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Catalan phonology

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The Catalan phonology has a certain degree of dialectal variation. Although there are two standard varieties, one based on Central Eastern dialect and another one based on South-Western or Valencian, this article deals with features of all or most dialects, as well as regional pronunciation differences.

Catalan is characterized by final-obstruent devoicing, lenition and (in some dialects) fortition of plosives, voicing assimilation, and gemination (consonant lengthening); a set of 7 to 8 phonemic vowels (plus 2 rare rounded vowels, found mainly in French loanwords and/or Northern Catalan), vowel assimilations (including vowel harmony), many phonetic diphthongs, and vowel reduction, whose precise details differ between dialects.

Consonants

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Consonants of Catalan[1][2]
Labial Dental/Alveolar Palatal Velar
Nasal m n3 ɲ6 ŋ*
Plosive voiceless p t1 k2
voiced b d1 ɡ2
Affricate voiceless (t͡s)5 t͡ʃ7
voiced d͡z5 d͡ʒ7
Fricative voiceless f s4 ʃ7
voiced v* z4 ʒ7
Approximant median j w
lateral l3 ʎ6
Tap ɾ3
Trill r4

Consonants in parentheses () are rare and consonants with an asterisk * are phonemic dialectally.

Marginal consonants include /θ/, /x/ and /h/.[3][4][5] /r/ (and even, /ɾ/) is replaced by /ʁ/ in dialects like Northern Catalan.[6]

Phonetic notes:

Obstruents

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Voiced obstruents undergo final-obstruent devoicing.[19][20][21]

Table with minimal pairs:

Coda obstruents minimal pairs
IPA word gloss word gloss
[p]cub'cube'cup'winepress'
[t]tord'thrush'tort'crooked'
[k]mag'magician'mac'pebble'
[f]salv'exempt'
[s]brunz'he/she buzzes'bruns'dark browns'
[ʃ]guix'gypsum', 'chalk'
[t͡ʃ]raig'ray'

Obstruents assimilate to the voicing of the following consonant and vowel:[19][20][21]

  • els [əls] (C) / [els] (V) 'the' vs. els amics [əlz‿əˈmiks] (C) / [elz‿ɐˈmiks] (V) 'the friends'.
  • peix [ˈpe(j)ʃ] (C / V) 'fish' vs. peix gran [ˈpe(j)ʒ‿ˈɣɾän] (C / V) 'big fish'.
  • faig [ˈfat͡ʃ] (C / V) 'I do' vs. faig allò [ˈfad͡ʒ‿əˈʎɔ] (C) / [ˈfad͡ʒ‿ɐˈʎɔ̞] (V) 'I do that'.

Plosives

[edit]

Voiced plosives (also called stops) become lenited to approximants in syllable onsets, after continuants:[10] /b/ → [β], /d/ → [ð], /ɡ/ → [ɣ].

  • Exceptions include /d/ after lateral consonants (e.g. ull de bou [ˈuʎ də ˈβɔw] (C) / [ˈuʎ de ˈβɔw] (NW) 'oeil-de-boeuf') and /b/ after labiodentals (/f/, [v]), e.g. bolígraf boníssim [buˈliɣɾəv‿buˈnisim] (C) / [boˈliɣɾäv‿boˈnisim] (NW) ('really good pen').
  • In non-betacist dialects (those who do not merge /b/ with /v/), /b/ remains unlenited (e.g., ull de bou [ˈuʎ də ˈbɔ̞w] (M) / [ˈuʎ de ˈbɔ̞w] (V) 'oeil-de-boeuf').
  • In some dialects, e.g., many Valencian accents, initial (that is, in all environments except after a nasal) /ɡ/ can be lenited: gat [ˈɣät] (V) ('cat').[22]
  • In the coda position, these sounds are always realized as stops;[23] except in some Valencian dialects, where they might be lenited.[24]

In Catalan and Balearic (not in Valencian), labial /b/ and /p/, and velar stops /ɡ/ and /k/ may be geminated in intervocalic position before /l/ (e.g., poble [ˈpɔbːlə] (C / B) / [ˈpɔbːle] (NW) 'village, people', regla [ˈreɡːlə] (C / B) / [ˈreɡːlä] (NW) 'rule').[25][26]

Intervocalic /d/ is dropped (particularly in participles) in regular speech in Valencian, with compensatory lengthening of vowel /a/; e.g., vesprada [vesˈpɾɑː] (V) ('afternoon').[27]

In Mallorcan varieties, velar stops /k/ and /ɡ/ become [c] and [ɟ] word-finally and before front vowels,[24] in some of these dialects, this has extended to all environments except before liquids and back vowels; e.g., sang [ˈsaɲc] (M) ('blood').[10]

  • The dorso-palatal [ʝ] may occur in complementary distribution with [ɟ], only in Mallorcan varieties that have dorso-palatals rather than the velars found in most dialects: guerra [ˈɟɛ̞rə] (M) ('war') vs. sa guerra [sə ˈʝɛ̞rə] (M) ('the war').[28]

In the Valencian dialects final voiceless plosives (/p, t, k/) may be lenited before a vowel: tot açò [ˈtoð‿ɐˈsɔ̞] (V) ('all this').[29]

Affricates

[edit]

The phonemic status of affricates is dubious; after other consonants, affricates are in free variation with fricatives; e.g., clenxa [ˈklɛɲʃə] ~ [ˈklɛɲt͡ʃə] (C) / [ˈkleɲt͡ʃɐ] (V) ('hair parting')[30] and may be analyzed as either single phonemes or clusters of a stop and a fricative.

  • Alveolar affricates, [t͡s] and [d͡z], occur the least of all affricates.[31]
    • [d͡z] only occurs intervocalically: metzina [məˈd͡zinə] (C) / [meˈd͡zinɐ] (V) ('toxic substance').[13]
      • In Valencian, many instances of [d͡z] (especially the -itzar suffix) are deaffricated to [z]: utilitzar [ʊtɪlɪˈzɑɾ] (V) ('to use').
    • Instances of [t͡s] arise mostly from compounding; the few lexical instances arise from historical compounding.[30] For instance, potser ('maybe') comes from pot ('may') + ser ('be' inf). As such, [t͡s] does not occur word-initially; other than some rare words of foreign origin (e.g., tsar 'tsar',[m] tsuga 'tsuga'[n]), but it may occur word-finally and quite often in cases of heteromorphemic (i.e., across a morpheme boundary) plural endings: tots [ˈtot͡s] ('all', 'everyone').[31] Several linguists claim [t͡s] is not a phoneme on its own, but a simple combination of [t] and [s], in the same way that the [ts] in English 'cats' is not phonemic.[32]
  • The distribution of alveolo-palatal affricates, [t͡ʃ] and [d͡ʒ], depends on dialect:
    • In most of Valencian and southern Catalonia,[31][33] most occurrences of [d͡ʒ] correspond to the voiced fricative [ʒ] in Standard Eastern Catalan: gel [ˈd͡ʒɛ̞l] (V) ('ice').
    • In Standard Eastern Catalan, word-initial [t͡ʃ] is found only in a few words of foreign origin (e.g., txec 'Czech',[o] Txaikovski 'Tchaikovsky') while being found freely intervocalically (e.g., cotxe 'car') and word-finally: despatx [dəsˈpat͡ʃ] ('office').
    • Standard Eastern Catalan also only allows [d͡ʒ] in intervocalic position (e.g., metge 'medic'). Phonemic analyses show word-final occurrences of /d͡ʒ/ (e.g., raig esbiaixat [ˈrad͡ʒ‿əzβiə(j)ˈʃat] 'skew ray'), but final devoicing eliminates this from the surface: raig [ˈrat͡ʃ] ('ray').
    • In various other dialects (as well as in emphatic speech),[18] including Valencian and its standard variety, [tʃ] occurs word-initially and after another consonant to the exclusion of [ʃ] (although there are exceptions). These instances of word-initial [t͡ʃ] seem to correspond to [ʃ] in other dialects, including the standard (Eastern Catalan) on which the orthography is based: xinxa ('bedbug'), pronounced [ˈʃiɲʃə] in Standard Catalan, is [ˈt͡ʃiɲt͡ʃə] in these varieties ([ˈt͡ʃiɲt͡ʃɐ] in Valencian).[13]

There is dialectal variation in regards to affricate length, with long affricates occurring in both Eastern and Western dialects such as in Mallorca and few areas in Southern Valencia.[34] Also, intervocalic affricates are predominantly long, especially those that are voiced or occurring immediately after a stressed syllable (e.g., metge [ˈmed͡ːʒə] (E) / [ˈmed͡ːʒe] (W) 'medic').[35] In Modern Valencian [d͡ʒ] and [d͡ːʒ] have merged into /d͡ʒ/, except in some parts of Southern Valencian.

In Aragonese Catalan (especially Ribagorçan) and parts of Central Valencian (the so called apitxat accent), voiced affricates are missing (i.e., /d͡ʒ/ has merged with /t͡ʃ/: joc [ˈd͡ʒɔ̞k] in Standard Valencian → [ˈt͡ʃɔ̞k] (CV) 'game', and /d͡z/ has merged with /t͡s/: guitza [ˈɡid͡zɐ] in Standard Valencian → [ˈɡit͡sɐ] (CV) 'kick (of an animal)').[36]

  • Note that Central Valencian /t͡s/ is deaffricated to [s] in many cases (e.g., utilitzar [ʊtɪlɪˈzɑɾ] in Standard Valencian → [ʊtɪlɪˈsɑɾ] (CV) 'to use'), following the same rule as the rest of Valencian dialects.

Fricatives

[edit]

The voiced labiodental fricative (/v/) occurs in Balearic,[18] as well as in Alguerese, Standard Valencian (in Valencian /v/ is found especially in northern and southern varieties) and some areas in southern Catalonia.[37] Everywhere else (including parts of Valencian, like its central dialect),[36] it has merged with the bilabial /b/ so that [b] and [β] occur in complementary distribution.[38]

  • In Valencian, /v/ is realized as an approximant [ʋ] after continuants: avanç [ɐˈʋäns] (V) ('advance').[39]
  • In Mallorcan, [v] and [w] are in complementary distribution, with [v] occurring before vowels (e.g., blava [ˈblɑvə] (M) 'blue' f. vs. blau [ˈblɑw] (M) 'blue' m.).
  • In other varieties that have both sounds, they are in contrast before vowels, with neutralization in favor of [w] before consonants.[40]

In Mallorcan and Menorcan, /f/ undergoes total assimilation to a following consonant (just as stops do): buf gros [ˈbuɡ‿ˈɡɾɔ̞s] (M / Me) ('large puff').[40]

In Aragonese Catalan (especially Ribagorçan) and Central Valencian (known as apitxat), voiced fricatives are missing (i.e., /z/ has merged with /s/: casa [ˈkäzɐ] in Standard Valencian → [ˈkäsɐ] (CV) 'house', and /v/ has merged with /b/: viu [ˈviw] in Standard Valencian → [ˈbiw] (CV) 'he/she lives').[36]

The dental fricative /θ/ only appears in Ribagorçan and Lower Aragon, in contrast with /s/. Spanish loanwords with this sound may be replaced by /s/ in both Catalan and Valencian.[3]

The fricative /x/ is found in Spanish interferences, especially in Aragon and Southern Valencia. Phonetically, it varies between velar [x] and uvular [χ], as in Spanish.[4]

The glottal fricative /h/ is found in loanwords and interjections,[5] although /h/ is usually replaced by /x/ in loanwords.[41]

Sonorants

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Laterals

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Laterals assimilate the place of articulation of the following consonant (see "Assimilations" below). The lateral /l/ may be geminated in careful speech (e.g., iŀlusió [ilːuziˈo] (C / NW) 'illusion'). A geminated /ʎː/ may also occur (e.g., ratlla [ˈraʎːə] (C) / [ˈraʎːä] (NW) 'line').[18]

  • While "dark (velarized) l", [ɫ], may be a positional allophone of /l/ in most dialects (such as in the syllable coda; e.g., mil [ˈmiɫ] (E / W) 'thousand'),[42] /l/ is dark irrespective of position in Eastern dialects like Mallorcan[43] and Standard Eastern Catalan (e.g., tela [ˈtəɫə] (M) / [ˈtɛɫə] (C) 'cloth', 'fabric'). For simplicity, dark l is not transcribed in this article.
  • In Aragonese Catalan (including Ribagorçan), /l/ is palatalized to [ʎ] in consonant clusters; e.g., clau [ˈkʎaw] (Ar) ('key').[44]
  • In Alguerese and Ribagorçan word-final /ʎ/ is depalatized to [l]: gall [ˈɡäl] (A / R) ('rooster').[45][46]

Nasals

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Nasals assimilate the place of articulation of the following consonant (see "Assimilations" below). In careful speech, /n/ and /m/ may be geminated (e.g., innecessari [inːəsəˈsɑɾi] (C) / [inːeseˈsɑɾi] (NW) 'unnecessary', emmagatzemar [əmːəɣəd͡zəˈmɑ(ɾ)] (C) / [emːäɣäd͡zeˈmɑ(ɾ)] (NW) 'to store').[18]

  • In Alguerese and Ribagorçan word-final /ɲ/ is depalatized to [n]: any [ˈän] (A / R) ('year').[45][46]

Rhotics

[edit]

The distribution of the two rhotics /r/ and /ɾ/ closely parallels that of Spanish. Wheeler analyzes intervocalic [r] as the result of gemination of a single rhotic phoneme:[47] serra /ˈsɛɾɾə/ or /ˈsɛɾɾa/ → [ˈsɛrə] (E) / [ˈsɛrä] (NW) 'saw', 'mountains' (this is similar to the common analysis of Spanish and Portuguese rhotics).[48]

  • Between vowels, the two contrast (e.g., mirra [ˈmirə] (E) / [ˈmirä] (NW) 'myrrh' vs. mira [ˈmiɾə] (E) / [ˈmiɾä] (NW) 'he/she looks'), but they are otherwise in complementary distribution. [ɾ] appears in the onset, except in word-initial position (ruc 'donkey'), after /l/, /n/, and /s/ (folre 'lining', honra 'honour', Israel 'Israel'), and in compounds (infraroig 'infrared'), where [r] is used.
    • Mallorcan contrasts /r/ and /ɾ/ in word final position, e.g., xerr [ˈt͡ʃɛ̞r] (M) ('I speak') vs. mor [ˈmɔ̞ɾ] (M) ('he/she dies').[49] Note the minimal pair corr (M) ('I run') vs. cor (M) ('heart') shows no contrast as Mallorcan tend to omit final ⟨r⟩ (/ɾ/) in most cases.
    • In Mallorcan final /ɾ/ + [n] can be assimilated to [nː] (e.g., carn [ˈcanː] (M) 'meat').[50]
  • Different dialects vary in regards to rhotics in the coda, with Valencian, south-west Catalonia and Balearic (except Menorcan) generally featuring [ɾ̥] and Central Catalan dialects like those of Barcelona or Girona featuring a weakly trilled [r̥̆] unless it precedes a vowel-initial word in the same prosodic unit, in which case [ɾ] appears (e.g., mar [ˈmɑr̥̆] 'sea', but mar Egeu [ˈmɑɾ‿əˈʒɛw] 'Aegean Sea').[51][52]
    • Note that non-silent final ⟨r⟩ is transcribed as /ɾ/ in both standard transcriptions of Catalan and Valencian, regardless of the next sounds or in absolute final position.
  • An alveolar approximant [ɹ] is a possible variant of the tap /ɾ/ in all post-vocalic contexts in the varieties that avoid the short trill (Valencian, south-west Catalonia and most Balearic speakers): encara [əŋˈkɑɹə] (B) / [ɐŋˈkɑɹɐ] (V) ('yet, still'). In the south-western varieties (i.e., Valencian), [ɹ] can often be elided (e.g., [ɐŋˈkɑɹɐ] → [ɐŋˈkɑ] (V)).[51][53]
  • In Northern Catalonia and in some accents of Mallorcan (e.g., in the town of Sóller), a uvular trill [ʀ] or approximant [ʁ] can be heard instead of the alveolar trill /r/; e.g., córrer [ˈkuʀə] ~ [ˈkuʁə] (N) / [ˈkoʀə] ~ [ˈkoʁə] (M, from Sóller) ('to run').[54] An uvular trill or approximant may also replace /ɾ/ in Northern Catalan.[6]

Vowels

[edit]
Vowels of Catalan[55][56]
Front Central Back
Close i (y) u
Close-mid e ə* o
Mid (ø)2
Open-mid1 ɛ ɔ
Open a

Vowels in parentheses () are rare and vowels with an asterisk * are phonemic dialectally.

Chart notes:

Phonetic notes:

  • The vowel /a/ ([ä] in General Catalan) is further back and open than the Castilian counterpart in North-Western and Central Catalan (i.e., it approaches [ɑ] in isolation or in a neutral environment),[58] it is slightly fronted and closed in Valencian and Ribagorçan ([ä ~ ɐ], also represented as [ä̝], or [ɐ̞], due to its lower quality in comparison with the Barcelonan [ɐ]), and further fronted and closed ([a ~ æ]) in Mallorcan.[59]
    • Stressed /a/ can be further retracted to [ɑ] in contact with velar consonants (including the velarized [ɫ]), and fronted to [a] in contact with palatals.[60]
      • The palatal pronunciation of /a/ may merge with /ɛ/ by some speakers.[61]
  • The central vowel /ə/ in stressed position is found in Mallorcan and part of Menorcan, in the Balearic Islands.[62][24]
    • The realization of the reduced vowel /ə/ varies from mid [ə] to near-open [ɐ], with the latter variant being the most usual in the Barcelona metropolitan area, where the distinction between /ə/ and /a/ is less pronounced than in other varieties that maintain the distinction.[9][63]
  • The open-mid /ɛ/ and /ɔ/ are lower [æ] (or [ɛ̞]) and [ɒ̝] (or [ɔ̞]) in Mallorcan, Menorcan and Valencian.[9][64][65]
    • /ɛ/ is slightly more open and centralized before liquids /l, ɾ, r/.[66]
    • /ɔ/ is most often a back vowel. In some dialects (like Mallorcan and Southern Valencian) it can be unrounded.[67]
  • /e/ and /o/ can be realized as mid vowels [e̞, o̞] in some cases. This occurs more often with /o/.[68]
  • The close vowels /i, u/ are more open than in Castilian. Unstressed /i, u/ are centralized.[70]
    • In many dialects (e.g., Valencian and most Balearic accents) /i, u/ can be further open and centralized, especially in unstressed position, approaching [ɪ, ʊ].[70]
  • Northern Catalan sometimes adds two loan rounded vowels, [y] and [ø̞] (or slightly lower [œ̝]) from French and Occitan (e.g., but [ˈbyt] 'aim', fulles [ˈfø̞jəs] 'leaves').[71]
    • Similarly French /y/ and /ø/ (and/or /œ/) are mostly adapted with [u ~ i] (e.g., déjà vu) and [e] (e.g., amateur), respectively.
  • Phonetic nasalization occurs for vowels occurring between nasal consonants or when preceding a syllable-final nasal: muntó [mũn̪ˈto] ('a lot').[72] For simplicity, this is not transcribed in the article.
    • Possible nasalized vowel allophones are: [ã, ɑ̃, ə̃ / ɐ̃, ẽ, ɛ̃, ĩ, õ, ɔ̃, ũ] (in most of Balearic and Valencian, also [æ̃, ɪ̃, ɒ̃, ʊ̃]).
  • Vowels can be lengthened in some contexts, e.g., coordinació [kuːɾðinəsiˈo] (E) / [koːɾðinasiˈo] (W) ('coordination').[73]
    • Possible long vowels are: [əː], [iː], [uː] in most Eastern Catalan dialects (in most of Mallorcan: [əː], [ɪː], [oː], [ʊː]); and [äː], [eː], [iː], [oː], [uː] in North-Western Catalan (Valencian: [äː], [eː], [ɪː], [oː], [ʊː], plus [ɑː] from the -ada suffix).

Stressed vowels

[edit]
Vowels of Standard Eastern Catalan[2]
Vowels of Valencian[74]

Most varieties of Catalan contrast seven stressed vowel phonemes.[75] However, some Balearic dialects have an additional stressed vowel phoneme (/ə/); e.g., sec /ˈsək/ ('dry', 'I sit').[62][24] The stressed schwa of these dialects usually corresponds to /ɛ/ in Central Catalan and /e/ in Western Catalan varieties (that is, Central and Western Catalan dialects differ in their incidence of /e/ and /ɛ/, with /e/ appearing more frequently in Western Catalan; e.g., Central Catalan sec /ˈsɛk/ vs. Western Catalan sec /ˈsek/ ('dry', 'I sit').[75] For a list showing the frequency of these vowels, see "retention of /ɛ/ and /ɔ/ in Catalan and Valencian" and "development of /ə/ in Balearic Catalan").

Contrasting series of the main Catalan dialects:

Central[62]
[Eastern]
LS IPA Gloss
sac a[i] 'bag'
sec ɛ 'dry', 'I sit'
e 'fold'
sic i 'sic'
soc ɔ 'clog'
o 'I am'
suc u 'juice'
Other contrast
LS IPA Gloss
*set ɛ 'seven'
'thirst'
Balearic[62]
[Eastern]
LS IPA Gloss
sac a[i] 'bag'
sec ə 'dry', 'I sit'
e 'fold'
sic i 'sic'
soc ɔ[ii] 'clog'
o 'I am'
suc u 'juice'
Other contrast
LS IPA Gloss
*set ɛ[ii] 'seven'
ə[iii] 'thirst'
Western &
Alguerese[62] [Eastern]
LS IPA Gloss
sac a[i] 'bag'
sec e 'dry', 'I sit'
'fold'
sic i 'sic'
soc ɔ[ii] 'clog'
o 'I am'
suc u 'juice'
Other contrast
LS IPA Gloss
set ɛ[ii] 'seven'
e 'thirst'
Northern & Mod.
Alguerese[62] [Eastern]
LS IPA Gloss
sac a[i] 'bag'
sec e 'dry', 'I sit'
'fold'
sic i 'sic'
soc o[iv] 'clog'
'I am'
suc u[v] 'juice'
Other contrast
LS IPA Gloss
*set e 'seven'
'thirst'
Notes:
  1. 1 2 3 4 /a/ has the allophones [a] (or [æ]) and [ɑ].
  2. 1 2 3 4 In Valencian, Mallorcan and parts of Menorcan /ɛ/ is [æ] and /ɔ/ is near [ɒ].
  3. ↑ Eastern Menorcan and partially Ibizan do not have stressed /ə/.
  4. ↑ In Northern Catalan, many instances of stressed /o/ merges with /u/.
  5. ↑ In Northern Catalan, /u/ can be realized as [y] and [ø] in some cases.

Reduced vowels

[edit]

Reduced vowels in the main Catalan dialects:

General
Eastern Catalan[76]
Term IPA Gloss
parla ə[i][ii] 'speech'
rere 'back'
lliri i 'lily'
ferro u 'iron'
mutu 'mutual'
Mallorcan Balearic[76]
[Eastern Catalan]
Term IPA Gloss
parla ə 'speech'
rere 'back'
lliri i[iii] 'lily'
ferro o[iv][v] 'iron'
mutu u[iii] 'mutual'
General
Western Catalan[76]
Term IPA Gloss
parla a[vi] 'speech'
rere e 'back'
lliri i[iii] 'lily'
ferro o 'iron'
mutu u[iii] 'mutual'
Notes:
  1. ↑ In Barcelona, it can become near-open [ɐ].
  2. ↑ In Alguerese, it becomes open [a] (or it approaches near-open, [ɐ]).
  3. 1 2 3 4 In Valencian and Balearic, unstressed /i/ and /u/ can be pronounced as [ɪ] and [ʊ], respectively.
  4. ↑ In Mallorcan, pretonic /o/ merges with /u/ in words that contain a close tonic vowel.
  5. ↑ In the local Sóller dialect, unstressed /o/ is normally realized as [u] (or [ʊ]), like in the rest of Eastern dialects.
  6. ↑ In Valencian, unstressed /a/ approaches [ɐ].

In Eastern Catalan, vowels in unstressed position reduce to three: /a/, /e/, /ɛ/ → [ə] (also phonetically [ɐ] in Barcelona); /o/, /ɔ/ → [u], and /i/ and /u/ remain unchanged. So the unstressed vowel inventory in Eastern Catalan is essentially [ə, i, u]. However, there are some dialectal differences: Alguerese merges /a/, /e/ and /ɛ/ with /a/; and in most areas of Mallorca, [o] can appear in unstressed position (that is, /o/ and /ɔ/ are usually reduced to [o]).[77] (The unstressed phones [ɪ] and [ʊ] can also be found in the Balearic dialects instead of [i] and [u]).

  • Unstressed [ə]:
    • It may be elided in contact with rhotics (e.g., però [pəˈɾɔ] → [ˈpɾɔ] 'but', taronja [təˈɾɔɲʒə] → [ˈtɾɔɲʒə] 'orange', veritat [bəɾiˈtat] → [bɾiˈtat] 'true'), this is partially reflected in the orthography: cargol (Standard Catalan) vs. caragol (Standard Valencian) ('snail'). It is also observed in three combinations with the preposition per: per això [pəɾ əˈʃɔ] → [pəɾˈʃɔ] ('because of this'), per aquí [pəɾ əˈki] → [pəɾˈki] ('around here') and per allà [pəɾ əˈʎa] → [pəɾˈʎa] ('around there'). This also occurs in per a, which in speech can be reduced to per ([pəɾ ə] → [pəɾ]), which can cause ambiguity.[q]
    • [ə] can also be omitted in rapid speech in the verb anar [əˈnɑ] → [ˈnɑ] ('to go'); e.g., vols anar? [ˈbɔlz‿əˈnɑ] → [ˌbɔlzˈnɑ] ('do you want to go?'),[r] in the word adeu [əˈðew] → [ˈdew] ('goodbye') and in contact with other vowels (e.g., quina hora és? [ˈkinə ˈɔɾə ˈes] → [ˌkin‿ˈɔɾə ˈes] 'what time is it?', el que hem dit [əl kə ˈɛm ˈdit] → [əl ˈkɛm ˈdit] 'what we have said').
  • Unstressed /i/ (stays mostly unchanged):
    • In some Eastern Catalan accents unstressed /i/ is pronounced as a semivowel ([j]) before after another vowel with the digraph ⟨ix⟩: caixa [ˈkajʃə], this is akin to many Western Catalan dialects. In Standard Eastern Catalan it is silent ([ˈkaʃə]).
  • Unstressed /u/ (stays mostly unchanged):
    • It may be elided in the expression si us plau → [sisˈplɑw] ('please').[r]
  • Unstressed /a/, /e/ and /o/ appear only in some words (often due to vowel harmony, see below), especially in learned terms from other languages (e.g., allegro [älˈleɣɾo] 'allegro', oceans [useˈäns] 'oceans', ego [ˈeɣo] 'ego') and in the unstressed diphthong /ow/ [ow], which varies with [əw] in informal speech (e.g., mouré [mowˈɾe] or [məwˈɾe] 'I will move').[s] In other cases, they merge with [ə] and [u] (Wheeler (2005:61–72)).
Other cases:
  • Stressed /e/ may rarely undergo univerbation if accompanied by another word and be pronounced as a single oxytone word, causing the reduction of /e/ to [ə] in Eastern dialects (e.g., és clar [ˈes ˈklɑ] → [əsˈklɑ] 'of course').[t]
  • Similar cases occur with stressed /o/ being reduced to [u] (e.g., més o menys [ˈmez‿o ˈmɛɲʃ] → [ˈmez‿u ˈmɛɲʃ] 'more or less').
  • In Balearic and some Central Catalan accents, unstressed initial [o] can diphthongize to [əw], similar to RP go /ɡəʊ/; e.g., olor [əwˈlo]) 'smell' (n.). This is regarded as non-standard.

In Western Catalan (which includes Valencian and North-Western Catalan), vowels in unstressed position reduce to five: /e/, /ɛ/ → [e]; /o/, /ɔ/ → [o]; /a/ (except in some cases), /i/, /u/ remain unchanged,[78] those vowels are [a, e, i, o, u] (the phones [ɐ], [ɪ], [ʊ] can be found instead of [a], [i], [u] in some varieties, like Valencian). In many Western dialects reduced vowels tend to merge into different realizations in some cases, sometimes unpredictably (the following examples are in Valencian):

  • Unstressed /a/:
    • It is usually close to [ɐ] (without assimilation).
      • In some Western accents [ə] may occur.[79]
    • Post-tonic final unstressed /a/ becomes [ɛ] and/or [ɔ] (phonetically lower and/or centralized) when preceded by a syllable with stressed /ɛ/ and/or /ɔ/; e.g., tela /ˈtɛla/ → [ˈtɛ̞lɛ̞̈] 'fabric', 'cloth'; hora /ˈɔɾa/ → [ˈɔ̞ɾɔ̞̈] 'hour'. For further details, see "vowel harmony" below.
      • 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 velarisation): xica [ˈt͡ʃikɛ̞̈] or [ˈt͡ʃikɔ̞̈] ('girl'). This is considered non-standard.
    • It is accepted in Valencian the pronunciation of the suffix -ista as [-iste] in the masculine form, thus artista 'artist' (m.) is pronounced [ɑɾˈtiste].
  • Unstressed /e/:
    • It may merge with /a/ before a nasal or sibilant consonant (e.g., entens [ɐn̪ˈtens] 'you understand', escoltar [ɐskol̪ˈtɑɾ] 'to listen'), in some environments before any consonant (e.g., terròs [tɐˈrɔ̞s] 'earthy'), and, sometimes, in monosyllabic clitics.[80]
    • It may merge into /i/ when in contact with palatal consonants (e.g., senyor [sɪˈɲo(ɾ)] 'lord').[81] Rarely initial es- can become [ɪs-]; e.g., estiu [ɪsˈtiw] ('summer'), and it may alternate with the more frequently sequence [ɐs-]: [ɐsˈtiw]. In Standard Valencian, /e/ → /i/ ([ɪ]) is only accepted in terms with the suffix -ixement: naixement [nɐjʃɪˈmen̪t] ('birth').
  • Unstressed /i/ (stays mostly unchanged).
  • Unstressed /o/:
    • It may merge with /u/ before a bilabial consonant (e.g., cobert [kʊˈbɛ̞ɾt] 'covered', 'cutlery'), before a stressed syllable with a high vowel (e.g., sospira [sʊsˈpiɾɐ] 'he/she sighs'). Furthermore, in some rare cases, it can also be reduced in contact with palatals (e.g., Josep [d͡ʒʊˈzɛ̞p] 'Joseph'), and, sometimes in some local dialects, in monosyllabic clitics.[82]
    • Note in some colloquial speeches initial unstressed /o/ can diphthongise to /aw/ [ɑw] (phonetically [ɐw]); e.g., olor [ɐwˈloɾ]) 'smell' (n.). This is regarded as non-standard.
  • Unstressed /u/ (stays mostly unchanged).
  • The phones /ɛ/ ([ɛ̞]) and /ɔ/ ([ɔ̞]):
    • Besides vowel harmony or vowel assimilation (see below), unstressed /ɛ/ and /ɔ/ (i.e., phonetically lower and/or centralized) may be found sporadically in compounds like dèsset [ˈdɛ̞sɛ̞t] (V) 'seventeen' and dènou (or dèneu) [ˈdɛ̞nɔ̞w] (or [ˈdɛ̞nɛ̞w]) (V) 'nineteen'.

Vowel harmony

[edit]

The harmony of Valencian is a clear example of harmony conditioned by a strong element: in some Valencian dialects, word-final post-tonic /a/ becomes [ɛ] and [ɔ]—usually lower and/or centralized: [ɛ̞̈] (also transcribed with [æ]) and [ɔ̞̈] ([ɒ])—when the preceding syllable contains tonic open-mid (or more precisely "near-open") vowels /ɛ/ and /ɔ/; that is, /ɛ/ and /ɔ/ propagate the front and back features, respectively, to the final vowel /a/, as the examples. The articulatory features extend from a phonologically privileged position—the stressed syllable—to a weak position—an unstressed syllable—a perceptual asymmetry emphasized by the fact that the harmony trigger belongs to the radical while the assimilated segment is normally an inflectional affix.

a)
ExampleIPATranslation
terra[ˈtɛrɛ]'Earth', 'land'
tela[ˈtɛlɛ]'fabric'
pela[ˈpɛlɛ]'he/she peels'
perla[ˈpɛɾlɛ]'pearl'
b)
ExampleIPATranslation
cosa[ˈkɔzɔ]'thing'
mora[ˈmɔɾɔ]'Moor' (f.)
tova[ˈtɔvɔ]'soft' (f.)
vora[ˈvɔɾɔ]'edge', 'shore'

In the most widespread system of harmony, both open-mid vowels cause assimilation; in other systems, distributed over the harmonic territory quite randomly, only one of the vowels triggers the change. For example, in Cullera only the front vowel causes assimilation, while in Borriana the back vowel is the only one that allows harmony. However, in both the broadest and the narrowest versions, and even in the sporadic cases of two-way harmony that are presented here, the pattern of strong → weak extension remains constant.

In the harmonic phenomenon just described, articulatory features spread from left to right. However, there is no shortage of assimilations in which the features spread to the left of the prominent position. This occurs in Mallorcan when pretonic /o/ is closed to [u] in words that contain a close tonic vowel; e.g., c[u]nill, c[u]sí, c[u]mú (cf. Veny Clar (1982)). The change involves the extension of the height feature again in the direction dictated by the strong → weak saliency relationship. Similar closures are documented in various Western languages; among these, Tortosan stands out, where the phenomenon, quite variable and often limited to the elderly, presents the peculiarity that height does not only propagate from tonic vowels, but can also do so from unstressed ones (cfr. Morales). In general terms, and in accordance with the data collected by Morales (in prep.), a pretonic mid vowel may become close under the influence of a close vowel with the same point of articulation—palatal or labial—in a following syllable; in this way, vowel sequences of the type e...i and o...u become i...i a) and u...u b), respectively. The assimilation of mid vowels to a high vowel of a different point of articulation is possible, but in the sequence e...u it is reduced to some words c), and in the sequence o...i it is usually limited to fossilized cases, so that the disharmonious alternatives in d) reflect only copied pronunciations of the orthography.[83]

a)
ExampleIPATranslation
melic[miˈlik]'belly button'
delicat[diliˈkat]'delicate'
b)
ExampleIPATranslation
absolut[apsuˈlut]'absolute'
bromur[bɾuˈmuɾ]'bromide'
c)
ExampleIPATranslation
betum[biˈtum]'betumen'
menut[miˈnut]'small'
d)
ExampleIPATranslation
avorrir[aβuˈriɾ]'to bore'
botiga[buˈtiɣa]'shop'

Of the phenomena presented above, the most common and systematic is the change e...i → i...i. As in the examples, /e/ becomes [i] when it precedes a stressed /i/ or unstressed /i/. Closure can even affect a series of two pretonic vowels. Assimilation never affects stressed vowels and there is also no harmony when /e/ and /i/ do not occupy adjacent syllables.

With certain restrictions, the phenomenon can modify the final vowel of the first element of a compound and proclitic elements such as numerals or unstressed pronouns. In the last case, when the vowel of the pronoun is not strictly adjacent to the syllable that triggers the harmony, there is no assimilation; according to Morales (in prep.), the lack of spread is related to the fact that groups of pronouns generate a secondary accent, which would protect the original quality of the vowel.

Morales also reports some examples of rightward (regressive) assimilation between weak elements; that is, cases where an unstressed sequence i...e becomes i...i. Harmony to the right is documented only between vowels that are in pretonic position; therefore, the inflectional elements and the post-tonic vowels belonging to the radical are excluded from the change.

General Valencian is another variety in which the extension of features is limited to the main metric foot: in plain words, the final post-tonic, which is part of the main foot, is affected by harmony a); on the other hand, in proparoxytone words (esdrúixoles) the final does not belong to the main foot and is, therefore, beyond the scope of assimilation b). In Valencian from the south of Alicante, the harmony affects an intermediate layer between the main metrical foot and the clitic group: the prosodic word (PPr) (cfr. Montoya (1989), Segura (1996), Beltran (2008)).

Harmony in General Valencian:

a)
ExampleIPATranslation
afecta[ɐˈfɛktɛ]'affects'
granota[ɡɾɐˈnɔtɔ]'frog'
b)
ExampleIPATranslation
mèdica[ˈmɛðɪkɐ]'medic' (f.)
ròtula[ˈrɔtʊlɐ]'kneecap'

Harmony from Southern Valencian (Alicante):

a)
ExampleIPATranslation
afecta[ɛˈfɛktɛ]'affects'
granota[ɡɾɔˈnɔtɔ]'frog'

While harmonic patterns affecting just the final post-tonic /a/ within the morphological word domain are often attested in Southern Valencian varieties, recent phonetic evidence (Herrero (2022)) shows that the harmonic domain is not uniformly restricted to morphological boundaries. This new empirical evidence reveals that harmony may extend beyond the lexical word in specific prosodic configurations, challenging traditional descriptions and motivating a re-examination of the factors that regulate its scope. In particular, vowel harmony is also found when oxytone verbs are followed by the enclitic /la/, as in perd-la /ˈpɛɾd.la/ → [ˈpɛɾlɛ] 'lose it' (f.), cou-la /ˈkɔw.la/ → [ˈkɔwlɔ] 'cook it' (f.), where harmony reaches the clitic vowel. However, two asymmetries arise when sequences of a verb plus a clitic are involved. First, while assimilation is nearly categorical in canonical word-internal contexts (e.g., tela, cosa), only 75–85% of oxytone + clitic tokens display harmony. Second, in paroxytone verbs followed by the same enclitic /la/, assimilation consistently targets the post-tonic vowel of the verb but (usually) never extends to the clitic: serra-la /ˈsɛra.la/ → [ˈsɛrɛlɐ] 'saw it' (f.), toca-la /ˈtɔka.la/ → [ˈtɔkɔlɐ] 'touch it' (f.).

In the harmony of Valencian, Mallorcan and, mostly, Tortosan, the features extend from a strong element to a weak element. In the other possible model, on the other hand, the features are spread in the reverse direction, that is, from positions that are not prominent to positions that are stronger from the perceptual point of view. The trigger for change is in this case a weak element (cf. Walker (2005)). Central Catalan provides an example of harmony—with considerable geographical and idiolectal variation—conditioned by segments located in weak positions. In this dialect, stressed mid vowels in words from other languages tend to be adapted as open mids, as in the paroxytones in example a), with regular reduction in the unstressed syllable, that is, with the vowels [ə], [i] and [u] in this position. Borrowings also have the peculiarity that they tend to block the neutralization of the unstressed middle vowels e and o, which are realized as [e] and [o], respectively. In principle, these two trends should not be mutually exclusive; however, if the post-tonic sound is close-mid, the tonic mids are usually also realized as close, as shown by the plain words in example b), in which the levelling between the two vowels is almost universal. Therefore, the quality of the most prominent vowel is determined by the features of the following vowel, since the appearance of close-mid vowels in tonic position depends on the presence of vowels of the same pitch in the post-tonic syllable.

a)
ExampleIPATranslation
Creta[ˈkɾɛtə]'Crete'
euro[ˈɛwɾu]'Euro'
Betty[ˈbɛti]'Betty'
Rodes[ˈrɔðəs]'Rhodes'
poli[ˈpɔli]'cop'
gnosi[ˈnɔzi]'gnosis'
b)
ExampleIPATranslation
Lesbos[ˈlezβos]'Lesbos'
euro[ˈewɾo]'Euro'
Bette[ˈbete]'Bette'
Rodos[ˈroðos]'Rodos'
polo[ˈpolo]'polo'
Cnossos[ˈnosos]'Knossos'

In proparoxytones there is greater variability. In the variety analyzed by Cabré Castellví (2009) esdrúixol words (i.e., words with stressed on the antepenultimate syllable) are generally subject to the same restrictions and the presence of a close mid in post-tonic position implies the presence of close mids in tonic position a); the syllabic adjacency between the two vowels is key to harmony, since words like Sòcrates [ˈsɔkɾətes] or Hèrcules [ˈɛrkules] are usually presented without assimilation despite the presence of an unreduced post-tonic e. In the variety described by Bonet Alsina, Lloret-Romanyach & Mascaró Altimiras (2007), on the other hand, post-tonic vowels do not condition the realization of the tonic vowel in esdrúixols b). On the other hand, and in accordance with the interpretation of the aforementioned authors, the adaptation of tonic vowels as open mids is compatible in all varieties with the appearance of unreduced mid vowels in pre-tonic syllables.

a)
ExampleIPATranslation
Jespersen[ˈʒespeɾsen]'Jespersen'
Penèlope[peˈnelope]'Penelope'
Hölderlin[ˈxoldeɾlin]'Hölderlin'
b)
ExampleIPATranslation
Jespersen[ˈʒɛspeɾsen]'Jespersen'
Penèlope[peˈnɛlope]'Penelope'
Sòfocles[ˈsɔfokles]'Sophocles'

Other harmony examples in Central Catalan:

ExampleIPA
Everest[eβeˈɾɛst]
Interpol[inteɾˈpɔl]
ExampleIPA
OPEC[oˈpɛk]
Repsol[repˈsɔl]
ExampleIPA
Flaubert[floˈβɛɾt]
Montessori[monteˈsɔɾi]

Vowels in contact

[edit]

One of the most unique features of Catalan and Valencian is the treatment of vowels that come into contact within the speech chain. When a word-final vowel meets an initial vowel there are two possible reactions: lengthening (if both vowels are the same)[84] or weakening/elision of one of the vowels (if they are different).[85] In general terms, two consecutive vowels diphthongize more frequently in Valencian, North-Western Catalan and Alguerese.[86] Some examples (in Valencian):

Lengthening
  • /a/ followed by /a/; e.g., viu a Alacant [ˈviw.äːlɐˈkän̪t] ('he/she lives in Alicante').
  • /e/ followed by /e/; e.g., he eixit ara [ˌeːiˈʃit ˈäɾɐ] ('I have come out now').
  • /i/ followed by /i/; e.g., platges i illots [ˈplad͡ʒez‿ɪːˈʎɔ̞t͡s] ('beaches and islets').
  • /o/ followed by /o/; e.g., escrit o oral? [ɐsˈkɾit oːˈɾɑl] ('written or oral?').
  • /u/ followed by /u/; e.g., una tribu urbana [ˈunɐ ˈtɾibʊːɾˈbänɐ] ('An urban tribe').
Elision
  • Unstressed /a/ (∅) followed by stressed /ɔ̞/ → [ɔ̞]; e.g., quina hora és? [ˌkin‿ˈɔ̞ɾɔ̞ ˈes] or [ˌkin‿ˈɔɾɐ ˈes] ('what time is it?').
  • Stressed /a/ followed by unstressed /e/ (∅) → [ä]; e.g., mà esquerra [ˈmä ˈskɛ̞rɛ̞] or [ˈmä ˈskɛ̞rɐ] ('left hand').
  • Unstressed /a/ followed by unstressed /e/ (∅) → [ɐ]; e.g., agarra el gos [ɐˈɣɑrɐl ˈɣos] ('take the dog').
  • Stressed /e/ (∅) followed by stressed /a/ → [ä]; e.g., què has fet? [ˈkäs ˈfet] ('what have you done?'). This case is rare.
  • Unstressed /e/ (∅) followed by /ɔ̞/ → [ɔ̞]; e.g., este home [ˌest‿ˈɔ̞me] ('this man').
  • Stressed /o/ followed by unstressed /e/ (∅) → [o]; e.g., no els volen [ˈnolz ˈvɔ̞len] ('they don't want them').

Diphthongs and triphthongs

[edit]

There are also a number of phonetic diphthongs, all of which begin ("rising diphthongs") or end ("falling diphthongs") in /i/ [j] or /u/ [w].[87] There is also few triphthongs beginning and ending with a semivowel.

Falling diphthongs
IPA word gloss IPA word gloss
[aj]aigua'water'[aw] ([ɑw])taula'table'
[əj] (E) / [aj] (W) ([ɐj])mainada'children'[əw] (E) / [aw] (W) ([ɐw])caurem'we will fall'
[ɛj]oleic'oleic'[ɛw]peu'foot'
[ej]rei'king'[ew]seu'his/her'
[əj] (E) / [ej] (W)Eivissa'Ibiza'[əw] (E) / [ew] (W)eufemisme'euphemism'
[ij][i] (B) ([iː])novii'bridegroom'[iw]niu'nest'
[ɔj]heroi'hero'[ɔw][ii]nou'new'
 [ow][iii]sou'you are'
[uj] (E) / [oj] (W)Moisès / Moisés'Moses'mouré'I will move'
[uj][iv]cuit'cooked'[uw] ([uː])duu'he/she carries'
 
Rising diphthongs
IPA word gloss IPA word gloss
[ja]iaio'grandpa'[wa]guant'glove'
[jə] (E) / [ja] (W) ([jɐ])feia'he/she was doing'[wə] (E) / [wa] (W) ([wɐ])aquareŀla'watercolour'
[jɛ]Aielo'Aielo'[wɛ]seqüència'sequence'
[je]seient'seat'[we]ungüent'ointment'
[jə] (E) / [je] (W)laietans'Laietani'[wə] (E) / [we] (W)qüestió'question'
 [wi]pingüí'penguin'
[jɔ]iode'iodine'[wɔ]quòrum'quorum'
[jo]raió'rayon'[wo]seuós'greasy'
[ju] (E) / [jo] (W)iogurt'yoghurt'[wu] (E) / [wo] (W)quotidià'daily', 'quotidian'
[ju]iugoslau'Yugoslav' 
 
Triphthongs
IPA word gloss IPA word gloss
[jaj]iai'old person'[waj]Alguaire'Alguaire'
 [wəj] (E) / [waj] (W) ([wɐj])guaitar'to observe', 'to look'
[jɛw] (E) / [jew] (W)veieu'you see'[wɛw][v] (E) / [wew] (W)adeqüeu'you adequate'
[jəw] (E) / [jew] (W)dèieu'you were saying' 
Notes:
  1. ↑ The diphthong [ij] is mainly found in Balearic.
  2. ↑ [ɔw] ([ɒw]) may merge with [aw] ([ɑw]) in Southern Valencian.
  3. ↑ Unstressed [ow] may merge with [əw] in Eastern dialects.
  4. ↑ Merges with [wi] in some dialects.
  5. ↑ [waw] in the Balearic dialects.

In Standard Eastern Catalan, rising diphthongs (that is, those starting with [j] or [w]) are only possible in the following contexts:[88]

  • [j] in word-initial position; e.g., iogurt [juˈɣuɾt] ('yoghurt').
  • The semivowel ([j] or [w]) occurs between vowels as in feia [ˈfɛjə] ('he/she was doing') or diuen [ˈdiwən] ('they say').
  • In the sequences [ɡw] or [kw] plus vowel; e.g., guant ('glove'), quòrum ('quorum'), qüestió ('question'), pingüí ('penguin'); these exceptional cases even lead some scholars[89][47] to hypothesize the existence of rare labiovelar phonemes /ɡʷ/ and /kʷ/.[90]

In colloquial or informal Eastern Catalan the sequence /ea/ may be pronounced with an epethentic [j], breaking the hiatus (and becoming a diphthong); e.g., idea [iˈðeə] → [iˈðejə].[u]

Processes

[edit]

There are certain instances of compensatory diphthongization in Mallorcan so that troncs /ˈtɾoncs/ ('logs') (in addition to deleting the palatal stop) develops a compensating palatal glide and surfaces as [ˈtɾojns] (and contrasts with the unpluralized [ˈtɾoɲc]). Diphthongization compensates for the loss of the palatal stop (segment loss compensation). There are other cases where diphthongization compensates for the loss of point of articulation features (property loss compensation) as in [ˈaɲ] ('year') vs. [ˈajns] ('years').[91]

The dialectal distribution of compensatory diphthongization is almost entirely dependent on the dorsal stop (/k~c/) and the extent of consonant assimilation (whether or not it is extended to palatals).[92]

Voiced affricates are devoiced after stressed vowels in dialects like Eastern Catalan where there may be a correlation between devoicing and lengthening (gemination) of voiced affricates: metge /ˈmed͡ʒːə/ → [ˈmet͡ːʃə] ('medic').[15] In Barcelona, voiced stops may be fortified (geminated and devoiced); e.g., poble [ˈpɔpːlə] 'village, people').[18]

In (Mallorcan) Catalan is known the historical process of erasing the vowel (the nucleus) of unstressed final syllables. Burzio (1988) (cited by Kenstowicz (1994)) and Kaye (1990), have proposed similar theories, in that one or more 'extrasyllabic' final consonants represent the opening of a syllable with null vowel (Burzio) or empty nucleus (Kaye). However, in the case of Catalan, such a structure is fundamentally the one that has been proposed (e.g., in Mascaró Altimiras (1987)) to trigger vowel epenthesis in cases such as the followings:[93]

  • ampl /ˈampl/ → [ˈäm.plə] ('I wide')
  • segl /ˈsɛɡl/ → [ˈsɛɡ.ɡlə] ('I ?')
  • aspr /ˈaspɾ/ → [ˈäs.pɾə] ('I stake', ag.)
  • corr /ˈkoɾɾ/ → [ˈko(r).rə] ('I run')

Assimilations

[edit]
Nasal Lateral
IPA word gloss IPA word gloss
[ɱ]ínfim'lowest'
[n̪]anterior'previous'[l̪]altes'tall' (f. pl.)
[ɲ]engegar'to start (up)'[ʎ]àlgid'decisive'
[ŋ]angle'angle'
[ŋn]sagna'he/she bleeds'
[mː]setmana'week'
[nː]cotna'rind'[lː]Betlem'Bethlehem'
[ʎː]rotllo'roll'

Catalan denti-alveolar stops can fully assimilate to the following consonant, producing gemination; this is particularly evident before nasal and lateral consonants; e.g., setmana ('week'), cotna ('rind'), Betlem ('Bethlehem'), rotllo ('roll'). Learned words can alternate between featuring and not featuring such assimilation (e.g., atles [ˈädləs] ~ [ˈɑlːəs] (C) / [ˈädläs] ~ [ˈɑlːäs] (NW) 'atlas', sotmetre [sudˈmɛtɾə] ~ [sumˈmɛtɾə] (C) / [sodˈmetɾe] ~ [soˈmːetɾe] (NW) 'to submit', ètnic [ˈɛdnik] ~ [ˈɛnːik] (C / NW) 'ethnic').[94][95]

There is dialectal variation regarding words with ⟨tll⟩. While Central and North-Western Catalan tend to innovate with a palatalized pronunciation [ʎː], Valencian and Balearic maintain the traditional pronunciation without palatalization [lː]; i.e., ⟨tl⟩, in most cases (e.g., ametlla vs. ametla 'almond').

Valencian dialects (especially Central Valencian) features simple elision in many of these cases (e.g setmana [seˈmana] 'week', rotllo [ˈroʎo] 'roll') and learned words might not exhibit either assimilation or elision: atles [ˈadles] and administrar [adminisˈtɾaɾ].[96]

Prosody

[edit]

Stress

[edit]

Stress most often occurs on any of the last three syllables of a word (e.g. brúixola [ˈbɾuʃulə] (C) / [ˈbɾuʃolä] (NW) 'compass', càstig [ˈkästik] (C / NW)'punishment', pallús [pəˈʎus] (C) / [päˈʎus] (NW) 'fool').

Compound words and adverbs formed with /ˈment/ may have a syllable with secondary stress (e.g. bonament [ˌbɔnəˈmen̪(t)] (C) [ˌbɔnäˈmen̪(t)] (NW) 'willingly'; parallamps [ˌpäɾəˈʎam(p)s] (C) [ˌpäɾäˈʎam(p)s] (NW) 'lightning conductor') but every lexical word has just one syllable with main stress.[20]

Phonotactics

[edit]

The structure of the syllable shows a mandatory nucleus, and the optional presence of a margin before and/or behind the nucleus. Core and margin contrast articulatory due to the fact that the core is emitted with a higher degree of oral opening than the margin. In Catalan and Valencian, the core position is occupied by a vowel and the margin position by one or more consonants. Depending on the number of consonants that make up the margin and the location of the margin in relation to the core, syllabic structures of the type V, CV, VC, CVC, CCV, CCVC, CCVCC, VCC, VCCC, CVCC, CVCCC, etc. are possible. The margin that precedes the nucleus is called "explosive", and the one that follows it, "implosive", syllables can be classified as "open" or "closed" by virtue of the absence or presence of a margin postnuclear, respectively.[97]

Any consonant, as well as [j] and [w] may be an onset. Clusters may consist of a consonant plus a semivowel (C[j], C[w]) or an obstruent plus a liquid. Some speakers may have one of these obstruent-plus-liquid clusters preceding a semivowel; e.g., síndria [ˈsin.dɾjə] (C) / [ˈsin.dɾjä] (NW) ('watermelon'); for other speakers, this is pronounced [ˈsin.dɾi.ə] (C) / [ˈsin.dɾi.ä] (NW) (i.e., the semivowel must be syllabic in this context).[98]

Word-medial codas are restricted to one consonant + [s] (extra [ˈɛks.tɾə] (C) / [ˈeks.tɾä] (NW) 'extra').[99] In the coda position, voice contrasts among obstruents are neutralized.[100] Although there are exceptions (such as futur [fuˈtuɾ] 'future'), syllable-final rhotics are often lost before a word boundary or before the plural morpheme of most words: color [kuˈlo] (C) / [koˈlo] (NW) ('color') vs. coloraina [kuluˈɾajnə] (C) / [koloˈɾajnä] (NW) ('bright color').[18]

In Central Eastern (and North-Western Catalan), obstruents fail to surface word-finally when preceded by a homorganic consonant (e.g., /nt/ → [n̪]). Complex codas simplify only if the loss of the segment doesn't result in the loss of place specification.[101]

Suffixation examples in Central Eastern and North-Western Catalan varieties
Final gloss Internal gloss
no cluster camp[ˈkäm]'field'camperol[kəmpəˈɾɔl] (C)
[kämpeˈɾɔl] (NW)		'peasant'
punt[ˈpun̪]'point'punta[ˈpun̪tə] (C)
[ˈpun̪tä] (NW)		'tip'
banc[ˈbaŋ]'bank'banca[ˈbaŋkə] (C)
[ˈbaŋkä] (NW)		'banking'
malalt[məˈlɑl̪] (C)
[mäˈlɑl̪] (NW)		'ill'malaltia[mələl̪ˈti.ə] (C)
[mäläl̪ˈti.ä] (NW)		'illness'
cluster hort[ˈɔɾt]'orchard'hortalissa[uɾtəˈlisə] (C)
[oɾtäˈlisä] (NW)		'vegetable'
gust[ˈɡust]'taste'gustar[ɡusˈtɑ(ɾ)]'to taste'
serp[ˈseɾp]'snake'serpentí[səɾpənˈti] (C)
[seɾpenˈti] (NW)		'snake-like'
disc[ˈdisk]'disk'disquet[disˈkɛt] (C)
[disˈket] (NW)		'diskette'
remolc[rəˈmɔlk] (C)
[reˈmɔlk] (NW)		'trailer'remolcar[rəmulˈkɑ(ɾ)] (C)
[remolˈkɑ(ɾ)] (NW)		'to tow'

When the suffix -erol [əˈɾɔl] (C) / [eˈɾɔl] (NW) is added to camp [ˈkäm] it makes [kəmpəˈɾɔl] / [kämpeˈɾɔl], indicating that the underlying representation is /ˈkamp/ (with subsequent cluster simplification), however when the copula [ˈes] is added it makes [ˈkäm ˈes]. The resulting generalization is that this underlying /p/ will only surface in a morphologically complex word.[102] Despite this, word-final codas are not usually simplified in most of Balearic and Valencian (e.g., camp [ˈkämp]).[103]

Although the number vint ('twenty') is pronounced [ˈbin̪] in Eastern Catalan due to the reduction of /nt/ in [n̪], it regains its /t/ in numbers of its family (e.g., vint-i-cinc [ˌbin̪tiˈsiŋ] 'twenty-five'). In the same dialects, the word sant [ˈsän̪] ('saint') regains its /t/ if it is followed by a vowel of a noun (e.g., Sant Esteve [ˈsän̪t‿əsˈteβə] 'Saint Stephen') although there is hesitation among speakers. There is also hesitation about the words cent [ˈsen̪] ('one hundred') and vint [ˈbin̪] ('twenty') when they are combined with other nouns. ésADir recommends pronouncing them with /t/ before the words anys ('years'), homes ('men'), and hores ('hours'), usually silent in other cases, with equally permissible hesitations (e.g., cent euros 'one hundred euros' [ˈsen̪ ˈɛwɾus] or [ˈsen̪t‿ˈɛwɾus]).[v]

In informal speech in Eastern Catalan, the adverb on may be pronounced with an epethentic (paragoge) /t/: on es [ˈon ˈes] → [ˈont‿ˈes]. It is recommended to pronounce on without epenthesis.[w] Similarly, in Central Catalan monosyllabic words with a pronounced final ⟨r⟩ get a reinforcement final consonant [t] when in absolute final position (e.g., final ⟨r⟩ of cor[x] 'heart' in reina del meu cor [ˈrejnə ðəl ˈmew ˈkɔɾt] 'queen of my heart' vs. el cor es mou [əl ˈkɔɾ əz ˈmɔw] 'the heart is moving').

In foreign terms starting with /s/ + consonant, like in spa and stop, an epethentic (prothesis) [ə] is inserted in Eastern Catalan, and [e] in Western Catalan: [əsˈpä] (E) / [esˈpä] (W), [əsˈtɔp] (E) / [esˈtɔp] (W).

The preposition amb ('with') in Eastern Catalan is usually pronounced [əm], but in careful speech when it is before a vowel sound or an /l/ it is pronounced [əmb]; e.g., amb u [əmb‿ˈu] (E) ('with one').[y]

Word-initial clusters from Graeco-Latin learned words tend to drop the first phoneme: gnom [ˈnom] (C / NW) ('gnome'), mnemotècnia [nəmuˈtɛŋniə] (C) / [nemoˈtɛŋniä] (NW) ('mnemotechnical'), pneumàtic [nəwˈmätik] (C) / [newˈmätik] (NW) ('pneumatic'), pseudònim [səwˈðɔnim] (C) / [sewˈðɔnim] (NW) ('pseudonym'), pterodàctil [təɾuˈðäktil] (C) / [teɾoˈðäktil] (NW) ('pterodactylus').[104]

Word-final obstruents are devoiced; however, they assimilate voicing of the following consonant, e.g. cuc de seda [ˈkuɡ‿də ˈsɛðə] (C) / [ˈkuɡ‿de ˈsɛða] (NW) ('silkworm'). In regular and fast speech, stops often assimilate the place of articulation of the following consonant producing phonetic gemination: tot bé [ˈtod‿ˈbe] → [ˈtob‿ˈbe] ('all good').[105]

The fricatives and affricates /s/, /t͡s/, /ʃ/, /t͡ʃ/ (and, according to some sources, /f/[z]) become voiced when they occur at the end of a word and are followed by a word beginning with a vowel (e.g. els [əls] (C) / [els] (NW) 'the', but els avis [əlz‿ˈäβis] (C) / [elz‿ˈäβis] (NW) 'the grandparents'; baix [ˈba(j)ʃ] (C / NW) 'short', 'low', but Baix Ebre [ˈba(j)ʒ‿ˈeβɾə] (C) / [ˈba(j)ʒ‿ˈeβɾe] (NW) 'Lower Ebro').[106]

The sibilant /s/ may be elided before /ʒ ~ dʒ/; e.g., els genets [əl.ʒəˈnɛt͡s] (C) / [el.d͡ʒeˈnet͡s] (NW) ('the [horse] riders')[aa] Furthermore, when the term aquest ('this') is a pronoun, as in és aquest ('it's this one') it may be pronounced as [ˈez əkɛt], especially in Catalonia. In formal registers, it is recommended that the ⟨s⟩ of the adjective is pronounced when the following word starts with a vowel, especially if it stressed, like in aquest any [əˈkɛst‿ˈaɲ] ('this year') or aquest home [əˈkɛst‿ˈɔmə] ('this man'). The /s/ from the feminine aquesta should not be elided in any instance.[ab]

The pronunciation of /ɲs/ at the end of words (e.g., Arenys 'sands [of a seasonal creek]', anys 'years') is typically pronounced [ɲʃ]. If the word is followed by a voiced consonant or a vowel (e.g., Arenys de Mar 'Arenys de Mar', anys anteriors 'previous years'), it would theoretically be pronounced as /ɲz/, which would typically be pronounced [ɲʒ]. In some speakers the actual pronunciation would be an affricate ([ɲt͡ʃ] in the coda, and [ɲd͡ʒ] before a voiced consonant or a vowel). Also, among certain speakers of some variants (e.g., Valencian),[107] the same occurs with /ʎs/ → [ʎʃ] (e.g., ells 'they', valls 'valleys'), which may also vary with an affricate [ʎt͡ʃ] and assimilate voicing /ʎz/ → [ʎʒ] or [ʎd͡ʒ] (e.g., ells estan 'they are', les Valls de la Marina 'the valleys of Marina').

Dialectal variation

[edit]
Dialectal Map of Catalan[108]
Eastern dialects: Western dialects:

The differences in the vocalic systems outlined above are the main criteria used to differentiate between the major dialects: Wheeler distinguishes two major dialect groups, western and eastern dialects; the latter of which only allow [i], [ə], and [u] (although there are exceptions) to appear in unstressed syllables and include Northern Catalan, Central Catalan, Balearic, and Alguerese. Western dialects, which allow any vowel in unstressed syllables, include Valencian and North-Western Catalan.[109]

Regarding consonants, betacism and fricative–affricate alternations are the most prominent differences between dialects.

Other dialectal features are:

Vowels
  • /a/
    • In some regions of the Valencian Community (especially Southern Valencian) unstressed /a/ followed by stressed /i/ becomes [ə]: raïm [rəˈim] ('grape'). Beltran (2000) states,[110] that final /a/ is close to [ə] in some towns of Marina Alta: xica [ˈt͡ʃikə] ('girl').
    • A characteristic feature of the pronunciation of some North-Western speakers (commonly associated with the city of Lleida) is the pronunciation of the unstressed final /a/ as [ɛ] (e.g., Lleida [ˈʎejðɛ] 'Lleida', pronounced [ˈʎejðä] in General Western Catalan and [ˈʎejðə] in Eastern Catalan).
  • /e/
    • [e] occurs more frequently in Valencian.
  • /ɛ/
    • [ɛ] occurs more frequently in Central Catalan.
  • /ə/
    • Stressed [ə] occurs in the Balearic dialects.
  • /i/
    • In a number of dialects unstressed /i/ can merge with /ə/ (Eastern dialects) or /e, a, i/ (Western dialects) according to the previous or following vowel (i.e., through assimilation when these vowels are high or dissimilation when they are mid or low). This merger is especially common in words with the prefix in- or im-.[111]
  • /ɔ/
    • In Southern Valencian subvarieties, especially in Alicante Valencian, the diphthong /ɔw/ (phonetically [ɒ̝w] in Valencian) has become [ɑw] (specifically, [ɑ̝w]): bous [ˈbɑ̝ws] ('bulls').[112]
  • /o/
    • In regular speech in both Eastern and Western Catalan dialects, word-initial unstressed /o/—[u] or [o]—may be diphthongized to [əw] (Eastern Catalan) or [aw] ([ɐw]) (Western Catalan): ofegar [əwfəˈɣɑ(ɾ)] (E) [ɐwfeˈɣɑ(ɾ)] (W) ('to drown', 'suffocate').[113]
  • /u/
    • In Northern Catalan, /u/ can be realized as [y] and [ø].
Consonants
  • Sonorants (/m/, /n/, /ɲ/, /ŋ/, /l/, /ʎ/, /r/, /ɾ/) - Excluding vowels:
    • Varying degrees of l-velarization among dialects: /l/ is dark irrespective of position in Balearic and Central Catalan and might tend to vocalization in some cases. In Western varieties like Valencian, this dark l contrasts with a clear l in intervocalic and word-initial position; while in other dialects, like Alguerese or Northern Catalan, /l/ is never velarized in any instance.[42][114]
    • Omission of the final /ɾ/ in Eastern Catalan dialects. In Central Catalan, this always occurs in verbs (e.g., donar la mà [duˈnɑ lə ˈma] 'to shake hands'), except when they are combined with a weak pronoun (e.g., donar-la [duˈnɑɾ.lə] 'to shake it'). In nouns and adjectives, there are words in which Central Catalan retains the final /ɾ/ and others in which it is omitted. For example, it is retained in some monosyllables;[ac] in some adjectives that sometimes become nouns;[ad] in some nouns;[ae] in some nouns derived from verbs;[af] and in some new nouns and loanwords.[ag] In the word pudor the final /ɾ/ is pronounced when it means "modesty" (el pudor) and is elided when it means "stink" (la pudor). On the other hand, in Balearic Catalan, the elision of the final /r/ in nouns and adjectives is much more common. In Valencian, the final /ɾ/ is usually retained in all types of words (although there are exceptions).[ah]
    • Iodització (also known as iesme històric "historic yeísmo") in regular speech in most of Mallorcan, Northern Catalan and in the historic comarca of Vallès (Barcelona), Latin-derived words that had intervocalic /l/ + yod (-li-, -le-) or velar + /l/ (-cvl-, -gvl-) developed [j] (e.g., palla [ˈpajə] 'straw') from Latin palea), rather than /ʎ/ as in the majority of other regions. Accents with traditional ieisme use /ʎ/ only in words where this sound developed from Latin initial l- (as in lluna [ˈʎunə] 'moon') or intervocalic -ll- (as in ella [ˈeʎə] 'she').[115]
  • Obstruents (/d͡ʒ/, /t͡ʃ/, /d͡z/, /t͡s/, /ʒ/, /ʃ/, /z/, /s/, /f/, /v/, /p/, /b/, /t/, /d/, /k/, /ɡ/):
    • In Northern and Transitional Valencian, word-initial and postconsonantal /d͡ʒ/ (Eastern Catalan /ʒ/ and /d͡ʒ/) alternates with [jʒ] (and [ʒ]) intervocalically; e.g. joc [ˈd͡ʒɔk] 'game', but pitjor [piˈʒo(ɾ)] 'worse', boja [ˈbɔjʒɐ] 'crazy' (Standard Valencian /ˈd͡ʒɔ̞k/, /piˈd͡ʒoɾ/; /ˈbɔ̞d͡ʒa/; Standard Catalan /ˈʒɔk/, /piˈd͡ʒo/ and /ˈbɔʒə/).[116]
    • In Northern Valencia and Southern Catalonia /s/ has merged with realizations of /ʃ/ after a high front vocoid; e.g. terrissa [teˈriʃɐ] ('pottery'), insistisc [ɪnsɪʃˈtiʃk] ('I insist') vs. pixar [pɪˈʃɑ(ɾ)] ('to pee'), deixar [de(j)ˈʃɑ(ɾ)] ('to leave', 'to let'). In these varieties /ʃ/ is not found after other voiced consonants, and merges with /t͡ʃ/ after consonants; e.g. punxa [ˈpuɲt͡ʃɐ] ('thorn').[117]
    • In some Valencian dialects (e.g., Northern Valencian), /s/ and /ʃ/ are auditorily similar such that neutralization may occur in the future.[118] That is the case of Northern Valencian where /ʃ/ is depalatalized[clarification needed] to [js̠ ~ jsʲ] as in caixa ('box'). Central Valencian words like mig ('half') and lleig ('ugly') have been transcribed with [t͡s] rather than the expected [t͡ʃ], and Southern Valencian /t͡ʃ/ "has been reported to undergo depalatalization without merging with [t͡s]",[118] as in passets ('small steps') vs. passeig ('stroll', 'avenue').

Historical development

[edit]

Catalan shares features with neighboring Romance languages (Occitan, Italian, Sardinian, French, Spanish).[119]

  • Marked contrast of the vowel pairs /ɛ/ ~ /e/ and /ɔ/ ~ /o/, as in other Western Romance languages, except Spanish and Sardinian.[120]
  • Lenition of voiced stops /b/ → [β], /d/ → [ð], /ɡ/ → [ɣ] as in Galician and Spanish.[120]
  • Lack of diphthongization of Latin short ĕ, ŏ, as in Galician, Sardinian and Portuguese, and unlike French, Spanish and Italian.[120]
  • Abundance of diphthongs containing /w/, as in Galician and Portuguese.[120]
  • Abundance of /ʎ/ and /ɲ/ occurring at the end of words, as for instance moll ('wet') and any ('year'), unlike Spanish,[121] Portuguese or Italian.

In contrast with many other Romance languages, Catalan has many monosyllabic words; and those ending in a wide variety of consonants and some consonant clusters.[120] Also, Catalan has final obstruent devoicing, thus featuring many couplets like amic ('male friend') vs. amiga ('female friend').[120]

Phonological sample

[edit]
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 1
Original Tots els éssers humans neixen/naixen lliures i iguals en dignitat i en drets.
Són dotats de raó i de consciència, i han de comportar-se fraternalment els uns amb els altres.
Mallorcan (Balearic) Catalan IPA [ˈtodz‿əlz‿ˈesəɾz‿uˈmanz ˈneʃən ˈʎiu̯ɾəz‿iːˈɣwalz‿ən diŋniˈtat‿j‿ən ˈdɾəts ‖
son doˈtadz‿ðə rəˈo‿i̯ ðə konsiˈɛ̞nsi | j‿an də kompoɾˈtaɾsə fɾətəɾnalˈment‿əlz‿ˈunz‿əmb‿əlz‿altɾəs]
Eastern Central Catalan IPA [ˈtodz‿əlz‿ˈesərz‿uˈmanz ˈneʃən ˈʎiu̯ɾəz‿iːˈɣwalz‿ən diŋniˈtat‿j‿ən ˈdɾɛts ‖
son duˈtadz‿ðə rəˈo‿i̯ ðə kunsiˈɛnsiə | j‿an də kumpurˈtaɾsə fɾətərnalˈmen‿əlz‿ˈunz‿əmb‿əlz‿altɾəs]
Northern Catalan IPA [ˈtudz‿əlz‿ˈe̞səʁz‿uˈmanz ˈne̞ʃən ˈʎiu̯ʁəz‿iːˈgwalz‿ən diŋniˈtat‿j‿ən ˈdʁe̞ts ‖
sun duˈtadz‿ðə ʁəˈu‿i̯ də kunsiˈe̞nsi | j‿an də kumpuʁˈtaʁsə fʁətəʁnalˈme̞n‿əlz‿ˈunz‿əmb‿əlz‿altʁəs]
North-Western Catalan IPA [ˈtodz‿elz‿ˈeserz‿uˈmanz ˈnajʃen ˈʎiu̯ɾez‿iːˈɣwalz‿en diŋniˈtat‿j‿an ˈdɾets ‖
son doˈtadz‿ðe raˈo‿i̯ ðe konsiˈɛnsiɛ | j‿an de komporˈtarse fɾaternalˈmen‿elz‿ˈunz‿amb‿elz‿a(l)tɾes]
Valencian IPA [ˈtodz‿elz‿ˈeseɾz‿uˈmanz ˈnajʃen ˈʎiu̯ɾez‿iːˈɣwalz‿en diŋniˈtat‿j‿en ˈdɾets ‖
son doˈtadz‿ðe raˈo‿i̯ ðe konsiˈɛ̞nsia | j‿an de kompoɾˈtaɾse fɾateɾnalˈment‿elz‿ˈunz‿amb‿elz‿a(l)tɾes]

See also

[edit]

Notes

[edit]
  1. ↑ "Voiceless dental plosive – Central". Els sons del català.
    "Voiceless dental plosive – North-Western". Els sons del català.
    "Voiceless dental plosive – Valencian". Els sons del català.
  2. ↑ "Voiced dental plosive – Central". Els sons del català.
    "Voiced dental plosive – North-Western". Els sons del català.
    "Voiced dental plosive – Valencian". Els sons del català.
  3. ↑ "Voiceless velar plosive – Central". Els sons del català.
    "Voiceless velar plosive – North-Western". Els sons del català.
    "Voiceless velar plosive – Valencian". Els sons del català.
  4. ↑ "Voiced velar plosive – Central". Els sons del català.
    "Voiced velar plosive – North-Western". Els sons del català.
    "Voiced velar plosive – Valencian". Els sons del català.
  5. ↑ "Voiced alveolar nasal – Central". Els sons del català.
    "Voiced alveolar nasal – North-Western". Els sons del català.
    "Voiced alveolar nasal – Valencian". Els sons del català.
  6. ↑ "Voiced alveolar lateral – Central". Els sons del català.
    "Voiced alveolar lateral – North-Western". Els sons del català.
    "Voiced alveolar lateral – Valencian". Els sons del català.
  7. ↑ "Voiced alveolar flap – Central". Els sons del català.
    "Voiced alveolar flap – North-Western". Els sons del català.
    "Voiced alveolar flap – Valencian". Els sons del català.
  8. ↑ "Voiceless alveolar fricative – Central". Els sons del català.
    "Voiceless alveolar fricative – North-Western". Els sons del català.
    "Voiceless alveolar fricative – Valencian". Els sons del català.
  9. ↑ "Voiced alveolar fricative – Central". Els sons del català.
    "Voiced alveolar fricative – North-Western". Els sons del català.
    "Voiced alveolar fricative – Valencian". Els sons del català.
  10. ↑ "Voiced alveolar trill – Central". Els sons del català.
    "Voiced alveolar trill – North-Western". Els sons del català.
    "Voiced alveolar trill – Valencian". Els sons del català.
  11. ↑ "Voiceless alveolar affricate – Central". Els sons del català.
    "Voiceless alveolar affricate – North-Western". Els sons del català.
    "Voiceless alveolar affricate – Valencian". Els sons del català.
  12. ↑ "Voiced alveolar affricate – Central". Els sons del català.
    "Voiced alveolar affricate – North-Western". Els sons del català.
    "Voiced alveolar affricate – Valencian". Els sons del català.
  13. ↑ Institut d'Estudis Catalans. Tsar (in Catalan) (2nd ed.). Barcelona, Spain: Diccionari de la llengua catalana. Archived from the original on 14 August 2011.
  14. ↑ Institut d'Estudis Catalans. Tsuga (in Catalan) (2nd ed.). Barcelona, Spain: Diccionari de la llengua catalana. Archived from the original on 14 August 2011.
  15. ↑ Institut d'Estudis Catalans. Txec (in Catalan) (2nd ed.). Barcelona, Spain: Diccionari de la llengua catalana. Archived from the original on 14 August 2011.
  16. ↑ "Anàlisi dialectològica d'uns parlars del Solsonès".
  17. ↑ "per / per a". ésAdir.
  18. 1 2 "sisplau, esclar, perxò, perquí, perllà… i nar-hi nant". El clot de les Ànimes.
  19. ↑ "Neutralització: pronúncia del grup ou". ésAdir.
  20. ↑ "esclar". ésAdir.
  21. ↑ "Addició d'una "i" consonàntica per desfer hiats". ésAdir.
  22. ↑ ""sant", "cent" i "vint" als enllaços". ésAdir.
  23. ↑ ""on": consonant dental de reforç". ésAdir.
  24. ↑ "cor" (in Catalan). Diccionari català-valencià-balear (DCVB).
  25. ↑ "amb". ésAdir.
  26. ↑ "La sonorització". GALMIC.
  27. ↑ "La "s" davant "g" o "j"". ésAdir.
  28. ↑ ""aquest": pronúncia de la "s"". ésAdir.
  29. ↑ Examples: bar, per, cor, car, or, mor, pur, tir, mar, par, bar (but not in por and flor).
  30. ↑ Examples: futur, familiar, militar, titular, particular, espectacular, superior, inferior, anterior, exterior, posterior, popular, espectacular, cel·lular, angular, similar (but not in pastor, jugador, actor, autor, treballador, espectador, doctor, defensor, seguidor, senyor, missatger, millor, pitjor, etc.).
  31. ↑ Examples: amor, favor, honor, valor, vapor, humor, terror, motor, sabor, cigar, papir, safir, quefir, albir, emir, vampir, tumor (but not in color, dolor, olor, carrer, plaer, calor, paladar, etc.)
  32. ↑ Examples: sospir, respir, atur, enyor, poder (but not in esmorzar, dinar, berenar, sopar, saber, benestar).
  33. ↑ Examples: radar, funicular (but not in televisor and ascensor).
  34. ↑ "Erra final sensible". ésAdir.

References

[edit]
  1. ↑ Recasens Vives 1996, pp. 172–173.
  2. 1 2 Carbonell Costa & Llisterri Boix 1999, p. 62.
  3. 1 2 Recasens Vives 1996, pp. 205–206.
  4. 1 2 Recasens Vives 1996, pp. 232–233.
  5. 1 2 Ortografia catalana 2017, p. 28.
  6. 1 2 Recasens Vives 1996, p. 325.
  7. 1 2 3 4 Recasens Vives & Pallarès Ramon 2001, p. 288.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 Wheeler 2005, pp. 10–11.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Rafel Fontanals 1999, p. 14.
  10. 1 2 3 4 Wheeler 2005, p. 10.
  11. ↑ Recasens Vives 1996, p. 311.
  12. ↑ Wheeler 2005, p. 11.
  13. 1 2 3 Hualde 1992, p. 370.
  14. ↑ Recasens Vives, Fontdevila & Pallarès Ramon 1995, p. 288.
  15. 1 2 3 Recasens Vives & Espinosa 2007, p. 145.
  16. ↑ Recasens Vives 1993.
  17. ↑ Recasens Vives & Pallarès Ramon 2001.
  18. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Carbonell Costa & Llisterri Boix 1992, p. 53.
  19. 1 2 Lloret-Romanyach 2003, p. 278.
  20. 1 2 3 Carbonell Costa & Llisterri Boix 1999, p. 63.
  21. 1 2 Wheeler 2005, pp. 147–149.
  22. ↑ Saborit Vilar 2009, p. 57.
  23. ↑ Hualde 1992, p. 368.
  24. 1 2 3 4 Recasens Vives & Espinosa 2005, p. 1.
  25. ↑ Carbonell Costa & Llisterri Boix 1992, pp. 53–55.
  26. ↑ Recasens Vives 1996, pp. 190–191.
  27. ↑ Recasens Vives 1996, pp. 91–92.
  28. ↑ Wheeler 2005, pp. 22–23.
  29. ↑ Saborit Vilar 2009, p. 53.
  30. 1 2 Wheeler 2005, pp. 11–12.
  31. 1 2 3 Recasens Vives & Espinosa 2007, p. 144.
  32. ↑ Badia Cardús 1992–1993, pp. 307–351.
  33. ↑ Wheeler 2005, pp. 13–14.
  34. ↑ Recasens Vives & Espinosa 2007, pp. 148–149.
  35. ↑ Wheeler 2005, p. 12.
  36. 1 2 3 Wheeler 2005, p. 23.
  37. ↑ Veny Clar 2007, p. 51.
  38. ↑ Wheeler 2005, p. 13.
  39. ↑ Saborit Vilar 2009, p. 59-65.
  40. 1 2 Wheeler 2005, p. 81.
  41. ↑ Pons-Moll, pp. 2–3.
  42. 1 2 Recasens Vives & Espinosa 2005, p. 20.
  43. ↑ Recasens Vives & Espinosa 2005, p. 3.
  44. ↑ Recasens Vives 1996, pp. 311–312.
  45. 1 2 Recasens Vives 1996, p. 266.
  46. 1 2 Recasens Vives 1996, p. 321.
  47. 1 2 Wheeler 1979.
  48. ↑ Bonet Alsina & Mascaró Altimiras 1997.
  49. ↑ Dols & Wheeler 1995, p. 61.
  50. ↑ Dols & Wheeler 1995, p. 60.
  51. 1 2 Wheeler 2005, p. 25.
  52. ↑ Padgett 2009, p. 432.
  53. ↑ Recasens Vives 1996, p. 326.
  54. ↑ Wheeler 2005, p. 24.
  55. ↑ Recasens Vives 1996, p. 60.
  56. ↑ Saborit Vilar 2009, pp. 23–47.
  57. ↑ Saborit Vilar 2009, pp. 23–25, 27–29.
  58. ↑ Coromines 1976.
  59. ↑ Recasens Vives 1996, pp. 90–92.
  60. ↑ Recasens Vives 1996, pp. 90–104.
  61. ↑ Saborit Vilar 2009, pp. 24–25.
  62. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Recasens Vives 1996, p. 59.
  63. ↑ Harrison 1997, p. 2.
  64. ↑ Recasens Vives 1996, p. 81.
  65. ↑ Recasens Vives 1996, pp. 130–131.
  66. ↑ Saborit Vilar 2009, p. 27.
  67. ↑ Saborit Vilar 2009, p. 29.
  68. ↑ Recasens Vives 1996, pp. 69–77, 135–140.
  69. ↑ Recasens Vives 1996, p. 82.
  70. 1 2 Recasens Vives 1996, pp. 66, 141.
  71. ↑ Recasens Vives 1996, pp. 69, 80–81.
  72. ↑ Recasens Vives 1996, p. 70.
  73. ↑ Recasens Vives 1996, pp. 59–142.
  74. ↑ Saborit Vilar 2009, p. 23.
  75. 1 2 Wheeler 2005, p. 38.
  76. 1 2 3 Recasens Vives 1996, p. 62.
  77. ↑ Wheeler 2005, p. 54.
  78. ↑ Carbonell Costa & Llisterri Boix 1992, pp. 54–55.
  79. ↑ Recasens (1996), p. 98.
  80. ↑ Recasens Vives 1996, pp. 75–76.
  81. ↑ Recasens Vives 1996, pp. 128–129.
  82. ↑ Recasens Vives 1996, p. 138.
  83. ↑ Jiménez & Lloret-Romanyach 2009, pp. 3–4.
  84. ↑ Recasens Vives 1996, p. 165.
  85. ↑ Saborit Vilar 2009, pp. 42–43.
  86. ↑ Recasens Vives 1996, p. 154.
  87. ↑ Carbonell Costa & Llisterri Boix 1992, p. 54.
  88. ↑ Institut d'Estudis Catalans 2009.
  89. ↑ Lleó Pujol 1970.
  90. ↑ Wheeler 2005, p. 101.
  91. ↑ Mascaró Altimiras 2001, pp. 580–581.
  92. ↑ Mascaró Altimiras 2001, p. 581.
  93. ↑ Dols & Wheeler 1995, pp. 54–55.
  94. ↑ Fabra Poch 2006, p. 24.
  95. ↑ Lacreu Cuesta 2002, p. 53.
  96. ↑ Wheeler 2005, p. 36.
  97. ↑ Recasens Vives 1996, pp. 49–50.
  98. ↑ Wheeler 2005, p. 78.
  99. ↑ Wheeler 2005, p. 166.
  100. ↑ Wheeler 2005, p. 145.
  101. ↑ Herrick 2000, p. 70.
  102. ↑ Herrick 2000, p. 72.
  103. ↑ Recasens Vives 1996, p. 192.
  104. ↑ Recasens Vives 1996, p. 175.
  105. ↑ Badia i Margarit 1988, p. 35.
  106. ↑ Recasens Vives & Espinosa 2007.
  107. ↑ Saborit Vilar 2009, p. 66.
  108. ↑ Wheeler, Yates & Dols Salas 1999, p. 18.
  109. ↑ Wheeler 2005.
  110. ↑ Saborit Vilar 2009, p. 131.
  111. ↑ Recasens Vives 1996, p. 68.
  112. ↑ Recasens Vives 1996, pp. 131–132.
  113. ↑ Recasens Vives 1996, pp. 138–139.
  114. ↑ Recasens Vives 1996, p. 307.
  115. ↑ Wheeler 2005, pp. 34–35.
  116. ↑ Wheeler 2005, p. 15.
  117. ↑ Wheeler 2005, p. 22.
  118. 1 2 Recasens Vives & Espinosa 2007, p. 147.
  119. ↑ Wheeler 2005, p. 1.
  120. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Ferrater Soler 1977, p. 630.
  121. ↑ Hall 2001, p. 19.

Bibliography

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Others
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