Catalan orthography

TheCatalanandValencianorthographiesencompass the spelling and punctuation of standardCatalan(set by theIEC) andValencian(set by theAVL). There are also several adapted variants to the peculiarities of local dialects of Insular Catalan (Alguereseand theBalearic subdialects).
The history of theCatalanandValencianorthographies shows a singularity in regard to the otherRomance languages. These have been mostly developed from Latin, adapting them to their own phonetic particularities. It had been a gradual and slow process through centuries until the creation of the Academies in the 18th century that fixed the orthography from their language dominant variety.
In the case of Catalan and Valencian, the mediaeval orthography had a noticeable homogeneity. The Royal Chancellery set a unitary written model in several fields. Thus,Ramon Muntanerexpressed in hisChronicle(1325–1328) that the Catalans are the largest group with a single language, since all the Romance-speaking regions had very divided languages like the difference that exists between Catalans and Aragonese.
In the 16th century, just after the Golden Age, the split of Catalans started. With the isolation of the Royal Court and several political events, the unitary linguistic consciousness and the shared cultural tradition broke off. The production became more dialectal.
In the 19th century, the recovery of the unity emerged, beginning with the orthography. Institutions like theAcadèmia de Bones Lletresor theFloral Gameswere in the middle of several orthographic dilemmas.
The orthographic norms of Catalan were first defined officially in the First Internationals Congress of the Catalan Language, held in Barcelona in October 1906. Subsequently, the Philological Section of theInstitut d'Estudis Catalans(IEC, founded in 1911) published theNormes ortogràfiquesin 1913 under the direction ofAntoni Maria AlcoverandPompeu Fabra. Despite some opposition, the spelling system was adopted immediately and became widespread enough that, in 1932, Valencian writers and intellectuals gathered inCastellóto make a formal adoption of the so-calledNormes de Castelló, a set of guidelines following Pompeu Fabra's Catalan language norms.
In 1917, Fabra published an Orthographic Dictionary following the orthographic norms of the IEC. In 1931–1932 theDiccionari General de la Llengua Catalana(General Dictionary of the Catalan language) appeared.  In 1995, a new normative dictionary, theDictionary of the Catalan Language of the Institute of Catalan Studies(DIEC), marked a new milestone in the orthographic fixation of the language, in addition to the incorporation of neologisms and modern uses of the language.
On the 24th October 2016, the IEC published a new orthography for Catalan, theOrtografia catalana, which outlined several modifications, including a reduced number of monosyllabic words that take anacuteorgravediacritic for reasons of disambiguation.Thus, the disyllabic wordadéuis now generally spelledadeu; the monosyllabic wordssec("dry", pronounced/sɛk/inCentral Catalan) andséc("fold, wrinkle", pronounced/sek/) are both writtensecafter the reform. Discretionary use of a diacritic is possible if the context is not sufficient for disambiguation.
Like those of many otherRomance languages, theCatalanandValencianalphabet derives from theLatin alphabetand is largely based on the respectivelanguage's phonology.
The Catalan and Valencian alphabet consists of the 26 letters of theISO basic Latin alphabet:
The following letter-diacritic combinations are used, but they do not constitute distinct letters in the alphabet:À à,É é,È è,Í í,Ï ï,Ó ó,Ò ò,Ú ú,Ü üandÇ ç(though the Catalan keyboard includes the letterÇas a separate key).K kandW ware used only inloanwords. Outside loanwords, the lettersQ qandY yappear only in the digraphsqu,qüandny. However,Ywas used until the official orthography was established in 1913, when it was replaced withI, except in the digraphnyand loanwords.Some Catalan surnames conserve the letteryand the word-final digraphch(pronounced/k/), e. g.Layret,Aymerich.
The following table shows the letters and their names inStandard Catalan(IEC) andStandard Valencian(AVL):
The namesefa(/ˈefa/),ela(/ˈela/),ema(/ˈema/),ena(/ˈena/),erra(/ˈera/), andessa(/ˈesa/) are also used in certain speeches of Valencian.
The namesbe alta("high b") andve baixa("low v") are used by speakers who do not distinguish the phonemes/b/and/v/. Speakers that do distinguish them use the simple namesbeandve.
Catalan is apluricentric language; the pronunciation of some of the letters is different in CentralEastern Catalan(IEC) andValencian(AVL). Apart from those variations, the pronunciation of most consonants is fairly straightforward and is similar to French, Occitan or Portuguese pronunciation.
The following lists includes a quick pronunciation of letters in standard Catalan and Valencian, for an in-depth view see attached main article on top of this section.
The following lists include most sound-to-spelling correspondences in Catalan and Valencian. It also includes gemination as well as more foreign spellings than previous lists (as it is easier to represent them in the charts).
The voiced stop sound[ɡ](or the corresponding fricative variant[ɣ]) is represented by the spellingsgandgu, and the voiceless stop sound[k], by the spellingsc,q,quand, sporadically,gandk.
At the beginning of a syllable, the sounds[ɡ]and[k]:
In the case of the sound[k], in addition:
At the end of a syllable, in the inner or final position of the word, the opposition between the unvoiced and the voiced consonant is neutralized, to the extent that it ceases to be distinctive. Regardless of the pronunciation, which can be unvoiced or voiced depending on the phonic context, the use of the spellingscorgconforms to the following rules:
Instead,gorcis written, depending on the spelling of the derivatives, at the end of an acute word after another consonant or at the end of a plain word after a vowel:
The voiceless fricative alveolar sound[s]is represented bysin the following cases:
The voiceless fricative alveolar sound[s]is represented byssbetween vowels:bassa('pond'),passar('to pass').
NOTE: The spellingsspreceded by a consonant may also appear in words in which a prefix ending ins, such astrans-orsots-, is attached to a root beginning withs(transsexual'transsexual',transsiberià'trans-Siberian',sotssecretari'sub-secretary') and in the plurals of cultured formationqualssevol('any, whichever') andqualssevulla('any, whichever').
For etymological reasons, the sound[s]is also represented by the spellingscandçin certain cases:
The voiced fricative alveolar sound[z]is represented by the spellingszors, according to the following rules:
In certain heritage words, the spellingtzrepresents the alveolar affricate phonetic group[dz]:dotze('twelve'),tretze('thirteen'),setze('sixteen').
This same group is also used, with the phonetic value of[z], in the graphic representation of verbs formed with the suffix -itzar(and derivatives), such ascaracteritzar('characterize'),realització('realization'), etc.
The voiced affricate palatal sound[dʒ]is represented by the consonantsgandj, according to the following rules:
The spellingstgandtj, which correspond to the geminate pronunciation practiced in some places, are presented only in intervocalic position. Parallel to the corresponding simple spellings,tgis written beforee,i, andtjbeforea,o,u:coratge('courage'),paisatgístic('landscape');desitjar('to wish'),pitjor('worse'),corretjut('leathery, tough').
The voiceless affricate palatal sound[tʃ]is represented by the spellingsx,tx,igandg, according to the following rules:
The voiceless fricative palatal sound[ʃ]is always represented by the spellingx:Xàtiva('Xàtiva'),Xavier('Xavier'),xenòfob('xenophobic'),coixí('cushion'),dibuix('draw').
The phonetic group[ks]is represented by the letterxin the following positions:
The bilabial occlusive voiced sound[b](or the corresponding fricative variant[β]) is represented by the spelling b, and the bilabial voiceless occlusive sound[p], by the spellingp:baix('low, short'),roba('clothes');poc('little, [a] few'),llépol('sweet-toothed'),compra('shopping').
At the end of a syllable, in internal or word-final position, the opposition between voiceless and voiced consonants is neutralized. Regardless of the pronunciation, which can be unvoiced or voiced depending on the context, the use of the spellingsbandpconforms to the following rules:
Instead,borpis written, depending on the spelling of the derivatives, at the end of an acute word after another consonant or at the end of a plain word after a vowel:
Although some Valencian speakers differentiate the voiced occlusive bilabial sound[b]from the voiced labiodental fricative[v], to avoid confusion in the use of the spellingsbandvit is necessary to take into account thatbis written in the following cases:
Andvis written in the following cases:
The voiced occlusive dental sound[d](or the corresponding fricative variant[ð]) is represented by the spellingd, and its voiceless correlate[t], by the spellingt:donar('to give'),banda('side, band'),badar('to open [up], to be careless');tallar('to cut'),contar('to tell, to say'),gaiato('shepherd's crook').
At the end of a syllable, in internal or word-final position, the opposition between voiceless and voiced consonants is neutralized. Regardless of the pronunciation, which can be unvoiced or voiced depending on the phonetic context, the use of the spellingsdortconforms to the following rules:
Instead,dortis written, depending on the spelling of the derivatives, at the end of an acute word after another consonant or at the end of a flat word after a vowel:
The letter m usually represents the nasal bilabial sound[m]:mare('mother'),cama('leg'),termal('thermal'),bram('bray, roar'), and then, the nasal alveolar sound[n]:nas('nose'),manar('to command'),urna('urn'),gran('great, grand').
The spellingmpis used with the value of[m]or[n], for etymological reasons, in a medial syllable, in cases suchassumpció('assumption'),atemptar('attempt'),compte('to count'),prompte('soon'),símptoma('symptom'), etc.
At the end of a syllable, in word-internal position, the opposition between the nasal consonants is neutralized. In this position, the spellingsmornare used, according to the following rules:
For etymological reasons, certain borrowings are spelledtmortn:setmana('week'),setmesí('born in the seventh month of gestation'),logaritme('logarithm');cotna('pork rind'),ètnia('ethnic group, ethnicity').
The nasal palatal sound[ɲ]is represented in all positions by the spellingny:nyora('a type of pepper'),pinya('pine cone, pineapple'),codony('quince [fruit]').
The lateral alveolar sound[l]is represented in all cases by the consonantl:líquid('liquid'),colar('to strain'),pèl('hair'),blat('wheat').
For etymological reasons, certain words are written withŀl:aŀlicient('lure, incentive'),Aveŀlí('Avelline'),Brusseŀles('Brussels'),coŀlaborar('to collaborate'),escarapeŀla('cockade'),gaŀlicisme('Gallicism'),iŀlegal('illegal'),iŀlògic('illogical'),iŀlusió('illusion, hope, happiness'),miŀlímetre('millimeter'),síŀlaba('syllable'),aquareŀla('watercolour'), etc.
Some heritage words that have a geminate pronunciation[lː]in a part of Valencian are written with the spellingtl, such asametla('almond'),batle('mayor'),guatla('quail'),motle('mold'),vetlar('to stay up, to patrol, to watch over'), etc. However, the spellingtlrepresents the sounds[dl]in borrowings such asatles('atlas'),atlàntic('Atlantic'), etc.
The lateral palatal sound[ʎ]is usually represented by the letterll, which can appear in any position:llebre('hare'),pallasso('clown'),coll('neck').
But, in certain cases, it is also represented by the spellingtll([ʎː]in Standard Catalan):bitllet('ticket, bank note'),rotllo('roll, annoyance'),ratlla('line, scratch'), etc.
The spelling r is used to represent the alveolar tap sound[ɾ]and the vibrating alveolar sound[r]:mira('they look') /mirra('myrrh').
The tap is always represented by the spellingr, while the vibrating is represented by the spellingsrorrr, according to the following rules:
The h spelling is usually silent; it is used, for etymological reasons, in a series of words, such asharmonia('harmony'),herba('herb'),hivern('winter'),ahir('yesterday'), etc.
NOTE: In certain interjections or in words derived from foreign proper names, the spellinghis pronounced aspirated:ehem('ahem'),ha('ha [laugh]'),he('he [laugh]'),hegelià('Hegelian').
The spellingwis used in certain words from other languages, but it represents two different phonic values depending on whether they have a Germanic or Anglo-Saxon origin:
The spellingy, in addition to being used to form the digraphny, is also used independently, with the phonetic value that would correspond toi, in the representation of certain words from other languages or formed from proper names:faraday('faraday'),gray('gray'),jansky('jansky'),NovaYork('New York'), etc.
Catalan and Valencian also use theacuteandgrave accentsto markstressor vowel quality. An acute on⟨é ó⟩indicates that the vowel is stressed andclose-mid(/eo/), while grave on⟨è ò⟩indicates that the vowel is stressed andopen-mid(/ɛɔ/). Grave on⟨à⟩and acute on⟨í ú⟩simply indicate that the vowels are stressed. Thus, the acute is used on close or close-mid vowels, and the grave on open or open-mid vowels.For example:
Standard rules governing the presence of accents are based on word endings and the position of the stressed syllable. In particular, accents are expected for:
Since there is no need to mark the stressed syllable of a monosyllabic word, most of them do not have an accent.  Exceptions are those with a diacritical accent differentiating words that would otherwise be homographic. Example:es/əs/or/es/('it' impersonal) vsés/ˈes/('is'),te/tə/or/te/('you' clitic) vsté/ˈte/('s/he has'),mes/ˈmɛs/or/ˈmes/('month') vsmés/ˈmes/('more'),dona/ˈdɔnə/or/ˈdɔna/('woman') vsdóna/ˈdonə/or/ˈdona/('s/he gives'). In most cases, the word bearing no accent is either unstressed (as in the case of 'es' and 'te'), or the word without the accent is more common, usually afunction word.
The different distribution ofopen e/ɛ/vsclosed e/e/between Eastern Catalan and Western Catalan is reflected in some orthographic divergences between standard Catalan and Valencian norms, for example:anglès/əŋˈɡlɛs/(Catalan) vsanglés/aŋˈɡles/(Valencian) ('English'). In the Balearic Islands, open e/ɛ/tends to be a centralised e (/ə/) in the same cases whereopen econtrasts withclosed ein Catalan and Valencian. The cases where the difference of pronunciation ofecan have graphical repercussions are the followings:
Thecircumflexis rarely used in modern Catalan and Valencian, nonetheless it has been used in the beginning of the 19th century by Antoni Febrer i Cardona to representschwain the Balearic subdialects. According to theDiccionari català-valencià-balear, in modern times there are some cases where the circumflex can be used to indicate silent etymological sounds (similar toFrench)or a contraction.Contrary to the restrictions of the acute and grave accent, the circumflex can be used with all vowels⟨â ê î ô û⟩, the most common, especially in Valencian, being⟨â⟩(i.e. due to the elision of/d/), e.g.mascletâes(instead ofmascletades'pyrotechnic festivals'),anâ(instead ofanar'to go'),témê(instead oftémer'to fear'),sortî(instead ofsortir'to exit'),pâ('to', preposition in colloquial Valencian).
Thediaeresishas two different uses: to mark hiatus over⟨ï, ü⟩, and to mark that⟨u⟩is not silent in the groups⟨gü, qü⟩.
If a diaeresis appears over an⟨i⟩or⟨u⟩that follows another vowel, it denotes ahiatus, examples:
This diaeresis is not used over a stressed vowel that already should have an accent. Examples:suís/suˈis/('Swiss' masculine), butsuïssa/suˈisə/or/suˈisa/('Swiss' feminine),suïs/ˈsuis/('that you sweat' subjunctive) (without the diaeresis, this last example would be pronounced/ˈsui̯s/, i.e. as only one syllable, likereis/ˈrei̯s/'kings').
Certain verb forms of verbs ending in-uirdo not receive a diaeresis, although they are pronounced with separate syllables. This concerns the infinitive, gerund, future and conditional forms (for exampletraduir,traduint,traduiréandtraduiria, all with bisyllabic/u.i/). All other forms of such verbs do receive a diaeresis on theïaccording to the normal rules (e.g.traduïm,traduïa).
In addition to this,⟨ü⟩represents/w/between a velar consonant/ɡ/or/k/and afront vowel(⟨gu⟩and⟨qu⟩are used to represent a hard (i.e. velar) pronunciation before⟨i⟩or⟨e⟩).
Forms of the verbargüirrepresents a rare case of the sequence/ɡu.i/, and the rules for/gu/and/ui/clash in this case. The ambiguity is resolved by an additional rule, which states that in cases where diaereses would appear on two consecutive letters, only the second receives one. This thus givesarguïm /arguˈim/, i.e.andarguïa /arguˈia/,butargüir /arˈgwir/,argüint /arˈgwint/andargüiré/argwiˈre/as these forms don't receive a diaeresis on theinormally, according to the exception above.
Catalan and Valenciance trencada(Ç ç), literally in English 'broken cee', is a modified⟨c⟩with acedillamark ( ¸ ). It is only used before⟨a u o⟩to indicate asoft c/s/, much like in Portuguese, Occitan or French (e.g. comparecoça/ˈkosə/or/ˈkosa/'kick',coca/ˈkokə/or/ˈkoka/'cake' andcosa/ˈkɔzə/or/ˈkɔza/'thing'). In Catalan and Valencian,ce trencadaalso appears as last letter of a word (e.g.feliç/fəˈlis/or/feˈlis/'happy',falç/ˈfals/'sickle'), but then⟨ç⟩may be voiced to[z]before vowels and voiced consonants, e.g.feliçment/fəˌlizˈmen(t)/or/feˌlizˈmen(t)/('happily') andbraç esquerre/ˈbɾazəsˈkɛrə/or/ˈbɾazesˈkɛre/('left arm').
Catalan and Valencian do not capitalize the days of the week, months, or national adjectives.
Catalan and Valencian punctuation rules are similar to English, with some minor differences.
Thepunt volatormiddotis only used in the sequence⟨ŀl⟩(calledelaorel(e) geminada, 'geminate el') to represent ageminatedsound/lː/(often simplified to/l/, especially in Valencian), as the digraph⟨ll⟩is used for the palatal lateral/ʎ/. This usage of the middot sign dates to the beginning of twentieth century; in medieval and modern Catalan, beforeFabra's standardization, it was sometimes used to note certain elisions, especially in poetry. The only (and improbable) possibility of ambiguity in the whole language is the pairceŀla/ˈsɛlːa/('cell') vscella/ˈseʎa/('eyebrow').
Thehyphen(called aguionet) is used in Catalan and Valencian to separate a verb and the combination of pronouns that follow them (e.g.menjar-se-les), to separate certain compounds (e.g.vint-i-unandpara-sol), and to split a word at the end of a line of text for the purpose of maintaining page margins.
Compounds are hyphenated in cases that involve numerals (e.g.trenta-sis, andtrenta-sisè/é); cardinal points (e.g.sud-americà); repetitive and expressive compounds (xup-xup); those compounds in which the first element ends in a vowel and the second starts with⟨r⟩,⟨s⟩, or⟨x⟩(e.g.penya-segat); and those compounds in which the combination of the two elements can lead to wrong reading (e.g.pit-roig). There are also compound terms in which the first element carries a grave accent (mà-llarg), the constructionnoplus substantive(but notnoplus adjective,no-violènciabut thenacions no violentes) and certain singular constructions likeabans-d'ahirandadéu-siau.
Since 1996, the normative set that in the none mentioned cases in the previous paragraph do not carry hyphen. Thus, the general norm set that the prefixed forms, aside from the cited exceptions, are written without hyphen (the only normative option, then, is to writearxienemicandfisicoquímic).
In regard to numbers, hyphen is set according to the D-U-C rule (Desenes-Unitats-Centenes, 'Tens-Units-Hundreds'), thus, a hyphen is placed between tens and units (quaranta-dos) and between units and hundreds (tres-cents). For example, the number 35,422 is writtentrenta-cinc mil quatre-cents vint-i-dos.
In the case of the separation of a term at the end of line, syllable boundaries are maintained. Still, there are digraphs that can be separated and others that cannot. The digraphs that can be separated are those that, when splitting them, they result in two graphs the corresponding sound from which they share a phonetic trait with the sound of the digraph. (Thus, the digraph rr, for example it corresponds with the nearest sound of a rhotic alveolar trill.Cor-randes,calit-jaandas-sas-síare words with digraphs that can be split). The digraphs that cannot be separated are those in which the two graphs correspond to sounds that they are not related with the sound of the digraph. (For example, the digraphnycannot be separated.)
To orthographic effects, the syllabic separation of words follow the following norms:
Catalan and Valencian follow someapostrophationrules that serve to determine whether it is necessary to use an apostrophe (') with an article, preposition or pronoun or not if the word that follows it or precedes it begins or finishes in a vowel, respectively.
The masculine singular article (el,en, and dialectally alsolo, in Continental Catalan, andesandsoin Balearic, the so called salted article, withs) is apostrophated before all words of masculine gender that begin with a vowel, e.g.l'avió,l'encant,l'odi,n'Albert,s'arbre; with a silenth, e.g.l'home,l'ham,n'Hug,s'home; with a liquids, e.g.l'spa,l'Stuttgart. It is not apostrophated before of words that begin with a consonantic i or u (with or without h),el iogurt,el iode(or dialectallylo iogurt,lo iode).
In case of apostrophation, the specific formsal(dial.as),del(dial.des),pel(dial.pes),cal(dial.cas) andcanare broken and become al'(dial.a s'),de l'(dial.de s'),per l'(dial.per s'),ca l'(dial.ca s') andca n'respectively.
The feminine singular article (la,naand dialectallysa) are apostrophated in the following cases: When the following word start with a vowel:l'emoció,l'ungla,l'aigua,n'Elena; when the word start with a silenth:l'heura,l'holografia,n'Hermínia,s'horabaixa. It is not apostrophated in the following cases: When it goes before word that starts with a consonanticioru(withhor not):la hiena; when it goes before a word that begins with unstressedioru(withhor not):la humitat,la universitat,la imatge; before some specific terms likela una(when referring to the time),la ira,la host,la Haia(toponym); before the name of the letters (la i,la hac,la essa); before a word that start with s followed by a consonant,la Scala de Milà.
Traditionally, to avoid ambiguities, words beginning with the negative prefix a- did not take an apostrophe. Nowadays, general apostrophation rules are followed in written text:l'anormalitat,l'amoralitat,l'atipicitat,l'asimetria,l'asèpsia, etc. TheDiccionari de l'Institut d'Estudis Catalans(DIEC) of 1995 started to apply the new criteria; however, it was never formulated explicitly. In the same way, the introduction of DIEC writes about the abnormality of the situation, and the outline of the new normative grammar that prepares the IEC already does not collect that traditional exception.
The prepositiondetakes the apostrophe before a vowel (with silent h, or without):d'aigua,d'enveja,d'humitat. It does not apostrophate however before the following cases: words that start with a consonanticioru(with silent h or without);de iode,de ioga,de uombat,de iogurt,de Utah,de ouija; before names of letters;de a,de hac. In general it does not apostrophate in case of metalanguage:el plural de alt és alts; before a liquids:de Stalin.
Weak pronouns take the apostrophe in the following cases:
Before a verb that starts with a vowel, using its elided form:m'agrada,n'abastava,s'estimaran,l'aconseguiria. At the end of a verb that finishes in a vowel, using the reduced form:menja'n,trenca'l,fondre's,compra'ns. When there are two, the second if the orthographic rules allow it:me'n,li'n,se'm,te'ls,la'n,n'hi; if it is possible, it takes the apostrophe with the following word, likeme n'ha dut tres. The apostrophe always goes the further to the right possible:te l'emportes, not *te'l emportes.
Does not take the apostrophe:
The pronounsus,vos,hi,ho,li,les:us el donoorvos el done,se us esperavaorse vos esperava. Like in the case of the article, the pronoun before words that start by unstressediandu(with silenthor without):la ignora,la hi pren,la humitejarem,la usàvem. It also does not take the apostrophe the first weak pronoun in the formsla hiandse us.
The distribution of the two rhotics/r/and/ɾ/closely parallelsthat of Spanish.  Between vowels, the two contrast but they are otherwise in complementary distribution: in the onset, analveolar trill,[r], appears unless preceded by a consonant; different dialects vary in regards to rhotics in the coda with Western Catalan generally featuring analveolar tap,[ɾ], and Central Catalan dialects like those of Barcelona or Girona featuring a weakly trilled[r]unless it precedes a vowel-initial word in the sameprosodic unit, in which case[ɾ]appears.
In Eastern Catalan and North Western Catalan, most instances of word-final⟨r⟩are silent, but there are plenty of unpredictable exceptions (e.g. in Central Eastern Catalanpor[ˈpo]'fear' butmar[ˈmɑɾ]'sea'). In Central Eastern Catalan monosyllabic words with a pronounced final⟨r⟩get a reinforcement final consonant[t]when in absolute final position (e.g. final⟨r⟩ofcor('heart') inreina del meu cor/ˈrejnədəlˈmewˈkɔrt/'queen of my heart' vsel cor es mou/əlˈkɔɾəzˈmɔw/'the heart is moving').
In Valencian, most instances of word-final⟨r⟩are pronounced.