Catalan Dialectal Variations: Features and Geographic Distribution
Classified in Latin
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Western Varieties
Morphological Features
- -s plurals.
- 1st person singular present indicative ending in -es or no ending.
- Present tense of inchoative verbs ending in -ix.
- Present subjunctive of inchoative verbs ending in -isca.
Phonetic Features
- Pronounced differentiation between unstressed e, a, and i.
- Pronounced differentiation between unstressed o and u.
Specific Lexicon
- Mirror
- Boy
- Red
- Depart
- Farmer
- Lamb
Oriental Varieties
Morphological Traits
- -s plurals.
- 1st person singular present indicative ending in -o or no ending.
- Present tense of inchoative verbs ending in -eix.
Phonetic Features
- No distinction between unstressed e, a, and i.
- No differentiation between unstressed o and u.
Specific Lexicon
- Mirror
- Boy
- Red
- Out
- Pages
- Lamb
Geographic Distribution of Oriental Varieties
- Roussillon
- Central (Barcelona, Tarragona, etc.)
- Balearic (Majorcan, Minorcan, Ibizan, and Formenteran)
- Algherese
Geographic Distribution of Western Varieties
- Northwestern (Ribagorçan, Pallarese, Tortosan)
- Valencian (Northern Castellón, Apitxat, Southern Alicante)
Northwestern Variety
Morphosyntactic Characteristics
- Masculine articles lo or el.
- Retention of final -e in the 3rd person singular of some tenses.
- Desinence -o in the 1st person singular present indicative.
Phonetic Features
- Pronounced with a lax and open vowel at the end.
- Sometimes, the vowel e is closed.
- Diphthongization or transformation of initial au.
Balearic Variety
Morphosyntactic Features
- Use of the "salat" article (sa, se, ses, so).
- No endings in the 1st person singular present indicative.
- Desinences -am and -au for the 1st and 2nd person plural of 1st conjugation verbs.
- Endings like -ace or -aces for the imperfect subjunctive.
Phonetic Features
- Unstressed vocalism is similar to the Central variety.
- Tonic vocalism has 8 members and 4 degrees of openness, maintaining neutral vowels.
- Abolition of final vowels in proparoxytonic words.
- Generalization of yeism.
- Elimination of final -r in monosyllables.
- Loss of -s between vowels.
Lexicon
- Many archaisms that have disappeared in other varieties:
- Ca (dog)
- Archaic term for 'girl'