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. {| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;" |+ Consonants of Catalan ! colspan="2" | ! Labial ! Dental/Alveolar ! Palatal ! Velar
! Uvular |
---|
! colspan="2" |
m |
n |
ɲ |
(ŋ) |
- |
! rowspan="2" |
! voiceless |
p |
t̪ |
colspan="2" |
- |
! voiced |
b |
d̪ |
colspan="2" |
- |
! rowspan="2" |
! voiceless |
t͡s |
t͡ɕ |
- |
! voiced |
d͡z |
d͡ʑ |
- |
! rowspan="2" |
! voiceless |
f |
s |
ɕ |
- |
! voiced |
(v) |
z |
ʑ |
rowspan="2" |
- |
! rowspan="2" |
! central |
j |
w |
- |
! lateral |
l |
ʎ |
- |
! colspan="2" |
r |
- |
! colspan="2" |
ɾ |
} |
Phonetic notes: |
/t/, /d/ are laminal denti-alveolar t̪, d̪. After /s z/, they are laminal alveolar t, d. |
/k/, /ɡ/ are velar but fronted to pre-velar position before front vowels. In some Majorcan dialects, the situation is reversed; the main realization is palatal c, ɟ, but before liquids and rounded back vowels they are velar k, ɡ. |
/n/, /l/, /ɾ/ are apical front alveolar n, l, ɾ, but the first two are laminal denti-alveolar n̪, l̪ before /t/, /d/. In addition, /n/ is postalveolar n̠ or alveolo-palatal ɲ̟ before /ʃ/, /ʒ/, /t͡ʃ/, /d͡ʒ/, velar ŋ before /k/, /ɡ/ and labiodental ɱ before /f/, (/v/), where it merges with /m/. It also merges with /m/ (to m) before /p/, /b/. |
/s/, /z/, /r/ are apical back alveolar s̺, z̺, r, also described as postalveolar. |
/t͡s/, /d͡z/ are apical alveolar [t͡s̺], [d͡z̺]. |