VTrain.net      
Project icon      

The ultimate vocabulary learning software

       
   
                 
     Vocabulary Database       | HOME | DOWNLOAD | DONATE | WHAT'S NEW | VOCABULARY DATABASE |    
                 
   
 VOCABULARY DATABASE > CATALAN AND VALENCIAN > INFORMATION
   
                 
            Catalan is a Romance language spoken by some 7 million people in eastern Spain. There are also speakers in France (200,000) and Sardinia (30,000), and it is the official language of Andorra (20,000 speakers).

Written evidence of the language dates back to the 12th c. Literature flourished 13th-15th c., but declined after the unification of Spain, until it experienced a revival during the 19th c. Sponsored by regional authorities, today it is gaining ever more importance as a
cultural language in the Spanish regions of Catalonia, Valencia, and the Balearic Islands.

In Valencia, there has been much controversy over the name of the language, arising from the fact that the term
Catalan is used to refer both to the language as a whole and to the written standard used in Catalonia. The regional authorities of Valencia have even sponsored the creation of a separate standard based on the varieties spoken in that region.

The language features the traits common to all Romance languages. In particular, it lost noun
declension but kept a rich verb system. Being similar to Occitan, its morphology is relatively archaic, and its sound system is more complex than that of (standard) Spanish.
   
                 
                 
   
     
   
    Updated: 2017 January 25
Legal notice.
      Copyright © 1999-2016 by The authors. All rights reserved.
Our homepage is
http://www.vtrain.net