Catalan, Basque, Valenciano or Galego?

CHINESE   Thu May 18, 2006 2:28 am GMT
Apart from Castilian, which else is also important in Spain? Catalan, Basque, Valenciano or Galego? And the reasons please. Thanks!
CHINESE   Thu May 18, 2006 2:30 am GMT
Would anyone like to talk about the respective similarities and differences between Basque and Catalan? Thanks!
Benat   Thu May 18, 2006 3:50 am GMT
<<Would anyone like to talk about the respective similarities and differences between Basque and Catalan? Thanks!>>

Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights --

in Catalan:
Tots els éssers humans neixen lliures i iguals en dignitat i en drets. Són dotats de raó i de consciència, i han de comportar-se fraternalment els uns amb els altres.

in Euskara (Basque):
Gizon-emakume guztiak aske jaiotzen dira, duintasun eta eskubide berberak dituztela; eta ezaguera eta kontzientzia dutenez gero, elkarren artean senide legez jokatu beharra dute.

As you can see, there are many more differences than similarities. ;-)
CHINESE   Thu May 18, 2006 4:07 am GMT
Benat

I was told that Catalan and Castilian are as alike as two sisters, but Basque is not at all similar to Castilian or Catalan, is that really true?
greg   Thu May 18, 2006 4:57 am GMT
Le catalan est très proche du languedocien (une variante de l'occitan).
Benat   Thu May 18, 2006 5:28 am GMT
<<I was told that Catalan and Castilian are as alike as two sisters, but Basque is not at all similar to Castilian or Catalan, is that really true?>>

Catalan and Castilian are Romance languages. They are also both Indo-European languages. The Basque language is neither Romance nor Indo-European. It is a language isolate.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basque_language

<<Apart from Castilian, which else is also important in Spain? Catalan, Basque, Valenciano or Galego? And the reasons please.>>

Each of those languages are co-official with Castilian in their respective autonomous regions. So all of them are important languages in Spain! Catalan and Valencian are two different official names for the same language, but be careful not to tell this to a Valencian. ;-)
Guest   Thu May 18, 2006 5:40 am GMT
<<Le catalan est très proche du languedocien (une variante de l'occitan).>>

Oui.

Català:
"El català i l'occità són dues llengües neollatines bessones que divergeixen sobretot pels sons i les diftongacions. Entre catalans i occitans, hi ha diferències, mes també se troben una enorme quantitat de semblances com no es troben en cap altres pobles. L'afinitat cultural i lingüística de les nacions catalana i occitana no té cap altre paral.lel semblant en el món."

Occitan:
"Lo catalan e l'occitan son doas lengas neolatinas bessonas que divergisson subretot pels sons i las diftongacions. Entre catalans e occitans, i a diferéncias, mas tanben se tròban una enorme quantitat de semblanças coma non se tròban en pas cap altres pobles. L'afinitat culturala e lingüistica de las nacions catalanas e occitanas non ten pas cap altre parallèl semblant al mond."
CHINESE   Thu May 18, 2006 6:17 am GMT
It seems to me that Spanish always speak their respective autonomous languages such as Catalan and Basque, but in France people are all proud of speaking standard French, instead of any other dialects or languages.
Guest   Thu May 18, 2006 2:03 pm GMT
Brennus,

You are forgetting something, there has never been a Gaul but few Gauls. Which one are you talking about?
Serbo-Canadian in China   Thu May 18, 2006 3:21 pm GMT
Valencian is not a language, really -- but a dialect of Catalan, less different than Flemish is from Amsterdam Dutch or Serbian in Kosovvo is different from Serbian iN Croatia.
Ricardo   Sat Sep 09, 2006 4:46 am GMT
Spain not only has 4 major languages, but dozens if not hundreds of small dialects.

All fo Spain's languages acept for Basque come from latin.

Basque didn't derive from any other language. We still don't know where the basque language cam from. Some say that it is the language of the cromagnon man.
Guest   Sat Sep 09, 2006 8:22 am GMT
There are many languages/dialects spoken in Spain. Four are official or co-official: Castilian (spoken throughout the country), Euskera (País Vasco, Navarra), Gallego (Galicia), and Catalan (Cataluña, Islas Baleares, and Comunidad Valenciana, where it is called Valenciano)

Special protection is given to Bable in Asturias, and the linguistic diversity in Aragón, while Aranés/Gasón is given official recognition in the Occitan enclave of Val d'Aran.

Catalan is further subdivided into Western block and Eastern block.

Western block:
North-western – Ribagorça, Pallarès, Lleidatà
Transitional Valencian - Tortosí
Valencian – Castellonenc, Apitxat, Southern Valencian, Alacantí, Mallorcan from Tàrbeni and la Vall de Gallinera

Eastern block:
Northern Catalan – Rossellonès (Roussillon, France)
Central Catalan – Transitional northern (Empordà, Girona province), Salat (Costa Brava), Barceloní, Tarragoní, Xipella
Balearic – Mallorquí, Menorquí, Eivissenc (Ibiza)
Alguerese (Alghero, Sardinia, Italy)
greg   Sat Sep 09, 2006 8:23 am GMT
Brennus : « Catalan is midway between Spanish and French. However most linguists still consider Catalan to be an "Ibero-" or "Hispano-Romance" language along with Portuguese, Galician, Asturian, Castilian and Aragonese. »

Tout ceci est faux bien sûr.

C'est comme si tu disais : « L'anglais est à mi-chemin entre l'allemand et le français. Cependant la plupart des liguistes considèrent toujours l'anglais comme une "langue d'Oïl" ou du "gallo-roman" tout comme le wallon, le picard, le poitevin, le français et le champenois ».

Le catalan est apparenté aux langue d'Oc —> point final.
Cependant, et pour des raisons historiques évidentes, il est si longtemps demeuré dans l'orbite ibérique qu'il a développé des traits distinctifs ibérisants par rapport à l'occitan.
greg   Sat Sep 09, 2006 4:19 pm GMT
Brennus,

Pour l'amour de Dieu, rends-toi compte que tu professes des énormités que même un enfant de 10 ans avec un accès à internet saurait éviter...

Tu n'as absolument rien démontré (et pour cause !) avec ta petite digression sur le frison, le danois et le suédois.

http://www.tlfq.ulaval.ca/AXL/francophonie/images/romania-mapa.gif


El català i l’occità són dues llengües neollatines bessones que divergeixen sobretot pels sons i les diftongacions. Entre catalans i occitans, hi ha diferències, mes també se troben una enorme quantitat de semblances com no es troben en cap altres pobles.

L’occitan e lo catalan son doas lengas neolatinas bessonas que divergísson subretot pels sons i las diftongacions. Entre occitans e catalans, i a diferéncias, mas tanben se tròban una enorme quantitat de semblanças coma non se tròban en pas cap altres pòbles.
greg   Sat Sep 09, 2006 4:24 pm GMT
Et au fait , tu peux laisser tomber le « aka Provençal » : «provençal» était un des noms donnés aux langues occitanes médiévales —> on les appelait aussi «limousin».

De la même manière que le français n'est pas les langues d'Oïl, l'occitan (reconstruit) n'est pas les langues d'Oc (idem pour le provençal ou le limousin).