An introduction to Catalan

[Izambri]

MORFOLOGIA NOMINAL
NOUN MORPHOLOGY

EL SUBSTANTIU
THE SUBSTANTIVE

El gènere del substantiu | The gender of the substantive

Some substantives that designate gendered beings have a masculine form for males and a femenine form for females.

cavall "male horse"
euga "female horse"
home "man"
dona "woman"
bruixot "wizard"
bruixa, bruixota "witch"

For non-human animated beings the most part of terms have a generic meaning, without specifying the gender, though every word as a characteristic gender.

la guineu "the fox" (guineu is a femenine word)
el dofí "the dolphin" (dofí is a masculine word)

If we want to specify the gender we can add mascle "male" or femella "female" to the noun.

la guineu mascle "the male fox"
la guineu femella "the female fox"
el dofí mascle "the male dolphin"
el dofí femella "the female dolphin"

Note that every word retains its characteristic gender, even if it's referring to the opposite gender.

The femenine and masculine forms coincide in the words ending in -arca, -ista, -cida, -aire, among others. The determinant indicates if it's a masculine or femenine term.

el monarca "the male monarch"
la monarca "the female monarch"
el pianista "the male pianist"
la pianista "the female pianist"

There are substantives that, with the masculine form and the femenine form, distinguish different lexical elements.

el fi "the aim"
la fi "the end"
el vall "the dig"
la vall "the valley"
el pudor "the modesty"
la pudor "the stench"

Other substantives can bear both genders without changing their meanings.

el mar, la mar "the sea"
el serpent, la serpent "the snake"

The masculine and femenine forms with a common root can show differences between them, both in pronounciation and writting. We emphasize the following:

• 1) Alternance of sounds (plosives and fricatives, voiced and unvoiced): llop, lloba "wolf"; amic, amiga "friend"; serf, serva "slave"...
  2) Alternance of -u and -v: hereu, hereva "heir, heiress"; esclau, esclava "slave"...
  3) Duplication or non duplication of intervocalic s: pagès, pagesa "farmer"; gos, gossa "dog"...
  4) Presence or absence of accents and diaeresis: veí, veïna "neighbour"; Lluís, Lluïsa "Louis"; avi, àvia "grandfather, grandmother"...

[Izambri]

MORFOLOGIA NOMINAL
NOUN MORPHOLOGY

EL SUBSTANTIU
THE SUBSTANTIVE

El nombre del substantiu | The number of the substantive
The substantive makes the plural with morpheme -s. Singular is the non-marked form. We'll indicate it with ø "non marked".

• llibre-ø "book"
  llibre-s "books"

We observe certain changes when we add the plural morpheme:

1) If the singular ends in atonic -a, this vowel changes to -e.

casa "house" > cases "houses"

2) If the singular ends in tonic vowel, the root recovers the etymological -n-.

LEONEM > lleó, lleons "lion"
MANUM > mà, mans "hand"

There is, though, a certain number of words ended in tonic vowel, the most part coming from other languages, that make the plural according to the general rule: cafè, cafès "coffe", vostè, vostès "you (respectable)", sofà, sofàs "sofa"...

3) Some masculine words make the plural in -os. This happens in the next cases:

a) Substantives with stress in the last syllable and ended in -s, -ç, -x, -ix, -tx.

burgès, burgesos "bourgeois"
pastís, pastissos "cake"
pedaç, pedaços "piece", "bit"
reflex, reflexos "reflex"
feix, feixos "bunch"
despatx, despatxos "office"

But the substantives with stress in the penultimate syllable ending in -x only take -s.

apèndix, apèndixs "appendix"
fax faxs "fax"

b) Substantives ending in -sc, -st, -xt, -ig.

disc, discos "disc"
test, testos "flowerpot"
pretext, pretextos "pretext", "excuse"
desig, desitjos "desire"

These substantives can also make the plural with -s: discs, tests, pretexts, desigs...

4) Some substantives have the same form for the singular and the plural. The determinative shows the number.

el dilluns, els dilluns "the Monday, the Mondays"
el temps, els temps "the time, the times"
un llapis, uns llapis "a pencil, some pencils"

5) Some substantives are used in plural only.

els queviures "the provision (food)"
els escacs "the chess"
les setrilleres "the oilcan"

6) Finally, some substantives are defective in one of its acceptions.

el bé "the good", els béns "the benefits, the possessions"
la raó "the reason", les raons "the discussions"

Remember
Orthographical alternances (singular > plural):

• -ca > -ques as in roca, roques "rock"
  -ça > -ces as in confiança, confiances "trust, confidence"
  -ja > -ges as in taronja, taronges "orange"
  -ga > -gues as in tortuga, tortugues "turtle"
  -gua > -gües as in paraigua, paraigües "umbrella"
  -qua > -qües as in ventríloqua, ventríloqües "ventriloquist"

[Space Dracula]

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.

[Izambri]

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.

Don't worry, no offense. In fact, Spaniards and Catalans speak the same language, Latin.

[Izambri]

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 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 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...).

[Ghost]

Excellent. Keep it up.

Ghost

[valinta]

*throws a party*

[Izambri]

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 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"


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"

[Izambri]

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.

regne ['reknə] "kingdom" > regnat [rək'nat] "reign"
pena ['pɛnə] "grief, sadness" > penós [pə'nos] "painful, laborious"
pal [paɫ] "stick" > palet [pə'ɫɛt] "little stick"

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

mur [muɾ] "wall" > muret [mu'ɾɛt] "little wall"
fosc [fosk] "dark" > foscor [fus'ko] "darkness"
roca ['rɔkə] "rock" > rocallós [rukə'ʎos] "rocky"

Neutralization doesn't occur in these cases:

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

feble ['feb:ɫə] "weak" > feblement ['feb:ɫəˌmen] "weakly"

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

cobrellit [ˌkɔβɾə'ʎit] "bedspread", from cobre ['kɔβɾə] "it covers" and llit [ʎit] "bed"

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

teatre [te'atɾə] "theater"
aeroport [əeɾu'pɔɾt] "airport"
coreògraf [kuɾe'ɔɣɾəf] "choreographer"

[Herra Ratatoskr]

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.

[Izambri]

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.

Thanks!!!

Someone had intention of posting all that and much more on the Wiki, but I'm not sure who was, and if still has that intention.

[Izambri]

FONOLOGIA
PHONOLOGY

VOCALISME TÒNIC I ÀTON
TONIC AND ATONIC VOCALISM

The vocalic system is based on three criteria of opposition or distinctive features: degree of opening, point of articulation and tonicity.

1) The distance between the surface of the tongue and the curve of the palate allows to distinguish four degrees of opening.

• a) Close: ,
  b) Close-mid: [e], [o]
  c) Mid: [ə]
  d) Open-mid: [ɛ], [ɔ]
  e) Open: [a]

2) The advance or backward movement of the tongue in the mouth cavity (point of articulation) distinguishes three series of vocalic sounds:

• a) Front: , [e], [ɛ]
  b) Back: , [o], [ɔ]
  c) Central: [a], [ə]

3) The existence of two vocalic subsystems allows the opposition according to the tonicity of the sound. The tonic vocalism organizes the stressed sounds, and the atonic vocalism organizes the unstressed sounds.

• a) Stressed: [a], [ɛ], [e], , [ə], [ɔ], [o],
  b) Unstressed: [a], [e], [ə], , [o],

[Izambri]

FONOLOGIA
PHONOLOGY

LES VARIANTS DIALECTALS
THE DIALECTAL VARIANTS

Catalan has a few dialects and speeches, and they distribute the vocalic sounds in different ways. It is important to note that:

• 1) The way of opposing height degrees isn't the same in all dialects.
  2) Not all dialects oppose the same height degrees in the tonic system.
  3) Not all dialects have atonic vowel neutralization.
  4) Some dialects oppose more height degrees in the atonic vocalism than the ones mentioned above

Now, you can see the diagramatization of the different dialectal realizations of the tonic and atonic vocalic systems.


Català central | Central Catalan

Code: Select all

[i]              [u]
  [e]         [o]
     [ɛ]   [ɔ]
        [a]

[i]              [u]
        [ə]

Català septentrional o rossellonès | Northern Catalan or Roussillonese

Code: Select all

[i]              [u]
   [e]       [o]
        [a]

[i]              [u]
        [ə]

Català insular o balear | Insular Catalan or Balearic

Code: Select all

[i]             [u]
  [e]        [o]
    [ɛ]   [ɔ]
       [ə]
       [a]
[i]             [u]
            ([o])
       [ə]

Català alguerès | Algherese Catalan

Code: Select all

[i]           [u]
  [e]      [o]
    [ɛ]  [ɔ]
       [a]

[i]          [u]
       [a]

Català nord-occidental | North-western Catalan

Code: Select all

[i]           [u]
  [e]      [o]
    [ɛ]  [ɔ]
       [a]

[i]            [u]
  [e]      [o]
       [a]

Català meridional o valencià | Southern Catalan or Valencian

Code: Select all

[i]            [u]
  [e]       [o]
    [ɛ]   [ɔ]
       [a]

[i]            [u]
  [e]      [o]
       [a]

[Izambri]

FONOLOGIA
PHONOLOGY

LA SÍL·LABA
THE SYLLABLE

The syllable presents a nucli "nucleus", which only can be occupied by one vocalic sound, and other (optional) sounds surrouding the nucleus, the marges sil·làbics "syllabic edges". The sounds preceding the core are the obertura "opening" of the syllable (this is the onset) while the sounds after the core are the tancament "closing" or coda "coda".

crancs "crabs" > cr a ncs

• One syllable, where cr is the onset, a is the core and ncs is the coda.

amarg "bitter" > a - m a rg

• Two syllables, where a is the first syllable and its core, m is the onset of the second syllable, a is the core of the second syllable and rg is the coda of that syllable.

Catalan can make a syllable with a core.

a-gra-ï-a
i-di-o-ma

Syllables are lliures "free" if they end in a vowel (open, in English), and travades "locked" if they end in a consonant (closed, in English).


Les vocals i - u en contacte amb altres vocals | Vowels i - u in contact with other vowels
We have seen that the syllable is formed with a nucleus and, optionally, syllabic edges. If syllabic edges have a consonantal sound the syllable hasn't any special conduct.
But if syllabic edges have an i or a u the syllable is structured in a different fashion: i and u work as intervocalic sounds. These sounds are named graduals "gradual" or aproximants "approximating", and are represented phonetically with these symbols:

1) [j], if the i precedes or follows the syllabic nucleus.

iode (io-de) ['joðə] "iodine"
iaia (ia-ia) ['jajə] "grandma"
reien (re-ien) ['rɛjən] "they laughed"

2) [w], if the u precedes or follows the syllabic nucleus.

peu [pɛw] "foot"
peuada (pe-ua-da) [pə'waðə] "footstep"
riuen (ri-uen) ['riwən] "they laugh"

Els diftongs | Diphtongs
A diphtong is constituted by a vowel (syllabic core) preceded or followed by an i or a u which, from the phonetical point of view, have become a mid sound between the vocalic and consonantal sounds.
Depending on the position of i and u, we'll have:

1) Diftongs decreixents "decreasing diphtongs". The syllabic core is followed by an i or a u.

• ai
  aire (ai-re) ['ajɾə] "air", cantaire (can-tai-re) [kən'tajɾə] "singer", mai [maj] "never"
  ei
  eina (ei-na) ['ɛjnə] "tool", rei [rej] "king"
  oi
  oiar (o-iar) [u'ja] "to sicken somebody", noi [nɔj] "boy"
  ui
  ui [uj] "ouch", cuit [kujt] "stew", avui (a-vui) [ə'βuj] "today"
  au
  aurora (au-ro-ra) [əw'ɾoɾə] "aurora", cauré (cau-ré) [kəw'ɾe] "I will fall", aeronau (a-e-ro-nau) [əeɾo'naw] "airship"
  eu
  eufonia (eu-fo-ni-a) [əwfu'niə] "euphony", teulat (teu-lat) [təw'ɫat] "roof", neu [new] "snow"
  iu
  riu [riw] "river"
  ou
  ou [ɔw] "egg", pou [pow] "well, shaft"
  uu
  lluu [ʎuw] "he/she/it shows off", "he/she/it shines"

2) Diftongs creixents "increasing diphtongs". The syllabic core is preceded by an i or a u.

• ia
  iaia (ia-ia) ['jajə] "grandma"
  ie
  ien [jɛn] "yen"
  io
  iogurt (io-gurt) [ju'guɾt] "yoghurt"
  iu
  iugoslau (iu-gos-lau) [jugus'ɫaw] "Yugoslav(ian)"
  ua
  quatre (qua-tre) ['kʷatɾə] "four"
  ue
  güelf [gʷɛɫf] "guelph"
  ui
  pingüí (pin-güí) [piŋ'gʷi] "penguin"
  uo
  quòrum (quò-rum) ['kʷɔɾum] "quorum"

Els triftongs | Triphtongs
A triphtong is constituted by a syllabic nucleus preceded and followed by a gradual sound. Catalan has four triphtongs: iai, ieu, uai and ueu/üeu.

• iai
  iai [jaj] "old man"
  ieu
  seieu (se-ieu) [sə'jɛw] "you (pl.) sit down"
  uai
  guaitar (guai-tar) [gʷəj'ta] "to take a look", ouaire (o-uai-re) [o'wajɾə] "eggs seller"
  ueu/üeu
  creueu (cre-ueu) [kɾə'wɛw] "you (pl.) cross", adeqüeu (a-de-qüeu) [əðə'kʷɛw] "you (pl.) adapt"

L'hiat | The hiatus
We call hiatus the succession of two vowels that are pronounced in two times, since each one is a syllabic nucleus. In Catalan we have a hiatus in four cases:

1) When we have two strong vowels in a row.

teatre (te-a-tre) [te'atɾə] "theater"
paella (pa-e-lla) [pə'eʎə] "paella"

2) When we have a weak vowel followed by a strong vowel.

dialecte (di-a-lec-te) [diə'ɫɛktə] "dialect"
família (fa-mí-li-a) [fə'miɫiə] "family"

3) When we have two vowels that would make a diphtong but the second vowel wears an accent.

veí (ve-í) [bə'i] "neighbour"

4) When we have two vowels that would make a diphtong but the second vowel wears a diaeresis.

veïns (ve-ïns) [bə'ins] "neighbours"
canviï (can-vi-ï) [kəm'bii] "that I change" (Pres. subj.)

Notes
1) Among diphtongs tonic uu [uw] is rare and tends to be simplied as in duus, duu, lluus and lluu from verbs dur and lluir.
2) The decreasing diphtong ui [uj] is increasing in Valencian: cuinar [kuj'na] vs. [kʷi'naɾ]...).
3) It's important to note that [kʷ] followed by a nucleus ([kʷa], [kʷə], [kʷe]...) is always represented with qu or qü (quan, quàntum, quasi, qüestió, quid, quòrum...). So words with cu followed by a vowel represent [ku] (cua ['kuə], not [kʷə]; cuina ['kujnə], not ['kʷinə]...).
4) Diphtong and triphtong formation from vowels in hiatus was common in the old language and is still productive. Old and dialectal forms creïa [kɾɛ'iə] and faena [fə'enə] also exist as creia ['kɾɛjə] and feina ['fɛjnə], for example.
This phenomenon is still under way, and is specially noticeable in words ended in -ia and -ió. For example, família which, as given in the example above, is ideally [fə'miɫiə] (fa-mí-li-a), in fact is pronounced [fə'miɫʲə] in everyday speech (but is still four syllables).

[Delthayre]

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

[Izambri]

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.

Una amiga anglesa [un_ə'miɣə_ŋ'gɫɛzə]

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

Una orella [un_u'ɾɛʎə] (elisió) or ['unə_w'ɾɛʎə] (sinalefa)
miro això ['miɾu_ʃɔ] (elisió) or ['miɾw_ə'ʃɔ] (sinalefa)

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

avi olotí ['aβi_wlu'ti]
penso idees ['pɛnsu_j'ðɛəs]

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

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

casa alta ['kɐz_aɫtə]
una ombra ['un_ombɾə]
quina hora és? ['kin_ɔɾ_es]

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

cantar i ballar [kən'taj_βə'ʎa]
no ho sé [nɔ_w se]
català universal [kətə'ɫa_wniβəɾ'saɫ]

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

dibuixarà àngels [diβuʃə'ɾa 'and͡ʒəɫs]
demà obren [də'ma 'ɔβɾən]
camí ample [kə'mi 'ampɫə]

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.

fulla + de + arbre → fulla d'arbre "leaf of tree"
el + estel → l'estel "the star"
ell + me + escolta → ell m'escolta "he listens to me"

Contraction is the suppression and union of two words.

de + el → del "of the"
per + el → pel "through", "by"
ca + el → cal "house of" (followed by the (nick)name of the person).

[JT_the_Ninja]

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.

[Izambri]

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.

ambigües (am-bi-gües) [əm'biɣʷəs] "ambiguous (fem pl)"
qüestió (qües-ti-ó) [kʷəsti'o] "question"
lingüista (lin-güis-ta) [liŋ'gʷistə] "linguist"
ubiqüitat (u-bi-qüi-tat) [uβikʷi'tat] "ubiquity"

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

veïns (ve-ïns) [bə'ins] "neighbours"
paüra (pa-ü-ra) [pə'uɾə] "dread, terror"

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

veí (ve-í) [bə'i] "neighbour"
país (pa-ís) [pə'is] "country"

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

coïa (co-ï-a) [ku'iə] "he/she cooked"
obeïen (o-be-ï-en) [uβə'iən] "they obeyed"

We write without diaeresis:

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

agrair (a-gra-ir) [əɣɾə"i] "to thank, to be grateful for"
agraint (a-gra-int) [əɣɾə'in] "thanking"
agrairé (a-gra-i-ré) [əɣɾəi'ɾe] "I will thank"
agrairàs (a-gra-i-ràs) [əɣɾəi'ɾas] "you will thank"
agrairia (a-gra-i-ri-a) [əɣɾəi'ɾiə] "I/he/she might thank"

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

ateisme (a-te-is-me) [ətə'ismə] "atheism"
egoista (e-go-is-ta) [əɣu'istə] "egoistical, selfish"

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

reunificar (re-u-ni-fi-car) [rəunifi'ka] "to reunify"
antiinflamatori (an-ti-in-fla-ma-to-ri) [əntiɱfləmə'tɔɾi] "anti-inflamatory"

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

harmònium (har-mò-ni-um) [əɾ'mɔnium] "harmonium"
Pius (Pi-us) ['pius] "Pius"

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].

[Izambri]

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

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

Thank you!!!

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

Hehe... Catalan is special because it has similarities with the Iberian-Romance langs (Spanish, Galician-Portuguese) and the Gallo-Romance ones (French).
Specifically, it has similarities with the Iberian-Romance subgroup in its morphology (nominal and verbal flexions), but is derived from the Latin spoken in the Gaul, so it has lots of similarities with French too, but much more with Occitan, especially on phonetics and a big part of its vocabulary. In fact, Catalan and Occitan belong to the Occitan-Catalan subgroup of Romance languages.

[Izambri]

MORFOLOGIA NOMINAL
NOUN MORPHOLOGY

L'ADJECTIU
THE ADJECTIVE

El gènere de l'adjectiu | The gender of the adjective"
We can divide the study of adjectives according to its endings.

1) The adjectives with double ending have different morphemes for the masculine and the femenine. So we have:

a) -ø / -o / -e for the masculine.

gris (gris-ø) "grey" (masc sg)
fondo (fond-o) "deep" (masc sg)
ample (ampl-e) "wide" (masc sg)

b) -a for the femenine.

grisa (gris-a) "grey" (fem sg)
fonda (fond-a) "deep" (fem sg)
ampla (ampl-a "wide" (fem sg)

2) The adjectives with one ending have the same form for the masculine and the femenine. We include in this group:

a) The most part of adjectives ending in atonic -e, including those that end in -ble.

home jove "young man" / dona jove "young woman"
país lliure "free country" (masc) / nació lliure "free nation" (fem)
noi alegre "cheerful boy" / noia alegre "cheerful girl"
cotxe feble "weak car" (masc) / casa feble "weak house" (fem)

b) Those ending in:

• -ista, -cida.

home egoista "egoist man" / dona egoista "egoist woman"
home homicida "homicidal man" / dona homicida "homicidal woman"

• -al, -el, -il.

inventor genial "brilliant inventor" (masc) / inventora genial "brilliant inventor" (fem)
noi rebel "rebellious boy" / noia rebel "rebellious girl"
home gentil "courteous man" / dona gentil "courteous woman"

• -ant, -ent.

home elegant "elegant man" / dona elegant "elegant woman"
ferro roent "red-hot iron" (masc) / qüestió roent "red-hot issue" (fem)

• -ar, -or.

aplec popular "popular meeting" (masc) / assemblea popular "popular assembly" (fem)

Notes
1) Exceptions:

• -al: mal / mala "bad"...
  -ent: atent / atenta "attentive, watchful", valent / valenta "brave"...
  -ar: avar / avara "miserly", car / cara "expensive"...
  -or: sonor / sonora "voiced", traïdor / traïdora "treacherous"...

2) Adjectives ending in -ç have one ending in the singular (-ç) and two in the plural (-ços (masc) and -ces (fem)):

feliç "happy" (masc and fem sg)
feliços "happy" (masc pl)
felices "happy" (fem pl)

3) The addition of morphemes of gender and number can cause alterations on the lexeme of the adjective. We remind the most important:

a) Appearance of the etymological -n- in masculine adjectives ending in tonic vowel.

BONUM, BONAM → bo, bona, bons, bones "good"

b) Voicing of final oclusives and fricatives.

t → d: buit, buida, buits, buides "empty"
c → g: groc, groga, grocs, grogues "yellow"

c) Orthographical changes.

l → l·l: tranquil, tranquil·la, tranquils, tranquil·les "calm, peaceful"
s → ss: espès, espessa, espessos, espesses "thick"

d) Pas from -u to -v- in words ended in au, -iu, -ou.

blau, blava, blaus, blaves "blue"
viu, viva, vius, vives "alive"
nou, nova, nous, noves "new"

e) Alternance of endings.

-òleg / -òloga: homòleg, homòloga "homologous"

f) Presence or absence of accents and diaeresis.

tebi, tèbia, tebis, tèbies "lukewarm"
genuí, genuïna, genuïns, genuïnes "genuine"

El nombre de l'adjectiu | The number of the adjective
The adjective forms the plural with the morpheme -s, as does the substantive.

verd verd-ø "green" (masc sg)
verds verd-s "green" (masc pl)

Remember
1) The adjectives ending in atonic -a in the singular change it for -e in the plural.

dolça, dolces "sweat"

2) The adjectives ending in tonic vowel in the singular recover the etymological -n-:

rodó, rodons, rodones "round"
pla, plans, planes "flat"

3) The adjectives with stress in the last syllable and ending in -s or another consonant in the singular do the masculine plural in -os:

fosc, foscos "dark"
lleig, lletjos "ugly"

[Izambri]

MATERIAL D'ESTUDI
STUDY RESOURCES

A LA XARXA
ON THE NET

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

Diccionaris | Dictionaries
The Alcover-Moll or Català-Valencià-Balear dictionary. 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.

DIDAC, another online dictionary

The DIEC (Diccionari de l'Institut d'Estudis Catalans). By the IEC, the academic institution which seeks to undertake research and study into all elements of Catalan culture.

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

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

The Alternative Catalan Dictionary. For those words you don't find in normal dictionaries.

Gramàtiques | Grammars
Gramàtica de la Llengua Catalana. A Catalan grammar written in Catalan by the IEC, but not finished yet.

[Izambri]

ELS DETERMINANTS "THE DETERMINANTS"

FUNCTIONS

Determinants have two functions:

1) Identificative when they indicate that the substantive is part of the information known by the speaker and the listener, or they indicate that they contribute with new information.

Et regalo els llibres "I give you the books"
Et regalo uns llibres "I give you some books"

2) Referential when they refer to other elements of the context.

Totes aquestes coses són meves "All these things are mine"

Lots of determinants can appear in the sentence without accompanying the noun.

M'agrada aquest, però aquell és més barat "I like this, but that is cheaper"


L'ARTICLE "THE ARTICLE"

The article can do the following functions:

1) Identificative. Indicates that we are refering to a well known reality by the listener. In this case, the determinated article is opposed to un "a" (indefinite) or "one" (numeral).

He perdut un llibre; era el llibre de filosofia "I've lost a book; it was the book of philosophy"

2) Generalizer. Is used to refer to a whole conceptual class.

El roure és un arbre "The oak is a tree"

3) Substantivizer. Enables words of other gramatical categories to do the function of a substantive.

Compraré el blau "I'll buy the blue"

The forms of the determinated article are:

Code: Select all

            singular           plural
masc         el, l'             els
fem          la, l'             les

The determinated article takes a neuter value when precedes an adjective that is referring to vague or abstract concepts, among other cases. The neuter form of the article is the same of the sigular masculine. Compare:

és el bo del poble "He is the good of the town"
és la bona del poble "She is the good of the town"
El bo del cas és que ningú ho sabia "The good of the matter is that nobody knew it"

Catalan also has the article personal "personal article", which is applied to names, surnames and nicknames of persons. Never is used though, in front of a vocative. Examples:

Joan! Digues a en Martí que vingui "John! Say to Martin to come here."
Ha arribat la Marta "Marta has arrived"
N'Enric i na Laura tenen dues filles "Henry and Laura have two daughters"

Code: Select all

masculine     femenine
 en, el, l'    na, la, l'

The use of the personal article before the name indicates a certain degree of familiarity between the speaker and the designated person. We advise to not use this article in formal speech, before the names of historical or illustrious persons.

[Izambri]

ELS DEMOSTRATIUS "THE DEMONSTRATIVES"

Code: Select all

Demonstratives
     singular            plural
 masc      fem       masc     fem
aquest   aquesta   aquests   aquestes
aqueix   aqueixa   aqueixos   aqueixes
aquell   aquella   aquells   aquelles

Neuter demonstrative pronouns
            això
            allò

aquest "this"; aqueix "this-that"; aquell "that"; això "this"; allò "that"

The demonstratives do a referential function, with which refer to elements outside and inside the text.

La Neus diu en aquesta carta que aquell any vivia a Girona "Neus says in this letter that that year she was living in Girona"

The neuter forms only have a pronominal value and serve to refer to an abstraction or less concrete thing, or to a sentence.

Què en penses, d'allò? "What do you think, about that?"
Em va dir que tenia mal de cap. Això em va dir "(He/she) said to me that (he/she) had headhache. This said to me".


ELS POSSESSIUS "THE POSSESSIVES"

The possessives are classified into tonic and atonic.

Tonic possessives

Code: Select all

singular     plural
masc   fem     masc   fem
meu   meva     meus   meves
teu   teva     teus   teves
seu   seva     seus   seves
nostre nostra    nostres
vostre vostra    vostres
seu   seva     seus   seves
   llur          llurs

meu "my, mine"; teu "your"; seu "his, her, its"; nostre "our"; vostre "your"; seu "their"

Atonic possessives

Code: Select all

singular     plural
masc   fem   masc   fem
mon   ma   mos   mes
ton   ta   tos   tes
son   sa   sos   ses

mon "my"; ton "your"; son "his, her"


1) The tonic forms are those of generalised use. Can go before or after the substantive which determine. If they go before the substantive they must be accompanied by the article (except in the forms llur, llurs); if they go after the substantive they are accompanied or not by the article, depending on the degree of determination we want to add to the noun. In this case, the noun can be accompanied by a especificative element.

Treballo amb els vostres amics / amb els amics vostres / amb amics vostres / amb aquells / amb uns quants amics vostres "I work with your friends / with the friends of youse / with friends of youse / with those / with some friends of youse"

2) The forms llur, llurs are used only when there is more than one possessor.

El noi treballa amb la seva veïna "The boy works with his neighbour"
Els nois treballen amb llur veïna "The boys work with their neighbour"
El noi treballa amb les seves veïnes "The boy works with his neighbours"
Els nois treballen amb llurs veïnes "The boys work with their neighbours"

In the sentence with llur, the neighbour is possessed by the two boys.
In the sentence with llurs, the neighbours are possessed by the two boys.

3) The atonic forms go before the noun. Nowadays, they are only used in the parental relations and in some set phrase.

ma mare "my mother", the same as la meva mare
mes germanes "my sisters", the same as les meves germanes
cada terra fa sa guerra "Every land does its war", the same as cada terra fa la seva guerra

[Izambri]

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.

[Waldkater]

thanx for posting such a grammar

(it improved my opinion of the Catalan language)