Editing Catalan language (section)

== Phonology ==
{{Main|Catalan phonology}} <!--The Catalan phonology article is very well sourced. If you want to add something, pick it from there, don't put OR.-->

Catalan phonology varies by dialect. Notable features include:{{sfn|Enciclopèdia Catalana|p=630}}
* Marked contrast of the vowel pairs {{IPA|/ɛ, e/}} and {{IPA|/ɔ, o/}}, as in other [[Western Romance]] languages, other than [[Spanish language|Spanish]].{{sfn|Enciclopèdia Catalana|p=630}}
* Lack of [[diphthongization]] of [[Latin]] short {{lang|la|ĕ}}, {{lang|la|ŏ}}, as in [[Galician language|Galician]] and [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]], but unlike French, Spanish, or Italian.{{sfn|Enciclopèdia Catalana|p=630}}
* Abundance of diphthongs containing {{IPA|/w/}}, as in Galician and Portuguese.{{sfn|Enciclopèdia Catalana|p=630}}

In contrast to other Romance languages, Catalan has many [[monosyllabic]] words, and these may end in a wide variety of consonants, including some [[consonant cluster]]s.{{sfn|Enciclopèdia Catalana|p=630}} Additionally, Catalan has [[final obstruent devoicing]], which gives rise to an abundance of such couplets as {{lang|ca|amic}} ("male friend") vs. {{lang|ca|amiga}} ("female friend").{{sfn|Enciclopèdia Catalana|p=630}}

[[Central Catalan]] pronunciation is considered to be standard for the language.{{sfn|Feldhausen|2010|p=5}} The descriptions below are mostly representative of this variety.<ref>Wheeler 2005 takes the same approach</ref> For the differences in pronunciation between the different dialects, see the section on [[#Dialect pronunciation section|pronunciation of dialects]] in this article.<!--This is an internal link to the section about the pronunciation in the different dialects. It uses the Anchor template-->

=== Vowels ===
[[File:Catalan vowel chart.svg|thumb|[[Vowel]]s of Standard Eastern Catalan{{sfn|Carbonell|Llisterri|1999|p=62}}]]
Catalan has inherited the typical vowel system of [[Vulgar Latin]], with seven stressed phonemes: {{IPA|/a, ɛ, e, i, ɔ, o, u/}}, a common feature in [[Western Romance languages|Western Romance]], with the exception of [[Spanish language|Spanish]].{{sfn|Enciclopèdia Catalana|p=630}} [[Balearic dialect|Balearic]] also has instances of stressed {{IPA|/ə/}}.{{sfn|Wheeler|2005|pages=37, 53–54}} Dialects differ in the different degrees of [[vowel reduction]],{{sfn|Wheeler|2005|p=37}} and the incidence of the pair {{IPA|/ɛ, e/}}.{{sfn|Wheeler|2005|p=38}}

In [[Central Catalan]], unstressed vowels reduce to three: {{IPA|/a, e, ɛ/ > [ə]}}; {{IPA|/o, ɔ, u/ > [u]}}; {{IPA|/i/}} remains distinct.{{sfn|Wheeler|2005|p=54}} The other dialects have different vowel reduction processes (see the section [[#Dialect pronunciation section|pronunciation of dialects]] in this article).
{| class="wikitable"  style="margin:auto; text-align:center;"
|+ Examples of vowel reduction processes in Central Catalan{{sfn|Wheeler|2005|pages=53–55}}<br />The root is stressed in the first word and unstressed in the second
|-
! !! colspan="3" | Front vowels !! colspan="2" | Back vowels
|-
! Word<br />pair
| {{lang|ca|gel}} ("ice") <br /> {{lang|ca|gelat}} ("ice cream") || {{lang|ca|pedra}} ("stone") <br /> {{lang|ca|pedrera}} ("quarry") || {{lang|ca|banya}} ("he bathes") <br /> {{lang|ca|banyem}}/{{lang|ca|banyem}} ("we bathe") || {{lang|ca|cosa}} ("thing") <br /> {{lang|ca|coseta}} ("little thing") || {{lang|ca|tot}} ("everything") <br /> {{lang|ca|total}} ("total")
|-
! IPA<br />transcription
| {{IPA|[ˈʒɛl]}}<br />{{IPA|[ʒəˈlat]}} || {{IPA|[ˈpeðɾə]}}<br />{{IPA|[pəˈðɾeɾə]}} || {{IPA|[ˈbaɲə]}}<br />{{IPA|[bəˈɲɛm]}} || {{IPA|[ˈkɔzə]}}<br />{{IPA|[kuˈzɛtə]}} || {{IPA|[ˈtot]}}<br />{{IPA|[tuˈtal]}}
|}

=== Consonants ===
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
|+ Catalan consonants{{sfn|Carbonell|Llisterri|1999|pp=61–65}}
! colspan="2" |
! [[Labial consonant|Labial]]
! [[Alveolar consonant|Alveolar]]<br />/ [[Dental consonant|Dental]]
! [[Palatal consonant|Palatal]]
! [[Velar consonant|Velar]]
|-
! colspan="2" | [[Nasal consonant|Nasal]]
| {{IPA link|m}}
| {{IPA link|n}}
| {{IPA link|ɲ}}
| ({{IPA link|ŋ}})
|-
! rowspan="2" | [[Stop consonant|Plosive]]
! [[voicelessness|voiceless]]
| {{IPA link|p}}
| {{IPA link|t̪|t}}
| colspan="2" | {{IPA link|k}}
|-
! [[voice (phonetics)|voiced]]
| {{IPA link|b}}
| {{IPA link|d̪|d}}
| colspan="2" | {{IPA link|ɡ}}
|-
! rowspan="2" | [[Affricate consonant|Affricate]]
! [[voicelessness|voiceless]]
|
| {{IPA link|ts}}
| {{IPA link|tɕ|tʃ}}
|
|-
! [[voice (phonetics)|voiced]]
|
| {{IPA link|dz}}
| {{IPA link|dʑ|dʒ}}
|
|-
! rowspan="2" | [[Fricative consonant|Fricative]]
! [[voicelessness|voiceless]]
| {{IPA link|f}}
| {{IPA link|s}}
| {{IPA link|ɕ|ʃ}}
|
|-
! [[voice (phonetics)|voiced]]
| ({{IPA link|v}})
| {{IPA link|z}}
| ({{IPA link|ʑ|ʒ}})
|
|-
! rowspan="2" | [[Approximant consonant|Approximant]]
! [[Central consonant|central]]
|
|
| {{IPA link|j}}
| {{IPA link|w}}
|-
! [[Lateral consonant|lateral]]
|
| {{IPA link|l}}
| {{IPA link|ʎ}}
|
|-
! colspan="2" | [[Flap consonant|Tap]]
|
| {{IPA link|ɾ}}
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" | [[Trill consonant|Trill]]
|
| {{IPA link|r}}
|
|
|}

The consonant system of Catalan is rather conservative.
* {{IPA|/l/}} has a [[dark l|velarized]] allophone in [[syllable coda]] position in most dialects.{{sfn|Recasens|Espinosa|2005|p=20}} However, {{IPA|/l/}} is velarized irrespective of position in Eastern dialects such as Majorcan{{sfn|Recasens|Espinosa|2005|p=3}} and standard Eastern Catalan.
* {{IPA|/v/}} occurs in Balearic,{{sfn|Carbonell|Llisterri|1992|p=53}} [[Algherese dialect|Algherese]], [[Valencian language#Consonants|standard Valencian]] and some areas in southern Catalonia.{{sfn|Veny|2007|p=51}} It has [[betacism|merged]] with {{IPA|/b/}} elsewhere.{{sfn|Wheeler|2005|p=13}}
* The velar nasal /ŋ/ is an allophone of /n/ before /g/ or /k/. However, it has become phonemic in Central dialects that delete the final element of word-final consonant clusters, resulting in minimal pairs such as ''fan'' [ˈfan] (“they do”) and ''fang'' [ˈfaŋ] (“mud”, pronounced [ˈfaŋk] in other dialects).
* In Valencian, the fricative [ʒ] (and [jʒ]) appears only as a voiced allophone of /ʃ/ (and /jʃ/) before vowels and voiced consonants; e.g. peix al forn [ˈpejʒ al ˈfoɾn] ('oven fish'). The /ʒ/ phoneme in other Catalan dialects is pronounced /dʒ/ in standard Valencian.
* Voiced obstruents undergo [[final-obstruent devoicing]]: {{IPA|/b/ > [p], /d/ > [t], /ɡ/ > [k]}}.{{sfn|Lloret|2004|p=278}}
* Voiced stops become [[lenition|lenited]] to approximants in syllable onsets, after continuants: {{IPA|/b/}} > {{IPAblink|β}}, {{IPA|/d/}} > {{IPAblink|ð}}, {{IPA|/ɡ/}} > {{IPAblink|ɣ}}.{{sfn|Wheeler|2005|p=10}} Exceptions include {{IPA|/d/}} after [[lateral consonant]]s, and {{IPA|/b/}} after {{IPA|/f/}}. In coda position, these sounds are realized as stops,<ref>{{cite book |last=Hualde |first=José |year=1992 |title=Catalan |page=368 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-415-05498-0}}</ref> except in some Valencian dialects where they are lenited.{{sfn|Recasens|Espinosa|2005|p=1}}
* There is some confusion in the literature about the precise phonetic characteristics of {{IPA|/ʃ/}}, {{IPA|/ʒ/}}, {{IPA|/tʃ/}}, {{IPA|/dʒ/}}. Some sources{{sfn|Carbonell|Llisterri|1992|p=53}} describe them as "postalveolar". Others{{sfn|Recasens|Fontdevila|Pallarès|1995|p=288}}{{sfn|Recasens|Espinosa|2007|p=145}} as "back alveolo-palatal", implying that the characters {{angbr IPA|ɕ ʑ tɕ dʑ}} would be more accurate. However, in all literature only the characters for [[palato-alveolar consonant|palato-alveolar]] affricates and fricatives are used, even when the same sources use {{angbr IPA|ɕ ʑ}} for other languages such as Polish and Chinese.<ref>{{harvnb|Recasens|1993}}. Here Recasens labels these Catalan sounds as "laminoalveolars palatalitzades".</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Recasens|Pallarès|2001}}. Here the authors label these Catalan sounds as "laminal postalveolar".</ref>{{sfn|Recasens|Espinosa|2007|p=145}}
* The distribution of the two rhotics {{IPA|/r/}} and {{IPA|/ɾ/}} closely parallels [[Spanish phonology#Alternations|that of Spanish]]. Between vowels, the two contrast, but they are otherwise in complementary distribution: in the onset of the first syllable in a word, {{IPAblink|r}} appears unless preceded by a consonant. Dialects vary in regards to rhotics in the coda with Western Catalan generally featuring {{IPAblink|ɾ}} and Central Catalan dialects featuring a weakly trilled {{IPAblink|r}} unless it precedes a vowel-initial word in the same [[prosodic unit]], in which case {{IPAblink|ɾ}} appears.{{sfn|Padgett|2009|p=432}}
* In careful speech, {{IPA|/n/}}, {{IPA|/m/}}, {{IPA|/l/}} may be [[gemination|geminated]]. Geminated {{IPA|/ʎ/}} may also occur.{{sfn|Carbonell|Llisterri|1992|p=53}} Some analyze intervocalic {{IPA|[r]}} as the result of gemination of a single rhotic phoneme.{{sfn|Wheeler|1979}} This is similar to the common analysis of Spanish and [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]] rhotics.<ref>See {{cite book |last1=Bonet |first1=Eulàlia |last2=Mascaró |first2=Joan |year=1997 |chapter=On the Representation of Contrasting Rhotics |title=Issues in the Phonology and Morphology of the Major Iberian Languages |editor1-last=Martínez-Gil |editor1-first=Fernando |editor2-last=Morales-Front |editor2-first=Alfonso |publisher=Georgetown University Press |isbn=978-0-87840-647-0}} for more information.</ref>

=== Phonological evolution ===
{{Main|Phonological history of Catalan}}
[[File:Linguistic map Southwestern Europe-en.gif|thumb|Linguistic map of Southwestern Europe]]

Catalan shares features with neighboring Romance languages ([[Occitan language|Occitan]], [[Italian language|Italian]], [[Sardinian language|Sardinian]], [[French language|French]], [[Spanish language|Spanish]]).{{sfn|Wheeler|2005|p=1}}

* Marked contrast of the vowel pairs {{IPA|/ɛ/ ~ /e/}} and {{IPA|/ɔ/ ~ /o/}}, as in other [[Western Romance]] languages, except Spanish and Sardinian.{{sfn|Ferrater Soler|1977|p=630}}
* Lenition of voiced stops {{IPA|[b] → [β], [d] → [ð], [ɡ] → [ɣ]}} as in Galician and Spanish.{{sfn|Ferrater Soler|1977|p=630}}
* Lack of [[diphthongization]] of [[Latin]] short {{lang|la|ĕ}}, {{lang|la|ŏ}}, as in [[Galician language|Galician]], Sardinian and Portuguese, and unlike French, Spanish and Italian.{{sfn|Ferrater Soler|1977|p=630}}
* Abundance of diphthongs containing {{IPA|/w/}}, as in Galician and Portuguese.{{sfn|Ferrater Soler|1977|p=630}}
* Abundance of {{IPA|/ʎ/}} and {{IPA|/ɲ/}} occurring at the end of words, as for instance {{wikt-lang|ca|moll}} ("wet") and {{wikt-lang|ca|any}} ("year"), unlike Spanish,{{sfn|Hall|2001|p=19}} Portuguese or Italian.

In contrast with other Romance languages, Catalan has many [[monosyllabic]] words; and those ending in a wide variety of consonants and some [[consonant cluster]]s.{{sfn|Ferrater Soler|1977|p=630}} Also, Catalan has [[final obstruent devoicing]], thus featuring many couplets like {{lang|ca|amic}} ('male friend') vs. {{lang|ca|amiga}} ('female friend').{{sfn|Ferrater Soler|1977|p=630}}