Valencian language

Valencian is not spoken all over the Valencian Community. Roughly a quarter of its territory, equivalent to 10% of the population (its inland part and areas in the extreme south as well), is traditionally Castilian-speaking only, whereas Valencian is spoken to varying degrees elsewhere.

Additionally, it is also spoken by a reduced number of people in Carche, a rural area in the Region of Murcia adjoining the Valencian Community; nevertheless Valencian does not have any official recognition in this area. Although the Valencian language was an important part of the history of this zone, nowadays only about 600 people are able to speak Valencian in the area of Carche.[27]

Knowledge of Valencian according to the 2001 census. Note that the light green areas inland and in the southernmost part are not historically Valencian speaking (large).

In 2010 the Generalitat Valenciana published a study, Knowledge and Social use of Valencian,[28] which included a survey sampling more than 6,600 people in the provinces of Castellón, Valencia, and Alicante. The survey simply collected the answers of respondents and did not include any testing or verification. The results were:

Valencian was the language "always, generally, or most commonly used":

• at home: 31.6%
• with friends: 28.0%
• in internal business relations: 24.7%

For ability:

• 48.5% answered they speak Valencian "perfectly" or "quite well" (54.3% in the Valencian-speaking areas and 10% in the Castilian-speaking areas)
• 26.2% answered they write Valencian "perfectly" or "quite well" (29.5% in the Valencian-speaking areas and 5.8% in the Castilian-speaking areas)

The survey shows that, although Valencian is still the common language in many areas in the Valencian Community, where slightly more than half of the Valencian population are able to speak it, most Valencians do not usually speak in Valencian in their social relations. The statistics hide the fact that in the areas where the language is still strong, most people use Valencian in preference to Castilian in all everyday situations.

Moreover, according to a survey in 2008, there is a downward trend in everyday Valencian users. The lowest numbers are in the major cities of Valencia and Alicante, where the percentage of everyday speakers is in single figures. All in all, in the 1993–2006 period, the number of speakers fell by 10 per cent.[29] One of the factors cited is the increase in the numbers of immigrants from other countries, who tend to favour using Spanish over local languages; accordingly, the number of residents who claim no understanding of Valencian sharply increased. One curiosity in the heartlands mentioned above, is that most of the children of immigrants go to public school and are therefore taught in Valencian and are far more comfortable speaking this with their friends. However, some children of Valencian speakers go to private schools run by the Church where the curriculum is in Castilian and consequently this becomes their preferred language.

Vowels of Valencian, from Saborit Vilar (2009:23)

• Valencian has a system of seven stressed vowels /i, u, e, o, ɛ, ɔ, a/.
  • The vowels /i/ (i.e. [i̽]) and /u/ ([u̽]) are more open and centralised than in Castilian.
  • The vowel /e/ is retracted and /o/ is advanced both in stressed and unstressed syllables. /e/ and /o/ can be realised as mid vowels in some cases. This occurs more often with /o/.
  • The so-called "open vowels" (vocals obertes), /ɛ/ and /ɔ/, are generally as low as /a/ in most Valencian dialects. The phonetic realisations of /ɛ/ approaches [æ] (as in American English bad) and /ɔ/ is as open as [ɒ] (as in traditional RP dog). This feature is also found in Balearic.
    • /ɛ/ is slightly more open and centralised before liquids /l, r/ and in monosyllabics.
    • /ɔ/ is most often a back vowel. In some dialects (including Balearic) it can be unrounded like in American English.
  • The vowel /a/ is slightly more fronted and closed than in Central Catalan (but less fronted and closed than in Majorcan). The precise phonetic realisation of the vowel /a/ in Valencian is [ɐ ~ ä], this vowel is subject to assimilation in many instances.
    • /a/ can be retracted in contact with velar consonants, and fronted in contact with palatals.
    • Final unstressed /a/ may be [ɐ ~ ä], depending on the preceding sounds and/or dialect, e.g. taula [ˈtɑ̟wɫɐ ~ ˈtɑ̟wɫä] 'table'.
  • All vowels are phonetically nasalised between nasal consonants or when preceding a syllable-final nasal.
  • Vowels can be lengthened in some contexts.
• While unstressed vowels are more stable than in Eastern Catalan dialects, there are many cases where they merge
  • In some Valencian subvarieties, unstressed /o/ and /ɔ/ are realised as [ʊ] before labial consonants (e.g. coberts [kʊˈbæ̈ɾ(t)s] 'cutlery'), before a stressed syllable with a high vowel (e.g. sospira [sʊsˈpiɾä] or [sʊsˈpiɾæ̈] 'he/she sighs'), in contact with palatal consonants (e.g. Josep [dʒʊˈzæp] 'Joseph') and in monosyllabic clitics (e.g. mon [mʊn] 'my') (note also in many colloquial speeches initial unstressed /o ~ ɔ/ are often reduced to [ɑ̈w] or [äw] (also [ʊ] in fewer cases), such as olor [ɑ̈wˈɫo̞ɾ]) 'smell (n)'). Similarly, unstressed /e/, and /ɛ/ are realised as [a] in contact with palatals, approximants or before certain sounds (e.g. eixam [ajˈʃam] 'swarm', clevill [kɫaˈʋiʎ] 'crevice', terròs [taˈrɒ̈s] 'clod',) and ([ɑ̈] or [ä])) in fewer cases near velars (e.g. enclusa [ɑ̈ŋˈkɫuzɑ̈] or [ɑ̈ŋˈkɫuzæ̈] 'anvil'). Likewise, unstressed /e ~ ɛ/ merges with /i/ ([ɪ]) in contact with palatal consonants (e.g. genoll [dʒɪˈno̞ʎ] 'knee'), and especially in lexical derivation with the suffix -ixement to -iximent (e.g. coneiximent [konejʃiˈment] 'knowledge').
  • Many Valencian subdialects, especially Southern Valencian, feature some sort of vowel harmony (harmonia vocàlica). This process is normally progressive (i.e. preceding vowels affect those pronounced afterwards) over the last unstressed vowel of a word; e.g. hora /ˈɔɾa/ > [ˈɒɾɒ̈] 'hour'. However, there are cases where regressive metaphony occurs over pretonic vowels; e.g. tovallola /tovaˈʎɔla/ > [tɒ̈ʋɒ̈ˈʎɒɫɒ̈] 'towel', afecta /aˈfɛkta/ > [æ̈ˈfæktæ̈] 'affects'. Vowel harmony differs greatly from dialect to dialect, while many subvarieties alternate [æ̈] and [ɒ̈], according to the previous stressed vowel (e.g. terra [ˈtæræ̈] 'Earth, land' and dona [ˈdɒnɒ̈] 'woman'); others will favor just one realisation (either [æ̈] in all, or some, instances; or [ɒ̈]), thus, terra and dona can be pronounced [ˈtæræ̈] and [ˈdɒnæ̈] (by those who favour [æ̈]) or [ˈtærɒ̈] and [ˈdɒnɒ̈] (by those who favour [ɒ̈]).
    • In a wider sense, vowel harmony can occur in further instances, due to different processes involving palatalisation, velarisarion and labialisation.
  • An epethentic vowel (usually pronounced [ɐ] or [ɜ], but transcribed here as [ə]) may be inserted in some environments in the coda in some accents:
    • Eh tu! Vine ací [ˈeː ˈtuːə̯ | ˈvine äˈsiːə̯] "Hey you! Come here".

In the table below, the vowels are transcribed in a very narrow transcription. In the rest of the article, the symbols [a̠, ɑ̝, ɑ̝̈, ɒ̝̈, e̠, ɪ̞, i̞, ɒ̝, o̟, ʊ̞, u̞] are written [a, ɑ, ɑ̈, ɒ̈, e, ɪ, i, ɒ, o, ʊ, u] for the sake of simplicity.

• The voiced stops /d, ɡ/ are lenited to approximants [ð, ɣ] after a continuant, i.e. a vowel or any type of consonant other than a stop or nasal (exceptions include /d/ after lateral consonants). These sounds are realised as voiceless plosives in the coda in standard Valencian.
  • /b/ can also be lenited in betacist dialects.
  • /d/ is often elided between vowels following a stressed syllable (found notably in feminine participles); e.g. fideuà [fiðeˈwɑ̈ː] ( < fideuada) ' fideuà'.
  • Unlike other Catalan dialects, the clusters /bl/ and /ɡl/ never geminate or fortify in intervocalic position (e.g. poble [ˈpɒbɫe] 'village').
• The velar stops /k/, /ɡ/ are fronted to pre-velar position before front vowels.
• Valencian has preserved in most of its subvarieties the mediaeval voiced alveolo-palatal affricate /dʒ/ (similar to the j in English "jeep") in contexts where other modern dialects have developed fricative consonants /ʒ/ (like the si in English "vision"); this is a feature shared with modern Ribagorçan. Nonetheless, the fricative [ʒ] may appear as a voiced allophone of /ʃ/ before vowels and voiced consonants; e.g. peix al forn [ˈpejʒ ɑ̈ɫ ˈfo̞ɾn] 'oven fish' (literally 'fish to the oven').
• /v/ occurs in Balearic,[37] Alguerese, standard Valencian and some areas in southern Catalonia.[38] It has merged with /b/ elsewhere.[39]
• Deaffrication of /dz/ in verbs ending in -itzar; e.g. analitzar [ɑ̈nɑ̈ɫiˈzɑ̈ɾ] 'to analise'.
• Most subvarieties of Valencian preserve final stops in clusters (e.g. /mp/, /nt/, /nk/ ([ŋk]), and /lt/): camp [kɑ̈mp] (a feature shared with modern Balearic). Dialectally, all final clusters can be simplified.
• /l/ is normally velarised ([ɫ]), save for some dialects.
  • /l/ is generally dropped in the word altre ([ˈɑ̈tɾe] 'other'), as well as in derived terms.

• The present first-person singular of verbs differs from Central Catalan. All those forms without final -o are more akin to mediaeval Catalan and contemporary Balearic Catalan.

• Present subjunctive is more akin to mediaeval Catalan and Spanish; -ar infinitives end ⟨e⟩, -re, -er and -ir verbs end in ⟨a⟩ (in contemporary Central Catalan present subjunctive ends in ⟨i⟩).
• An exclusive feature of Valencian is the subjunctive imperfect morpheme -ra: que ell vinguera ('that he might come').
• Valencian has -i- as theme vowel for inchoative verbs of the third conjugation; e.g. servix ('s/he serves'), like North-Western Catalan. Although, again, this cannot be generalised since there are Valencian subdialects that utilize -ei-, e.g. serveix.
• In Valencian the simple past tense (e.g. cantà 'he sang') is more frequently used in speech than in Central Catalan, where the periphrastic past (e.g. va cantar 'he sang') is prevailing and the simple past mostly appears in written language. The same, however, may be said of the Balearic dialects.[40]
• The second-person singular of the present tense of the verb ser ('to be'), ets ('you are'), has been replaced by eres in colloquial speech.

Clitics

• In general, use of modern forms of the determinate article (el, els 'the') and the third-person unstressed object pronouns (el, els 'him, them'), though some subdialects (for instance the one spoken in Vinaròs area) preserve etymological forms lo, los as in Lleida. For the other unstressed object pronouns, etymological old forms (me, te, se, ne, mos, vos...) can be found, depending on places, in conjunction with the more modern reinforced ones (em, et, es, en, ens, us...).
  • Several variations for nosaltres, vosaltres ('we, you'): mosatros, moatros, natros; vosatros, voatros, vatros; also for the weak form mos/-mos instead of standard ens/-nos ('us').
• The adverbial pronoun hi ('there') is almost never used in speech and is replaced by other pronouns. The adverbial pronoun en ('him/her/them/it') is used less than in Catalonia and the Balearic Islands.[40]
• Combined weak clitics with li ('him/her/it') preserve the li, whereas in Central Catalan it is replaced by hi. For example, the combination li + el gives li'l in Valencian (l'hi in Central Catalan).
• The weak pronoun ho ('it') is pronounced as [ew] more often than in other dialects, especially when coming after another pronoun (e.g. m'ho dóna [mew ˈðona], dóna-m'ho [ˈdonamew] 's/he gives it to me'). However, when preceding a verb on its own it is pronounced as [u]: ho dóna [u ˈðona] 's/he gives it'. Moreover, after a verb ending in a vowel it is pronounced as [w] (e.g. dóna-ho [ˈdonaw] 'you give it'); while, when following a verb ending with a consonant it is pronounced as [o]: donar-ho [doˈnaɾo] 'to give it'.
• The personal pronoun jo ('I') and the adverb ja ('already') are not pronounced according to the spelling, but to the etymology ([ˈjɒ] and [ˈja], instead of /ˈ(d)ʒɔ/ and /ˈ(d)ʒa/). Similar pronunciations can be heard in North-Western Catalan and Ibizan.
• The preposition amb ('with') merges with en ('in') in most Valencian subdialects.
• Valencian preserves the mediaeval system of demonstratives with three different levels of demonstrative precision (este or aquest/açò/ací, eixe or aqueix/això/ahí, aquell/allò/allí or allà, where aquest and aqueix are almost never used) (feature shared with modern Ribagorçan and Tortosí).

Valencian vocuabulary contains words both restricted to the Valencian-speaking domain, as well as words shared with other Catalan varieties, especially with Northwestern ones. Words are rarely spread evenly over the Valencian community, but are usually contained to parts of it, or spread out into other dialectal areas. Examples include hui 'today' (found in all of Valencia except transitional dialects, in Northern dialects avui) and espill 'mirror' (shared with Northwestern dialects, Central Catalan mirall). There is also variation within Valencia, such as 'corn', which is dacsa in Central and Southern Valencian, but panís in Alicante and Northern Valencian (as well as in Northwestern Catalan). Since Standard Valencian is based on the Southern dialect, words from this dialect are often used as primary forms in the standard language, despite other words traditionally being used in other Valencian dialects. Examples of this are tomaca 'tomato' (which is tomata outside of Southern Valencian) and matalaf 'mattress' (which is matalap in most of Valencia, including parts of the Southern Valencian area).

Below are a selection of words which differ or have different forms in Standard Valencian and Catalan. In many cases, both standards include this variation in their respective dictionaries, but differ as to what form is considered primary. In other cases, Valencian includes colloquial forms not present in the IEC standard. Primary forms in each standard are shown in bold (and may be more than one form). Words in brackets are present in the standard in question, but differ in meaning from how the cognate is used in the other standard.

The Academy of Valencian Studies (Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua, AVL), established by law in 1998 by the Valencian autonomous government and constituted in 2001, is in charge of dictating the official rules governing the use of Valencian.[43] Currently, the majority of people who write in Valencian use this standard.[44]

Standard Valencian is based on the standard of the Institute of Catalan Studies (Institut d'Estudis Catalans, IEC), used in Catalonia, with a few adaptations.[45] This standard roughly follows the Rules of Castelló (Normes de Castelló) from 1932,[46] a set of othographic guidelines regarded as a compromise between the essence and style of Pompeu Fabra's guidelines, but also allowing the use of Valencian idiosyncrasies.

Subdialects of Valencian

• Transitional Valencian (valencià de transició or tortosí): spoken only in the northernmost areas of the province of Castellón in towns like Benicarló or Vinaròs, the area of Matarranya in Aragon (province of Teruel), and a southern border area of Catalonia surrounding Tortosa, in the province of Tarragona.
  • Word-initial and postconsonantal /dʒ/ (Catalan /ʒ/ and /dʒ/~/ʒ/) alternates with [(j)ʒ] intervocalically; e.g. joc [ˈdʒɒk] 'game', but pitjor [piˈʒo] 'worse', boja [ˈbɒjʒa] 'crazy' (Standard Valencian /ˈdʒɔk/, /piˈdʒoɾ/; /ˈbɔdʒa/; Standard Catalan /ˈʒɔk/, /piˈdʒo/ and /ˈbɔʒə/).
  • Final ⟨r⟩ [ɾ] isn't pronounced in infinitives; e.g. cantar [kanˈta] (instead of /kanˈtaɾ/) 'to sing'.
  • Archaic articles lo, los ('the') are used instead of el, els; e.g. lo xic 'the boy', los hòmens 'the men'.
• Northern Valencian (valencià septentrional or castellonenc): spoken in an area surrounding the city of Castellón de la Plana.
  • Use of [e] sound instead of standard ⟨a⟩ /a/ in the third person singular of most verbs; e.g. (ell) cantava [ˈkantave] (instead of /kanˈtava/) 'he sang'. Thus, Northern Valencian dialects contrast forms like (jo) cantava [kanˈtava] 'I sang' with (ell) cantava [kanˈtave] 'he sang', but merges (jo) cante [ˈkante] 'I sing' with (ell) canta [ˈkante] 'he sings'.
  • Palatalization of ⟨ts⟩ /ts/ > [tʃ] and ⟨tz⟩ /dz/ > [dʒ]; e.g. pots /ˈpots/ > [ˈpotʃ] 'cans, jars, you can', dotze /ˈdodze/ > [ˈdodʒe] 'twelve'.
  • Depalatalization of /ʃ/ to [sʲ]; e.g. caixa [ˈkajʃa] > [ˈkajsʲa] 'box'.
• Central Valencian (valencià central or apitxat), spoken in Valencia city and its area, but not used as standard by the Valencian media.
  • Sibilant merger: all voiced sibilants are devoiced (/dʒ/ > [tʃ], /dz/ > [ts], /z/ > [s]); that is, apitxat pronounces casa [ˈkasa] ('house') and joc [ˈtʃɒk] ('game'), where other Valencians would pronounce /ˈkaza/ and /ˈdʒɔk/ (feature shared with Ribagorçan).
  • Betacism, that is the merge of /v/ into /b/; e.g. viu [ˈbiw] (instead of /ˈviw/) 'he lives'.
  • Fortition (gemination) and vocalisation of final consonants; nit [ˈnitːë] (instead of /ˈnit/) 'night'.
  • It preserves the strong simple past, which has been substituted by an analytic past (periphrastic past) with vadere + infinitive in the rest of modern Catalan and Valencian variants. For example, aní instead of vaig anar 'I went'.
• Southern Valencian (valencià meridional): spoken in the contiguous comarques located in the southernmost part of the Valencia province and the northernmost part in the province of Alicante. This subdialect is considered as Standard Valencian.
  • Vowel harmony: the final syllable of a disyllabic word adopts a preceding open ⟨e⟩ [æ] or ⟨o⟩ [ɒ] if the final vowel is an unstressed -⟨a⟩ or -⟨e⟩; e.g. terra [ˈtæræ] ('earth, land'), dona [ˈdɒnɒ] ('woman').
  • This subdialect retain geminate consonants (⟨tl⟩ /lː/ and ⟨tn⟩ /nː/); e.g. guatla [ˈɡwalːa] 'quail', cotna [ˈkonːa] 'rind'.
  • Weak pronouns are "reinforced" in front of the verb (em, en, et, es, etc.) contrary to other subdialects which maintains "full form" (me, ne, te, se, etc.).
• Alicante Valencian (valencià alacantí): spoken in the southern half of the province of Alicante, and the area of Carche in Murcia.
  • Intervocalic /d/ elision in most instances; e.g. roda [ˈrɒa] 'wheel', nadal [naˈal] 'Christmas'.
  • Yod is not pronounced in ⟨ix⟩ /jʃ/ > [ʃ]; e.g. caixa [ˈkaʃa] 'box'.
  • Final ⟨r⟩ isn't pronounced in infinitives; e.g. cantar [kanˈta] 'to sing'.
  • There are some archaisms like: ans instead of abans 'before', manco instead of menys 'less', dintre instead of dins 'into' or devers instead of cap a 'towards'.
  • There are more interferences with Spanish than other dialects: assul (from azul) instead of blau (or atzur) 'blue', llimpiar (from limpiar) instead of netejar 'to clean' or sacar (from sacar) instead of traure 'take out'.

• Misteri d'Elx (c. 1350). Liturgical drama. Listed as Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO.

• Ausiàs March (Gandia, 1400 – Valencia, 3 March 1459). Poet, widely read in renaissance Europe.
• Joanot Martorell (Gandia, 1413–1468). Knight and the author of the novel Tirant lo Blanch.
• Isabel de Villena (Valencia, 1430–1490). Religious poet.
• Joan Roís de Corella (Gandia or Valencia, 1435 – Valencia, 1497). Knight and poet.
• Obres e trobes en lahors de la Verge Maria (1474) The first book printed in Spain. It is the compendium of a religious poetry contest held that year in the town of Valencia.[23]