Central Catalan () is an Eastern Catalan

dialect A dialect is a Variety (linguistics), variety of language spoken by a particular group of people. This may include dominant and standard language, standardized varieties as well as Vernacular language, vernacular, unwritten, or non-standardize ...

spoken in the whole province of

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

, the eastern half of the province of Tarragona and most of the province of Girona, except for its northern part, where a transition to

Northern Catalan Northern Catalan (), also known as Roussillonese (''rossellonès''), is a Catalan language, Catalan dialect mostly spoken in Northern Catalonia (roughly corresponding with the region of Roussillon), but also extending in the northeast part of S ...

begins. This variety (when free of localisms from Barcelona, Tarragona or Girona) is perceived by most Catalans as the standard form in

Catalonia Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationalities and regions of Spain, nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006, Statute of Autonomy. Most of its territory (except the Val d'Aran) is situate ...

. As such, it is the variety used in most written and audiovisual media, as well as in learning materials.

Features

Phonology

;Vowels : ;Consonants :

Subdialects

Empordanese Catalan

In the Empordà region of Catalonia there is a distinctive Empordanese subdialect. As evidenced in writings from the turn of the 19th century by authors such as Joaquim Ruyra, differences between Empordanese and Barcelonese were formerly more pronounced in such areas of usage as the ''salat'' definite article (which is still common in Balearic Catalan). In the books of Ruyra there are signs of a clear state of

diglossia In linguistics, diglossia ( , ) is where two dialects or languages are used (in fairly strict compartmentalization) by a single language community. In addition to the community's everyday or vernacular language variety (labeled "L" or "low" v ...

: the more cultured figures, including the narrator, use the standard Barcelona dialect, whilst the local fishermen employ their own dialect. Some of the chief differences are: *''hai'', ''fai'', ''vai'', etc. for ''haig'', ''faig'', ''vaig'' ('I have', 'I make', 'I go', etc.) *''mon'', ''ton'', ''son'', etc. for ''el meu'', ''el teu'', ''el seu'', etc. ('mine', 'yours', 'his', etc.) - these variations are not only restricted to the Empordanese Catalan, but are also in use, albeit not often, in Central Catalan and are generally understood by all Central Catalan speakers. *''con'' and ''contes'' for ''quan''/''quant'' and ''quantes'' ('when', 'which (m. sing., f. pl.)) *An inversion of the weak forms of the personal pronouns: ''me'', ''te'', ''se'' instead of ''em'', ''et'', ''es'' ('me', 'you', 'him'). *The use of a 3rd person subjunctive ending in ''u'' instead of ''i'': ''llamp me matu'' for ''llamp em mati'' ('strike me down', lit. "lightning kill me"). *''sebre'' for ''saber'' ('to know') with an irregular past participle (''sapigut'' for ''sabut'', 'known'). The Christian colonisation of the Balearics was primarily done with settlers from this region and so both dialects share several similarities, most obviously the use of the ''salat'' definite article (practically extinct in Empordanese but still common in Balearic varieties). In addition, some synonyms are more preferred to their Standard Catalan equivalents, for example ''capir'', ''capieixo'', for ''entendre'', ''entenc'' ('to understand', 'I understand') and ''testa'' for ''cap'' ('head') which share a closer similarity to modern Italian (''capire'', ''capisco'' / ''testa'') than Standard Catalan.

Text example

Excerpt from the

Parable of the Prodigal Son The Parable of the Prodigal Son (also known as the parable of the Two Brothers, Lost Son, Loving Father, or of the Forgiving Father; ) is one of the parables of Jesus in the Bible, appearing in Luke 15:11–32. In Luke 15, Jesus tells this sto ...

extracted from the works of 19th-century linguist Manuel Milà i Fontanals, who wrote extensively about Catalan dialectal differences:

Notes

References

Bibliography

*
Upper Empordanese Dictionary