Geolinguistical study of the speech in La Safor

Abstract

This paper describes in detail the speech in the region of La Safor —with emphasis on the phonetics and the lexical, and also on the morphosyntax and the phraseology. People from almost all the towns and villages in the region and bordering ones were surveyed between 2008 and 2015. A description of the regional speech is given based on the results obtained. The repopulation process in the 17th century explains the Balearic influence in this dialectal variation of southern Valencian. Geographical factors have created areas with common characteristics within La Safor and have boosted the entrance of features from other dialects (central Valencian) and subdialects (southern Valencian from inland regions) into the region. This first monographic approach to Catalan in La Safor raises several interesting points, such as the devoicing of voicing sibilants in Gandia and in other nearby towns; the introduction of features from central Valencian into the north of the region; or the need for considering the insular influence not only in La Marina Alta and Baixa or El Comtat, but also in La Safor.