Editing Menorca (section)

=== Language ===

The two official languages are [[Catalan language|Catalan]] and Spanish.<ref>Article 4, Statute of Autonomy of the Balearic Islands, 2007: "The Catalan language, typical of the Balearic Islands, will have official consideration, together with Spanish."</ref> Natives to the island speak the variety of Catalan called ''Menorquí'', and Spanish as well; many residents originating from the mainland are monolingual in Spanish. The language of education and of government is [[Catalan language|Catalan]], with Spanish taught alongside it.

A 2014 survey carried out by the government of the Balearic Islands found that 53.5% of participants identified themselves as Catalan speakers, 36.7% as Spanish speakers, and 7.7% as bilingual speakers.<ref>[http://www.diariodeibiza.es/pitiuses-balears/2017/08/13/pitiuses-son-islas-balears-conoce/934152.html Diario de Ibiza: ''Las Pitiusas son las islas de Balears en las que menos se conoce y se usa el catalán''] (In Spanish)</ref>

The Catalan spoken in Menorca is a variety known as ''Menorquí''. Between ''Menorquí'' and standard Catalan, as with most [[Balearic dialect]]s, the most distinctive difference is the word used for the article "the", where ''Menorquí'' uses "es" for masculine and "sa" for feminine. Menorquí thus shares the source of its article with many Sardinian varieties (masc. sing. ''su'', fem sing. ''sa''), rather than the standard Catalan "el" and "la", similar to other Romance languages (e.g. Spanish ''el'', ''la'', Italian ''il'', ''la''), corresponding to a form which was historically used along the [[Costa Brava]] of [[Catalonia]], from where it is supposed that the islands were repopulated after being conquered from the [[Moors]].

Menorquí also has a few English [[loan word]]s dating back to the period of British rule, such as "grevi", "xumaquer", "boinder" and "xoc" taken from "gravy", "shoemaker", "bow window" and "chalk", respectively.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.menorcabritannia.org/articles/older/Menorquin_English_words.php |title=Menorquin English words. |access-date=17 June 2018 |archive-date=10 November 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161110194739/http://menorcabritannia.org/articles/older/Menorquin_English_words.php |url-status=dead }}</ref>