Algherese

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search
The Catalan-Valencian cultural domain

Old city wall and new sea wall, Alghero
Old city wall and new sea wall, Alghero
Language
Grammar
Phonology and orthography
Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua
Institut d'Estudis Catalans
History
History of Catalonia · Counts of Barcelona
Kingdom of Majorca · Kingdom of Valencia
Crown of Aragon · Military history of Catalonia
Catalan constitutions · Furs of Valencia
Treaty of the Pyrenees · Nueva Planta decrees
Geo-political divisions
Catalonia · Valencian Community · Balearic Islands
Northern Catalonia · Franja de Ponent
Andorra · L'Alguer · Carxe
All the above territories together: Països Catalans
Government and Politics
Generalitat de Catalunya
Generalitat Valenciana
Govern de les Illes Balears
Consell General de les Valls (Andorra)
General Council of Pyrénées-Orientales
Politics of Catalonia
Catalanism
Traditions
Castells · Correfoc · Falles · Sardana · 
Moros i cristians · Caganer · Tió de Nadal
Muixeranga · Nit de Sant Joan
Botifarra · Barça · Paella · Rumba
Myths and legends
Arts
Catalan literature · Antoni Gaudí · Modernisme
La Renaixença · Noucentisme · Joaquim Sorolla
Salvador Dalí · Joan Miró · Antoni Tàpies
Santiago Calatrava

Algherese (standard Catalan: Alguerès, Algherese: Alguerés) is the variant of the Catalan language spoken in the city of Alghero (L'Alguer in Catalan and S'Alighèra in Sardinian), in the northwest of Sardinia. Catalan invaders repopulated the town after expelling the indigenous Sardinian population in 1372, following several revolts.

Catalan was replaced as the official language by Spanish in the early 18th century following the War of the Spanish Succession, then by Italian, but its use remained widespread until at least the 1960s. Today it has semi-official status and appears alongside Italian on the city's official website.

According to recent linguistic research, 22.4% of the population are first language speakers and above 90% have some knowledge of the language.[1]

Contents

[edit] Differences from Standard Catalan

The Algherese variant is classified in the Eastern Catalan block, but it has many differences from Central Catalan. Some of the most obvious:

  • Coalescing of unstressed vowels /a/, /ɛ/ and /e/ to [a] (unlike the rest of Eastern Catalan that uses [ə]).
  • Algherese preserves /v/ as a distinct phoneme from /b/, like Balearic and most of Valencian.
  • Mutation of intervocalic /d/ or /l/ to [r]; e.g. 'Barceloneta' (little Barcelona): eastern standard [bərsəluˈnɛtə], Algherese [balsaruˈnɛta]; e.g. 'vila' (town) and 'vida' (life) are homophones in Algherese ['vira].
  • Mutation of syllable final /r/ to lateral [l], and the possible resulting group [l]+consonant is further simplified to [l]; e.g. 'forn' (furnace): standard [ˈforn], Algherese [ˈfol].
  • Depalatalisation of syllable final sonorants: lateral /ʎ/ to [l], nasal /ɲ/ to [n]; e.g. 'any' (year): standard [ˈaɲ], Algherese [ˈan].
  • Simple Past Perfect has been replaced by Present Perfect (present of HABERE + past participle), possibly due to Italian influence.
  • Imperfect Past preserves etymological -V- in all the conjugations: 1st -ava, 2nd -iva, 3rd -iva (unlike modern eastern and western standard Catalan with has 1st -ava, 2nd -ia, 3rd -ia) (a feature shared with Ribagorçan Catalan)

[edit] Algherese musicians

[edit] Bibliography

[edit] See also

Personal tools