Valencian language

"Valencian" redirects here. For people of Valencia, seeValencians.

Valencian
valencià
Pronunciation	[valensiˈa]
Native to	Spain
Region	Valencian Community,Region of Murcia(Carche) See alsogeographic distribution of Catalan
Ethnicity	Valencians
Native speakers	2.4 million (2004)
Language family	Indo-European Italic Latino-Faliscan Romance Italo-Western Western Gallo-Romance Occitano-Romance Catalan Western Catalan Valencian
Early forms	Proto-Indo-European Proto-Italic Old Latin Vulgar Latin Old Occitan Old Catalan
Writing system	Valencian orthography (Latin script)
Official status
Official language in	Spain Valencian Community
Recognised minority language in	Spain Carche,Region of Murcia
Regulated by	Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua(AVL)
Language codes
ISO 639-3	–
ISO 639-6	vlca
Glottolog	None
IETF	ca-valencia

Valencian(valencià)or theValencian language(llengua valenciana)is the official, historical and traditional name used in theValencian CommunityofSpainto refer to theRomance language also known asCatalan,either as a wholeor in its Valencia-specific linguistic forms.The Valencian Community's 1982Statute of Autonomyand theSpanish Constitutionofficially recognise Valencian as the name of the regional language.

Valencian displays transitional features betweenIbero-Romance languagesandGallo-Romance languages.According to philological studies, the varieties of this language spoken in the Valencian Community and Carche cannot be considered a single dialect restricted to these borders: the severaldialects of Valencian(Alicante's Valencian, Southern Valencian, Central Valencian orApitxat,Northern Valencian or Castellon's Valencian and Transitional Valencian) belong to the Western group of Catalan dialects.

There is apolitical controversy within the Valencian Communityregarding its status as aglottonymor as an independent language, since official reports show that the majority of the people in the Valencian Community consider it as a separate language, different fromCatalan,although the same studies show that this percentage decreases among younger generations and people with higher studies.According to the 2006Statute of Autonomy,Valencian is regulated by theAcadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua,following the legacy established by theCastelló Norms,which adapt Catalan orthography to Valencian idiosyncrasies.

Some of the most important works ofValencian literatureexperienced aGolden Ageduring theLate Middle Agesand theRenaissance.Important works includeJoanot Martorell'schivalric romanceTirant lo Blanch,andAusiàs March's poetry. The first book produced withmovable typein theIberian Peninsulawas printed in the Valencian variety.The earliest recordedchessgame with modern rules for moves of thequeenandbishopwas in the Valencian poemScachs d'amor(1475).

History

The Valencian language was implemented in theKingdom of Valenciaby Catalan and Aragonese colonists who established in this territory as a result of the feudal conquests, carried out byJames Ithe Conqueror.A new resettlement in the 17th century, after the expulsion of the Moors, largely lead by Castilians, defined the Castilian speeches of inland Valencia that still is spoken in modern days. Despite everything, Valencian has historically been the predominant and administrative language in the kingdom.

The first documental reference to the usage of the termvalenciàto refer to the spoken language of the Valencians is found in a judicial process of Minorca against Gil de Lozano, dated between 1343 and 1346, in which it is said that the mother of the indicted, Sibila, speaksvalencianeschbecause she was fromOrihuela(formerly Oriola).

The concept of Valencian language appeared in the second half of 14th century and it was progressively consolidated at the same time that its meaning changed due to events of a diverse nature (political, social, economic).In the previous centuries the Catalan spoken in the territory of the Kingdom of Valencia was called in different ways:romanç(13th century) andcatalanesch(during the 14th century, for the medieval concept of nation as a linguistic community). The concept of the Valencian language appeared with a particularistic character due to the reinforced nature of the legal entity of the Kingdom of Valencia for being the Mediterranean commercial power during the 14th and 15th centuries, becoming in the cultural and literary centre of the Crown of Aragon. Thus, the Valencians, together with the Majorcans, presented themselves to other peoples as Catalans while they referred to themselves as Valencians and Majorcans to themselves to emphasise the different legal citizenship of each kingdom.

In the 15th century, the so-called Valencian Golden Age, the name "Valencian" was already the usual name of the predominant language of theKingdom of Valencia,and the names ofvulgar,romançorcatalaneschhad fallen into disuse.Joanot Martorell,author of the novelTirant lo Blanch,said: "lit. 'Me atrevire expondre: no solament de lengua anglesa en portuguesa. Mas encara de portuguesa en vulgar valenciana: per ço que la nacio d·on yo so natural se·n puxa alegrar'."(" I dare to express myself: not only in English in Portuguese. But even so from Portuguese to vulgar Valencian: for that the nation I am from born can rejoice ").

Since theSpanish democratic transition,the autonomy or heteronomy of Valencian with respect to the rest of the Valencian-Catalan linguistic system has been the subject of debate and controversy among Valencians, usually with a political background. Although in the academic field (universities and institutions of recognszed prestige) of linguists the unity of the language has never been questioned since studies of theRomance languages,part of Valencian public opinion believes and affirms that Valencian and Catalan are different languages, an idea that began to spread during the turbulent Valencian transition by sectors of the regionalist right and by the so-calledblaverisme(Blaverism). There is an alternative secessionist linguistic regulation, theNormes del Puig(Norms of El Puig), drawn up by theRoyal Academy of Valencian Culture(Real Acadèmia de Cultura Valenciana), an institution founded in 1915 by the Deputation of Valencia, but its use is very marginal.

Official status

The official status of Valencian is regulated by theSpanish Constitutionand the ValencianStatute of Autonomy,together with the Law on the Use and Teaching of Valencian(ca).

Article 6 of the Valencian Statute of Autonomy sets the legal status of Valencian, establishing that:

• The native languageof the Valencian Community is Valencian.
• Valencian is the official language in the Valencian Community, along with Spanish, which is the official language of Spain. Everyone shall have the right to know and use them, and to receive education on Valencian and in Valencian.
• No one can be discriminated against by reason of their language.
• Special protection and respect shall be given to the recuperation of Valencian.
• TheAcadèmia Valenciana de la Llenguashall be the normative institution of the Valencian language.

Passed in 1983, the Law on the Use and Teaching of Valencian develops this framework, providing for the implementation of abilingual educationalsystem, regulating the use of Valencian in the public administration and judiciary system, where citizens can freely use it when acting before both, or establishing the right to be informed by media in Valencian among others.

Valencian is also protected under theEuropean Charter for Regional or Minority Languages,ratified by Spain. However, the Committee of Experts of the Charter has pointed out a considerable number of deficiencies in the application of the Charter by the Spanish and Valencian governments.

Distribution and usage

Distribution

Unlike in other bilingualautonomous communities,Valencian has not historically been spoken to the same extent throughout theValencian Community.Slightly more than a quarter of its territory, equivalent to 10-15% of the population (its inland and southernmost areas), isSpanish-speakingsince the Middle Ages. Additionally, it is also spoken by a small number of people in theCarchecomarca,a rural area in theRegion of Murciaadjoining the Valencian Community.Nevertheless, Valencian does not have any official recognition in this area. Nowadays about 600 people are able to speak Valencian in Carche.

The Valencian language is traditionally spoken along the coast and in some inland areas in the provinces of Alicante and Castellón, fromVinaròs(northernmost point of the extension of Valencian in the coast of the Valencian Community) toGuardamar(southernmost point of Valencian).

Knowledge and usage

Knowledge of Valencian according to the 2001 census. The light green areas inland and in the southernmost part are not historically Valencian speaking (large).

In 2010 theGeneralitat Valenciana,or Valencian government, published a study,Coneixement and ús social del valencià(Knowledge and Social Use of Valencian),which included a survey sampling more than 6,600 people in the provinces of Castellón, Valencia, and Alicante. The survey simply collected the answers of respondents and did not include any testing or verification. The results were:

• Valencian was the language "always, generally, or most commonly used":
  • at home: 31.6%
  • with friends: 28.0%
  • in internal business relations: 24.7%

• For ability:
  • 48.5% answered they can speak Valencian "perfectly" or "quite well" (54.3% in the Valencian-speaking areas and 10% in the Spanish-speaking areas)
  • 26.2% answered they can write Valencian "perfectly" or "quite well" (29.5% in the Valencian-speaking areas and 5.8% in the Spanish-speaking areas)

The survey shows that, although Valencian is still the common language in many areas in the Valencian Community, where slightly more than half of the Valencian population are able to speak it, most Valencians do not usually use Valencian in their social relations.

Moreover, according to the most recent survey in 2021,there is a downward trend in everyday Valencian users. The lowest numbers are in the major cities ofValenciaandAlicante,where the percentage of everyday speakers is at single-digit numbers. However, the percentage of residents who claim to be able to understand and read Valencian seems to have increased since 2015.

Knowledge of Valencian in the Valencian Community (2021)

	Valencian-speaking zone	Spanish-speaking zone	Total
Understands it	79,4%	54%	75,8%
Knows how to speak it	54,9%	24,2%	50,6%
knows how to read it	60,9%	35%	57,2%
Knows how to write it	44,4%	19,5%	40,8%

Due to a number of political and social factors, including repression, immigration and lack of formal instruction in Valencian, the number of speakers has severely decreased, and the influence of Spanish has led to the appearance of a number ofbarbarisms.

Features of Valencian

The maindialects of Catalan.Western Catalan block comprises the two dialects of North-Western Catalan and Valencian.

This is a list of features of the main forms of Valencian as a group of dialectal varieties that differ from those of other Catalan dialects, particularly from the Central variety of the language. For more general information on the features of Valencian, seeCatalan language.There is a great deal of variety within the Valencian Community, and by no means do the features below apply to every local version.

TheAcadèmia Valenciana de la Llenguaspecifies standard Valencian as having some specific syntax, vocabulary, verb conjugations and accent marks compared to standardCatalan.

Phonology

Main article:Catalan phonology

Vowels

Vowels of Valencian, fromSaborit Vilar 2009,p. 23

Vowels of Valencian

	Front	Back
Close	i	u
	e	o
Open	ɛ	ɔ
	a

• The stressed vowel system of Valencian is the same as that of Eastern Catalan:/a/,/e/,/ɛ/,/i/,/o/,/ɔ/,and/u/,with/ɛ/and/ɔ/being considerably lower than in EC.
  • The vowels/i/and/u/are more open and centralised than in Spanish. This effect is more pronounced in unstressed syllables, where the phones are best transcribed[ɪ,ʊ].As the process is completely predictable, the latter symbols are not used elsewhere in the article. (Due to the proximity of unstressed close and/or close-mid/mid vowels, nonstandard colloquial Valencian may feature further lowerings producing vowel alterations ormetathesis,e.g.piscina→ *pescina'pool').
  • The vowel/e/is somewhat retracted[e̠]and/o/is somewhat advanced[o̟]both in stressed and unstressed syllables./e/and/o/can be realised as mid vowels[e̞,o̞]in some cases. This occurs more often with/o/.
  • The so-called "open vowels",/ɛ/and/ɔ/,are generally as low as/a/in most Valencian dialects. The phonetic realisations of/ɛ/approaches[æ]and/ɔ/is as open as[ɒ](as in traditionalRPdog). This feature is also found inBalearic.
    • /ɛ/is slightly more open and centralised before liquids/l,ɾ,r/and in monosyllabics.
    • /ɔ/is most often a back vowel. In some dialects (including Balearic)/ɔ/can be unrounded.
  • The vowel/a/is slightly more fronted and closed than in Central Catalan (but less fronted and closed than in Majorcan). The precise phonetic realisation of the vowel/a/in Valencian is [ɐ~ä], this vowel is subject to assimilation in many instances.
    • Stressed/a/can be retracted to[ɑ]in contact with velar consonants (including the velarised[ɫ]), and fronted to[a]in contact with palatals.This is not transcribed in the article.
    • Final unstressed/a/may have the following values: [ɛ̈~ɔ̈~ä̝] (phonetically[ɜ~ɞ~ɐ],and traditionally transcribed without diacritics and/or atypical characters/ɛ,ɔ,a/for simplicity), depending on the preceding sounds and/or dialect (see vowel harmony below).
  • All vowels are phonetically nasalised between nasal consonants or when preceding a syllable-final nasal.
  • Vowels can be lengthened in some contexts.
• There are five general unstressed vowels/a,e,i,o,u/.Although unstressed vowels are more stable than in Eastern Catalan dialects, there are many cases where they merge:
  • In some Valencian varieties, unstressed/o/and/ɔ/are realised as/u/before labial consonants (e.g.coberts[kuˈbɛɾ(t)s]'cutlery'), before a stressed syllable with a high vowel (e.g.sospira[susˈpiɾa]'he/she sighs') and in some given names (e.g.Josep[dʒuˈzɛp]'Joseph') (note also in some colloquial speeches initial unstressed/o~ɔ/is often diphthongised to[aw],olor[awˈloɾ]) 'smell (n.)'). Similarly, unstressed/e/and/ɛ/are realised as/a/in contact with sibilants, nasals and certain approximants (e.g.eixam[ajˈʃam]'swarm',entendre[anˈtendɾe]'to understand',clevill[klaˈviʎ]'crevice'). Likewise (although not recommended by the AVL), unstressed/e~ɛ/merges with/i/in contact with palatal consonants (e.g.genoll[dʒiˈnoʎ]'knee'), and especially (in this case it is accepted) in lexical derivation with the suffix-ixement(e.g.coneixement[konejʃiˈment]'knowledge'). In the Standard most of these reductions are accepted (/e,ɛ/→[i]is only accepted in words with the suffix-ixement).
  • Many Valencian dialects, especially Southern Valencian, feature some sort ofvowel harmony(harmonia vocàlica). This process is normally progressive (i.e. preceding vowels affect those pronounced afterwards) over the last unstressed vowel of a word; e.g.hora/ˈɔɾa/>[ˈɔɾɔ]'hour'. However, there are cases where regressive metaphony occurs over pretonic vowels; e.g.tovallola/tovaˈʎɔla/>[tɔvɔˈʎɔlɔ]'towel',afecta/aˈfɛkta/>[ɛˈfɛktɛ]'affects'. Vowel harmony differs greatly from dialect to dialect, while many varieties assimilate both to the height and the quality of the preceding stressed vowel (e.g.terra[ˈtɛrɛ]'Earth, land' anddona[ˈdɔnɔ]'woman'); in other varieties, it is just the height that assimilates, so thatterraanddonacan be realised with either/ɛ/([ɜ]) ([ˈtɛrɛ]and/or[ˈdɔnɛ]) or with/ɔ/([ɞ]) ([ˈtɛrɔ]and/or[ˈdɔnɔ]), depending on the speaker.
    • In a wider sense, vowel harmony can occur in further instances, due to different processes involving palatalisation, velarisarion and labialisation.
    • In some subvarieties (e.g. Valencian fromNovelda) the unstressed vowels produced by vowel harmony may actually be higher than the stressed ones.
  • In certain cases, the unstressed/a,e/become silent when followed or preceded by a stressed vowel:quinzeanys[ˌkinzˈaɲ(t)ʃ]'fifteen years'.
  • In certain accents, vowels occurring at the end of aprosodic unitmay be realised as centring diphthongs for special emphasis, so thatEh tu! Vine ací"Hey you! Come here!" may be pronounced[ˈeˈtuə̯ˈvinea̯ˈsiə̯].The non-syllabic[a̯](phonetically[ɐ̯]) is unrelated to this phenomenon as it is an unstressed non-syllabic allophone of/a/that occurs after vowels, much like in Spanish.

Main vocalic allophones

Phoneme	Allophone	Usage	Example	English
/a/
	[ä]~[ɐ]	- Found in most instances	mà	hand
	[a]	- Before/after palatals (*)	nyap	botched job
	[ã]	- Same than[a],but followed by a nasal	llamp	lightning
	[ɑ]	- Before/after velars	poal	bucket
	[ɑ̃]	- Same than[ɑ],but followed by a nasal	sang	blood
	[ɐ]	- In unstressed position	abans	before
	[ɐ̃]	- Nasal[ɐ];that is,[ɐ]followed by or in between nasals	llançat	thrown
	[ɛ̈]~[ɔ̈] (i.e.[ɜ]~[ɞ])	- Final unstressed syllables (vowel harmony) (*)	terra/dona	Earth, land;woman
/ɛ/
	[æ]	- Before liquids and in monosyllabic terms	set	seven
	[æ̃]	- Before nasals	dens	dense
	[ɛ]	- Rest of cases (*)	tesi	thesis
/e/
	[e]	- Found in stressed and unstressed syllables	sec	dry
	[ẽ]	- In stressed and unstressed position followed by or in between nasals	lent	slow
	[a]	- Unstressed position before palatals (*)	eixam	swarm
	[ɐ̃]	- In some cases, in unstressed position before nasals (*)	entendre	to understand
	[ɪ]	- Found in the suffix -ixement(*)	naixement	birth
/i/
	[i]	- Especially found in stressed syllables	sis	six
	[ĩ]	- Nasal[i];that is,[i]followed by or in between nasals	dins	in, within, inside
	[ɪ]	- Unstressed position	xiquet	boy
	[ɪ̃]	- Nasal[ɪ];that is,[ɪ]followed by or in between nasals	minvar	to decrease, to wane
	[j]	- Unstressed position before/after vowels	iogurt	yoghurt
/ɔ/
	[ɒ]	- Found before stops and in monosyllabic terms	roig	red
	[ɒ̃]	- Before nasals	pont	bridge
	[ɔ]	- Rest of cases (*)	dona	woman
/o/
	[o]	- Found in stressed and unstressed syllables	molt	much, very
	[õ]	- Nasal[o];that is,[o]followed by or in between nasals	on	where
	[o̞]	- Found in the suffix -dorand in coda stressed syllables	cançó	song
	[ʊ]	- Unstressed position before labials, a syllable with a high vowel and in some given names (*)	Josep	Joseph
	[ʊ̃]	- Same as[ʊ],but followed by a nasal	complit	to fulfill
	[ew]	- Found in most cases with the weak pronounho	ho	it
/u/
	[u]	- Especially found in stressed syllables	lluç	hake
	[ũ]	- Nasal[u];that is,[u]followed by or in between nasals	fum	smoke
	[ʊ]	- Unstressed position	sucar	to soak, to dip
	[ʊ̃]	- Nasal[ʊ];that is,[ʊ]followed by or in between nasals	muntó	a lot
	[w]	- Unstressed position before/after vowels	teua	your(f.)

Consonants

Consonants of Valencian

		Labial		Dental/ Alveolar		Palatal		Velar
Nasal			m		n		ɲ		(ŋ)
Plosive		p	b	t	d			k	ɡ
Affricate				ts	dz	tʃ	dʒ
Fricative		f	v	s	z	ʃ	(ʒ)
Approximant	Central						j		w
	Lateral				l		ʎ
Rhotic	Tap				ɾ
	Trill				r

• Thevoicedstops/d,ɡ/arelenitedto approximants[ð,ɣ]after acontinuant,i.e. a vowel or any type of consonant other than astopornasal(exceptions include/d/afterlateral consonants). These sounds are realised as voiceless plosives in the coda in standard Valencian.
  • /b/can also be lenited in betacist dialects.
  • /d/is often elided between vowels following a stressed syllable (found notably in feminine participles,/ada/→[aː],and in the suffix-dor); e.g.fideuà[fiðeˈwaː]( <fideuada) 'fideuà',mocador[mokaˈoɾ]'tissue' (note this feature, although widely spread in South Valencia, is not recommended in standard Valencian,except for reborrowed terms such asAlbà,Roà,the previously mentionedfideuà,etc.).
  • Unlike other Catalan dialects, the clusters/bl/and/ɡl/never geminate or fortify in intervocalic position (e.g.poble[ˈpɔble]'village').
• The velar stops/k/,/ɡ/arefrontedto pre-velar position [k̟,ɡ̟] beforefront vowels:qui[ˈk̟i]('who').
• Valencian has preserved in most of its varieties the mediaevalvoiced pre-palatal affricate/dʒ/(similar to thejin English "jeep" ) in contexts where other modern dialects have developedfricative consonants/ʒ/(like thesiin English "vision" ), e.g.dijous[diˈdʒɔws]('Thursday').
  • Note the fricative[ʒ]appears only as a voicedallophoneof/ʃ/before vowels and voiced consonants; e.g.peixal forn[ˈpejʒalˈfoɾn]'oven fish'.
• Unlike other Catalan dialects,/dʒ/and/tʃ/do not geminate (in most accents):metge[ˈmedʒe]('medic'), andcotxe[ˈkotʃe]('car'). Exceptions may include learned terms likepidgin[ˈpiddʒin]('pidgin').
• In the Standard, intervocalic/dz/,e.g.setze('sixteen'), and/ts/,e.g.potser('maybe'), are recommended to be pronounced with a gemination of the stop element ([ddz]and[tts],respectively. However this is not transcribed in Standard transcriptions).
• /v/occurs in Balearic,Alguerese,standard Valencian and some areas in southern Catalonia (e.g.viu[ˈviw],'s/he lives').It hasmergedwith/b/elsewhere.
  • /v/is realised as an approximant[ʋ]after continuants:avanç[aˈʋans]('advance'). This is not transcribed in this article.
• Deaffrication of/dz/to[z]in verbs ending in-itzarand derivatives:analitzar[analiˈzaɾ]('to analise'),organització[oɾɣanizaˈsjo]('organisation'). Also in words likebotzina[boˈzina]('horn'),horitzó[oɾiˈzo]('horizon') andmagatzem[maɣaˈzem]('storehouse') (c.f.guitza[ˈɡidza],'bother').
• Most varieties of Valencian preserve final stops in clusters (e.g./mp/,/nt/,/ŋk/,and/lt/):camp[ˈkamp]'field' (a feature shared with modernBalearic). Dialectally, all final clusters can be simplified.
• /l/is normallyvelarised([ɫ]), especially in the coda.
  • /l/is generallydroppedin the wordaltre[ˈatɾe]('other'), as well as in derived terms.
• /ɾ/is mostly retained in the coda (e.g.estar[esˈtaɾ],'to be'), except for some cases where it is dropped:arbre[ˈabɾe]('tree') anddiners[diˈnes]('money').In some dialects/ɾ/can be further dropped in combinatory forms with infinitives and pronouns.
• In some dialects,/s/is pronounced[sʲ]or[ʃ]after/i,j,ʎ,ɲ/.In the Standard only is accepted after/i/(in the inchoative form with/sk/→[ʃk]), and after/ʎ,ɲ/:ells[ˈeʎʃ]('they'). In some variants the result may be an affricate.
• In some places, some terms can undergo metathesis, likecridar→quid(r)ar('to call').

Morphology

• The present first-person singular of verbs differs from Central Catalan. All those forms without final -oare more akin to mediaeval Catalan and contemporary Balearic Catalan.

Comparison of present first-person singular with Central Catalan

Stem	Infinitive		Present first person singular
	Catalan	English	Valencian		Central		English
				IPA		IPA
-ar	parlar	to speak	parle	[ˈpaɾle]	parlo	[ˈpaɾlu]	I speak
-re	batre	to beat	bat	[ˈbat]	bato	[ˈbatu]	I beat
-er	témer	to fear	tem	[ˈtem]	temo	[ˈtemu]	I fear
-ir	sentir	to feel	sent	[ˈsent]	sento	[ˈsentu]	I feel
			senc(col.)	[ˈseŋk]
inchoative -ir	patir	to suffer	patisc	[paˈtisk]	pateixo	[pəˈtɛʃu]	I suffer
			patesc	[paˈtesk]

• Present subjunctive is more akin to medieval Catalan and Spanish; -arinfinitives end⟨e⟩,-re,-erand -irverbs end in⟨a⟩(in contemporary Central Catalan present subjunctive ends in⟨i⟩).
• An exclusive feature of Valencian is thesubjunctiveimperfect morpheme -ra:que ell vinguera('that he might come').
• Valencian has -i- as theme vowel for inchoative verbs of the third conjugation; e.g.servix('s/he serves'), like North-Western Catalan. Although, again, this cannot be generalised since there are Valencian dialects that utilise -ei-, e.g.serveix.
• In Valencian the simple past tense (e.g.cantà'he sang') is more frequently used in speech than in Central Catalan, where the periphrastic past (e.g.va cantar'he sang') is prevailing and the simple past mostly appears in written language. The same, however, may be said of the Balearic dialects.
• The second-person singular of the present tense of the verbser('to be'),ets('you are'), has been replaced byeresin colloquial speech.
• The infinitiveveure('to see') has the variantvore,which belongs to more informal and spontaneous registers.
• The usage of the periphrasis of obligationtindre+que+ infinitive is widely spread in colloquial Valencian, instead of the Standardhaver+de(equivalent to English "have to" ).

Clitics

• In general, use of modern forms of the determinate article (el,els'the') and the third-person unstressed object pronouns (el,els'him, them'), though some dialects (for instance the one spoken inVinaròsarea) preserve etymological formslo,losas inLleida.For the other unstressed object pronouns, etymological old forms (me,te,se,ne,mos,vos...) can be found, depending on places, in conjunction with the more modern reinforced ones (em,et,es,en,ens,us...).
  • Several local variations fornosaltres,vosaltres('we, you'):mosatros,moatros,matros,etc.;vosatros,voatros,vatros,etc.; also for the weak formmos/-mosinstead of standardens/'ns/-nos('us') andvos/-vosinstead ofus/-vos('you pl.'), the latter (vos,instead ofus) is considered standard.
• The adverbial pronounhi('there') is almost never used in speech and is replaced by other pronouns. The adverbial pronounen('him/her/them/it') is used less than in Catalonia and the Balearic Islands.
• Combined weak cliticswithli('him/her/it') preserve theli,whereas in Central Catalan it is replaced byhi.For example, the combinationli+elgivesli'lin Valencian (l'hiin Central Catalan).
• The weak pronounho('it') is pronounced as:
  • [ew],when it forms syllable with a pronoun:m'ho dóna[mewˈðona],dóna-m'ho[ˈdonamew]('s/he gives it to me')
  • [ew]or[u],when it comes before a verb starting with consonant:ho dóna[ewˈðona](or[uˈðona]) ('s/he gives it')
  • [w],when precedes a vowel or when coming after a vowel:li ho dóna[liwˈðona]('s/he gives it to her/him'),dóna-ho[ˈdonaw]('you give it')
  • [o],when it comes after a consonant or a semivowel:donar-ho[doˈnaɾo]('to give it').
• The personal pronounjo('I') and the adverbja('already') are not pronounced according to the spelling, but to the etymology ([ˈjɔ]and[ˈja],instead of/ˈ(d)ʒɔ/and/ˈ(d)ʒa/). Similar pronunciations can be heard in North-Western Catalan and Ibizan.
• The prepositionamb('with') merges withen('in') in most Valencian dialects.
• The compound prepositionper a('for') is usually reduced topain colloquial Valencian.
• Valencian preserves the mediaeval system of demonstratives with three different levels of demonstrative precision (esteoraquest/açò/ací,eixeoraqueix/això/ahí,aquell/allò/allíorallà,whereaquestandaqueixare almost never used) (feature shared with modern Ribagorçan and Tortosan).

Vocabulary

Valencian vocabulary contains words both restricted to the Valencian-speaking domain, as well as words shared with other Catalan varieties, especially withNorth-Western ones.Words are rarely spread evenly over the Valencian Community, but are usually contained to parts of it, or spread out into other dialectal areas. Examples includehui'today' (found in all of Valencia except transitional dialects, in Northern dialectsavui) andespill'mirror' (shared with North-Western dialects, Central Catalanmirall). There is also variation within Valencia, such as 'corn', which isdacsain Central and Southern Valencian, butpanísin Alicante and Northern Valencian (as well as in North-Western Catalan). Since Standard Valencian is based on the Southern dialect, words from this dialect are often used as primary forms in the standard language, despite other words traditionally being used in other Valencian dialects. Examples of this aretomaca'tomato' (which istomataoutside of Southern Valencian) andmatalaf'mattress' (which ismatalapin parts of Valencia, including the Southern Valencian area).

Written varieties (phonetics)

Valencian (AVL)	Catalan (IEC)	English
anglés	anglès	English
conéixer	conèixer	to know
traure	treure	take out
nàixer	néixer	to be born
cànter	càntir	pitcher
redó	rodó	round
meua	meva	my, mine
huit	vuit	eight
ametla	ametlla	almond
estrela	estrella	star
colp	cop	hit
llangosta	llagosta	lobster
hòmens	homes	men
servici	servei	service

Below are a selection of words which differ or have different forms in Standard Valencian and Catalan. In many cases, both standards include this variation in their respective dictionaries, but differ as to what form is considered primary. In other cases, Valencian includes colloquial forms not present in the IEC standard. Primary forms in each standard are shown in bold (and may be more than one form). Words in brackets are present in the standard in question, but differ in meaning from how thecognateis used in the other standard.

Standard Valencian (AVL)	Standard Catalan (IEC)	English
així,aixina	així	like this
bou,brau,toro	toro,bou,brau	bull
brull,brossat,mató	mató,brull,brossat	curd cheese
bresquilla,préssec	préssec,bresquilla	peach
corder,xai,anyell	xai,corder,anyell	lamb
creïlla,patata	patata,creïlla	potato
dacsa,panís	blat de moro,panís	corn
dènou,dèneu,dinou	dinou,dènou	nineteen
dos,dues	dues,dos	two (f.)
eixe,aqueix	aqueix,eixe	that
eixir,sortir	sortir,eixir	to exit, leave
engrunsador(a),gronxador(a)	gronxador(a)	swing
espill,mirall	mirall,espill	mirror
este,aquest	aquest,este	this
fraula,maduixa	maduixa,fraula	strawberry
granera,escombra	escombra,granera	broom
hui,avui	avui,hui	today
llaurador,pagés	pagès,laurador	farmer
lluny,llunt	lluny	far
matalaf,matalap,matalàs	matalàs,matalaf	mattress
melic	llombrígol,melic	belly button
meló d'Alger,meló d'aigua,síndria	síndria,meló d'Alger,meló d'aigua	watermelon
mitat,meitat	meitat,mitat	half
palometa,papallona	papallona,palometa	butterfly
paréixer,semblar	semblar,parèixer	to seem
per favor	si us plau,per favor	please
poal	galleda	bucket
quint,cinqué	cinquè,quint	fifth
rabosa,guineu	guineu,rabosa	fox
roí(n),dolent	dolent,roí	bad, evil
roig,vermell	vermell,roig	red
safanòria,carlota	pastanaga,safanòria,carrota	carrot
sext,sisé	si sắc,sext	sixth
tindre,tenir	tenir,tindre	to have
tomaca,tomàquet,tomata	tomàquet,tomaca,tomata	tomato
vacacions,vacances	vacances,vacacions	holidays
vesprada	tarda	afternoon
veure,vore	veure	to see
vindre,venir	venir,vindre	to come
xicotet,petit	petit,xicotet	small
xiquet,nen	nen,nin,xiquet	boy
xic	noi,xic

Varieties of Valencian

Standard Valencian

TheAcademy of Valencian Studies(Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua,AVL), established by law in 1998 by theValencian autonomous governmentand constituted in 2001, is in charge of dictating the official rules governing the use of Valencian.Currently, the majority of people who write in Valencian use this standard.

Standard Valencian is based on the standard of theInstitute of Catalan Studies(Institut d'Estudis Catalans,IEC), used inCatalonia,with a few adaptations.This standard roughly follows theCastelló Norms(Normes de Castelló) from 1932,a set of othographic guidelines regarded as a compromise between the essence and style ofPompeu Fabra's guidelines, but also allowing the use of Valencian idiosyncrasies.

Valencian dialects

Dialects of Valencian

• Transitional Valencian(valencià de transició) orTortosan(tortosí): spoken only in the northernmost areas of the province ofCastellonin towns likeBenicarlóorVinaròs,the area ofMatarranyain Aragon (province ofTeruel), and a southern border area ofCataloniasurroundingTortosa,in the province ofTarragona.
  • Word-initial and postconsonantal/dʒ/(Catalan/ʒ/and/dʒ/~/ʒ/) alternates with[(j)ʒ]intervocalically; e.g.joc[ˈdʒɔk]('game'), butpitjor[piˈʒo]('worse'),boja[ˈbɔjʒa]('crazy') (Standard Valencian/ˈdʒɔk/,/piˈdʒoɾ/;/ˈbɔdʒa/;Standard Catalan/ˈʒɔk/,/piˈdʒo/and/ˈbɔʒə/).
  • Final⟨r⟩[ɾ]is not pronounced in infinitives; e.g.cantar[kanˈta](Standard/kanˈtaɾ/) ('to sing').
  • Archaicarticleslo,los('the') are used instead ofel,els;e.g.lo xic('the boy'),los hòmens('the men').
• Northern Valencian(valencià septentrional) orCastellon's Valencian(valencià castellonenc): spoken in an area surrounding the city ofCastellón de la Plana.
  • Use of[e]sound instead of standard⟨a⟩/a/in the third person singular of most verbs; e.g.(ell) cantava[kanˈtave](Standard/kanˈtava/) 'he sang'. Thus, Northern Valencian dialects contrast forms like(jo) cantava[kanˈtava]('I sang') with(ell) cantava[kanˈtave]('he sang'), but merges(jo) cante[ˈkante]('I sing') with(ell) canta[ˈkante]('he sings').
  • Palatalisation of⟨ts⟩/ts/>[tʃ]and⟨tz⟩/dz/>[ddʒ];e.g.pots/ˈpots/>[ˈpotʃ]('cans, jars, you can'),dotze/ˈdodze/>[ˈdoddʒe]('twelve'). Thus, this dialect may mergepasseig('walk') andpassets('little steps').
  • Depalatalization of/jʃ/to[jsʲ]by some speakers; e.g.caixa/ˈkajʃa/>[ˈkajsʲa]('box').
• Central Valencian(valencià central), orApitxat,spoken inValenciacity and its area, but not used as standard by the Valencian media.
  • Sibilant merger: all voiced sibilants are devoiced (/dʒ/>[tʃ],/dz/>[ts],/z/>[s]); that is,apitxatpronouncescasa[ˈkasa]('house') andjoc[ˈtʃɔk]('game'), where other Valencians would pronounce/ˈkaza/and/ˈdʒɔk/(feature shared withRibagorçan).
  • Betacism,that is the merge of/v/into/b/;e.g.viu[ˈbiw](instead of/ˈviw/) ('he lives').
  • Fortition (gemination) and vocalisation of final consonants;nit[ˈnitː(ə)](instead of/ˈnit/) ('night').
  • It preserves the strong simple past, which has been substituted by an analytic past (periphrastic past) withvadere+infinitivein the rest of modern Catalan and Valencian variants. For example,aníinstead ofvaig anar('I went').
• Southern Valencian(valencià meridional): spoken in the contiguouscomarqueslocated in the southernmost part of the Valencia province and the northernmost part in the province of Alicante. This dialect is considered as Standard Valencian.
  • Vowel harmony:the final syllable of a disyllabic word adopts a preceding open⟨e⟩(/ɛ/) and/or⟨o⟩(/ɔ/) if the final vowel is an unstressed -⟨a⟩;e.g.terra[ˈtɛrɛ]('Earth, land'),dona[ˈdɔnɔ]('woman'). Further merges (such as[ˈtɛrɔ]and[ˈdɔnɛ]) depends on the town and speaker.
  • This dialect retain geminate consonants (⟨tl⟩/lː/and⟨tn⟩/nː/); e.g.guatla[ˈɡwalːa]('quail'),cotna[ˈkonːa]('rind').
  • Weak pronouns are "reinforced" in front of the verb (em,en,et,es,etc.) contrary to other dialects which maintains "full form" (me,ne,te,se,etc.).
• Alicante's Valencian(valencià alacantí): spoken in the southern half of the province ofAlicante,and the area of Carche in Murcia.
  • Vowel harmonylike in the central Southern areas.
  • Intervocalic/d/elision in most instances; e.g.roda[ˈrɔa]('wheel'),nadal[naˈal]('Christmas').
  • Yod is not pronounced in⟨ix⟩/jʃ/>[ʃ];e.g.caixa[ˈkaʃa]('box').
  • Final⟨r⟩is not pronounced in infinitives in some areas and/or contexts; e.g.cantar[kanˈta]('to sing').
  • There are some archaisms like:ansinstead ofabans('before'),mancoinstead ofmenys('less'),dintreinstead ofdins('into') ordeversinstead ofcap a('towards').
  • There are more interferences with Spanish than other dialects:assul(fromazul) instead ofblau(oratzur) ('azure'),llimpiar(fromlimpiar) instead ofnetejar('to clean') orsacar(fromsacar) instead oftraure('take out').

Authors and literature

• Misteri d'Elx(c. 1350). Liturgical drama. Listed asMasterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of HumanitybyUNESCO.
• Curial e Güelfa(15th century), humanistic chivalric romance
• Ausiàs March(Gandia, 1400 – Valencia, 3 March 1459). Poet, widely read in renaissance Europe.
• Joanot Martorell(Gandia, 1413–1468). Knight and the author of the novelTirant lo Blanch.
• Isabel de Villena(Valencia, 1430–1490). Religious poet.
• Joan Roís de Corella(Gandia or Valencia, 1435 – Valencia, 1497). Knight and poet.
• Obres e trobes en lahors de la Verge Maria(1474) The first book printed in Spain. It is the compendium of a religious poetry contest held that year in the town of Valencia.

Media in Valencian

Main articles:Ràdio Televisió ValencianaandValencian Media Corporation

Employees demonstrate in front of the RTVV headquarters inBurjassotthe day of its closure

Until its dissolution in November 2013, the public-serviceRàdio Televisió Valenciana(RTVV) was the main broadcaster of radio and television in Valencian language. The Generalitat Valenciana constituted it in 1984 in order to guarantee thefreedom of informationof the Valencian people in their own language.It was reopened again in 2018 in the same location but under a different name, À Punt, and it is owned by À Punt Media, a group owned by theGeneralitat Valenciana.The new television channel claims to be plural, informative and neutral for all of the Valencian population. It is bilingual, with a focus on the Valencian language. It's recognised as a regional TV channel.

Prior to its dissolution, the administration of RTVV under thePeople's Party(PP) had been controversial due to accusations of ideological manipulation and lack of plurality. The news broadcast was accused of giving marginal coverage of theValencia Metro derailmentin 2006 and the indictment of President de la GeneralitatFrancisco Campsin theGürtelscandal in 2009.Supervisors appointed by the PP were accused ofsexual harassment.

In face of an increasing debt due to excessive expenditure by the PP, RTVV announced in 2012 a plan to shed 70% of its labour. The plan was nullified on 5 November 2013 by theNational Courtafter trade unions appealed against it. On that same day, the President de la GeneralitatAlberto Fabra(also fromPP) announced RTVV would be closed, claiming that reinstating the employees was untenable.On 27 November, the legislative assembly passed the dissolution of RTVV and employees organised to take control of the broadcast, starting a campaign against the PP. Nou TV's last broadcast ended abruptly when Spanish police pulled the plug at 12:19 on 29 November 2013.

Having lost all revenues from advertisements and facing high costs from the termination of hundreds of contracts, critics question whether the closure of RTVV has improved the financial situation of the Generalitat, and point out to plans to benefit private-owned media.Currently, the availability of media in the Valencian language is extremely limited. All the otherautonomous communities in Spain,including the monolingual ones, have public-service broadcasters, with the Valencian Community being the only exception despite being the fourth most populated.

In July 2016 a new public corporation,Valencian Media Corporation,was launched in substitution of RTVV. It manages and controls several public media in the Valencian Community, including the television channel À Punt, which started broadcasting in June 2018.

Politico-linguistic controversy

Further information:Valencian language controversy,Language secessionism,Blaverism,andNorms of El Puig

Linguists, including Valencian scholars, deal with Catalan and Valencian as the same language. The official regulating body of the language of the Valencian community, theValencian Language Academy(Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua,AVL) considers Valencian and Catalan to be two names for the same language.

[T]he historical patrimonial language of theValencian people,from a philological standpoint, is the same shared by the autonomous communities ofCataloniaandBalearic Islands,andPrincipality of Andorra.Additionally, it is the patrimonial historical language of other territories of the ancientCrown of Aragon[...] The different varieties of these territories constitute a language, that is, a "linguistic system" [...] From this group of varieties, Valencian has the same hierarchy and dignity as any other dialectal modality of that linguistic system [...]

— Ruling of the Valencian Language Academy of 9 February 2005, extract of point 1.

Chronological map showing linguistic evolution of Valencian/Catalan in southwest Europe

The AVL was established in 1998 by the PP-UVgovernment ofEduardo Zaplana.According toEl País,Jordi Pujol,then president of Catalonia and of theCiU,negotiated with Zaplana in 1996 to ensure the linguistic unity of Catalan in exchange for CiU support of the appointment ofJosé María AznarasPrime Minister of Spain.Zaplana has denied this, claiming that "[n]ever, never, was I able to negotiate that which is not negotiable, neither that which is not in the negotiating scope of a politician. That is, the unity of the language".The AVL orthography is based on theNormes de Castelló,a set of rules for writing Valencian established in 1932.

A rival set of rules, calledNormes del Puig,were established in 1979 by theRoyal Academy of Valencian Culture(Real Acadèmia de Cultura Valenciana,RACV), which considers itself a rival language academy to the AVL, and promotes analternative orthography,treating Valencian as an independent language, as opposed to a variety of Catalan. Compared to Standard Valencian, this orthography excludes many words not traditionally used in the Valencian Community, and also prefers spellings such as ⟨ch⟩ for /tʃ/ and ⟨y⟩ for /j/ (as inSpanish). Besides, these alternative Norms are also promoted and taught by the cultural associationLo Rat Penat.

Valencian is classified as a Western dialect, along with the North-Western varieties spoken in Western Catalonia (Province of Lleidaand most of theProvince of Tarragona).The various forms of Catalan and Valencian are mutually intelligible (ranging from 90% to 95%)

Despite the position of the official organisations, an opinion poll carried out between 2001 and 2004showed that the majority (65%) of the Valencian people (both Valencian and Spanish speakers) consider Valencian different from Catalan: this position is promoted by people who do not use Valencian regularly.Furthermore, the data indicate that younger people educated in Valencian speaking areas are considerably less likely to hold these views. According to an official poll in 2014,54% of Valencians considered Valencian to be a language different from Catalan, while 41% considered the languages to be the same. By applying a binarylogistic regressionto the same data, it was also found that different opinions about the unity of the language are different between people with certain levels of studies and the opinion also differs between each of the Valencian provinces. The opinion agreeing on the unity of Valencian and Catalan has significant differences regarding age, level of education and province of residence, with a majority of those aged 18–24 (51%) and those with a higher education (58%) considering Valencian to be the same language as Catalan. This can be compared to those aged 65 and above (29%) and those with only primary education (32%), where the same view has its lowest support. People living in the province ofCastellónare more prone to be in favor of the unity of the language, while people living in the province ofAlicanteare more prone to be against the unity of the language, especially in the areas where Valencian is not a mandatory language at schools.Later studies also showed that the results differ significantly depending on the way the question is posed.

The ambiguity regarding the term Valencian and its relation to Catalan has sometimes led to confusion and controversy. In 2004, during the drafting of theEuropean Constitution,the regional governments of Spain where a language other than Spanish is co-official were asked to submit translations into the relevant language in question. Since different names are used in Catalonia ( "Catalan" ) and in the Valencian Community ( "Valencian" ), the two regions each provided one version, which were identical to each other.

See also

• Pluricentric language
• Valencian Sign Language
• Che (interjection) § Other uses(spelledxein Modern Valencian)
• Valencian linguistic conflict
• Similar linguistic controversies:
  • Andalusian language movement
  • Names given to the Spanish language
  • Moldovan language
  • Occitan language
  • Serbo-Croatian

Bibliography

• Beltran i Calvo, Vicent; Segura i Llopes, Carles (2018),Els parlars valencians(2 ed.), Valencia: Publicacions Universitat de València,ISBN978-84-9134-240-3
• Carbonell, Joan F.; Llisterri, Joaquim (1992), "Catalan",Journal of the International Phonetic Association,22(1–2): 53,doi:10.1017/S0025100300004618,S2CID249411809
• Colomina i Castanyer, Jordi (1995),Els valencians i la llengua normativa,Alicante: Textos universitaris. Institut de Cultura "Juan Gil-Albert",ISBN84-7784-178-0.
• Costa Carreras, Joan; Yates, Alan (2009),The Architect of Modern Catalan: Selected Writings/Pompeu Fabra (1868–1948),Instutut d'Estudis Catalans & Universitat Pompeu Fabra & Jonh Benjamins B.V., pp. 6–7,ISBN978-90-272-3264-9
• Guinot, Enric (1999),Els fundadors del Regne de València,Valencia: Edicions 3i4,ISBN84-7502-592-7
• Lledó, Miquel Àngel (2011),"26. The Independent Standardization of Valencia: From Official Use to Underground Resistance",Handbook of Language and Ethnic Identity: The Success-Failure Continuum in Language and Ethnic Identity Efforts (Volume 2),New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 336–348,ISBN978-0-19-539245-6
• Feldhausen, Ingo (2010),Sentential Form and Prosodic Structure of Catalan,John Benjamins B.V.,ISBN978-90-272-5551-8Salvador i Gimeno, Carles (1951).Gramàtica valenciana.Associació Cultural Lo Rat Penat. Valencia 1995.ISBN84-85211-71-5
• Recasens Vives, Daniel (1996) [1991],Fonètica descriptiva del català: assaig de caracterització de la pronúncia del vocalisme i el consonantisme català al segle XX,Biblioteca Filològica (in Catalan), vol. 21 (2nd ed.), Barcelona. Spain: Institut d'Estudis Catalans,ISBN978-84-7283-312-8
• Recasens Vives, Daniel (2014),Fonètica i fonologia experimentals del català(in Catalan), Barcelona. Spain: Institut d'Estudis Catalans
• Saborit Vilar, Josep (2009),Millorem la pronúncia,Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua
• Salvador i Gimeno, Carles (1963),Valencians i la llengua autòctona durant els segles XVI, XVII i XVIII,Valencia: Institució Alfons el Magnànim,ISBN84-370-5334-X.
• Sanchis i Guarner, Manuel,La llengua dels valencians,Valencia: Edicions 3i4,ISBN84-7502-082-8
• Valor i Vives, Enric (1973),Curs mitjà de gramàtica catalana, referida especialment al País Valencià,Valencia: Grog Editions,ISBN84-85211-45-6
• Veny, Joan (2007),Petit Atles lingüístic del domini català,vol. 1 & 2, Barcelona: Institut d'Estudis Catalans, p. 51,ISBN978-84-7283-942-7
• Wheeler, Max; Yates, Alan; Dols, Nicolau (1999),Catalan: A Comprehensive Grammar,London: Routledge
• Wheeler, Max (2003), "5. Catalan",The Romance Languages,London: Routledge, pp. 170–208,ISBN0-415-16417-6
• Wheeler, Max (2005),The Phonology of Catalan,Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 54,ISBN978-0-19-925814-7
• Wheeler, Max H. (2006), "Catalan",Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics,Elsevier,ISBN978-0-08-044299-0

External links

• Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua (AVL)
• Diccionari normatiu valencià (DNV)
• Institut Joan Lluís Vives

Documents

• Disputing theories about Valencian origin(in Spanish)
• The origins and evolution of language secessionism in Valencia. An analysis from the transition period until today
• Article fromEl País(25 October 2005) regarding report on use of Valencian published byServei d'Investicació i Estudis Sociolingüístics(in Spanish)