Valencian | |
---|---|
valencià | |
Pronunciation | [valensiˈa, ba-] |
Native to | Spain |
Region |
Valencian Community,
Region of Murcia (
Carche) See also geographic distribution of Catalan |
Ethnicity | Valencians |
Native speakers | 2.4 million (2004) [1] |
Early forms | |
Valencian orthography ( Latin script) | |
Official status | |
Official language in | Spain |
Recognised minority language in | Spain
|
Regulated by | Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua (AVL) |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | – |
ISO 639-6 |
vlca |
Glottolog | None |
IETF | ca-valencia |
Map of the Valencian Community, Valencian speaking areas in green | |
Catalan / Valencian cultural domain |
---|
Valencian [a] (valencià) [b] or the Valencian language [4] (llengua valenciana) [c] is the official, historical and traditional name used in the Valencian Community of Spain to refer to the Romance language also known as Catalan, [d] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] either as a whole [e] or in its Valencia-specific linguistic forms. [f] [10] [11] The Valencian Community's 1982 Statute of Autonomy and the Spanish Constitution officially recognise Valencian as the name of the regional language. [4] [12]
Valencian displays transitional features between Ibero-Romance languages and Gallo-Romance languages. According to philological studies, the varieties of this language spoken in the Valencian Community and El Carche cannot be considered a single dialect restricted to these borders: the several dialects of Valencian (Alicante's Valencian, Southern Valencian, Central Valencian or Apitxat, Northern Valencian or Castellon's Valencian and Transitional Valencian) belong to the Western group of Catalan dialects. [13] [14]
There is a political controversy within the Valencian Community regarding its status as a glottonym or as an independent language, since official reports show that the majority of the people in the Valencian Community consider it as a separate language, different from Catalan, although the same studies show that this percentage decreases among younger generations and people with higher studies. [15] [16] According to the 2006 Statute of Autonomy, Valencian is regulated by the Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua, [4] following the legacy established by the Castelló norms, [17] which adapt Catalan orthography to Valencian idiosyncrasies.
Some of the most important works of Valencian literature experienced a golden age during the Late Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Important works include Joanot Martorell's chivalric romance Tirant lo Blanch, and Ausiàs March's poetry. The first book produced with movable type in the Iberian Peninsula was printed in the Valencian variety. [18] [19] The earliest recorded chess game with modern rules for moves of the queen and bishop was in the Valencian poem Scachs d'amor (1475).
The official status of Valencian is regulated by the Spanish Constitution and the Valencian Statute of Autonomy, together with the Law on the Use and Teaching of Valencian (ca).
Article 6 of the Valencian Statute of Autonomy sets the legal status of Valencian, establishing that: [20]
Passed in 1983, the Law on the Use and Teaching of Valencian develops this framework, providing for the implementation of a bilingual educational system, regulating the use of Valencian in the public administration and judiciary system, where citizens can freely use it when acting before both, or establishing the right to be informed by media in Valencian among others.
Valencian is also protected under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, ratified by Spain. However, the Committee of Experts of the Charter has pointed out a considerable number of deficiencies in the application of the Charter by the Spanish and Valencian governments. [21]
Unlike in other bilingual Autonomous communities, Valencian has not historically been spoken to the same extent throughout the Valencian Community. Slightly more than a quarter of its territory, equivalent to 10-15% of the population (its inland and southernmost areas), is Spanish-speaking since the Middle Ages. Additionally, it is also spoken by a small number of people in the El Carche comarca, a rural area in the Region of Murcia adjoining the Valencian Community. [23] [24] [25] Nevertheless, Valencian does not have any official recognition in this area. Nowadays about 600 people are able to speak Valencian in El Carche. [26]
In 2010 the Generalitat Valenciana published a study, Knowledge and Social use of Valencian, [27] which included a survey sampling more than 6,600 people in the provinces of Castellón, 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":
For ability:
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 use Valencian in their social relations.
Moreover, according to the most recent survey in 2021, [28] there is a downward trend in everyday Valencian users. The lowest numbers are in the major cities of Valencia and Alicante, where the percentage of everyday speakers is at single-digit numbers. However, the percentage of residents who claim to be able to understand and read Valencian seems to have increased since 2015.
Due to a number of political and social factors, including repression, immigration and lack of formal instruction in Valencian, the number of speakers has severely decreased, and the influence of Spanish has led to the appearance of a number of barbarisms. [29]
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. There is a great deal of variety within the Valencian Community, and by no means do the features below apply to every local version.
The Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua specifies standard Valencian as having some specific syntax, vocabulary, verb conjugations and accent marks compared to standard Catalan.
Front | Central | Back | |
---|---|---|---|
Close | i | u | |
Mid | e | o | |
Open | ɛ | a | ɔ |
Phoneme | Allophone | Usage | Example |
---|---|---|---|
/a/ [41] | |||
[ä] ~ [ɐ] | - Found in most instances | mà | |
[a] | - Before/after palatals (*) | nyap | |
[ã] | - Same than [a], but followed by a nasal | llamp | |
[ɑ] | - Before/after velars | poal | |
[ɑ̃] | - Same than [ɑ], but followed by a nasal | sang | |
[ɐ] | - In unstressed position | abans | |
[ɐ̃] | - Nasal [ɐ]; that is, [ɐ] followed by or in between nasals | llançat | |
[ɛ̈] ~ [ɔ̈] | - Final unstressed syllables (vowel harmony) (*) | terra / dona | |
/ɛ/ [44] | |||
[æ] | - Before liquids and in monosyllabic terms | set | |
[æ̃] | - Before nasals | dens | |
[ɛ] | - Rest of cases (*) | terra | |
/e/ [45] | |||
[e] | - Found in stressed and unstressed syllables | sec | |
[ẽ] | - In stressed and unstressed position followed by or in between nasals | lent | |
[a] | - Unstressed position before palatals (*) | eixam | |
[ɐ̃] | - In some cases, in unstressed position before nasals (*) | entendre | |
[ɪ] | - Found in the suffix -ixement (*) | naixement | |
/i/ [46] | |||
[i] | - Especially found in stressed syllables | sis | |
[ĩ] | - Nasal [i]; that is, [i] followed by or in between nasals | dins | |
[ɪ] | - Unstressed position | xiquet | |
[ɪ̃] | - Nasal [ɪ]; that is, [ɪ] followed by or in between nasals | minvar | |
[j] | - Unstressed position before/after vowels | iogurt | |
/ɔ/ [47] | |||
[ɒ] | - Found before stops and in monosyllabic terms | roig | |
[ɒ̃] | - Before nasals | pondre | |
[ɔ] | - Rest of cases (*) | dona | |
/o/ [48] | |||
[o] | - Found in stressed and unstressed syllables | molt | |
[õ] | - Nasal [o]; that is, [o] followed by or in between nasals | on | |
[o̞] | - Found in the suffix -dor and in coda stressed syllables | cançó | |
[ʊ] | - Unstressed position before labials, a syllable with a high vowel and in some given names (*) | Josep | |
[ʊ̃] | - Same as [ʊ], but followed by a nasal | complit | |
[ew] | - Found in most cases with the weak pronoun ho | ho | |
/u/ [49] | |||
[u] | - Especially found in stressed syllables | lluç | |
[ũ] | - Nasal [u]; that is, [u] followed by or in between nasals | fum | |
[ʊ] | - Unstressed position | sucar | |
[ʊ̃] | - Nasal [ʊ]; that is, [ʊ] followed by or in between nasals | muntó | |
[w] | - Unstressed position before/after vowels | teua |
Labial |
Dental/ Alveolar |
Palatal | Velar | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nasal | m | n | ɲ | ( ŋ) | ||||
Stop | p | b | t | d | k | ɡ | ||
Affricate | ts | dz | tʃ | dʒ | ||||
Fricative | f | v | s | z | ʃ | ( ʒ) | ||
Approximant | j | w | ||||||
Lateral | l | ʎ | ||||||
Flap | ɾ | |||||||
Trill | r |
Stem | Infinitive | Present first person singular | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Catalan | English | Valencian | Central | English | |||
IPA | IPA | ||||||
-ar | parlar | to speak | parle | [ˈpaɾɫe] | parlo | [ˈpaɾɫu] | I speak |
-re | batre | to beat | bat | [ˈbat] | bato | [ˈbatu] | I beat |
-er | témer | to fear | tem | [ˈtẽm] | temo | [ˈtemu] | I fear |
-ir | sentir | to feel | sent | [ˈsẽnt] | sento | [ˈsẽntu] | I feel |
senc | [ˈsẽŋk] | ||||||
inchoative -ir | patir | to suffer | patisc | [paˈtisk] | pateixo | [pəˈtɛʃu] | I suffer |
patesc | [paˈtesk] |
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 is used in the other standard.
Standard Valencian ( AVL) [55] | Standard Catalan ( IEC) [56] | English |
---|---|---|
així, aixina | així | like this |
bresquilla, préssec | préssec, bresquilla | peach |
creïlla, patata | patata, creïlla | potato |
dènou, dèneu, dinou | dinou, dènou | nineteen |
dos, dues | dues, dos | two (f.) |
eixe, aqueix | aqueix, eixe | that |
eixir, sortir | sortir, eixir | to exit, leave |
engrunsadora, gronxador(a) | gronxador(a) | swing |
espill, mirall | mirall, espill | mirror |
este, aquest | aquest, este | this |
estel, estrela, estrella | estel, estrella, estrela | star |
hòmens, homes | homes | men (plural) |
hui, avui | avui, hui | today |
huit, vuit | vuit, huit | eight |
lluny, llunt | lluny | far |
meló d'Alger, meló d'aigua, síndria | síndria, meló d'aigua, meló d'Alger | watermelon |
meua, meva teua, teva seua, seva |
meva, meua teva, teua seva, seua |
my, mine your(s) his/her(s)/its |
mitat, meitat | meitat, mitat | half |
palometa, papallona | papallona, palometa | butterfly |
per favor | si us plau, per favor | please |
periodista, periodiste (-a) | periodista | journalist |
polp, pop | pop, polp | octopus |
quint, cinqué | cinquè, quint | fifth |
rabosa, guineu | guineu, rabosa | fox |
roí(n), dolent | dolent, roí | bad, evil |
roig, vermell | vermell, roig | red |
sext, sisé | sisè, sext | sixth |
tindre, tenir | tenir, tindre | to have |
tomaca, tomàquet, tomata | tomàquet, tomaca, tomata | tomato |
vacacions, vacances | vacances, vacacions | holidays |
veure, vore | veure | to see |
vindre, venir | venir, vindre | to come |
xicotet, petit | petit, xicotet | small |
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. [57] Currently, the majority of people who write in Valencian use this standard. [58]
Standard Valencian is based on the standard of the Institute of Catalan Studies (Institut d'Estudis Catalans, IEC), used in Catalonia, with a few adaptations. [59] This standard roughly follows the Rules of Castelló (Normes de Castelló) from 1932, [60] a set of othographic guidelines regarded as a compromise between the essence and style of Pompeu Fabra's guidelines, but also allowing the use of Valencian idiosyncrasies.
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 of the Valencian people in their own language. [61] 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 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. [62]
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 in 2006 and the indictment of President de la Generalitat Francisco Camps in the Gürtel scandal in 2009. [63] Supervisors appointed by the PP were accused of sexual harassment. [64]
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 (also from PP) announced RTVV would be closed, claiming that reinstating the employees was untenable. [65] 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. [66]
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. [67] Currently, the availability of media in the Valencian language is extremely limited. All the other autonomous communities in Spain, 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, 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.
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. [68]
[T]he historical patrimonial language of the Valencian people, from a philological standpoint, is the same shared by the autonomous communities of Catalonia and Balearic Islands, and Principality of Andorra. Additionally, it is the patrimonial historical language of other territories of the ancient Crown of Aragon [...] The different varieties of these territories constitute a language, that is, a "linguistic system" [...] From this group of varieties, Valencian has the same hierarchy and dignity as any other dialectal modality of that linguistic system [...]
The AVL was established in 1998 by the PP- UV government of Eduardo Zaplana. According to El País, Jordi Pujol, then president of Catalonia and of the CiU, negotiated with Zaplana in 1996 to ensure the linguistic unity of Catalan in exchange for CiU support of the appointment of José María Aznar as Prime Minister of Spain. [69] Zaplana has denied this, claiming that "[n]ever, 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". [i] The AVL orthography is based on the Normes de Castelló, a set of rules for writing Valencian established in 1932.
A rival set of rules, called Normes del Puig, 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, treating Valencian as an independent language, as opposed to a variety of Catalan. 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). Besides, these alternative Norms are also promoted and taught by the cultural association Lo Rat Penat.
Valencian is classified as a Western dialect, along with the North-Western varieties spoken in Western Catalonia ( Province of Lleida and most of the Province of Tarragona). [70] [71] The various forms of Catalan and Valencian are mutually intelligible (ranging from 90% to 95%) [72]
Despite the position of the official organizations, an opinion poll carried out between 2001 and 2004 [16] 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. [73] Furthermore, the data indicate that younger people educated in Valencian speaking areas are considerably less likely to hold these views. According to an official poll in 2014, [15] 54% of Valencians considered Valencian to be a language different from Catalan, while 41% considered the languages to be the same. By applying a binary logistic regression to the same data, it was also found that different opinions about the unity of the language are different between people with certain levels of studies and the opinion also differs between each of the Valencian provinces. The opinion agreeing on the unity of Valencian and Catalan has significant differences regarding age, level of education and province of residence, 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. People living in the province of Castellón are more prone to be in favor of the unity of the language, while people living in the province of Alicante are more prone to be against the unity of the language, especially in the areas where Valencian is not a mandatory language at schools.[ verification needed] [74] Later studies also showed that the results differ significantly depending on the way the question is posed. [75]
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 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. [76]
the total number of people who speak Catalan is 7,200,000, (...). The Valencian dialect is spoken by 27% of all Catalan speakers.citing Vilajoana, Jordi, and Damià Pons. 2001. Catalan, Language of Europe. Generalitat de Catalunya, Department de Cultura. Govern de les Illes Balears, Conselleria d'Educació i Cultura.
2 6 m. [FL] Al País Valencià, llengua catalana.
It is a fact the in Spain there are two equally legal names for referring to this language: Valencian, as stated by the Statute of Autonomy of the Valencian Community, and Catalan, as recognised in the Statutes of Catalonia and Balearic Islands.
Valencian | |
---|---|
valencià | |
Pronunciation | [valensiˈa, ba-] |
Native to | Spain |
Region |
Valencian Community,
Region of Murcia (
Carche) See also geographic distribution of Catalan |
Ethnicity | Valencians |
Native speakers | 2.4 million (2004) [1] |
Early forms | |
Valencian orthography ( Latin script) | |
Official status | |
Official language in | Spain |
Recognised minority language in | Spain
|
Regulated by | Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua (AVL) |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | – |
ISO 639-6 |
vlca |
Glottolog | None |
IETF | ca-valencia |
Map of the Valencian Community, Valencian speaking areas in green | |
Catalan / Valencian cultural domain |
---|
Valencian [a] (valencià) [b] or the Valencian language [4] (llengua valenciana) [c] is the official, historical and traditional name used in the Valencian Community of Spain to refer to the Romance language also known as Catalan, [d] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] either as a whole [e] or in its Valencia-specific linguistic forms. [f] [10] [11] The Valencian Community's 1982 Statute of Autonomy and the Spanish Constitution officially recognise Valencian as the name of the regional language. [4] [12]
Valencian displays transitional features between Ibero-Romance languages and Gallo-Romance languages. According to philological studies, the varieties of this language spoken in the Valencian Community and El Carche cannot be considered a single dialect restricted to these borders: the several dialects of Valencian (Alicante's Valencian, Southern Valencian, Central Valencian or Apitxat, Northern Valencian or Castellon's Valencian and Transitional Valencian) belong to the Western group of Catalan dialects. [13] [14]
There is a political controversy within the Valencian Community regarding its status as a glottonym or as an independent language, since official reports show that the majority of the people in the Valencian Community consider it as a separate language, different from Catalan, although the same studies show that this percentage decreases among younger generations and people with higher studies. [15] [16] According to the 2006 Statute of Autonomy, Valencian is regulated by the Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua, [4] following the legacy established by the Castelló norms, [17] which adapt Catalan orthography to Valencian idiosyncrasies.
Some of the most important works of Valencian literature experienced a golden age during the Late Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Important works include Joanot Martorell's chivalric romance Tirant lo Blanch, and Ausiàs March's poetry. The first book produced with movable type in the Iberian Peninsula was printed in the Valencian variety. [18] [19] The earliest recorded chess game with modern rules for moves of the queen and bishop was in the Valencian poem Scachs d'amor (1475).
The official status of Valencian is regulated by the Spanish Constitution and the Valencian Statute of Autonomy, together with the Law on the Use and Teaching of Valencian (ca).
Article 6 of the Valencian Statute of Autonomy sets the legal status of Valencian, establishing that: [20]
Passed in 1983, the Law on the Use and Teaching of Valencian develops this framework, providing for the implementation of a bilingual educational system, regulating the use of Valencian in the public administration and judiciary system, where citizens can freely use it when acting before both, or establishing the right to be informed by media in Valencian among others.
Valencian is also protected under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, ratified by Spain. However, the Committee of Experts of the Charter has pointed out a considerable number of deficiencies in the application of the Charter by the Spanish and Valencian governments. [21]
Unlike in other bilingual Autonomous communities, Valencian has not historically been spoken to the same extent throughout the Valencian Community. Slightly more than a quarter of its territory, equivalent to 10-15% of the population (its inland and southernmost areas), is Spanish-speaking since the Middle Ages. Additionally, it is also spoken by a small number of people in the El Carche comarca, a rural area in the Region of Murcia adjoining the Valencian Community. [23] [24] [25] Nevertheless, Valencian does not have any official recognition in this area. Nowadays about 600 people are able to speak Valencian in El Carche. [26]
In 2010 the Generalitat Valenciana published a study, Knowledge and Social use of Valencian, [27] which included a survey sampling more than 6,600 people in the provinces of Castellón, 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":
For ability:
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 use Valencian in their social relations.
Moreover, according to the most recent survey in 2021, [28] there is a downward trend in everyday Valencian users. The lowest numbers are in the major cities of Valencia and Alicante, where the percentage of everyday speakers is at single-digit numbers. However, the percentage of residents who claim to be able to understand and read Valencian seems to have increased since 2015.
Due to a number of political and social factors, including repression, immigration and lack of formal instruction in Valencian, the number of speakers has severely decreased, and the influence of Spanish has led to the appearance of a number of barbarisms. [29]
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. There is a great deal of variety within the Valencian Community, and by no means do the features below apply to every local version.
The Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua specifies standard Valencian as having some specific syntax, vocabulary, verb conjugations and accent marks compared to standard Catalan.
Front | Central | Back | |
---|---|---|---|
Close | i | u | |
Mid | e | o | |
Open | ɛ | a | ɔ |
Phoneme | Allophone | Usage | Example |
---|---|---|---|
/a/ [41] | |||
[ä] ~ [ɐ] | - Found in most instances | mà | |
[a] | - Before/after palatals (*) | nyap | |
[ã] | - Same than [a], but followed by a nasal | llamp | |
[ɑ] | - Before/after velars | poal | |
[ɑ̃] | - Same than [ɑ], but followed by a nasal | sang | |
[ɐ] | - In unstressed position | abans | |
[ɐ̃] | - Nasal [ɐ]; that is, [ɐ] followed by or in between nasals | llançat | |
[ɛ̈] ~ [ɔ̈] | - Final unstressed syllables (vowel harmony) (*) | terra / dona | |
/ɛ/ [44] | |||
[æ] | - Before liquids and in monosyllabic terms | set | |
[æ̃] | - Before nasals | dens | |
[ɛ] | - Rest of cases (*) | terra | |
/e/ [45] | |||
[e] | - Found in stressed and unstressed syllables | sec | |
[ẽ] | - In stressed and unstressed position followed by or in between nasals | lent | |
[a] | - Unstressed position before palatals (*) | eixam | |
[ɐ̃] | - In some cases, in unstressed position before nasals (*) | entendre | |
[ɪ] | - Found in the suffix -ixement (*) | naixement | |
/i/ [46] | |||
[i] | - Especially found in stressed syllables | sis | |
[ĩ] | - Nasal [i]; that is, [i] followed by or in between nasals | dins | |
[ɪ] | - Unstressed position | xiquet | |
[ɪ̃] | - Nasal [ɪ]; that is, [ɪ] followed by or in between nasals | minvar | |
[j] | - Unstressed position before/after vowels | iogurt | |
/ɔ/ [47] | |||
[ɒ] | - Found before stops and in monosyllabic terms | roig | |
[ɒ̃] | - Before nasals | pondre | |
[ɔ] | - Rest of cases (*) | dona | |
/o/ [48] | |||
[o] | - Found in stressed and unstressed syllables | molt | |
[õ] | - Nasal [o]; that is, [o] followed by or in between nasals | on | |
[o̞] | - Found in the suffix -dor and in coda stressed syllables | cançó | |
[ʊ] | - Unstressed position before labials, a syllable with a high vowel and in some given names (*) | Josep | |
[ʊ̃] | - Same as [ʊ], but followed by a nasal | complit | |
[ew] | - Found in most cases with the weak pronoun ho | ho | |
/u/ [49] | |||
[u] | - Especially found in stressed syllables | lluç | |
[ũ] | - Nasal [u]; that is, [u] followed by or in between nasals | fum | |
[ʊ] | - Unstressed position | sucar | |
[ʊ̃] | - Nasal [ʊ]; that is, [ʊ] followed by or in between nasals | muntó | |
[w] | - Unstressed position before/after vowels | teua |
Labial |
Dental/ Alveolar |
Palatal | Velar | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nasal | m | n | ɲ | ( ŋ) | ||||
Stop | p | b | t | d | k | ɡ | ||
Affricate | ts | dz | tʃ | dʒ | ||||
Fricative | f | v | s | z | ʃ | ( ʒ) | ||
Approximant | j | w | ||||||
Lateral | l | ʎ | ||||||
Flap | ɾ | |||||||
Trill | r |
Stem | Infinitive | Present first person singular | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Catalan | English | Valencian | Central | English | |||
IPA | IPA | ||||||
-ar | parlar | to speak | parle | [ˈpaɾɫe] | parlo | [ˈpaɾɫu] | I speak |
-re | batre | to beat | bat | [ˈbat] | bato | [ˈbatu] | I beat |
-er | témer | to fear | tem | [ˈtẽm] | temo | [ˈtemu] | I fear |
-ir | sentir | to feel | sent | [ˈsẽnt] | sento | [ˈsẽntu] | I feel |
senc | [ˈsẽŋk] | ||||||
inchoative -ir | patir | to suffer | patisc | [paˈtisk] | pateixo | [pəˈtɛʃu] | I suffer |
patesc | [paˈtesk] |
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 is used in the other standard.
Standard Valencian ( AVL) [55] | Standard Catalan ( IEC) [56] | English |
---|---|---|
així, aixina | així | like this |
bresquilla, préssec | préssec, bresquilla | peach |
creïlla, patata | patata, creïlla | potato |
dènou, dèneu, dinou | dinou, dènou | nineteen |
dos, dues | dues, dos | two (f.) |
eixe, aqueix | aqueix, eixe | that |
eixir, sortir | sortir, eixir | to exit, leave |
engrunsadora, gronxador(a) | gronxador(a) | swing |
espill, mirall | mirall, espill | mirror |
este, aquest | aquest, este | this |
estel, estrela, estrella | estel, estrella, estrela | star |
hòmens, homes | homes | men (plural) |
hui, avui | avui, hui | today |
huit, vuit | vuit, huit | eight |
lluny, llunt | lluny | far |
meló d'Alger, meló d'aigua, síndria | síndria, meló d'aigua, meló d'Alger | watermelon |
meua, meva teua, teva seua, seva |
meva, meua teva, teua seva, seua |
my, mine your(s) his/her(s)/its |
mitat, meitat | meitat, mitat | half |
palometa, papallona | papallona, palometa | butterfly |
per favor | si us plau, per favor | please |
periodista, periodiste (-a) | periodista | journalist |
polp, pop | pop, polp | octopus |
quint, cinqué | cinquè, quint | fifth |
rabosa, guineu | guineu, rabosa | fox |
roí(n), dolent | dolent, roí | bad, evil |
roig, vermell | vermell, roig | red |
sext, sisé | sisè, sext | sixth |
tindre, tenir | tenir, tindre | to have |
tomaca, tomàquet, tomata | tomàquet, tomaca, tomata | tomato |
vacacions, vacances | vacances, vacacions | holidays |
veure, vore | veure | to see |
vindre, venir | venir, vindre | to come |
xicotet, petit | petit, xicotet | small |
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. [57] Currently, the majority of people who write in Valencian use this standard. [58]
Standard Valencian is based on the standard of the Institute of Catalan Studies (Institut d'Estudis Catalans, IEC), used in Catalonia, with a few adaptations. [59] This standard roughly follows the Rules of Castelló (Normes de Castelló) from 1932, [60] a set of othographic guidelines regarded as a compromise between the essence and style of Pompeu Fabra's guidelines, but also allowing the use of Valencian idiosyncrasies.
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 of the Valencian people in their own language. [61] 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 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. [62]
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 in 2006 and the indictment of President de la Generalitat Francisco Camps in the Gürtel scandal in 2009. [63] Supervisors appointed by the PP were accused of sexual harassment. [64]
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 (also from PP) announced RTVV would be closed, claiming that reinstating the employees was untenable. [65] 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. [66]
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. [67] Currently, the availability of media in the Valencian language is extremely limited. All the other autonomous communities in Spain, 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, 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.
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. [68]
[T]he historical patrimonial language of the Valencian people, from a philological standpoint, is the same shared by the autonomous communities of Catalonia and Balearic Islands, and Principality of Andorra. Additionally, it is the patrimonial historical language of other territories of the ancient Crown of Aragon [...] The different varieties of these territories constitute a language, that is, a "linguistic system" [...] From this group of varieties, Valencian has the same hierarchy and dignity as any other dialectal modality of that linguistic system [...]
The AVL was established in 1998 by the PP- UV government of Eduardo Zaplana. According to El País, Jordi Pujol, then president of Catalonia and of the CiU, negotiated with Zaplana in 1996 to ensure the linguistic unity of Catalan in exchange for CiU support of the appointment of José María Aznar as Prime Minister of Spain. [69] Zaplana has denied this, claiming that "[n]ever, 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". [i] The AVL orthography is based on the Normes de Castelló, a set of rules for writing Valencian established in 1932.
A rival set of rules, called Normes del Puig, 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, treating Valencian as an independent language, as opposed to a variety of Catalan. 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). Besides, these alternative Norms are also promoted and taught by the cultural association Lo Rat Penat.
Valencian is classified as a Western dialect, along with the North-Western varieties spoken in Western Catalonia ( Province of Lleida and most of the Province of Tarragona). [70] [71] The various forms of Catalan and Valencian are mutually intelligible (ranging from 90% to 95%) [72]
Despite the position of the official organizations, an opinion poll carried out between 2001 and 2004 [16] 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. [73] Furthermore, the data indicate that younger people educated in Valencian speaking areas are considerably less likely to hold these views. According to an official poll in 2014, [15] 54% of Valencians considered Valencian to be a language different from Catalan, while 41% considered the languages to be the same. By applying a binary logistic regression to the same data, it was also found that different opinions about the unity of the language are different between people with certain levels of studies and the opinion also differs between each of the Valencian provinces. The opinion agreeing on the unity of Valencian and Catalan has significant differences regarding age, level of education and province of residence, 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. People living in the province of Castellón are more prone to be in favor of the unity of the language, while people living in the province of Alicante are more prone to be against the unity of the language, especially in the areas where Valencian is not a mandatory language at schools.[ verification needed] [74] Later studies also showed that the results differ significantly depending on the way the question is posed. [75]
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 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. [76]
the total number of people who speak Catalan is 7,200,000, (...). The Valencian dialect is spoken by 27% of all Catalan speakers.citing Vilajoana, Jordi, and Damià Pons. 2001. Catalan, Language of Europe. Generalitat de Catalunya, Department de Cultura. Govern de les Illes Balears, Conselleria d'Educació i Cultura.
2 6 m. [FL] Al País Valencià, llengua catalana.
It is a fact the in Spain there are two equally legal names for referring to this language: Valencian, as stated by the Statute of Autonomy of the Valencian Community, and Catalan, as recognised in the Statutes of Catalonia and Balearic Islands.