Community hub
Recent from talks
Contribute something to knowledge base
Content stats: 0 posts, 0 articles, 1 media, 0 notes
Members stats: 0 subscribers, 0 contributors, 0 moderators, 0 supporters
Subscribers
Supporters
Contributors
Moderators
Hub AI
Old Catalan AI simulator
(@Old Catalan_simulator)
Hub AI
Old Catalan AI simulator
(@Old Catalan_simulator)
Old Catalan
Old Catalan, also known as Medieval Catalan, is the modern denomination for Romance varieties that during the Middle Ages were spoken in territories that spanned roughly the territories of the Principality of Catalonia, the Kingdom of Valencia, the Balearic Islands, and the island of Sardinia; all of them then part of the Crown of Aragon. These varieties were part of a dialect continuum with what today is called Old Occitan that reached the Loire Valley in the north and Northern Italy in the east. Consequently, Old Catalan can be considered a dialect group of Old Occitan,[citation needed] or be classified as an Occitano-Romance variety side by side with Old Occitan (also known as Old Provençal).
The modern separation of Catalan and Occitan should not be confused with a clear separation between the languages in the mindset of their speakers historically. From the 8th century to the 13th century, there was no clear sociolinguistic distinction between Occitania and Catalonia. For instance, the Provençal troubadour, Albertet de Sestaró, says: "Monks, tell me which according to your knowledge are better: the French or the Catalans? And here I shall put Gascony, Provence, Limousin, Auvergne and Viennois while there shall be the land of the two kings." (Monges, causetz, segons vostre siensa qual valon mais, catalan ho francés?/ E met de sai Guascuenha e Proensa/ E lemozí, alvernh’ e vianés/ E de lai met la terra dels dos reis.)[citation needed] In Marseille, a typical Provençal song is called "Catalan song". Moreover, the dialects of Modern Catalan were still considered to be part of the same language as the dialects of Occitan in the 19th century, when Catalans still could call their language Llengua llemosina, using the name of the Limousin dialect as a metonymy for Occitan.
It is believed that Old Catalan featured a sequence /jl/ that contrasted with /ʎ/ in non-initial positions. The former came from the Latin groups C'L, G'L, LE, and LI and was written as ⟨yl⟩ and ⟨il⟩, whereas the latter was written ⟨ll⟩. The palatal lateral has remained unchanged in modern Catalan, but the /jl/ sequence has coalesced into /ʎ/ in most dialects (including all the Western bloc and most of Central Catalan) removing the distinction. In a minority of dialects (such as Insular Catalan, where it remains unchallenged and some towns in the provinces of Girona and Barcelona such as Vic and its surrounds and towns in Selva, where it has more or less remained the traditional pronunciation), the /l/ was dropped, yielding a merger with /j/ instead.
Around the 12th century, word-initial /l/ became /ʎ/, but it continued to be spelled as ⟨l⟩ until the 15th century, when it was replaced by the modern ⟨ll⟩ spelling.
Latin words with ⟨ll⟩ would also come to be pronounced /ʎ/ just like in Spanish, but and unlike Spanish /ʎ/ could also appear word-finally.
/v/ began to merge into /b/ in some dialects around the 14th century, a process called betacism. Now, the distinction is maintained only in Valencia, the Balearic Islands, and towns in southern Tarragona.
Like other Western Romance languages, soft ⟨c⟩ (i.e. before either ⟨e⟩ or ⟨i⟩) and ⟨ç⟩ was pronounced /ts/, and it would only later merge into /s/. Likewise ⟨z⟩ was pronounced /dz/, and it would only later merge into /z/ (due to final-obstruent devoicing final ⟨z⟩ was also pronounced /ts/, as ⟨ç⟩). Instances of intervocalic /dz/ would be kept although with the rather different ⟨tz⟩ spelling: compare Catalan/Occitan dotze 'twelve', tretze 'thirteen', setze 'sixteen' with Old French doze, treze, seze. Later instances of intervocalic /z/ from Greek and Arabic would also give the rise of a second /dz/, which would keep the ⟨tz⟩ spelling.
Also due to final-obstruent devoicing, word-final instances of /dʒ/ would devoice to /tʃ/ (such as final -⟨ig⟩: puig 'hill', mig 'half'). Other instances of /tʃ/ (mostly borrowed non-native), came to be spelled with the rather different ⟨tx⟩ spelling: fletxa 'arrow' (< Old French fleche, now flèche), botxí 'executioner' ( < Old French bouchier 'butcher'), caputxa 'hood' (< Italian cappuccio), butxaca 'pocket' ( < obscure) and remain with such spelling to this day.
Old Catalan
Old Catalan, also known as Medieval Catalan, is the modern denomination for Romance varieties that during the Middle Ages were spoken in territories that spanned roughly the territories of the Principality of Catalonia, the Kingdom of Valencia, the Balearic Islands, and the island of Sardinia; all of them then part of the Crown of Aragon. These varieties were part of a dialect continuum with what today is called Old Occitan that reached the Loire Valley in the north and Northern Italy in the east. Consequently, Old Catalan can be considered a dialect group of Old Occitan,[citation needed] or be classified as an Occitano-Romance variety side by side with Old Occitan (also known as Old Provençal).
The modern separation of Catalan and Occitan should not be confused with a clear separation between the languages in the mindset of their speakers historically. From the 8th century to the 13th century, there was no clear sociolinguistic distinction between Occitania and Catalonia. For instance, the Provençal troubadour, Albertet de Sestaró, says: "Monks, tell me which according to your knowledge are better: the French or the Catalans? And here I shall put Gascony, Provence, Limousin, Auvergne and Viennois while there shall be the land of the two kings." (Monges, causetz, segons vostre siensa qual valon mais, catalan ho francés?/ E met de sai Guascuenha e Proensa/ E lemozí, alvernh’ e vianés/ E de lai met la terra dels dos reis.)[citation needed] In Marseille, a typical Provençal song is called "Catalan song". Moreover, the dialects of Modern Catalan were still considered to be part of the same language as the dialects of Occitan in the 19th century, when Catalans still could call their language Llengua llemosina, using the name of the Limousin dialect as a metonymy for Occitan.
It is believed that Old Catalan featured a sequence /jl/ that contrasted with /ʎ/ in non-initial positions. The former came from the Latin groups C'L, G'L, LE, and LI and was written as ⟨yl⟩ and ⟨il⟩, whereas the latter was written ⟨ll⟩. The palatal lateral has remained unchanged in modern Catalan, but the /jl/ sequence has coalesced into /ʎ/ in most dialects (including all the Western bloc and most of Central Catalan) removing the distinction. In a minority of dialects (such as Insular Catalan, where it remains unchallenged and some towns in the provinces of Girona and Barcelona such as Vic and its surrounds and towns in Selva, where it has more or less remained the traditional pronunciation), the /l/ was dropped, yielding a merger with /j/ instead.
Around the 12th century, word-initial /l/ became /ʎ/, but it continued to be spelled as ⟨l⟩ until the 15th century, when it was replaced by the modern ⟨ll⟩ spelling.
Latin words with ⟨ll⟩ would also come to be pronounced /ʎ/ just like in Spanish, but and unlike Spanish /ʎ/ could also appear word-finally.
/v/ began to merge into /b/ in some dialects around the 14th century, a process called betacism. Now, the distinction is maintained only in Valencia, the Balearic Islands, and towns in southern Tarragona.
Like other Western Romance languages, soft ⟨c⟩ (i.e. before either ⟨e⟩ or ⟨i⟩) and ⟨ç⟩ was pronounced /ts/, and it would only later merge into /s/. Likewise ⟨z⟩ was pronounced /dz/, and it would only later merge into /z/ (due to final-obstruent devoicing final ⟨z⟩ was also pronounced /ts/, as ⟨ç⟩). Instances of intervocalic /dz/ would be kept although with the rather different ⟨tz⟩ spelling: compare Catalan/Occitan dotze 'twelve', tretze 'thirteen', setze 'sixteen' with Old French doze, treze, seze. Later instances of intervocalic /z/ from Greek and Arabic would also give the rise of a second /dz/, which would keep the ⟨tz⟩ spelling.
Also due to final-obstruent devoicing, word-final instances of /dʒ/ would devoice to /tʃ/ (such as final -⟨ig⟩: puig 'hill', mig 'half'). Other instances of /tʃ/ (mostly borrowed non-native), came to be spelled with the rather different ⟨tx⟩ spelling: fletxa 'arrow' (< Old French fleche, now flèche), botxí 'executioner' ( < Old French bouchier 'butcher'), caputxa 'hood' (< Italian cappuccio), butxaca 'pocket' ( < obscure) and remain with such spelling to this day.
Recent media
Recent media