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Català

Catalan (català) is a Romance language of the Western Mediterranean branch, part of the Occitano-Romance subgroup, closely related to Occitan and to the other Ibero-Romance languages. It has several dialectal varieties and a standardized literary form used across Catalan-speaking regions.

Geographic distribution and official status: Catalan is spoken in Catalonia, Valencia Community, and the Balearic Islands

Dialects and standardization: Dialects include Central Catalan, Valencian, Balearic, and Northwestern Catalan; standard Catalan is used

History and status: Catalan emerged from Vulgar Latin in the eastern Pyrenees during the Middle Ages. It

Speakers: Estimates place the number of Catalan speakers at around 10 million, including native speakers and

in
Spain;
in
Andorra;
in
areas
of
northern
Catalonia
in
what
is
known
as
Roussillon
(southern
France);
in
the
Sardinian
city
of
Alghero;
and
in
diaspora
communities
around
the
world.
In
Spain,
Catalan
is
co-official
with
Spanish
in
Catalonia,
the
Valencian
Community
and
the
Balearic
Islands;
in
Andorra
it
is
the
official
language;
in
France
it
is
recognized
as
a
regional
language
in
some
areas
but
not
official
nationwide.
Education
and
public
administration
are
conducted
in
Catalan
within
the
official
regions.
in
formal
writing
and
media.
The
language
is
codified
by
the
Institut
d'Estudis
Catalans
(IEC),
which
publishes
normative
grammar
and
orthography,
with
dictionaries
and
corpora
available
in
resources
such
as
Diccionari.cat
and
related
publications
used
in
education
and
administration.
experienced
a
revival
in
the
19th
century
and
gained
institutional
support
in
the
late
20th
century
as
regional
autonomy
expanded
in
Spain.
Today,
Catalan
enjoys
a
strong
presence
in
education,
media,
literature,
and
public
life
across
its
speech
area.
second-language
users,
with
the
majority
concentrated
in
Spain,
Andorra,
and
the
Balearic
Islands.