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The Catalan-speaking World
Catalan is one of the group of western Romanic languages, together with Italian, Spanish, Portuguese and French, the most widely-spoken languages in the same family. Catalan is the language of the artists Gaudí, Miró, Dalí, Brossa, Bohigas, Tàpies, Domènech i Montaner, etc. It's also the language of the musicians Josep Carreras, Clavé, Montserrat Caballé, Pau Casals, Lluís Llach, Jordi Savall, Tete Montoliu and Frederic Mompou.
Catalan is also the language of the scientists Joan Oró, Eduard Fontserè and Joan Coromines. It's also the language of the sportists Guardiola, Gasol, Jofresa, Tarrés, Crivillé, Checa, Alzamora, Elias, Àlex Corretja, Marc Colomer, etc.
It's spoken by over 10 milion people in a large area (68,000 km2) in the east of the Spanish State (Catalonia, the Balearic Islands, Valencia, the Franja - the area in Aragon bordering on Catalonia - and other municipalities in Murcia that border on Valencia), Andorra, the south of France (North Catalonia – the Department of Pyrénées Orientales) and in the Sardinian city of l'Alguer (Alghero).
The legal framework on language in Spain is to be found in the 1978 Constitution, mainly in article 3, and in the statutes of autonomy of Catalonia, Valencia, the Balearic Islands and Aragon. It is implemented in Catalonia through the 1998 law on language policy (which replaces the 1983 law), in the Balearic Islands through the 1986 law on language policy and in Valencia through the 1983 law on the use and teaching of Valencian. In accordance with this legislation, Catalan is the language proper to Catalonia, the Balearic Islands and Valencia and it's also an official language in these areas, alongside Spanish. In Andorra, Catalan is the only official language according to article 2 of the 1993 Constitution of the Principality of Andorra. Neither North Catalonia nor L'Alguer have their own law on language.
In addition, on 11 December 1990, the European Parliament approved the "Resolution on the situation of languages in the Community and on the Catalan language". This resolution recognises the identity, current validity and the use of Catalan within the context of the European Union and proposes that Catalan be included in certain actions undertaken by European institutions.
Some associations and collectives, such as CAL (Coordinadora d'Associacions per la Llengua), Acció Cultural del País Valencià, Obra Cultural Balear and Plataforma per la Llengua, fight for a better legal framework for Catalan and for the normalization of the language.
Between the 10th and 11th centuries, Catalan was already a fully-formed language, clearly distinguishable from its Latin origins.
Catalan appears for the first time in written documents in the second half of the 12th century. We have legal, financial, religious and historical documentation in Catalan from the twelfth century, scientific, philosophical and literary works of the Catalan monarchs, legal and court documentation and government communications. The first known text written entirely in Catalan is the translation of a small section of the Liber iudiciorum, the Visigoth code of laws of the second half of the 12th century.
The first extant text written originally in Catalan is a piece of religious literature: the Homilies d'Organyà (Homilies of Organyà), dating from late 12th or early 13th centuries.
In the 13th century, Catalan had its first great man of literature of universal importance: Ramon Llull. He was the first writer to use Catalan in literary prose as his normal means of communication and as an instrument of cultural expression. In this sense, Ramon Llull overcame the language conditions of his day, in which Latin and Provençal were the preferred languages in philosophical and literary texts.
The great period of the Catalan language lasted just over a century from 1274, when the Llibre dels Feyts (Book of Deeds), also known as the Crònica de Jaume I (Chronicle of James I), appeared, until the Crònica de Pere el Cerimoniós (Chronicle of Peter the Ceremonious) in 1386. Other works during the period were the chronicles written by Bernat Desclot (1265) and by Ramon Muntaner (1336). During the 13th and 14th centuries, Catalan reached its high point of political and geographical expansion in the peninsula through the conquest of the kingdoms of Valencia and Murcia. The language also spread around the Mediterranean through victory over the kingdoms of Majorca, Sicily, Sardinia, Naples, Athens and Neopatria. Catalan came to be spoken, even if not always as a first language, in five states around the Mediterranean which were governed by Catalan dynasties. Catalan was, during the 14th century, one of the most widespread languages. Catalan prose during the 14th and 15th centuries has a remarkable feature: its high degree of uniformity. This was due to the Royal Chancellery, which acted as a unifying factor, strongly influencing all Catalan writing of this time.
The 15th century has been called the Golden Age of Catalan literature,with Bernat Roís de Corella, Jaume Roig, Ausiàs March and Joanot Martorell.
Following the War of the Spanish Succession (1705-1715), Philip V abolished all the government institutions then existing in Catalonia and implemented Spanish laws. Catalan went through various periods of prohibition and even of repression, such that changes in the extent to which the language was used in its own territory from the 18th century on were due to politics rather than to any socio-cultural reasons.
In spite of this, shortly afterwards in the 19th century, a period of economic, cultural and national recovery began, known as the Renaixença (Renaissance). Catalan was reborn as the language of literary culture through the Jocs Florals (Floral Games - a poetry contest) and through distinguished figures such as Jacint Verdaguer, Narcís Oller and Àngel Guimerà.
The Renaixença raised awareness of the lack of unity in the use of the language (there was no model for a common written language) and of the need to draw up rules on spelling. The founding of the Institut d'Estudis Catalans (Institute of Catalan Studies) in 1907 led to the language being codified through the publication of Normes ortogràfiques (Spelling Rules) in 1913, the Diccionari ortogràfic (Spelling Dictionary) in 1917, and the Gramàtica catalana (Catalan Grammar) by Pompeu Fabra in 1918.
During the first 30 years of the 20th century, Catalonia went through a period of political fervour, culminating in the recovery of a degree of political power in the Generalitat (the Government of Catalonia) during the 1930s. During the Second Republic (1931-1939), Catalan was restored to its official language status, which it had lost in the 18th century.
However, this promising future was checked by the Civil War and its consequences. The use of Catalan in public was forbidden and the language retreated into the home.
Ever since the restoration of democratic institutions, there has been a process to re-establish the use of Catalan.
Population: 6,059,494 inhabitants
The 1991 census indicates that 5,577,855 (93.8%) people over the age of two understand Catalan; 5,065,841 (88.3%) can speak it; 4,019,276 (67.6%) can read it; and 3,376,201 (49.9%) can write it.
Progress in the knowledge of Catalan (1986-1991). Population over the age of two.
The Balearic Islands:
Population: 739,506 inhabitants
Data from the last census indicate that 89.6% of the population understand Catalan; 86.7% can speak it; 55% can read it; and 25.9% can write it.
Valencian Country:
Population: 3,857,234 inhabitants
According to data from the 1991 population census, 2,909,000 people can speak Catalan (71% of the population) and 502,000 (25%) can write it, particularly the younger groups.
North Catalonia:
Population: 363,793 inhabitants in 1990.
According to a recent survey, approximately 140,000 (40%) can speak Catalan, although 16% recognise that they have difficulties expressing themselves due to inadequate knowledge of the language.
La Franja in Aragon:
Despite the fact that there are no recent official figures on the knowledge and use of Catalan in La Franja, recent estimates indicate that some 45,000 people (approximately 95% of the population) use Catalan as their normal language.
L'Alguer and Andorra:
As there are no language figures for L'Alguer and Andorra, we can only give approximate data from estimates based on incomplete studies. It is calculated that there are 18,000 Catalan speakers in L'Alguer and 22,000 in Andorra.
In 1976, advances towards democracy were supported by the appearance of the first newspaper published in Catalan after almost 40 years of prohibition. This was the newspaper AVUI (Today). The number of daily papers in Catalan later grew to include Regió 7 in 1978; the Punt Diari (Daily Point) in 1979, now known as El Punt, in 1988, the Diari de Barcelona (Barcelona Daily) came back into print, but is now no longer published; and in 1990, the Diari de Girona (Girona Daily) began publication in Catalan. Despite this considerable increase in the daily press in Catalan, the print runs only made up 24% of the total press in the principality. This situation has improved with the publishing of El Periódico in two separate editions of the same paper, one in Catalan and the other in Spanish, using advances in technology. Since it was first published on 28 October 1997, the Catalan print run has stabilised at 42% of the total of over 200,000 copies printed each day. This means that it is now the daily paper in Catalan with the widest readership. A similar case is El Segre (The Segre), which has appeared in two editions since 11 September 1997. As with El Periódico, it does not have even readership throughout Catalonia, but it should be noted that both papers have increased their print runs. In 2000, many newspapers appeared also in Internet, and also some new electronic publications, published only in the net, such as Vilaweb.
Main periodicals published in Catalan
El Temps: it offers general
information and it's weekly, with 30,000 copies.
Serra d'Or: it
offers Culture and Religion and it's monthly, with 8,000 copies.
Espais Mediterranis: decoration.
Descobrir Cuina: cuisine.
Descobrir Catalunya: geography, nature, ecology, tourism and seesights.
Illacrua: actuality and alternatives. It appears every 3 months.
Cavall Fort: children's publication fortnightly, with 25,000 copies.
One feature of great importance is the district press, comprising some 30 titles of interest, including El 9 Nou (The New 9), the Diari de Vilanova (Vilanova Daily), El 3 de Vuit (The 3 of Eight) and La Veu de l'Anioia (The Voice of L'Anoia)..
Radio
The radio stations owned by the Generalitat (the Government of Catalonia) broadcast wholly in Catalan: Catalunya Radio, set up in 1983; Catalunya Música , set up in 1987; and Catalunya Informació set up in 1992. There are also other publicly-owned radio stations, such as Ràdio Nou, Ràdio Nova, Radio 4, broadcast by Radio Nacional de España, which pioneered programmes in Catalan after Franco's death, and COM Ràdio. But the most important radio chanels in Catalan are privates: Flaix FM, Ràdio Flaix Bac, RAC 105, RAC 1 etc.There are currently 192 local radio broadcasters in the Principality and 80% of their total programming is in Catalan; it happens the same in the Balear Islands, the Valencian Country and Andorra. In the Rossillon there is a station called Ràdio Arrels.
Television
The use of Catalan on television channels in the Catalan Countries is as follows:
The 15th century has been called the Golden Age of Catalan literature, although in truth it began
with Bernat Metge in the 14th century. From a literary point of view,
Catalan reached moments of splendour with the works of the writers Roís
de Corella, Jaume Roig, Ausiàs March, a Valencian poet
who was the true founder of Catalan poetry, and Joanot Martorell,
who wrote Tirant lo Blanc (Tirant the White), the first modern novel in
European literature.In spite of this, shortly
In the 19th century, a period known as the Renaixença (Renaissance), there were distinguished figures such as Jacint
Verdaguer, Narcís Oller and Àngel Guimerà.
In the XX and XXI centuries the most important Catalan narrative writers are: Màrius Serra, Manuel de Pedrolo,
Ferrran Torrent, Mercè Rodoreda, Carme Riera, Isabel-Clara Simó, Maria de la Pau Janer, Josep Pla, Quim Monzó and Joan Fuster.
Joan Fuster and Ponç Pons.
