Table Of Contentcover next page >
Cover
Catalan : A Comprehensive Grammar
title :
Routledge Grammars
author : Wheeler, Max.; Yates, Alan.; Dols, Nicolau,
publisher : Taylor & Francis Routledge
isbn10 | asin : 0415103428
print isbn13 : 9780415103428
ebook isbn13 : 9780203028506
language : English
subject Catalan language--Grammar.
publication date : 1999
lcc : PC3823.W44 1999eb
ddc : 449/.982421
subject : Catalan language--Grammar.
cover next page >
< previous page page_i next page >
Page i
CATALAN: A COMPREHENSIVE GRAMMAR
Catalan: A Comprehensive Grammar is a complete reference guide to modern Catalan
grammar, presenting an accessible and systematic description of the modern language.
The Grammar reflects the current reality of Catalan by acknowledging regional
diversity and features Balearic and Valencian varieties alongside the language used in
the Barcelona region.
The combined specialist knowledge of the author team ensures a balanced coverage of
modern Catalan.
Features include:
• comprehensive coverage of all parts of speech
• a wealth of authentic examples illustrating language points
• attention to areas of particular difficulty for those whose first language is English
• full cross-referencing
• detailed index
Catalan: A Comprehensive Grammar will remain the standard reference work for years
to come.
Max W.Wheeler is Reader in Linguistics at the University of Sussex. Alan Yates is
‘Illes Balears’ Professor of Catalan at the University of Sheffield. Nicolau Dols is
Professor Titular d’Escola Universitària at the University of the Balearic Islands.
< previous
page_i next page >
page
< previous page page_ii next page >
Page ii
This page intentionally left blank.
< previous
page_ii next page >
page
< previous page page_iii next page >
Page iii
CATALAN: A COMPREHENSIVE
GRAMMAR
Max W.Wheeler, Alan Yates and Nicolau Dols
London and New York
< previous page_iii next page >
page
< previous page page_iv next page >
Page iv
First published 1999
by Routledge
11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2003.
© 1999 Max W.Wheeler, Alan Yates and Nicolau Dols
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic,
mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter
invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any
information storage or retrieval system, without permission in
writing from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Wheeler, Max.
Catalan: a comprehensive grammar/Max W.Wheeler, Alan Yates and
Nicolau Dols.
p. cm.—(Routledge grammars)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Catalan language—Grammar. I. Yates, Alan. II. Dols.
Nicolau, 1967– . III. Title. IV. Series.
PC3823.W44 1999 98–47194
449′.982421–dc21 CIP
ISBN 0-203-02850-3 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN 0-203-30027-0 (OEB Format)
ISBN 0-415-20777-0 (hbk)
ISBN 0-415-10342-8 (Print Edition)
< previous page_iv next page >
page
< previous page page_v next page >
Page v
We dedicate this volume to the memory of Joan Gili (1907–1998)
< previous
page_v next page >
page
< previous page page_vi next page >
Page vi
This page intentionally left blank.
< previous
page_vi next page >
page
< previous page page_vii next page >
Page vii
CONTENTS
Preface
ix
Acknowledgements
xvii
Map of Catalan-speaking areas and dialects
xviii
PART I:
NOUN PHRASE CONSTITUENTS
1 Gender of nouns
3
2 Plural of nouns and formation of derived nouns
30
3 Articles
43
4 Adjectives
71
5 Comparison
95
6 Demonstratives
106
7 Possessives
114
8 Miscellaneous adjectives and pronouns (quantifiers and indefinites)
121
9 Nominalizations via articles
143
10 Numerals
150
11 Personal pronouns (stressed)
160
12 Pronominal clitics (weak object pronouns)
167
PART II:
ADVERBS, PREPOSITIONS, AND CONJUNCTIONS
13 Adverbs and adverbials
221
14 Prepositions
242
15 Conjunctions
268
PART III:
VERBS
16 Morphology of the verb
283
17 Use of indicative (non-continuous) verb forms
340
18 Progressive constructions and other verbal periphrases
363
19 The subjunctive
373
20 The infinitive
393
21 Participles
407
22 The gerund
416
23 Pronominal verbs
427
< previous
page_vii next page >
page
< previous page page_viii next page >
Page viii
PART IV:
SENTENCE TYPES: SIMPLE AND COMPLEX
24 Interjections and ideophones 449
25 Simple sentences and grammatical relations 458
26 Negation 474
27 Interrogation and exclamation 486
28 Imperative utterances 501
29 Passive and impersonal sentences 505
30 Copular sentences (ser, estar, etc.) 521
31 Relative clauses 532
32 Complement clauses 550
33 Adverbial clauses 557
34 Conditional sentences 575
PART V:
INFORMATION STRUCTURE AND WORD ORDER
35 Cleft sentences 591
36 Word order 599
37 Spelling, accent rules, and punctuation 610
Further reading 621
Bibliography 623
Index 625
< previous
page_viii next page >
page
< previous page page_ix next page >
Page ix
PREFACE
This book is designed to provide an up-to-date, systematic description of the
morphology and syntax of the modern standard Catalan language. In preparing it we
have had in mind the needs of pre-university and university students, teachers,
translators and those with a private or professional interest in the language as it is
currently used by Catalan speakers in educated conversation and in the normal range of
written registers. We note with pleasure the appearance of Jenny Brumme’s Praktische
Grammatik der katalanischen Sprache (Wilhelmsfeld: Egert, 1997); we coincide with
the aims and scope of this work in offering a substantial grammar of Catalan, in a
language other than Spanish or Catalan itself, designed expressly for non-natives.
Brumme’s work was published when the present volume was in the final stages of
preparation, so we have been unable to make use of it in our own work. We have, of
course, relied considerably on the extensive existing literature on Catalan grammar,
though we have developed some topics which have not previously been covered in
depth. We have also given particular emphasis to areas of usage which are likely to be
difficult for users starting from English.
One assumption with which we have worked is that those who use this book, whether
for reference or for systematic study, will already have acquired some basic familiarity
with Catalan, either through immediate contact and ‘total immersion’ or, more
probably, through working with various methods (in the medium of English, Spanish or
Catalan itself) for induction in the language. This Comprehensive Grammar is thus
conceived as an extension or complement to a fairly wide repertoire of basic study
materials, a sample of which is provided in the Further reading list. Another, related,
assumption is that users of this book will be acquainted with basic traditional
grammatical concepts and terminology; we aim to explain any more specialized
concepts and terms as we go along. Such explanations can be located via the index.
Catalan is a member of the Romance family of languages which are modern forms of
the Latin language which spread from Rome to much of Europe in the wake of the
Roman empire around the beginning of the common era. As its geographical position
might suggest, Catalan shares several features with its nearest Romance neighbours:
Italian, Sardinian, Occitan, Spanish, while being distinct in several respects from all of
them. The map on page xviii shows where Catalan is spoken and identifies the main
dialect divisions. The second section of this Preface briefly discusses ‘normative’ and
‘standard’ Catalan in relation to the position of the language in the twentieth century
< previous
page_ix next page >
page
< previous page page_x next page >
Page x
and insofar as these important concepts affect criteria and procedures followed in the
body of this book. We do not attempt to supply here any history of Catalan as a member
of the Romance family of languages, or any discussion of the mightily complex issues
of Catalan as a stateless language in post-Renaissance Europe, in contact/conflict with
more powerful linguistic neighbours (primarily Spanish, but also French, and Italian).
These sociolinguistic and politico-linguistic factors have been of great moment in
shaping the historical evolution of Catalan and, especially in the twentieth century, in
affecting the politics associated with community self-awareness centred in linguistic
difference.
The territories where Catalan is natively spoken are:
(1) The Principality of Andorra.
(2) In France: almost all of the département of Pyrénées-Orientales.
(3) In Spain:
Catalonia (under the autonomous government, the Generalitat, of Catalonia),
(i)
except for the Gascon-speaking Val d’Aran.
(ii) The eastern fringe of Aragon.
Most of the Comunitat Valenciana, excepting some regions in the west and south
(iii) which have been Aragonese/Spanish-speaking since at least the eighteenth
century,
(iv) El Carxe, a small area of the province of Murcia, settled in the nineteenth century.
The Balearic Islands: Majorca and Minorca (Balearic stricto sensu), Ibiza (Eivissa)
(v)
and Formentera (strictly Illes Pitiüses).
(4) In Italy: the port of Alghero in Sardinia.
A conservative estimate of the number of native speakers of Catalan is about 6.5
million (based on the 1991 census in Catalonia, Valencia, and the Balearics, with
estimates for the remaining territories). Within Spain a further three million claim to
understand Catalan. Partly as a result of the incorporation of Catalan locally into the
education system, there are within Spain increasing numbers of second-language
speakers.
STATUS OF CATALAN
The status, situation, and prospects of the Catalan language are significantly different in
each of the territories enumerated above, though each of those in Spain shares, in some
way, the consequences of Catalan’s having been for centuries an oppressed minority
language. For a multiplicity of reasons, cultural decline and loss of prestige affected
Catalan from the sixteenth century onwards. The defeat of the Catalans in the war of the
Spanish Succession (1714) initiated a series of measures extending throughout the
eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, imposing the use of Spanish in public life, for
example,
< previous
page_x next page >
page
< previous page page_xi next page >
Page xi
in accounts, in preaching, in the theatre, in the criminal courts, in education, in legal
documents, in the civil registers, on the telephone. In the twentieth century these
measures were mostly repeated, and supplemented by the imposition of Spanish in the
catechism, by prohibition of the teaching of Catalan, and by sanctions against persons
refusing to use Spanish. The Second Republic (1931–39) to a large extent removed
these restrictions, but Franco’s victory in the Spanish Civil War was followed in 1940
by a total ban on the public use of Catalan. This ban was subject to a series of
relaxations from the 1950s onwards, allowing (subject to censorship applied generally
in Spain) the publication of increasing numbers of Catalan books from the 1960s,
though Catalan remained excluded from nearly all public institutions until Spain’s
adoption of a democratic constitution in 1978.
That constitution enjoins respect for and protection of Spain’s ‘other’ languages, and
opened the way for statutes of autonomy in the various regions. In the early 1980s,
Catalonia, Valencia, and the Balearics obtained their respective autonomy statutes,
involving co-officiality for Spanish and Catalan. All of these statutes promote
‘language normalization’, the goal of which is universal bilingualism without diglossia.
In Catalonia the expressed aim of the Generalitat goes much further than this: to make
the local language the normal medium of public life, with Spanish having a secondary
role as an auxiliary language, or a home language for its native speakers. In Valencia
and the Balearics, the de facto policy has been to promote effective knowledge of
Catalan and to enhance its status, although complex socio-political factors,
differentially in each area, continue to hinder progress towards full and normal
integration of Catalan in public life.
In Catalonia, Catalan is co-official and its knowledge and use are actively promoted by
the autonomous government and by local government. Teaching of Catalan is
obligatory in all schools, and primary and secondary education through the medium of
Catalan reaches in the 1990s about 60 per cent of the population. The provision
includes, since 1993, some Catalan immersion programmes in Spanish-speaking
suburbs. There are two Catalan-language television stations, with wide audiences, and
numerous radio stations. Catalan is still clearly in a minority position in the periodical
press, in advertising, in cinema/video, and in the administration of justice, but a gradual
advance is noted here too. The January 1998 Language Normalization Act is designed
to build upon progress achieved under the previous Act of 1983, especially as regards
extending the use of Catalan in the commercial and judicial fields, where the
predominance of Spanish has been obstinate.
In the Aragon fringe, Catalan has no official status, though the Aragonese autonomy
statute speaks of protection and support of minority languages. In the towns and
villages in question there are many cultural associations promoting Catalan (not
necessarily by that name), and in many cases the local administration supports Catalan
teaching in schools. Radio and television
< previous
page_xi next page >
page
< previous page page_xii next page >
Page xii
from Catalonia are accessible, of course. Language shift (except through emigration) is
minimal.
The language situation in the Community of Valencia is extremely complex, politically,
culturally, and geographically. Catalan has been strongest in the countryside and among
the urban working classes. The language policy of the Generalitat Valenciana,
responding to popular pressure, has largely concentrated on education, and Catalan is
available in around 80 per cent of state schools. A shortage of teachers has hindered
advance here up to now. Teaching through Catalan is available in a minority of schools.
A Valencian state television station broadcasts bilingually. Catalan is quite prominent
in cultural life; it is present in administration and in commerce, and there is evidence of
popular demand for, and expectation of, a greater use of Catalan.
Though the Balearic Islands Council passed a linguistic normalization law in 1986,
relatively little has been done to put it into effect. Spoken Catalan is predominant
except in Palma and in Ibiza (Eivissa), where immigration is highest, and where there is
recent evidence of some inter-generational language shift to Spanish. Catalan has some
place in local broadcasting, TV and radio, and Catalan television stations from the
mainland have a wide following. Since 1996 there has been a Palma-based Catalan-
language daily newspaper, with a wide distribution, and outside Palma the local press is
largely Catalan. In schools, Catalan as a subject is widely available, responding to
pressure from parents and from local administrations (though in Ibiza one fifth of pupils
does not receive the prescribed hours of Catalan teaching). In 1990–91 17 per cent of
pupils had Catalan as their medium of education, in whole or in part; this trend is
strongest in Minorca. In advertising and commerce Spanish predominates, but with
Catalan increasing its role somewhat.
In Valencia and in the Balearic Islands, there is in some sectors a preference for using
the terms ‘valencià’ and ‘mallorquí’, respectively, to refer to the variants of the
language used there. This feature (which we refer to again below in discussing
normative and standard Catalan) is susceptible to polit-ical manipulation, and it
strongly affects debate on the linguistic unity of the Catalan-speaking territories.
In Andorra, Catalan has always been the sole official language, though until recently
secondary education was provided by the French and Spanish states, in their standard,
monolingual, model. Spanish-speaking immigrants account for almost 40 per cent of
the population of about 50,000. Spanish and French are widely used in commerce, but
Catalan predominates in other areas of public life. In 1993 Andorra adopted a new
constitution, and the government has been pursuing an active ‘Andorranization’ policy,
involving education through a medium of Catalan.
The status and position of Catalan in North Catalonia is closely parallel to that of the
other traditional minority languages in France. Language shift was all but universal
after the Second World War, so that most native
< previous
page_xii next page >
page
< previous page page_xiii next page >
Page xiii
speakers are over fifty years old. Catalan has at best an occasional, decorative, role in
public life. In primary schools, some 30 per cent study Catalan (as a foreign language),
and some 15 per cent in secondary schools.
In Alghero, in 1987, it was estimated that about 58 per cent of the population of 37,000
understood alguerès. However, inter-generational language shift to Italian is proceeding
apace, despite the recent declaration of co-officiality for Catalan and Italian in the city.
Stimulated in part by Catalan revival further west, a certain pro-Catalan cultural
movement can be observed, evident in local associations and local television and radio.
As elsewhere in Italy, the local language has no official role in the education system.
DIALECTS
Though there are significant dialect differences in Catalan, the dialects are to a very
high degree mutually intelligible. They are conventionally divided into two groups, on
the basis of differences in phonology as well as in some features of verb morphology;
there are some interesting lexical differences, too. The eastern dialect group covers
North Catalan (including rossellonès in French Catalonia), Central Catalan (in the
eastern part of Catalonia), Balearic, and alguerès (in Alghero). The western group
consists of North Western (NW) Catalan (western and southern Catalonia and eastern
Aragon) and Valencian. The principal dialect divisions are shown in the map on page
xviii.
NORMATIVE AND STANDARD CATALAN
