Iberian languages

ember   Mon Aug 10, 2009 9:46 am GMT
Why on earth are all Iberian languages spoken with a Castilian accent? I was watching a Galiacian television a few days ago and I thought they were speaking Spanish at the beginning until I realized it was galician, the castilian accent was impressive and clearly recognizable. I'm not just referring to the pronunciation of some specific sounds but to the general intonation of the language. do all those actors or journalists have Castilian as their first language? I wonder whether the old Galician people have the same accent or a different more genuine one? It seems to me that Catalan and even Basque have sometimes the same castilian intonation..but it may be just me....
fruu   Mon Aug 10, 2009 10:47 am GMT
The simple reason for that is that Castillan is the main language and it outnumbers every other Iberian language by far. The same thing happens in France with languages like Basque or Breton. They sound French until one realizes that they cannot understand a single word. Their sound systems are based on the main language. I think there's a name for that phenomenon but I don't know it.

Breton: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFSqMu-zBkY&feature=related
Basque spoken in France: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bs0jOYWp6-k (the interviewee at 00:26 and to a lesser extent the narrator)
ember   Mon Aug 10, 2009 10:51 am GMT
Breton: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFSqMu-zBkY&feature=related
Basque spoken in France: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bs0jOYWp6-k (the

These examples are impressive!! Those languages sounds French, but I cannot understand a single word!
Testimoni   Mon Aug 10, 2009 10:53 am GMT
Catalan does not sound like Castilian at all. As a matter of fact one of the main problems Catalan have when speaking Castilian is their thick Catalan accent. Just to make a comparison a Catalan accent is something like a thick Scottish accent in English.

Pure Galician speakers also have an accent which is much closer to Portuguese than to Castilian.

The sound system of Catalan -including the one heard on Catalan televisíon- is absolutely foreign to a Castilian speaker.

Then again you might think Norwegians, Swedes and German sound all the same.

They simply don't.

We shall be now waiting for the Castilian-Spanish troops to invade this English-language thread.
Guest   Mon Aug 10, 2009 1:39 pm GMT
@Testimoni: Catalan has Castilian-like accent as well. You say not simply because you are an annoying Catalan nationalist who is yapping all the time against Castilian , the most spoken language in Catalonia, but a foreigner can perfectly realize that Catalan spoken in Catalonia (I can't tell about Catalan spoken in France...) resembles a lot Castilian Spanish as for intonation. Of course some sounds of Catalan are not present in Spanish, but the same thing can be said about Basque, which has as well some exclusive sounds like Italian ZZ. Nevertheless accent in both Catalan, Basque, Galician and Valencian is very Spanish.
To fruu: yes there is a name for this phenomenon, Sprachraum maybe? Anyways not all Iberian languages sound like Spanish: English spoken in Gibraltar and Portuguese, which sounds somewhat Slavic.
ZZ   Mon Aug 10, 2009 1:49 pm GMT
Ola a toz! Iste mensache es en aragonés. Yo charro castellan y muita chent, como yo, aprenden aragonés como una segunda luenga.

L'aragonés ye un idioma romanze parlato á Aragón por un numero impreziso d'entre 10.000 e 30.000 presonas, sobre tot á las comarcas pirinencas e prepirinencas d'a probinzia de Uesca. Bi ha aragoneses que tamién aprenden aragonés como una segunda luenga grazias a Internet y altros cursos.

Á las altras comarcas aragonesas á on que se charró lo idioma, güé o sustrato e influyenzia de l'aragonés ye encara perzeptible n'o castellán que se i fabla, espezialment n'os aragonesismos lecsicos.

En l'uso cotidian d'ista luenga por os suyos fablans a pronunziación es tamién como en castellán. A plantar fuerte, mozés!
Testimoni   Mon Aug 10, 2009 4:14 pm GMT
You are the only annoying Castilian-Spanish nationalist who thinks that all Spain belongs to him by right of conquest!

It's really funny to hear the Castilians Spaniards saying that Catalan is not only a minority language but that it sounds Spanish.

Come off it!

Anyone who can speak Castilian Spanish will tell me if this TV3 news (Catalan television) sounds Spanish at all.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONoD8JdrZ0U

The Catalan accent and intonation are probably the thing that annoys most Castilian-Spanish. They can't even stand it when cultivated Catalans speak Castilian with a different accent and intonation.

The most widely spoken language in the Catalan territory -outside of big immigration pockets- is Catalan and it is the only legitimate historic language of Catalonia. Why, if not, should it be called Catalan?
Guest   Mon Aug 10, 2009 4:51 pm GMT
<<The most widely spoken language in the Catalan territory -outside of big immigration pockets- is Catalan
>>
Not true. People who have Catalan as mother tongue in Catalonia are only 34%. See why you are annoying? Lying is bad...
Karioka da Gema   Mon Aug 10, 2009 4:55 pm GMT
These Catalan Tv news sound very Spanish/Castllian.
I thought Catalan had its own intonation/pronunciation.
Even Argentinian Spanish sounds more original than Catalan...
Guest   Mon Aug 10, 2009 5:10 pm GMT
Yeah, Catalan intonation is flat like Spanish (and Basque, Galician, Valencian...). Argentinian Spanish is more melodious.
mead   Mon Aug 10, 2009 5:12 pm GMT
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONoD8JdrZ0U

My god this language sounds horrible! What an ugly language!! They told me that it sounded like Italian but it is so different and worse!!!!
Portuguese   Mon Aug 10, 2009 5:13 pm GMT
Well to me Catalan entonation is not flat at all. It has a singing lilt similar to the one in Portuguese or even Italian. It sounds very little Spanish. I can't understand why you thing it sounds Spanish.
I cannot understand what goes on in this thread.
Testimoni   Mon Aug 10, 2009 5:21 pm GMT
You are the one who is lying. 34% spoke Catalan in their families when they were children. That includes all generations. It has gone up to 55% with those living in Catalonia who identify with Catalan first and 48% speak mostly Catalan everyday already. 78% of the population in Catalonia is fluent in Catalan and 95% understand it. So it is growing fast and it is already the first language of Catalonia as it was 50 years ago.

Hiding facts the way you do is even worse than lying. Catalan is the language of future in Catalonia. Don't kid yourself.

You won't of course have that get into your head even though we speak of the same Statistics:

El catalán en Cataluña
Año 2003 Año 2008
Hablantes Porcentaje Hablantes Porcentaje
Lengua habitual 2.850.300 50,70% 2.933.300 47,60%
Lengua materna 2.177.800 38,70% 2.186.000 34,60%
Lengua de identificación 2.947.400 52,50% 3.410.300 55,30%


34,6% spoke Catalan at home. It is the language speak most everyday in Catalonia for 47,6% and 55,3% of the population of Catalonia identifies "with Catalan"

http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idioma_catal%C3%A1n

Who is hiding information? Who can't read statistics?
Guest   Mon Aug 10, 2009 5:22 pm GMT
Portuguese does not sound melodious either, it's sounds slavic.
Testimoni   Mon Aug 10, 2009 5:23 pm GMT
Mead:

Languages aren't ugly. It depends on who speaks a language and how familiar you are with that language. Germany may seem ugly to those who don't speak German and there are English varieties which sound different but never ugly. Would you say Scottish is ugly. For me it isn't.

Being a Catalan native speaker I can only say that to my ears my native language is the most beautiful language in the world.

Grant me that!