Algherese
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Algherese (standard Catalan: Alguerès, Algherese: Alguerés) is the variant of the Catalan language spoken in the city of Alghero (L'Alguer in Catalan and S'Alighèra in Sardinian), in the northwest of Sardinia. Catalan invaders repopulated the town after expelling the indigenous Sardinian population in 1372, following several revolts.
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 and appears alongside Italian on the city's official website.
According to recent linguistic research, 22.4% of the population are first language speakers and above 90% have some knowledge of the language.[1]
[edit] 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:
- Coalescing of unstressed vowels /a/, /É›/ and /e/ to [a] (unlike the rest of Eastern Catalan that uses [É™]).
- Mutation of intervocalic /d/ or /l/ to [r]; e.g. 'Barceloneta' (little Barcelona): eastern standard [bərsəluˈnɛtə], Algherese [balsaruˈnɛta]; e.g. 'vila' (town) and 'vida' (life) are homophones in Algherese ['vira].
- Mutation of syllable final /r/ to lateral [l], and the possible resulting group [l]+consonant is further simplified to [l]; e.g. 'forn' (furnace): standard [ˈforn], Algherese [ˈfol].
- Depalatalisation of syllable final sonorants: lateral /ʎ/ to [l], nasal /ɲ/ to [n]; e.g 'any' (year): standard [ˈaɲ], Algherese [ˈan].
- Simple Past Perfect has been replaced by Present Perfect (present of HABERE + past participle), possibly due to Italian influence.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 with has 1st -ava, 2nd -ia, 3rd -ia) (a feature shared with Ribagorçan Catalan)
[edit] Bibliography
- 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
