View source for Catalan language

{{Infobox language
| name = Catalan/Valencian
| nativename = {{lang|ca|català}}/{{lang|ca|valencià}}
| pronunciation = {{IPA-ca|kətəˈla|}}/{{IPA-ca|valensiˈa|}}
| states = [[Spain]], [[Andorra]], [[France]], [[Italy]] 
| region = 
| speakers = 4.1 million<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.ethnologue.com/18/language/cat/ |title=Catalan |website=Ethnologue |access-date=14 November 2017}}</ref>
| speakers2 = Total number of speakers: More than 10 million ([[First language|L1]] plus [[Second language|L2]]; 2018)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.plataforma-llengua.cat/media/upload/pdf/informecat2018_1528713023.pdf|title=InformeCAT 50 dades sobre la llengua catalana|language=Catalan|date=7 June 2018}} Report on the Catalan language by [[Plataforma per la Llengua]] based on recent reference sociolinguistic surveys</ref>
| date = 2012
| familycolor = Indo-European
| fam2 = [[Italic languages|Italic]]
| fam3 = [[Romance languages|Romance]]
| fam4 = [[Western Romance languages|Western Romance]]
| fam5 = [[Gallo-Romance languages|Gallo-Romance]]<ref name="alternative classification">Some Iberian scholars may alternatively classify Catalan as [[Iberian Romance languages|Iberian Romance/East Iberian]].</ref>
| fam6 = [[Occitano-Romance languages|Occitano-Romance]]<ref name="alternative classification"/>
| ancestor = [[Old Catalan]]
| stand1 = Catalan (regulated by the [[Institut d'Estudis Catalans|IEC]])
| stand2 = [[Valencian]] (regulated by the [[Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua|AVL]])
| script = [[Latin script|Latin]] ([[Catalan alphabet]])<br />[[Catalan Braille]]
| nation = *{{flag|Andorra}}
*Also in [[Autonomous communities of Spain|3 communities of Spain]]:
**{{flag|Balearic Islands}} 
**{{flag|Catalonia}}
**{{flag|Valencian Community}} (as [[Valencian language|Valencian]])
| minority = {{ubl|[[File:Flag of Catalonia.svg|24px]] [[Alghero]] ([[Sardinia]], [[Italy]])|{{flag|Aragon}} ([[Spain]])|[[File:Flag of Catalonia.svg|24px]] [[Pyrénées-Orientales]] ([[France]])}}
| agency = [[Institut d'Estudis Catalans]]<br />[[Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua]]
| iso1 = ca
| iso2 = cat
| iso3 = cat
| lingua = 51-AAA-e
| map = Catalan language in Europe.png
| mapalt = Domínio geolinguístico do catalão
| mapcaption = <small>{{legend|#00A86B|Territories where Catalan is spoken and is official}} {{legend|#50C878|Territories where Catalan is spoken but is not official}} {{legend|#77dd77|Territories where Catalan is not historically spoken but is official}}</small>
| mapsize = 300px
| notice = IPA
| sign = [[Signed Catalan]]
| glotto = stan1289
| glottorefname = Catalan
}}
[[File:Catalan in Europe.png|thumb|right|250px|Where Catalan is spoken.]]

The '''Catalan language''' is a [[Romance languages|Romance language]] spoken in [[Catalonia]], [[Valencia (autonomous community)|Valencian Community]], the eastern part of [[Aragon]], the [[Balearic Islands]], a small zone of [[Murcia (autonomous community)|Murcia]] (all of them in [[Spain]]), [[Andorra]], [[North Catalonia]] (in [[France]]) and the [[Italy|Italian]] city of [[L'Alguer]]. Together, those places are often called the [[Catalan Countries]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Minder |first=Raphael |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/21/world/europe/catalan-italy-alghero.html |title=Italy's Last Bastion of Catalan Language Struggles to Keep It Alive |date=21 November 2016 |work=The New York Times |access-date=21 January 2017}}</ref>{{sfn|Wheeler|2010|p=191}}

The language that most similar is [[Occitan language|Occitan]]. Catalan also has similarities to other Romance languages, such as [[Spanish language|Spanish]], [[Italian language|Italian]], [[French language|French]] and [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]]. It came from [[Vulgar Latin]] and was first spoken in the in the Eastern [[Pyrenees]] in the [[Middle Ages]].{{sfn|Wheeler|2010|p=190–191}}{{sfn|Costa Carreras|Yates|pp=6–7|2009}}

There are about 4 million people who speak Catalan as a [[first language]] and about 6 million people as a [[second language]]. Catalan is the sixth-most-spoken Romance language and also the most-spoken language that is not an [[official language]] in the [[European Union]].{{cn}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}
{{InterWiki|code=ca}}

{{Romance languages}}
{{authority control}}
[[Category:Languages of Spain]]
[[Category:Andorra]]
[[Category:Romance languages]]
[[Category:Catalonia]]