Catalan phonology

The phonology of Catalan, a Romance language, has a certain degree of dialectal variation. Although there are two standard varieties, one based on Central Eastern dialect and another one based on South-Western or Valencian dialect, this article deals with features of all or most dialects, as well as regional pronunciation differences.

Catalan is characterized by final-obstruent devoicing, lenition, and voicing assimilation; a set of 7 to 8 phonemic vowels, vowel assimilations (including vowel harmony), many phonetic diphthongs, and vowel reduction, whose precise details differ between dialects.

Consonants

 * {| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"

! colspan="2" | ! Labial ! Dental/ Alveolar ! Palatal ! Velar ! Uvular ! colspan="2" | Nasal ! rowspan="2" | Plosive ! voiceless ! voiced ! rowspan="2" | Affricate ! voiceless ! voiced ! rowspan="2" | Fricative ! voiceless ! voiced ! rowspan="2" | Approximant ! central ! lateral ! colspan="2" | Trill ! colspan="2" | Tap
 * + Consonants of Catalan
 * colspan="2" |
 * colspan="2" |
 * colspan="2" |
 * colspan="2" |
 * colspan="2" |
 * colspan="2" |
 * rowspan="2" |
 * rowspan="2" |
 * rowspan="2" |
 * rowspan="2" |
 * rowspan="2" |
 * }
 * }
 * }
 * }
 * }
 * }

Phonetic notes:
 * , are laminal denti-alveolar, .  After , they are laminal alveolar ,.
 * , are velar but fronted to pre-velar position before front vowels. In some Majorcan dialects, the situation is reversed; the main realization is palatal, , but before liquids and rounded back vowels they are velar ,.
 * ,, are apical front alveolar , , , but the first two are laminal denti-alveolar ,  before , . In addition,  is postalveolar  or alveolo-palatal  before , , , , velar  before ,  and labiodental  before , , where it merges with . It also merges with  (to ) before ,.
 * ,, are apical back alveolar , , , also described as postalveolar.
 * , are apical alveolar, . They may be somewhat fronted, so that the stop component is laminal denti-alveolar, while the fricative component is apical post-dental.  is rare and may not be phonemic (see below).
 * , are laminal "front alveolo-palatal",.
 * There is some confusion in the literature about the precise phonetic characteristics of, , , and ; while Recasens, Fontdevila & Pallarès and Recasens & Espinosa describe them as "back alveolo-palatal", implying that the characters ⟨ɕ ʑ tɕ dʑ⟩ would be more accurate, they (and all literature on Catalan) use the characters for palato-alveolar affricates and fricatives while using ⟨ɕ ʑ⟩ for alveolo-palatal sounds in examples in other languages like Polish or Chinese. Otherwise, sources, like Carbonell & Llisterri generally describe them as "postalveolar".

Obstruents
Voiced obstruents undergo final-obstruent devoicing so that fred ('cold', m. s.) is pronounced with, while fredes ('cold', f. pl.) is pronounced with.

Stops
Voiced stops become lenited to fricatives or approximants in syllable onsets, after continuants: →,  → ,  →.


 * Exceptions include after lateral consonants and  after, e.g. ull de bou  (E) /  (W) ('oeil-de-boeuf'), bolígraf boníssim  (E) /  (W) ('really good pen').
 * Additionally, remains unlenited in non-betacist dialects.
 * In the coda position, these sounds are always realized as stops; except in many Valencian dialects, where they are lenited.

In Catalan (not in Valencian), and  may be geminated in certain environments (e.g. poble  'village', regla  'rule').

Affricates
The phonemic status of affricates is dubious; after other consonants, affricates are in free variation with fricatives, e.g. clenxa (E) /  (W) ('hair parting') and may be analyzed as either single phonemes or clusters of a stop and a fricative. There is dialectal variation in regards to affricate length, with long affricates occurring in both Eastern and Western dialects such as in Majorca and few areas in Southern Valencia. Also, intervocalic affricates are predominantly long, especially those that are voiced or occurring immediately after a stressed syllable (e.g. metge (E) /  (W) 'medic'). In modern Valencian and  have merged into.
 * Alveolar affricates, and, occur the least of all affricates.
 * only occurs intervocalically: metzines (E) /  (W) ('toxic substances').
 * Instances of arise mostly from compounding; the few lexical instances arise from historical compounding. For instance, potser  (E) /  (W) ('maybe') comes from pot ('may') + ser ('be' inf). As such,  does not occur word-initially; other than some rare words of foreign origin (e.g. tsar 'tsar', tsuga 'tsuga' ), but it may occur word-finally and quite often in cases of heteromorphemic (i.e. across a morpheme boundary) plural endings: tots  ('everybody'). Several linguists claim  is not a phoneme on its own, but a simple combination of [t] and [s], in the same way that the [ts] English 'cats' is not phonemic.
 * The distribution of alveolo-palatal affricates, and, depends on dialect:
 * In most of Valencian and southern Catalonia, most occurrences of correspond to the voiced fricative  in Standard Eastern Catalan: gel  ('ice').
 * In Standard Eastern Catalan, word-initial is found only in a few words of foreign origin (e.g. txec 'Czech', Txaikovski 'Tchaikovsky') while being found freely intervocalically (e.g. fletxa 'arrow') and word-finally: despatx  (E) /  (W) ('office').
 * Standard Eastern Catalan also only allows in intervocalic position (e.g. metge 'medic', adjunt 'enclosed'). Phonemic analyses show word-final occurrences of  (e.g. raig esbiaixat  (E) /  (W) 'skew ray'), but final devoicing eliminates this from the surface: raig  ('ray').
 * In various other dialects (as well as in emphatic speech), occurs word-initially and after another consonant to the exclusion of . These instances of word-initial  seem to correspond to  in other dialects, including the standard (on which the orthography is based): xinxa ('bedbug'), pronounced  in the standard, is  in these varieties.

Fricatives
occurs in Balearic, as well as in Alguerese, Standard Valencian and some areas in southern Catalonia. Everywhere else, it has merged with historic so that  and  occur in complementary distribution.
 * In Majorcan, and  are in complementary distribution, with  occurring before vowels (e.g. blava  'blue' f. vs. blau  'blue' m.).
 * In other varieties that have both sounds, they are in contrast before vowels, with neutralization in favor of before consonants.

Sonorants
While "dark (velarized) l",, may be a positional allophone of in most dialects (such as in the syllable coda; e.g. sòl  'ground'),  is dark irrespective of position in Eastern dialects like Majorcan and standard Eastern Catalan (e.g. tela ).

The distribution of the two rhotics and  closely parallels that of Spanish.
 * Between vowels, the two contrast (e.g. mirra (E) /  (W) 'myrrh' vs. mira  (E) /  (W) 'look'), but they are otherwise in complementary distribution.  appears in the onset, except in word-initial position (ruc), after, , and   (folre, honra, Israel), and in compounds (infraroig), where  is used.
 * Different dialects vary in regards to rhotics in the coda, with Western Catalan generally featuring and Central Catalan dialects like those of Barcelona or Girona featuring a weakly trilled  unless it precedes a vowel-initial word in the same prosodic unit, in which case  appears (per  in Western Catalan,  in Central Catalan).
 * There is free variation in word-initially, after, , and , and in compounds (if  is preceded by consonant), wherein  is pronounced  or , the latter being similar to English red: ruc.

In careful speech,, , and may be geminated (e.g. innecessari  (E) /  (W) 'unnecessary'; emmagatzemar  (E) /  (W) 'to store'; il·lusió  'illusion'). A geminated may also occur (e.g. ratlla  (E) /  (W) 'line'). Wheeler analyzes intervocalic as the result of gemination of a single rhotic phoneme: serra  (E) /  (W) 'saw, mountains' (this is similar to the common analysis of Spanish and Portuguese rhotics).

Vowels

 * {| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"

! ! Front ! Central ! Back ! Close ! Close-mid ! Open-mid ! Open
 * + Vowels of Catalan
 * rowspan="2" |
 * rowspan="2" |
 * colspan="3" |
 * }

Phonetic notes:
 * The vowel is further back and open than the Castilian counterpart in North-Western and Central Catalan, slightly fronted and closed in Valencian and Ribagorçan, and further fronted and closed  in Majorcan.
 * The open-mid and  are lower  in Majorcan, Minorcan and Valencian.
 * In Northern Catalan and some places bordering the Spanish-speaking areas, open-mid and close-mid vowels may merge into mid vowels; and.
 * The close vowels are more open than in Castilian. Unstressed  are centralized.
 * In Valencian and most Balearic dialects are further open and centralized.
 * Northern Catalan sometimes adds two loan rounded vowels, and, from French and Occitan (e.g. but  'aim', fulles  'leaves').
 * The realization of the reduced vowel varies from mid  to near-open, with the latter variant being the most usual in the Barcelona metropolitan area, where the distinction between  and  is less pronounced than in other varieties that maintain the distinction.
 * Phonetic nasalization occurs for vowels occurring between nasal consonants or when preceding a syllable-final nasal; e.g. diumenge (E) /  (W) ('Sunday').

Stressed vowels


Most varieties of Catalan contrast seven stressed vowel phonemes. However, some Balearic dialects have an additional stressed vowel phoneme ; e.g. sec ('dry, I sit'). The stressed schwa of these dialects corresponds to in Central Catalan and  in Western Catalan varieties (that is, Central and Western Catalan dialects differ in their incidence of  and, with  appearing more frequently in Western Catalan; e.g. Central Catalan sec  vs. Western Catalan sec  ('dry, I sit').

Contrasting series of the main Catalan dialects:
 * {| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"

[Eastern Catalan] ! LS ! IPA ! Gloss ! colspan="3" | Other contrast ! LS ! IPA ! Gloss
 * + class="nowrap" | Central Catalan
 * sac
 * 'bag'
 * sec
 * 'dry'/'I sit'
 * séc
 * 'fold'
 * sic
 * 'sic'
 * soc
 * 'clog'
 * sóc
 * 'I am'
 * suc
 * 'juice'
 * 'sic'
 * soc
 * 'clog'
 * sóc
 * 'I am'
 * suc
 * 'juice'
 * sóc
 * 'I am'
 * suc
 * 'juice'
 * suc
 * 'juice'
 * 'juice'
 * rowspan="2" | *set
 * rowspan="2" |
 * 'seven'
 * 'thirst'
 * }
 * 'thirst'
 * }

Unstressed vowels
In Eastern Catalan, vowels in unstressed position reduce to three :, , (phonetically  in Barcelona); , , ;  remains unchanged. However there are some dialectal differences: Alguerese merges, and  with ; and in most areas of Majorca,  can appear in unstressed position (that is,  and  are usually reduced to ).

In Western Catalan, vowels in unstressed position reduce to five:, ; , ; remain unchanged. However, in some Western dialects reduced vowels tend to merge into different realizations in some cases:
 * Unstressed may merge with  before a nasal or sibilant consonant (e.g. enclusa  'anvil', eixam  'swarm'), in some environments before any consonant (e.g. terròs  'earthy'), and in monosyllabic clitics. This sounds almost the same as the Barcelonian open schwa . Likewise, unstressed  may merge into  when in contact with palatal consonants (e.g. senyor  'lord').
 * Unstressed may merge with  before a bilabial consonant (e.g. cobert  'covered'), before a stressed syllable with a high vowel (e.g. conill  'rabbit'), in contact with palatal consonants (e.g. Josep  'Joseph'), and in monosyllabic clitics.


 * {| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"

! Term ! IPA ! Gloss
 * + class="nowrap" | General Eastern Catalan
 * parla
 * rowspan="2" |
 * 'speech'
 * rere
 * 'back'
 * lliri
 * 'lily'
 * ferro
 * rowspan="2" |
 * 'iron'
 * mutu
 * 'mutual'
 * }
 * rowspan="2" |
 * 'iron'
 * mutu
 * 'mutual'
 * }
 * }

Diphthongs and triphthongs
There are also a number of phonetic diphthongs and triphthongs, all of which begin and/or end in or.


 * {| class="wikitable"

! colspan="6" | Falling diphthongs ! IPA ! word ! gloss ! IPA ! word ! gloss ! colspan="6" | Rising diphthongs ! IPA ! word ! gloss ! IPA ! word ! gloss
 * || aigua || 'water' || || taula || 'table'
 * (E) (W) || mainada || 'children' ||  (E)  (W)  || caurem || 'we will fall'
 * || remei || 'remedy' || || peu || 'foot'
 * || rei || 'king' || || seu || 'his/her'
 * (E) (W) || Eivissa || 'Ibiza' ||  (E)  (W)  || eufemisme || 'eufemism'
 * || ||  ||  || niu || 'nest'
 * || noi || 'boy' || || nou || 'new'
 * (E) (W) || Moisès || 'Moses' ||  || pou || 'well'
 * || avui || 'today' || || duu || 's/he is carrying'
 * (E) (W) || Eivissa || 'Ibiza' ||  (E)  (W)  || eufemisme || 'eufemism'
 * || ||  ||  || niu || 'nest'
 * || noi || 'boy' || || nou || 'new'
 * (E) (W) || Moisès || 'Moses' ||  || pou || 'well'
 * || avui || 'today' || || duu || 's/he is carrying'
 * (E) (W) || Moisès || 'Moses' ||  || pou || 'well'
 * || avui || 'today' || || duu || 's/he is carrying'
 * || avui || 'today' || || duu || 's/he is carrying'
 * || avui || 'today' || || duu || 's/he is carrying'
 * || iaia || 'grandma' || || guant || 'glove'
 * (E) (W) || feia || 's/he was doing' ||  (E)  (W) || aquarel·la || 'watercolour painting'
 * || veiem || 'we see' || || seqüència || 'sequence'
 * || seient || 'seat' || || ungüent || 'ointment'
 * (E) (W) || gràcies || 'thank you' ||  (E)  (W) || qüestió,  diuen || 'question', 'they say'
 * || ||  ||  || pingüí || 'penguin'
 * || iode || 'iodine' || || quota || 'payment'
 * (E) (W) || iogurt || 'yoghurt' ||  || seuós || 'greasy'
 * || iugoslau || 'Yugoslav' || ||  ||
 * }
 * || ||  ||  || pingüí || 'penguin'
 * || iode || 'iodine' || || quota || 'payment'
 * (E) (W) || iogurt || 'yoghurt' ||  || seuós || 'greasy'
 * || iugoslau || 'Yugoslav' || ||  ||
 * }
 * (E) (W) || iogurt || 'yoghurt' ||  || seuós || 'greasy'
 * || iugoslau || 'Yugoslav' || ||  ||
 * }
 * }

In Standard Eastern Catalan, rising diphthongs (that is, those starting with or ) are only possible in the following contexts:
 * in word-initial position, e.g. iogurt ('yoghurt').
 * The semivowel ( or ) occurs between vowels as in feia ( 'he/she was doing') or diuen ( 'they say').
 * In the sequences or  plus vowel, e.g. guant ('glove'), quota ('quota'), qüestió ('question'), pingüí ('penguin'); these exceptional cases even lead some scholars to hypothesize the existence of rare labiovelar phonemes  and.

Processes
There are certain instances of compensatory diphthongization in Majorcan so that troncs ('logs') (in addition to deleting the palatal stop) develops a compensating palatal glide and surfaces as  (and contrasts with the unpluralized ). Diphthongization compensates for the loss of the palatal stop (segment loss compensation). There are other cases where diphthongization compensates for the loss of point of articulation features (property loss compensation) as in ('year') vs. ('years').

The dialectal distribution of compensatory diphthongization is almost entirely dependent on the dorsal stop and the extent of consonant assimilation (whether or not it is extended to palatals).

Voiced affricates are devoiced after stressed vowels in dialects like Eastern Catalan where there may be a correlation between devoicing and lengthening (gemination) of voiced affricates: metge →  ('medic'). In Barcelona, voiced stops may be fortified (geminated and devoiced); e.g. poble 'village').

Assimilations

 * {| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"

! colspan="3" | Nasal ! colspan="3" | Lateral ! word ! IPA ! gloss ! word ! IPA ! gloss
 * ínfim || || 'lowest' || style="background:#fff solid 1px" colspan="3" |
 * anterior || (E)  (W) || 'previous' || altes ||  (E)  (W) || 'tall' (f. pl.)
 * engegar || (E)  (W) || 'to start (up)' || àlgid ||  (E)  (W) || 'decisive'
 * sang || (E)  (W) || 'blood' || style="background:#fff solid 1px" colspan="3" |
 * sagna || (E)  (W) || 'he bleeds' || style="background:#fff solid 1px" colspan="3" |
 * cotna || (E)  (W) || 'rind' || atles ||  (E)  (W) || 'atlas'
 * | sotmetent || (E)  (W) || 'submitting' || ratllar ||  (E)  (W) || 'to grate'
 * }
 * sagna || (E)  (W) || 'he bleeds' || style="background:#fff solid 1px" colspan="3" |
 * cotna || (E)  (W) || 'rind' || atles ||  (E)  (W) || 'atlas'
 * | sotmetent || (E)  (W) || 'submitting' || ratllar ||  (E)  (W) || 'to grate'
 * }
 * | sotmetent || (E)  (W) || 'submitting' || ratllar ||  (E)  (W) || 'to grate'
 * }
 * }

Catalan denti-alveolar stops can fully assimilate to the following consonant, producing gemination; this is particularly evident before nasal and lateral consonants: e.g. cotna ('rind'), motlle/motle ('spring'), and setmana ('week'). Learned words can alternate between featuring and not featuring such assimilation (e.g. atles 'atlas', administrar  (E) /   (W) 'to administer').

Central Valencian features simple elision in many of these cases (e.g cotna, setmana ) though learned words don't exhibit either assimilation or elision: atles and administrar.

Stress
Stress most often occurs on any of the last three syllables of a word (e.g. brú ixola (E) /  (W) 'compass', càs tig  'punishment', pa llús  (E) /  (W) 'fool').

Compound words and adverbs formed with may have a syllable with secondary stress (e.g. bo na ment  (E)  (W) 'willingly'; pa ra llamps  (E)  (W) 'lightning conductor') but every lexical word has just one syllable with main stress.

Phonotactics
Any consonant, as well as and  may be an onset. Clusters may consist of a consonant plus a semivowel (C, C) or an obstruent plus a liquid. Some speakers may have one of these obstruent-plus-liquid clusters preceding a semivowel, e.g. síndria ('watermelon'); for other speakers, this is pronounced  (i.e. the semivowel must be syllabic in this context).

Word-medial codas are restricted to one consonant + (extra  (E) /  (W)). In the coda position, voice contrasts among obstruents are neutralized. Although there are exceptions (such as futur 'future'), syllable-final rhotics are often lost before a word boundary or before the plural morpheme of most words: color  (E) /  (W) ('color') vs. coloraina  (E) /  (W) ('bright color').

In Central Eastern (and North-Western Catalan), obstruents fail to surface word-finally when preceded by a homorganic consonant (e.g. ). Complex codas simplify only if the loss of the segment doesn't result in the loss of place specification.


 * {| class="wikitable"

! ! colspan="2" | Final ! gloss ! colspan="2" | Internal ! gloss ! rowspan="6" | no cluster ! rowspan="3" | cluster When the suffix -erol is added to camp  it makes, indicating that the underlying representation is  (with subsequent cluster simplification), however when the copula  is added it makes. The resulting generalization is that this underlying will only surface in a morphologically complex word. Despite this, word-final codas are not usually simplified in most of Balearic and Valencian (e.g. camp ).
 * +Suffixation examples in Central Eastern and North-Western Catalan varieties
 * camp || || 'field' || camperol ||  (CE)  (NW) || 'peasant'
 * punt || || 'point' || punta ||  (CE)  (NW) || 'tip'
 * banc || || 'bank' || banca ||  (CE)  (NW) || 'banking'
 * malalt || (CE)  (NW) || 'ill' || malaltia ||  (CE)  (NW) || 'illness'
 * hort || || 'orchard' || hortalissa || (CE)  (NW) || 'vegetable'
 * gust || || 'taste' || gustar ||  || 'to taste'
 * malalt || (CE)  (NW) || 'ill' || malaltia ||  (CE)  (NW) || 'illness'
 * hort || || 'orchard' || hortalissa || (CE)  (NW) || 'vegetable'
 * gust || || 'taste' || gustar ||  || 'to taste'
 * gust || || 'taste' || gustar ||  || 'to taste'
 * gust || || 'taste' || gustar ||  || 'to taste'
 * serp || || 'snake' || serpentí ||  (CE)  (NW) || 'snake-like'
 * disc || || 'disk' || |disquet ||  (CE)  (NW) || 'diskette'
 * remolc || (CE)  (NW) || 'trailer' || remolcar ||  (CE)  (NW) || 'to tow'
 * }
 * remolc || (CE)  (NW) || 'trailer' || remolcar ||  (CE)  (NW) || 'to tow'
 * }

Word-initial clusters from Graeco-Latin learned words tend to drop the first phoneme: pneumàtic (E) /  (W) ('pneumatic'), pseudònim  (E) /  (W) ('pseudonym'), pterodàctil  (E) /  (W) ('pterodactylus'), gnom  ('gnome').

Word-final obstruents are devoiced; however, they assimilate voicing of the following consonant, e.g. cuc de seda  (E) /  (W) ('silkworm'). In regular and fast speech, stops often assimilate the place of articulation of the following consonant producing phonetic gemination: tot bé ('all good').

Word-final fricatives (except ) are voiced before a following vowel; e.g. bus enorme (E) /  (W) ('huge bus').

Dialectal variation
[[File:Catalan dialects-en.png|thumb|right|upright=1.36|Dialectal Map of Catalan

Eastern dialects: {{legend|#B67000|Northern Catalan}} {{legend|#C24851|Central Catalan}} {{legend|#A55DD3|Balearic and Alguerese}} Western dialects: {{legend|#6870FF|North-Western Catalan}} {{legend|#3AC636|Valencian}}]] The differences in the vocalic systems outlined above are the main criteria used to differentiate between the major dialects: Wheeler distinguishes two major dialect groups, western and eastern dialects; the latter of which only allow, , and to appear in unstressed syllables and include Northern Catalan, Central Catalan, Balearic, and Alguerese. Western dialects, which allow any vowel in unstressed syllables, include Valencian and North-Western Catalan.

Regarding consonants, betacism and fricative–affricate alternations are the most prominent differences between dialects.

Other dialectal features are:
 * Vowel harmony with and  in Valencian; this process is progressive (i.e. preceding vowels affect those pronounced afterwards) over the last unstressed vowel of a word; e.g. hora  → .  However, there are cases where regressive metaphony occurs over pretonic vowels; e.g. tovallola  →  ('towel'), afecta  →  ('affects').
 * In a number of dialects unstressed can merge with  (Eastern dialects) or  (Western dialects) according to the previous or following vowel (i.e. through assimilation when these vowels are high or dissimilation when they are mid or low). This merger is especially common in words with the prefix in- or im-.
 * In Southern Valencian subvarieties, especially in Alicante Valencian, the diphthong (phonetically  in Valencian) has become : bous  ('bulls').
 * In regular speech in both Eastern and Western Catalan dialects, word-initial unstressed – or – may be diphthongized to  (Eastern Catalan) or  (Western Catalan): ofegar  ('to drown, suffocate').
 * In Aragonese Catalan (including Ribagorçan), is palatalized to  in consonant clusters; e.g. plou  'it rains'.
 * In Alguerese and Ribagorçan word-final and  are depalatized to  and, respectively; e.g. gall  ('rooster'), any  ('year').
 * Varying degrees of L-velarization among dialects: is dark irrespective of position in Balearic and Central Catalan and might tend to vocalization in some cases. In Western varieties like Valencian, this dark l contrasts with a clear l in intervocalic and word-initial position; while in other dialects, like Alguerese or Northern Catalan,  is never velarized in any instance.
 * Iodització (also known as iesme històric "historic yeísmo"): in regular speech in most of Majorcan, Northern Catalan and in the historic comarca of Vallès (Barcelona), Latin-derived words that had intervocalic + yod (--, --) or velar +  (--, --) developed  (e.g. palla  ('straw') from  Latin ), rather than  as in the majority of other regions. Accents with traditional ieisme use  only in words where this sound developed from Latin initial - (as in lluna  'moon') or intervocalic -- (as in  ella  'she').
 * The dorso-palatal may occur in complementary distribution with, only in Majorcan varieties that have dorso-palatals rather than the velars found in most dialects: guerra  ('war') vs. sa guerra  ('the war').
 * In northern and transitional Valencian, word-initial and postconsonantal (Eastern Catalan  and ) alternates with  intervocalically; e.g. joc  'game', but pitjor  'worse', boja  'crazy' (standard Valencian, ; ; standard Catalan ,  and ).
 * In northern Valencia and southern Catalonia has merged with realizations of  after a high front vocoid; e.g. terrissa  ('pottery'), insistisc  ('I insist') vs. pixar  ('to pee'), deixar  ('to leave'). In these varieties  is not found after other voiced consonants, and merges with  after consonants; e.g. punxa  ('thorn').
 * Intervocalic dropping (particularly participles) in regular speech in Valencian, with compensatory lengthening of vowel ; e.g. vesprada  ('evening').
 * In northern Catalonia and in the town of Sóller (Majorca), a uvular trill or approximant  can be heard instead of an alveolar trill; e.g. córrer  ('to run').
 * In some Valencian dialects final can be lenited before a vowel: tot açò  ('all this').
 * In some dialects (e.g. many Valencian accents) initial can be lenited: gata  (EC)  (WC).
 * In Majorcan varieties, and  become  and  word-finally and before front vowels, in some of these dialects, this has extended to all environments except before liquids and back vowels; e.g. sang  ('blood').
 * In Majorcan and Minorcan Catalan, undergoes total assimilation to a following consonant (just as stops do): buf gros  ('large puff').
 * In some Valencian dialects (e.g. Northern Valencian), and  are auditorily similar such that neutralization may occur in the future. That is the case of Northern Valencian where  is depalatalized to  as in caixa ('box'). Central Valencian words like mig ('half') and lleig ('ugly') have been transcribed with  rather than the expected, and Southern Valencian  "has been reported to undergo depalatalization without merging with ". as in passets ('small steps') versus passeig ('promenade')
 * In Aragon and Central Valencian (the so called apitxat), voiced fricatives and affricates are missing (i.e. has merged with,  has merged with , with only voiceless realizations occurring) and  has merged with the  set.

Historical development
Catalan shares features with neighboring Romance languages (Occitan, Italian, Sardinian, French, Spanish).


 * Marked contrast of the vowel pairs and, as in other Western Romance languages, except Spanish and Sardinian.
 * Lenition of voiced stops as in Galician and Spanish.
 * Lack of diphthongization of Latin short ĕ, ŏ, as in Galician, Sardinian and Portuguese, and unlike French, Spanish and Italian.
 * Abundance of diphthongs containing, as in Galician and Portuguese.
 * Abundance of and  occurring at the end of words, as for instance  ("wet") and  ("year"), unlike Spanish, Portuguese or Italian.

In contrast with other Romance languages, Catalan has many monosyllabic words; and those ending in a wide variety of consonants and some consonant clusters. Also, Catalan has final obstruent devoicing, thus featuring many couplets like amic ('male friend') vs. amiga ('female friend').

Phonological sample

 * {| class="wikitable"

! Original ! Old Catalan (Around the 13th century) IPA ! Balearic Catalan IPA ! Eastern Central Catalan IPA ! Northern Catalan IPA ! North-Western Catalan IPA ! Valencian IPA
 * + Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 1
 * Tots els éssers humans neixen/naixen lliures i iguals en dignitat i en drets. Són dotats de raó i de consciència, i han de comportar-se fraternalment els uns amb els altres.
 * }
 * }