I know it has official status and everything, but is it in itself a language of its own? What about Asturian, Galician, etc?
2006-12-01 23:33:08 · 7 answers · asked by Andy W 2 in Society & Culture ➔ Languages
After the death of Franco, and with the coming of democracy, the regions of Spain were again allowed to use their own languages. And - contrary to what one answerer has said - Catalan is a language in its own right. So are Galician (which is closer to Portuguese than to French), Valenciano and Asturian. All of the foregoing are Romance languages. Basque is also spoken in Northern Spain, and that is an ancient language with no known relatives.
By the way, the region where Catalan is spoken is called Catalunya.
2006-12-02 00:05:19 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Every language is a dialect from the one that gives its origin.So, the Castillian,Galician, Italian, French etc, are dialects from the Latin
Even the Andalucian and the Canary are dialects from Castillian, and just Latin, is a dialect from the Indoeuropean.
I have got some definitions, that i wish can help you.
Idiom...Spoken language from a comunity
Lingua..Linguistic system, very well defined, with high level of nivelation, vehicle of a well differenciate culture, and sometimes because predominate upon another linguistic systems.
Language..Conjunct of articulate sounds used for pple to say what they think or feel.
Dialect.....Variety from a same lingua adopted by pple from a concret geographic place.
Want to add, that the language mainly spoken in Southamerica and Spain, called Spanish.............isnt that.
The correct name of it is CASTELLANO....Castillian for you
2006-12-02 00:20:57 · answer #2 · answered by حلاَمبرا hallambra 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Catalán is a language, it can't be a dialect of Spanish because a dialect implies a variation of the same language and in consecuence all the people who speak dialects from the same language understand each other but people who speak Spanish doesn't understand Catalán, so it is a different language.
The official languages in Spain are: Castellano, Catalán, Gallego, Vasco(Euskera) y Valenciano
2006-12-02 03:06:39 · answer #3 · answered by isis 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
As Catalá has it's own grammar system and vocabulary which are different from Castillian, it is considered a language in its own right. Gallego is very much the same. Although some people would take offense, "Valenciano" could be called a dialect of Catalan.
2006-12-02 00:59:06 · answer #4 · answered by custers_nemesis 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Catalian is a dialect of Spanish. Asturian is a branch of language, Galician is an ancient cousin of French.
2006-12-01 23:34:42 · answer #5 · answered by opheliaissaved 3 · 0⤊ 4⤋
the only languages in spain are spanish, catalán (or catalá), basque language (or euskera) and galician. All the other ones are dialects.
2006-12-02 04:11:29 · answer #6 · answered by berta! 2 · 1⤊ 1⤋
A language is a dialect with an army. Catalonia has no army, therefore, no language. Sorry!
2006-12-01 23:34:13 · answer #7 · answered by domangelo 3 · 0⤊ 5⤋