Catalan Read online

  In fact, in addition to the Barcelona-based norm which is used throughout Catalonia and to some extent elsewhere, de facto standards for Valencian and Balearic had already grown up, largely through the practice of a few major publishers. These parastandards diverge from the Barcelona norm only in retaining some regional differences of vocabulary and morphology which were part of the literary tradition. The differences are comparable to those between British and American English; one may easily read a page of text before coming on a feature which marks it as of one regional standard variety rather than another. In recent years some writers and publishers in Catalonia have argued for, and practised, modifications of the standard language to reflect more popular usage, especially that of Barcelona, in vocabulary and syntax. The vehemence of the polemic surrounding these deviations is out of proportion to the rather modest scope of the innovations proposed.

  A potentially much more serious trend since the 1980s has been one associated with the claim that Valencian is not just a regional variety of Catalan but a separate language. This has led to the development by the Reial Academia de Cultura Valenciana of a different orthography, grammar, and vocabulary, reflecting more closely (but by no means entirely consistently) the popular speech of Valencia; this alternative standard has won some official backing – in the city government of Valencia and under the regime currently (1998) controlling the Generalitat Valenciana – but has generally been opposed by educational institutions, publishers, and most creative writers in Catalan.

  TYPE OF LANGUAGE COVERED IN THE GRAMMAR

  Our approach to presenting a systematic description of modern Catalan is one which takes into account the issues discussed above. We endeavour to reflect the current reality of the language by acknowledging regional diversity.

  Both our descriptions and the examples supplied refer primarily to the established prescriptive norms, with their inclination towards the standard status and standardizing influence of the Central dialect, in particular. However, in areas of use where differences are marked (e.g. weak object pronouns, verbal morphology, demonstratives, etc.), we follow the practice of describing regional or dialect differences from the General variety (as we label it in this context), with examples correspondingly supplied and explained. Elsewhere, in discussing general normative features, we regularly include without comment examples which contain recognized dialect features (e.g. Valencian et porte esta carta for Central-based norm et porto aquesta carta ‘I am bringing you this letter’; Balearic t’ho pos aquí for t’ho poso aquí ‘I’m putting it here (for you)’). Proportionally, though, the example material supplied reflects the prevalence of the Central norm, for the reasons explained above.

  Where we make mention of ‘the Dictionary’, reference is principally to the Diccionari de la llengua catalana, published in 1995 under the aegis and with the authority of the Institut d’Estudis Catalans. The Institut, through its Philological Section, is the acknowledged and legally recognized ultimate authority in matters concerning the formal lexical and grammatical rules of Catalan, throughout the Catalan-speaking area. The 1995 Diccionari incorporates the contents and various revisions of the Diccionari general de la llengua catalana which first appeared in 1932 under the direction of Pompeu Fabra (see p. xiii). Until 1995 the Diccionari general was complemented by the Diccionari de la llengua catalana (1982), published by Enciclopédia Catalana, which retains its usefulness for coverage of recent and specialized terminology.

  A corpus might have been established to provide authorized and published illustration of each and every point discussed. Selected quotations from written sources have been used, but we have rejected using a corpus base as our main method. Several practical and theoretical reasons have determined this decision. In the first place we wished to break with the reference grammar convention of prioritizing literary usage. Second, establishing a corpus of authorities would have meant imposing certain criteria of selectivity regarding normative status which, in the context of modern Catalan publishing, is subject to outside constraints, house styles, subjective preferences and the vagaries of correction. Third, genuine quotations in many cases bring the disadvantage of details which are irrelevant to the point under discussion, making it harder to see the wood for the trees. Our examples, some of which have been adapted from complementary linguistic sources, are intended to be both realistic and practical. This procedure is consistent with our main team approach to the preparation of this volume, combining our individual competences, namely those of a theoretical linguist with a particular interest in the structures of Catalan, a specialist in teaching Catalan grammar to advanced students of languages, and a Catalan-speaker (incidentally of Majorcan origin) who supplies an internal perspective based on both native competence and professional expertise.

  In addition to remarking on dialect differences within the standard language, we give considerable attention to levels of formality, both in speech and writing. That is, we draw attention to the fact that not everything that is accepted as standard is equally appropriate in all contexts; furthermore, many features that are categorized as non-standard are characteristic at least of the spontaneous spoken usage of many educated speakers.

  CONVENTIONS AND PRESENTATION

  An asterisk (*hem comprar pa, *vull de veure) indicates an ungrammatical form, that would be instinctively rejected by a native speaker. A question mark before an example (?Era envejada per mi, ?Li ho direm al teu germà) indicates a form that would not be accepted as natural or genuine by all speakers. Widespread colloquial non-standard variants are systematically referred to as such.

  Where the English translation of an example departs markedly from the wording or structure of the Catalan original, we supply in parentheses, thus (lit….), a more literal version to accompany the communicative equivalent of the original.

  The English translations that we give, whether of words or whole sentences, are not intended to cover the whole range of possible meanings (or to substitute for a dictionary). They are designed to identify the items in question, or to illustrate the point at issue, drawing attention to similarities and differences between Catalan and English. Among other things, a Catalan third person singular verb such as pren might well correspond to ‘she takes’, ‘he takes’, ‘it takes’, ‘you take’, ‘she is taking’, ‘he is taking’, ‘it is taking’, ‘you are taking’, and so on. We select just one of the possibilities without comment. Alternatives have been indicated (usually by a diagonal stroke /: thus, vam/vàrem cridar ‘we shouted’, camioneta ‘van’/‘light truck’) where the difference is noteworthy or significant, but for the sake of clarity we have not attempted to be comprehensive in showing all alternatives wherever they might be possible.

  Max W. Wheeler (Falmer)

  Alan Yates (Sheffield)

  Nicolau Dols (Palma)

  April 1999

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  We are grateful to all the Catalan-speakers, too numerous to mention individually here, who have helped us, knowingly or not, to exemplify or clarify points of grammar and usage. Special thanks are due, though, to Joaquim Marti i Mainar for his good advice; to Pere Santandreu Brunet, Puri Gómez i Casademont and Josep A. Grimalt Gomila for reading and sensitively commenting on drafts of some chapters; and to Louise Johnson for intellectual and technical support. The final version has benefited from the detailed observations of an anonymous reader, to whom we also express our gratitude.

  One particular axis of our collaboration has benefited from support for joint research given by the Universitat de les Illes Balears and the University of Sheffield.

  Catalan-speaking areas and dialects

  PART I NOUN PHRASE CONSTITUENTS

  1 GENDER OF NOUNS

  Catalan displays the phenomenon of grammatical gender agreement found in many European languages (and elsewhere). Every noun is either of masculine or of feminine gender; adjectives which modify the noun, as well as pronouns which cross-refer to it, are required to take the same, ‘agreeing�
�, gender. For example:

  Aquell armari vell era ple, i el vam haver de buidar

  that (m.) cupboard (m.) old (m.) was full (m.), and it (m.) we-had to empty.

  That old cupboard was full, and we had to empty it.

  Aquella  caixa vella era plena, i la vam haver de buidar.

  that (f.) box (f.) old (f.) was full (f.), and it (f.) we-had to empty

  That old box was full, and we had to empty it.

  As is the case in most languages, the masculine gender is semantically ‘unmarked’, in that it is also used when referring to groups of mixed biological gender or to persons of unknown or unspecified gender:

  els italians (m.) Italian males or Italians in general

  els professors (m.) male teachers or teachers of either sex

  els pares (m.) fathers or parents

  elsfills (m.) sons or sons and daughters (male and female) or children (sex unspecified or unknown)

  Si algú arriba d’hora, feu-lo (m.) esperar. If anyone arrives early, have them wait.

  but les professores (f.) female teachers

  In addition to masculine and feminine gender, Catalan is unusual among Romance languages in having a special neuter agreement pronoun ho, used when no noun has been mentioned or is in mind. Its use is explained in section 12.5.

  1.1 GENDER OF NOUNS REFERRING TO HUMANS AND FAMILIAR ANIMALS

  As a very general rule nouns referring to female humans and female familiar/domestic animals are of feminine gender (e.g. tia ‘aunt’, xinesa ‘Chinese girl/woman’, gallina ‘hen’), and those referring to male humans and male familiar/domestic animals are of masculine gender (e.g. oncle ‘uncle’, xilè ‘Chilean boy/man’, gall ‘cock’) which is, of course, the source of the names masculine and feminine for the two agreement classes. There are a few exceptions, to be mentioned below (1.1.6).

  Generally we find pairs of nouns, one of masculine and one of feminine gender, for the corresponding male and female referents; these pairs are morphologically related in a number of possible ways. In the majority of cases, human males and females and males and females of familiar/domestic animals are denoted by distinct word forms. In the case of words denoting professions that were traditionally exercised only by men, the morphologically related feminine form is used to denote ‘wife of …’ such as alcaldessa ‘mayoress’; currently such forms are used mostly of women who exercise the profession in their own right. With professions that are even now exclusively male (e.g. military) the former convention may survive.

  1.1.1 DERIVATION OF FEMININES WITH -a

  The commonest pattern is that in which a feminine noun is derived from the corresponding masculine one by the addition of the feminine gender suffix -a (replacing any unstressed final -e or -o of the masculine). Thus:

  fotògraf (m.) fotògrafa (f.) photographer

  noi (m.) noia (f.) boy/girl

  company (m.) Companya (f.) companion

  fill (m.) filla (f.) son/daughter

  pediatre (m.) pediatra (f.) paediatrician

  monjo (m.). monja (f.) monk/nun

  etc.

  In many cases there are consequential modifications to the spelling or pronunciation (or both).

  (i) A different written accent may be required (according to the general accentuation rules – see 37.5; these modifications apply to all parallel cases):

  avi (m.) àvia (f.) grandfather/grandmother

  pagès (m.) pagesa (f.) farmer

  Lluís (m.). Lluïsa (f.) (Louis, Louisa – given name)

  etc.

  (ii) Those ending in a stressed vowel add -na in the feminine:

  germà (m.) germana (f.) Brother/sister

  beduí (m.) beduïna (f.) Bedouin

  etc.

  Also, irregularly, rei (m.) ‘king’ → reina (f.) ‘queen’, orfe (m.) → òrfena (f.) ‘orphan’.

  (iii) Those ending in -òleg have -òloga in the feminine:

  cardiòleg (m.) cardiòloga (f.) cardiologist

  sociòleg (m.). sociòloga (f.) sociologist

  etc.

  (iv) A few of the nouns ending in -s double the s in the feminine:

  gos (m.) gossa (f.) dog/bitch

  ós (m.) óssa (f.) bear

  Similarly bordegàs/bordegassa ‘lad/lass’, capatàs/capatassa ‘foreman’, ‘overseer’, possés/possessa ‘someone possessed by the devil’, profés/professa ‘one who has taken vows’, rus/russa ‘Russian’, suís/suïssa ‘Swiss’, talòs/talossa ‘dolt’.

  (v) A few of those ending in -l have -l·la in the feminine:

  gal (m.) Gal·la (f.) Gaul

  pupil (m.) pupil·la (f.) ward

  And likewise with the given names Marcel, Camil, Ciril, feminines Marcel·la, Camil·la, Ciril·la.

  (vi) Some masculine nouns which end in a voiceless consonant preceded by a vowel replace the consonant with the corresponding voiced one (-c → -ga, -p → -ba, -t → -da):

  amic (m.) amiga (f.) friend

  llop (m.) lloba (f.) wolf

  nebot (m.) neboda (f.) nephew/niece

  etc.

  Likewise borrec/borrega ‘yearling lamb’, cec/cega ‘blind person’ dormilec/dormilega ‘sleepyhead’, enemic/enemiga ‘enemy’, gallec/gallega ‘Galician’, grec/grega ‘Greek’, llec/llega ‘lay person’, manyac/manyaga ‘sweetheart’ (addressed to a small child), noruec/noruega ‘Norwegian’. The great majority of nouns ending in -t (many of which are nominalized adjectives) thus have corresponding feminines in -da. Serf/serva ‘serf is the sole example showing -f alternating with -va.

  (vii) Most nouns ending in semi-consonant -u have feminines in -va; such as:

  detectiu (m.) detectiva (f.) detective

  esclau (m.) esclava (f.) slave

  eslau (m.) eslava (f.) Slav

  jueu(m.) Jueva (f.) Jew

  etc.

  Hereu (m.) ‘heir’ has feminine hereua or hereva; romeu (m.) ‘pilgrim’ has romeua or romeva. Note given names Andreu/Andreua, Pompeu/Pompeia, Pau/Paula. To reu (m.) ‘accused person’, ‘culprit’ corresponds rea (f.); likewise arameu/aramea ‘Aramaean’, ateu/atea ‘atheist’, caldeu/caldea ‘Chaldean’, fariseu/farisea ‘Pharisee’, filisteu/filistea ‘Philistine’, galileu/galilea ‘Galilean’, hebreu/hebrea ‘Hebrew’, indoeuropeu/indoeuropea ‘Indo-European’, maniqueu/maniquea ‘Manichean’, pigmeu/pigmea ‘Pigmy’.

  1.1.2 Feminines Derived with other Suffixes

  In some cases the feminine form has another suffix (before which may be found the same types of change affecting final consonants or vowels as mentioned above). The commonest such suffix is -essa:

  abat (m.) abadessa (f.) abbot/abbess

  alcalde (m.) alcaldessa (f.) mayor/female mayor/mayoress

  baró (m.) baronessa (f.) baron/baroness

  comte (m.) comtessa (f.) count/countess

  déu (m.) deessa or dea (f.) god/goddess

  diable (m.) diablessa (f.) devil

  diaca (m.) diaconessa (f.) deacon / deaconess

  druida (m.) druïdessa (f.) druid

  duc (m.) duquessa (f.) duke/duchess

  hoste (m.) hostessa (f.) lodger, host/hostess

  jutge (m.) jutgessa (f.) judge

  metge (m.) metgessa (f.) doctor, physician

  ogre (m.) ogressa (f.) ogre/ogress

  poeta (m.) poetessa (f.) poet

  profeta (m.) profetessa (f.) prophet/prophetess

  tigre (m.) tigressa (f.) tiger/tigress

  etc.

  To refer to a female poet or prophet, poeta (f.) and profeta (f.) are now preferred.

  A few nouns take -ina:

  gall cock

  gallina hen

  heroi hero

  heroïna heroine

  tsar czar

  tsarina czarina

  A few nouns in -tor or -dor replace these with -triu or -driu respectively:

  actor actor emperador emperor

  actriu actress emperadriu empress

  institutor tutor ambaixador ambassador

&n
bsp; institutriu governess ambaixadriu (now more usually ambaixadora) ambassadress

  1.1.3 Masculines Derived from Feminine

  In the following instances a masculine noun is derived from a feminine one via the suffix -ot:

  abella (f.) abellot (m.) bee/drone

  fura (f.) furot (m.) ferret

  guatlla (f.) guatllot (m.) quail

  guilla (f.) guillot (m.) vixen/fox

  merla (f.) merlot (m.) blackbird

  perdiu (f.) perdigot (m.) partridge

  bruixa (f.) bruixot (m.) witch/wizard

  dida (f.) didot (m.) wet nurse/wet nurse’s husband

  1.1.4 Irregular or Suppletive Gender Pairs

  Some gender pairs are expressed with unrelated, or irregularly related, nouns:

  amo (m.) mestressa (f.) master/mistress

  gendre (m.) jove or nora (f.) son-in-law/daughter-in-law