The Catalan and Valencian orthographies encompass the spelling and punctuation of standard Catalan (set by the IEC) and Valencian (set by the AVL). There are also several adapted variants to the peculiarities of local dialects of Insular Catalan (Algherese and the Balearic subdialects).
History The history of the Catalan and Valencian orthographies shows a singularity in regard to the other Romance languages. These have been mostly developed from Latin, adapting them to their own phonetic particularities. It had been a gradual and slow process through centuries until the creation of the Academies in the 18th century that fixed the orthography from their language dominant variety.Badia i Margarit, Antoni M. «».
In the case of Catalan and Valencian, the mediaeval orthography had a noticeable homogeneity. The Royal Chancellery set a unitary written model in several fields. Thus, Ramon Muntaner expressed in his Chronicle (1325–1328) that the Catalans are the largest group with a single language, since all the Romance-speaking regions had very divided languages like the difference that exists between Catalans and Aragonese.
In the 16th century, just after the Golden Age, the split of Catalans started. With the isolation of the Royal Court and several political events, the unitary linguistic consciousness and the shared cultural tradition broke off. The production became more dialectal.
In the 19th century, the recovery of the unity emerged, beginning with the orthography. Institutions like the Acadèmia de Bones Lletres or the Floral Games were in the middle of several orthographic dilemmas.
The orthographic norms of Catalan were first defined officially in the First Internationals Congress of the Catalan Language, held in Barcelona in October 1906. Subsequently, the Philological Section of the Institut d'Estudis Catalans (IEC, founded in 1911) published the Normes ortogràfiques in 1913 under the direction of Antoni Maria Alcover and Pompeu Fabra. Despite some opposition, the spelling system was adopted immediately and became widespread enough that, in 1932, Valencian writers and intellectuals gathered in Castelló to make a formal adoption of the so-called Normes de Castelló, a set of guidelines following Pompeu Fabra's Catalan language norms.
In 1917, Fabra published an Orthographic Dictionary following the orthographic norms of the IEC. In 1931–1932 the Diccionari General de la Llengua Catalana (General Dictionary of the Catalan language) appeared. In 1995, a new normative dictionary, the Dictionary of the Catalan Language of the Institute of Catalan Studies (DIEC), marked a new milestone in the orthographic fixation of the language, in addition to the incorporation of neologisms and modern uses of the language.
On the 24th October 2016, the IEC published a new orthography for Catalan, the , which outlined several modifications, including a reduced number of monosyllabic words that take an acute or grave diacritic for reasons of disambiguation. Thus, the disyllabic word is now generally spelled ; the monosyllabic words ("dry", pronounced in Central Catalan) and ("fold, wrinkle", pronounced ) are both written after the reform. Discretionary use of a diacritic is possible if the context is not sufficient for disambiguation.
Alphabet Like those of many other Romance languages, the Catalan and Valencian alphabet derives from the Latin alphabet and is largely based on the respective language's phonology.
The Catalan and Valencian alphabet consists of the 26 letters of the ISO basic Latin alphabet:
+ Catalan and Valencian alphabet Upper case A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z Lower case a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z
The following letter-diacritic combinations are used, but they do not constitute distinct letters in the alphabet: À à, É é, È è, Í í, Ï ï, Ó ó, Ò ò, Ú ú, Ü ü and Ç ç (though the Catalan keyboard includes the letter Ç as a separate key). K k and W w are used only in loanwords. Outside loanwords, the letters Q q and Y y appear only in the digraphs qu, qü and ny. However, Y was used until the official orthography was established in 1913, when it was replaced with I, except in the digraph ny and loanwords. Some Catalan surnames conserve the letter y and the word-final digraph ch (pronounced ), e. g. , .
The following table shows the letters and their names in Standard Catalan (IEC) and Standard Valencian (AVL):
Letter Catalan Valencian Name (IEC) Pronunciation Name (AVL) Pronunciation Aa Bb , , , , Cc Dd Ee Ff , , Gg Hh Ii , , , , Jj Kk Ll , , Mm , , Nn , , Oo Pp Qq Rr , , Ss , , Tt Uu Vv , , , , Ww , , Xx , , , , Yy Zz
The names efa (), ela (), ema (), ena (), erra (), and essa () are also used in certain speeches of Valencian.
The names be alta ("high b") and ve baixa ("low v") are used by speakers who do not distinguish the phonemes and . Speakers that do distinguish them use the simple names be and ve.Estàndard oral valencià. L'alfabet, AVL, p. 36.
Spelling and pronunciation
Catalan is a pluricentric language; the pronunciation of some of the letters is different in Central Eastern Catalan (IEC) and Valencian (AVL). Apart from those variations, the pronunciation of most consonants is fairly straightforward and is similar to French, Occitan or Portuguese pronunciation.
Spelling-to-sound correspondences
The following lists includes a quick pronunciation of letters in standard Catalan and Valencian, for an in-depth view see attached main article on top of this section.
Consonants Spelling IPA Example Catalan Valencian b barra, també c , casa, amic; cent, fàcil ç açò, març d dos, banda f fer, baf g gana, angle; gel, fugir h ∅ home, ahir j jocs, menja k kurd, viking l lira, ala m mal, fum n nas, entra p peu, copa q quart, freqüent r , , ∅ , racó; mare; ser s , savi, pols; casa, trànsit t tou, morter v (or ) (or ) vaca, avet w x z zero, ozó Main digraphs and letter combinations Spelling IPA Example Catalan Valencian gu guerrer, àguila ig raig ix eixida, feix ll llig, brollar ŀl coŀlegi ny senyal, anys qu qui, aquest rr garra sc ascens ss bossa tg fetge tj viatjar tl or Betlem tll bitllet tm setmana tn or cotna ts tsar, potser tx txec, cotxe tz setze analitzar Others ch Folch Bach kh khi, Txékhov ph Philip th theta Vowels Spelling IPA Example Catalan Valencian a , mar; amar à mà e è , * , dèbit; què é bé i , , ∅ dia; feia; raig í veí ï raïm, veïnat o , ò això ó són u , , , ∅ ú ús ü , y/i/, henry; Yuan
Sound-to-spelling correspondences The following lists include most sound-to-spelling correspondences in Catalan and Valencian. It also includes gemination as well as more foreign spellings than previous lists (as it is easier to represent them in the charts).
Consonants IPA Spelling Examples Catalan Valencian m, mh, mm, mp, tm, n , , , , , mm, nm, tm , ntm , , , m, n , n, nh, nn, cn, gn, mn, pn , , , , , , nn, tn, ntn , , ny, n, ñ, nh, nj, gn , , , , , n, ng, g, c , , , p, ph, pp, b , , , pp, p , b, bh, bb, p , , , bb, b , bv , , t, th, tt, ct, ft, pt, d , , , , , , tt d, dh, dd, bd, t , , , , dd c, ch, ck, g, gh, k, q, qu, cqu , , , , , , , , c g, gh, gg, c, ch , , , , gg, g , f, fh, ff, ph, v, w , , , , , (or ) v, f, w , , th, z , th s, ss, sc, ç, z, zz, sz, ps , , , , , , , z, s, sh, zh, zz, tz , ç , , , , , , x, ix, j, g, ch, sc, sh, sch, sz, s, ti , , , , , , , , , , j, g, x, ix, zh, sh , , , , , kh, ch, j , , h, wh , rr, r, rh , , r, rh , l, lh, ll , , (or ) ŀl, ll, tl , , ll, l, lh, lj, gli , , , , (or ) tll i, y, yy, j , ill , , , , u, ü, w, wh, ou , , , , ts, zz, z, c , , , tz, zz, z , , tg, tj, ig, g, gg, gi, ggi, zh , , , , , , , x, xc, xs, cc, cs, cks, gs , , , , , , x, xh, cz, gz , , , Vowels IPA Spelling Examples Catalan Valencian a, à, ã, u , , , a, e, o , , e, ea, ae , , e aa, aha , ee, ehe , e, è, ä, ea, i , , , , e, é, a, eu , , , i, í, ï, y, ee, ie, e, ea , , , whisky, , , , ii o, ò, ea, ou, aw , , , , o, ó, au, eau, a, oa , , , , , oo u, ú, ü, o, oo, ou , , , , , o oo, oho , uu
Letters
The sounds [ɡ] and [k] The voiced plosive (or the corresponding fricative ) is represented by the spellings and , and the voiceless stop sound , by the spellings , , and, sporadically, and .
At the beginning of a syllable, the sounds and :
a) They are represented by and , respectively, before the vowels , , , or when they are followed by the liquid consonants , : ('cat'), ('government'), ('taste'), ('gulp'), ('yellow'); ('house'), ('pigeon'), ('to shorten'), ('clamor'), ('to burn').
b) They are represented by and , respectively, before the vowels , : ('war'), ('to follow'); ('chimera'), ('package, parcel').
In the case of the sound , in addition:
c) It is represented by when it precedes a rising diphthong: ('consequence'), ('share, fee'). d) The spelling is used only in certain words from non-Romance languages: ('kaiser'), ('Kantianism'), ('Kurdish').
At the end of a syllable, in the inner or final position of the word, the opposition between the unvoiced and the voiced consonant is neutralized, to the extent that it ceases to be distinctive. Regardless of the pronunciation, which can be unvoiced or voiced depending on the phonic context, the use of the spellings or conforms to the following rules:
e) Within a word, is written before , , ; instead, is written before , , : ('action'), ('actress'), ('corn'); ('tonsil'), ('fragment'), ('magnitude').
EXCEPTIONS: is written in some words of cultured formation or from other languages, such as ('anecdote'), ('arachnid'), ('drachma'), ('picnic'), ('technician'), etc.
f) At the end of an acute word (oxytone), is written after a vowel: ('infirmity'), ('beat'), ('pinch'), ('apricot'), ('caducous') and the first person of the present indicative of certain verbs of the second conjugation ( 'I drink', 'I owe', 'I say', 'I take out', etc.).
EXCEPTIONS: is written in some acute words of cultured formation or from other languages ( 'bulldog', 'magician', 'Tuareg', 'demagogue').
Instead, or is written, depending on the spelling of the derivatives, at the end of an acute word after another consonant or at the end of a plain word after a vowel:
('mud') ↔ ('place full of mud') ('long') ↔ ('length') ('prodigal') ↔ ('to waste, to lavish')
('white') ↔ ('whiteness') ('arch') ↔ ('arcade, retching') ('practical') ↔ ('to practice')
EXCEPTIONS: It is written , despite having derivatives with , in some plain or grave words (paroxytones), like 'Arabic', ('sullen, scorched'), ('charge, position [work]'), ('asparagus'), etc.
NOTE: In the past, the digraph was used in final position, to represent the sound , spelling that is still preserved in some lineages: 'Doménech', 'March', 'Pitarch', 'Estruch', etc.
The representation of the sound [s]: the spellings s, ss, c and ç
The spelling s The voiceless fricative alveolar sound is represented by in the following cases:
a) At the beginning of a word: ('health, greeting'), ('lord, owner, mister').
b) Between consonant and vowel or between vowel and consonant: ('handle'), ('aspect').
c) At the end of a word: ('dog'), ('of great excellence').
EXCEPTIONS: Some words from other languages are written with , such as ('hertz'), and the noun (buzz), from the verb (to buzz).
d) After certain prefixes and prefixed forms: ('asymmetry'), ('antisocial'), ('password'), ('multisecular'), ('polysemy'), ('psychosomatic'), ('dinosaur'), etc.
e) In compound words whose second formant is written with an initial : ('bloody/saffron milk cap'), ('parasol, sunshade').
The spelling ss The voiceless fricative alveolar sound is represented by between vowels: ('pond'), ('to pass').
NOTE: The spelling preceded by a consonant may also appear in words in which a prefix ending in , such as or , is attached to a root beginning with ( 'transsexual', 'trans-Siberian', 'sub-secretary') and in the plurals of cultured formation ('any, whichever') and ('any, whichever').
The spellings c and ç