VALENCIAN LANGUAGE vs BARCELONI DIALECT (=neoCATALAN)

LENGUA VALENCIAN LANGUAGE  vs BARCELONÍ  DIALECT (=neoCATALÁN ).

HISTORICAL DOCUMENTS and QUOTATIONS  in :

“CRONOLOGIA HISTÓRICA DE LA LENGUA VALENCIANA”.(2007)
“LENGUA VALENCIANA, una LENGUA SUPLANTADA”.(2006)

The unquestionable existence of the historical Valencian Language is endorsed by the accurate compilation of the journalistic documents in the book “VALENCIAN LANGUAGE, A LANGUAGE SUPPLANTED (Diputación of Valencia 2006) and of the documents and historical quotations in: "HISTORICAL CHRONOLOGY OF THE VALENCIAN LANGUAGE” (Diputación of Valencia 2007) of the authoress and philologist Mª Teresa Puerto Ferre, in a long  list of testimonies that go from the Iberian inscriptions of the IVth century up to the battle hold  over the last two centuries for its survival as language .

The special edition of the two books, mentioned above,  answers to the target to clarify some essential facts in defense of our historical Valencian Language (spoken in the Kingdom of Valencia for centuries) and to dismount the insidious campaign developed against it,  world-wide, by the fast-growing Catalan nationalism. 

This long insiduous campaign has been perfectly designed  to supplant  our  historical Valencian Language by the artificial Barceloni dialect (now called Catalan) . The strong  publishing   Catalan industry as well as  the   powerful financial means (provided by the Catalan nationalist Government ) have  been in charge of its marketing  and its most effective world-wide campaign.

The book "HISTORICAL CHRONOLOGY OF THE VALENCIAN LANGUAGE” (Diputación of Valencia 2007)  is an excellent anthology  of  historical   documents and literary  testimonies  to  our  old Valencian Language (dated from the 10th century) , proving  the  authenticity  of its  unquestionables existence . The definition  “I am writing  in my Valencian  mother tongue”  is constantly   used by thousands  of our literary writers , in their  prologues and epilogues. They never used  the expression  Catalan, which remained  as a mixture of non-standardized  dialects until 1906 .

There are some essential facts which must be  stated and remembered:

1. It is an unquestionable  fact  that  our historical Valencian Language  has always existed as a written Romance language  since the early 10th  century .

2. It is an unquestionable fact that our historical Valencian Language was the first  neo-Latin language having a  Literary  Golden  Century  ( 15th and 16th centuries) when  famous writers such as, Joanot Martorell,  Jordi de San Jordi, Jaume March, Ausias March, Jaume Roig, Roiç de Corella , Sor Isabel de Villena,…  and many more  clearly state  in their plays : “ I am writing in my Valencian  mother tongue language”.

3. It is an unquestionable fact  that our historical Valencian language reached  its peak  as well as its  full independence  in the lexical, phonetic, morphosyntaxic and semantic fields  during that Golden 15th –16th Century.

4. It is  an unquestionable fact that  our historical Valencian  language  was a fully structured  language   having  excellent editions of  Valencian grammars (Andreae Semperi. Alcoi , 1546) and  dictionaries (“Liber Elegantiarum”.Valencia 1472)  in the XV and XVI centuries, and until now.

5. It is an unquestionable fact  that our historical Valencian Language had the first Bible translated into a neo-latin language  from latin in 1478 by Fray Bonifaci  Ferrer (presently exhibited  at the Hispanic Society of New York)

6.  It is an unquestionable fact  that our historical Valencian Language had the first Kempis  translated into a neo-latin language  from latin in 1482 by Miquel Perez.

On the contrary , it is an unquestionable fact that the Barceloní dialect (now called modern Catalan) :

7. Is a modern-laboratory invention  produced by the industrial engineer  Pompeu 
Fabra in 1906  .The “Barceloní dialect” was chosen as standard   among the different dialects spoken  in Catalonia .

8.  Catalan  did not exist as a standardized language in the 19th century : it was  just one of the various Provenzal dialects.

9. According to the Father of the modern Romance Linguistics , the German linguist Friedrich Diez,  Catalan has always been a mixture of Provençal dialects (“Grammatik der romanischen Sprachen”.1836) . The same opinion was expressed by his disciple the Swiss  linguist Meyer  Lübcke ( “Grammaire des Langues Romanes”.1880) and a large number of  international linguists .

10. Modern  Catalan standard  was produced  by a non-linguist  amateur ( the industrial engineer  Pompeu  Fabra ) and derived into an artificial  laboratory language  full of gallicisms .
11. Catalan has always  had a very poor literary background  and lacks   the Golden  Century Literarure produced  in the Valencian  language in the  15th-16th centuries.

12. That is the reason  for  the Catalan  shameful  plundering  of our Valencian literary heritage , for the process of extermination of our historical Valencian language   and for its present supplantation  by the Barceloni dialect..

Historically, Valencia has always been a Kingdom , with its own “FURS” (laws) and with a brilliant  literary tradition and culture , whereas Catalonia has only been a poor collection of feudal  Counties with a very poor background in all  matters.

To our surprise , what used to be a a historical golden language  (Valenciano) has now become a “dialect”. And what used to be a dialect ( Barceloni/Catalan)  has now become a “language” … . So much for Catalan magic and sleight of hand.

Phoney Catalan nationalists and their over powerful army of publishers have made the chameleon  trick . However,  there is also a dangerous  intention : their purpose is to colonise , mentally and socially,  the indoctrinated Valencian youth as well as turning their Barceloni dialect into a prosperous  “money-making-machine”. Most Valencian pupils and students are being defined as “the useful idiots” of this prosperous nationalist business  .  Orwellian´s Big Brother has been  re-born.

This new book “Cronologia Historica de la lengua Valenciana”  is  the necessary  antidote  against that fast-growing  nationalism in Catalonia  and its  insane  ambition  to grab  what has never been  part of their  heritage : our historical  VALENCIAN  LANGUAGE. ,

Mª Teresa Puerto Ferre, B.A.,M. Anglo-Roman Phil. 
Catedrática de Lengua Inglesa
Miembro-docente del Aula de Cultura de la Real Academia de Cultura Valenciana (RACV)
ex- Coordinadora de Didáctica Especifica de la Lengua Inglésa.S.F.P.
Universidad de Valencia (Valencia –SPAIN)