Names of the Catalan language

The first names, or glossonyms, of the Catalan language formed in a dialectal relation with Latin, in which Catalan existed as a variety. These names already expressed the relationship between the two languages (Council of Tours, 813). New names that related Catalan to Rome (llengua romanana, romanç, nostre llatí) came about to dignify the Catalan language in the thirteenth century, though Latinists called it vulgar and most people, pla ('plain', 'understandable').

With the language expanding beyond Catalonia, names that indicated its place of origin were favored: catalanesc, català, llengua catalana. Likewise, the monarchy became associated with the language, which neutralized the political divisions of its territory. By the end of Middle Ages, Latin was less of a universal language, provoking Catalan to receive other names that remarked a local character and the political divisions of the time: llengua materna, mallorquí (in the Kingdom of Majorca), valencià (in the Kingdom of Valencia). Similarly, when Castile and Aragon were united in the fifteenth century, the range of the Catalan name was reduced to simply mean "from Catalonia" and confusion about the origin of the language led to the apparition of names such as llemosí (Limousin). Before the Renaixença, which revitalized Catalan-language culture, some unpopular terms such as llemosí-català, català i valencià, and bacavès (after balear-català-valencià) were created.

In the twentieth century, after two dictatorships (those of Miguel Primo de Rivera and Francisco Franco) persecuted the Catalan language, controversy arose over language normalization in Valencia and the Balearic Islands, prompting a new mixed name: català-valencià, and català-valencià-balear.

Since the persistence of the conflict, the universities of Valencia, Catalonia and the Balearic Islands have defended the name llengua catalana along with the legally synonymous name of valencià.

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Further reading

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Friday, January 01, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.