Catalan is spoken in
northeastern Spain, in the Balearic Islands, in Andorra, and in a
small part of France. Historically it was the language of
Catalonia, the region that includes Barcelona, but today its
speakers extend down the Spanish coast as far as the province of
Valencia. In France it is spoken in the province of Pyrénées-Orientales,
formerly known as Roussillon. There are about 6 million speakers
of Catalan. About 500,000 are in the Balearic Islands, 250,000 in
France, 20,000 in Andorra, and the rest in Spain. Only in
Andorra, where it is the main language spoken, does it have
official status. Catalan is of the Romance family, most closely
related to Provençal.
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