Valencian

• Phonetics and phonology ( in IPA )
• Grammar ( word formation, morphology, syntax )
• Vocabulary
• Examples

(see style language )

• Full bibliographic information in the section "Literature"

As Valencian ( proper name Valencian, Spanish valenciano ) in the Autonomous Community of Valencia ( Spain) is referred spoken variety of the Catalan language. For political reasons, the view is often held that Valencian is to be regarded as a separate language. Since 1982, the Valencian idiom alongside Spanish official language of the region referred to in Article 7, 2 of the Statutes of Autonomy of Valencia.

Demarcation to Catalan

In rural areas, pronunciation and vocabulary vary slightly from place to place. We have here to do with a so-called dialect continuum. Therefore, it is virtually impossible to distinguish from the Catalan Valencian, as isoglosses do not coincide with political boundaries. For this reason, it makes more sense, " Valencian " to display as the label of the Catalan language in the Autonomous Region of Valencia. The Valencian dialects are included in the group of westkatalanischen dialects, which also includes the western region of Catalonia, the Catalan-speaking part of Aragon and Andorra belong. There are in the Valencian peculiarities in the vocabulary and grammar. The spelling as taught in the rest of the Catalan language area and goes back to the so-called standards of Castelló from 1932, which are an adaptation to the Valencian language features of the standards, the Pompeu Fabra i Poch had established at the beginning of the 20th century in Catalonia. Peculiarities of the Valencian but sometimes also taken in the written language, for example, the possessive " my, your, his / her " not written in the Standardkatalanischen with v, but with u - " la meua, la teua, la seua " instead of " la meva, la teva, la seva ". The first person singular is with -e instead of -o formed ( "jo cante " ) and there are different words, such as " potatoes " and " girls ". The prosody differs from the total Ostkatalanischen. The Valencian can someone who knows the Catalan example from Barcelona to understand, but has an aural, while a spokesman from Lleida will have no difficulty, for example, as well as the variety of Lleida belongs to Westkatalanischen.

The Valencian as a political program

The status of Valencian is discussed for a long time controversial. For many Valencian will the fact that the Valencian since about the 15th century in the Kingdom of Valencia had its own name, from, to see it as a separate language rather than as a variety of Catalan. However, this reasoning can linguistic comparisons aside and thus refers only to the designation of the language as valenciano or Valencian instead of the names catalán or català.

That the Valencian is also linguistically be considered as a separate language, is a view that is represented mainly by conservative, aligned on a center of Spanish nationalism political forces. The political aim of this argument is mainly the weakening of Catalan nationalism in the region of Valencia. The 1995 ruling in the Autonomous Region of Valencia right-wing Partido Popular (PP ) has greatly promoted the thesis of the autonomy of the Valencian language for this reason.

The main argument that is spawned for autonomy is that the Valencian have evolved from the Mozarabic, can be delivered without scientifically sound evidence for this claim. Seen Linguistically, this view is not tenable and is shared neither by linguists of Romance still from the University of Valencia. The continuity of the Mozarabic in Valencia was rather clearly refuted by the linguist Germà Colon Domènech from Castellón de la Plana. The reasons for holding on - not scientifically provable - linguistic secessionism are primarily political in nature and often go hand in hand with a strong Antikatalanismus. This can provide the curious at first sight situation that many of the most outspoken advocates of autonomy thesis itself does not speak Valencian.

While in the big cities of Valencia and Alicante, the majority of the population speaks Spanish, the Valencian is maintained in rural areas with growing self- awareness. Also at time of Franco was spoken in the Valencian villages, although it was banned in the postwar period. The Valencian is also associated with about a protest against Madrid and centralism. To date, it is difficult many old Valencian to express themselves in the Spanish language. Therefore, the Valencian was among urban dwellers for a long time as " rural language " similar to the Low German in North Germany, which is also less spoken in cities such as Oldenburg or Bremen. Meanwhile, however, especially young intellectuals devote themselves in the Valencian care of Catalan and Valencian and make this little difference between the two variants. Often, in order to connect an idealization of life on the Mediterranean coast and the political goal of an independent state of Spain by the political union of all Catalan-speaking areas ( Països Catalans ).

The Academia Valenciana de la Llengua, according to Article 41 of the Valencian Statute of Autonomy guardian of the Valencian language, took on 9 February 2005 a decision which states that the language question: "After the most compelling contributions of the Romance languages ​​from the 19th century to the present ( studies of historical grammar, dialectology, the syntax, lexicography, ...) is the historical language of the Valencian own and from the philological point of view also the one having the Autonomous Communities of Catalonia and the Balearic Islands, and the Principality of Andorra in common. It is also the historical and own language of other areas of the former Crown of Aragon ( the eastern strip of Aragon, the Sardinian town of Alghero and the French department of Pyrénées- Orientales). The different ways of speaking of these areas form a language ... It is a fact that there are two legally equivalent names for this language are in Spain: the, as Valencian, as it is recorded in the Statute of Autonomy of the Autonomous Community of Valencia, and as Catalan as it is included in the autonomy statutes of Catalonia and the Balearic Islands and the Spanish in the jurisdiction and the case law is used. "This is also officially stated that the official language of the Autonomous Community of Valencia is Catalan, which is referred to in this simply different, namely as Valencian.

Multilingualism and tradition Care

Since the early 1990s, the education runs in schools bilingual (now often with a marked shift to the Valencian out that the main lessons and books, exam tasks etc. in Valencian, Castilian only as a subject ) who is applying, and the Region of Valencia for a civil service agency has advantages when he speaks Valencian and especially writes correctly. There are Valencian television stations, whose current program runs in Valencian. However, in such a television program, it often happens that, for example, the guests on a talk show discussing mixed in Valencian and Spanish. While in Catalonia movies are broadcast synchronized in Catalan, which is not the case in the Valencian television programs.

Since the Valencian is not classified internationally as a separate language, it shares the ISO 639 language code and ca cat and SIL code CLN with the Catalan.

Knowledge of the language

In the following map the percent of the population is shown each comarca who claim to speak Valencian: