Northern Catalan

The Catalan / Valencian cultural domain
Language Grammar History Old Catalan Orthography Phonology Phonological history Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua Institut d'Estudis Catalans Institut Ramon Llull Fundació Ramon Llull
People Catalan people Valencian people
History History of Andorra History of Catalonia Crown of Aragon Kingdom of Majorca Kingdom of Valencia Principality of Catalonia Catalan constitutions Furs of Valencia Treaty of the Pyrenees Nueva Planta decrees
Geo-political divisions Andorra Balearic Islands Catalonia Northern Catalonia Valencian Community Alghero El Carxe La Franja See Catalan Countries
Government and politics General Council of Andorra Generalitat de Catalunya General Council of the Pyrénées-Orientales Generalitat Valenciana Govern de les Illes Balears Politics of Andorra Politics of Catalonia Catalan nationalism Valencian nationalism
Traditions and symbols Caganer Castells Correfoc Falles Fogueres de Sant Joan Gegants i capgrossos Moros i cristians Muixeranga Saint George's Day Sardana Tió de Nadal Cuisine Coca Ensaïmada Pa amb tomàquet Paella Myths and legends Symbols Traditions
Arts Salvador Dalí Antoni Gaudí Joan Miró Joaquín Sorolla Antoni Tàpies Music Nova Cançó Lluís Llach Rock català Rumba catalana Literature Decadència Renaixença Modernisme Noucentisme Jacint Verdaguer Ramon Llull Ausiàs March

Northern Catalan (Catalan: català septentrional, IPA: [kətəɫa səptəntɾiunaɫ], also known as rossellonès) is a Catalan dialect mostly spoken in Northern Catalonia, but also extending in the northeast part of Southern Catalonia in a transition zone with Central Catalan.

As this is an Eastern Catalan dialect, unstressed /a/ and /e/ are realized as schwa [ə], and [u] substitutes unstressed /o/. It is also the Catalan dialect with the fewest stressed vowels, only five: /i e a o u/.

There are some instances of historic stressed /o/ that has changed to /u/ (e.g., canigó > canigú).

As in Balearic dialects, final a's are not pronounced in words ending with ia and containing the stress before the penultimate syllable.

Some subdialects keep the singular masculine definite article lo, as in North-Western Catalan and many varieties of Occitan.

Northern Catalan has a large body of words imported from French and Occitan. It also features some grammatical forms and structures typical of Occitan, such as the use of a lone post-verbal pas rather than a lone pre-verbal no to express basic negation (e.g., Northern Catalan canti pas vs. Central Catalan no canto, 'I don't sing' or 'I'm not singing'); pas is also used in some other Catalan dialects for emphasis, but always with no before the verb (e.g., Central Catalan no canto pas, 'I do not sing' or 'I am not singing').