Phonological history of Catalan

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As a member of the dialect continuum of Romance languages, Catalan (including Valencian) displays linguistic features similar to those of its closest neighbors (Occitan, Aragonese). The following features represent in some cases unique changes in the evolution of Catalan from Vulgar Latin; other features are common in other Romance-speaking areas.

Contents

Phonology

Catalan is one of the Western Romance languages; it is most closely related to Occitan and only diverged from it between the eleventh and fourteenth centuries [1] after the cultural ties with France were broken. In time, Catalan became more tied to the Ibero-Romance languages in Spain; because these languages are significantly more conservative than French (which has been the most important influence over Occitan in the last several hundred years), most of the differences between Catalan and Occitan are due to developments in Occitan that did not occur in Catalan.

Common features with Western Romance languages

As a Western Romance language, Catalan shares the following features not found in Italo-Romance:

Common features with Gallo-Romance languages

Innovations:

Conserved features:

Common features with Occitano-Romance languages

Innovations:

Conserved features:

Common features with Spanish, Portuguese, or French but not Occitan

Conserved features shared by Catalan with Spanish and Portuguese:

Innovations shared by Spanish and Catalan:

Common features with Occitan, French, and Portuguese, but not Spanish

Conserved features (contrasting with Spanish innovations):

Features not in Spanish or (most of) Occitan, but found in other minority Romance languages

Innovations:

Unique features, not found elsewhere

Historical development

As a Romance language, Catalan comes directly from Vulgar Latin. As such, it shares certain phonological changes from Latin with other Romance languages: [3]

Consonants

Vowels

Cases where /ɛ/ and /ɔ/ developed in modern Catalan and Valencian and cases where /ə/ developed in Balearic Catalan

The following tables show where /ɛ/ and /ɔ/ [12] are found in most dialects (especially in Valencian), and where /ə/ (corresponding with /ɛ/ in Central Catalan and /e/ in Western Catalan) is found in Balearic:

/ɛ/ [12]
ContextExamplesRemarks
In words that have an i or a u in the following syllablecoŀlegi, exèrcit, èxit, incendi, inèdit, neci, obsequi, misteri, ciència, innocència, paciència; cèŀlula, fècula, ingenu, molècula, perpetu, pèrduabut not in Dénia, església, sépia, séquia, sénia
Beforesimple or geminated larrel, cel, gel, melsa, tela; ceŀla, noveŀlabut not in belga, feltre, delta, selva
rresquerra, ferro, gerra, guerra, serra, terra
r followed by consonants, except labials and velarscert, gerd, perdre, perla, hivern, verd, vèrtex, dispers, perxa
In the majority of proparoxytones and learned termsanècdota, clavicèmbal, elèctrode, espècimen, èxtasi, gènesi, gènere; acèfal, pètal, telègraf, verbbut not in llémena, témpores, nor the feminines cérvola, feréstega, llépola; also not in learned words ending in -edre, -ense, -teca and -tema: poliedre, castrense, biblioteca, teorema
In some words with the diphthong eudeu, fideu, peu, preu, museubut not in creu, greu, meu
In words ending in -ecta, -ecte -epta and -eptecoŀlecta, correcte, efecte, respecte; recepta, concepte, excepte, preceptebut not in the stressed forms of the verb reptar
In some words with the group -ndr-cendra, divendres, gendre, tendre
Othersthe proper names Josep, Vicent, Benimuslem or the numeral set
 
/ɔ/ [12]
ContextExamplesRemarks
In words that have an i or a u in the following syllable (generally cultivated terms)Antoni, bibliòfil, custòdia, elogi, lògica; còmput, cònjuge, Corpus, mòdulbut not in fórmula
When forms a falling diphthongAlcoi, boira, heroi; bou, dijous, nou, ou, prou, sou (noun); in the forms with the accent in the radical of verbs cloure, coure, moure, plourebut not in the verbal forms sou, fou, and words like coix, moix, jou, pou (*), tou
In the majority of proparoxytone words and learned termscòmode, nòmada, òrfena, pròrroga, anòmal, autònom, hidrogen, pròlegbut not in pólvora, tómbola, tórtora, estómac, furóncol; dogma, forma
In the neutral pronouns and monosyllabic ending in -oò, això and allò; bo, do, pro, so, to, trobut not in no and, with variations between dialects, in jo
In some words ending in -os and -osaarròs, cos, espòs, gros, mos, os, repòs, terròs, tros; cosa, nosa, rosabut not in animós, enfadós, poregós, glucosa, rabosa, prosa
In some words in which the vowel is followed of a consonantic group with r or lamorf, cobra, corda, força, forja, orfe, mort, port, porta, moble, poble, record, the forms with the accent in the radical of verbs like obrir (obri), omplir (ompli), dormir (dorm), etc.
In words ending in:-oc, -ocaalbercoc, foc, groc, lloca, oca, roca, xocbut not in boc, boca, moca
-ofacarxofa, estrofa
-oig, -ojaboig, roig, boja, rojabut not in estoig
-ol, -olabunyol, consol, dol, escola, pistola, cassola, escarola, sola, volbut not in gola, bola, cola
-oldreabsoldre, moldre, resoldre
-olt, -oltadesimbolt, solt, mòlta, voltabut not in molta, escolta, cola
-pondrepondre, compondre, correspondre, respondre
-ort, -ortaesport, fort, sort, tort, horta, porta
-ossabrossa, carrossa, crossa, destrossabut not in bossa, gossa, ossa, rossa
-ost, -ostacost, impost, pressupost, rebost, costa, postabut not in agost, angost, congost, most, llagosta
-ot, -otaclot, dot, got, ninot, cabota, granota, nota, pilota, potabut not in bot, brot, gota, mot, nebot, tot
In other terms, many of which are monosyllabic or have the stress on the first syllablecor, dona, flor, nota, prova, plor, rosa, roda, or in forms with the accent in the radical of verbs like constar (consta), llogar (lloga), robar (roba), tocar (toca), trobar (troba), volar (vola), etc.
 
/ə/
(mostly /ɛ/ in Central Catalan and /e/ in Western Catalan–Valencian)
ContextExamplesRemarks
In some monosyllabic termsfe, ble, quèbut not in te (noun), uè
Derivatives with the suffix-èmercè, vostèbut not in cafè, oboè, tupè
-e / -è (etymologically with nasal, kept only in feminines and plurals)ple, fre; alè, desè, dotzè, centè, cinquè, morèbut not in aŀlè, heŀlè, obscè
-ecbec, crec, frec, secbut not in cec, sec (adj.), xec
-edfred, calfred, refred
-eibeneit, maleit, remei, serveibut not in hoquei, jersei
-èixerconèixer, florèixer, merèixer, parèixerbut not in néixer
-ell, -ellaaquell, cabell, consell, rovell, solell, vermell; abella, parella, orella, ovella
-èn (or en)aprèn, comprèn, mossèn, ofrèn; prenbut not in gen, tren
-enaarena, balena, bena, cadena, mena, pena, venabut not in avena, berena
-ènyeratènyer, constrènyer, destrènyer, empènyer, espènyer, estrènyer, restrènyer
-er, -eraplaer, parer, poder, sencer, voler; cera, pera
-ès, -esafrancès, interès, pagès, Vallès; bellesa, promesa, riquesabut not in accés, excés, congrés, ingrés, progrés, revés, través, només
-et, -etacoet, casquet, disquet, dret, net; camiseta, aixetabut not in atleta, meta, seta
in the verbal forms of -ejar with an accent on the radicalairejar (aireig), marejar (mareig), verdejar (verdeig)
(*) Words with this symbol accept two pronunciations (open and close).

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References

  1. Riquer, Martí de, Història de la Literatura Catalana, vol. 1. Barcelona: Edicions Ariel, 1964
  2. Adams, Douglas Q. (1975), "The Distribution of Retracted Sibilants in Medieval Europe", Language, 51 (2), Linguistic Society of America: 282–292, doi:10.2307/412855, JSTOR   412855
  3. Grandgent (1907 :106–137)
  4. Enciclopèdia Catalana - Català - Gramàtica històrica - Sons - Interiors simples
  5. Enciclopèdia Catalana - Català - Gramàtica històrica - Sons - Geminades
  6. Cser, A. (2020). The Phonology of Classical Latin. Transactions of the Philological Society, 118, 1-218. p.34
  7. Grandgent (1907 :69, 105)
  8. 1 2 Grandgent (1907 :72)
  9. Grandgent (1907 :99–102)
  10. Grandgent (1907 :71)
  11. Grandgent (1907 :61–62)
  12. 1 2 3 L'estàndard oral valencià, pp. 6–7.

Bibliography