catalan Area  â€“ Total  â€“ % of Spain Ranked 17th  4,992 km²  1. ... Northern Catalonia (Catalan: Catalunya Nord; Spanish: Cataluña del Norte o Cataluña Transpirenaica; French: Catalogne Nord or Pays Catalan) is the name mainly used by the Catalan-speaking community to refer to the part of the historic Principality of Catalonia that came under French governance through the signing of... Language distribution in Aragon Map of Catalan Countries with current political borders Franja de Ponent (IPA: ; Catalan for Western Strip), Francha de Lebán (Aragonese for Eastern Strip), Franja de Aragón, or simply La Franja, refers to four comarques in the east of the Autonomous Community of Aragon, which... Alghero (lAlguer in Catalan and SAlighèra in Sardinian), is a town of about 42,000 inhabitants (down from 54,300 inhabitants since early 20th century) in Italy. ... Carxe is a city in Spain. ... The Generalitat de Catalunya (Government of Catalonia ) is the institution in which the self-government of Catalonia is politically organised. ... Capital Valencia Official languages Valencian (Catalan) and Spanish (Castilian) Area  – total  – % of Spain Ranked 8th  23 255 km²  4,6% Population  – Total (2003)  – % of Spain  – Density Ranked 4th  4 326 708  10,3%  186,05/km² Demonym  – English  – Valencian  – Spanish  Valencian  valencià/valenciana  valenciano/valenciana Statute of Autonomy July 10... National motto: Virtus Unita Fortior (Latin: Virtue united is stronger) Official language: Catalan Capital:  - Population:  - Coordinates: Andorra la Vella 22,035 (1990 est. ... The General Council of the Valleys (in Catalan, Consell General de les Valls) is the unicameral parliament of Andorra. ... This is the main article about the politic activity in Catalonia. ... Catalan nationalism, or Catalanism, is a political movement that advocates for an increased political autonomy of Catalonia, if not independence itself, from Spain and France. ... For other uses, see Castell (disambiguation). ... Correfocs in Barcelona Catalonias festivals and traditions unify Catalan society and help to give it its particular character. ... Traditional Saragüells costume for the men. ... The sardana (Catalan plural sardanes) is a type of circle dance typical of Catalonia. ... Parade of a Christian filà of Moros i Cristians festival in Alcoi (Alacant). ... A traditional Catalan caganer from the back. ... The Tió de Nadal (roughly Christmas log), also known as Tió or Tronca (log), is a mythological character in Catalan mythology relating to a Christmas tradition widespread in Catalonia. ... Botifarra (pronounced ) is a typical Catalan sausage made of raw pork and spices. ... FC Barcelona, also known as Barça, is a sports club in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain with sections in many different sports. ... Valencian paella. ... Rumba is a family of music rhythms and dance styles that originated in Africa and were introduced to Cuba and the New World by African slaves. ... Catalan myths and legends are the traditional myths and legends of the Catalan-speaking world, especially Catalonia itself, passed down for generations as part of that regions popular culture. ... Catalan-language writers Gabriel Alomar Vicent Andrés Estellés Pere Calders Salvador Espriu i Castelló Joan Fuster Manuel de Pedrolo i Molina J.V. Foix Maria de la Pau Janer Joan Maragall i Gorina Miquel Martí i Pol Jesús Moncada Jesús Montcada i Estruga Quim Monzó Teresa... Antoni Gaudí i Cornet (Riudoms or Reus, 25 June 1852 – Barcelona, 10 June 1926) – sometimes referred to by the Spanish translation of his name, Antonio Gaudí – was a Catalan architect, who belonged to the Modernisme (Art Nouveau) movement and was famous for his unique style and highly individualistic designs. ... Modernisme in Catalan, (not to be confused with modernism) is the Catalan variant of Art Nouveau. ... The Renaixença was a late 19th century romantic revivalist movement in Catalan language and culture. ... Noucentisme (noucentista being its adjective) is a Catalan cultural movement of the early 20th century that originated largely as a reaction against Modernisme, both in art and ideology, and was, simultaneously, a perception of art almost opposite to that of avantgardists. ... Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dalí i Domènech, 1st Marquis of Púbol (May 11, 1904 – January 23, 1989), was a Spanish surrealist painter of Catalan descent born in Figueres, Catalonia (Spain). ... Joan Miró i Ferrà (April 20, 1893 – December 25, 1983) was a Catalan (Spanish) painter, sculptor, and ceramist born in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain to the family of a goldsmith and watchmaker. ... Antoni Tàpies (born in Barcelona, December 13, 1923) is a Spanish painter. ... Phonology (Greek phonÄ“ = voice/sound and logos = word/speech), is a subfield of linguistics which studies the sound system of a specific language (or languages). ... Catalan IPA: (català IPA: or []) is a Romance language, the national language of Andorra, and a co-official language in the Spanish autonomous communities of Balearic Islands, Catalonia and Valencia, and in the city of LAlguer in the Italian island of Sardinia. ... The Romance languages, also called Romanic languages, are a subfamily of the Italic languages, specifically the descendants of the Vulgar Latin dialects spoken by the common people evolving in different areas after the break-up of the Roman Empire. ... Dialectal map of Catalan Language Eastern Catalan is a set of Catalan language dialects spoken in lAlguer, Balearic Islands, Eastern Catalonia and Northern Catalonia. ... Valencian (valencià) is the historical, traditional, and official name used in the Valencian Community (Spain) to refer to the language spoken therein, also known as Catalan (català) in the Spanish Autonomous Communities of Catalonia, Aragon and the Balearic Islands; in the country of Andorra; in the southern French region of... Note: This page or section contains IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. ... Note: This page or section contains IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. ... Location Coordinates : Time Zone : CET (GMT +1) - summer: CEST (GMT +2) General information Native name Barcelona (Catalan) Spanish name Barcelona Nickname Ciutat Comtal (City of Counts) Postal code 08001–08080 Area code 34 (Spain) + 93 (Barcelona) Website http://www. ... Note: This page or section contains IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. ...

Catalan shares features with neighboring Romance languages (Italian, Sardinian, Occitan, Spanish).^[3] This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ... Occitan (IPA AmE: ), known also as Lenga dòc or Langue doc (native name: occitan [1], lenga dòc [2]; native nickname: la lenga nòstra [3] i. ...

Consonants

Phonetic notes: /t/ and /d/ are denti-alveolar, having both dental and alveolar contact with the tongue. /n/, /l/, and /ɾ/ are "front alveolar;" /s/ and /r/ are "back alveolar" (or postalveolar); /ʎ/ and /ɲ/ are "front alveolo-palatal"; and /ɕ/, /ʑ/, /tɕ/ and /dʑ/ are "back alveolo-palatal."^[5] In phonetics, a bilabial consonant is a consonant articulated with both lips. ... In phonetics, labiodentals are consonants articulated with the lower lips and the upper teeth, or viceversa. ... Dentals are consonants such as t, d, n, and l articulated with either the lower or the upper teeth, or both, rather than with the gum ridge as in English. ... Alveolar consonants are articulated with the tongue against or close to the superior alveolar ridge, which is called that because it contains the alveoli (the sockets) of the superior teeth. ... Palatal consonants are consonants articulated with the body of the tongue raised against the hard palate (the middle part of the roof of the mouth). ... Velars are consonants articulated with the back part of the tongue (the dorsum) against the soft palate (the back part of the roof of the mouth, known also as the velum). ... A nasal consonant is produced when the velum—that fleshy part of the palate near the back—is lowered, allowing air to escape freely through the nose. ... A stop or plosive or occlusive is a consonant sound produced by stopping the airflow in the vocal tract. ... Affricate consonants begin as stops (most often an alveolar, such as or ) but release as a fricative (such as or or, in a couple of languages, into a fricative trill) rather than directly into the following vowel. ... Fricatives (or spirants) are consonants produced by forcing air through a narrow channel made by placing two articulators close together. ... In phonetics, a trill is a consonantal sound produced by vibrations between the articulator and the place of articulation. ... In phonetics, a flap or tap is a type of consonantal sound, which is produced with a single contraction of the muscles so that one articulator is thrown against another. ... Approximants are speech sounds that could be regarded as intermediate between vowels and typical consonants. ... Laterals are L-like consonants pronounced with an occlusion made somewhere along the axis of the tongue, while air from the lungs escapes at one side or both sides of the tongue. ... Postalveolar (or palato-alveolar) consonants are consonants articulated with the tip of the tongue between the alveolar ridge (the place of articulation for alveolar consonants) and the palate (the place of articulation for palatal consonants). ...

Plosives: Voiced plosives become lenited (that is, fricatives or approximants of the same place of articulation) "only in syllable onsets, after continuants."^[6] Exceptions include /d/ after lateral consonants and /b/ after /f/: ull de bou [uʎ də ˈβɔw] ('round window'); bolígraf boníssim [buˈliɣɾəv buˈnisim] ('excellent ballpoint'). In the coda position, these sounds are always realized as plosives^[7] except in Valencian, where they are lenited.^[8] Lenition is a kind of consonant mutation that appears in many languages. ... Places of articulation (passive & active): 1. ...

/b/ and /g/ may be geminated in certain environments (poble [ˈpɔbblə] 'village').^[9]

In Majorcan varieties, /k/ and /g/ become [c] and [ɟ] word-finally and before front vowels;^[10] in some of these dialects, this has extended to all environments except before liquids and back vowels [ˈbanʲc] ('bench').^[11] Liquid consonants, or liquids, are approximant consonants that are not classified as semivowels (glides) because they do not correspond phonetically to specific vowels (in the way that, for example, the initial in English yes corresponds to ). The class of liquids can be divided into lateral liquids and rhotics. ... A back vowel is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. ...

Affricates: The phonemic status of affricates is dubious; after other consonants, affricates are in free variation with fricatives, e.g. clenxa [ˈklɛnʲtɕə] ~ [ˈklɛnʲɕə] ('hair parting')^[12] and may be analyzed as either single phonemes or clusters of a stop and a fricative.

• Alveolar affricates occur the least of all affricates.^[13]
  • /dz/ only occurs intervocalically.^[14]
  • Instances of /ts/ arise mostly from compounding; the few lexical instances arise from historical compounding.^[15] For instance, potser [puˈtse]^[16] ('maybe') comes from pot ('may') + ser ('be' inf). As such, /ts/ does not occur word-initially, but it may occur finally in cases of heteromorphemic plural endings: tots [tots] ('everybody').^[17]
• The distribution of alveo-palatal affricates (/tɕ/ and /dʑ/) depends on dialect:
  • In the standard dialect, word-initial /tɕ/ is found only in a few words of foreign origin (txec 'Czech') while being found freely intervocalically and word-finally.
  • The standard dialect also only allows intervocalic /dʑ/. Phonemic analyses show word-final occurrences, but final devoicing eliminates this from the surface.
  • In various other dialects (as well as in emphatic speech^[18]), /tɕ/ occurs word-initially and after another consonant to the exclusion of /ɕ/. These instances of word-initial /tɕ/ seem to correspond to /ɕ/ of other dialects, including the standard (on which the orthography is based): xinxa ('bedbug'), pronounced [ˈɕinʲɕə] in the standard, is [ˈtɕinʲtɕə] in these varieties.^[19]
  • Similarly, in Valencia and southern Catalonia, all occurrences of /dʑ/ correspond to the voiced fricative /ʑ/ in other dialects.^[20]

There is dialectal variation in regards to affricate length, with long affricates occurring in both Eastern and Western dialects such as in Majorca and specific Northern and Southern Valencian areas and short affricates being otherwise widespread throughout Valencia.^[21] Also, intervocalic affricates are predominately long, especially those that are voiced or occurring immediately after a stressed syllable (fletxa [ˈflet.tɕə] 'arrow').^[22] In grammar, infinitive is the name for certain verb forms that exist in many languages. ... Sagittal section of alveolo-palatal fricative In phonetics, alveolo-palatal (or alveopalatal) consonants are palatalized postalveolar fricatives, articulated with the blade of the tongue behind the alveolar ridge, and the body of the tongue raised toward the palate. ...

Fricatives: /v/ only occurs in Balearic^[23] and southern Valencian as well as northern Valencian and southern Catalonia. Everywhere else, it has merged with /b/.^[24] In Majorcan, [v] and [w] are in complementary distribution, with [v] occurring before vowels (e.g. blava [ˈblavə] 'blue' fem. vs blau [blaw] 'blue' masc.). In other varieties that have both sounds, they are in contrast before vowels, with neutralization in favor of [w] before consonants.^[25]

In Valencian, /s/ and /ɕ/ are auditorily similar such that neutralization may occur in the future.^[26] In Northern Valencian, /ɕ/ is depalatalized to [jsʲ] or [js] as in caixa [ˈkajsə] ('box'), Central Valencian words like mig ('half') and leig have been transcribed with [ts] rather than [tɕ], and Southern Valencian /tɕ/ "has been reported to undergo depalatalization without merging with [ts]" as in baixar ('to go down').^[27]

Sonorants: While "dark" (velarized) [ɫ] may be a positional allophone of /l/ in most dialects (such as in the syllable coda^[28]), /l/ is dark irrespective of position in Eastern dialects like Majorcan.^[29] Electropalatographic and acoustic data suggest that there is a velarization continuum wherein [ɫ] ranges from "strongly dark to very clear."^[30] Velarization is a secondary articulation of consonants by which the back of the tongue is raised toward the velum during the articulation of the consonant. ... Note: This page contains phonetic information presented in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) using Unicode. ...

In careful speech, /n/, /m/, and /l/ may be geminated (e.g. innecessari [innəsəˈsaɾi] 'unnecessary'; immens [imˈmɛns] 'huge'; il·lusió [iɫɫuˈzio] 'illusion'). A geminated /ʎʎ/ may also occur (e.g. espatlla [əsˈpaʎʎə] 'shoulder'). ^[31]

Vowels

Vowels of Standard Catalan. from Carbonell & Llisterri (1999:62)

Catalan possesses seven vowel phonemes (see chart at right). In unstressed syllables, /e/, /ɛ/, and /a/ are reduced to [ə] while /o/ and /ɔ/ are reduced to [u]. In Western Catalan dialects, [e], [o], and [a] may appear in unstressed syllables as well.^[32] Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Note: This page contains IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. ... Note: This page or section contains IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. ...

In Majorcan [ə] appears in stressed position.^[33]

There are also a number of phonetic diphthongs, all of which begin (rising diphthongs) or end (falling diphthongs) in /j/ or /w/:^[34] In phonetics, a diphthong (also gliding vowel) (Greek δίφθογγος, diphthongos, literally with two sounds, or with two tones) is a monosyllabic vowel combination involving a quick but smooth movement from one vowel to another, often interpreted by listeners as a single vowel sound or phoneme. ...

Processes

There are certain instances of compensatory diphthongization in Majorcan so that /ˈtroncs/ ('logs') (in addition to deleting the palatal plosive) develops a compensating palatal glide and surfaces as [ˈtrojns] (and contrasts with the unpluralized [ˈtronʲc]). Diphthongization compensates for the loss of the palatal stop (segment loss compensation). There are other cases where diphthongization compensates for the loss of point of articulation features (property loss compensation) as in [ˈaɲ] ('year') vs [ˈajns] ('years').^[35]

The dialectal distribution of compensatory diphthongization is almost entirely dependant on the dorsal plosive (/k~c/) and the extent of consonant assimilation (whether or not it’s extended to palatals).^[36]

Voiced affricates are devoiced after stressed vowels in dialects like Eastern Catalan where there may be a correlation between devoicing and lengthening (Gemination) of voiced affricates: metge ('doctor') /ˈmeddʑə/ → [ˈmettɕə].^[37] In Barcelona, voiced plosives may be geminated and devoiced (poble [ˈpɔppɫə] 'village').^[38] Listen to this article · (info) This audio file was created from the revision dated 2005-07-20, and does not reflect subsequent edits to the article. ...

Prosody

Stress

Stress most often occurs on any of the last three syllables of a word. Compound words and adverbs formed with |ˈment| may have more than one stressed syllable (e.g. parallamps [ˌpaɾəˈʎams] 'lightning conductor'; bonament [ˌbɔnəˈmen] 'willingly') but every lexical word has just one stressed syllable.^[39]

Phonotactics

Any consonant, as well as [j] and [w] may be an onset. Clusters may consist of a consonant plus a semivowel (C[j], C[w]) or an obstruent plus a liquid. Some speakers may have one of these obstruent-plus-liquid clusters preceding a semivowel, e.g. síndria [ˈsin.dɾjə] ('watermelon'); for other speakers, this is pronounced as [ˈsin.dɾi.ə] (i.e. the semivowel must be syllabic in this context).^[40] Liquid consonants, or liquids, are approximant consonants that are not classified as semivowels (glides) because they do not correspond phonetically to specific vowels (in the way that, for example, the initial in English yes corresponds to ). The class of liquids can be divided into lateral liquids and rhotics. ...

Word-medial codas are restricted to one consonant + [s] (extra [ˈɛks.tɾə]).^[41] In the coda position, voice contrasts among obstruents are neutralized.^[42] Although there are exceptions (such as futur [fuˈtuɾ] 'future'), syllable-final /ɾ/ is often lost before a word boundary or before the plural morpheme of most words: color [kuˈɫo] ('color') vs. coloraina [kuluˈɾajnə].^[43]

In Catalan, obstruents fail to surface word-finally when preceded by a homorganic consonant (e.g. /nt/ → [n]). Complex codas simplify only if the loss of the segment doesn’t result in the loss of place specification.^[44]

When the dimunitive [ˈɛt] is added to [ˈkam] it makes [kəmpˈɛt], which makes it seem as though the underlying representation is |ˈkamp| (with subsequent cluster simplification), however when the copula [ˈes] is added it makes [ˈkəmˈes]. The resulting generalization is that this underlying /p/ will only surface in a morphologically complex word.^[46]

Word-final fricatives (except /f/) are voiced before a following vowel, e.g. bus enorme [ˈbuz əˈnormə] ('huge diver').^[47] In Majorcan and Minorcan Catalan, /f/ undergoes total assimilation to a following consonant (just as stops do): buf gros [ˈbug ˈgɾɔs] ('large puff').^[48]

Dialectal variation

Dialectal Map of Catalan from Wheeler, Yates & Dols (1999:xviii)
Eastern dialects:
█ North Catalan
█ Central Catalan
█ Balearic and Alguerese
Western dialects:
█ North-western
█ Valencian

The differences in the vocalic systems outlined above are the main criteria used to differentiate between the major dialects: Wheeler (2005) distinguishes two major dialect groups, Western dialects and Eastern ones; the latter of which only allow [i], [ə], and [u] to appear in unstressed syllables and include North Catalan, Central Catalan, Balearic, and Alguerese. Western dialects, which allow any vowel in unstressed syllables, include northern and western Catalan, and Valencian. Note: This page or section contains IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. ... Catalan dialectal map Central Catalan is the Eastern Catalan dialect with the highest demographic weight, since it is commonly spoken in densely populated areas such as the whole Barcelona province, the eastern half of Tarragona province and most part of Girona province; except for it is northern part, where there... Balearic is the Catalan variant spoken in the Balearic Islands (Spanish las Islas Baleares), Spain. ... Alguerese or Algherese is the variant of the Catalan language spoken in the city of Alghero, in the northwest of Sardinia. ... This page deals with language. ... Note: This page or section contains IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. ... Catalan dialectal map Central Catalan is the Eastern Catalan dialect with the highest demographic weight, since it is commonly spoken in densely populated areas such as the whole Barcelona province, the eastern half of Tarragona province and most part of Girona province; except for it is northern part, where there... Balearic is the Catalan variant spoken in the Balearic Islands (Spanish las Islas Baleares), Spain. ... Alguerese or Algherese is the variant of the Catalan language spoken in the city of Alghero, in the northwest of Sardinia. ... This page deals with language. ...

Historical development

As a Romance language, Catalan comes directly from Vulgar Latin. As such, it shares certain phonological changes from Latin with other Romance languages:^[49] Image File history File links Question_book-3. ... The Romance languages (sometimes referred to as Romanic languages) are a branch of the Indo-European language family that comprises all the languages that descend from Latin, the language of the Roman Empire. ... Vulgar Latin, as in this political graffito at Pompeii, was the speech of ordinary people of the Roman Empire — different from the classical Latin used by the Roman elite. ...

• /b/ and /w/ between vowels became [β].
• /d/ became [ð] between vowels in Iberia, Gaul, Raetia, northern Italy, and a part of Sardinia. /dr/ also became lenited in Iberia and Gaul.
• Intervocalic sounds were often voiced (circa fifth century CE).
• The velars /k/ and /g/ became palatalized before front vowels.
  • by the fourth century, palatal /g/ had become more of a palatal approximant. When following a vowel and preceding a stressed vowel, this approximant became fused with the following front vowel: /maˈgister/ → [maˈjɪster] → [maˈester] → [ˈmastiɾ]. In the Iberian peninsula, southwestern Gaul, and portions of Sardinia, Sicily, and southwestern Italy, this palatal approximant stage was retained while other dialects made different developments.
  • Palatal /k/, which had developed a palatal offglide, continued to advance further forward in the mouth to become [tʲj] (which led to some confusion between /kj/ and /tj/; by the sixth or seventh century, this palatalized coronal had become an affricate ([tʲsʲ] or [ts]).
  • /sk/ was also part of this palatalization
• Before or after another consonant /l/ was velarized (leading to l-vocalization in some dialects. After consonants, this may have lead to the realization of a palatal lateral in Spanish and Italian.
• /kʷ/ became /k/ before /u/ and /o/ by the first century.
• Intervocalic pretonic /g/ was deleted in most words.
• /h/ was deleted, first when medial and then in all contexts soon after.
• /m/ and /n/ became silent word-finally (presumably after an intermediate state of being realized as the nasalization of the preceding vowel); the latter also being lost in the coda position before /s/.
• /ks/ was reduced to /s/ before or after another consonant. By analogy, the prefix ex- before vowels may have also been pronounced /es/. Later on, /ks/ was also reduced word-finally except in monosyllabic words.
• /sj/, /lj/ and /nj/ became palatal between vowels.
• stressed /e/ and /i/, when immediately followed by a vowel of the punultimate syllable, became /j/; /u/ in the same environment became /w/.^[50]
• /ss/ after diphthongs and long vowels reduced to /s/ (degeminated): /kaːssus/ → /kaːsus/. There was just general confusion in regards to geminated consonants but they were normally retained after long vowels.^[51]
• Short /i/ and /u/ became [e] and [o], probably by the first century CE. Also, vowel quantity between short mid-vowels and long mid-vowels became differentiated: /deus/ → [dɛus].^[52]
• /n/, followed by a fricative (/f/, /ʒ/, /s/, or /v/), was deleted and replaced by the lengthening of the previous vowel: /kensor/ → /tʃeːsor/.^[53]
• Eventually (in Spain and parts of Gaul), all stressed vowels were pronounced long while unstressed vowels were short. The new long vowels were pronounced in most regions with diphthongization although Portugal, southern Gaul, Lombardy, and Sicily didn’t participate in this early breaking. The vowels most affected were /ɛː/ and /ɔː/.^[54]
• Vowels were often syncopated.^[55]
  • between a labial and another consonant.
    • when such a deletion brought [aβ] to precede another consonant, it became [au].
  • between a consonant and a liquid or vice versa.

Other features include: In linguistics, l-vocalization is a process by which an sound (a lateral consonant) is replaced by a vowel or semivowel sound. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

• Like Occitan, loss of Latin final unstressed vowels, except -a; and then after some of the resulting consonantic groups a support vowel -e (pronounced [e] or [ə]) appears, e. g. fame → fam "hunger"; bucca → boca "mouth"; nostru → nostre "ours".
• Loss of final -n after the demise of final unstressed vowels, e. g. manu → *man → mà "hand".
• In Oriental dialects: Latin short e → closed [e], and Latin long e → neutral vowel [ə] and then later → open [ɛ]; so the final outcome of Latin short and long e is reversed in relation to other Romance languages.
• Unlike Occitan and other Gallo-Romance languages, Catalan preserves the three degrees for rounded back vowels /ɔ o u/, and /u/ is not fronted to /y/.
• Unlike Spanish and other Iberian Romance languages, betacism or loss of b/v distinction seems to be in Catalan an innovation since the modern era.
• Like Asturian, palatalization of Latin word initial l-; e.g. luna → lluna "moon"; lupu → llop "wolf".
• Vocalization to [w] of final -d of diverse origins and the Latin verbal ending -tis: pede → peu [pɛw] "foot"; credit → creu ['krɛw] "he believes"; miratis → miratz → mirau → mireu [mi'ɾɛw] "you watch".
• Consonantic lenition, similar to most of Western Romance languages:
  • Intervocalic voiced stops become fricatives or zero. E. g. caballu → cavall "horse", volebat → volia "s/he wanted", pavore → pahor → por "awe".
  • Intervocalic geminate voiceless stops are simplified. E. g. bucca → boca "mouth", passare → passar [pə'sa] ~ [pa'sar] "pass".

See also specific articles on: Alguerese, Balearic, Ribagorçan, Valencian. Occitan (IPA AmE: ), known also as Lenga dòc or Langue doc (native name: occitan [1], lenga dòc [2]; native nickname: la lenga nòstra [3] i. ... For other uses, see Latins and Latin (disambiguation). ... Occitan (IPA AmE: ), known also as Lenga dòc or Langue doc (native name: occitan [1], lenga dòc [2]; native nickname: la lenga nòstra [3] i. ... The Gallo-Romance branch of Romance languages includes French, Oïl languages, Catalan, and Occitan, among other languages. ... The formation of Iberian Romance languages followed more or less this process: A common Latin/Romance language with dialectal differences was spoken throughout the ancient Roman Empire. ... Betacism is a linguistic phenomenon in which the consonant b sound shifts to become a v sound. ... Asturian, Leonese, Astur-Leonese or Bable (Asturianu in Asturian, Llïonés in Leonese) is a Romance language spoken in some parts of the provinces of Asturias, León, Zamora and Salamanca in Spain, and in the area of Miranda de Douro in Portugal (where it is officially recognized as... Palatalization means pronouncing a sound nearer to the hard palate, making it more like a palatal consonant; this is towards the front of the mouth for a velar or uvular consonant, but towards the back of the mouth for a front (e. ... Alguerese or Algherese is the variant of the Catalan language spoken in the city of Alghero, in the northwest of Sardinia. ... Balearic is the Catalan variant spoken in the Balearic Islands (Spanish las Islas Baleares), Spain. ... Ribagorçan is a romance dialect spoken in the Aragonese counties of Ribagorza and La Litera, in Huesca, and Alta Ribagorça in Lérida, Cataluña. ... Valencian (valencià) is the historical, traditional, and official name used in the Valencian Community (Spain) to refer to the language spoken therein, also known as Catalan (català) in the Spanish Autonomous Communities of Catalonia, Aragon and the Balearic Islands; in the country of Andorra; in the southern French region of...

See also

• List of phonetics topics
• Catalan orthography

Acoustic phonetics Affricate Airstream mechanism Alfred C. Gimson Allophone Alveolar approximant Alveolar consonant Alveolar ejective fricative Alveolar ejective Alveolar flap Alveolar nasal Alveolar ridge Alveolar trill Alveolo-palatal consonant Apical consonant Approximant consonant Articulatory phonetics aspiration Auditory phonetics Back vowel Bilabial click Bilabial consonant Bilabial ejective Bilabial nasal Bilabial trill... Phonological Features Several characteristic features of Catalan as a Romance language (SAMPA phonetic scheme used): Like Occitan, losing of Latin final unstressed vowels, except -A; and then after some of the resulting consonantic groups a support vowel [ə] appears. ...

References

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Bibliography

• Carbonell, Joan F. & Joaquim Llisterri (1992), "Catalan", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 22 (1-2): 53-56
• Carbonell, Joan F. & Joaquim Llisterri (1999), "Catalan", written at Cambridge, Handbook of the International Phonetic Association: A Guide to the usage of the International Phonetic Alphabet., Cambridge University Press, 61-65, ISBN 0-521-63751-1
• Grandgent, Charles Hall (1907), "Phonology", An Introduction to Vulgar Latin, D.C. Heath & Co., 60-143
• Herrick, Dylan (2002), "Catalan Phonology: Cluster Simplification and Nasal Place Assimilation", written at Amsterdam, in Wiltshire, Caroline & Camps, Joaquim, Romance Phonology and Variation, John Benjamins Publishing Company, 69-84, ISBN 1588110796
• Hualde, José (1992), Catalan, Routledge, ISBN 0415054982
• Mascaró, Joan (1976), Catalan Phonology and the Phonological Cycle, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Mascaró, Juan (2001), "Compensatory diphthongization in Majorcan Catalan", in Kreidler, Charles W., Phonology: Critical Concepts in Linguistics, Taylor and Francis, 580-593, ISBN 0415203473
• Recasens, Daniel & Maria Dolores. Pallarès (1995), "Velarization degree and coarticulatory resistance for /l/ in Catalan and German", Journal of Phonetics 23: 37-52
• Recasens, Daniel & Aina Espinosa (2005), "Articulatory, positional and coarticulatory characteristics for clear /l/ and dark /l/: evidence from two Catalan dialects", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 35 (1): 1-25
• Recasens, Daniel & Aina Espinosa (2007), "An electropalatographic and acoustic study of affricates and fricatives in two Catalan dialects", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 37 (2): 143-172
• Veny, Joan (1989), written at Palma de Mallorca, Els parlars catalans. Síntesi de dialectologia. (eighth ed.), Editorial Moll
• Wheeler, Max W (1979), written at Oxford, Phonology Of Catalan, Blackwell
• Wheeler, Max W (2005), written at Oxford, The Phonology Of Catalan, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0199258147
• Wheeler, Max; Alan Yates & Nicolau Dols (1999), written at London, Catalan: A Comprehensive Grammar, Routledge

Location Coordinates : Time Zone : CET (GMT +1) - summer: CEST (GMT +2) General information Native name Palma (Catalan) Spanish name Palma de Mallorca Postal code 070XX Area code 34 (Spain) + 971 (Balearic Islands) Website http://www. ...

External links

• A proposal for Catalan SAMPA