The phenomenon of gheada in Galician. Present in many, if not most Galician varieties.
The voiced velar stop /g/ in all positions is systematically pronounced as a voiceless pharyngeal fricative [ħ], like in Arabic or [x] a voiceless velar fricative or even [h].
Gheada is stigmatised, despite possibly being the majority pronunciation, because of its association to the countryside and rural areas. You can hear gheada in this video that was conceived to combat the prejudice. They also push back in the same video against the prejudice against seseo, another common phenomenon in Galician varieties where the distinction between /θ/ and /s/ is collapsed into one phoneme, /s/.
For an interesting similar sound change that happens in Italy, in Tuscan varieties, /k/ -> [h]. Pay attention to the way the girl pronounces giocare at 4:23.
In my town, there are many Moroccans. A couple of days ago I was coming out of the library and I saw a group of Moroccan women coming out of a room. I asked one of them what that was about in Catalan, and she shook her head to say that she did not understand, and directed me to the 'maestro', who followed them out. I asked him and he said that they are new immigrants and he is employed by the administration to help them with reading and writing. They hardly speak Spanish or Catalan. They definitely remind me of my mother in that respect. Not that my mum is illiterate, but she (still) can't or won't speak English after some 25 odd years living in Australia, despite going to classes paid for by the government.
During the day in the streets I often meet Moroccan women doing their shopping or taking their kids to school. They are always women as the men are working, and I say hello to them in Arabic and do small talk. The men I cross on the street in the dark of early morning, waiting with their lunchboxes for their ride. Many of them are employed in construction.
Tarifit is the Berber language spoken in the Rif region where most of these Moroccan immigrants are from. Judging from my own informal surveys (I always ask people I meet what languages they speak), at least half of the people I've met from the Rif speak it. I have been looking for resources. You may remember that I studied on and off (mostly off) the biggest Moroccan Berber language, Tashelhit, but I haven't met a single person here from the south of Morocco. Maybe that's a sign that I should shift my attention to the north. I'm quite frankly ashamed that I put so much focus on Moroccan Arabic instead of Tashelhit, it was definitely the path of least resistance because MA had way more resources. If I could go back and do it again, I would do 50-50.
Five languages are spoken on Sardinia, a linguistic paradise (fast becoming lost).
Ligurian (Genovese), spoken on the island of San Pietro and a part of Sant'Antioco.
Italian, not localised to any one place, but now eating up and threatening every other language on this map.
Catalan, spoken in the city of Alguer in the province of Sàsser.
Corsican, spoken in Gallura and Sassari, and of course on the neighbouring island of Corsica, now in France.
Sardinian, everywhere else.
I want to talk a bit about Catalan, known by its native name, Alguerès. The history of Alguerès is relatively recent, compared to Sardinian, but still old, in the sense that it was implanted in the 14th century after the conquest of said city by the Catalano-Aragonese crown, who expelled the Sardinian inhabitants and replaced them with Catalan speaking colonists. This was the 'Golden Age' for the Catalan language, which could be heard from one end of the Mediterranean to the other.
Until the 1950s, it was still the majority language of the city of Alguer, although it had steadily been losing ground to Italian. Currently there are a little over 43,000 people living in Alguer. Only 43,000 people, you might say, who cares about one city? Well, in a way, the fate of this city is a microcosm of what is happening to all the languages on Sardinia...
In 2004, these were the figures:
First language Habitual language Italià 59,2 % 83,0 % Alguerès 22,4 % 13,9 % Sard 12,3 % 2,8 %
90% of people surveyed they could understand Alguerès 46.5% could read it 61.3% said they could speak it 13.6% said they could write it.
A decade later, here are the figures from a 2015 survey:
88.2% say they understand it. 50.5% say they can speak it. 35.6% say they know how to read it. 8.1% say they can write it.
Despite the general dip in the figures, 77% of the population say they want to know and use Catalan, indicating a positive basis from which to work on, and a staggering 92.3% is in favour of the introduction of Catalan and Sardinian in the schools. In fact, in June last year, a law was approved there according to which all these languages would be taught at school - but it still has not been applied.
In any case, parent-child transmission is almost completely broken, and it is definitely endangered. Alguerès is classified as an Eastern dialect of Catalan and it has received signifcant influences from other languages in its proximity, most notably Sardinian, which accounts for a number of peculiarities of the dialect. You can hear Alguerès here in an interview of a linguist about the aforementioned 2015 sociolinguistic survey of Catalan in Alguer.
In general, it is highly understandable, even for a learner like me.
There's a lot of things that strike the hearer who is not used to Alguerès, such as the use of the lo, los articles as the definite article masculine, which was part of the classical language. It is still preserved in some dialects of Western Catalan and was never lost in Alguerès. Or how about the use of words like assai instead of molt? Very interesting!
But here's a fun one. In 1:55, they do not say bona tarda /'tardə/ but /'talda/. That is to say, the liquids in Alguerès under a change of the syllable final /r/ to [l]. An example of this is how residents call their city, Alguerès. They often call it 'Barceloneta'. But they would pronounce it Balsaruneta [baltsaɾuneta]. I have underlined the changed rhotics and liquids.
What about the change of /l/ to [r] however? That is because of another phonological rule in this dialect, where intervocalic /l/ becomes [r]. This means that català is pronounced...[katara]! All this is the Sardinian phonology making itself felt. But doesn't that remind you of what happens in certain dialects of Spanish spoken in the Carribean? It's awesome how languages undergo the same kind of phonological phenomenon.
Here is a song 'Parla-me en alguerés', written by Algueresos, sung by Algueresos, protagonised (I'm not sure if that word exists in English but who cares) by Algueresos. And entirely in the Alguerès dialect.
If you look at the list of credits, there is nary a trace of 'Catalan names'. They have Sardinian names, but the former language of the invaders has been taken up and adopted over the centuries and become part of their heritage.
The linguist in the previous video I posted, Francesc Ballone, was the writer of this song. It takes the perspective of a child who asks to be spoken in Alguerès and a parent who wants to transmit it.
The lyrics:
Avui la mestra m’ha dit que les llengües obrin la ment o, ma’!, vull ésser més rica parla-me en alguerés parla-me en alguerés
Today the teacher told me that languages open up the mind Mum, I want to be richer Speak to me in Alguerès Speak to me in Alguerès
Un instrument endemés per somiar, viure i creixir que dongui força a les mans mies i més força al cor meu un instrument endemés per viure al món per colorar el món una manera endemés per poguer diure te vull bé te vull bé te vull bé
An extra instrument for dreaming, living and growing To give strength to my hands And more force to my heart A extra instrument to live in the world To colour the world An extra way to be able to say I love you I love you I love you
Corri, mirant al futur criatura enviada del cel que cada pas sigui un solc en terra lleuger com lo vent corri, lleuger com lo vent i no t’olvidis mai qui sés entre les coses que te vull donar hi és l’amor meu també la calor mia també la mia llengua també
Run, looking towards the future Child sent from the heavens May your every step be like a furrow dug into the earth Light like the wind Run, light like the wind And never forget who you are Among the things that I wish to give you There's my heart as well And my warmth as well And my language as well.
Corri, lleuger com lo vent i no t’olvidis mai qui sés oh, iaia!, vull ésser més rica parla-me en alguerés parla-me en alguerés parla-me en alguerés
Run, light like the wind. And never forget who you are. Oh, grandmother, I want to be richer Speak to me in Alguerès Speak to me in Alguerès. Speak to me in Alguerès.
A poem written at the beginning of an Alguer song-book, published in the 60s in honour of the Barcelona <-> Alguer cruises.
To you, oh Catalans of the other shore To you I address my song. I greet you in the same language that you love so much. That greeting comes to you from Sardinia From a Catalan corner And a quite clear history teaches us that we are of a brother nation.
Now that Catalunya wakes up today We too wake up And in an embrace of sure friendship We all mingle into each other. Brothers, we have heard the great shout of a hundred and thousand trobadors ring up to the proud Pirineus, to the Balearic islands. Brothers, we have heard the great shout of a people who is being reborn of a people who works, hopes and believes loves, lives and feels.
Let us shake hands in this instant. Hands from one side of the sea to the other. And united in sweet embrace, let us walk together singing of Our awakening
NB: When I write my posts in Catalan, I write it in Catalan first and translate it into English second. But none of the translations are exact ones of the Catalan. I always add more info in the Catalan original than in the English translation.
I quan me pensava que ja es meu estim per sa cantant Alidé Sans no podría tocar un punt més alt, ja hi torna, a enamorar-me.
En aquesta entrevista que Radio Catalunya li fa, l'entrevistadora xerra en català, mentres que n'Alidé contesta en aranès. Té tota sa raó per fer-ho, perquè s'aranès també és llengua co-official a Catalunya, no només dins sa Val d'Aran, sino a tot arreu.
Tot i així, no deixa de sorprender-me sa seva decisió. Me'n qued molt apreciatiu. I és que an es seus concerts també, per lo que he vist, interactua amb sa sala també en aranès. Quina al·lota més compromesa amb sa seva llengua! No pot haver-n'hi una millor representat que ella! De veres crec que si haguès triat es castellà enlloc des aranès per fer carrera, hauría estat igual, hauría anat molt lluny en aquest idioma també.
Una critica, he de fer a qualquns grups occitans que interpreten a França- És que canten en occità i molt bé! S'ho passen molt bé. Però acabada sa canço, a sa audiència s'hi adrecen...en francès! Quin doi que cometen! És com si se sentissin empegüeits de sa seva llengua quan tenen a davant persones que no xerrin occità. Però si sa gent hi acudeix precisament per sentir occità! Si no entenen, no sou voltros que teniu sa culpa, sino ells. A més, quina mena de missatge els voleu transmetre amb aquest tipus de comportament? Que un cantant o un grup musical només faci servir sa llengua per cantar, però no per xerrar i fer brometes, fa que aquesta llengua se quedi an es marge des àmbit habitual, i això està molt malament. Es propòsit, justament, no era per renormalitzar-la?
De fet, un concert d'una hora suposa una boníssima oportunitat de compartir sa llengua i fins i tot ensenyar-la a gent que pentura no en coneix res, que pentura no trepitjarà mai una classe d'occità. Ja quan a aquestes alçades hi ha tan pocs moments per xerrar occità fora s'ambit escolar, no fan més que arraconar-lo encara més. Mai, de cap manera, s'ha de empegüir-se de sa propia llengua.
Another reason why Alidé Sans is one of my favourite artists. In this interview that she does with Radio Catalunya, the interviewer speaks to her in Catalan, but Alidé replies in Aranese. Any Catalan listening to the program would have to listen to Aranese, a language spoken by a few thousand people, and be forced to deal with it, be forced to understand it. And bravo. She is fearless and committed to her language, like when she speaks in Aranese in her concerts to people who do not know it.
There are Occitan groups in France who sing in Occitan...but when it comes to speaking to the audience, they speak to them in French! That's absurd. It's like they're ashamed of their language. Or afraid of not being understood. Listen mate, if they don't understand your language, it's not your fault, it's theirs. And what message are you sending? That this language is good for singing, but not for talking, making jokes etc? You are participating in the de-normalisation of the language.
It is a wonderful way in fact to motivate the audience to LEARN the language. You can make a concert be a learning experience for people who otherwise would never enter a classroom. Imagine that, a two hour long learning lesson with songs!
You should never be ashamed of your language. Ever.
Si en voleu un exemple més, mirau aquest concert, a partir des minut 5:00, a on desprès de sa primera cançò, va proposar a sa sala que xerràs en aranès. You can see an example of this in this concert, at 5:00. She asks the Catalan audience if they are okay with her speaking Aranese throughout the entire concert, or if they prefer her to speak Catalan or in Spanish.
Rusó Sala is a singer from Empordà, she sings about her native land.
This song is called 'La meva terra':
Si un dia pares per ma terra, terra que veu néixer el Sol, no t'oblidis de passar-li la mà pels seus cabells d'or,
If one day you stop by my land, land that sees the rising of the sun Don't forget to run your hands through its golden hair
La meva terra es refresca de bon matí prop del mar, cap als vespres jeu a l'ombra dels braços d'un olivar,
My land refreshes itself early in the morning by the sea Towards evening, it lies down in the shadow of the arms of an olive tree
Amb la meva terra hi juga un visitant vingut del Nord. Tramuntana escampa boires i passions per l'horitzó,
A visitor from the north plays with my land It is the north wind, which scatters fog and passions along the horizon.
Una nit d'ombres serenes, vora l'aigua bevent sal, vaig emprendre el meu viatge seguint la línia del mar,
A night of calm shadows, next to the water as it drinks salt I undertook my journey, following the line of the sea.
Si un dia pares per ma terra, oh terra que veu néixer el Sol, no t'oblidis de passar-li la mà pels seus cabells d'or,
If one day you stop by my land, land that sees the rising of the sun Don't forget to run your hands through its golden hair.
The guitarist is Caterinangela Fadda, a Sardinian musician. She speaks Sardinian as well. I was looking up Sardinians in Catalonia and found this video of her, where you can hear her speak Sardinian with a fellow Sardinian immigrant. It is not easy to find examples of two Sardinians speaking Sardinian to each other on YT, I must say. She speaks excellent Spanish and is learning Catalan. It is interesting to hear her compare the situation of Sardinian and Catalan, she says it herself that Catalan is much, much safer than Sardinian, which is seriously endangered.
The loss of any language is a tragedy, but if Sardinian goes extinct which it has all the chances of doing, that is one branch of the Romance tree completely pruned. Sardinian is historically special because it split off very early on. All the other Romance varieties of the continent are more related to each other, than Sardinian is to any of them.
I started learning Italian because I wanted to know more about Italian languages. Sadly from everything that I have read and from everything I have talked about with Italians I have met, Italy is mired in indifference and neglect for most of its languages.
Italy got started as a nation much later than other European countries, except for Germany, and there was not an organised oppression of Italian languages until the fascists came into power in the early 20th century. But from that point onwards, Italian started to make inroads everywhere. Ironically, democratic Italy succeeded at unifying the country linguistically better than Mussolini did!
Italy is a linguistically vibrant place that is progressively being silenced in favour of only one national language.
This is a series of TV spots that were planned to be shown in 2012 by RAI (Radiotelevisione italiana), the national television channel of Italy, for the 150th anniversary of Italian unification, which only finished in the 19th century. Italian was never the ordinary spoken language of most Italians. It took until the middle of the 20th century for Italian to become the native language of the majority of Italians.
RAI was planning to release these television spots for television distribution, but when they were spotted on their website, there was a huge uproar at the time because many people thought these spots to be derogatory, insulting and offensive to the languages of Italy. RAI had to buckle and never played them on TV.
The narrator says 'If we Italians were like the Italians of 150 years ago, we'd still probably communicate like this', with the spots supposed to show that people aren't communicating. And that it is a good thing that everyone speaks in Italian.
What's ironic is that the spot disproves itself, although I doubt RAI realised the self contradictory nature of what they were making. Note that it is the speaker of other Italian languages that consistently make the effort to communicate in good faith. The monolinguals can only stare blankly in dumb confusion with a CHE? To me, it looks like the threat to national unity can be attributed more to the monolinguals than to the multilinguals.
In a more just and equitable world, these ordinary situations where a policewoman, officiating priest, trainer, businessman, teacher, actor etc talk in their language, would not be played for laughs, be seen as something strange, be thought of as a threat to national unity.
Here are just three of the languages featured, with Italian translation.
Friulian - policewoman Orpo! Ce fastu? Vastu ator cu la cassele? Accidenti! Cosa fai? Ma che sei fuori di testa?
Lombard - Officiating priest Sun chì e devi dumandà: voeret ti ciapà sù chi lù? e voeret ti ciapà sù chi lé? Sono qui e devo chiedere: Vuoi tu prendere questo qui? e Vuoi tu prendere questa qui?
Campanese (Neapolitan) - trainer Vuje avite a trasi’ dint’’a rete comme a ’na vranga e buoje c’’o sang’ all’uocchie Dovete buttarvi nella rete come una mandria di buoi con il sangue agli occhi
I'm conscious that my posts can be quite grim, so I will talk about a happy subject, some of my favourite foods here in Mallorca.
I plan to get at least 5 kg heavier by eating my way through the cuisine here. My mum always says I'm too skinny anyway.
The embotits (sausages) are incredible here. I buy my sobrassada from a lunchlady at a local school who makes it home. Sobrassada is a signature food-stuff in the Balearic Islands, made out of the meat and fat of a pig, with salt and pepper. It can be made spicy, which is how I like it. You eat it with bread. Accompanied by cheese, even better.
Another kind of embotit I very much appreciate is the espetec or fuet, meat sprinkled with black pepper, salt, then cured.
The town has a market every Saturday where people from here and neighbouring towns come to sell their goods, and it is there that I buy my meat and cheese.
The bakeries are fantastic. Australia has such poor bakeries in general.
You can't go past the ensaïmada, a pastry made with saïm, fat and very sweet:
Panades are a pastry stuffed with meat or vegetables:
Bunyols, which are kind of doughnuts made out of potato batter which is then deep fried:
The frit mallorquí is a must try. It is made out of the meat, guts, liver and cooked blood of a pig.
And there's a lot more than that! The wine is excellent as well.
I look forward to stuffing my way through each town every weekend.
