Catalan orthography
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This article covers the Orthography of Catalan, a Romance language. The Catalan alphabet is adapted from the Latin alphabet.
| Letter | Name | Pronunciation | example | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A a | a | /a/ | sac | 'sack' |
| B b | be | /b/ | biga | 'beam' |
| C c | ce | /k/ | casa | 'house' |
| Ç ç | ce trencada | /s/ | Renaixença | 'Renaissance' |
| D d | de | /d/ | dalla | 'scythe' |
| E e | e | /ɛ/, /e/ | sec,cec | 'blind', 'dry' |
| F f | efa | /f/ | fosc | 'dark' |
| G g | ge | /g/, /(d)ʑ/ | gasa | 'lint' |
| H h | hac | Ø | humanitat | 'mankind' |
| I i | i | /i/ | ric | 'I laugh' |
| J j | jota | /ʑ/ | ajut | 'help' |
| K k | ke | /k/ | karate | |
| L l | ela | /l/ /ʎ/ | pala, palla | 'shovel’, 'straw' |
| M m | ema | /m/ | mama | 'mum' |
| N n | ena | /n/ | mana | 'he commands' |
| O o | o | /ɔ/, /o/ | soc sóc | 'log', 'I am' |
| P p | pe | /p/ | piga | 'speck' |
| Q q | cu | /k/ | obliquar | |
| R r | erre | /ɾ/, /r/ | cera, serra | 'wax', 'saw' |
| S s | esse | /s/, /z/ | passar, pesar | 'to pass', 'to weigh' |
| T t | te | /t/ | talla | 'size' |
| U u | u | /u/ | suc | 'juice' |
| V v | ve baixa | /b/, /v/[1] | envejar | 'to envy' |
| W w | ve doble | |||
| X x | ics, xeix | /ɕ/, /ks/, /ɡz/ | xoc, expressió | 'shock', 'expression' |
| Y y | i grega | |||
| Z z | zeta | /z/ | zero | |
[edit] Other conventions
Catalan also possesses digraphs:
- <ig> represents /tɕ/ after a vowel : puig
- <ix> represents /ɕ/ after a vowel : mateix
- <tg> represents /dʑ/ : prometatge
- <tj> represents /tɕ/ at the ends of words and /dʑ/ otherwise : corretja
- <tx> represents /tɕ/ : despatx
- <l·l> (ela geminada) represents /ll/ (distinguishing it from <ll>, which represents /ʎ/) : anul·lar
- <ny> represents /ɲ/ : any
Catalan also uses the acute accent (é, í, ó, ú) to mark stressed high vowels and the grave accent (à, è, ò) to mark stressed low vowels :
- també "also" [təmˈbe]
- pròxim "nearby" [ˈprɔksim]
If a diaeresis appears over the i or u of what would otherwise be a descending diphthong, the diphthong is broken into a hiatus :
- raïm "grape" [rəˈim]
- taüt "coffin" [təˈut]
In addition to this, ü represents /w/ between /g/ and a front vowel (which would otherwise be pronounced as a soft g):
- ungüent "ointment" [uŋ'gwen]
[edit] Notes
- ^ In most of dialects, excluding Balearic and southern Valencian, /b/ and /v/ have merged into one phoneme.
