Central Catalan

This variety (when free of localisms from Barcelona, Tarragona or Girona) is perceived by most Catalans as the standard form in Catalonia.

As evidenced in writings from the turn of the 19th century by authors such as Joaquim Ruyra, differences between Empordanese and Barcelonese were formerly more pronounced in such areas of usage as the salat definite article (which is still common in Balearic Catalan).

In addition, some synonyms are more preferred to their Standard Catalan equivalents, for example capir, capieixo, for entendre, entenc ('to understand', 'I understand') and testa for cap ('head') which share a closer similarity to modern Italian (capire, capisco / testa) than Standard Catalan.

Excerpt from the Parable of the Prodigal Son extracted from the works of 19th-century linguist Manuel Milà i Fontanals, who wrote extensively about Catalan dialectal differences: «Ai, fill meu», va dir el pare, «com vulguis; ets un dolent i Déu et castigarà».

Al cap d'uns quants dies, el dolent se'n va anar del poble molt tibat i sense dir adéu a ningú.