Catalan 1 Vowel system i u e o    a Minimal pairs e/: Déu [dew

The Romance Languages
Catalan 1
Catalan
1 Vowel system
i
u
e
o

Minimal pairs

a

e/: Déu [dew] ‘God’ / deu [dw] ‘must; ten’
o/: dona [don] ‘gives 3 sg’ / dona [dn] ‘lady’
Conditioning of vowel changes:
P¢ILU(M) > [pl]
–
SOLE(M) > [sl]
¢
MONTE(M)
> [mun]
¢
FONTE(M) > [fn]
¢ CTU(M) > [it]
LE
FACTU(M) > [fet]
¢
FOLIA
> [fu]
¢
LUCTA
> [ujt]
2 Consonantal changes
l-mb-nd-n
-r
>
>
>
>
>
-m-nØ
Ø
LUPU(M) > llop ‘wolf’
*CAMBA(M) > cama ‘leg’
MANDARE > manar ‘order’
MOLINU(M) > molí ‘mill’
CANTARE > cantar ‘sing’
FLORE(M) > flor ‘flower’
but AMORE(M) > amor ‘love’
Final consonants:
p:
t:
k:
n:
:
:
árab [] ‘Arab’, llop ‘wolf’
fred [] ‘cold’, nit ‘night’
llarg [] ‘long’, amic ‘friend’
accent [] ‘accent’
blanc [] ‘white’
bany [] ‘bath’
The Romance Languages

:
:
:
s:
r:
Catalan 2
pernil [] ‘ham’
full [] ‘leaf’
roig [] ‘red’
mateix [] ‘same’
capaç [] ‘capable’
see above
Geminate consonants:
(rr):
ll:
:
mm:
nn:
bbl:
ggl:
gorra [grr] ‘cap’
novel·la [nubll] ‘novel’
vetlla [b] ‘old (f.)’
setmana [smman] ‘week’
tarannà [trnna] ‘character’
poble [pbbl] ‘town’
regla [rreggl] ‘rule’
3 Plural morphology
3.1 Hypercharacterisation of masculine gender in plurals of oxytones ending in a
sibilant
Lat.
CAPACE(M)
P¢I SCE(M)
FIL¢I U(M)
CAPACES
P¢I SCES
FIL¢I OS
Cat.
capaç
peix
fill
capaços
peixos
fills
Cast.
capaz
pez
hijo
capaces
peces
hijos
3.2 Feminine plural
casa
cases
3.3 Plurals of stems in etymological /n/
cançó cançons
má
mans
The Romance Languages
Catalan 3
4 Demonstratives
Adjective
Neuter pronoun
Locative adverb
aquest
açò
ací
aqueix
això
aquí
aquell
allò
allí / allà
5 Clitic pronouns
5.1 - en and hi:
en
Partitive:
= de + N:
no en vull més ‘I don’t want any more (of it)’
demà haurem de parlar-ne ‘tomorrow we must speak about it’
no en surto fins al vespre ‘I’m not going out (of here/there) until this
evening’
ara en tornem a parlar ‘let’s talk about it/you again’
hi
‘There’:
Prep + N:
no hi eres ‘you aren’t there’
ja no i surt ‘he’s not going out with her any more’
no deixaré de pensar-hi ‘I won’t stop thinking about it’
Marker of intransitive verbs of perception:
no hi sent el pobre ‘the poor man can’t hear’
5.2 Variant forms
After verb ending in consonant or u:
After verb ending in vowel other than u:
Before verb beginning in consonant:
Before verb beginning in vowel or h-:
-los-la
‘ls-la
els la
els l’
-nos-el
‘ns-el
ens el
ens l’
5.3 Order
es
et
us
em
ens
li
elsIO
el
els
la
les
ho
en
hi
6 Article
Standard
Western
Balearics
el
lo
es
la
la
sa
els
los
es / ets
les
les
ses
An ‘article’ deriving from DOMINU(M) / DOMINA is used before names: en Joan, la Maria
/ na Maria.
The Romance Languages
Catalan 4
7 The verb
7.1 Periphrastic preterite / synthetic preterite
vaig parlar
va(re)s parlar
va parlar
va(re)m parlar
va(re)u parlar
va(re)m parlar
parlí
parlares
parlà
parlàrem
parlàreu
parlaren
Note that the existence of this paraphrase does not preclude the use of a ‘go’-future:
Vaig a anar ‘I’ll go’
Vaig anar ‘I went’
7.2 Conjugation types
I parlar / II perdre / III dormir
‘Inchoative’ conjugation (subgroup of III): semiproductive type with suffix deriving from
¢ RE in 1,2,3sg. and 3pl.
-ESCE
llegeixo
llegeixes
llegeix
llegim
llegiu
llegeixem
7.3 Gerund and present participle
No distinction between gerund and adjectival ‘present participle’ in conjugations I and II,
though distinction in III:
Present participle
Gerund
parlant
parlant
aprenent
aprenent
escrivent
escrivint
aigua bullent ‘boiling water’
l’aigua està bullint ‘the water is boiling’
8 The verbs ésser and estar
With locative expressions ésser denotes simple location; estar indicates fixed time duration
(‘stay’)
Eren a Barcelona ‘they were in Barcelona’
Van estar dos anys a Barcelona ‘they were in Barcelona for two years’
The Romance Languages
Catalan 5
With adjectives ésser denotes imperfectivity; estar indicates fixed time duration or resultant
state:
La ciutat és molt animada ‘the town is very lively’
Avui la ciutat estava molt animada ‘yesterday the town was very lively’
With past participles ésser forms the ‘dynamic’ passive; estar indicates a resultant state:
Tot va ésser dit ‘everything was said’
Tot ja està dit ‘everything has been said’
though a past participle can also function as an adjective:
La finestra va ésser trencada ‘the window was broken’
La finestra està trencada ‘the window has been broken’
La finestra és trencada ‘the window is broken’
9 Position of Catalan in Romance
PORTUGUESE
CASTILIAN
CATALAN
terra
porta
orelha
filha
tierra
puerta
oreja
hija
terra
porta
orella
filla
B
año
caballo
any
cavall
C
amarillo
azul
pequeño
pardo
comadreja
ardilla
pájaro
llegar
querer
nada
entonces
con
groc
blau
petit
brun
mostela
esquirol
ocell
arribar
voler
res
llavors
amb
A
OCCITAN
croc
blau
petit
bru
mostela
esquirol
aucell
arribar
voler
res
laor
amb
Further reading
Badia i Margarit, A.M., 1951. Gramática histórica catalana (Barcelona: Noguer).
Colón, Germà, 1975. ‘A propos du parfait périphrastique VADO + infinitif en catalan, en
provençal et en français’, Travaux de linguistique et littérature, 13, 31-66.
Vallcorba i Rocosa, J., 1978. Els verbs ésser i estar en català (Barcelona: Curial).

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