Menorcan or Minorcan (, ) is a dialect of Catalan spoken on the island of

Menorca Menorca or Minorca (from , later ''Minorica'') is one of the Balearic Islands located in the Mediterranean Sea belonging to Spain. Its name derives from its size, contrasting it with nearby Mallorca. Its capital is Maó, situated on the isl ...

, one of the

Balearic Islands The Balearic Islands are an archipelago in the western Mediterranean Sea, near the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula. The archipelago forms a Provinces of Spain, province and Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Spain, ...

. It is very similar linguistically to the dialects of Catalan spoken in the other islands: ''Mallorquí'' in

Mallorca Mallorca, or Majorca, is the largest of the Balearic Islands, which are part of Spain, and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, seventh largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. The capital of the island, Palma, Majorca, Palma, i ...

and ''Eivissenc'' in

Ibiza Ibiza (; ; ; #Names and pronunciation, see below) or Iviza is a Spanish island in the Mediterranean Sea off the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula. It is 150 kilometres (93 miles) from the city of Valencia. It is the third largest of th ...

. It also has many similarities to English and French, as well as containing

anglicism An anglicism is a word or construction borrowed from English by another language. Due to the global dominance of English in the 20th and 21st centuries, many English terms have become widespread in other languages. Technology-related English ...

s of the British rule on the island. Some examples are ''xoc'' ('chalk'), ''boínder'' ('bow-window') or ''bòtil'' ('bottle'). Until the 17th century, the Minorcan subdialect had been a very uniform variant of

Eastern Catalan The Catalan dialects (and restrictively also, Valencian dialects) feature a relative uniformity, especially when compared to other Romance languages; both in terms of vocabulary, semantics, syntax, morphology, and phonology. Mutual intelligibi ...

(and therefore, with few differentiating points Balearic), and today it is still in certain aspects, especially by the closure of unstressed in , which is one of the main differences that the phonetics of Menorca presents in relation to Mallorca (except for

Sóller Sóller () is a town and municipality near the north west coast of the Balearic Island of Mallorca, Spain, 3 km inland from Port de Sóller, in a large, bowl-shaped valley that also includes the village of Fornalutx and the hamlets of Biniara ...

and its dialect, which otherwise has some points of resemblance to that of Ciutadella).

Traits

A point in which Menorca remained outside the evolutionary process of continental Catalan was with the use of stressed "ə", which was general throughout the island. This uniformity is maintained until the end of the 19th century. From the twentieth century, the stressed "ə" became in a closed "e" in Maó, and the same transfer was made in Alaior and

Mercadal Es Mercadal () is a town and municipality in northern Menorca in the Spanish Balearic Islands. Etymology The name "Mercadal" derives from the Latin language ''mercatum'', meaning "market". In 1301, King James II of Majorca James II () (31 ...

. Instead, in

Ferreries Ferreries () is a municipality on the island of Menorca, in the Spanish autonomous community of the Balearic Islands. Covering approximately , it forms a natural transition between the island’s northern cliffs and southern sandy coves and beaches ...

and Ciutadella, the neutral sound had been maintained, partly for psychological reasons, according to the statement of Francesc de Borja Moll i Casasnovas, for the reaction of the ciutadelenses against the mahoneses, a consequence of secular antipathies. The pronunciation of the closed "e" of Mahon has been mocked by the ciutadelenses, and that has inhibited the progression of its use in the western sector of the island. Another notable difference between the cities of the island, Mahón and Ciutadella, is the intonation.Ciutadella-Maó. Greu vs. agut en dos parlars menorquins
Not so resistant had shown the western sector of the island with the influence coming from

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 ...

to Mahón of the morphemes flexives ''-és'', ''-essis'', ''-essin''. Sixty years ago, the primitive forms ''-às'', ''-assis'', ''-assin'' were substituted in Ciutadella. In the treatment of the atonic group "ua", the Menorcan follows the example of the Mallorcan and removes the last vowel, but pronouncing "u" instead of "o": ''aigu'', ''llegu'', ''Pascu''. The weak "i" between vowels is lost, although in the imperfect preterite in western Menorquín, the "i" is kept, pronouncing ''deia'', ''veía'', etc. The loss of the "ll" is also given: ''gúə'' (agulla), ''véə'' (vella), ''fúə'' (fulla), ''uréə'' (orella), ''páə'' (palla). This same phenomenon occurs in certain villas in Mallorca, especially in Sóller,

Alcúdia Alcúdia () is a municipality and township of the Spain, Spanish autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of the Balearic Islands. It is the main tourism, tourist centre in the north of Majorca on the eastern coast. It is a large r ...

and

Capdepera Capdepera () is a small municipality on Majorca, one of the Balearic Islands, Spain. Capdepera is a historical village just 8 km from Artà. Originally there had been a watchtower where the Castle of Capdepera stands today which was used to ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Menorquin Catalan dialects Menorca Culture of Menorca