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“History is the memory of States.” - Henry Kissinger
Learning to speak a foreign language is often considered an essential step for many different careers. However, people rarely learn the history of the language that they’re learning to speak. Catalan is spoken by 10 million people across Spain, France, and Sardinia, with 6.3 million of them living in Spain. While a lot of people mistakenly believe that it’s a dialect of Spanish, Catalan is a language in its own right, so let’s learn about the history of the Catalan language.
The Origins of Catalan
The story of Catalan begins in the Classical antiquity. During the Neolithic period, the Iberians settled in Western Europe. Some historians believe they settled near the Ebro in Catalonia (known locally as Catalunya). This was known as the Iberus and it’s thought to be the reason the peoples were referred to as Iberian.
The Gothic and Frankish Influence
The Roman Empire fell in 476CE and Hispania became easy prey for Germanic invasion. The Vandals invaded in 409 followed by the Alans and the Suebi. In 414, the Visigoths allied with Rome and took Barcelona as the capital of their new kingdom. In a few decades, the Visigoths were ruling the whole Iberian peninsula and the southwest of France from Gibraltar to the south of the Loire.
Did you know that the name of Catalonia comes from the name given to the region by the Visigoths: Gotholonia, the “Land of the Goths”?
Profiting from the fall of the Roman Empire, they occupied what is now Spain until the end of the 5th Century. However, they never really imposed their language on the region. Instead, they adopted the language that was already spoken in the region, a version of Latin that had evolved over the centuries. Without the rule of the Roman Empire, various versions of Latin had evolved from what was once the empire. The Visigoths assimilated into the population through mixed marriages with the local populations and left their mother tongue behind. By the 7th century, Gothic and Latin were dead languages and the Romance languages were born. Vulgar Latin, Gothic, and Frankish heavily influenced the Catalan and Spanish languages. Would you like to learn the language? Find out more about learning to speak Catalan.
The Moorish Influence on Catalan
The Moors arrived in Gibraltar in 711 and took advantage of the fall of the Visigoths. Catalonia was conquered the following year, the Kingdom of Valencia in 714, and Barcelona in 717. Arabic became the official language across the Iberian peninsula until the Middle Ages.
The Birth of the Catalan Language
During the Muslim occupation, European languages began to standardise. This is especially the case with Castilian, the langues d’oïl in northern France, and the langues d’oc in southern France. During the Middle Ages, Catalan was part of the langues d’oc. Catalan emerged around the end of the 7th century and beginning of the 8th century. At the time, Catalan and Occitan were the same languages.
The Expansion of Catalan in the 13th Century
The 13th and 14th centuries marked the expansion of Arago-Catalan across the Mediterranean. Marriages allowed Catalan counts to control regions in French Cerdagne, Provence, the Pyrenees, and Toulouse. In Spain, the counts took Tarragona, Tortosa, and Lleida. After having conquered the historic regions of Catalonia, the Catalans expanded into Andorra, Rousillon, Majorca, Valencia, Sicily, Sardinia, and the Duchy of Athens. The Middle Ages saw Catalan expand across the Mediterranean basin to Aragon, north of the Pyrenees, the Valencian Community, the Balearic Islands, and Sardinia. Find out why you should learn Catalan.
The Decline of Catalan
The black plague in 1348 led to the decline of Catalonia with 25 million deaths across Europe. Nine epidemics between 1348 and 1401 decimated 2/3 of the population of Spain. Plagues, revolts, and political instability weakened the Catalan nation. Heavy losses from the plague led to fewer speakers of the language. The civil war between Aragon and Castile under the reign of John II of Aragon (1398-1479) further weakened Catalonia and when France intervened in the conflict, Rousillon and Cerdagne were lost to the French. In 1469, the marriage between Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile, putting an end to the Catalan dynasty. By the end of the Reconquista in 1492, the Castilian dominance over Calatan was absolute. Catalan was sidelined in Spanish politics and economics during the 17th century and the discovery of the New World and Spanish-speaking conquistadors further marginalised the Catalan language. Find out how you can learn Catalan.
The Catalan Renaissance
The annexation of Catalonia by Napoleon I in 1812 furthered nationalist sentiment and gave rise to a Catalan independence movement. The beginning of the 20th century saw the creation of the regionalist league (Lliga Regionalista) with the goal of Catalan self-determination. A better quality of life and the promotion of Catalan culture only furthered the desire for independence. In 1907, the Institut d'Estudis Catalans codified the Catalan language and published Catalan dictionaries and grammar guides. The Second Spanish Republic in 1931 allowed Catalonia to be recognised as an autonomous community in Spain with Catalan holding official language status. The recognition of the language increased support for Catalan independence, especially since the demands of workers weren’t being met by the central powers in Madrid. The Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) and the coup d’état in 1936 shattered the Second Spanish Republic. Extreme-right Nationalists led by General Franco opposed Republicans (who were in the majority in Catalonia). Franco’s victory put an end to Catalan autonomy. Under his dictatorship, Catalan was banned from being used in public until Franco died in 1975. During this time, the cultural and linguistic influence from Castilian Spanish was unchallenged. After the return to democracy in 1978, the Spanish constitution recognised the existence of other languages in Spain through various divulged powers between 1979 and 2006. Find easy Spanish courses London here on Superprof.
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