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{{Short description|Catalan variant spoken in Alghero, Sardinia, Italy}}{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2021}}

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}}}}(File:Bilingual sign in Alghero Sardinia.jpg|thumb|202x202px|A bilingual sign in Alghero)Algherese or Alguerese (autonym: {{IPA|ca-IT|alɣaˈɾes|}}){{efn|Standard Catalan: {{IPA-ca|əlɣəˈɾɛs|}}.}} is the variant of Catalan spoken in the city of Alghero ( in Catalan), in the northwest of Sardinia, Italy.The dialect has its roots in 1372, when Catalan-speaking colonists were allowed to repopulate Alghero and expel the native population, after several revolts.WEB,weblink L'Alguer and Alguerese Catalan – Oral Corpus of Alguerese, prosodia.upf.edu, 1 September 2018, Catalan was replaced as the official language by Spanish, then by Italian in the mid-18th century. Today the language has semi-official recognition alongside Italian.Studies give an approximate number of 20,000 to 30,000 native speakers of the language worldwide. In communities where Algherese is spoken, Italian and Logudorese Sardinian are often used as well.

History

Algherese is a regional dialect spoken by anywhere from 20,000 to 30,000 individuals, most of whom reside in the town of Alghero, located in the northwest of Sardinia.BOOK, Salminen, Tapani, Encyclopedia of the World's Endangered Languages, 2007, Routledge, 978-0-7007-1197-0, Moseley, Christopher, London, 235, en, Europe and North Asia, WEB,weblink Did you know Algherese Catalan is vulnerable?, Endangered Languages, en, 9 March 2017, The language, though distinct, is initially derived from, and thus considered a variant of, the Catalan language. The origins of the language can be traced back to 1372, when Catalan invaders repopulated the city of Alghero after exiling the indigenous populations in Sardinia. Despite the city's increasing Italianization, the use of this Catalan dialect remained widespread until at least the 1970s.NEWS, Minder, Raphael, Italy's Last Bastion of Catalan Language Struggles to Keep It Alive,weblink The New York Times, 21 November 2016, en,

Present status

As a result of the city's extensive Italianization, Italian is now the predominant language in Alghero,WEB,weblink Corpus Oral de l'Alguerès, prosodia.upf.edu, 9 March 2017, being estimated by a 2004 survey to be first language of close to 60% of those surveyed.{{harvp|Generalitat de Catalunya, Secretaria de Política Lingüística|2004|p=24}} The use of the dialect in schools and media, to name a few, remains sparse. Teaching of the dialect in school is also rare. However, in an attempt to reverse the trend, the Regional Council of Sardinia officially recognized "Algherese Catalan" as a separate language in 1997, in order to promote its use and circulation. According to the 2004 survey, Algherese was used by approximately 14% of the population for daily interactions.{{harvp|Generalitat de Catalunya, Secretaria de Política Lingüística|2004|p=25}} The dialect is mostly a local language, often used to supplement Italian and/or Sardinian in relatively small circles.{{harvp|Argenter|2008}}The following figures were obtained from the Enquesta d’usos lingüístics a l’Alguer ("Survey of linguistic usage in Alghero", EULAL) of 2004REPORT,weblink Enquesta d'usos lingüístics a l'Alguer, Generalitat de Catalunya, Secretaria de Política Lingüística, 2004, Generalitat de Catalunya, Secretaria de Política Lingüística, ca, Survey of linguistic usage in Alghero, and the Els usos lingüístics a l’Alguer of 2015 (EULA 2015),REPORT, 2017, Els usos lingüístics a l'Alguer, 2015, Linguistic usage in Alghero, 2015, ca,weblink Generalitat de Catalunya, both of which were studies conducted in the town of Alghero about the general use of Algherese in several media.{| class="wikitable"|+Language status!!2004!2015|Oral Comprehension|90.1% (Sardinian oral comprehension: 69.7%)|88.2%|Oral Expression|61.3% (Sardinian oral expression: 33.9%)|50.5%|Written Comprehension|46.6% (Sardinian written comprehension: 35.4%)|35.6%|Written Expression|13.6% (Sardinian written expression: 15.4%)|8.1%|First Language|22.4% (59.2% Italian)|17.5%|Habitual Language|13.9%|9.1%

Official recognition

In 1999, Catalan and Sardinian were among the twelve minority languages officially recognized as Italy's "historical linguistic minorities" by the Italian State under Law No. 482/1999.Law No. 482 of 15 December 1999. "Rules on the protection of historical linguistic minorities". Article 2. Gazzetta Ufficiale n. 297. 20 December 1999 Prior to this, the Regional Council of Sardinia had passed the Regional Law No. 26 of 15 October 1997 which, aside from promoting the equality in dignity of the Sardinian language with the Italian language throughout the island, provided that the other languages of smaller scope be afforded the same treatment as the aforementioned languages, among which Catalan is cited, in the city of Alghero.Regional Law No. 26 of 15 October 1997. "Promozione e valorizzazione della culture e della lingua della Sardegna" {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210226213750weblink |date=26 February 2021 }}. Articles 2.1 and 2.4 . Consiglio Regionale della Sardegna The city council, for its part, promulgated its protection and standardization in its city statute.Communal Statute {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110722030108weblink |date=22 July 2011 }}. Article 9. City of Alghero.

Phonology

{{see also|Catalan phonology|Help:IPA/Insular Catalan}}A narrow transcription is provided here to clarify the sounds of Algherese. Note that transcriptions elsewhere should use a broader transcription.Algherese has these phonetic features:

• Like in other languages of Sardinia {{IPA|/É›, e/}} and {{IPA|/É”, o/}} may merge into mid vowels {{IPAblink|eÌž}} and {{IPAblink|oÌž}} (here transcribed without diacritics), respectively.
• Coalescing of unstressed vowels {{IPA|/a/}}, {{IPA|/É›/}} and {{IPA|/e/}} to {{IPAblink|ä}} (transcribed without the diacritic for the sake of simplicity) (unlike the rest of Eastern Catalan, which uses {{IPAblink|É™}}): aura ('aura') {{IPA|[ˈɑwɾə]}} (Eastern Standard), {{IPA|[ˈɑwɾa]}} (Algherese)
• Algherese preserves {{IPA|/v/}} as a distinct phoneme from {{IPA|/b/}}, like Balearic and most of Valencian: viu ('he/she lives') {{IPA|[viw]}} (Algherese).
• Mutation of intervocalic {{IPA|/d/}} and {{IPA|/l/}} to {{IPAblink|ɾ}}: Barceloneta ('Barcelonette') {{IPA|[bəɾsəɫʊˈnÉ›tÉ™]}} (Eastern Standard), {{IPA|[bÉ‘É«saɾʊˈneta]}} (Algherese); and vila ('town') and vida ('life') are homophones in Algherese {{IPA|[ˈviɾa]}}.
• Mutation of syllable final {{IPA|/r/}} {{IPAblink|ɾ}} to lateral {{IPAblink|É«}}, and the possible resulting group {{IPA|/r/}} + consonant is further simplified to {{IPAblink|É«}}: forn ('oven') {{IPA|[ˈfoɾn]}} (Eastern Standard), {{IPA|[ˈfoÉ«]}} (Algherese).
• Depalatalization of syllable final sonorants: lateral {{IPA|/ÊŽ/}} to {{IPAblink|É«}}, nasal {{IPA|/ɲ/}} to {{IPAblink|n}}: ball ('dance') {{IPA|[ˈbaÊŽ]}} (Eastern Standard), {{IPA|[ˈbÉ‘É«]}} (Algherese); any ('year') {{IPA|[ˈaɲ]}} (Eastern Standard), {{IPA|[ˈan]}} (Algherese).

(File:Bilingual street sign in Alghero old town.jpg|thumb|200x200px|Bilingual street sign in the old town of Alghero)

Morphology

• The simple past is replaced by the present perfect (present of haver "to have" + past participle), possibly by Italian influence.
• The imperfect past preserves etymological -v- in all conjugations: 1st -ava, 2nd -iva, 3rd -iva unlike modern Eastern and Western Standard Catalan, which use 1st -ava, 2nd -ia, 3rd -ia, a feature shared with the Ribagorçan dialect.
• Large-scale lexical borrowing and calques from Sardinian, Spanish and Italian: nearly half of the vocabulary is not from Catalan.BOOK, Caracterització del lèxic alguerès, Corbera Pou, Jaume, University of the Balearic Islands, 2000, Palma (Balears), 807849256,

Differences from Standard Catalan

The Algherese variant is Eastern Catalan, but it has many differences from Central Catalan, with some of the most obvious ones as follows:

Vocabulary

The following abbreviations are used: m. (masculine), f. (feminine), pl. (plural), f. pl. (feminine plural), inf. (informal), f. (formal).(File:Poster for Premi Rafael Sari 2008.jpg|thumb|right|Poster for the Premi Rafael Sari 2008|277x277px)(File:Unitat de la llengua Alghero.jpg|thumb|right|200x200px|Monument to the unitat de la llengua in Alghero)The following phrases were gathered from a Catalan translation set, but the common phrases in Algherese are similar:WEB,weblink Useful Catalan phrases, www.omniglot.com, 25 April 2017, {| class="wikitable"!English!Catalan!Algherese|Welcome|Benvingut (m.)Benvinguda (f.)Benvinguts (pl.)Benvingudes (f. pl.)|Benvingut (m.)Benvinguda (f.)Benvinguts (pl.)Benvingudes (f. pl.)|Hello|HolaBon dia|TxauBon dia|My name is ... |Em dic ...|Me aquirr ...Me dic ...|Where are you from?|D'on ets? (inf.)D'on és vostè? (f.)|De ont ses? (inf.)De ont és vostè? (f.)|Good morning|Bon dia|Bon dia

Literature

The Premi Rafael Sari, organised by the Obra Cultural de l'Alguer,WEB,weblink Qui sem – Obra Cultural de l'Alguer, Obra Cultural de l'Alguer, ca-ES, 1 September 2018, is a series of prizes awarded in September each year to the best literary works of poetry and prose written in Algherese Catalan.Notable poets include Rafael Sari, Pasquale Scanu and Maria Chessa Lai. There is also a long tradition of writing and performing songs in Algherese Catalan and the Premi Pino PirasNEWS,weblink Al Civico di Alghero il "Premio Pino Piras", 23 October 2008, Alguer.it Notizie, it, is awarded for new songs written in the language. Notable singer-songwriters include Pino Piras and Franca Masu.In 2015 Carla Valentino published an Algherese translation of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's The Little Prince.WEB, Little Prince nr. PP-3547 / Catalan Algherese,weblink www.petit-prince-collection.com,

Notes

{{notelist}}

References

{{reflist}}

Sources

• BOOK,weblinkweblink" title="archive.today/20070705064908weblink">weblink dead, 5 July 2007, Diccionari català de l'Alguer, Sanna, Josep, 1988, Fundació del II Congrés de la Llengua Catalana, 8471293919, 1st, L'Alguer,
• THESIS, Marongiu, Antonietta Maria, Language Maintenance and Shift in Sardinia: A Case Study of Sardinian and Italian in Cagliari, 2007, PhD, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2142/86151, en,
• BOOK, Caracterització del lèxic alguerès, Corbera Pou, Jaume, 2000, Universitat de les Illes Balears, Palma (Balears),
• BOOK, Català de l'Alguer. Criteris de llengua escrita, Scala, Luca, 2003, Publicacions de l'Abadia de Montserrat, 978-84-8415-463-1, 1st, Barcelona,
• Ballone, Francesc (2008). L'Alguer and Alguerese Catalan. Corpus Oral de l'Algueres
• JOURNAL, Argenter, Joan A., 2008, L'Alguer (Alghero), a Catalan Linguistic Enclave in Sardinia,weblink International Journal of the Sociology of Language, en, 193/194, 10.1515/IJSL.2008.056, 145104205,
• BOOK, Perea, Maria-Pilar,weblink Marginal Dialects: Scotland, Ireland and Beyond, Forum for Research on the Languages of Scotland and Ireland, 2010, 978-0-9566549-0-8, Millar, Robert McColl, Aberdeen, 131–149, The Dialect of Alghero: Continuity and Change,
• JOURNAL, Perea, Maria-Pilar, Sifre, Manel, 2013, Dialectal Variation in a Nineteenth-Century Catalan Grammar Corpus, Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 95, 409–417, 10.1016/j.sbspro.2013.10.663, free,
• JOURNAL, Tufi, Stefania, 2013, Language Ideology and Language Maintenance: The Case of Sardinia, International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 219, 145–160, 10.1515/ijsl-2013-0009, 143748495,
• Cabrera-Callis, Maria (2015). Morphologically Conditioned Intervocalic Rhotacism in Algherese Catalan. Variations within and Across Romance Languages
• Moseley, Christopher (2016). Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger. United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
• Hammarstrom, Harald & Forkel, Robert & Haspelmath, Martin & Bank, Sebastian (2017). Dialect: Algherese. Glottolog
• Ager, Simon (1998–2017). Useful Catalan Phrases. Omniglot.
• Various Sources (2017). Algherese Catalan. The Endangered Languages Project
• THESIS, Chessa, Enrico, Another Case of Language Death? The Intergenerational Transmission of Catalan in Alghero, 2011, PhD, Queen Mary, University of London,weblinkweblink 21 October 2013, en,

External links

• Diccionari d'alguerés
• Associació per a la Salvaguarda del Patrimoni Historico-cultural de l'Alguer
• Interactive Atlas of Romance Intonation, Catalan Alguerese
• Italy's Last Bastion of Catalan Languages Struggles to Keep It Alive, New York Times, 21 November 2016.

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