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Catalan Phonology

Code: 105829 ECTS Credits: 6
2025/2026
Degree Type Year
Catalan Philology: Literary Studies and Linguistics OB 2
English and Catalan Studies OB 2
Catalan and Spanish Studies OB 2

Contact

Name:
Francesc Josep Torres Tamarit
Email:
francescjosep.torres@uab.cat

Teaching groups languages

You can view this information at the end of this document.


Prerequisites

It is recommended that students have completed the first-year Catalan language courses and Fonètica Catalana i Estàndard Oral.


Objectives and Contextualisation

The objective of this course is to identify and characterize the main phonological processes of Catalan from a formal, rule-based derivational approach, with special attention to the most widespread dialectal varieties.


Competences

    Catalan Philology: Literary Studies and Linguistics
  • Act with ethical responsibility and respect for fundamental rights, diversity and democratic values.
  • Analyse the phonetic, phonological, morphological, syntactic, lexical and semantic properties of the Catalan language, its evolution over time and its present structure.
  • Assess gender inequalities when acting in this field of knowledge.
  • Demonstrate a mastery of the rules of the Catalan language, its linguistic bases and all its application in the academic and professional fields.
  • Produce written work and oral presentations that are effective and framed in the appropriate register.
  • Students must be capable of collecting and interpreting relevant data (usually within their area of study) in order to make statements that reflect social, scientific or ethical relevant issues.
  • Students must be capable of communicating information, ideas, problems and solutions to both specialised and non-specialised audiences.
  • Students must develop the necessary learning skills to undertake further training with a high degree of autonomy.
    English and Catalan Studies
  • Act in one's own field of knowledge evaluating inequalities based on sex/gender.
  • Act with ethical responsibility and respect for fundamental rights and duties, diversity and democratic values.
  • Analyse the main phonetic, phonological, morphological, syntactic, lexical and semantic properties of the Catalan and English languages, their evolution throughout history and their current structures.
  • Apply scientific ethical principles to information processing.
  • Apply the concepts, resources and methods acquired during the study of variations of English and Catalan language, be it in a historical context or in the current global social and multilingual context.
  • Carry out effective written work or oral presentations adapted to the appropriate register in different languages.
  • Critically apply the different instruments of analysis to different types of linguistic data.
  • Demonstrate knowledge of the rules of Catalan and mastery of its foundations and applications in the academic and professional fields.
  • Demonstrate the ability to work autonomously and in teams with the aim of attaining the planned objectives in multicultural and interdisciplinary contexts.
  • Identify the foundations of human language and the principles, methods and results of structural analysis of languages.
  • Innovate in the methods and processes of this area of knowledge in response to the needs and wishes of society.
  • Students must be capable of communicating information, ideas, problems and solutions to both specialised and non-specialised audiences.
  • Students must develop the necessary learning skills in order to undertake further training with a high degree of autonomy.
  • Use digital tools and specific documentary sources to gather and organise information.
    Catalan and Spanish Studies
  • Act with ethical responsibility and respect for fundamental rights and duties, diversity and democratic values.
  • Analyse the main factors of linguistic variation in the Catalan and Spanish languages, whether historical-political, diatopical, semantic or pragmatic and their historical evolution and current state.
  • Analyse the main phonetic, phonological, morphological, syntactic, lexical and semantic properties of the Catalan and Spanish languages, their historical evolution and their current structure.
  • Carry out effective written work or oral presentations adapted to the appropriate register in different languages.
  • Demonstrate knowledge of the rules of Catalan and Spanish and mastery of their applications in the academic and professional fields.
  • Innovate in the methods and processes of this area of knowledge in response to the needs and wishes of society.
  • Produce arguments applicable to the areas of Catalan and Spanish philology, literary theory and linguistics and evaluate their academic relevance.
  • Students must be capable of communicating information, ideas, problems and solutions to both specialised and non-specialised audiences.
  • Students must develop the necessary learning skills in order to undertake further training with a high degree of autonomy.
  • Take sex- or gender-based inequalities into consideration when operating within one's own area of knowledge.

Learning Outcomes

  1. Analyse linguistic structures.
  2. Analyse the most problematic phonetic, phonological, morphological, syntactic, lexical and semantic properties of the present-day language.
  3. Analyse various types of linguistic data.
  4. Analyze linguistic structures.
  5. Analyze properties phonetic, phonological, morphological, syntactic, lexical and semantic language that current problems arise.
  6. Analyzing linguistic structures.
  7. Apply the principles of correctness required in the standard language and the different registers and variants.
  8. Appropriately use the different available formal and technical resources.
  9. Characterise linguistic phenomena taking into account the different levels of analysis.
  10. Correctly identify linguistic units.
  11. Describe the articulatory characteristics of the sounds of Catalan.
  12. Determine register types on the basis of phonology, morphology, syntax and semantics.
  13. Develop effective written work and oral presentations and adapted to the appropriate register.
  14. Distinguish between grammatical gender and natural gender.
  15. Express oneself with orthophonic correctness in standard Catalan.
  16. Gain a greater capacity for reading, interpreting and critically analysing literary and linguistic texts.
  17. Identify principal and secondary ideas and express them using correct language.
  18. Identify the main and secondary ideas and express them with linguistic correctness.
  19. Identify the source of errors in the use of language by non-native speakers.
  20. Identify the source of errors in the use of language to non-native speakers.
  21. Identifying different theoretical options or ways of dealing with the same problem from alternative theoretical frameworks.
  22. Identifying the main and secondary ideas and expressing them with linguistic correctness.
  23. Incorporate ideas and concepts from published sources into work, citing and referencing appropriately.
  24. Interpret texts in depth and provide standpoints from which to analyse them critically.
  25. Justify by means of appropriate terminology the analysis of data from a linguistic point of view.
  26. Locate specialised and academic information and select this according to its relevance.
  27. Maintain an attitude of respect for the opinions, values, behaviors and practices of others.
  28. Make appropriate use of the knowledge acquired in order to collect data and handle documentary sources in the study of Catalan language and literature.
  29. Make use of the knowledge acquired while respecting diversity of opinion and varieties of a language.
  30. Plan work effectively, individually or in groups, in order to fulfil the planned objectives.
  31. Produce normatively correct written and oral texts.
  32. Produce written and oral texts with correction rules.
  33. Produce written work and oral presentations that are effective and framed in the appropriate register.
  34. Properly apply the knowledge gained to data collection and management of documentary sources application to the study of Catalan language and literature.
  35. Respect the opinions, values, behaviour and customs of others.
  36. Strengthen the capacity of reading, interpretation and critical analysis of literary texts and language.
  37. Use basic methods for compiling and processing linguistic data.
  38. Use technological resources (digital and audiovisual) to acquire knowledge and apply it in language and literature.
  39. Work independently in the synchronic and diachronic study of Catalan language and literature.
  40. Work self-sufficiently on the synchronic and diachronic study of Catalan language and literature.

Content

  • Foundations of Phonology

  • Essential Phonological Concepts

  • Phonological Processes Affecting Vowels

  • Syllable Structure and Epenthesis

  • Lexical Processes Affecting Consonants

  • Postlexical Processes Affecting Consonants

  • Phenomena with Lexical and Postlexical Application

  • Other Processes


Activities and Methodology

Title Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Type: Directed      
Explanation of the syllabus and discussion of problems 45 1.8 5, 2, 11, 21
Type: Supervised      
In-class exercises and problem-solving 45 1.8 3, 2, 11, 12, 10, 19, 20, 21, 39, 40
Type: Autonomous      
Study and reading of selected texts 54 2.16 7, 33, 24, 16, 36, 32, 13, 40, 39

Explanations of the various concepts and phenomena will be combined with discussion and problem-solving activities.

Note: 15 minutes of one class session, within the schedule established by the department/program, will be reserved for students to complete surveys evaluating the instructor's performance and the course/module.

Annotation: Within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.


Assessment

Continous Assessment Activities

Title Weighting Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Concept test 15% 1.5 0.06 2, 5, 7, 9, 11, 12, 10, 21, 24, 25, 36, 16, 31, 32
Exercise test 25% 1.5 0.06 5
Final mixt test 50% 1.5 0.06 3, 4, 1, 6, 2, 5, 28, 34, 7, 9, 11, 12, 14, 15, 8, 33, 29, 10, 17, 18, 22, 20, 19, 21, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 35, 30, 16, 36, 32, 31, 13, 39, 40, 37, 38
Test on phonetic transcription and phonological characterization using features 10% 1.5 0.06 2, 5, 11, 10

Continuous Assessment

  • Test on phonetic transcription and phonological characterization in features: 10%

  • Concepts test: 15%

  • Exercise-solving test: 25%

  • Mixed final exam: 50%

Single Assessment

  • Oral practical-theoretical test: 50%

  • Mixed final exam: 50% (this coincides with test 4 of the continuous assessment)

The final grade for the course will be the weighted sum of the scores obtained in each activity, which must be at least 5 (out of 10). After each test, there will always be a procedure to review the results.

A student will receive a grade of “Not assessable” if they have completed less than 30% of the assessment activities.

Only students who have obtained a minimum overall grade of 3.5 and have been assessed in at least two-thirds of the course grade components will be eligible for a resit. Only the final exam can be retaken, and the maximum grade achievable in the resit is 5.

Errors in spelling and grammar will be penalized according to the rules established for each activity.

If a student commits any irregularity that could significantly affect the grade of an assessment activity, that activity will be graded as 0, regardless of any disciplinary process that may follow. If multiple irregularities occur across activities, the final grade for the course will be 0.

In this course, the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies is not permitted in any phase. Any work that includes AI-generated content will be considered an act of academic dishonesty and may result in a partial or full grade penalty on the assignment, or more severe sanctions in serious cases.


Bibliography

Bonet, Eulàlia i Maria-Rosa Lloret. 1998. Fonologia catalana. Barcelona: Ariel. http://ddd.uab.cat/record/132995

Lloret, Maria-Rosa. 2011. La fonologia del català. Barcelona: Santillana.

Prieto, Pilar. 2004. Fonètica i fonologia. Els sons del català. Barcelona: Editorial UOC

Recasens, Daniel. 1993. Fonètica i fonologia. Barcelona: Enciclopèdia Catalana.

Solà, Joan, Maria-Rosa Lloret, Joan Mascaró, Manuel Pérez Saldanya (eds.). 2002. Gramàtica del català contemporani. Volum I. Barcleona: Empúries.


Software

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Groups and Languages

Please note that this information is provisional until 30 November 2025. You can check it through this link. To consult the language you will need to enter the CODE of the subject.

Name Group Language Semester Turn
(PAUL) Classroom practices 1 Catalan second semester morning-mixed
(TE) Theory 1 Catalan second semester morning-mixed