Catalan

Catalan (català; ISO 639-3: cat) is a Romance language spoken in Andorra, eastern Spain, France’s Pyrénées-Orientales, and Alghero in Sardinia. It is Andorra’s sole official language and is co-official with Castilian in Catalonia, the Balearic Islands, and the Valencian Community, where its statutory name is Valencian; recognition elsewhere varies. Closely related to Occitan, Catalan has eastern and western dialect blocks, with Valencian, Balearic, northern, and Algherese among its major regional varieties. Its grammar marks two genders, uses articles and pronominal clitics, and generally favors subject–verb–object order while allowing variation. The Institut d’Estudis Catalans regulates the general standard, while the Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua regulates Valencian; modern codification builds on Pompeu Fabra’s 1913 orthographic norms and 1918 grammar, alongside a literary tradition extending from the Middle Ages.