Catalan Dialects: A Detailed Comparison

Posted on Mar 11, 2025 in Latin

Catalan Dialects: Eastern and Western

Catalan dialects are broadly categorized into two main groups: Eastern and Western. These groups are further subdivided based on specific phonetic, morphological, and lexical features.

Western Catalan

Western Catalan includes Northwestern Catalan and Valencian.

Northwestern Catalan
Valencian:

The digraph “ix” at the end of a word or between vowels is pronounced as a semi-vowel.
Masculine words ending in “-e” have plurals in “-ns”.
The first-person singular present indicative ends in “[o]” or “[e]”.
“is” now before the verb. Example: “I will bite you”.
Inchoative verbs increase with “-ix-“.

Occitan Influence

Occitan influence is noticeable in certain phonetic features:

The initial and unstressed “o” opens to “[a]”.
The initial “o” in the diphthong “au” may become lax.
Latin words are maintained, and “e” can change to “ai”.
“x” after “pos” and initial consonant is an affricate, articulated as palatal.
In initial position, “[z]” is pronounced “[dz]”.
Archaic articles “lo” and “los” are used.
The first-person present indicative ends in “-or” (singular).
Subjunctive endings are in “-e”.

Valencian Characteristics

Northwestern: “q” + “[ui]” is pronounced “[wi]”.
Intervocalic “-d-” in the suffix “-ador” is lost.
The “bl” group becomes “bs”, articulated as a fricative between vowels.
Consonants to be pronounced: “lt”, “nd”, “nt”, “ld”, “nc”, “ng”.
The final “r” of a word is not silenced.
Distinction between labiodental “v” and bilabial “b”.
Use of all articles.
No articles with proper names.
Possessives: “la meua opinió” (your opinion), “ma”, “mon”, “ma”, “sa” (my, my, my, hand) alternate with “ta”, “sa”, “ton”.
Demonstratives: “este”, “eixe”, “aquells”, “aquell”, “atxò” (this, is, that, those, that, archive, Such).
The first-person singular present indicative ends in “-e”.
Imperfect subjunctive endings: “-ara”, “-era”, “-ira”.
Combined weak pronouns in the third person are readily “li + CD”: “li’l”, “li la”, “li les”, “li’ls” (the will, the, the, the, pass them).
Preposition “a” becomes “en” in some cases. Examples: “en patata-patates” (potato-potatoes), “deixar-se’n”, “mica en mica”, “nit-nit”, “fregall-fregalls” (leave-out, little bit, night-night, washing dishes, Drain).

Eastern Catalan

Eastern Catalan includes Roussillon, Central Catalan, Balearic, and Algherese.

In “aigua”, “qualque” groups are reduced to “[go]”, “[ko]”.
The final group in “-qua” is reduced to “[g@]”, “[@k]”.
The digraph “ll” is articulated as “l”.
An “r” is added to words ending in a dental consonant.
The first-person singular indicative ends in “[u]”, “[i]”, or “[Ø]”.
Inchoative verbs use “-esc-“.

Roussillonès

Five tonic vowels: “[a]”, “[e]”, “[o]”, “[i]”, “[u]”.
The sound “[ʎ]” reduces to “[u]”.
Esdrúixols words tend to become flat.
Esdrúixols words ending in “[iə]” lose the final schwa.
The sound “[ʃ]” falls in final post-tonic position.
The first-person singular indicative ends in “-i”.
“Ser” (to be) is used as an auxiliary verb.
The negative “pas” is used, but not “no”.

Central Catalan

(Barcelona, Tarragona, Northern Transitional, Salty, Heather)

Seven tonic vowels: “[a]”, “[ɛ]”, “[e]”, “[ɔ]”, “[o]”, “[i]”, “[u]” and three unstressed: “[i]”, “[u]”, “[ə]”.
No “t-nt”, “lt-rt” groups.
The fricative sound “[ʃ]” tends to affricate “[tʃ]”.
The affricate sound “[dz]” becomes voiceless “[tʃ]”.
The first-person singular present indicative does not end in “-o”, pronounced “[u]”.
Inchoative verbs use “-eix”.

Barcelona Variety

Great opening of vowels “[ɛ]”,[ɔ]”, “[ə]” which convert to “[e]”,[o]”, “[a]”.
Demonstratives “aquells”, “estes” can have masculine singular pronounced “[aquets]”.

Tarragona Variety

Labiodental pronunciation of “v”, distinguishing it from “b”.
Palatalization of “n” after a decreasing diphthong.
Penultimate “s” shows the cache of Barcelona + women.
Personal pronouns: “naltros”, “nantros”, “valtros”.
Masculine words ending in “-e” have plurals with “-ns”.

Northern Transitional Variety

The infinitive of the second and third conjugations has the ending “-r”.
The first-person indicative adds the ending “[u]” of a central “-o”.
A “-v-” is inserted in the imperfect indicative.
Negative sentences use “mica”, “gens” instead of “no + pas”.
The digraph “gua” becomes “go”.

Salty Variety

Uses the article “es”, “sa”.

Heather Variety

The unstressed syllabic “a” becomes a final “e”.

Balearic

Schwa in tonic position.
Esdrúixols words ending in “[iə]” lose the neutral vowel and become plain.
“v” is pronounced as labiodental, differentiating it from “b”.
“nt”, “lt” groups are pronounced.
The digraph “ll” is pronounced “ʎ”, and it does not become silent.
The group “-tll-” becomes “-tl-“.
Use of articles “es”, “sa”.
Use of personal articles “en”, “na”.
The first-person singular indicative of the first and third conjugations does not have a desinence.
Personal pronouns: “noltros”, “voltros”.
Use of full pronouns before weak forms.
Specific vocabulary: “al·lot” (boy), “diners” (money), “calçons” (pants), “llinatge” (surname), “horabaixa” (afternoon), “nin” (kid, child), “part forana” (Gone), “moix” (cat), “ca” (dog), “pus” (more).

Algherese

Vowels atonic “[i]”, “[u]”, “[a]”; tonic vowels “[e]”, “[ɛ]”, “[a]”.
The digraphs “ll”, “ny” are pronounced “[l]”, “[n]”.
“r” becomes a consonant followed by “[l]”.
The consonants “d”, “l” are pronounced “[r]” (flap).
The “dr” group becomes “[r]”.
The first-person singular present indicative is not saved.
The present indicative of “ser” (to be) is “jo sóc”, “tu ses”, “ell és”, “nosaltres sem”, “vosaltres sou”, “ells són” (I sound, you ses, it is, always us, its you, they are). “Esser” is used as an auxiliary.
Definite articles: “lo”, “los”.
Possessives: “meu”, “meua”, “teu”, “teua”, “seu”, “seua”, “nostro”, “nostra”, “vostro”, “vostra” (my, mine, soft, thy, ye, sweat, ours, ours, yours, your).
Use of full verb forms before weak pronouns.
Superlative forms by repeating the adjective.
Specific vocabulary: “ecco” (behold), “llavores” (then), “alora” (then).