Catalan is a Romance language, with its earliest literary text, the Homilies d'Organya, dating back to about the middle of 12th century.

In the 13th, 14th and 15th centuries, Catalan literature flourished, first under the influence of Provençal literature and later as the producer of its own thematic and formal resources.

From the 16th to the 18th centuries it underwent a period of decline, from which emerged in the 19th century with the movement known as the Renaixença, Renaissance.

Its modern linguistic normalization was brought about with the creation in 1907 by Prat de la Riba of the Institut d'Estudis Catalans, whose principal pursuit was higher scientific research of all the elements of the Catalan culture. In the Institut d'Estudis Catalans, Pompeu Fabra effected the regulation and grammatical systematization of the unifying norms for its spelling (1913).

Both Castilian and Catalan (since 1979) are the official languages of Catalunya and the Balearic Islands (since 1983) and in Valencia the Catalan is called Valenciano, denomination which is recognized by the Statute of Autonomy

In Article 7.1 of the Statute of the Comunidad Valenciana which includes the provinces of Alicante, Castellon and Valencia reads:

"The two official languages of the Autonomous Community are the Valenciano and the Castilian. Everyone has the right to know and use them".

The old Kingdom of Valencia was set up as an Autonomous Community in 1982, and the Law for the linguistic nomalization of the Valencian language was approved on 23 November, 1983 (B.O.E. Number 20th of 20 January, 1984)..

Catalan is also spoken in some areas of Aragon and Murcia and, outside Spain, in the French Roussillon region, the Principality of Andorra and in the Italian city of Alguer (Sardinia). It is the mother tongue of some 5 to 6 million persons. Furthermore many Castilian or Spanish speaking people who live in any of the aforementioned areas speak and understand it.

For more information about the Catalan, please write or call to:

INSTITUT D'ESTUDIS CATALANS
Carme, 47
08071 BARCELONA (Spain)
Phone: 34 - 3 - 318 5516

Thank-you, very much.