Balearic
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205487464
2008-04-14T04:08:54Z
Good Olfactory
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Removed category "Balearic Islands"; Quick-adding category "Balearic culture" (using [[WP:HOTCAT|HotCat]])
{{Unreferenced|date=March 2008}}
{{otheruses}}
{{Infobox Language
|name=Catalan, Valencian
|rank=93
|nativename=Català, Valencià
|familycolor=Indo-European
|states=[[Spain]],</br>[[France]],</br>[[Italy]],</br>[[Andorra]].
|region='''In [[Spain]]:'''</br>[[Catalonia]], [[Valencian Community]], [[Balearic Islands]], [[Aragon]] (in [[La Franja]]), [[Murcia]] (in [[El Carxe]]).</br>'''In [[France]]:'''</br>[[Northern Catalonia]].</br>'''In [[Italy]]:'''</br>The [[city]] of [[L'Alguer]].</br>'''In [[Andorra]].'''
|speakers=9.1 million<!-- see sources (and links) in the section [[#Number of Catalan speakers]] below -->
|fam2=[[Italic languages|Italic]]
|fam3=[[Romance languages|Romance]]
|fam4=[[Italo-Western languages|Italo-Western]]
|fam5=[[Western Italo-Western languages|Western]]
|fam6=[[Gallo-Iberian]]
|fam7=[[Gallo-Romance languages|Gallo-Romance]]
|fam8=[[Occitano-Romance languages|Occitano-Romance]]
<!-- Name used by the Ethnologue, whose classification (NB which is already at the 'splitters' extreme of linguistics) is the one used across Wikipedia.
Although the most frequent scientific denomination is, by far, the one of ''Catalan'', this the most spread syncretic denomination in the academic world. Josep Calveras used it for the first time in 1925, in his work ''La reconstrucció del llenguatge literari català'': «"Catalan-Valencian-Balear" would be the proper name that would satisfy everyone, if it were not because it is too long and the philologists are used to say briefly: Catalan language». The official dictionary of the Institut d'Estudis Catalans has the title ''Diccionari Català-valencià-balear''.--[[User:Periku|Periku]] 10:04, [[27 October]] [[2005]] (UTC)-->
|nation='''In [[Spain]]:'''</br>[[Catalonia]], [[Valencian Community]], [[Balearic Islands]].</br>'''In [[Italy]]:'''</br>[[L'Alguer]].</br>'''In [[Andorra]].'''
|agency=[[Institut d'Estudis Catalans]]<br>[[Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua]]
|iso1=ca|iso2=cat|lc1=cat|ld1=Catalan|ll1=Catalan language|map=[[Image:Domini lingüístic català.png|290px|center]]}}
{{Catalan-speaking world|align=right}}
'''Balearic''' is the name given collectively to the group of [[Catalan language|Catalan]] variants spoken in the [[Balearic Islands]], [[Spain]]. The collective term was coined by philologists, while the historic names used by the speakers themselves refer to the language as if it was local to each island, and so "Mallorquí" ("Majorcan"), "Eivissenc" ("Ibizan") and "Menorquí" ("Minorcan") may be used as alternative names.
At the last census 746,792 people in the Balearic Islands claimed to be able to speak Catalan, though some of these people may be speakers of mainland variants<ref>http://www.caib.es/ibae/demo/catala/t2.htm. 2001 census, from Institut Balear d'Estadística, Govern de les Illes Balears </ref>
Some features of Balearic:
*Most variants of Balearic preserve a vocalic system of 8 stressed vowels {{IPA|/a ə ɛ e i ɔ o u/}}:
**The [[Majorca]]n system has 8 stressed vowels {{IPA|/a ə ɛ e i ɔ o u/}}, reduced to 4 in unstressed position ({{IPA|/a ə ɛ e/}} → {{IPA|[ə]}}), ({{IPA|/ɔ o/}} → {{IPA|[o]}}).
**The Western [[Minorca]]n system has 8 stressed vowels {{IPA|/a ə ɛ e i ɔ o u/}}, reduced to 3 in unstressed position ({{IPA|/a ə ɛ e/}} → {{IPA|[ə]}}), ({{IPA|/ɔ o u/}} → {{IPA|[u]}});
**The Eastern [[Minorca]]n and [[Ibiza]]n system has only 7 stressed vowels {{IPA|/a ɛ e i ɔ o u/}} reduced to 3 in unstressed position ({{IPA|/a ɛ e/}} → {{IPA|[ə]}}) ({{IPA|/ɔ o u/}} → {{IPA|[u]}}), just as in [[Central Catalan]]. There are differences between the dialect spoken in [[Ibiza Town]] (''eivissenc de vila'') and those of the rest of the island (''eivissenc pagès'') and [[Formentera]] (''formenterer'').
* Balearic preserves a phonemic distinction between {{IPA|/v/}} and {{IPA|/b/}}, as do [[Alguerese]] and most varieties of [[Valencian]].
* Balearic is the variant of Catalan that has the strongest tendency not to pronounce historical final ''r'' in any context.
* Balearic preserves the ''salat'' definite article (derived from Latin ''ipse/ipsa'' instead of ''ille/illa''), a feature shared only with [[Sardinian language|Sardinian]] among extant Romance languages, but which was more common in other [[Catalan language|Catalan]] and [[Gascon]] areas in ancient times. However, the ''salat'' definite article is also preserved along the [[Costa Brava]] ([[Catalonia]]) and in the [[Valencian Community|Valencian]] municipalities of Tàrbena and [[Gallinera|La Vall de Gallinera]].
== See also ==
*[[Catalan language]]
*[[Valencian]]
*[[Alguerese]]
== References ==
<references/>
{{Romance languages}}
[[Category:Catalan language]]
[[Category:Balearic culture]]
[[ast:Balear]]
[[ca:Català balear]]
[[de:Balearisch]]
[[es:Balear]]
[[fr:Baléare]]
[[lt:Balearai]]