title: Nintendo 3DS

text: On July 28, 2011, Nintendo announced the Nintendo 3DS would be getting a price cut of almost a third of the console's original price, from $249.99 to $169.99 in North America, 25,000¥ to 15,000¥ in Japan, and $349.95 to $249.95 in Australia. Although in Europe, pricing is up to retailers, the system also received a substantial price cut. In an effort to compensate those who had paid the original price, the company introduced the "Nintendo 3DS Ambassador Program", through which existing 3DS owners were eligible (conditional that they must have accessed the Nintendo eShop at least once prior to August 21) to download ten NES games and ten Game Boy Advance games at no extra cost. Nintendo further stated that the NES Ambassador titles would see future release to the general public on the Nintendo eShop, while there were no plans to make the Game Boy Advance Ambassador titles available. The ten NES games were released in North America on August 31 and in Europe on September 1, 2011. These include: "Balloon Fight", "Donkey Kong Jr.", "Ice Climber", "Metroid", "NES Open Tournament Golf", "Super Mario Bros.", "The Legend of Zelda", "Wrecking Crew", "Yoshi" (North America) / "Mario & Yoshi" (Europe & Australia), and "". The ten Game Boy Advance games were released in North America on December 16, 2011. These include: "", "", "Kirby & the Amazing Mirror", "", "Mario vs. Donkey Kong", "Metroid Fusion", "", "", "Wario Land 4", and ""


title: Nintendo 3DS

text: On April 28, 2012, the Nintendo 3DS launched in South Korea, in "Cosmos Black", "Misty Pink", and "Cobalt Blue" color variations. On September 28, 2012, the system launched in two other regions, Hong Kong and Taiwan, in "Cerulean Blue" and "Shimmer Pink".


title: Nintendo 3DS

text: Rumors of a larger model of the Nintendo 3DS being in production appeared during June 2012, when Japanese publication "Nikkei" wrote an article stating that the system was initially scheduled to be unveiled at E3 2012. However, Nintendo responded that these rumors were false and that the article was "entire speculation", but refrained from further commenting on the subject. Finally, on June 21, 2012, the system was announced during a Nintendo Direct presentation. Featuring 90% larger screens than the original Nintendo 3DS, the system was set to launch on all major regions during the middle of the year.


title: Nintendo 3DS

text: The Nintendo 3DS XL (Nintendo 3DS LL in Japan) was released on July 28, 2012, in Japan, priced at ¥18,900, and was available in "Silver + Black", "Red + Black" and "White" color variations. In Europe, the system launched on the same day but in "Silver + Black", "Blue + Black" and "Red + Black" color variations. On August 19, the Nintendo 3DS XL launched in North America, priced at US$199.99, and available in "Blue + Black" and "Red + Black". On August 23, 2012, Australia and New Zealand saw the launch of the new handheld, priced at AU$249.95, and available in the same color variations as in Europe, "Silver + Black", "Blue + Black" and "Red + Black". The launch of the Nintendo 3DS XL coincided with the release of "New Super Mario Bros. 2", the first Nintendo 3DS game to be available in both retail and downloadable versions.


title: Nintendo 3DS

text: On September 20, 2012, the Nintendo 3DS XL launched in South Korea, in "Silver + Black", "Red + Black", and "White" color variations. On September 28, 2012, the system launched in two other regions, Hong Kong and Taiwan, in "Blue + Black" and "White" color variations. In December 2012, Nintendo Chinese distribution partner, iQue, launched the iQue 3DS XL in three special editions, one featuring a Mario decal while the other two feature both Mario and Luigi.


title: Nintendo 3DS

text: Nintendo officially announced their next console, the Nintendo Switch, in October 2016 and with worldwide release in March 2017. The Switch is a hybrid video game console that can be used both as a home console docked to a television or taken on-the-go to be used as a handheld system. While the Switch displaced the Wii U as Nintendo's primary home console in terms of production and distribution, Nintendo executives affirmed that the company would continue to support the 3DS with more first-party and third-party games in the immediate future. Fils-Aimé assured that the 3DS "has a long life in front of it", and that Nintendo intends for it to co-exist with the Switch, while Kimishima considered the 3DS as an entry-level product for younger players. In June 2017, Fils-Aimé said they would be supporting Nintendo 3DS beyond 2018. In July 2017, production of the New Nintendo 3DS had ended in Europe and Japan leaving the New Nintendo 3DS XL and then-recently released New Nintendo 2DS XL as the only 3DS models still in production worldwide. In June 2018, Nintendo said it was considering some possibilities for a successor to the Nintendo 3DS.


title: Nintendo 3DS

text: In June 2019, Nintendo confirmed that first-party game development had ceased, but that the system would continue to be supported through the near future. With the unveiling of the Nintendo Switch Lite—a lower-end version of the Switch console—Nintendo of America CEO Doug Bowser stated that the company still planned to continue supporting the 3DS family as long as there was still demand. In November 2019, Bowser reaffirmed that Nintendo would continue to support the 3DS into 2020. On September 16, 2020, Nintendo confirmed that production of the Nintendo 3DS family of systems had ended. On July 20, 2021, Nintendo's Japanese website announced that the Nintendo 3DS and Wii U eShops would no longer accept credit cards. This change was put in place on January 18, 2022. The Internet Browser's filter function was also no longer able to be turned off for Japanese 3DS devices after this date. The ability to purchase content through the Nintendo eShop will be discontinued on March 27, 2023.


title: Nintendo 3DS

text: The original Nintendo 3DS model has custom components co-developed by the Nintendo Research & Engineering department and other manufacturers, all combined into a unified system on chip. Its main central processing unit (CPU) is a dual-core ARM11 MPCore-based processor manufactured at and clocked at . One processor core is dedicated to games and applications, while the other core is exclusive to the operating system, enabling multitasking and background tasks. These tasks are handled seamlessly in the background during gameplay or while the system is in sleep mode. The system also contains a single-core ARM9-based processor, enabling backward compatibility with both Nintendo DS and DSi titles. The graphics processor (GPU) is a PICA200 developed by Digital Media Professionals, running at . The system contains of random-access memory (RAM) consisting of of FCRAM developed by Fujitsu, with a peak bandwidth of .


title: Nintendo 3DS

text: The console contains two separate screens. The top screen is a 15:9 (5:3) autostereoscopic liquid-crystal display (LCD) with a resolution of (effectively per eye, or WQVGA). On the original 3DS, the screen measures , while on the 3DS XL it measures . It is autostereoscopic; it uses a parallax barrier to produce a three-dimensional effect without requiring special glasses. There is a "3D Depth Slider" next to the screen for adjusting the 3D effect or turning it off altogether. The bottom screen is a 4:3 resistive touchscreen with a display resolution of 320×240 pixels (QVGA). On the original Nintendo 3DS, the screen measures , while on the 3DS XL it measures .


title: Nintendo 3DS

text: The system features three camera sensors: two cameras on the outside of the device, capable of taking 3D photos and capturing 3D video; and one camera facing the user positioned above the top screen. All camera sensors have a maximum resolution of 640×480 pixels (0.3 megapixels, VGA) with one-point focus and can only achieve digital zoom. There is also a microphone in the bottom of the system.


title: Nintendo 3DS

text: The system includes of eMMC flash memory manufactured by either Toshiba or Samsung. The system's memory can be expanded via an SD memory card slot, which supports SD and SDHC memory cards. All the Nintendo 3DS systems come packaged with a 2 GB SD card while Nintendo 3DS XL systems include a SDHC card. The system uses 2.4 GHz 802.11 b/g wireless network connectivity with enhanced WPA2 security. There is also an infrared port on the back of the console, which allows the system to connect with certain peripherals such as the Circle Pad Pro and the amiibo reader/writer.


title: Nintendo 3DS

text: The Nintendo 3DS comes with a lithium ion battery. Its longevity fluctuates between 3 and 5 hours while playing Nintendo 3DS games and between 5 and 8 hours while playing Nintendo DS games, depending on brightness, volume and wireless settings. The Nintendo 3DS XL, however, comes with a 1750 mAh, 3.7 V lithium-ion battery capable of lasting between 3.5 and 6.5 hours playing 3DS games and 6 to 10 hours playing DS games. While the original 3DS weighs approximately , the larger XL version weighs approximately . When opened, the original 3DS is wide, broad, and thick. The XL version however, is wide, broad, and thick. The 3DS also come with a telescoping stylus, extendable to up to long, while the 3DS XL come with a regular stylus.


title: Nintendo 3DS

text: All systems in the Nintendo 3DS family use the same AC adapter used with the Nintendo DSi and Nintendo DSi XL. In order to reduce production costs, certain console bundles, such as Japanese and European releases of the Nintendo 3DS XL and the New Nintendo 3DS, were not bundled with an AC adapter, requiring players to either use one from an older system they may own or purchase one separately. Along with plugging the adapter directly into the system, the standard Nintendo 3DS comes with a charging cradle, which players place their system in to charge. Charging cradles for the Nintendo 3DS XL and New Nintendo 3DS systems are sold separately from their respective systems, and there is no cradle for the Nintendo 2DS.


title: Nintendo 3DS

text: The Nintendo 3DS input controls include the following: a round nub analog input called the Circle Pad, a D-pad, four face buttons (A, B, X, Y), bumper buttons (L, R), a Home button, Start and Select buttons, and a Power button. It also features a dedicated volume slider and a wireless switch, which turns on or off wireless communications. The touchscreen can be interacted with either the user's finger or a stylus bundled with the handheld. There is also a six-axis motion sensor, which includes a 3-axis accelerometer and a 3-axis gyroscope. Through the Circle Pad Pro accessory the system has access to a second Circle Pad and trigger buttons (Z, Z).


title: Nintendo 3DS

text: The Nintendo 3DS Game Card is a media format used to physically distribute video games for Nintendo 3DS systems. The 3DS Game Card is similar in design to the Nintendo DS Game Card, but includes a small tab on the top left of the card that prevents 3DS Game Cards from being inserted into a Nintendo DS. These Game Cards can hold up to either 1 GB, 2 GB or 4 GB of game data depending on the game, which is 2, 4, and 8 times more storage, respectively, than the biggest Nintendo DS Game Card's capacity (512 MB). Some sources claim that an 8 GB version could be produced should a game ever require it.


title: Nintendo 3DS

text: The Circle Pad Pro is an accessory/add-on which connects to a Nintendo 3DS system through infrared, adding support for a second Circle Pad, a substitute R button input (as the original one becomes difficult to reach), and an extra set of trigger buttons (Z / Z). The device was first released in Japan on December 10, 2011, coinciding with the release of "Monster Hunter 3G" in the region. It was subsequently released in Europe on January 27, 2012, in Australia on February 2, 2012, and in North America on February 7, 2012, coinciding with the release of "" in those regions.


title: Nintendo 3DS

text: Images of the device first appeared in September 2011 in Famitsu. The first titles confirmed to compatible with the add-on were "Monster Hunter 3G", "Resident Evil: Revelations", "" , "", "", and "Shin Sangoku Musou VS".


title: Nintendo 3DS

text: The Nintendo 3DS XL version of the device, called the Circle Pad Pro XL, was released in Japan on November 15, 2012, Europe on March 22, 2013, and North America on April 17, 2013.


title: Nintendo 3DS

text: The C-Stick and Z / Z buttons on the New Nintendo 3DS are backward compatible with Circle Pad Pro-compatible titles.


title: Nintendo 3DS

text: This accessory came bundled exclusively with every retail copy of "". The stand made the game, and other games with similar controls such as "Liberation Maiden", easier to play for various users, as it helped free the tension of suspending the console with one hand since the other hand would be using the stylus on the touch screen for longer periods than usual.


title: Nintendo 3DS

text: A near-field communication (NFC) reader and writer was released on September 25, 2015, in North America at and on October 2 in Europe, alongside "". This peripheral enables Amiibo support for the Nintendo 3DS, 3DS XL, and 2DS, a feature already built-in to New Nintendo 3DS systems. The accessory is powered by two AA batteries.


title: Nintendo 3DS

text: The Nintendo 3DS family consists of six models. Apart from the regular-sized Nintendo 3DS, the Nintendo 3DS XL is a larger model of the console which was released on July 28, 2012, and features 90% larger screens than the original Nintendo 3DS. The Nintendo 2DS is a complete redesign of the handheld which was released on October 12, 2013, and is described as an "entry level" version of the 3DS. This console, while still capable of playing Nintendo DS and 3DS games, removes the 3D functionality and changes the form factor to a fixed, "slate" design. The New Nintendo 3DS, which also has an XL variant, adds additional controls and improved functionality, and is able to play certain games not compatible with the previous models. A cheaper alternative, the New Nintendo 2DS XL, incorporates some of the features from the New Nintendo 3DS with elements from the 2DS such as the lack of stereoscopic 3D functionality; it also shifts from the slate form factor of the original 2DS model to a clamshell design.


title: Nintendo 3DS

text: The Nintendo 2DS (abbreviated to 2DS) was announced on August 28, 2013, as a new entry-level model of the Nintendo 3DS family. While its hardware and software are relatively similar to the Nintendo 3DS (and still offers compatibility with Nintendo DS and 3DS games), it lacks the 3DS's signature 3D screen, does not have internal stereo speakers (only using a mono speaker), and uses a slate-like form factor as opposed to the clamshell design used by its Nintendo DS and 3DS predecessors. The Nintendo 2DS was released in North America and Europe on October 12, 2013, coinciding with the launch of "Pokémon X" & "Y" and is being sold alongside the Nintendo 3DS and 3DS XL at a relatively lower price point.


title: Nintendo 3DS

text: As a cheaper model of the Nintendo 3DS family that plays both Nintendo DS and 3DS games, the Nintendo 2DS is seen as a market strategy to broaden the overall Nintendo handheld gaming market. As such, the 2DS is a handheld console targeted at a different audience than that of the regular Nintendo 3DS models, particularly younger users. Despite concerns from critics who felt that the company was trying to de-emphasize the 3D functionality by releasing the 2DS, Nintendo maintains that 3D is still part of their future plans.


title: Nintendo 3DS

text: The New Nintendo 3DS and New Nintendo 3DS XL (known as New Nintendo 3DS LL in Japan) are updated revisions of the 3DS and 3DS XL that were first unveiled during a Japanese Nintendo Direct presentation on August 29, 2014. The new models feature a more powerful processor, face tracking for improved 3D viewing angles, additional ZL/ZR shoulder buttons and a new "C-Stick" pointing stick that are comparable to and backward compatible with games that support the Circle Pad Pro, colored face buttons inspired by those of Super NES controllers, automatic brightness adjustment, microSD storage, larger batteries, and integrated near-field communications support for use with Amiibo products. The regular-sized New Nintendo 3DS also has slightly larger screens than the prior model, and a suite of interchangeable faceplates.


title: Nintendo 3DS

text: As with its predecessors, the New Nintendo 3DS is compatible with existing DS and 3DS titles. Some software titles, such as "Xenoblade Chronicles 3D" and Super NES games released for Virtual Console, are specifically optimized for the device and its upgraded processor and are incompatible with the earlier 3DS and 2DS models.


title: Nintendo 3DS

text: The systems were released in Japan on October 11, 2014, in Australia and New Zealand on November 21, 2014, and at retail in Europe and North America on February 13, 2015. Only the XL version was made available in North America at launch, though the smaller model was later released in a series of limited edition bundles.


title: Nintendo 3DS

text: On April 27, 2017, Nintendo unveiled the New Nintendo 2DS XL (known as New Nintendo 2DS LL in Japan), which was released in North America and Europe on July 28, 2017 and Japan on July 29, 2017. The system is a variation of the New Nintendo 3DS line, featuring the additional hardware features and software compatibility of the New Nintendo 3DS, albeit without the stereoscopic 3D functionality, updated micro SD card placement to make it easier to remove, an updated home button and cartridge cover similar to the Nintendo Switch, and a foldable form factor.


title: Nintendo 3DS

text: The Home Menu is a graphical user interface similar to the Nintendo DSi Menu and Wii U Menu for Nintendo 3DS systems. It is used to launch software stored on Nintendo DS and Nintendo 3DS Game Cards, applications installed on a SD card, and DSiWare titles installed in the system's internal memory. Application icons are set in a customizable grid navigable on the lower screen. On the upper screen, a special 3D animated logo is displayed for each individual app, as well as system information such as wireless signal strength, date and time, and battery life. Using the Home button, users can suspend the current software that is running and bring up the Home Menu, allowing the user to launch certain multitasking applications, such as the Internet Browser and Miiverse.


title: Nintendo 3DS

text: Similarly to the Nintendo DSi, the menu has updateable firmware. On April 25, 2012, a system update brought the introduction of a folder system, which allows users to put applications inside folders. On June 20, 2013, a system update brought the introduction of the "Save Data Backup" feature, which allows the user to back up save data from downloadable Nintendo 3DS software and most Virtual Console games. An update was released on October 30, 2014, to enable players to download custom themes for the Home Menu, based on various Nintendo titles.


title: Nintendo 3DS

text: Nintendo 3DS Camera is a built-in photo and video recorder with an integrated media gallery and photo editing functionality. The app uses the system's two front-facing cameras to take 3D photos, and the user-facing camera to take regular 2D photos. All photographs are taken at a resolution of 640 x 480 px (VGA), or 0.3 megapixels. The two perspectives of 3D photographs are stored into two separate files, with JPG and MPO extensions.


title: Nintendo 3DS

text: There are various options and filters available when taking photos or recording video. There is also a "Low-Light" option, which is useful when taking photos and recording video in low lighting conditions.


title: Nintendo 3DS

text: On December 7, 2011, a system update added the ability to record 3D video along special recording options, such as the ability to make stop motion animations. All recording modes only allow a single video to be up to 10 minutes long.


title: Nintendo 3DS

text: Nintendo 3DS Sound is a built-in music player and sound recorder. Supported filename extensions include MP3 audio with .mp3 and AAC audio with .mp4, .m4a, or .3GP. Audio files can be played from an SD card, with visualizations displayed on the upper screen. Music can be played while the console is closed, using the system's headphone jack. A set of sound manipulation options are available, as well as several audio filters. Ten-second voice recordings can also be recorded and edited. These can then be shared throughout other applications such as Swapnote. There is also a StreetPass function built-into the app, where users exchange song data to make a compatibility chart between them.


title: Nintendo 3DS

text: Nintendo eShop is the Nintendo 3DS's online software distribution service. Launched in June 2011, the eShop provides downloadable retail and download-only Nintendo 3DS titles, Virtual Console titles, and various applications and videos. It also allows users to purchase downloadable content (DLC) and automatically download patches for both physical and downloadable games. All content obtained from Nintendo eShop is attached to a Nintendo Network ID but can only be used in one system. Background downloading is possible via SpotPass, while playing games or in sleep mode. Up to ten downloads can be queued at a time and their status can be checked on the Home Menu. The Nintendo eShop supports simple user software reviews. Users can submit a review with "stars" ranging from one to five, representing its quality in a crescent order, and categorize software by whether it is suitable for hardcore or more casual players. User reviews can only be submitted after using the software for at least one hour.


title: Nintendo 3DS

text: Certain Latin American and Caribbean countries, which feature a more limited eShop, had their systems closed in July 2020. Countries in the region with the full eShop and the rest of the world are currently unaffected until March 2023.


title: Nintendo 3DS

text: It was later announced on February 15, 2022, that support for Nintendo eShop for the Nintendo 3DS for the rest of the world would be discontinued in late March 2023 (this was confirmed to be March 27, 2023), with the ability to add credit cards ceasing by May 23, 2022, followed by the inability to add funds by August 29, 2022.


title: Nintendo 3DS

text: Miiverse was an integrated social networking service, which allowed players to interact and share their gaming experiences through their personal Mii characters. It was originally launched on Wii U and was launched on the Nintendo 3DS on December 11, 2013, via a firmware update. Its functionality was similar to the Wii U version albeit without the private messaging feature, and required a Nintendo Network ID.


title: Nintendo 3DS

text: Miiverse allowed users to seamlessly share accomplishments, comments, hand written notes, and game screenshots with other players on various communities specific to their games and applications. It was possible to access Wii U communities on the Nintendo 3DS and vice versa. It was also possible to access Miiverse on any internet enabled smartphone, tablet and PC. The service was moderated through software filtering as well as a human resource team in order to ensure that the content shared by users was appropriate and that no spoilers were shared. It was also possible to post screenshots from certain games to social networking websites such as Twitter, Tumblr and/or Facebook via the "Nintendo 3DS Image Share" service.


title: Nintendo 3DS

text: The Nintendo 3DS's internet browser was released via a firmware update on June 6, 2011, in North America and June 7, 2011, in Europe and Japan. It functions as a multitasking system application and can be used while another application is suspended in the background. The browser supports HTML, CSS, JavaScript and some HTML5 elements but does not support Flash, video or music. It can also download and show 3D images with the .mpo file extension and allows users to save images on an SD card. Additionally the browser supports JPEG and MPO image uploads from the system's photo gallery. The user can also choose between the Google and the Yahoo! search engines, and can also create bookmarks.


title: Nintendo 3DS

text: Nintendo Video launched in Australia, Europe, and Japan on July 13, 2011, and in North America on July 21, 2011, along with a tutorial video. The service periodically updates its video content availability through SpotPass, automatically adding and deleting content from the console. Up to four videos can be available through the app at the same time. Nintendo Video content include: established series such as "Oscar's Oasis" and "Shaun the Sheep" (with fifteen exclusive episodes); original series such as "Dinosaur Office" and "BearShark" by CollegeHumor; short films; movie trailers; and sports videos by Redbull and BSkyB. The Nintendo Video app was discontinued in the Japanese, European and Oceania regions by April 2014, and in North America by July 2015. In North America at least, the "Nintendo Video" name continues to exist via a permanent Nintendo eShop category for all hosted videos that previously featured on the former app, as well as potential new content. The permanently hosted online "Nintendo Video" eShop videos can be viewed on-demand at any time without additional costs.


title: Nintendo 3DS

text: The Netflix streaming video service was released in North America on July 14, 2011. Netflix users are able to pause streaming video on the Nintendo 3DS and resume it on other Netflix-enabled devices. Only 2D content is available through the service. The Netflix app was discontinued on June 30, 2021. Nintendo announced on October 21, 2011, that Hulu Plus would be released on the Nintendo 3DS by the end of the year. On February 16, 2012, following the debut of Hulu on the Wii, Nintendo reiterated the announcement this time claiming it would be available on the 3DS sometime in 2012. Finally, on August 6, 2013, the Hulu application became available in Japan and on October 17, 2013, the Hulu Plus application was launched in North America, along with a one-week free trial. On November 29, 2013, the YouTube application was released for the Nintendo 3DS in Europe and North America. It was discontinued in August 2019.


title: Nintendo 3DS

text: The SpotPass TV service launched in Japan on June 19, 2011. The service was a joint service between Nippon TV and Fuji TV that brought free 3D video content to Nintendo 3DS users in Japan. Types of content included programming teaching the user how to do magic tricks, Japanese idol sumo wrestling, sports, and 3D dating, among others. The service was terminated on June 20, 2012, a year after its inception. A Eurosport app launched in Europe and Australia on December 15, 2011, and worked similarly to the Nintendo Video app. It featured weekly episodes of "Watts Zap" and other compilation videos containing Eurosport content. The service was terminated on December 31, 2012, a year after its inception.


title: Nintendo 3DS

text: Swapnote (known as Nintendo Letter Box in Europe and Australia) is a messaging application for the Nintendo 3DS. Swapnote was released on December 21, 2011, in Japan and on December 22 in Europe, Australia and North America, via the Nintendo eShop. The application is free and is pre-installed on newer systems. It allows users to send hand-written/drawn messages to registered friends via SpotPass either or other users via StreetPass. The app also allows users to freely embed pictures and sounds into their messages.


title: Nintendo 3DS

text: On October 31, 2013, Nintendo abruptly suspended the Swapnote/Nintendo Letter Box SpotPass functionality after discovering minors were sharing Friend Codes with strangers who had exploited the messaging service to allegedly exchange pornographic imagery.


title: Nintendo 3DS

text: Mii Maker is a system application that allows users to create Mii characters through either a selection of facial and body features, such as the nose, mouth, eyes, hair, among other, or by taking a photo using the system's cameras and auto-generate a personal Mii. Mii characters can also be added and shared by reading special QR codes with one of the cameras. It is also possible to import Mii characters from a Wii or a Wii U system. However, Mii created on Nintendo 3DS systems cannot be exported back to a Wii due to the addition of character parts in Mii Maker not present on the Wii's "Mii Channel". This restriction, however, is not applied when exporting a Mii from a Nintendo 3DS to a Wii U system.


title: Nintendo 3DS

text: Activity Log is a system application that tracks a record of which games have been played and for how long. Additionally, it functions as a pedometer. The feature encourages walking every day with the system in order to earn "Play Coins", at a maximum of 10 each day at a rate of one per 100 steps, to a total of 300 coins. Play Coins can then be used with compatible games and applications to acquire special content and a variety of other benefits.


title: Nintendo 3DS

text: Other network features of the Nintendo 3DS include the Nintendo Network, SpotPass and StreetPass. StreetPass Mii Plaza is a StreetPass application which comes pre-installed on every Nintendo 3DS system, while Nintendo Zone Viewer is a built-in application that detects and makes use of certified SpotPass hotspots. The service has since been discontinued.


title: Nintendo 3DS

text: Retail copies of games are supplied on proprietary cartridges called "Nintendo 3DS Game Cards", which are packaged in keep cases with simple instructions. In Europe, the boxes have a triangle at the bottom corner of the paper sleeve-insert side. The triangle is color-coded to identify the region for which the title is intended and which manual languages are included. Unlike with previous Nintendo consoles, the complete software manual is only available digitally via the system's Home Menu. Software published by Nintendo and by some third parties come packaged with Club Nintendo points, which can be redeemed for special rewards. Retail and download-only games are also available for download in the Nintendo eShop. All Nintendo 3DS consoles are region locked (software purchased in a region can be only played on that region's hardware).


title: Nintendo 3DS

text: A total of 386.48 million Nintendo 3DS games have been sold worldwide , with 49 titles surpassing the million-unit mark. The most successful game, "Mario Kart 7", has sold 18.94 million units worldwide.


title: Nintendo 3DS

text: The Nintendo 3DS launched in Japan with 8 games, in North America with 12 games and in Europe with 14 games. An additional thirty games were announced for release during the system's "launch window", which includes the three months after the system's launch date.


title: Nintendo 3DS

text: "AR Games" is a compilation of several augmented reality mini-games and simple tools, which is pre-installed on every Nintendo 3DS, along with 6 paper cards that interact with certain games. Five of the six cards have a picture of a character on them, consisting of Mario, Link, Kirby, Pikmin, and Samus. The sixth one is a question mark box from the "Super Mario Bros." series. Nintendo has also published downloadable versions of this card in larger sizes. By scanning the cards, real time graphics are augmented onto live footage. It is also possible to take 3D photos of Nintendo characters, using any to all 6 AR Cards, as well as their Miis.


title: Nintendo 3DS

text: Some AR cards are also compatible with other Nintendo 3DS games including "Nintendogs + Cats", "", "Pokédex 3D Pro", "", and "".


title: Nintendo 3DS

text: "Face Raiders" is another augmented reality application pre-installed on every Nintendo 3DS system. In order to start playing, the user must take pictures of peoples' faces. These faces then turn into enemies and attack the player, who must shoot them using the system's gyroscope. The background of the game is the rear camera's viewpoint. As people walk by in the background, the game takes their pictures from their faces, also adding them as enemies. It is also possible to collect faces from the system's image gallery, which is searched automatically for faces.


title: Nintendo 3DS

text: There are other Nintendo 3DS applications that similarly use the system's AR capabilities, such as "Photos with Mario", "Photos with Animal Crossing", "Pokémon Dream Radar", and "".


title: Nintendo 3DS

text: Download Play allows users to play local multiplayer games with other Nintendo 3DS systems using only one Game Card. Players must have their systems within wireless range (up to approximately 65 feet) of each other for the guest system to download the necessary data from the host system. Download Play on Nintendo 3DS systems is also backward compatible, meaning that it is also available for Nintendo DS games. Unlike Download Play on Nintendo DS, game data is stored on the system's SD card once downloaded to the guest system, no longer requiring a re-download for a future game session. Nintendo 3DS games can only transfer a maximum of 32 MB of data to other systems while in download play. Other forms of local multiplayer modes require each player to own the software that is currently being used.


title: Nintendo 3DS

text: In addition to its own software, the Nintendo 3DS is backward compatible with all Nintendo DS and Nintendo DSi software. Like the DSi and DSi XL, the Nintendo 3DS is incompatible with DS software that requires use of the Game Boy Advance port. Nintendo DS and DSi software cannot be played with 3D visuals on the 3DS. The original DS display resolutions are displayed in a scaled and stretched fashion due to the increased resolution of the 3DS's screens. If the user holds down the START or SELECT buttons upon launching Nintendo DS software, the emulated screens will be displayed in the Nintendo DS's native resolution, albeit smaller with black borders. On the Nintendo 3DS XL, this method yields a viewing size for DS games similar to their native sizes (due to the larger screen size of the XL), unlike on the original 3DS models, where the games appear to be shrunk.


title: Nintendo 3DS

text: The Virtual Console service allows Nintendo 3DS owners to download and play games originally released for the Game Boy, Game Boy Color, Game Gear, NES, and exclusively for the New Nintendo 3DS models, Super NES. Virtual Console games are distributed over broadband Internet via the Nintendo eShop, and are saved to a removable SD card. Once downloaded, Virtual Console games can be accessed from the Home Menu as individual apps. The service was launched on June 6 in North America and June 7, 2011, in Japan and Europe as part of a system update.


title: Nintendo 3DS

text: Nintendo and Sega also launched the "3D Classics" series, a selection of enhanced retro games for the Nintendo 3DS featuring updated stereoscopic graphics.


title: Nintendo 3DS

text: The Louvre Museum in Paris contracted Nintendo to create a 3DS-based audiovisual visitor guide. Titled "Nintendo 3DS Guide: Louvre", this guide contains over 30 hours of audio and over 1,000 photographs of artwork and the museum itself, including 3D views, and also provides navigation thanks to differential GPS transmitters installed within the museum. 3DS XLs pre-loaded with the guide are available for hire at the museum, and the software can also be purchased from the Nintendo eShop. Unlike most 3DS titles, the guide is not region locked.


title: Nintendo 3DS

text: The Nintendo 3DS hardware has received largely positive reviews. IGN called its hardware design a "natural evolution of the Nintendo DSi system." CNET praised the device's 3D effect, while IGN called it "impressively sharp and clean", and impressively superior to its predecessors, although it was noted that the 3D effect only worked if the system was held at the right distance and angle. A common complaint was the 3DS's battery life; Engadget reported to get 3 hours of battery life from the system, while IGN reported 2 to 4.5 hours of play.


title: Nintendo 3DS

text: The Nintendo 3DS XL was very well received at launch. Reviewers generally recommended the console to new buyers of the Nintendo 3DS family, although not so much to current owners of a Nintendo 3DS. Kotaku mentioned it as "possibly the best portable gaming device ever...[and] a well-designed machine..." and that "it plays great games" while The Verge called it "the best portable gaming buy around right now." The Nintendo 3DS XL improves upon the battery life of the original 3DS. Kotaku claimed that the Nintendo 3DS XL's battery "lasts a cross-country flight.". Sam Byford of "The Verge" noted that the larger top screen makes more obvious problems with aliasing and low-resolution textures. He did, however, say that the 3D felt more immersive: "Where the 3DS felt like peering through a peephole into another world, the XL is almost like stepping through a door." On the other hand, Destructoid said the 3D effect on the XL was more subtle than on its predecessor. The Verge spoke positively of the build quality and design choices, saying the console improved on the original. A Destructoid reviewer said the 3DS XL was easier to use than the regular Nintendo 3DS, mainly due to his large hands. The Verge noted lowered sound quality from the original, the result of smaller speakers. Both The Verge and Gizmodo complained of low-quality cameras.


title: Nintendo 3DS

text: Prior to its launch, Amazon UK announced that the Nintendo 3DS was their most pre-ordered video game system ever. Nintendo of America announced that the number of pre-orders were double the number of pre-orders for the Wii.


title: Nintendo 3DS

text: The system launched in Japan on February 26, 2011, and sold its entire allotment of 400,000 Nintendo 3DS units during its release, amid reports of major queues outside retailers and pre-order sellouts. On March 25, 2011, the system launched in Europe, selling 303,000 units during its first two days of its release. In the UK 113,000 3DS units were sold during its opening weekend, making it Nintendo's most successful hardware launch in the country to this day. According to the NPD Group, Nintendo sold just under 500,000 Nintendo 3DS units during the month of March 2011 in the US, with 440,000 Nintendo 3DS units sold in its first week of release. As of March 31, 2011, the 3DS had sold 3.61 million units, short of the 4 million Nintendo projected. The Nintendo 3DS is also the fastest selling console in Australia, with 200,000 units sold through 37 weeks of availability.


title: Nintendo 3DS

text: Following the system's price cut of almost one third of its original price by the second quarter of 2011, sales saw an increase of more than 260 percent during the comparable 19-day time period in July. About 185,000 units were sold following a price cut on August 12. Nintendo sold more than 235,000 Nintendo 3DS systems in the United States in August, being the second best-selling dedicated game system for the month.


title: Nintendo 3DS

text: Approximately 8 months after its release, Nintendo of America announced that sales of the Nintendo 3DS had surpassed the original Nintendo DS in its first year, which was approximately 2.37 million units sold. During the 2011 holiday season, the Nintendo 3DS sold approximately 1.6 million units in Japan. By the end of 2011, Nintendo 3DS sales reached 4 million units sold in the United States. Overall, Nintendo sold 11.4 million Nintendo 3DS units worldwide, in 2011.


title: Nintendo 3DS

text: On September 30, 2013, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata announced that the Nintendo 3DS had sold more than 5 million units in Japan during the year of 2013. This mark was only surpassed by its predecessor, the Nintendo DS.


title: Nintendo 3DS

text: Following the launch of the Nintendo 2DS, Nintendo sold 452,000 units of the Nintendo 3DS family in the United States, during the month of October, double the previous month's sales. As such, it achieved its sixth consecutive month as the best-selling video game console in the US. Total Nintendo 3DS first-party software sales for the month hit more than 2 million units, the highest since December 2011. North American retailer Target reported that the Nintendo 3DS XL was among its top-sellers during the Black Friday. On November 29, 2013, Nintendo of France deputy general manager Philippe Lavoué announced that Nintendo 3DS life-to-date hardware sales stand at 2.15 million units in France, in which 30 percent account for Nintendo 2DS sales. It was also announced that the 3DS possesses a market share of 50 percent of all video game systems sold, and that Nintendo 3DS software sales rose from 850,000 to 1,700,000 year-over-year in the region. According to the NPD Group, Nintendo sold around 770,000 units of the Nintendo 3DS family in November in North America, pushing the lifetime to nearly 10.5 million units in the region. On December 19, 2013, MCV reported that lifetime Nintendo 3DS family sales in the United Kingdom had hit 2 million units, making it the best-selling console of the year in the region.


title: Nintendo 3DS

text: By January 2014, Nintendo had sold 900,000 units in Spain. The fourth quarter of 2014 saw the release of the New Nintendo 3DS in Japan and Australia. Although having upgraded hardware, a few exclusive titles, and being capable of running Super NES games for the Virtual Console, it is not treated as a new generation of console. It is considered to be part of the 3DS family, and is therefore included in these sales figures.


title: Nintendo 3DS

text: The first quarter of 2015 saw the release of the New Nintendo 3DS, part of the 3DS family and thus counted among these sales figures, in Europe and North America.


title: Nintendo 3DS

text: , Nintendo reports 75.94 million units have been shipped worldwide, of which 25.26 million were shipped to Japan, 26.90 million were shipped to the Americas, and 23.78 million were shipped to other territories including Europe.


title: Nintendo 3DS

text: Nintendo has publicly stated that the 3D mode of the Nintendo 3DS is not intended for use by children ages six and younger, citing possible harm to their vision. Nintendo suggests that younger players use the device's 2D mode instead, although the American Optometric Association has assured parents that 3D gaming in moderation would not be harmful for children. Additionally, the 3DS may help in screening children before the age of 6 who have depth related vision problems according to Dr. Michael Duenas, associate director for health sciences and policy for the American Optometric Association, and Dr. Joe Ellis, the president of the optometrists' association. However, Dr. David Hunter, a pediatric ophthalmologist affiliated with the American Academy of Ophthalmology believes that it is largely speculative whether a child who has problems perceiving depth in real life would react to a 3DS in any way that parents would recognize as indicating any problems with depth perception. Duenas asserted that Nintendo's vague warning that "there is a possibility that 3-D images which send different images to the left and right eye could affect the development of vision in small children," was not specifically backed up by any scientific evidence, and that it was motivated by preventing possible liability rather than safeguarding against realistic harm.


title: Nintendo 3DS

text: The system's parental controls, safeguarded by a PIN, allow parents to disable autostereoscopic effects on systems intended for use by young children. Playing games in 3D has been suspected of causing headaches among some gamers.


title: Nintendo 3DS

text: Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aimé partially cited these concerns as one of the influences of the creation of the Nintendo 2DS, an entry-level version of the Nintendo 3DS systems lacking 3D functionality.


title: Nintendo 3DS

text: In 2011, 58-year-old former Sony employee Seijiro Tomita sued Nintendo for infringing a patent on the 3D screen that obviates the need for 3D glasses. On March 13, 2013, a United States federal jury ordered Nintendo to pay him US$30.2 million in damages. However, on August 7, 2013, that amount was reduced by 50% to US$15.1 million because the initial figure was, according to Judge Jed Rakoff, a federal judge, "intrinsically excessive" and "unsupported by the evidence presented at trial." On December 11, 2013, it was decided by Judge Rakoff that Nintendo pay 1.82% of the wholesale price of each unit sold to Tomita. On March 17, 2018, the United States Appeals Court determined Nintendo had not violated Tomita's patent.


title: Nintendo 3DS

text: On July 17, 2015, Nintendo won a patent suit filed against eight of its handheld consoles, including the 3DS. The suit was originally filed by the Quintal Research Group after it secured a patent for a "computerized information retrieval system" in 2008.


title: Flowers in the Attic

text: Flowers in the Attic is a 1979 Gothic novel by V. C. Andrews. It is the first book in the Dollanganger Series, and was followed by "Petals on the Wind", "If There Be Thorns", "Seeds of Yesterday", "Garden of Shadows", "", "" and "". The novel is written in the first-person, from the point of view of Cathy Dollanganger. It was twice adapted into films in 1987 and 2014. The book was extremely popular, selling over forty million copies world-wide.


title: Flowers in the Attic

text: In 1957, the Dollanganger family—father Christopher, mother Corinne, 14-year-old Chris, 12-year-old Cathy, and 5-year-old twins Carrie and Cory—live an idyllic life in Gladstone, Pennsylvania, until Christopher Sr. is killed in a car accident, leaving Corinne deep in debt with no means to support her children.


title: Flowers in the Attic

text: On the verge of their home being foreclosed, Corinne reveals to the children that as a young woman, her marriage to Christopher so offended her multimillionaire father Malcolm Foxworth that he disinherited her. Now the elderly Malcolm is dying of heart disease, and Corinne intends to return to her childhood home of Foxworth Hall in Virginia to win back her father's affection in time to be reinstated into his will. Because Malcolm is unaware that Corinne had children by her marriage to Christopher, the children must hide in a secluded upstairs room of the enormous Foxworth Hall until Corinne can break the news to her father. She assures the children that they will only be in the room for a few days.


title: Flowers in the Attic

text: At Foxworth Hall, Corinne's mother (called only "the grandmother") locks the children in a bedroom connected to the house's large attic. The grandmother forces Corinne to reveal to her children that the reason for her disinheritance was that Christopher was Malcolm's younger half-brother, and thus Corinne's half-uncle, and that the children are the products of incest. The grandmother believes the children are "the Devil's spawn" and is obsessed with the idea of incest, forbidding all contact between opposite sexes, while prohibiting the children from making noise or opening the room's windows. Only in the attic are they free to play.


title: Flowers in the Attic

text: Cathy and Chris attempt to make the best of the situation by decorating the attic with paper flowers to create an imaginary garden for the twins. The grandmother comes every morning with a picnic basket filled with the day's food and interrogates the children about their modesty and piety, questions the children are too innocent to fully understand. Initially their mother visits multiple times per day, bringing toys and gifts, but over time, her visits grow sporadic. After months have passed, Cathy and Chris confront her, as she promised they would be freed in only a few days. Corinne finally confesses that they must remain in the room until their grandfather dies.


title: Flowers in the Attic

text: A year later, Cathy and Chris have both entered puberty, while the twins are stunted from inadequate nutrition and lack of sunlight. With no other outlets, Cathy and Chris develop a romantic and sexual attraction toward each other, though they do their best to deny their feelings. The grandmother catches Chris staring at a half-dressed Cathy and punishes the children by cutting off their food supply for over two weeks, while the children pray their mother will reappear in time to save them. On the verge of starvation, Cathy and Chris decide to escape with the twins to find help. Before they can go through with the plan, the grandmother begins bringing food again, including a rare treat of powdered sugar doughnuts. Soon afterwards, all the children begin to complain of constant minor illness.


title: Flowers in the Attic

text: Another year passes. After an absence of several months, Corinne visits the children, explaining that she had been on a European honeymoon with her new husband, Bart Winslow. Cathy and Chris are furious, but fear Corinne will abandon them permanently if they confront her.


title: Flowers in the Attic

text: Realizing that the twins' health is declining, Chris and Cathy decide to escape. Chris creates a wooden skeleton key. Over the next several months, he and Cathy take turns slipping downstairs to their mother's suite to steal cash and jewelry to fund their lives outside. One night, Cathy discovers her sleeping stepfather and kisses him. When Chris learns of the kiss, he rapes Cathy in a fit of jealousy and rage. Afterwards, he is overcome with remorse, while Cathy feels guilty and conflicted about the act due to her love for Chris.


title: Flowers in the Attic

text: One of the twins, Cory, becomes deathly ill. Cathy begs Corinne to take him to a hospital, but Corinne hesitates. Cathy, enraged, tells her that if she does not act to save Cory's life, Cathy will reveal their existence to the grandfather. Corinne finally takes Cory away, but returns the following morning to inform the children that Cory died of pneumonia. The children are devastated, with Cathy left wondering if Cory's death is God's punishment for her sexual assault from Chris.


title: Flowers in the Attic

text: Chris resumes stealing from their mother's rooms, only to discover Corinne and Bart have left Foxworth Hall permanently. Eavesdropping on the servants, Chris learns their grandfather died a year ago and that the grandmother has been leaving food contaminated with rat poison in the attic due to a "mouse infestation." Chris connects this with the doughnuts they are being fed and realizes Cory died of arsenic poisoning.


title: Flowers in the Attic

text: The three remaining children finally leave Foxworth Hall to catch a train to Florida. At the station, Chris reveals he discovered Corinne's inheritance is conditional upon her having no children from her first marriage, and she, rather than the grandmother, was the one who most likely poisoned them. Chris and Cathy decide against contacting the authorities as their main concern is to stay together, but Cathy vows that one day she will make Corinne pay for her crimes.


title: Flowers in the Attic

text: In 1993, "Flowers in the Attic" was awarded the Secondary BILBY Award. In 2003 the book was listed on the BBC's The Big Read poll of the UK's 200 "best-loved novels."


title: Flowers in the Attic

text: In 1987, the book was adapted into a film of the same name starring Louise Fletcher, Victoria Tennant, Kristy Swanson, and Jeb Stuart Adams and directed by Jeffrey Bloom.


title: Flowers in the Attic

text: A second adaptation was released on January 18, 2014, on the Lifetime network starring Heather Graham as Corrine and Ellen Burstyn as the Grandmother, with Kiernan Shipka as Cathy, Mason Dye as Christopher, and directed by Deborah Chow. The film received mixed reviews, but critics praised Ellen Burstyn's performance.


title: Flowers in the Attic

text: The book was adapted into a stage play by V. C. Andrews's ghost writer, Andrew Neiderman, in the form of an e-book and was published by Pocket Star. The stage play was released in October 2014 and is 80 pages in length. In August 2015 the stage play received its world premiere production in New Orleans, Louisiana. The play, which received positive reviews, was produced by and was directed by Christopher Bentivegna.


title: Flowers in the Attic

text: In 2022, the Lifetime network released a television limited series called "Flowers in the Attic: The Origin", starring Kelsey Grammer and Kate Mulgrew. The four episode miniseries is a prequel that focuses on Olivia Foxworth, and is largely based on Garden of Shadows, the fifth novel of the Dollangager series.


title: Flowers in the Attic

text: The depiction of incest between an adolescent brother and sister in the novel has led to its being banned in certain areas at different times. Chariho High School in Rhode Island removed it because it contained "offensive passages concerning incest and sexual intercourse." In 1994, it was removed from the Oconee County, Georgia school libraries due to "the filthiness of the material."


title: Flowers in the Attic

text: In her original pitch letter to her publisher, Andrews claimed that the story behind the novel was "not truly fiction," leading to long-standing rumors that the novel may have been based on true events. For many years, there was no evidence to support this claim, and the book was passed off as fiction. Nonetheless, the official V. C. Andrews website claims to have contacted one of Andrews' relatives. This unidentified relative claimed "Flowers in the Attic" was loosely based on a faintly similar account. While at the "University of Virginia hospital for treatment...she developed a crush on her young doctor. He and his siblings had been locked away in the attic for over 6 years to preserve the family wealth."


title: Catalan language

text: Catalan (; autonym: , ), known in the Valencian Community and Carche as "Valencian" (autonym: ), is a Western Romance language. It is the official language of Andorra, and an official language of three autonomous communities in eastern Spain: Catalonia, the Valencian Community, and the Balearic Islands. It also has semi-official status in the Italian comune of Alghero. It is also spoken in the Pyrénées-Orientales department of France and in two further areas in eastern Spain: the eastern strip of Aragon and the Carche area in the Region of Murcia. The Catalan-speaking territories are often called the or "Catalan Countries".


title: Catalan language

text: The language evolved from Vulgar Latin in the Middle Ages around the eastern Pyrenees. Nineteenth-century Spain saw a Catalan literary revival, culminating in the early 1900s.


title: Catalan language

text: The word "Catalan" is derived from the territorial name of Catalonia, itself of disputed etymology. The main theory suggests that (Latin "Gathia Launia") derives from the name "Gothia" or "Gauthia" ("Land of the Goths"), since the origins of the Catalan counts, lords and people were found in the March of Gothia, whence "Gothland" > "Gothlandia" > "Gothalania" > "Catalonia" theoretically derived.


title: Catalan language

text: In English, the term referring to a person first appears in the mid 14th century as "Catelaner", followed in the 15th century as "Catellain" (from French). It is attested a language name since at least 1652. The word "Catalan" can be pronounced in English as , or .


title: Catalan language

text: The endonym is pronounced in the Eastern Catalan dialects, and in the Western dialects. In the Valencian Community and Carche, the term is frequently used instead. Thus, the name "Valencian", although often employed for referring to the varieties specific to the Valencian Community and Carche, is also used by Valencians as a name for the language as a whole, synonymous with "Catalan". Both uses of the term have their respective entries in the dictionaries by the Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua and the Institut d'Estudis Catalans. See also status of Valencian below.


title: Catalan language

text: By the 9th century, Catalan had evolved from Vulgar Latin on both sides of the eastern end of the Pyrenees, as well as the territories of the Roman province of Hispania Tarraconensis to the south. From the 8th century onwards the Catalan counts extended their territory southwards and westwards at the expense of the Muslims, bringing their language with them. This process was given definitive impetus with the separation of the County of Barcelona from the Carolingian Empire in 988.


title: Catalan language

text: In the 11th century, documents written in macaronic Latin begin to show Catalan elements, with texts written almost completely in Romance appearing by 1080. Old Catalan shared many features with Gallo-Romance, diverging from Old Occitan between the 11th and 14th centuries.


title: Catalan language

text: During the 11th and 12th centuries the Catalan rulers expanded southward to the Ebro river, and in the 13th century they conquered the Land of Valencia and the Balearic Islands. The city of Alghero in Sardinia was repopulated with Catalan speakers in the 14th century. The language also reached Murcia, which became Spanish-speaking in the 15th century.


title: Catalan language

text: In the Low Middle Ages, Catalan went through a golden age, reaching a peak of maturity and cultural richness. Examples include the work of Majorcan polymath Ramon Llull (1232–1315), the Four Great Chronicles (13th–14th centuries), and the Valencian school of poetry culminating in Ausiàs March (1397–1459). By the 15th century, the city of Valencia had become the sociocultural center of the Crown of Aragon, and Catalan was present all over the Mediterranean world. During this period, the Royal Chancery propagated a highly standardized language. Catalan was widely used as an official language in Sicily until the 15th century, and in Sardinia until the 17th. During this period, the language was what Costa Carreras terms "one of the 'great languages' of medieval Europe".


title: Catalan language

text: Martorell's outstanding novel of chivalry "Tirant lo Blanc" (1490) shows a transition from Medieval to Renaissance values, something that can also be seen in Metge's work. The first book produced with movable type in the Iberian Peninsula was printed in Catalan.


title: Catalan language

text: With the union of the crowns of Castille and Aragon in 1479, the Spanish kings ruled over different kingdoms, each with its own cultural, linguistic and political particularities, and they had to swear by the Laws of each territory before the respective Parliaments. But after the War of the Spanish Succession, Spain became an Absolute monarchy under Philip V, which led to the assimilation of the Crown of Aragon by the Crown of Castile through the Nueva Planta decrees, as a first step in the creation of the Spanish nation-state; as in other contemporary European states, this meant the imposition of the political and cultural characteristics of the dominant groups. Since the political unification of 1714, Spanish assimilation policies towards national minorities have been a constant.


title: Catalan language

text: The process of assimilation began with secret instructions to the corregidores of the Catalan territory: they "will take the utmost care to introduce the Castilian language, for which purpose he will give the most temperate and disguised measures so that the effect is achieved, without the care being noticed." From there, actions in the service of assimilation, discreet or aggressive, were continued, and reached to the last detail, such as, in 1799, the Royal Certificate forbidding anyone to "represent, sing and dance pieces that were not in Spanish." Anyway, the use of Spanish gradually became more prestigious and marked the start of the decline of Catalan. Starting in the 16th century, Catalan literature came under the influence of Spanish, and the nobles, part of the urban and literary classes became bilingual.


title: Catalan language

text: With the Treaty of the Pyrenees (1659), Spain ceded the northern part of Catalonia to France, and soon thereafter the local Catalan varieties came under the influence of French, which in 1700 became the sole official language of the region.


title: Catalan language

text: Shortly after the French Revolution (1789), the French First Republic prohibited official use of, and enacted discriminating policies against, the regional languages of France, such as Catalan, Alsatian, Breton, Occitan, Flemish, and Basque.


title: Catalan language

text: Following the French establishment of the colony of Algeria from 1830 onward, it received several waves of Catalan-speaking settlers. People from the Spanish Alicante province settled around Oran, whereas Algiers received immigration from Northern Catalonia and Menorca.


title: Catalan language

text: Their speech was known as "patuet". By 1911, the number of Catalan speakers was around 100,000. After the declaration of independence of Algeria in 1962, almost all the Catalan speakers fled to Northern Catalonia (as "Pieds-Noirs") or Alacant.


title: Catalan language

text: The government of France formally recognizes only French as an official language. Nevertheless, on 10 December 2007, the General Council of the Pyrénées-Orientales officially recognized Catalan as one of the languages of the department and seeks to further promote it in public life and education.


title: Catalan language

text: In Spain, the decline of Catalan continued into the 18th century. The defeat of the pro-Habsburg coalition in the War of Spanish Succession (1714) initiated a series of laws which, among other centralizing measures, imposed the use of Spanish in legal documentation all over Spain.


title: Catalan language

text: However, the 19th century saw a Catalan literary revival (), which has continued up to the present day. This period starts with Aribau's "Ode to the Homeland" (1833); followed in the second half of the 19th century, and the early 20th by the work of Verdaguer (poetry), Oller (realist novel), and Guimerà (drama). In the 19th century, the region of Carche, in the province of Murcia was repopulated with Valencian speakers. Catalan spelling was standardized in 1913 and the language became official during the Second Spanish Republic (1931–1939). The Second Spanish Republic saw a brief period of tolerance, with most restrictions against Catalan lifted.


title: Catalan language

text: The Catalan language and culture were frowned upon during the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939) and the subsequent decades in Francoist Catalonia. The Francoist dictatorship (1939–1975) imposed the use of Spanish in schools and in public administration in all of Spain. However, in 1944, it became mandatory by law for universities with Romance Philology to include the subject of Catalan Philology. Numerous and prestigious cultural contests were created to reward works produced in Catalan. In January 1944, the "Eugenio Nadal" award was created. In 1945, with the sponsorship and subsidy of the Government, the centenary of Mossèn Cinto Verdaguer was celebrated. In 1947 the "Joan Martorell" prize for novels in Catalan was awarded. In 1949, the "Víctor Català" award for short novels in Catalan and the "Aedos" awards for biographies, the "Josep Ysart" award for essays, and the "Ossa Menor" award, later renamed "Carles Riba", were created. In 1951, a national prize was awarded to poetry in Catalan with the same financial amount as Spanish poetry. That same year, "Selecta Editions" was founded for works written in Catalan. And the "Joanot Martorell" is awarded to Josep Pla for his work "El carrer estret". In subsequent years (50s, 60s and 70s) countless awards were born, such as the "Lletra d'Or", "Amadeu Oller" for poetry, the "Sant Jordi" for novels (endowed with 150,000 pesetas), the Honor Award of Catalan Letters, the "Verdaguer", the Josep Pla Prize, the Mercè Rodoreda Prize for short stories and narratives. The first Catalan-language TV show was broadcast during the Franco period, in 1964. The Francoist dictatorship (1939–1975) banned the use of Catalan in schools and in public administration. At the same time, oppression of the Catalan language and identity was carried out in schools, through governmental bodies, and in religious centers. Franco's desire for a homogenous Spanish population resonated with some Catalans in favor of his regime, primarily members of the upper class, who began to reject the use of Catalan. Despite all of these hardships, Catalan continued to be used privately within households, and it was able to survive Francisco Franco's dictatorship. Several prominent Catalan authors resisted the suppression through literature.


title: Catalan language

text: In addition to the loss of prestige for Catalan and its prohibition in schools, migration during the 1950s into Catalonia from other parts of Spain also contributed to the diminished use of the language. These migrants were often unaware of the existence of Catalan, and thus felt no need to learn or use it. Catalonia was the economic powerhouse of Spain, so these migrations continued to occur from all corners of the country. Employment opportunities were reduced for those who were not bilingual.


title: Catalan language

text: Since the Spanish transition to democracy (1975–1982), Catalan has been institutionalized as an official language, language of education, and language of mass media; all of which have contributed to its increased prestige. In Catalonia, there is an unparalleled large bilingual European non-state linguistic community. The teaching of Catalan is mandatory in all schools, but it is possible to use Spanish for studying in the public education system of Catalonia in two situations – if the teacher assigned to a class chooses to use Spanish, or during the learning process of one or more recently arrived immigrant students. There is also some intergenerational shift towards Catalan.


title: Catalan language

text: More recently, several Spanish political forces have tried to increase the use of Spanish in the Catalan educational system. As a result, in May 2022 the Spanish Supreme Court urged the Catalan regional government to enforce a measure by which 25% of all lessons must be taught in Spanish.


title: Catalan language

text: According to the Statistical Institute of Catalonia, in 2013 the Catalan language is the second most commonly used in Catalonia, after Spanish, as a native or self-defining language: 7% of the population self-identifies with both Catalan and Spanish equally, 36.4% with Catalan and 47.5% only Spanish. In 2003 the same studies concluded no language preference for self-identification within the population above 15 years old: 5% self-identified with both languages, 44.3% with Catalan and 47.5% with Spanish. To promote use of Catalan, the Generalitat de Catalunya (Catalonia's official Autonomous government) spends part of its annual budget on the promotion of the use of Catalan in Catalonia and in other territories, with entities such as ("Consortium for Linguistic Normalization")


title: Catalan language

text: In Andorra, Catalan has always been the sole official language. Since the promulgation of the 1993 constitution, several policies favoring Catalan have been enforced, like Catalan medium education.


title: Catalan language

text: On the other hand, there are several language shift processes currently taking place. In the Northern Catalonia area of France, Catalan has followed the same trend as the other minority languages of France, with most of its native speakers being 60 or older (as of 2004). Catalan is studied as a foreign language by 30% of the primary education students, and by 15% of the secondary. The cultural association promotes a network of community-run schools engaged in Catalan language immersion programs.


title: Catalan language

text: In Alicante province, Catalan is being replaced by Spanish and in Alghero by Italian. There is also well ingrained diglossia in the Valencian Community, Ibiza, and to a lesser extent, in the rest of the Balearic islands.


title: Catalan language

text: During the 20th century many Catalans emigrated or went into exile to Venezuela, Mexico, Cuba, Argentina and other South American countries. They formed a large number of Catalan colonies that today continue to maintain the Catalan language. They also founded many Catalan casals (associations).


title: Catalan language

text: However, the ascription of Catalan to the Occitano-Romance branch of Gallo-Romance languages is not shared by all linguists and philologists, particularly among Spanish ones, such as Ramón Menéndez Pidal.


title: Catalan language

text: Catalan bears varying degrees of similarity to the linguistic varieties subsumed under the cover term "Occitan language" (see also differences between Occitan and Catalan and Gallo-Romance languages). Thus, as it should be expected from closely related languages, Catalan today shares many traits with other Romance languages.


title: Catalan language

text: Some include Catalan in Occitan, as the linguistic distance between this language and some Occitan dialects (such as the Gascon language) is similar to the distance among different Occitan dialects. Catalan was considered a dialect of Occitan until the end of the 19th century and still today remains its closest relative.


title: Catalan language

text: Catalan shares many traits with the other neighboring Romance languages (Occitan, French, Italian, Sardinian as well as Spanish and Portuguese among others). However, despite being spoken mostly on the Iberian Peninsula, Catalan has marked differences with the Iberian Romance group (Spanish and Portuguese) in terms of pronunciation, grammar, and especially vocabulary; showing instead its closest affinity with languages native to France and northern Italy, particularly Occitan and to a lesser extent Gallo-Romance (Franco-Provençal, French, Gallo-Italian).


title: Catalan language

text: According to Ethnologue, the lexical similarity between Catalan and other Romance languages is: 87% with Italian; 85% with Portuguese and Spanish; 76% with Ladin and Romansh; 75% with Sardinian; and 73% with Romanian.


title: Catalan language

text: During much of its history, and especially during the Francoist dictatorship (1939–1975), the Catalan language was ridiculed as a mere dialect of Spanish. This view, based on political and ideological considerations, has no linguistic validity. Spanish and Catalan have important differences in their sound systems, lexicon, and grammatical features, placing the language in features closer to Occitan (and French).


title: Catalan language

text: There is evidence that, at least from the 2nd century , the vocabulary and phonology of Roman Tarraconensis was different from the rest of Roman Hispania. Differentiation arose generally because Spanish, Asturian, and Galician-Portuguese share certain peripheral archaisms (Spanish , Asturian and Portuguese vs. Catalan , Occitan "to boil") and innovatory regionalisms (Sp , Ast vs. Cat , Oc "bullock"), while Catalan has a shared history with the Western Romance innovative core, especially Occitan.


title: Catalan language

text: Like all Romance languages, Catalan has a handful of native words which are unique to it, or rare elsewhere. These include:


title: Catalan language

text: The Gothic superstrate produced different outcomes in Spanish and Catalan. For example, Catalan "mud" and "to roast", of Germanic origin, contrast with Spanish and , of Latin origin; whereas Catalan "spinning wheel" and "temple", of Latin origin, contrast with Spanish and , of Germanic origin.


title: Catalan language

text: The same happens with Arabic loanwords. Thus, Catalan "large earthenware jar" and "tile", of Arabic origin, contrast with Spanish and , of Latin origin; whereas Catalan "oil" and "olive", of Latin origin, contrast with Spanish and . However, the Arabic element in Spanish is generally much more prevalent.


title: Catalan language

text: Situated between two large linguistic blocks (Iberian Romance and Gallo-Romance), Catalan has many unique lexical choices, such as "to miss somebody", "to calm somebody down", and "reject".


title: Catalan language

text: Traditionally Catalan-speaking territories are sometimes called the (Catalan Countries), a denomination based on cultural affinity and common heritage, that has also had a subsequent political interpretation but no official status. Various interpretations of the term may include some or all of these regions.


title: Catalan language

text: The number of people known to be fluent in Catalan varies depending on the sources used. A 2004 study did not count the total number of speakers, but estimated a total of 9–9.5 million by matching the percentage of speakers to the population of each area where Catalan is spoken. The web site of the Generalitat de Catalunya estimated that as of 2004 there were 9,118,882 speakers of Catalan. These figures only reflect potential speakers; today it is the native language of only 35.6% of the Catalan population. According to "Ethnologue", Catalan had 4.1 million native speakers and 5.1 million second-language speakers in 2021.


title: Catalan language

text: According to a 2011 study the total number of Catalan speakers is over 9.8 million, with 5.9 million residing in Catalonia. More than half of them speak Catalan as a second language, with native speakers being about 4.4 million of those (more than 2.8 in Catalonia). Very few Catalan monoglots exist; basically, virtually all of the Catalan speakers in Spain are bilingual speakers of Catalan and Spanish, with a sizable population of Spanish-only speakers of immigrant origin (typically born outside Catalonia or whose parents were both born outside Catalonia) existing in the major Catalan urban areas as well.


title: Catalan language

text: In Roussillon, only a minority of French Catalans speak Catalan nowadays, with French being the majority language for the inhabitants after a continued process of language shift. According to a 2019 survey by the Catalan government, 31.5% of the inhabitants of Catalonia have Catalan as first language at home whereas 52.7% have Spanish, 2.8% both Catalan and Spanish and 10.8% other languages.


title: Catalan language

text: Spanish is the most spoken language in Barcelona (according to the linguistic census held by the Government of Catalonia in 2013) and it is understood almost universally. According to this census of 2013 Catalan is also very commonly spoken in the city of 1,501,262: it is understood by 95% of the population, while 72.3% over the age of 2 can speak it (1,137,816), 79% can read it (1,246.555), and 53% can write it (835,080). The proportion in Barcelona who can speak it, 72.3%, is lower than that of the overall Catalan population, of whom 81.2% over the age of 15 speak the language. Knowledge of Catalan has increased significantly in recent decades thanks to a language immersion educational system. An important social characteristic of the Catalan language is that all the areas where it is spoken are bilingual in practice: together with the French language in Roussillon, with Italian in Alghero, with Spanish and French in Andorra and with Spanish in the rest of the territories.


title: Catalan language

text: In contrast to other Romance languages, Catalan has many monosyllabic words, and these may end in a wide variety of consonants, including some consonant clusters. Additionally, Catalan has final obstruent devoicing, which gives rise to an abundance of such couplets as ("male friend") vs. ("female friend").


title: Catalan language

text: Central Catalan pronunciation is considered to be standard for the language. The descriptions below are mostly representative of this variety. For the differences in pronunciation between the different dialects, see the section on pronunciation of dialects in this article.


title: Catalan language

text: Catalan has inherited the typical vowel system of Vulgar Latin, with seven stressed phonemes: , a common feature in Western Romance, with the exception of Spanish. Balearic also has instances of stressed . Dialects differ in the different degrees of vowel reduction, and the incidence of the pair .


title: Catalan language

text: In Central Catalan, unstressed vowels reduce to three: ; ; remains distinct. The other dialects have different vowel reduction processes (see the section pronunciation of dialects in this article).


title: Catalan language

text: Catalan sociolinguistics studies the situation of Catalan in the world and the different varieties that this language presents. It is a subdiscipline of Catalan philology and other affine studies and has as an objective to analyze the relation between the Catalan language, the speakers and the close reality (including the one of other languages in contact).


title: Catalan language

text: The dialects of the Catalan language feature a relative uniformity, especially when compared to other Romance languages; both in terms of vocabulary, semantics, syntax, morphology, and phonology. Mutual intelligibility between dialects is very high, estimates ranging from 90% to 95%. The only exception is the isolated idiosyncratic Algherese dialect.


title: Catalan language

text: Catalan is split in two major dialectal blocks: Eastern and Western. The main difference lies in the treatment of unstressed and ; which have merged to in Eastern dialects, but which remain distinct as and in Western dialects. There are a few other differences in pronunciation, verbal morphology, and vocabulary.


title: Catalan language

text: Western Catalan comprises the two dialects of Northwestern Catalan and Valencian; the Eastern block comprises four dialects: Central Catalan, Balearic, Rossellonese, and Algherese. Each dialect can be further subdivided in several subdialects. The terms "Catalan" and "Valencian" (respectively used in Catalonia and the Valencian Community) refer to two varieties of the same language. There are two institutions regulating the two standard varieties, the Institute of Catalan Studies in Catalonia and the Valencian Academy of the Language in the Valencian Community.


title: Catalan language

text: Central Catalan is considered the standard pronunciation of the language and has the largest number of speakers. It is spoken in the densely populated regions of the Barcelona province, the eastern half of the province of Tarragona, and most of the province of Girona.


title: Catalan language

text: Catalan has an inflectional grammar. Nouns have two genders (masculine, feminine), and two numbers (singular, plural). Pronouns additionally can have a neuter gender, and some are also inflected for case and politeness, and can be combined in very complex ways. Verbs are split in several paradigms and are inflected for person, number, tense, aspect, mood, and gender. In terms of pronunciation, Catalan has many words ending in a wide variety of consonants and some consonant clusters, in contrast with many other Romance languages.


title: Catalan language

text: Catalan has inherited the typical vowel system of Vulgar Latin, with seven stressed phonemes: , a common feature in Western Romance, except Spanish. Balearic has also instances of stressed . Dialects differ in the different degrees of vowel reduction, and the incidence of the pair .


title: Catalan language

text: In Eastern Catalan (except Majorcan), unstressed vowels reduce to three: ; ; remains distinct. There are a few instances of unreduced , in some words. Algherese has lowered to .


title: Catalan language

text: In Majorcan, unstressed vowels reduce to four: follow the Eastern Catalan reduction pattern; however reduce to , with remaining distinct, as in Western Catalan.


title: Catalan language

text: In Western Catalan, unstressed vowels reduce to five: ; ; remain distinct. This reduction pattern, inherited from Proto-Romance, is also found in Italian and Portuguese. Some Western dialects present further reduction or vowel harmony in some cases.


title: Catalan language

text: Central, Western, and Balearic differ in the lexical incidence of stressed and . Usually, words with in Central Catalan correspond to in Balearic and in Western Catalan. Words with in Balearic almost always have in Central and Western Catalan as well. As a result, Central Catalan has a much higher incidence of .


title: Catalan language

text: Western Catalan: In verbs, the ending for 1st-person present indicative is in verbs of the 1st conjugation and -∅ in verbs of the 2nd and 3rd conjugations in most of the Valencian Community, or in all verb conjugations in the Northern Valencian Community and Western Catalonia.E.g. , , (Valencian); , , (Northwestern Catalan).


title: Catalan language

text: Eastern Catalan: In verbs, the ending for 1st-person present indicative is , , or -∅ in all conjugations. E.g. (Central), (Balearic), and (Northern), all meaning ('I speak').


title: Catalan language

text: Western Catalan: In nouns and adjectives, maintenance of of medieval plurals in proparoxytone words.E.g. 'men', 'youth'.


title: Catalan language

text: Eastern Catalan: In nouns and adjectives, loss of of medieval plurals in proparoxytone words.E.g. 'men', 'youth' (Ibicencan, however, follows the model of Western Catalan in this case).


title: Catalan language

text: Despite its relative lexical unity, the two dialectal blocks of Catalan (Eastern and Western) show some differences in word choices. Any lexical divergence within any of the two groups can be explained as an archaism. Also, usually Central Catalan acts as an innovative element.


title: Catalan language

text: Standard Catalan, virtually accepted by all speakers, is mostly based on Eastern Catalan, which is the most widely used dialect. Nevertheless, the standards of the Valencian Community and the Balearics admit alternative forms, mostly traditional ones, which are not current in eastern Catalonia.


title: Catalan language

text: The most notable difference between both standards is some tonic accentuation, for instance: (IEC) – (AVL). Nevertheless, AVL's standard keeps the grave accent , while pronouncing it as rather than , in some words like: ('what'), or . Other divergences include the use of (AVL) in some words instead of like in / ('almond'), / ('back'), the use of elided demonstratives ( 'this', 'that') in the same level as reinforced ones () or the use of many verbal forms common in Valencian, and some of these common in the rest of Western Catalan too, like subjunctive mood or inchoative conjugation in at the same level as or the priority use of morpheme in 1st person singular in present indicative ( verbs): instead of ('I buy').


title: Catalan language

text: In the Balearic Islands, IEC's standard is used but adapted for the Balearic dialect by the University of the Balearic Islands's philological section. In this way, for instance, IEC says it is correct writing as much as ('we sing') but the University says that the priority form in the Balearic Islands must be in all fields. Another feature of the Balearic standard is the non-ending in the 1st person singular present indicative: ('I buy'), ('I fear'), ('I sleep').


title: Catalan language

text: In Alghero, the IEC has adapted its standard to the Algherese dialect. In this standard one can find, among other features: the definite article instead of , special possessive pronouns and determinants ('mine'), ('his/her'), ('yours'), and so on, the use of in the imperfect tense in all conjugations: , , ; the use of many archaic words, usual words in Algherese: instead of ('less'), instead of ('someone'), instead of ('which'), and so on; and the adaptation of weak pronouns.


title: Catalan language

text: In 2011, the Aragonese government passed a decree approving the statutes of a new language regulator of Catalan in La Franja (the so-called Catalan-speaking areas of Aragon) as originally provided for by Law 10/2009. The new entity, designated as , shall allow a facultative education in Catalan and a standardization of the Catalan language in La Franja.


title: Catalan language

text: Valencian is classified as a Western dialect, along with the northwestern varieties spoken in Western Catalonia (provinces of Lleida and the western half of Tarragona). Central Catalan has 90% to 95% inherent intelligibility for speakers of Valencian.


title: Catalan language

text: 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 Valencian Academy of Language ("Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua", AVL) declares the linguistic unity between Valencian and Catalan varieties.


title: Catalan language

text: The AVL, created by the Valencian parliament, is in charge of dictating the official rules governing the use of Valencian, and its standard is based on the Norms of Castelló ("Normes de Castelló"). Currently, everyone who writes in Valencian uses this standard, except the Royal Academy of Valencian Culture ("Acadèmia de Cultura Valenciana", RACV), which uses for Valencian an independent standard.


title: Catalan language

text: Despite the position of the official organizations, an opinion poll carried out between 2001 and 2004 showed that the majority of the Valencian people consider Valencian different from Catalan. This position is promoted by people who do not use Valencian regularly. Furthermore, the data indicates that younger generations educated in Valencian are much less likely to hold these views. A minority of Valencian scholars active in fields other than linguistics defends the position of the Royal Academy of Valencian Culture ("Acadèmia de Cultura Valenciana", RACV), which uses for Valencian a standard independent from Catalan.


title: Catalan language

text: This clash of opinions has sparked much controversy. For example, during the drafting of the European Constitution in 2004, the Spanish government supplied the EU with translations of the text into Basque, Galician, Catalan, and Valencian, but the latter two were identical.


title: Catalan language

text: Literary Catalan allows the use of words from different dialects, except those of very restricted use. However, from the 19th century onwards, there has been a tendency towards favoring words of Northern dialects to the detriment of others,


title: Catalan language

text: Like other languages, Catalan has a large list of loanwords from Greek and Latin. This process started very early, and one can find such examples in Ramon Llull's work. In the 14th and 15th centuries Catalan had a far greater number of Greco-Latin loanwords than other Romance languages, as is attested for example in Roís de Corella's writings. The incorporation of learned, or "bookish" words from its own ancestor language, Latin, into Catalan is arguably another form of lexical borrowing through the influence of written language and the liturgical language of the Church. Throughout the Middle Ages and into the early modern period, most literate Catalan speakers were also literate in Latin; and thus they easily adopted Latin words into their writing—and eventually speech—in Catalan.


title: Catalan language

text: The process of morphological derivation in Catalan follows the same principles as the other Romance languages, where agglutination is common. Many times, several affixes are appended to a preexisting lexeme, and some sound alternations can occur, for example ("electrical") vs. . Prefixes are usually appended to verbs, as in ("foresee").


title: Catalan language

text: There is greater regularity in the process of word-compounding, where one can find compounded words formed much like those in English.


title: Catalan language

text: Catalan uses the Latin script, with some added symbols and digraphs. The Catalan orthography is systematic and largely phonologically based. Standardization of Catalan was among the topics discussed during the First International Congress of the Catalan Language, held in Barcelona October 1906. Subsequently, the Philological Section of the Institut d'Estudis Catalans (IEC, founded in 1911) published the "Normes ortogràfiques" in 1913 under the direction of Antoni Maria Alcover and Pompeu Fabra. In 1932, Valencian writers and intellectuals gathered in Castelló de la Plana to make a formal adoption of the so-called "Normes de Castelló", a set of guidelines following Pompeu Fabra's Catalan language norms.


title: Catalan language

text: In gender inflection, the most notable feature is (compared to Portuguese, Spanish or Italian), the loss of the typical masculine suffix . Thus, the alternance of /, has been replaced by "ø"/. There are only a few exceptions, like / ("scarce"). Many not completely predictable morphological alternations may occur, such as:


title: Catalan language

text: Catalan has few suppletive couplets, like Italian and Spanish, and unlike French. Thus, Catalan has / ("boy"/"girl") and / ("cock"/"hen"), whereas French has / and /.


title: Catalan language

text: There is a tendency to abandon traditionally gender-invariable adjectives in favor of marked ones, something prevalent in Occitan and French. Thus, one can find / ("boiling") in contrast with traditional /.


title: Catalan language

text: As in the other Western Romance languages, the main plural expression is the suffix , which may create morphological alternations similar to the ones found in gender inflection, albeit more rarely.


title: Catalan language

text: The most important one is the addition of before certain consonant groups, a phonetic phenomenon that does not affect feminine forms: / ("the pulse"/"the pulses") vs. / ("the dust"/"the dusts").


title: Catalan language

text: The inflection of determinatives is complex, specially because of the high number of elisions, but is similar to the neighboring languages. Catalan has more contractions of preposition + article than Spanish, like ("of + the [plural]"), but not as many as Italian (which has , , , etc.).


title: Catalan language

text: Central Catalan has abandoned almost completely unstressed possessives (, etc.) in favor of constructions of article + stressed forms (, etc.), a feature shared with Italian.


title: Catalan language

text: The morphology of Catalan personal pronouns is complex, especially in unstressed forms, which are numerous (13 distinct forms, compared to 11 in Spanish or 9 in Italian). Features include the gender-neutral and the great degree of freedom when combining different unstressed pronouns (65 combinations).


title: Catalan language

text: Catalan pronouns exhibit T–V distinction, like all other Romance languages (and most European languages, but not Modern English). This feature implies the use of a different set of second person pronouns for formality.


title: Catalan language

text: This flexibility allows Catalan to use extraposition extensively, much more than French or Spanish. Thus, Catalan can have ("they recommended me to him"), whereas in French one must say , and Spanish . This allows the placement of almost any nominal term as a sentence topic, without having to use so often the passive voice (as in French or English), or identifying the direct object with a preposition (as in Spanish).


title: Catalan language

text: Like all the Romance languages, Catalan verbal inflection is more complex than the nominal. Suffixation is omnipresent, whereas morphological alternations play a secondary role. Vowel alternances are active, as well as infixation and suppletion. However, these are not as productive as in Spanish, and are mostly restricted to irregular verbs.


title: Catalan language

text: The Catalan verbal system is basically common to all Western Romance, except that most dialects have replaced the synthetic indicative perfect with a periphrastic form of ("to go") + infinitive.


title: Catalan language

text: Catalan verbs are traditionally divided into three conjugations, with vowel themes , , , the last two being split into two subtypes. However, this division is mostly theoretical. Only the first conjugation is nowadays productive (with about 3500 common verbs), whereas the third (the subtype of , with about 700 common verbs) is semiproductive. The verbs of the second conjugation are fewer than 100, and it is not possible to create new ones, except by compounding.


title: Catalan language

text: The grammar of Catalan follows the general pattern of Western Romance languages. The primary word order is subject–verb–object. However, word order is very flexible. Commonly, verb-subject constructions are used to achieve a semantic effect. The sentence "The train has arrived" could be translated as or . Both sentences mean "the train has arrived", but the former puts a focus on the train, while the latter puts a focus on the arrival. This subtle distinction is described as "what you might say while waiting in the station" versus "what you might say on the train."


title: Catalan language

text: In Spain, every person officially has two surnames, one of which is the father's first surname and the other is the mother's first surname. The law contemplates the possibility of joining both surnames with the Catalan conjunction "i" ("and").


title: Century egg

text: Century eggs (), also known under a wide variety of names (see infobox), are a Chinese egg-based culinary dish made by preserving duck, chicken or quail eggs in a mixture of clay, ash, salt, quicklime, and rice hulls for several weeks to several months, depending on the method of processing.


title: Century egg

text: Through the process, the yolk becomes a dark green to grey color, with a creamy consistency and strong flavor due to the hydrogen sulfide and ammonia present, while the white becomes a dark brown, translucent jelly with a salty flavor. The transforming agent in the century egg is an alkaline salt, which gradually raises the pH of the egg to around 9–12, during the curing process. This chemical process breaks down some of the complex, flavorless proteins and fats, which produces a variety of smaller flavorsome compounds.


title: Century egg

text: Some eggs have patterns near the surface of the egg white which are likened to pine branches. These patterned eggs are regarded as having better quality than the normal century eggs and are called Songhua eggs (Chinese: ), variously translated as pine flower eggs or pine-patterned eggs. In 2014, tons of Songhua eggs were consumed in China.


title: Century egg

text: The method for creating century eggs likely came about through the need to preserve eggs in times of plenty by coating them in alkaline clay, which is similar to methods of egg preservation in some Western cultures. The clay hardens around the egg and results in the curing and creation of century eggs instead of spoiled eggs.


title: Century egg

text: The century egg has at least four centuries of history behind its production. Its discovery, though not verifiable, was said to have occurred around 600 years ago in Hunan during the Ming Dynasty, when a homeowner discovered duck eggs in a shallow pool of slaked lime that was used for mortar during construction of his home two months before. Upon tasting the eggs, he set out to produce more – this time with the addition of salt to improve their flavor – resulting in the present recipe of the century egg. An alternate story involves a young duck farmer by the name of "Shuige" (, water-brother), also from Hunan, leaving duck eggs in the garden of a woman by the name of "Songmei" (, pine-sister) as a courting gesture. The eggs were not discovered until the woman cleaned out the ash pit half a month later where they had turned into century eggs. In her honour, the farmer named the transformed eggs with their delicate crystalline patterns on their surfaces "pine-patterned eggs".


title: Century egg

text: The traditional method for producing century eggs developed through improvement of the aforementioned primitive process. Instead of using only clay, a mixture of wood ash, calcium oxide, and salt is included in the plastering mixture, thereby increasing its pH and sodium content. The addition of calcium oxide and wood ash to the mixture lowers the risk of spoilage and also increases the speed of the process. A recipe for creating century eggs starts with the infusion of of tea in boiling water. To the tea, of calcium oxide (, if done in winter), of sea salt, and of ash from burned oak is mixed into a smooth paste. Each egg is individually covered by hand, with gloves worn to protect the skin from chemical burns. It is then rolled in a mass of rice chaff, to keep the eggs from adhering to one another, before the eggs are placed in cloth-covered jars or tightly woven baskets. The mud slowly dries and hardens into a crust over several months. The eggs are then ready for consumption.


title: Century egg

text: Even though the traditional method is still widely practised, modern understanding of the chemistry behind the formation of century eggs has led to many simplifications in the recipe. Today, soaking raw eggs in a solution of table salt, calcium hydroxide and sodium carbonate for 10 days, followed by several weeks of aging while wrapped in plastic, is said to achieve the same effect as the traditional method. This is because the chemical reaction needed to produce century eggs is accomplished by introducing hydroxide and sodium ions into the egg, regardless of the method used.


title: Century egg

text: The extremely toxic compound lead(II) oxide speeds up the reactions which create century eggs, leading to its use by some unscrupulous producers, whereas zinc oxide is now the recommended alternative. Although zinc is essential for life, excessive zinc consumption can lead to copper deficiency, and the finished product should have its zinc level assessed for safety.