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 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.
The Valencian language is usually assumed to have spread in the
Kingdom of Valencia when Catalan and Aragonese colonists settled the territory after the conquests carried out by
James Ithe Conqueror.[20] A new resettlement in the 17th century, after the
expulsion of the Moriscos, largely led by Castilians, defined the Spanish language varieties of inland Valencia. However, Valencian has historically been the predominant and administrative language in the kingdom.
The first documental reference to the usage of the term valencià to refer to the spoken language of the Valencians is found in a judicial process of Minorca against Gil de Lozano, dated between 1343 and 1346, in which it is said that the mother of the indicted, Sibila, speaks valencianesch because she was from
Orihuela (formerly Oriola).[21]
The concept of Valencian language appeared in the second half of 14th century and it was progressively consolidated at the same time that its meaning changed due to events of a diverse nature (political, social, economic).[22] In the previous centuries the Catalan spoken in the territory of the Kingdom of Valencia was called in different ways: romanç (13th century) and catalanesch (during the 14th century, for the medieval concept of nation as a linguistic community). The concept of the Valencian language appeared with a particularistic character due to the reinforced nature of the legal entity of the Kingdom of Valencia for being the Mediterranean commercial power during the 14th and 15th centuries, becoming in the cultural and literary centre of the Crown of Aragon. Thus, the Valencians, together with the Majorcans, presented themselves to other peoples as Catalans while they referred to themselves as Valencians and Majorcans to themselves to emphasise the different legal citizenship of each kingdom.[23]
In the 15th century, the so-called Valencian Golden Age, the name "Valencian" was already the usual name of the predominant language of the
Kingdom of Valencia, and the names of vulgar, romanç or catalanesch had fallen into disuse.
Joanot Martorell, author of the novel Tirant lo Blanch, said: "
lit.'Me atrevire expondre: no solament de lengua anglesa en portuguesa. Mas encara de portuguesa en vulgar valenciana: per ço que la nacio d·on yo so natural se·n puxa alegrar'." ("I dare to express myself: not only in English in Portuguese. But even so from Portuguese to vulgar Valencian: for that the nation I am from born can rejoice").
Since the
Spanish democratic transition, the autonomy or heteronomy of Valencian with respect to the rest of the Valencian-Catalan linguistic system has been the subject of debate and controversy among Valencians, usually with a political background. Although in the academic field (universities and institutions of recognszed prestige) of linguists the unity of the language has never been questioned since studies of the
Romance languages, part of Valencian public opinion believes and affirms that Valencian and Catalan are different languages, an idea that began to spread during the turbulent Valencian transition by sectors of the regionalist right and by the so-called blaverisme (Blaverism). There is an alternative secessionist linguistic regulation, the Normes del Puig (Norms of El Puig), drawn up by the
Royal Academy of Valencian Culture (Real Acadèmia de Cultura Valenciana), an institution founded in 1915 by the Deputation of Valencia, but its use is very marginal.
Official status
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:[24]
The native language[g] of the Valencian Community is Valencian.
Valencian is the official language in the Valencian Community, along with Spanish, which is the official language of Spain. Everyone shall have the right to know and use them, and to receive education on Valencian and 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.
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.[25]
Distribution and usage
Distribution
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
Carchecomarca, a rural area in the
Region of Murcia adjoining the Valencian Community.[26][27][28] Nevertheless, Valencian does not have any official recognition in this area. Nowadays about 600 people are able to speak Valencian in Carche.[29]
The Valencian language is traditionally spoken along the coast and in some inland areas in the provinces of Alicante and Castellón, from
Vinaròs (northernmost point of the extension of Valencian on the coast of the Valencian Community) to
Guardamar (southernmost point of Valencian).
Knowledge and usage
In 2010 the
Generalitat Valenciana, or Valencian government, published a study, Coneixement and ús social del valencià (Knowledge and Social Use of Valencian),[30] 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":
at home: 31.6%
with friends: 28.0%
in internal business relations: 24.7%
For ability:
48.5% answered they can speak Valencian "perfectly" or "quite well" (54.3% in the Valencian-speaking areas and 10% in the Spanish-speaking areas)
26.2% answered they can 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 use Valencian in their social relations.
Moreover, according to the most recent survey in 2021,[31] 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.
Knowledge of Valencian in the Valencian Community (2021)[32]
Valencian-speaking zone
Spanish-speaking zone
Total
Understands it
79,4%
54%
75,8%
Knows how to speak it
54,9%
24,2%
50,6%
knows how to read it
60,9%
35%
57,2%
Knows how to write it
44,4%
19,5%
40,8%
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.[33]
Features of Valencian
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.
The stressed vowel system of Valencian is the same as that of Eastern Catalan: /a/, /e/, /ɛ/, /i/, /o/, /ɔ/, and /u/, with /ɛ/ and /ɔ/ being considerably lower than in EC.[41]
The vowels /i/ and /u/ are more open and centralised than in Spanish. This effect is more pronounced in unstressed syllables, where the phones are best transcribed [
ɪ,ʊ.[42] As the process is completely predictable, the latter symbols are not used elsewhere in the article. (Due to the proximity of unstressed close and/or close-mid/mid vowels, nonstandard colloquial Valencian may feature further lowerings producing vowel alterations or
metathesis, e.g. piscina → *pescina 'pool').[43]
The vowel /e/ is somewhat retracted [
e̠] and /o/ is somewhat advanced [
o̟] both in stressed and unstressed syllables. /e/ and /o/ can be realised as mid vowels [
e̞,o̞ in some cases. This occurs more often with /o/.[44]
The so-called "
open vowels", /ɛ/ and /ɔ/, are generally as low as /a/ in most Valencian dialects. The phonetic realisations of /ɛ/ approaches [
æ] and /ɔ/ is as open as [
ɒ] (as in traditional
RPdog). This feature is also found in
Balearic.[45] For a list showing the frequency of these vowels, see
cases where /ɛ/ and /ɔ/ are found in Valencian.
/ɛ/ is slightly more open and centralised before liquids /l,ɾ,r/ and in monosyllabics.[46]
/ɔ/ is most often a back vowel. In some dialects (including Balearic) /ɔ/ can be unrounded.[47]
The vowel /a/ 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 /a/ in Valencian is [ɐ ~ ä], this vowel is subject to assimilation in many instances.[48]
Stressed /a/ can be retracted to [
ɑ] in contact with velar consonants (including the velarised [
ɫ]), and fronted to [
a] in contact with palatals.[48] This is not transcribed in the article.
The palatal pronunciation of /a/ may merge with /ɛ/ by some speakers.[49]
Final unstressed /a/ may have the following values: [ɛ̈ ~ ɔ̈ ~ ä̝] (phonetically [ɜ~ɞ~ɐ], and traditionally transcribed without diacritics and/or atypical characters /ɛ,ɔ,a/ for simplicity), depending on the preceding sounds and/or dialect (see vowel harmony
below).
All vowels are phonetically nasalised between nasal consonants or when preceding a syllable-final nasal.[50]
There are five general unstressed vowels /a,e,i,o,u/. Although unstressed vowels are more stable than in Eastern Catalan dialects, there are many cases where they merge:[50]
In some Valencian varieties, unstressed /o/ and /ɔ/ are realised as /u/ before labial consonants (e.g. coberts[kuˈbɛɾ(t)s] 'cutlery'), before a stressed syllable with a high vowel (e.g. sospira[susˈpiɾa] 'he/she sighs') and in some given names (e.g. Josep[dʒuˈzɛp] 'Joseph') (note also in some colloquial speeches initial unstressed /o~ɔ/ is often diphthongised to [aw], olor[awˈloɾ]) 'smell (
n.)'). Similarly, unstressed /e/ and /ɛ/ are realised as /a/ in contact with sibilants, nasals and certain approximants (e.g. eixam[ajˈʃam] 'swarm', entendre[anˈtendɾe] 'to understand', clevill[klaˈviʎ] 'crevice'). Likewise (although not recommended by the AVL), unstressed /e~ɛ/ merges with /i/ in contact with palatal consonants (e.g. genoll[dʒiˈnoʎ] 'knee'), and especially (in this case it is accepted) in lexical derivation with the suffix -ixement (e.g. coneixement[konejʃiˈment] 'knowledge'). In the Standard most of these reductions are accepted (/e,ɛ/ → [i] is only accepted in words with the suffix -ixement).[51]
Many Valencian dialects, especially Southern Valencian, feature some sort of
vowel harmony (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/ˈɔɾa/ > [ˈɔɾɔ] 'hour'. However, there are cases where regressive metaphony occurs over pretonic vowels; e.g. tovallola/tovaˈʎɔla/ > [tɔvɔˈʎɔlɔ] 'towel', afecta/aˈfɛkta/ > [ɛˈfɛktɛ] 'affects'. Vowel harmony differs greatly from dialect to dialect, while many varieties assimilate both to the height and the quality of the preceding stressed vowel (e.g. terra[ˈtɛrɛ] 'Earth, land' and dona[ˈdɔnɔ] 'woman'); in other varieties, it is just the height that assimilates, so that terra and dona can be realised with either /ɛ/ ([ɜ]) ([ˈtɛrɛ] and/or [ˈdɔnɛ]) or with /ɔ/ ([ɞ]) ([ˈtɛrɔ] and/or [ˈdɔnɔ]), depending on the speaker.[52]
In a wider sense, vowel assimilations can occur in further instances (that is all or most instances of final unstressed /а/, regardless of the preceding sounds and involving palatalisation and/or labialisation). This is considered non-standard.
In some subvarieties the unstressed vowels produced by vowel harmony may actually be higher than the stressed ones.
In certain cases, the unstressed /a,e/ become silent when followed or preceded by a stressed vowel: quinze anys[ˌkinz‿ˈaɲ(t)ʃ] ('fifteen years').
In some accents, vowels occurring at the end of a
prosodic unit may be realised as centring diphthongs for special emphasis, so that Eh tu! Vine ací 'Hey you! Come here!' may be pronounced [ˈeˈtuə̯ˈvinea̯ˈsiə̯]. The non-syllabic [a̯] (phonetically [ɐ̯]) is unrelated to this phenomenon as it is an unstressed non-syllabic allophone of /a/ that occurs after vowels, much like in Spanish.
The
voiced stops /d,ɡ/ are
lenited to approximants [
ð,ɣ after a
continuant, i.e. a vowel or any type of consonant other than a
stop or
nasal (exceptions include /d/ after
lateral consonants): fades[ˈfaðes] 'fairies' vs. aldeà[aldeˈa] 'villager'. These sounds (as well as /b/) are realised as voiceless plosives in the coda in Standard Valencian (e.g. sord[ˈsoɾt] 'deaf').
/b/ can also be lenited [β] in betacist dialects (e.g. cabut[kaˈβut] 'big head, stubborn').
/d/ is often elided between vowels following a stressed syllable (found notably in feminine participles, /ada/ → [aː], and in the suffix -dor); e.g. fideuà[fiðeˈwaː] ( < fideuada) '
fideuà', mocador[mokaˈoɾ] 'tissue' (note this feature, although widely spread in South Valencia, is not recommended in Standard Valencian,[40] except for reborrowed terms such as Albà, Roà, the previously mentioned fideuà, etc.).
/ɡ/ may lenite in all environments (e.g. gat[ˈɣat]), except after nasal (angoixa[aŋˈɡojʃa] 'anguish').[60]
Unlike other Catalan dialects, the intervocalic clusters /bl/, and /ɡl/ never geminate or fortify in intervocalic position (e.g. poble[ˈpɔble] 'village').
In the Valencian dialects final voiceless plosives (/p,t,k/) may be lenited before a vowel: tot açò[ˈtoð‿aˈsɔ] ('all this').[61]
Unlike other Catalan dialects, the intervocalic clusters /pl/, and /kl/ never geminate or fortify in intervocalic position (e.g. tecla[ˈtekla] 'key' (from keyboard)).
The velar stops /k/, /ɡ/ are
fronted to pre-velar position [c, ɟ] before
front vowels: qui[ˈci] ('who'). This is not transcribed in broader transcriptions of Valencian.
Valencian has preserved in most of its varieties the mediaeval
voiced pre-palatal affricate/
dʒ/ (similar to the j in English "jeep") in contexts where other modern dialects have developed
fricative consonants/ʒ/ (like the si in English "vision"), e.g. dijous[diˈdʒɔws] ('Thursday').
Note the fricative [
ʒ] appears only as a voiced
allophone of /ʃ/ before vowels and voiced consonants; e.g. peix al forn[ˈpejʒalˈfoɾn] 'oven fish'.
Unlike other Catalan dialects, /dʒ/ and /tʃ/ do not geminate (in most accents): metge[ˈmedʒe] ('medic'), and cotxe[ˈkotʃe] ('car'). Exceptions may include learned terms like pidgin[ˈpiddʒin] ('pidgin').
In the Standard, intervocalic /dz/, e.g. setze ('sixteen'), and /ts/, e.g. potser ('maybe'), are recommended to be pronounced with a gemination of the stop element ([ddz] and [tts], respectively. However this is not transcribed in standard transcriptions).
/v/ occurs in Balearic,[62]Alguerese, Standard Valencian and some areas in southern Catalonia (e.g. viu[ˈviw], 's/he lives').[63] It has
merged with /b/elsewhere.[64]
/v/ is realised as an approximant [
ʋ] after continuants: avanç[aˈʋans] ('advance'). This is not transcribed in this article.
Deaffrication of /dz/ to [
z] in verbs ending in -itzar and derivatives: analitzar[analiˈzaɾ] ('to analyse'), organització[oɾɣanizasiˈo] ('organisation'). Also in words like botzina[boˈzina] ('horn'), horitzó[oɾiˈzo] ('horizon') and magatzem[maɣaˈzem] ('storehouse') (c.f. guitza[ˈɡidza], 'kick' (from an animal)).
Most varieties of Valencian preserve final stops in clusters (e.g. /mp/,/nt/,/ŋk/, and /lt/): camp[ˈkamp] 'field' (a feature shared with modern
Balearic). Dialectally, all final clusters can be simplified.
/l/ is normally
velarised ([
ɫ]), especially in the coda.
/l/ is generally
dropped in the word altre[ˈatɾe] ('other'), as well as in derived terms.[40]
/ɾ/ is mostly retained in the coda (e.g. estar[esˈtaɾ], 'to be'), except for some cases where it is dropped: arbre[ˈabɾe] ('tree') and diners[diˈnes] ('money').[40] In some dialects /ɾ/ can be further dropped in combinatory forms with infinitives and pronouns.
In some dialects, /s/ is pronounced [
sʲ] or [
ʃ] after /i,j,ʎ,ɲ/. In the Standard only is accepted after /i/ (in the inchoative form with /sk/ → [ʃk]), and after /ʎ,ɲ/: ells[ˈeʎʃ] ('they'). In some variants the result may be an affricate.[65]
In some places, some terms can undergo
sound changes (such as metathesis), like cridar → *crid(r)ar or quid(r)ar ('to call'). This is heard frequently in the term aigua (standard) → àuia (colloquial) ('water').
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.
Comparison of present first-person singular with Central Catalan
Stem
Infinitive
Present first person singular
Catalan
English
Valencian
Central
English
IPA
IPA
-ar
parlar
to speak
parle
[ˈpaɾle]
parlo
[ˈpaɾlu]
I speak
-re
batre
to beat
bat
[ˈbat]
bato
[ˈbatu]
I beat
-er
témer
to fear
tem
[ˈtem]
temo
[ˈtemu]
I fear
-ir
sentir
to feel
sent
[ˈsent]
sento
[ˈsentu]
I feel
senc (col.)
[ˈseŋk]
inchoative -ir
patir
to suffer
patisc
[paˈtisk]
pateixo
[pəˈtɛʃu]
I suffer
patesc
[paˈtesk]
Present subjunctive is more akin to medieval Catalan and Spanish; -ar infinitives end ⟨e⟩, -re, -er and -ir verbs end in ⟨a⟩ (in contemporary Central Catalan present subjunctive ends in ⟨i⟩).
An exclusive feature of Valencian is the
subjunctive imperfect morpheme -ra: que ell vinguera ('that he might come').
Valencian has -i- as theme vowel for inchoative verbs of the third conjugation; e.g. servix ('s/he serves'), like North-Western Catalan. Although, again, this cannot be generalised since there are Valencian dialects that utilise -ei-, e.g. serveix.
In Valencian the simple past tense (e.g. cantà 'he sang') is more frequently used in speech than in Central Catalan, where the periphrastic past (e.g. va cantar 'he sang') is prevailing and the simple past mostly appears in written language. The same, however, may be said of the Balearic dialects.[66]
The second-person singular of the present tense of the verb ser ('to be'), ets ('you are'), has been replaced by eres in colloquial speech.
The infinitive veure ('to see') has the variant vore, which belongs to more informal and spontaneous registers.
The usage of the periphrasis of obligation tindre + que + infinitive is widely spread in colloquial Valencian, instead of the Standard haver + de (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 area) preserve etymological forms lo, los as in
Lleida. For the other unstressed object pronouns, etymological old forms (me, te, se, ne, mos, vos...) can be found, depending on places, in conjunction with the more modern reinforced ones (em, et, es, en, ens, us...).
Several local variations for nosaltres, vosaltres ('we, you'): mosatros, moatros, matros, etc.; vosatros, voatros, vatros, 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) is 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.[66]
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).
[ew], when it forms syllable with a pronoun: m'ho dona[mewˈðona], dóna-m'ho[ˈdonamew] ('s/he gives it to me')
[ew] or [u], when it comes before a verb starting with consonant: ho dona[ewˈðona] (or [uˈðona]) ('s/he gives it')
[w], when precedes a vowel or when coming after a vowel: li ho dona[liwˈðona] ('s/he gives it to her/him'), dona-ho[ˈdonaw] ('you give it')
[o], when it comes after a consonant or a semivowel: donar-ho[doˈnaɾo] ('to give it').
The personal pronoun jo ('I') and the adverb ja ('already') are not pronounced according to the spelling, but to the etymology ([ˈjɔ] and [ˈja], instead of /ˈ(d)ʒɔ/ and /ˈ(d)ʒa/). Similar pronunciations can be heard in North-Western Catalan and Ibizan.
The preposition amb ('with') merges with en ('in') in most Valencian dialects.
The compound preposition per a ('for') is usually reduced to p'a in colloquial Valencian.
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 aquest and aqueix are almost never used) (feature shared with modern Ribagorçan and Tortosan).
The colloquial variant of açò ('this'), astò, is heard frequently in Alicante's Valencian.
Vocabulary
Valencian vocabulary contains words both restricted to the Valencian-speaking domain, as well as words shared with other Catalan varieties, especially with
North-Western 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 North-Western 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 North-Western 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 parts of Valencia, including 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.
Valencian and Catalan use the
Latin script, with some added symbols and digraphs.[69] The Catalan-Valencian orthographies are systematic and largely phonologically based.[69] Standardisation of Catalan was among the topics discussed during the First International Congress of the Catalan Language, held in Barcelona October 1906. Subsequently, the Philological Section of the Institut d'Estudis Catalans (IEC), founded in 1911, published the Normes ortogràfiques in 1913 under the direction of
Antoni Maria Alcover and
Pompeu Fabra. In 1932, Valencian writers and intellectuals gathered in
Castelló de la Plana to make a formal adoption of the so-called Normes de Castelló (Castelló Norms), a set of guidelines following Pompeu Fabra's Catalan language norms.[70]
The letters
k,
y and
w only appear in loanwords. In the case of y it also appears in the digraph
ny. Most of the letters are pronounced the same in both standards (Valencian and Catalan). The letters
c and
g have a soft and hard pronunciation similar to English and other Romance languages,
ç (found also in Portuguese and French) always has a soft pronunciation and may appear in word final position. The only differences between the main standards are the contrast of
b/b/ and
v/v/ (also found in Insular Catalan), the treatment of long consonants with a tendency to simplification in Valencian (see table with digraphs and tigraphs), the affrication (/d͡ʒ/) of both soft
g (after front vowels) and
j (in most cases), the affrication (/t͡ʃ/) of initial and postconsonantal
x (except in some cases) and the lenition (deaffrication) of
tz/d͡z/ in most instances.
^In Valencian, ⟨j⟩ is pronounced /j/ (
yod) in terms like jo and ja.
^The Spanish ⟨j⟩/x/ is found in loanwords like orujo or La Rioja.
^In Valencian, ⟨x⟩ is pronounced /ʃ/ after i (e.g. ix, pixar), in proper names or place names like Xàtiva (often mispronounced with an epenthetic ei-) and learned terms like xenofòbia and xerografia. In other cases it alternates with /t͡ʃ/: xarop[ʃaˈɾɔp] or [t͡ʃaˈɾɔp].
^
abcdBefore front vowels (/e,i/). Also before
schwa[ə] in Catalan.
^In Valencian ⟨ŀl⟩ is only geminated in very formal registers. In Catalan it is geminated in careful speech.
^
abcdIn Valencian ⟨tl⟩ and ⟨tn⟩ can be pronounced with gemination or not, ⟨tm⟩ and ⟨tll⟩ are only geminated in very formal registers. In Catalan ⟨tl⟩, ⟨tll⟩, ⟨tm⟩ and ⟨tn⟩ are geminated in careful speech.
^In Valencian initial ⟨ts⟩ (found only in loanwords) is deaffricated. However, it may be pronounced in very formals registers.
^In Valencian ⟨tz⟩ is deaffricated in most instances.
^The acute (´) and grave (`) accents indicate stress and vowel height.
^The diaeresis (¨) is used to indicate a
vowel hiatus or a non-silent /u/ after ⟨g⟩ or ⟨q⟩.
^Before central (/a/, including
schwa in Catalan) and back vowels (/o,u/), also after any vowels in the coda.
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.[71] Currently, the majority of people who write in Valencian use this standard.[72]
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.[73] This standard roughly follows the
Castelló Norms (Normes de Castelló) from 1932,[74] 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.
Valencian dialects
Northern area:
Transitional Valencian (valencià de transició) or Tortosan (tortosí), also ambiguously termed Northern Valencian: spoken only in the northernmost areas of the province of
Castellon in towns like
Benicarló or
Vinaròs, the area of
Matarranya in Aragon (province of
Teruel), and a southern border area of
Catalonia surrounding
Tortosa, in the province of
Tarragona.
Word-initial and postconsonantal /dʒ/ (Catalan /ʒ/ and /dʒ/~/ʒ/) alternates with [(j)ʒ] intervocalically; e.g. joc[ˈdʒɔk] ('game'), but pitjor[piˈʒo] ('worse'), boja[ˈbɔjʒa] ('crazy') (Standard Valencian /ˈdʒɔk/, /piˈdʒoɾ/; /ˈbɔdʒa/; Standard Catalan /ˈʒɔk/, /piˈdʒo/ and /ˈbɔʒə/).
Final ⟨r⟩[
ɾ] is not pronounced in infinitives; e.g. cantar[kanˈta] (Standard /kanˈtaɾ/) ('to sing').
Archaic
articleslo, 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.
Use of [e] sound instead of standard ⟨a⟩/a/ in the third person singular of most verbs; e.g. (ell) cantava[kanˈtave] (Standard /kanˈtava/) 'he sang'. Thus, Northern Valencian dialects contrast forms like (jo) cantava[kanˈtava] ('I sang') with (ell) cantava[kanˈtave] ('he sang'), but merges (jo) cante[ˈkante] ('I sing') with (ell) canta[ˈkante] ('he sings').
Palatalisation of ⟨ts⟩/ts/ > [tʃ] and ⟨tz⟩/dz/ > [ddʒ]; e.g. pots/ˈpots/ > [ˈpotʃ] ('cans, jars, you can'), dotze/ˈdodze/ > [ˈdoddʒe] ('twelve'). Thus, this dialect may merge passeig ('walk') and passets ('little steps').
Depalatalization of /jʃ/ to [jsʲ] by some speakers; e.g. caixa/ˈkajʃa/>[ˈkajsʲa] ('box').
Central area:
Central Valencian (valencià central), or Apitxat, spoken in
Valencia city and its area, but not used as standard by the Valencian media.
Sibilant merger: all voiced sibilants are devoiced (/dʒ/>[tʃ], /dz/>[ts], /z/>[s]); that is, apitxat pronounces casa[ˈkasa] ('house') and joc[ˈtʃɔk] ('game'), where other Valencians would pronounce /ˈkaza/ and /ˈdʒɔk/ (feature shared with
Ribagorçan).
Betacism, that is the merge of /v/ into /b/; e.g. viu[ˈbiw] (instead of /ˈviw/) ('he lives').
Fortition (gemination) and vocalisation of final consonants; nit[ˈnitː(ə)] (instead of /ˈnit/) ('night').
It preserves the strong simple past, which has been substituted by an analytic past (periphrastic past) with vadere +
infinitive in the rest of modern Catalan and Valencian variants. For example, aní instead of vaig anar ('I went').
Southern area:
Southern Valencian (valencià meridional) or Upper Southern Valencian: spoken in the contiguous comarques 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: the final syllable of a disyllabic word adopts a preceding open ⟨e⟩ (/ɛ/) and/or ⟨o⟩ (/ɔ/) if the final vowel is an unstressed -⟨a⟩; e.g. terra[ˈtɛrɛ] ('Earth, land'), dona[ˈdɔnɔ] ('woman'). Further merges (such as [ˈtɛrɔ] and [ˈdɔnɛ]) depends on the town and speaker.
This dialect retain geminate consonants (⟨tl⟩/lː/ and ⟨tn⟩/nː/); e.g. guatla[ˈɡwalːa] ('quail'), cotna[ˈkonːa] ('rind').
Weak pronouns are "reinforced" in front of the verb (em, en, et, es, etc.) contrary to other dialects which maintains "full form" (me, ne, te, se, etc.).
Alicante's Valencian (valencià alacantí) or Lower Southern Valencian: spoken in the southern half of the province of
Alicante, and the area of Carche in Murcia.
Intervocalic /d/ elision in most instances; e.g. roda[ˈrɔa] ('wheel'), nadal[naˈal] ('Christmas').
Yod is not pronounced in ⟨ix⟩/jʃ/>[ʃ]; e.g. caixa[ˈkaʃa] ('box').
Final ⟨r⟩ is not pronounced in infinitives in some areas and/or contexts; e.g. cantar[kanˈta] ('to sing').
There are some archaisms like: ans instead of abans ('before'), manco instead of menys ('less'), dintre instead of dins ('into') or devers instead of cap a ('towards').
There are more interferences with Spanish than other dialects: assul (from azul) instead of blau (or atzur) ('azure'), llimpiar (from limpiar) instead of netejar ('to clean') or sacar (from sacar) instead of traure ('take out').
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.[75] 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 is recognised as a regional TV channel.[76]
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.[77] Supervisors appointed by the PP were accused of
sexual harassment.[78]
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.[79] 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.[80]
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.[81] 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.[82]
Wikisource has original text related to this article:
[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 [...]
— Ruling of the Valencian Language Academy of 9 February 2005, extract of point 1.[74][h]
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.[83] 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).[84][85] The various forms of Catalan and Valencian are mutually intelligible (ranging from 90% to 95%)[86]
Despite the position of the official organisations, 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.[87] 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][88] Later studies also showed that the results differ significantly depending on the way the question is posed.[89]
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.[90]
^The Valencian Normative Dictionary of the Valencian Academy of the Language states that Valencian is a "Romance language spoken in the Valencian Community, as well as in Catalonia, the Balearic Islands, the French department of the Pyrénées-Orientales, the Principality of Andorra, the eastern flank of Aragon and the Sardinian town of Alghero (unique in Italy), where it receives the name of 'Catalan'."
^The Catalan Language Dictionary of the Institut d'Estudis Catalans states in the sixth definition of Valencian that it is equivalent to Catalan language in the Valencian Community.
^The Catalan Language Dictionary of the Institut d'Estudis Catalans states in the second definition of Valencian that it is the Western dialect of Catalan spoken in the Valencian Community.
^The original text says "llengua pròpia", a term that does not have an equivalent in English.
^Original full text of Dictamen 1: D'acord amb les aportacions més solvents de la romanística acumulades des del segle XIX fins a l'actualitat (estudis de gramàtica històrica, de dialectologia, de sintaxi, de lexicografia…), la llengua pròpia i històrica dels valencians, des del punt de vista de la filologia, és també la que compartixen les comunitats autònomes de Catalunya i de les Illes Balears i el Principat d'Andorra. Així mateix és la llengua històrica i pròpia d'altres territoris de l'antiga Corona d'Aragó (la franja oriental aragonesa, la ciutat sarda de l'Alguer i el departament francés dels Pirineus Orientals). Els diferents parlars de tots estos territoris constituïxen una llengua, és a dir, un mateix "sistema lingüístic", segons la terminologia del primer estructuralisme (annex 1) represa en el Dictamen del Consell Valencià de Cultura, que figura com a preàmbul de la Llei de Creació de l'AVL. Dins d'eixe conjunt de parlars, el valencià té la mateixa jerarquia i dignitat que qualsevol altra modalitat territorial del sistema lingüístic, i presenta unes característiques pròpies que l'AVL preservarà i potenciarà d'acord amb la tradició lexicogràfica i literària pròpia, la realitat lingüística valenciana i la normativització consolidada a partir de les Normes de Castelló.
^"Nunca, nunca, pude negociar lo que no se puede negociar, ni aquello que no está en el ámbito de la negociación de un político. Es decir la unidad de la lengua."
References
^Luján, Míriam; Martínez, Carlos D.; Alabau, Vicente.
Evaluation of several Maximum Likelihood Linear Regression variants for language adaptation(PDF). Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation, LREC 2008. p. 860. 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.
^Institut d'Estudis Catalans.
"Resultats de la consulta:valencià". DIEC 2 (in Valencian). Retrieved 23 February 2016. 2 6 m. [FL] Al País Valencià, llengua catalana.
^
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ISBN84-370-5390-0.
^Recasens 2014, pp. 253–254. sfn error: no target: CITEREFRecasens2014 (
help)
^
abBadia i Margarit, Antoni M. (1995). Gramática de la llengua catalana: Descriptiva, normativa, diatópica, diastrática (in Catalan). Barcelona: Proa.
Beltran i Calvo, Vicent; Segura i Llopes, Carles (2018), Els parlars valencians (2 ed.), Valencia: Publicacions Universitat de València,
ISBN978-84-9134-240-3
Carbonell, Joan F.; Llisterri, Joaquim (1992), "Catalan", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 22 (1–2): 53,
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Salvador i Gimeno, Carles (1963), Valencians i la llengua autòctona durant els segles XVI, XVII i XVIII, Valencia: Institució Alfons el Magnànim,
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Sanchis i Guarner, Manuel (1983), La llengua dels valencians, Valencia: Edicions 3i4,
ISBN84-7502-082-8
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Veny, Joan (2007), Petit Atles lingüístic del domini català, vol. 1 & 2, Barcelona: Institut d'Estudis Catalans, p. 51,
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