Editing Valencian language (section)

== Politico-linguistic controversy ==
{{Further|Valencian language controversy|Language secessionism|Blaverism|Norms of El Puig}}
Linguists, including Valencian scholars, deal with Catalan and Valencian as the same language. The official regulating body of the language of the Valencian community, the [[Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua|Valencian Language Academy]] (''Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua,'' AVL) considers Valencian and Catalan to be two names for the same language.<ref name="dictalmen AVL">[http://ca.wikisource.org/wiki/Dictamen_sobre_els_principis_i_criteris_per_a_la_defensa_de_la_denominaci%C3%B3_i_l%27entitat_del_valenci%C3%A0 ''"Dictamen de l'Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua sobre els principis i criteris per a la defensa de la denominació i l'entitat del valencià"'']. Report from [[Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua]] about denomination and identity of Valencian.</ref>
{{Wikisourcelang|vlca|Dictamen sobre els principis i criteris per a la defensa de la denominació i l'entitat del valencià|AVL: ''Dictamen sobre els principis i criteris per a la defensa de la denominació i l'entitat del valencià''}}
{{Blockquote|quote= [T]he historical patrimonial language of the [[Valencian people]], from a philological standpoint, is the same shared by the autonomous communities of [[Catalonia]] and [[Balearic Islands]], and [[Andorra|Principality of Andorra]]. Additionally, it is the patrimonial historical language of other territories of the ancient [[Crown of Aragon]] [...] The different varieties of these territories constitute a language, that is, a "linguistic system" [...] From this group of varieties, Valencian has the same hierarchy and dignity as any other dialectal modality of that linguistic system [...]|source=Ruling of the Valencian Language Academy of 9 February 2005, extract of point 1.{{sfn|Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua|2005}}{{efn|Original full text of Dictamen 1: {{lang|ca-valencia|D'acord amb les aportacions més solvents de la romanística acumulades des del segle XIX fins a l'actualitat (estudis de gramàtica històrica, de dialectologia, de sintaxi, de lexicografia…), la llengua pròpia i històrica dels valencians, des del punt de vista de la filologia, és també la que compartixen les comunitats autònomes de Catalunya i de les Illes Balears i el Principat d'Andorra. Així mateix és la llengua històrica i pròpia d'altres territoris de l'antiga Corona d'Aragó (la franja oriental aragonesa, la ciutat sarda de l'Alguer i el departament francés dels Pirineus Orientals). Els diferents parlars de tots estos territoris constituïxen una llengua, és a dir, un mateix "sistema lingüístic", segons la terminologia del primer estructuralisme (annex 1) represa en el Dictamen del Consell Valencià de Cultura, que figura com a preàmbul de la Llei de Creació de l'AVL. Dins d'eixe conjunt de parlars, el valencià té la mateixa jerarquia i dignitat que qualsevol altra modalitat territorial del sistema lingüístic, i presenta unes característiques pròpies que l'AVL preservarà i potenciarà d'acord amb la tradició lexicogràfica i literària pròpia, la realitat lingüística valenciana i la normativització consolidada a partir de les Normes de Castelló.}}}}}}
[[File:Linguistic map Southwestern Europe-en.gif|thumb|upright=1.35|right|Chronological map showing linguistic evolution of Valencian/Catalan in southwest Europe]]

The AVL was established in 1998 by the [[People's Party of the Valencian Community|PP]]-[[Valencian Union|UV]] government of [[Eduardo Zaplana]]. According to [[El País]], [[Jordi Pujol]], then president of Catalonia and of the [[CiU]], negotiated with Zaplana in 1996 to ensure the linguistic unity of Catalan in exchange for CiU support of the appointment of [[José María Aznar]] as [[Prime Minister of Spain]].<ref>{{cite news|title=Pujol revela que pactó con Zaplana para avanzar con discreción en la unidad del catalán|work=El País|location=Barcelona / Valencia |date=10 November 2004 |url=http://elpais.com/diario/2004/11/10/cvalenciana/1100117884_850215.html |access-date=13 July 2017 |language=es }}</ref> Zaplana has denied this, claiming that "[n]ever, never, was I able to negotiate that which is not negotiable, neither that which is not in the negotiating scope of a politician. That is, the unity of the language".{{efn|"{{lang|es|Nunca, nunca, pude negociar lo que no se puede negociar, ni aquello que no está en el ámbito de la negociación de un político. Es decir la unidad de la lengua.}}"}} The AVL orthography is based on the [[Normes de Castelló]], a set of rules for writing Valencian established in 1932.

A rival set of rules, called [[Normes del Puig]], were established in 1979 by the [[Real Acadèmia de Cultura Valenciana|Royal Academy of Valencian Culture]] (''Real Acadèmia de Cultura Valenciana'', RACV), which considers itself a rival language academy to the AVL, and promotes an [[Norms of El Puig|alternative orthography]], treating Valencian as an independent language, as opposed to a variety of Catalan. Compared to Standard Valencian, this orthography excludes many words not traditionally used in the Valencian Community, and also prefers spellings such as {{angbr|ch}} for {{IPA|/t͡ʃ/}} and {{angbr|y}} for {{IPA|/j/}} (as in [[Spanish language|Spanish]]). Besides, these alternative Norms are also promoted and taught by the cultural association [[Lo Rat Penat]].
 
Valencian is classified as a Western dialect, along with the North-Western varieties spoken in Western Catalonia ([[Province of Lleida]] and most of the [[Province of Tarragona]]).{{sfn|Feldhausen|2010|p=5}}{{sfn|Wheeler|2005|pages=2–3}} The various forms of Catalan and Valencian are mutually intelligible (ranging from 90% to 95%)<ref name="ethnologue">Central Catalan has 90% to 95% inherent intelligibility for speakers of Valencian (1989 R. Hall, Jr.), cited on [http://www.ethnologue.org/show_language.asp?code=cat Ethnologue].</ref>

Despite the position of the official organisations, an opinion poll carried out between 2001 and 2004<ref name="La Vanguardia 2004-12-09" /> showed that the majority (65%) of the Valencian people (both Valencian and Spanish speakers) consider Valencian different from Catalan: this position is promoted by people who do not use Valencian regularly.{{sfn|Wheeler|2003|p=207}} Furthermore, the data indicate that younger people educated in Valencian speaking areas are considerably less likely to hold these views. According to an official poll in 2014,<ref name="auto" /> 54% of Valencians considered Valencian to be a language different from Catalan, while 41% considered the languages to be the same. By applying a binary [[logistic regression]] to the same data, it was also found that different opinions about the unity of the language are different between people with certain levels of studies and the opinion also differs between each of the Valencian provinces. The opinion agreeing on the unity of Valencian and Catalan has significant differences regarding age, level of education and province of residence, with a majority of those aged 18–24 (51%) and those with a higher education (58%) considering Valencian to be the same language as Catalan. This can be compared to those aged 65 and above (29%) and those with only primary education (32%), where the same view has its lowest support. People living in the province of [[Castellón (province)|Castellón]] are more prone to be in favor of the unity of the language, while people living in the province of [[Alicante (province)|Alicante]] are more prone to be against the unity of the language, especially in the areas where Valencian is not a mandatory language at schools.{{verify source|date=October 2023}}<ref>{{cite journal |last1= Agulló Calatayud|first1= Vicent|date= 2011|title= Análisis de la realidad sociolingüística del valenciano |url= https://papers.uab.cat/article/view/v96-n2-agullo/369|journal= Papers|volume= 96 |issue= 2|page= 501|doi= 10.5565/rev/papers/v96n2.149 |access-date= 15 October 2023|doi-access= free|hdl= 10550/37211|hdl-access= free}}</ref> Later studies also showed that the results differ significantly depending on the way the question is posed.<ref>{{cite journal |last1= Baldaquí Escandell|first1= Josep M.|date= 2005|title= A Contribution to the Study of Valencian Linguistic Secessionism: Relations between the Perception of the Supradialectal Unity of the Catalan Language and Other Sociolinguistic Variables |url= https://www.liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/doi/10.3828/CATR.19.5|journal= Catalan Review|volume= XIX|pages= 47–58|doi= 10.3828/CATR.19.5|access-date= 15 October 2023|hdl= 10045/4347|hdl-access= free}}</ref>

The ambiguity regarding the term Valencian and its relation to Catalan has sometimes led to confusion and controversy. In 2004, during the drafting of the [[Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe|European Constitution]], the regional governments of Spain where a language other than Spanish is co-official were asked to submit translations into the relevant language in question. Since different names are used in Catalonia ("Catalan") and in the Valencian Community ("Valencian"), the two regions each provided one version, which were identical to each other.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Isabel I Vilar |first=Ferran |date=30 October 2004 |title=Traducció única de la Constitució europea |url=http://www.mail-archive.com/infozefir@listserv.rediris.es/msg00442.html |access-date=29 April 2009 |website=I-Zefir}}</ref>