Catalan language

"Catala" redirects here. For the ship, see SS Catala. For the surname, see Catalá.

Catalan
Valencian
català
valencià
Pronunciation[kətəˈla] (N, C & B) / [kataˈla] (NW & A)
[valensiˈa] (V)
Native to
RegionSouthern Europe
SpeakersL1: 4.1 million (2012)[1]
L2: 5.1 million
Total: 9.2 million
Early forms
Latin (Catalan alphabet)
Catalan Braille
Signed Catalan
Official status
Official language in
1 state, 3 communities and 1 city
Recognised minority
language in
3 sub-regions or areas
Regulated byInstitut d'Estudis Catalans (IEC)
Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua (AVL)
Language codes
ISO 639-1ca
ISO 639-2cat
ISO 639-3cat
Glottologstan1289
Linguasphere51-AAA-e
Domínio geolinguístico do catalão
  Territories where Catalan/Valencian is spoken and is official
  Territories where Catalan/Valencian is spoken but is not official
  Territories where Catalan/Valencian is not historically spoken but is official
Standard Catalan is classified as Vulnerable by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger.[2]
This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA.

Catalan (autonym: català, for pronunciation see below or infobox) is a Western Romance language. It is the official language of Andorra,[3] and an official language of three autonomous communities in eastern Spain: Catalonia, the Balearic Islands and the Valencian Community, where it is called Valencian (valencià). It has semi-official status in the Italian comune of Alghero,[4] and it is spoken in the Pyrénées-Orientales department of France and in two further areas in eastern Spain: the eastern strip of Aragon and the Carche area in the Region of Murcia. The Catalan-speaking territories are often called the Països Catalans or "Catalan Countries".[5]

The language evolved from Vulgar Latin in the Middle Ages around the eastern Pyrenees. Nineteenth-century Spain saw a Catalan literary revival,[6][7] culminating in the early 1900s.

  1. ^ Catalan at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022) Closed access icon
  2. ^ "World Atlas of Languages: Standard Catalan". en.wal.unesco.org. Archived from the original on 4 December 2023. Retrieved 4 December 2023.
  3. ^ Wheeler 2010, p. 191.
  4. ^ Minder, Raphael (21 November 2016). "Italy's Last Bastion of Catalan Language Struggles to Keep It Alive". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 1 January 2022. Retrieved 21 January 2017.
  5. ^ "els Països Catalans". enciclopèdia.cat (in Catalan). Archived from the original on 15 August 2023. Retrieved 15 August 2023.
  6. ^ Wheeler 2010, pp. 190–191.
  7. ^ Costa Carreras & Yates 2009, pp. 6–7.


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