This is an accepted version of this page
88-590: The Catalan European Democratic Party ( Catalan : Partit Demòcrata Europeu Català , PDeCAT , sometimes stylized as PDECat ), initially branded as the Catalan Democratic Party ( Catalan : Partit Demòcrata Català , PDC), was a liberal political party in Spain that supported Catalan independence . The party was founded in Barcelona on 10 July 2016 and dissolved on 28 October 2023. PDeCAT
176-695: 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
264-466: A Catalan MP), the spokesperson of the party. On 28 October 2023, the party was officially dissolved following declining electoral fortunes. The party was described as centre-right , supportive of European integration and market-liberal policies, and was neoliberal in the economic outlook. The party described itself as Catalanist , independentist , republican , pro-Europeanist , and humanist in its ideological manifesto, defending that Catalonia
352-424: 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
440-634: A full-fledged party and the PDeCAT's dissolution into it, a proposal which was supported by members of the CNxR and Action for the Republic (AxR) as well. PDeCAT members replied with another manifesto vindicating the party's identity and legacy, showing their unwillingness to disappear as an organization and criticizing what they perceived as "one thinking" from Puigdemont's supporters. With negotiations foundering, Puigdemont announced on 2 July 2020 that he
528-519: A full-fledged party and the PDeCAT's dissolution into it. PDeCAT members replied with another manifesto, in which they vindicated the party's identity and legacy, showing their rejection to disband the party's organizational structure into Puigdemont's personal project and criticizing what they perceived as "one thinking" from the former president's supporters because of their unwillingness to treat them as equals. This failure in negotiations led to Puigdemont's announcement on 2 July that he would be founding
616-529: 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
704-500: 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
792-666: 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
880-418: A new political party aimed at bringing together supporters of unilateral independence ahead of the 2021 Catalan regional election , seeing the merger and subsequent dissolution into it of the CNxR and aligned organizations, as well as the breaking up of all ties with the PDeCAT. A political struggle ensued on the ownership of the "Together for Catalonia" trademark, with Puigdemont's supporters taking over it from
968-401: A number of party splits. Democratic Convergence of Catalonia (CDC) held its last congress on 8 July 2016, in which CDC's members agreed to its "refoundation" into a new political party, whose founding congress was held in the course of the same assembly from 8 to 10 July. The reasoning behind the re-branding process often cited the presenting of a renewed trademark and a desire to disassociate
SECTION 10
#17327763847711056-550: A platform comprising the Catalan European Democratic Party (PDeCAT), successor of the late Democratic Convergence of Catalonia (CDC), and independents and centered around the candidacy of former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont ahead of the 2017 Catalan regional election . Some of these independents went on to form the Action for the Republic (AxR) political party, which is also part of
1144-1064: 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,
1232-525: 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
1320-523: A trick to ensure public funding was not repeated, as the PDeCAT could now count on such funding itself as a result of it having contested the April election. The alliance's performance in the various elections was mixed. It was able to hold its ground and maintain previous results in the general elections, but was clearly outperformed by ERC. In the 26 May elections, ERC secured victory in the local elections whereas JxCat capitalized on Puigdemont's candidacy to
1408-506: Is a nation with the right of self-determination , whose fixed path to achieve an independent state involves expanding the pro-independence social majority and exhausting all legal venues to reach an agreement "without renouncing the unilateral path to achieve these objectives". Catalan language 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 ,
1496-587: 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 ,
1584-415: 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
1672-547: 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
1760-566: 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
1848-710: 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: the eastern strip of Aragon and the Carche area in the Region of Murcia . The Catalan-speaking territories are often called
SECTION 20
#17327763847711936-749: 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
2024-574: The European Parliament to score a win in Catalonia. Throughout 2019, both the PDeCAT and Puigdemont would maintain discussions over the future of the post-CDC political space and of Together for Catalonia. Following the November 2019 general election, negotiations ensued about the possible dissolution of both the CNxR and the PDeCAT into JxCat, but the latter refused to either disband its party structure or renounce to its ownership of
2112-467: 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
2200-485: 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
2288-486: 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 ,
2376-664: 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
2464-568: The Parliament of Catalonia , four legislators in the Congress of Deputies , some prominent politicians (including former Catalan president Artur Mas , the chairwoman of the Port of Barcelona Mercè Conesa and the ex-regional minister of Enterprise and Knowledge Àngels Chacón —just removed from office in a cabinet reshuffle by Quim Torra—) as well as a number of mayors, including Marc Solsona (also
2552-458: 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
2640-971: The declaration of Catalan independence by the Parliament of Catalonia in October 2017 and the subsequent activation of Article 155 of the Spanish Constitution , Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy dissolved the Catalan parliament and called a regional election for 21 December 2017 . Catalan president Carles Puigdemont self-exiled in Belgium to avoid detention and several ministers of the Executive Council of Catalonia were put in pre-trial detention accused of sedition and rebellion. In this context, several PDeCAT leaders— Artur Mas , Marta Pascal and David Bonvehí—met with Puigdemont in Brussels after him having expressed interest in leading
2728-576: 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
Catalan European Democratic Party - Misplaced Pages Continue
2816-619: 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
2904-672: 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
2992-459: 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
3080-469: 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),
3168-499: The CNxR did not contemplate any scenario other than the promotion of a "different" structure that had nothing to do with the late Convergence and its legacy. On 26 June, the party's executive under party president David Bonheví rejected Puigdemont's attempts to absorb the party, prompting JxCat independents and elected members to launch a public manifesto arguing for the re-organization of the Together for Catalonia political space into
3256-480: The CNxR into a full-fledged political party in January 2019, as the PDeCAT leadership, while favouring some type of relationship with Puigdemont's movement, rejected any prospect of merging within another party and instead saw the CNxR as a potential competitor. In March 2020, the PDeCAT suggested the establishment of an electoral coalition rather than both parties competing each other, but this proposal went unheeded by
3344-562: The CNxR, and shortly after the negotiation process stalled as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak in Spain . The resumption of talks in June 2020 revealed that the PDeCAT would keep opposing both to dissolve itself and to renounce the JxCat's trademark, while also citing that Puigdemont "had moved too to the left" in the political spectrum as one of the reasons to preserve its identity. In contrast,
3432-418: The JxCat's trademark, and on 26 June the party's executive rejected Puigdemont's attempts to absorb the party. The next day, a manifesto was publicly launched by JxCat independents and elected members—including deputies, mayors and local councillors, and unveiled by interior regional minister Miquel Buch —in which all subscribers urged for the re-organization of the Together for Catalonia political space into
3520-513: The May 2019 European Parliament and local elections ; running in 772 Catalan municipalities . It would count with the involvement of figures from the CNxR, who would run as independent members after the party rejected either to run on its own or explicitly give support to any candidacy in these elections. For the November 2019 general election , the formula of including CDC in the ballot as
3608-649: The PDC does not change its label, then there will be conflict within Junts pel Sí". On 20 September the party announced that it would attempt to register the party under the "Catalan European Democratic Party", but since it could result in potential conflict as well (the name "Catalan Party of Europe" had been registered by Pasqual Maragall in July 1998) the names "Catalan National Party", "Together for Catalonia", "More Catalonia" and "Catalan Democratic Pact" were also registered in case
Catalan European Democratic Party - Misplaced Pages Continue
3696-607: The PDeCAT on 10 July by changing JxCat's party data in the interior ministry register to reflect its new ownership. The PDeCAT dubbed this as an illegal act and announced that it would challenge it, as the party still regarded the JxCat's trademark as theirs. As the change did not affect the electoral coalition—which legally comprised the PDeCAT and CDC—nor its electoral rights, an awkward situation could develop if both "Together for Catalonia" (Puigdemont's party) and "Together for Catalonia" (the PDeCAT's coalition) chose to confront each other in any future election under such labels, with
3784-467: The PDeCAT was to support the motion of no confidence on the government of Mariano Rajoy that saw Pedro Sánchez replace Rajoy as Prime Minister of Spain on 1 June 2018, against Puigdemont's directions. On 27 October 2018, the PDeCAT was voted out from the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party (ALDE) by a two-thirds majority of members at an extraordinary party council meeting, citing
3872-503: The PDeCAT would provide the core of the platform and the party's organizational structure. This came after both Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC) and the Popular Unity Candidacy (CUP) rejected a new Junts pel Sí coalition. The list emerged as the largest political force within the pro-independence camp, narrowly outperforming ERC despite earlier unfavourable opinion polls, prompting Puigdemont's influence within
3960-595: 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,
4048-455: The alliance in the Parliament of Catalonia . The alliance was maintained for the April and November 2019 Spanish general elections , as well as for the European Parliament and local elections held on 26 May 2019. The alliance's trademark is currently the subject of a political dispute between the PDeCAT and Puigdemont, the latter having used it as the foundation for a new party using
4136-548: The appointment of a new leadership—with David Bonheví becoming new party president (replacing Munté, who had acceded the post after Mas's resignation) and Míriam Nogueras as vice-president—more supportive of Puigdemont's strategy. Concurrently, Puigdemont established his own political platform, the National Call for the Republic (CNxR), intending for the PDeCAT and its political structure to be eventually merged into it. One of Pascal's last decisions as coordinator-general of
4224-412: The corruption scandals affecting the late CDC's as the main driving reason behind the move, as they went "against the interests and values" of ALDE. Throughout 2019, discussions took place on the future of the post-CDC political space, leading to negotiations between the PDeCAT and Puigdemont to bring all three entities resulting from CDC's demise—PDeCAT, JxCat and CNxR—into a single unitary platform under
4312-529: The difficulty of registering the party under such name, since it could be confused with Democrats of Catalonia (DC), an existing political party which had been one of CDC's partners in the Junts pel Sí electoral alliance; this fact had already prevented a 2015 registered of a different political organization under the name "Democratic Party of Catalonia". DC's spokesman, Antoni Castellà, threatened in August that "if
4400-419: 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
4488-474: The election, where it outperformed Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC) to become the dominating force within the pro-independence camp, resulted in an increase of influence for Puigdemont within the party. On 9 January 2018, Artur Mas resigned as PDeCAT president, citing disagreements with Puigdemont's plan for independence. Ahead of the party's general assembly on 21–22 July 2018, Puigdemont forced Marta Pascal's renounce as PDeCAT's coordinator-general, resulting in
SECTION 50
#17327763847714576-467: The exceptional circumstances around its celebration, the PDeCAT proposed ousted Catalan president Carles Puigdemont as their leading candidate, at the helm of an electoral alliance centered around the candidate under the Together for Catalonia (JxCat) label and including Puigdemont-aligned non-PDeCAT members such as Jordi Sànchez or eventual Catalan president Quim Torra . The alliance's success in
4664-562: 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
4752-477: 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
4840-476: 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,
4928-472: The label . "Together for Catalonia" was registered as a trademark by Democratic Convergence of Catalonia (CDC) in July 2016, being one of the names proposed to party members in the founding congress of the Catalan European Democratic Party (PDeCAT) and after conflicting issues with the registering of the initially chose label, "Catalan Democratic Party"; it was finally as the party was able to be registered as "Catalan European Democratic Party". Following
5016-606: 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
5104-478: The last voting held on 10 July, "Catalan Democratic Party" topped the ballot in a 871–657 vote against "Catalan National Party". In the new party's leadership election held on 23–24 July, Artur Mas became president—continuing on the role he held in CDC— Neus Munté was elected as vice-president and Marta Pascal was appointed to the newly created post of coordinator-general. Spain's interior ministry announced
5192-499: The latter not ruling own an independent run. Puigdemont's party rejected using the PDeCAT's electoral rights as well as engaging into any sort of future electoral arrangement with it that did not come through its dissolution, and prompted PDeCAT members supportive to his cause to leave it en masse upon the establishment of his new party. On 24 July, Independence Rally (RI.cat), which had been associated to CDC/PDeCAT since 2013, announced that it would be joining Puigdemont's new party. In
5280-622: 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
5368-486: 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%)
SECTION 60
#17327763847715456-461: 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
5544-536: The meantime, several current and former party members—including former coordinator-general Marta Pascal —split to form the Nationalist Party of Catalonia (PNC), out of their disagreement with the PDeCAT's drift towards unilateralism under Puigdemont's influence. The split was formalized by the PNC's founding congress on 27 June 2020, amid concerns that Puigdemont's move to found his own party could also further
5632-489: 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
5720-425: 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
5808-438: The new name was to be rejected by the interior ministry as well. The interior ministry ended up accepting the new proposed name under the PDeCAT label on 29 September, and it was subsequently ratified by party members in a ballot conducted on 21–22 October 2016. Ever since its inception, the party struggled to maintain the political and electoral space formerly held by the late CDC. Ahead of the 2017 Catalan regional election and
5896-439: 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
5984-708: The party from CDC's corruption problems, including those of its founder, Jordi Pujol , which occurred during its dominance of Catalan regional politics. Two names were commissioned to a communication company and initially floated for the new party: "More Catalonia" ( Catalan : Més Catalunya ) and "Convergent Catalans" (Catalan: Catalans Convergents ), but both were rejected by the party's membership who perceived them as artificial and "soulless". On 9 July, three other proposals were presented: "Together for Catalonia" (Catalan: Junts per Catalunya ), "Catalan Democratic Party" (Catalan: Partit Demòcrata Català ) and "Catalan National Party" (Catalan: Partit Nacional Català ). In
6072-621: The party into the election, with him ultimately agreeing to run in the upcoming election on the condition that his list transcend the PDeCAT himself, instead proposing a list formed by pro-independence parties for the right of self-determination , against the use of Article 155 and in favour of "amnesty for political prisoners". It was eventually agreed that Puigdemont would run under the "Together for Catalonia" umbrella, structured as his personal list and including non-party members and figures from civil society such as ANC chairman Jordi Sànchez and future Catalan president Quim Torra . whereas
6160-469: 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
6248-460: 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
6336-439: The post-CDC space to increase, eventually leading to a rift between the PDeCAT and Puigdemont's sphere, which in July 2018 materialized into a new political platform, the National Call for the Republic (CNxR), which was then transmuted into a political party in January 2019. Together for Catalonia would be renewed as an electoral alliance between the PDeCAT and the late CDC ahead of the April 2019 Spanish general election and
6424-404: 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
6512-472: The rest of the territories. (% of the population 15 years old and older). (% of the population 15 years old and older). Together for Catalonia (2017) Together for Catalonia ( Catalan : Junts per Catalunya , JxCat , also JuntsxCat) was an electoral and parliamentary alliance in Catalonia , registered as a political party in the interior ministry in July 2018, originally envisaged as
6600-569: 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
6688-613: 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
6776-422: The split of PDeCAT's sectors more aligned to his and the CNxR's strategies. On 29 August 2020, the party made official that it was suing Puigdemont for his "unlawful" takeover of the JxCat's trademark, sparking a defection en masse from party members aligned to the former Catalan president, including Puigdemont himself, to the new Junts party. As of early September 2020, PDeCAT still retained four legislators in
6864-521: 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
6952-569: 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
7040-865: 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,
7128-406: The umbrella of Together for Catalonia, whose naming rights belonged to the PDeCAT. Some sectors within the party had been weary of Puigdemont's growing influence and rupturist discourse taking over the traditional moderate political space of the late CDC, as well as his frequent use of independent candidates unrelated to the party's structure. Concerns also came about Puigdemont's decision to transform
7216-403: 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
7304-560: 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
7392-498: 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
7480-640: 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
7568-496: Was regarded as the successor party to Democratic Convergence of Catalonia (CDC), which for most its history was a constituent party of the Convergence and Union (CiU) political formation. The party declared to have 14,000 members in the 2018–2019 period, but this number has recently been revised down to figures as low as 5,000 as a result of internal infighting over former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont 's strategy and
7656-534: 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
7744-502: Was to break up all ties with the PDeCAT and establish a new political party by merging the CNxR, AxR and PDeCAT's splinter elements. A legal and political struggle ensued, as both the PDeCAT under David Bonheví and Puigdemont vied for the control of the "Together for Catalonia" trademark. On 10 July, Puigdemont's supporters took over the label, modifying JxCat's data in the interior ministry register by appointing aligned PDeCAT member Carles Valls Arnó as its leader, while proclaiming that
#770229