USAGE: Catalan (was: Romance demonstratives)

FFlores wrote:

> Interesting thing -- and I'd never heard about it.
Apparently /s/ articles are found only on Mallorca/Majorca:

# Only /l/ determiners are appropriate in formal styles.
# In Majorcan literature it is common for /s/ forms
# (*parlar salat*) to be restricted to the dialogue
# of the Majorcan characters, /l/ articles being used
# elsewhere.  Even within *parlar salat*, /l/ determiners
# are often used when the definiteness comes from
# uniqueness of reference, e.g. *el cel* 'the sky',
# *el bisbe* 'the bishop' [...].
 =

> I *have* heard some Catalan though, in an almost
> silent comic show. They call it a language, not a
> dialect -- a nationalist thing, that is, because
> I could understand everything perfectly, as it sounded
> like Spanish without final vowels (that's essentially
> Catalan :)
I'll add this to the list.  After all, virtually all Catalan
speakers in Spain (it is also spoken in France and in
Alghero, a city in Sardinia, as well as on the Balearics)
are fluent in Spanish.

A vocabulary study by J. Llobera in 1968 showed that of 800 basic
words, 155 (19%) were not cognate with their Spanish translations ---
which does not mean there is no cognate anywhere in Spanish,
but rather that it has a restricted, expanded, or simply
different meaning.
 =

Here are 52 of the 155, which are also distinct from their
translations in Occitan, French, and Italian as well:

aixecar 'raise'                 groc 'yellow'
ampolla 'bottle'                llavor 'seed'
amunt 'up'                      fer malb=E9 'damage, spoil'
avi, =E0via 'grandfather/mother'        massa '(too) much'
aviat 'soon'                    menjador 'dining room'
barallar-se =E1rgue'            mica 'bit'
barret 'hat'                    mitj=F3 'sock'
brut 'dirty'                    noi, noia 'boy/girl'
butxaca 'pocket'                oi '(tag question element)'
capell=E0 'priest'              pag=E8s 'peasant, farmer'
dalt 'above, upstairs'          paleta 'building worker'
dolent 'bad'                    pujar 'go up'
dur 'bring'                     raspall 'brush'
eina 'tool'                     rentar 'wash'
endur-se 'take away'            ros 'fair (of skin)'
enlloc 'anywhere/nowhere'       soroll 'noise'
enraonar 'talk'                 tancar 'shut'
estimar 'love'                  tardor 'autumn'
feina 'work'                    tou 'soft'
forat 'hole'                    trencar 'break'
fuster 'carpenter'              treure 'take out/off'
galleda 'bucket'                vegada 'occasion'
ganivet 'knife'                 vermell 'red'
gens '(not) at all'             vespre 'evening'
gos 'dog'                       vora 'beside, edge'

On the other hand, there are a large number of undoubted
catalanisms in standard Spanish, of which the following
is a sampling:

Food terms: anguila 'eel', calamar 'squid', jurel 'mackerel',
m=FAjol 'mullet', rape 'monkfish', manjar 'dish (of food)',
an=EDs 'aniseed', butifarra 'a certain sausage', entrem=E9s
'hors d'oeuvre', escalfar 'to poach (eggs)', s=E9mola 'semolina',
vinagre 'vinegar', vinagreta 'vinaigrette'.

Other domestic terms: barraca 'stall', delantal 'apron', fog=F3n
'stove', patio 'courtyard', picaporte 'door-knocker', reloj 'clock',
retrete 'lavatory', convite 'banquet'.

Seafaring terms: aferrar 'grapple', bet=FAn 'bitumen', buque 'ship',
esquife 'skiff', galera 'galley', gobernalle 'helm', golfo 'gulf',
muelle 'pier', nao 'sailing ship', socaire 'lee (side opposite the
wind)', surgir 'anchor', timonel 'helmsman'.

Trade terms: a granel 'in bulk', mercader 'merchant', oferta 'offer'.

Printing terms: imprenta 'printing', papel 'paper', prensa 'press',
tilde '~ accent'.

Animals and plants: becada 'woodcock', bosque 'forest', caracol 'snail',
clavel 'carnation', d=E1til 'date', follaje 'foliage', palmera 'palm tree=
'.

Miscellaneous: avanzar 'advance', caja 'box', cordel 'cord', crisol
'crucible', escayola 'stucco', faena 'task', farol 'streetlamp',
gafa 'hook', gr=FAa '(mechanical) crane', metal 'metal', nivel 'level',
trasto 'piece of junk', viaje 'journey', cohete 'rocket',
foll=F3n 'arrogant, cowardly', pila 'pile', seo 'cathedral', sor
'Sister (religious)', a=F1orar 'miss', retar 'challenge', trajinar
'transport', ultraje 'outrage'.

-- =

John Cowan      http://www.ccil.org/~cowan              cowan@ccil.org
        You tollerday donsk?  N.  You tolkatiff scowegian?  Nn.
        You spigotty anglease?  Nnn.  You phonio saxo?  Nnnn.
                Clear all so!  'Tis a Jute.... (Finnegans Wake 16.5)