zompist bboard

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Un llapis mai dibuixa sense una mà.

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Un llapis mai dibuixa sense una mà.

Wow, this is very cool. It's like Spanish on acid, with a lot more coolness. (No offense meant with the Spanish comparison)

I particularly like the etymological retentions.

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<Dudicon> i would but you're too fat to fit in my mouth!!

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Un llapis mai dibuixa sense una mà.

FONOLOGIA
PHONOLOGY

EL SISTEMA CONSONÀNTIC
THE CONSONANTAL SYSTEM

[p]
p pa [pa] "bread"
b tub [tup] "tube"

[t]
t set [sɛt] "seven, thirst"
d fred [fɾɛt] "cold"

[k]
c(a), c(o), c(u) casa ['kazə] "house"
qu què [kɛ] "what"
-g mag [mak] "magician"

[kʷ]
qu(a), qu(o) quan [kʷan] "when"
qü(e), qü(i) qüestió [kʷəs'tio] "question"

[b ]
b boca ['bokə] "mouth"
v vi [bi] "wine"

[β]
-b- fòbia ['fɔβiə] "phobia"
-bl- ablanir [əβɫə'ni] "to soften up"
-br- abraçar [əβɾə'sa] "to embrace"
-sb- esberlar [əsβəɾ'ɫa] "to blow out"
-v- teva ['teβə] "your"

[d]
d dos [dos] "two"

[ð]
-d- cada ['kaðə] "every"
-dr- adreçar [əðɾə'sa] "to send"

[g]
g(a), g(o), g(u) gat [gat] "cat"
gu(e), gu(i) guerra ['gɛrə] "war"

[gʷ]
gu(a), gu(o) gual [gʷaɫ] "ford"
gü(e), gü(i) pingüí [piŋ'gʷi] "penguin"

[ɣ]
-g(a)-, -g(o)-, -g(u)- amagat [əmə'ɣat] "hided"
-gr- agraciar [əɣɾə'sia] "to pardon, to reward"
-gl- aglà [ə'ɣɫa] "acorn"

[f]
f fil [fiɫ] "thread"

[v]
v vi [vi] "wine"
f afganès [əvgə'nɛs] "afgani"

[s]
s- sal [saɫ] "salt"
-s arròs [ə'rɔs] "rice"
-ss- tassa ['tasə] "cup, bowl"
ç caçar [kə'sa] "to hunt"
c(e), c(i) cirera [si'ɾeɾə] "cherry"

[z]
-s- casa ['kazə] "house" (only between vowels)
z onze ['onzə] "eleven"

[ɕ]
x- xemeneia [ɕəmə'nɛjə] "chimney"
-ix- and -ix caixa ['kaɕə] "box", calaix [kə'laɕ] "drawer"

[ʑ]
j joc [ʑɔk] "game" (except Valencian, which is [d͡ʑ])
g(e), g(i) gitano [ʑi'tanu] "gipsy" (except Valencian, which is [d͡ʑ])

[t͡s]
ts sotsobrar [sut͡su'βɾa] "to capsize"

[d͡z]
tz dotze ['dod͡zə] "twelve"

[t͡ɕ]
tx cotxe ['kot͡ɕə] "car"
-ig maig [mat͡ɕ] "May"

[d͡ʑ]
tj(a), tj(o), tj(u) petjada [pə'd͡ʑaðə] "tred(ing)", "footprint"
tg(e), tg(i) platges ['plad͡ʑəs] "beaches"
dj adjectiu [əd͡ʑək'tiw] "adjective"
nj(a), nj(o), nj(u) taronja [tə'ɾɔnd͡ʑə] "orange"
ng(e), ng(i) taronger [təɾun'd͡ʑe] "orange tree"

[l]
l ala ['alə] "wing"

[ɫ]
l ala ['aɫə] "wing"
l cel [sɛɫ] "sky"

[ɫ:]
ŀl coŀlegi [kuɫ:ɛʒi] "school"
tl atles ['aɫ:əs] "atlas"

[ʎ]
ll lluna ['ʎunə] "Moon"

[ɾ]
-r- cara ['kaɾə] "face"
-r mar [maɾ] "sea"

[r]
r- rambla ['rambɫə] "stream originated by rain waters"
rr arròs [ə'rɔs] "rice"

[m]
m mare ['maɾə] "mother"
n tanmateix [ˌtəm:ə'teʃ] "however, still"

[ɱ]
n informe [iɱ'fɔɾmə] "report", canviar [kəɱ'vʲa] "to change"
m samfaina [səɱ'fajnə] (typical Catalan cooked dish)

[n]
n neu [new] "snow"

[ŋ]
(n)c cinc [siŋ] "five", roncar [ruŋ'ka] "to snore"
(n)qu cinquanta [siŋ'kʷantə] "fifty"
(n)g sang [saŋ] "blood", sanguinari [səŋgi'naɾi] "bloodthirsty"
(n)gu enguany [əŋ'gʷaɲ] "this year"

[ɲ]
ny penya ['pɛɲə] "rock, cliff"

[h]
h ha! [ha] "ha", piho ['pihu] "high class dumbass"

Notes
1) v [v] was common in Old Catalan, but now the sound has been replaced by [b] or [β] in many areas. Nevertheless it survives in Algherese, Tarragoní and some Balearic and Valencian subdialects.
2) Catalan has two l's. One is the alveolar lateral approximant [l] and the other one is the velarised alveolar lateral approximant [ɫ] (dark l, in Catalan, ela velar, ela molla and ela fosca). The sound [ɫ] is considered the typical sound of the Catalan l.
In Eastern catalan all els are pronounced [ɫ] with different degrees of velarization depending on the position in the word or the adjacent consonants, while Western Catalan has the [l]~[ɫ] allophonic pair, being one or the other according to its position in the word.
3) The same rule for [l]~[ɫ] is applied to ŀl (ela geminada). It represents a double consonant, [ɫ:] or [l:], though in fast speech is commonly [ɫ] or [l].
4) The h is mute, being written only for etymological reasons. In some cases it's used to represent [h], which is a common sound in interjections (hum; ha, ha, ha!; uh...) and is the best way to adapt [x] and similar sounds in loanwords (Hong Kong, Homs, piho, haima...).

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Un llapis mai dibuixa sense una mà.

FONOLOGIA
PHONOLOGY

EL SISTEMA VOCÀLIC
THE VOCALIC SYSTEM

Les vocals | Vowels

[a]
a nas [nas] "nose"
à català [kətə'ɫa] "Catalan"

[ɛ]
e cel [sɛɫ] "sky"
è per què [pəɾ'kɛ] "why"

[e]
e cent [sen] "hundred"
é més [mes] "more"

[ə]
a cova ['kɔβə] or ['kɔvə] "cave" (when unstressed)
e cove ['kɔβə] or ['kɔvə] "basket, hamper" (when unstressed)

[i]
i pi [pi] "pine"
í intrínsec [in'tɾinsək] "intrinsic"

[ɔ]
o roba ['rɔβə] "clothes"
ò però [pə'ɾɔ] "but"

[o]
o sopa ['sopə] "soup"
ó colós [ku'ɫos] "colossus"

[u]
o moment [mu'men] "moment" (when unstressed)
u cuc [kuk] "worm"
ú únic ['unik] "unique"


Les semivocals | Semivowels

[j]
i rei [rej] "king"; iode ['jɔðə] "iodine"; espaieu [əspə'jɛw] "you space out" (present ind. and imperative)

[w]
u nau [naw] "ship"; cauen ['kawən] "they fall"; quatre ['kʷatɾə] "four"; ouaire [o'wajɾə] "eggs seller"

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Un llapis mai dibuixa sense una mà.

FONOLOGIA
PHONOLOGY

LA NEUTRALITZACIÓ
THE NEUTRALIZATION

In Catalan we find neutralization in the eastern dialectal block (Central Catalan, Northern Catalan, Balearic and Algherese). It occurs in the these cases:

1) [e], [ɛ], [a] in tonic position became [ə] in atonic position.



2) [u], [o], [ɔ] in tonic position became [u] in atonic position.



Neutralization doesn't occur in these cases:

1) In adverbs finished in -ment, this suffix, which is atonic, is pronounced [men], not [mən].



2) The first element of a compound word retains the tonic vowel.



3) The atonic e of groups ea, ae, eo is pronounced [e] in some cases.

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Un llapis mai dibuixa sense una mà.

Damn this is a cool thread. I applaud you, Izopiru. You've obviously done a lot of work on this, and I like the detail you're going into. I look forward to seeing this completed, and must ask if this is being posted on the wiki.

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Un llapis mai dibuixa sense una mà.

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Un llapis mai dibuixa sense una mà.

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Un llapis mai dibuixa sense una mà.

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Un llapis mai dibuixa sense una mà.

This is very interesting stuff Izopiru. I especially appreciate the attention paid to dialects.

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"Great men are almost always bad men."
~Lord John Dalberg Acton

FONOLOGIA
PHONOLOGY

SONS VOCÀLICS EN CONTACTE
VOCALIC SOUNDS IN CONTACT
When we talk sounds are organized in sequencies, so they can produce syllabic redistributions depending on the other sounds they make contact with. We should bear in mind, though, that not all the Catalan dialects act in the same way and that the speed of the pronounciation determines the realization of certain contacts.
Syllabic redistribution originates two phenomena of syntactic phonetics: elisió "elision" and sinalefa "synalepha". Elisió is the loss of one or more sounds in the contact between two adjacent words, while sinalefa, also named diftong sintàctic "syntactical diphtong", is the merging of two syllables from adjacent words into one. Some realizations originate characteristic diphtongs of Catalan, and others aren't accepted by the linguistic normative.

Look at the cases where syllabic redistributions are produced. (The symbol _ indicates the contact and redistribution between vowels).

1) The contact between two atonic vowels can originate:

a) An elisió, if the two atonic vowels are identical.



b) An elisió or a sinalefa, if one of the two atonic vowels is /ə/.



c) A sinalefa, if the vowels in contact are /i/ and /u/.



2) The contact between an atonic vowel and a tonic one can produce:

a) An elisió, if the atonic vowel is /ə/.



b) A sinalefa, if the atonic vowels in contact are /i/ and /u/.



3) As a general rule, contact between two tonic vowels doesn't lead to any syllabic redistribution.



Sometimes we pronounce in one syllable two vowels in contact inside a word, which, by its nature, doesn't form diphtong. This phenomenon, named sinèresi, isn't considered correct by the normative, though it's enough extended among the native speakers and can be used in poetry. For example, paciència "patience" has five syllables (pa-ci-èn-ci-a), and its ideal pronounciation is [pəsi'ɛnsiə], but in everyday speech it's generally pronounced in three syllables, [pə'sʲɛnsʲə]. This pronounciation is not incorrect and we must keep in mind that the word still has fiver syllables.


Notes
In orthography, elision is reflected with the apòstrof "apostrophe" and the contracció "contraction".

The apostrophe indicates graphically that a sound has been suppressed.



Contraction is the suppression and union of two words.

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Un llapis mai dibuixa sense una mà.

This is cool. I had a friend once who was Catalan; he'd help me with my Spanish over AIM.

I think the way nouns (substantives) are handled according to gender is really cool, at least the ones for which it can go either way. It takes away the guesswork as to whether or not to use el or la, which really kills me when I'm speaking Spanish.

The substitution of <?> for <z> is also really rocking.

EDIT: oh, and cal = my new fun word of the month. If my Spanish teacher wasn't castellana (de Sevilla, especificamente), I'd pull it out in class.

EDIT EDIT: on second look, I see the similarities to French. Very intriguing from a linguistic standpoint.

ORTOGRAFIA
ORTHOGRAPHY

L'ÚS DE LA DIÈRESI
THE USE OF THE DIAERESIS
In Catalan, the diaeresis is the symbol written over the i and u to do these functions:

1) To indicate that the u of diphtongs güe, güi, güi, qüi isn't mute.




2) To indicate that the i and the u doesn't form a diphtong with the preceding vowel.



We'll use the diaeresis if we can't use the graphical accent. So we must write:




3) To indicate that i in intervocalic position is a vowel and, therefore, becomes a syllabic nucleus.




We write without diaeresis:

1) The i of the infinitive, the gerund, the future and the conditional of the verbs ended in vowel + -ir.



2) The i of sufixes -isme and -ista.



3) The i and u following prefixes ending in vowel, like auto-, anti-, co-, contra-, re-.



4) The u of the endings -us and -um.



Notes
It's important to note words proïsme (pro-ïs-me), lluïsme (llu-ïs-me) and reüll (re-üll), which doesn't present affixed forms, and some forms of reeixir "to triumph": reïxo, reïxes, reïx, reïxen; reïxi, reïxis, reïxi, reïxin. In this verb is necessary to mark the i with a diaeresis because without it, the i fusionates with x creating the digraph ix [ʃ].

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Un llapis mai dibuixa sense una mà.

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Un llapis mai dibuixa sense una mà.

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Un llapis mai dibuixa sense una mà.

MATERIAL D'ESTUDI
STUDY RESOURCES

A LA XARXA
ON THE NET

Guies de conversa | Phrasebooks
A from the Servei de Llengua Catalana of the Universitat de Barcelona.

Diccionaris | Dictionaries
. Maybe the most complete Catalan dictionary ever written, with lots of dialectal and rare words from all the corners of the Catalan Countries, spiced with pronounciation notes, conjugation paradigms and etymologies.



. By the IEC, the academic institution which seeks to undertake research and study into all elements of Catalan culture.

. A nice searcher, to settle doubts from different sources with one click.

. Need a technical or scientific neologism in Catalan? This is your place.

. For those words you don't find in normal dictionaries.

Gramàtiques | Grammars
. A Catalan grammar written in Catalan by the IEC, but not finished yet.

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Un llapis mai dibuixa sense una mà.

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Un llapis mai dibuixa sense una mà.

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Un llapis mai dibuixa sense una mà.

ELS QUANTIFICADORS "THE QUANTIFIERS"

The quantifiers work as especificators of the substantive, and delimite quantitatively the extenson of the name.

We group under the denomination of 'quantifiers' the numerals, the quantitatives and the indefinites.


ELS NUMERALS "THE NUMERALS"

They are used to indicate concrete ideas of number. We can classify the numerals into:

1) Cardinals They express a precise numerical quantity. With its forms we designate the infinite numerical series.

zero "zero"; u, un, una "one"; dos, dues "two"; tres "three"; quatre "four"; cinc "five"; sis "six"; set "seven"; vuit or huit "eight"; nou "nine"; deu "ten"...

2) Ordinals They indicate the position that occupies the substantive in a sequence arranged numerically.
The four first ordinals have a special form, with complete flexion, and from the ordinal corresponding to 5 are formed with the addition of the sufix -è -ena -ens -enes to the cardinal.
Many times the cardinals are used as ordinals. Observe it in this example:

Seurem a la fila setena "We'll sit down in the seventh row"
Seurem a la fila (número) set "We'll sit down in the row (number) seven"

Some ordinals:
primer -a -s -es "first"; segon -a -s -es "second"; tercer -a -s -es "third"; quart -a -s -es "fourth"; cinquè -ena -ens -enes "fifth"; sisè "sixth"; setè "seventh"; vuitè "eighth"; novè "ninenth"; desè "tenth"...

3) Fraccionaris o partitius "Fractional or partitive". They indicate part or fraction of the unity. Are formed like the ordinals, except for mig "half"; terç "third"; dècim "tenth"; centèsim "hundredth" and milèsim "thousandth". Also has fractional value the locutions formed with the corresponding femenine ordinal and the substantive part "part".

Només treballa mitja jornada "S(he) only works a half working day"
2/3 = dos terços o dues terceres parts "2/3 = two thirds or two third parts"

4) Múltiples "Multiple". They express the number of times that a thing is increased. Except for doble "double" and triple "triple", the other multiple numerals are commonly changed for the expression x vegades més... "x times more...".

Un cafè doble "A double coffe"
Aquesta casa és cinc vegades més gran que la teva "This house is five times bigger than yours"

5) Col·lectius "Collective". They indicate diverse quantities, often approximated, taken as unities. The specific forms of the collective numerals are parell "pair", centenar "hundred" and miler "thousand", though we also accept in this group the femenine forms of some ordinal.

Un parell de sabates "A pair of shoes"
Un miler de soldats "A thousand of soldiers"
Centenars de conills! "Hundreds of rabbits!"
Una vintena d'alumnes "A twentieth of pupils"
Dues dotzenes d'ous "Two dozens of eggs"


Remember:

1) The numerals are written with a little hyphen between the unities and hundreds, and between the tenths and unities. This is the rule commonly known as D-U-C, from desenes-unitats-centenes.

Dues mil nou-centes cinquanta-set "2.957"
Estem en la trenta-dosena posició "We are on the 32nd position"
Som sis milions tres-cents cinquanta-set mil dos-cents vuitanta-nou habitants "We are 6.357.289 inhabitants"

2) The series from 21 to 29 incorporate the conjunction i "and" between the two elements.

Tinc vint-i-tres anys "I have 23 years"
Ha celebrat el vint-i-cinquè aniversari de la companyia "S(he) has celebrated the 25th anniversary of the enterprise"

3) The cultisms quint -a; sext -a; sèptim -a; octau -va... as substantives have specific uses.

Un dècim de loteria "A ticket of lottery"
Felip Quint "Filip V", though is better to say Felip Cinquè "Filip Fifth"

4) In expressions like anys noranta "ninety years", els feliços (anys) vint "The happy twenties (years)"... the numerals are in singular.

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Un llapis mai dibuixa sense una mà.

thanx for posting such a grammar

(it improved my opinion of the Catalan language)

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Sé da o• dáire an gudd’ a• ráilla. Hal’ tso tsoissan i• théinn’ an chursad ton.

(Fate is like a gorilla in a cage – it throws dung at you if you mock it)