Cadaques Catalan

If you have never been to this part of the world before, you might think that everyone speaks Spanish in Catalonia. Wrong, of course. The local lingo is Catalan.

And you might assume that everyone in Cadaqués speaks the same way as they do in Barcelona. Wrong again. Cadaqués has its own variant of Catalan. And it´s not just a dialect or accent either: one of the most striking differences features is that the definite articles are completely different (ie “the” in English). So in Barcelona Catalan the definite articles are “el” for masculine nouns and “la” for feminine. In Cadaqués the masculine form is “es” and the feminine form is “sa”. (This is a similar varaiation to that found in the Balearic Islands. Language supremos put this down to the relative isolation of the islands and Cadaqués as compared to the rest of Catalan mainland. In Cadaqués these differences were preserved from an earlier form of Catalan, whereas elsewhere the language evolved into something different).

Another difference of Cadaqués Catalan is the irst person singular of some verbs: where the verb would normally end in “o” , in Cadaqué the locals use an “i”

Cadaqués Catalan is called “Cadaquesenc” by the locals. Here are a few words for you:

  1. rastell: a street (normally with a steep slope) which is formed with pieces of slate stone placed in a vertical position. These types of streets are very characteristic of the streets of Cadaqués.
  2. grop: a black rain cloud
  3. llagut: a small boat
  4. talaia: an elevated castle or look-out which could warn the village of danger or transmit other signals (example: approaching ships) – compare with the “talaiots” of menorca.
  5. xarxi: a (fishing) net, as opposed to “xarxa” in standard Catalan
  6. Norai: Is a stone cylindrical building with a large stone on the top that fishermans used to attach their boats.