Algherese dialect
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Algherese or Alguerese (autonym: Template:Lang Template:IPA)Template:Efn is the variety of Catalan spoken in the city of Alghero (Template:Lang in Catalan), in the northwest of Sardinia, Italy.
The dialect has its roots in 1372, when Catalan-speaking colonists were allowed to repopulate Alghero and expel the native population, after several revolts.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Catalan was replaced as the official language by Spanish, then by Italian in the mid-18th century. Today the language has semi-official recognition alongside Italian.
Studies give an approximate number of 20,000 to 30,000 native speakers of the language worldwide. In communities where Algherese is spoken, Italian and Logudorese Sardinian are often used as well.<ref name=":0" />
History
[edit]Algherese is a regional dialect spoken by anywhere from 20,000 to 30,000 individuals, most of whom reside in the town of Alghero, located in the northwest of Sardinia.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name=":0">Template:Cite web</ref> The language, though distinct, is initially derived from, and thus considered a variant of, the Catalan language.<ref name=":0"/> The origins of the language can be traced back to 1372, when Catalan invaders repopulated the city of Alghero after exiling the indigenous populations in Sardinia.<ref name=":0" /> Despite the city's increasing Italianisation, the use of this Catalan dialect remained widespread until at least the 1970s.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Present status
[edit]As a result of the city's extensive Italianisation, Italian is now the predominant language in Alghero,<ref name=":1">Template:Cite web</ref> being estimated by a 2004 survey to be first language of close to 60% of those surveyed.<ref>Template:Harvp</ref><ref name=":1" /> The use of the dialect in schools and media, to name a few, remains sparse. Teaching of the dialect in school is also rare. However, in an attempt to reverse the trend, the Regional Council of Sardinia officially recognised "Algherese Catalan" as a separate language in 1997, in order to promote its use and circulation.<ref name=":1" /> According to the 2004 survey, Algherese was used by approximately 14% of the population for daily interactions.<ref>Template:Harvp</ref> The dialect is mostly a local language, often used to supplement Italian and/or Sardinian in relatively small circles.<ref>Template:Harvp</ref>
The following figures were obtained from the Enquesta d'usos lingüístics a l'Alguer ("Survey of linguistic usage in Alghero", EULAL) of 2004<ref>Template:Cite report</ref> and the Els usos lingüístics a l'Alguer of 2015 (EULA 2015),<ref>Template:Cite report</ref> both of which were studies conducted in the town of Alghero about the general use of Algherese in several media.
| 2004 | 2015 | |
|---|---|---|
| Oral Comprehension | 90.1% (Sardinian oral comprehension: 69.7%) | 88.2% |
| Oral Expression | 61.3% (Sardinian oral expression: 33.9%) | 50.5% |
| Written Comprehension | 46.6% (Sardinian written comprehension: 35.4%) | 35.6% |
| Written Expression | 13.6% (Sardinian written expression: 15.4%) | 8.1% |
| First Language | 22.4% (59.2% Italian) | 17.5% |
| Habitual Language | 13.9% | 9.1% |
Official recognition
[edit]In 1999, Catalan and Sardinian were among the twelve minority languages officially recognised as Italy's "historical linguistic minorities" by the Italian State under Law No. 482/1999.<ref>Law No. 482 of 15 December 1999. "Rules on the protection of historical linguistic minorities". Article 2. Gazzetta Ufficiale n. 297. 20 December 1999</ref> Prior to this, the Regional Council of Sardinia had passed the Regional Law No. 26 of 15 October 1997 which, aside from promoting the equality in dignity of the Sardinian language with the Italian language throughout the island, provided that the other languages of smaller scope be afforded the same treatment as the aforementioned languages, among which Catalan is cited, in the city of Alghero.<ref>Regional Law No. 26 of 15 October 1997. "Promozione e valorizzazione della culture e della lingua della Sardegna" Template:Webarchive. Articles 2.1 and 2.4 . Consiglio Regionale della Sardegna</ref> The city council, for its part, promulgated its protection and standardisation in its city statute.<ref>Communal Statute Template:Webarchive. Article 9. City of Alghero.</ref>
Phonology
[edit]- Vowels
Template:No wrap Front Back Close Template:IPA link Template:IPA link Close-mid Template:IPA link Template:IPA link Open-mid Template:IPA link Template:IPA link Open Template:IPA link
Template:No wrap Front Back Close Template:IPA link Template:IPA link Mid Template:IPA link Template:IPA link Open Template:IPA link
- Notes:
- The close-mid and mid-close vowels Template:IPA and Template:IPA merge into mid vowels (Template:IPAblink and Template:IPAblink, here transcribed without diacritics) in Modern Alguerese.
- Coalescing of unstressed vowels Template:IPA, (Template:IPA) and Template:IPA to [[[:Template:IPAlink]] ~ Template:IPAlink] (transcribed as Template:IPA) unlike the rest of Eastern Catalan, which uses Template:IPAblink or even Template:IPAblink (transcribed as Template:IPA): aura ('aura') Template:IPA (Eastern Standard), Template:IPA (Algherese).
- Unstressed Template:IPA (Template:IPA) reduces to Template:IPA like most Eastern Catalan dialects.
- Consonants
- Notes:
- Algherese preserves Template:IPA as a distinct phoneme from Template:IPA, like Balearic and most of Valencian: viu ('he/she lives') Template:IPA (Algherese).
- Mutation of intervocalic Template:IPA and Template:IPA to Template:IPAblink: Barceloneta Template:IPA (Eastern Standard), Template:IPA (Algherese) 'Barcelonette'; and vila ('town') and vida ('life') are homophones in Algherese Template:IPA.
- Mutation of syllable final Template:IPA (or Template:IPA) to lateral Template:IPAblink, and the possible resulting group Template:IPA + consonant is further simplified to Template:IPAblink: forn Template:IPA (Eastern Standard), Template:IPA (Algherese) 'oven'.
- Depalatalisation of syllable final sonorants: lateral Template:IPA to Template:IPAblink, nasal Template:IPA to Template:IPAblink: ball Template:IPA (Eastern Standard), Template:IPA (Algherese) 'dance'; any Template:IPA (Eastern Standard), Template:IPA (Algherese) 'year'.
Morphology
[edit]- The simple past is replaced by the present perfect (present of haver "to have" + past participle), possibly by Italian influence.
- The imperfect past preserves etymological -v- in all conjugations: 1st -ava, 2nd -iva, 3rd -iva unlike modern Eastern and Western Standard Catalan, which use 1st -ava, 2nd -ia, 3rd -ia, a feature shared with the Ribagorçan dialect.
- Large-scale lexical borrowing and calques from Sardinian, Spanish and Italian: nearly half of the vocabulary is not from Catalan.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Differences from Standard Catalan
[edit]The Algherese variant is Eastern Catalan, but it has many differences from Central Catalan, with some of the most obvious ones as follows:
Vocabulary
[edit]
The following abbreviations are used: m. (masculine), f. (feminine), pl. (plural), f. pl. (feminine plural), inf. (informal), f. (formal). The following phrases were gathered from a Catalan translation set, but the common phrases in Algherese are similar:<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
| English | Catalan | Algherese |
|---|---|---|
| Welcome | Benvingut (m.) Benvinguda (f.) Benvinguts (pl.) |
Benvingut (m.) Benvinguda (f.) Benvinguts (pl.) |
| Hello | Hola | Txau |
| My name is ... | Em dic ... | Me aquirr ...
Me dic ... |
| Where are you from? | D'on ets? (inf.)
D'on és vostè? (f.) |
De ont ses? (inf.)
De ont és vostè? (f.) |
| Good morning | Bon dia | Bon dia |
Literature
[edit]
The Premi Rafael Sari, organised by the Obra Cultural de l'Alguer,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> is a series of prizes awarded in September each year to the best literary works of poetry and prose written in Algherese Catalan.
Notable poets include Rafael Sari, Pasquale Scanu and Maria Chessa Lai. There is also a long tradition of writing and performing songs in Algherese Catalan and the Premi Pino Piras<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> is awarded for new songs written in the language. Notable singer-songwriters include Pino Piras and Franca Masu.
In 2015 Carla Valentino published an Algherese translation of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's The Little Prince.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
See also
[edit]Notes
[edit]References
[edit]Sources
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- Ballone, Francesc (2008). L'Alguer and Alguerese Catalan. Corpus Oral de l'Algueres
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- Cabrera-Callis, Maria (2015). Morphologically Conditioned Intervocalic Rhotacism in Algherese Catalan. Variations within and Across Romance Languages
- Moseley, Christopher (2016). Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger. United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation
- Hammarstrom, Harald & Forkel, Robert & Haspelmath, Martin & Bank, Sebastian (2017). Dialect: Algherese. Glottolog
- Ager, Simon (1998–2017). Useful Catalan Phrases. Omniglot.
- Various Sources (2017). Algherese Catalan. The Endangered Languages Project
- Template:Cite thesis