Algherese

Algherese (Standard Catalan: Alguerès, IPA: [əɫɣəˈɾɛs]; Algherese: Alguerés, IPA: [alɣaˈɾes]) is the variant of the Catalan language spoken in the city of Alghero (L'Alguer in Catalan), in the northwest of Sardinia. Catalan invaders repopulated the town after expelling the indigenous Sardinian population in 1372, following several revolts.^[1]

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, alongside Italian.^[2]

According to recent linguistic research, 22.4% of the population are first language speakers and above 90% have some knowledge of the language.^[3]

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:

Phonetics

• Like in other languages of Sardinia /ɛ/, /e/, /ɔ/, and /o/ may merge into mid vowels [e̞] and [o̞], respectively.
• 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 [bərsəɫuˈnɛtə], Algherese [balsaruˈne̞ta]; and vila ('town') and vida ('life') are homophones in Algherese [ˈvira].
• Mutation of syllable final /r/ to lateral [l], and the possible resulting group /r/ + consonant is further simplified to [l]; e.g. forn ('furnace, oven'): Standard [ˈfo̞rn], Algherese [ˈfo̞l].
• Depalatalization of syllable final sonorants: lateral /ʎ/ to [l], nasal /ɲ/ to [n]; e.g. any ('year'): Standard [ˈaɲ], Algherese [ˈan].
• Unlike most Catalan dialects, /l/ is never velarized in Algherese; e.g. sol ('sun'): Standard [ˈsɔɫ], Algherese [ˈso̞l].

Morphology

• Simple past has been replaced by present perfect (present of haver "to have" + past participle), possibly due to Italian influence.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 which has 1st -ava, 2nd -ia, 3rd -ia) (a feature shared with Ribagorçan Catalan).
• Large-scale lexical borrowing and calques from Sardinian, Spanish, and Italian.

See also

• Catalan language
• Central Catalan
• Northern Catalan
• Balearic
• Valencian

References

External links

• Diccionari de Alguerés

Further reading

• Josep Sanna: Diccionari català de l'Alguer. 1988; ISBN 84-7129-391-9 [1]
• SCALA LUCA Català de l’Alguer. Criteris de llengua escrita. Publicacions de l’Abadia de Montserrat 2003 ISBN 978-84-8415-463-1