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84-735: Catalan ( català ) is a Western Romance language . It is the official language of Andorra , and an official language of three autonomous communities in eastern Spain : Catalonia , the Balearic Islands and the Valencian Community , where it is called Valencian ( valencià ). It has semi-official status in the Italian comune of Alghero , and it is spoken in the Pyrénées-Orientales department of France and in two further areas in eastern Spain:
168-745: A 2011 study the total number of Catalan speakers was over 9.8 million, with 5.9 million residing in Catalonia. More than half of them spoke Catalan as a second language, with native speakers being about 4.4 million of those (more than 2.8 in Catalonia). Very few Catalan monoglots exist; virtually all of the Catalan speakers in Spain are bilingual speakers of Catalan and Spanish, with 99.7% of Catalan speakers in Catalonia able to speak Spanish and 99.9% able to understand it. In Roussillon , only
252-424: A denomination based on cultural affinity and common heritage, that has also had a subsequent political interpretation but no official status. Various interpretations of the term may include some or all of these regions. The number of people known to be fluent in Catalan varies depending on the sources used. A 2004 study did not count the total number of speakers, but estimated a total of 9–9.5 million by matching
336-527: A large number of Catalan colonies that today continue to maintain the Catalan language. They also founded many Catalan casals (associations). One classification of Catalan is given by Pèire Bèc : However, the ascription of Catalan to the Occitano-Romance branch of Gallo-Romance languages is not shared by all linguists and philologists, particularly among Spanish ones, such as Ramón Menéndez Pidal . Catalan bears varying degrees of similarity to
420-499: A minority of French Catalans speak Catalan nowadays, with French being the majority language for the inhabitants after a continued process of language shift . According to a 2019 survey by the Catalan government, 31.5% of the inhabitants of Catalonia predominantly spoke Catalan at home whereas 52.7% spoke Spanish, 2.8% both Catalan and Spanish and 10.8% other languages. Spanish was the most spoken language in Barcelona (according to
504-594: A network of community-run schools engaged in Catalan language immersion programs. In Alicante province , Catalan is being replaced by Spanish and in Alghero by Italian . There is also well ingrained diglossia in the Valencian Community , Ibiza , and to a lesser extent, in the rest of the Balearic islands . During the 20th century many Catalans emigrated or went into exile to Venezuela , Mexico , Cuba , Argentina , and other South American countries. They formed
588-657: A rather dry climate. Summers of the Ebro Valley most often mirror those of a semiarid climate ; some of them see more breaks of storms or showers, yet others are more arid , bringing drought save where advanced irrigation is used. The valley flood plains experience annual rainfall between 300 and 600 mm (12–24 in), with maxima in fall and spring. It is often covered with chaparral vegetation. Summers are hot and winters are cold. The dry summer season has temperatures of more than 35 °C (95 °F), occasionally reaching over 40 °C (104 °F). In winter,
672-1060: A shared history with the Western Romance innovative core, especially Occitan. Like all Romance languages, Catalan has a handful of native words which are unique to it, or rare elsewhere. These include: The Gothic superstrate produced different outcomes in Spanish and Catalan. For example, Catalan fang "mud" and rostir "to roast", of Germanic origin, contrast with Spanish lodo and asar , of Latin origin; whereas Catalan filosa "spinning wheel" and templa "temple", of Latin origin, contrast with Spanish rueca and sien , of Germanic origin. The same happens with Arabic loanwords. Thus, Catalan alfàbia "large earthenware jar" and rajola "tile", of Arabic origin, contrast with Spanish tinaja and teja , of Latin origin; whereas Catalan oli "oil" and oliva "olive", of Latin origin, contrast with Spanish aceite and aceituna . However,
756-522: A transition from Medieval to Renaissance values, something that can also be seen in Metge 's work. The first book produced with movable type in the Iberian Peninsula was printed in Catalan. With the union of the crowns of Castille and Aragon in 1479, the Spanish kings ruled over different kingdoms, each with its own cultural, linguistic and political particularities, and they had to swear by
840-596: A wider river valley among limestone rocks when it reaches La Rioja and Navarre . Southern tributaries rise on the nearby watershed , the Sistema Ibérico , a mountain range among those of Spain's centre. North of the headwaters is the Cantabrian mountain range (south of Bilbao and Santander ). Much of the total water volume of the Ebro comes from its northern tributaries, which drain about 2 ⁄ 3 of
924-771: Is a river of the north and northeast of the Iberian Peninsula , in Spain . It rises in Cantabria and flows 930 kilometres (580 mi), almost entirely in an east-southeast direction. It flows into the Mediterranean Sea , forming a delta in the Terres de l'Ebre region, in southern Catalonia . In the Iberian peninsula, it ranks second in length after the Tagus and second in discharge volume , and drainage basin , after
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#17327718004831008-627: Is an end from extreme temperatures accompanied by slow-growing dwarf juniper species to unvegetated desert steppes as in "llanos de Belchite" or "Calanda desert". The mountain vegetation is mostly coniferous forests that are drought-adapted, and hardier trees in the oak genus ( Quercus ), typically less tolerant, in the wetter highlands. Halophiles ( extremophiles as to salt) abound in zones of endorheic lagoons and their feeder creeks. Tamarix -covered, these include endemic species of bryophytes , chenopodiaceas, plumbaginaceae , ruppiaceaes, Carex , lythraceaes, asteraceaes, and others. Their presence
1092-585: Is attested a language name since at least 1652. The word Catalan can be pronounced in English as / ˈ k æ t ə l ə n , - æ n / KAT -ə-lən, -lan or / ˌ k æ t ə ˈ l æ n / KAT -ə- LAN . The endonym is pronounced [kətəˈla] in the Eastern Catalan dialects, and [kataˈla] in the Western dialects. In the Valencian Community and Carche ,
1176-535: Is attributable to its ability to colonise disturbed habitats that would deter the edible iberian crayfish . The semiaquatic rodent Myocastor coypus is beginning to expand in some northwest tributaries of the head damaging crops and protected national parks in the Basque Country . Fish caught in all lower reaches of the Ebro are high in mercury and the European Union prohibits their sale, notably
1260-544: Is based mainly on the use of the "s" for pluralization, the weakening of some consonants and the pronunciation of " Soft C " as /t͡s/ (often later /s/) rather than /t͡ʃ/ as in Italian and Romanian. Based on mutual intelligibility , Dalby counts thirteen languages: Portuguese , Spanish , Asturleonese , Aragonese , Catalan , Gascon , Provençal , Gallo-Wallon , French , Franco-Provençal , Romansh , Ladin and Friulian . Some classifications include Italo-Dalmatian ;
1344-501: Is causing the erosion of the coastline and lack of sediment replenishment. The unstable surface is due to weather changes and tidal surges . The river floods from time to time, although advance warning can now be given as a result of monitoring within the catchment area. The river flow in Zaragoza during floods, from the end of the 19th century is as follows: The Ebro poured 1,874 million cubic metres (1,519,000 acre-feet ) into
1428-426: Is especially the case for French, in widespread use throughout West Africa as a lingua franca . Gallo-Romance includes: Gallo-Romance can include: The Oïl languages, Arpitan and Rhaeto-Romance languages are sometimes called Gallo-Rhaetian, but it is difficult to exclude from this group Gallo-Italic, which according to several linguists forms a particular unity with Rhaeto-Romance. Iberian Romance languages of
1512-412: Is mandatory in all schools, but it is possible to use Spanish for studying in the public education system of Catalonia in two situations—if the teacher assigned to a class chooses to use Spanish, or during the learning process of one or more recently arrived immigrant students. There is also some intergenerational shift towards Catalan. More recently, several Spanish political forces have tried to increase
1596-574: Is of international importance for 8 of its plant species and 69 of its vertebrate fauna. It has some 95 breeding species of birds, is also very important for a wide range of overwintering species, and serves as an essential stopover point for large numbers of migratory birds. The Ebro delta has the world's largest colony of Audouin's gulls . In 2006 it held a record number of more than 15,000 pairs, its highest to date. The introduction of American crayfish Procambarus clarkii has resulted in economic losses, introduced elsewhere for cultivation, its success
1680-427: Is related to the marine origin of the valley and the extensive marine deposits. Just as it enters Catalonia, the valley narrows, and the river becomes constrained by mountain ranges, making wide bends. 3 massive dams have been built in this area: Mequinenza dam ( Province of Zaragoza , 1955), Riba-roja dam (1955), and Flix dam (1948), the latter two in the province of Tarragona . In the final section of its course
1764-465: Is the most important river in Spain in terms of length, 928 km (577 mi), and area of drainage basin, 85,550 km (33,030 sq mi). However, the mean annual flow decreased by approximately 29 percent during the 20th century due to many causes: the construction of dams, the increasing demands for irrigation and the evaporation (higher than the rainfall, due to low rainfall, high sunshine and strong and dry winds) from reservoirs in
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#17327718004831848-564: The Institut d'Estudis Catalans (IEC). (See also status of Valencian below). By the 9th century, Catalan had evolved from Vulgar Latin on both sides of the eastern end of the Pyrenees , as well as the territories of the Roman province of Hispania Tarraconensis to the south. From the 8th century onwards the Catalan counts extended their territory southwards and westwards at the expense of
1932-745: The Crown of Aragon , and Catalan was present all over the Mediterranean world. During this period, the Royal Chancery propagated a highly standardized language. Catalan was widely used as an official language in Sicily until the 15th century, and in Sardinia until the 17th. During this period, the language was what Costa Carreras terms "one of the 'great languages' of medieval Europe". Martorell 's novel of chivalry Tirant lo Blanc (1490) shows
2016-746: The Douro . It is the longest river entirely within Spain; the other two mentioned flow into Portugal . The Ebro flows through many cities ( Spanish : ciudades ): Reinosa in Cantabria ; Frías and Miranda de Ebro in Castile and León ; Haro , Logroño , Calahorra , and Alfaro in La Rioja ; Tudela in Navarre ; Alagón , Utebo , and Zaragoza in Aragon ; and Flix , Móra d'Ebre , Benifallet , Tivenys , Xerta , Aldover , Tortosa , and Amposta in
2100-464: The Gascon dialect ) is similar to the distance among different Occitan dialects. Catalan was considered a dialect of Occitan until the end of the 19th century and still today remains its closest relative. Catalan shares many traits with the other neighboring Romance languages (Occitan, French, Italian , Sardinian as well as Spanish and Portuguese among others). However, despite being spoken mostly on
2184-482: The Honor Award of Catalan Letters (1969). The first Catalan-language TV show was broadcast in 1964. At the same time, oppression of the Catalan language and identity was carried out in schools, through governmental bodies, and in religious centers. In addition to the loss of prestige for Catalan and its prohibition in schools, migration during the 1950s into Catalonia from other parts of Spain also contributed to
2268-533: The Iberian Peninsula include: Sometimes considered a subgroup of the previous groups, it constitutes a group of languages that do not have all the Gallo-Romance traits nor the Ibero-Romance traits. The list is as follows: Ebro river The Ebro ( Spanish and Basque [ˈeβɾo] ; Catalan : Ebre , Western: [ˈeβɾe] , Eastern: [ˈeβɾə] )
2352-476: The Iberian Peninsula , Catalan has marked differences with the Iberian Romance group ( Spanish and Portuguese ) in terms of pronunciation , grammar, and especially vocabulary; it shows instead its closest affinity with languages native to France and northern Italy, particularly Occitan and to a lesser extent Gallo-Romance ( Franco-Provençal , French , Gallo-Italian ). According to Ethnologue ,
2436-660: The Muslims , bringing their language with them. This process was given definitive impetus with the separation of the County of Barcelona from the Carolingian Empire in 988. In the 11th century, documents written in macaronic Latin begin to show Catalan elements, with texts written almost completely in Romance appearing by 1080. Old Catalan shared many features with Gallo-Romance , diverging from Old Occitan between
2520-523: The Second Punic War . One of the earliest Cistercian monasteries in Spain, Real Monasterio de Nuestra Señora de Rueda ( lit. ' Royal ' Monastery of Our Lady of the Wheel), is located on the banks of the Ebro in Aragon . Established in 1202, the edifice survives intact. The monastery is strongly connected to the Ebro, since it used one of the first large waterwheels built for
2604-484: The Terres de l'Ebre ('Ebro Lands') region, Catalonia , is at 340 km (130 sq mi), or 20km² less, one of the largest wetlands of the western Mediterranean. Designated a Ramsar site , it has entirely grown on soils washed downriver—the historical rate of growth of the delta is demonstrated by the town of Amposta . Recorded and thus confirmed as a seaport in the Roman Warm Period in
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2688-514: The consul in Barcelona was also asked. He declared that Catalan "is taught in schools, it is printed and spoken, not only among the lower class, but also among people of first quality, also in social gatherings, as in visits and congresses", indicating that it was spoken everywhere "with the exception of the royal courts". He also indicated that Catalan was spoken "in the Kingdom of Valencia, in
2772-778: The eastern strip of Aragon and the Carche area in the Region of Murcia . The Catalan-speaking territories are often called the Països Catalans or "Catalan Countries". The language evolved from Vulgar Latin in the Middle Ages around the eastern Pyrenees . Nineteenth-century Spain saw a Catalan literary revival , culminating in the early 1900s. The word Catalan is derived from the territorial name of Catalonia , itself of disputed etymology. The main theory suggests that Catalunya ( Latin : Gathia Launia ) derives from
2856-576: The laws of each territory before the respective parliaments . But after the War of the Spanish Succession , Spain became an absolute monarchy under Philip V , which led to the assimilation of the Crown of Aragon by the Crown of Castile through the Nueva Planta decrees , as a first step in the creation of the Spanish nation-state ; as in other contemporary European states, this meant
2940-690: The province of Tarragona ( Catalonia ). The source of the river Ebro is in the Cantabrian Mountains , in Fontibre , Cantabria ( Fontibre is from Latin Fontes Iberis , i.e. 'source of the Ebro'). Close by is a large artificial lake , Embalse del Ebro , created by its damming. The upper Ebro rushes through rocky gorges in Burgos Province . Flowing roughly eastwards it passes las conchas de Haro and begins forming
3024-616: The 11th and 14th centuries. During the 11th and 12th centuries the Catalan rulers expanded southward to the Ebro river , and in the 13th century they conquered the lands that would become the Kingdoms of Valencia and the Majorca . The city of Alghero in Sardinia was repopulated with Catalan speakers in the 14th century. The language also reached Murcia , which became Spanish-speaking in
3108-669: The 15th century. In the Low Middle Ages , Catalan went through a golden age, reaching a peak of maturity and cultural richness. Examples include the work of Majorcan polymath Ramon Llull (1232–1315), the Four Great Chronicles (13th–14th centuries), and the Valencian school of poetry culminating in Ausiàs March (1397–1459). By the 15th century, the city of Valencia had become the sociocultural center of
3192-457: The 19th century saw a Catalan literary revival ( Renaixença ), which has continued up to the present day. This period starts with Aribau 's Ode to the Homeland (1833); followed in the second half of the 19th century, and the early 20th by the work of Verdaguer (poetry), Oller (realist novel), and Guimerà (drama). In the 19th century, the region of Carche , in the province of Murcia
3276-459: The 4th century, it is now well inland from the mouths. The rounded form of the delta attests to the subsequent balance between sediment deposition by the Ebro and removal of this material by wave erosion . The modern delta is in intensive agricultural use for rice, fruit (in particular citrus), and vegetables. The Ebro delta also has numerous beaches, marshes, and salt pans that provide habitat for over 300 species of birds. The Ebro delta
3360-467: The Arabic element is generally much more prevalent in Spanish. Situated between two large linguistic blocks (Iberian Romance and Gallo-Romance), Catalan has many unique lexical choices, such as enyorar "to miss somebody", apaivagar "to calm somebody down", and rebutjar "reject". Traditionally Catalan-speaking territories are sometimes called the Països Catalans (Catalan Countries),
3444-591: The Spanish province of Alicante settled around Oran , while those from French Catalonia and Menorca migrated to Algiers . By 1911, there were around 100,000 speakers of Patuet , as their speech was called. After the Algerian declaration of independence in 1962, almost all the Pied-Noir Catalan speakers fled to Northern Catalonia or Alicante. The French government only recognizes French as an official language. Nevertheless, on 10 December 2007,
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3528-701: The Wels catfish's introduction in the Mequinenza reservoir in 1974, it has spread to other parts of the Ebro and its tributaries, especially the Segre . Some endemics species of iberian barbels , genus Barbus in the Cyprinidae , have declined drastically, having once been abundant, especially in the Ebro. Competition and predation by Wels catfish caused its complete disappearance in the middle channel Ebro around 1990. Barbel species from mountain stream tributaries of
3612-839: The central Pyrenees and the Iberian System discharge large amounts of water, especially in spring during the thawing season of the mountain snow. The biomes are diverse in these Mediterranean climate zones: Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub . Hinterlands are particularly distinctive on account of extensive sclerophyll shrublands known as maquis , or garrigues. The dominant species are Quercus coccifera (in drier areas) and Quercus ilex . These trees form monospecific communities or communities integrated with Pinus , Mediterranean buckthorns , Myrtus , Chamaerops humilis , junipers , Pistacia , Rosmarinus , Thymus , and so on. The hinterland climate becomes progressively more continental and drier, and therefore there
3696-538: The delta from 27 March 2007 to 11 April 2007, with an average of 117 million cubic metres (95,000 acre-feet) per day. Academics and local government have criticised ecological impacts of: In past times numerous lagoons , endorheic saltwater ponds , and freshwater swamps and marshes were drained, dried or filled. Almost entire riparian forests were cleared for crops or for pulpwood forest plantations. Due to these changes numerous plant and animal species have disappeared. Due to dams and hydraulic canalization,
3780-418: The diminished use of the language. These migrants were often unaware of the existence of Catalan, and thus felt no need to learn or use it. Catalonia was the economic powerhouse of Spain, so these migrations continued to occur from all corners of the country. Employment opportunities were reduced for those who were not bilingual . Daily newspapers remained exclusively in Spanish until after Franco's death, when
3864-659: The dividing line between Roman (north) and Carthaginian (south) expansions after the First Punic War (264–241 BC). When the Roman Republic , fearful of Hannibal 's growing influence in the Iberian Peninsula, made the city of Saguntum (considerably south of the Ebro) a protectorate of Rome, Hannibal viewed the treaty violation as an aggressive action by Rome and used the event as the catalyst to
3948-407: The dynamics of the river have been altered and new scroll-bars , new oxbow lakes , and new abandoned meanders will not now be created. Over a period of time, many of these phenomena tend to dry out or fill in with sediments. Some small representatives of these river dynamics and wetlands are protected. The Ebro Delta Natural Park, covering 7,802 hectares (19,280 acres), was finalised in 1986 and
4032-599: The ecologic and economic resources of the delta. The Greeks called the river Ἴβηρ ( Ibēr ), abir , ah'ir and the Romans called it the Hibēr , Ibēr , or Ibērus flūmen , leading to its current name. The Iberian Peninsula and the Hibērī or Ibērī (the people of the area) were named after the river. It is not known with any certainty whether the Greeks used a local native name for
4116-559: The first one in Catalan since the end of the Civil War, Avui , began to be published in 1976. Since the Spanish transition to democracy (1975–1982), Catalan has been institutionalized as an official language, language of education, and language of mass media; all of which have contributed to its increased prestige. In Catalonia , there is an unparalleled large bilingual European non-state linguistic community. The teaching of Catalan
4200-419: The huge Wels catfish . The zebra mussel , an invasive species , is expanding upstream in the Ebro's waters. Due to its rapid rate of reproduction, the species adversely affects the port's underwater machinery as well as that of dams and hydroelectric plants, in addition to competing with native species. Following the introduction of Wels catfish, many fish species' numbers are in clear and rapid decline. Since
4284-469: The imposition of the political and cultural characteristics of the dominant groups. Since the political unification of 1714, Spanish assimilation policies towards national minorities have been a constant. The process of assimilation began with secret instructions to the corregidores of the Catalan territory: they "will take the utmost care to introduce the Castilian language, for which purpose he will give
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#17327718004834368-475: The islands of Mallorca, Menorca, Ibiza, Sardinia, Corsica and much of Sicily, in the Vall d "Aran and Cerdaña". The defeat of the pro-Habsburg coalition in the War of Spanish Succession (1714) initiated a series of laws which, among other centralizing measures, imposed the use of Spanish in legal documentation all over Spain. Because of this, use of the Catalan language declined into the 18th century. However,
4452-603: The language in features closer to Occitan (and French ). There is evidence that, at least from the 2nd century AD, the vocabulary and phonology of Roman Tarraconensis was different from the rest of Roman Hispania. Differentiation arose generally because Spanish, Asturian , and Galician-Portuguese share certain peripheral archaisms (Spanish hervir , Asturian and Portuguese ferver vs. Catalan bullir , Occitan bolir "to boil") and innovatory regionalisms (Spanish novillo , Asturian nuviellu vs. Catalan torell , Occitan taurèl "bullock"), while Catalan has
4536-561: The lexical similarity between Catalan and other Romance languages is: 87% with Italian; 85% with Portuguese and Spanish; 76% with Ladin and Romansh ; 75% with Sardinian; and 73% with Romanian. During much of its history, and especially during the Francoist dictatorship (1939–1975), the Catalan language was ridiculed as a mere dialect of Spanish . This view, based on political and ideological considerations, has no linguistic validity. Spanish and Catalan have important differences in their sound systems, lexicon, and grammatical features, placing
4620-426: The linguistic census held by the Government of Catalonia in 2013) and it is understood almost universally. According to 2013 census, Catalan was also very commonly spoken in the city of 1,501,262: it was understood by 95% of the population, while 72.3% over the age of two could speak it (1,137,816), 79% could read it (1,246.555), and 53% could write it (835,080). The share of Barcelona residents who could speak it (72.3%)
4704-406: The linguistic varieties subsumed under the cover term Occitan language (see also differences between Occitan and Catalan and Gallo-Romance languages ). Thus, as it should be expected from closely related languages, Catalan today shares many traits with other Romance languages. Some include Catalan in Occitan, as the linguistic distance between this language and some Occitan dialects (such as
4788-418: The most temperate and disguised measures so that the effect is achieved, without the care being noticed". From there, actions in the service of assimilation, discreet or aggressive, were continued, and reached to the last detail, such as, in 1799, the Royal Certificate forbidding anyone to "represent, sing and dance pieces that were not in Spanish". The use of Spanish gradually became more prestigious and marked
4872-407: The mouth. In addition to decreased mean annual flow, the increased river regulation in the Ebro basin has produced daily and seasonal changes in the flow pattern. With regards to the sediment load, several authors conclude that the sediment load was reduced by more than 99 percent during the last century. The drastic reduction in sediment transport implies a sediment deficit in the delta, which
4956-423: The name Gothia or Gauthia ('Land of the Goths '), since the origins of the Catalan counts, lords and people were found in the March of Gothia , whence Gothland > Gothlandia > Gothalania > Catalonia theoretically derived. In English, the term referring to a person first appears in the mid 14th century as Catelaner , followed in the 15th century as Catellain (from Middle French ). It
5040-437: The other hand, there are several language shift processes currently taking place. In the Northern Catalonia area of France, Catalan has followed the same trend as the other minority languages of France, with most of its native speakers being 60 or older (as of 2004). Catalan is studied as a foreign language by 30% of the primary education students, and by 15% of the secondary. The cultural association La Bressola promotes
5124-465: The percentage of speakers to the population of each area where Catalan is spoken. The web site of the Generalitat de Catalunya estimated that as of 2004 there were 9,118,882 speakers of Catalan. These figures only reflect potential speakers; today it is the native language of only 35.6% of the Catalan population. According to Ethnologue , Catalan had 4.1 million native speakers and 5.1 million second-language speakers in 2021. According to
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#17327718004835208-458: The population self-identifies with both Catalan and Spanish equally, 36.4% with Catalan and 47.5% only Spanish. In 2003 the same studies concluded no language preference for self-identification within the population above 15 years old: 5% self-identified with both languages, 44.3% with Catalan and 47.5% with Spanish. To promote use of Catalan, the Generalitat de Catalunya (Catalonia's official Autonomous government) spends part of its annual budget on
5292-493: The production of power in Spain. The monastery also diverted flow from the Ebro to create a circulating, hydrological central heating system for its buildings. The Ebro in 1938 was the starting ground of one of the most famous Republican offensives of the Spanish Civil War . Known as the Battle of the Ebro , the offensive ended in defeat for the Republican forces, although they enjoyed success in its first stages. They were not able to reach their objective of Gandesa . The Ebro
5376-399: The promotion of the use of Catalan in Catalonia and in other territories, with entities such as Consorci per a la Normalització Lingüística (Consortium for Linguistic Normalization). In Andorra , Catalan has always been the sole official language. Since the promulgation of the 1993 constitution , several policies favoring Catalan have been enforced, such as Catalan medium education. On
5460-420: The rest of the territories. (% of the population 15 years old and older). (% of the population 15 years old and older). Western Romance languages Western Romance languages are one of the two subdivisions of a proposed subdivision of the Romance languages based on the La Spezia–Rimini Line . They include the Ibero-Romance and Gallo-Romance . Gallo-Italic may also be included. The subdivision
5544-760: The resulting clade is generally called Italo-Western Romance . Other classifications place Italo-Dalmatian with Eastern Romance . Sardinian does not fit into either Western or Eastern Romance, having split off earlier than the two. Today the four most widely spoken standardized Western Romance languages are Spanish (c. 486 million native speakers, around 125 million second-language speakers), Portuguese (c. 220 million native, another 45 million or so second-language speakers, mainly in Lusophone Africa ), French (c. 80 million native speakers, another 70 million or so second-language speakers, mostly in Francophone Africa), and Catalan (c. 7.2 million native). Many of these languages have large numbers of non-native speakers; this
5628-421: The river basins. This situation has a direct impact on the deltaic system at the mouth of the river because its hydrological dynamics are mainly controlled by the river discharge. The decrease in river discharge has meant introduction of the salt wedge further into the river. The mean annual river flow is approximately the critical flow which determines the formation and the break-up of the salt wedge. Thus, when
5712-432: The river bends southwards and flows through spectacular gorges. The calcareous cliffs and high, rocky hills of the Serra de Cardó almost abut the river separating the Mediterranean coastal strip. After passing the gorges, the Ebro bends again eastwards near Tortosa before discharging in a delta on the Mediterranean Sea close to Amposta in the province of Tarragona . The Ebro Delta (Catalan: Delta de l'Ebre ), in
5796-479: The river discharge is between 300 and 400 m /s (11,000 and 14,000 cu ft/s), the salt wedge can occupy the last 5 km (3 mi) of the estuary, but when the discharge is between 100 and 300 m /s (3,500 and 10,600 cu ft/s), the salt wedge can advance up to 18 km (11 mi) from the mouth. For less than 100 m /s (3,500 cu ft/s), the salt wedge quickly advances to its maximum extent, reaching 32 km (20 mi) from
5880-405: The river. Nor is it known what the word " Ibēr " or " Hibēr " might mean. In modern Basque the word ibar means 'valley' or 'watered meadow', while ibai means 'river', but there is no proof relating the etymology of the Ebro River with these Basque words. There are rivers in the Balkans called Ibar (Montenegro and Serbia) and Evros (Bulgaria and Greece). In antiquity , the Ebro was used as
5964-444: The social level, including in schools and the University of Barcelona . The Catalan language and culture were still vibrant during the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939), but were crushed at an unprecedented level throughout the subsequent decades due to Francoist dictatorship (1939–1975), which abolished the official status of Catalan and imposed the use of Spanish in schools and in public administration in all of Spain , while banning
6048-611: The sole official language of the region. Shortly after the French Revolution (1789), the French First Republic prohibited official use of, and enacted discriminating policies against, the regional languages of France, such as Catalan, Alsatian , Breton , Occitan , Flemish , and Basque . After the French colony of Algeria was established in 1830, many Catalan-speaking settlers moved there. People from
6132-417: The southern slopes of the Pyrenees mountains, which run along the border with France . All of Andorra's drainage basin is in the Ebro, through the Segre . Downstream from Cantabria the climate in the Ebro basin – the valley being isolated from sea air masses by surrounding mountains – becomes Mediterranean/Atlantic influenced and continental . This implies summer/winter seasonal contrast and
6216-518: The start of the decline of Catalan. Starting in the 16th century, Catalan literature came under the influence of Spanish, and the nobles, part of the urban and literary classes became bilingual . With the Treaty of the Pyrenees (1659), Spain ceded the northern part of Catalonia to France , and soon thereafter the local Catalan varieties came under the influence of French , which in 1700 became
6300-465: The surface is organically poor and quick-draining: calcareous, pebbly, stony layers. These are in places salt-rich, seeing some saltwater endorheic lagoons. Karst geological processes shaped the landscape of layers of soluble carbonate rock of extensive limestone bedrock formed in an ancient seabed. The valley expands and the Ebro's flow then becomes slower as its water volume increases, flowing across Aragon. There, larger tributaries flowing from
6384-417: The temperatures often drop below 0 °C (32 °F). In some areas the vegetation depends heavily on moisture produced by condensation fog . It is a continental Mediterranean climate with extreme temperatures. There are many ground frosts on clear nights, and sporadic snowfalls . The natural topsoils across the plains are, outside of historically well-forested zones, thin. The subsoil being close to
6468-565: The term valencià [valensiˈa] is frequently used instead. Thus, the name "Valencian", although often employed for referring to the varieties specific to the Valencian Community and Carche, is also used by Valencians as a name for the language as a whole, synonymous with "Catalan". Both uses of the term have their respective entries in the dictionaries by the Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua (AVL) and
6552-864: The then General Council of the Pyrénées-Orientales officially recognized Catalan as one of the départment's languages and seeks to further promote it in public life and education. In 1807, the Statistics Office of the French Ministry of the Interior asked the prefects for an official survey on the limits of the French language . The survey found that in Roussillon , almost only Catalan was spoken, and since Napoleon wanted to incorporate Catalonia into France, as happened in 1812,
6636-400: The use of Catalan in them. Between 1939 and 1943 newspapers and book printing in Catalan almost disappeared. Francisco Franco's desire for a homogeneous Spanish population resonated with some Catalans in favor of his regime, primarily members of the upper class, who began to reject the use of Catalan. Despite all of these hardships, Catalan continued to be used privately within households, and it
6720-607: The use of Spanish in the Catalan educational system. As a result, in May 2022 the Spanish Supreme Court urged the Catalan regional government to enforce a measure by which 25% of all lessons must be taught in Spanish. According to the Statistical Institute of Catalonia , in 2013 the Catalan language is the second most commonly used in Catalonia, after Spanish , as a native or self-defining language: 7% of
6804-497: Was able to survive Franco's dictatorship. At the end of World War II , however, some of the harsh measures began to be lifted and, while Spanish language remained the sole promoted one, limited number of Catalan literature began to be tolerated. Several prominent Catalan authors resisted the suppression through literature. Private initiative contests were created to reward works in Catalan, among them Joan Martorell prize (1947), Víctor Català prize (1953) Carles Riba award (1950), or
6888-493: Was classified as a wetland area of international interest by Spain's Bureau Mar in 1962. Since a phased-introduction law (1983 to 1986) Spain has designated 7,736 hectares (29.87 sq mi) as the Ebro Delta Natural Park (Catalan: Parc Natural del Delta de l'Ebre ) to protect its natural resources. A network of canals and irrigation ditches dug by agricultural and conservation groups help to maintain
6972-640: Was lower than that of the overall Catalan population, of whom 81.2% over the age of 15 spoke the language. Knowledge of Catalan has increased significantly in recent decades thanks to a language immersion educational system. An important social characteristic of the Catalan language is that all the areas where it is spoken are bilingual in practice: together with French in Roussillon, with Italian in Alghero, with Spanish and French in Andorra, and with Spanish in
7056-588: Was repopulated with Valencian speakers. Catalan spelling was standardized in 1913 and the language became official during the Second Spanish Republic (1931–1939). The Second Spanish Republic saw a brief period of tolerance, with most restrictions against Catalan lifted. The Generalitat (the autonomous government of Catalonia, established during the Republic in 1931) made a normal use of Catalan in its administration and put efforts to promote it at
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