Nineteenth-century Spain saw a Catalan literary revival, culminating in the early 1900s. ==Etymology and pronunciation== The word Catalan is derived from the territorial name of Catalonia, itself of disputed etymology.
Standardization of Catalan was among the topics discussed during the First International Congress of the Catalan Language, held in Barcelona October 1906.
By 1911, the number of Catalan speakers was around 100,000.
Subsequently, the Philological Section of the Institut d'Estudis Catalans (IEC, founded in 1911) published the Normes ortogràfiques in 1913 under the direction of Antoni Maria Alcover and Pompeu Fabra.
Despite orthographic standardization in 1913 and the official status of the language during the Second Spanish Republic, the Francoist dictatorship banned the use of Catalan in schools and in the public administration between 1939 and 1975.
Subsequently, the Philological Section of the Institut d'Estudis Catalans (IEC, founded in 1911) published the Normes ortogràfiques in 1913 under the direction of Antoni Maria Alcover and Pompeu Fabra.
In 1932, Valencian writers and intellectuals gathered in Castelló de la Plana to make a formal adoption of the so-called Normes de Castelló, a set of guidelines following Pompeu Fabra's Catalan language norms. ==Grammar== The grammar of Catalan is similar to other Romance languages.
Despite orthographic standardization in 1913 and the official status of the language during the Second Spanish Republic, the Francoist dictatorship banned the use of Catalan in schools and in the public administration between 1939 and 1975.
In addition to the loss of prestige for Catalan and the prohibition of its use in schools, migration during the 1950s into Catalonia from other parts of Spain also contributed to the diminished use of the language.
After the declaration of independence of Algeria in 1962, almost all the Catalan speakers fled to Northern Catalonia (as Pieds-Noirs) or Alacant. The government of France formally recognizes only French as an official language.
Despite orthographic standardization in 1913 and the official status of the language during the Second Spanish Republic, the Francoist dictatorship banned the use of Catalan in schools and in the public administration between 1939 and 1975.
Since the promulgation of the 1993 constitution, several policies favoring Catalan have been enforced, like Catalan medium education. On the other hand, there are several language shift processes currently taking place.
Currently, everyone who writes in Valencian uses this standard, except the Royal Academy of Valencian Culture (Acadèmia de Cultura Valenciana, RACV), which uses for Valencian an independent standard. Despite the position of the official organizations, an opinion poll carried out between 2001 and 2004 showed that the majority of the Valencian people consider Valencian different from Catalan.
In 2003 the same studies concluded no language preference for self-identification within the population above 15 years old: 5% self-identified with both languages, 44.3% with Catalan and 47.5% with Spanish.
In the Northern Catalonia area of France, Catalan has followed the same trend as the other minority languages of France, with most of its native speakers being 60 or older (as of 2004).
A 2004 study did not count the total number of speakers, but estimated a total of 9–9.5 million by matching the percentage of speakers to the population of each area where Catalan is spoken.
The web site of the Generalitat de Catalunya estimated that as of 2004 there were 9,118,882 speakers of Catalan.
Currently, everyone who writes in Valencian uses this standard, except the Royal Academy of Valencian Culture (Acadèmia de Cultura Valenciana, RACV), which uses for Valencian an independent standard. Despite the position of the official organizations, an opinion poll carried out between 2001 and 2004 showed that the majority of the Valencian people consider Valencian different from Catalan.
For example, during the drafting of the European Constitution in 2004, the Spanish government supplied the EU with translations of the text into Basque, Galician, Catalan, and Valencian, but the latter two were identical. ==Vocabulary== ===Word choices=== Despite its relative lexical unity, the two dialectal blocks of Catalan (Eastern and Western) show some differences in word choices.
Nevertheless, on 10 December 2007, the General Council of the Pyrénées-Orientales officially recognized Catalan as one of the languages of the department and seeks to further promote it in public life and education. ===Spain: 18th to 20th centuries=== The decline of Catalan continued in the 16th and 17th centuries.
According to Ethnologue, Catalan had four million native speakers and five million second-language speakers in 2012. According to a 2011 study the total number of Catalan speakers is over 9.8 million, with 5.9 million residing in Catalonia.
According to Ethnologue, Catalan had four million native speakers and five million second-language speakers in 2012. According to a 2011 study the total number of Catalan speakers is over 9.8 million, with 5.9 million residing in Catalonia.
There is also some intergenerational shift towards Catalan. According to the Statistical Institute of Catalonia, in 2013 the Catalan language is the second most commonly used in Catalonia, after Spanish, as a native or self-defining language: 7% of the population self-identifies with both Catalan and Spanish equally, 36.4% with Catalan and 47.5% only Spanish.
According to a 2019 survey by the Catalan government, 31.5% of the inhabitants of Catalonia have Catalan as first language at home whereas 52.7% have Spanish, 2.8% both Catalan and Spanish and 10.8% other languages. Spanish is the most spoken language in Barcelona (according to the linguistic census held by the Government of Catalonia in 2013) and it is understood almost universally.
According to this census of 2013 Catalan is also very commonly spoken in the city of 1,501,262: it is understood by 95% of the population, while 72.3% over the age of 2 can speak it (1,137,816), 79% can read it (1,246.555), and 53% can write it (835,080).
According to a 2019 survey by the Catalan government, 31.5% of the inhabitants of Catalonia have Catalan as first language at home whereas 52.7% have Spanish, 2.8% both Catalan and Spanish and 10.8% other languages. Spanish is the most spoken language in Barcelona (according to the linguistic census held by the Government of Catalonia in 2013) and it is understood almost universally.
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