Prima Mallorca Information Directory
Menorca
Menorca is one of the Balearic Islands (Illes Balears Catalan official name, Islas Baleares in Spanish) located in the Mediterranean Sea and belongs to Spain. It takes its name from being smaller than nearby island of Majorca. Minorca has a population of approximately 88,000. It is located around 39°47' to 40°00'N, 3°52' to 4°24'E. Its highest point, called El Toro or Monte Toro, is 358 m/1174 ft above sea level.
Most locals are bilingual in Spanish and the variety of Catalan called Menorquí. Between Menorquí and Catalan proper, as with most Balearic dialects, the most distinctive difference is the different word used for the article "the", where Menorquí uses "es" for masculine and "sa" for feminine. Menorquí thus shares the source of its article with many Sardinian varieties (masc. sing. su, fem sing. sa), rather than the Catalan "el" and "la", common to many Romance languages (e.g. Spanish el, la, Italian il, la), corresponding to a form which was historically used along the Costa Brava of Catalonia, from where the islands were repopulated after being conquered from the Moors. Menorquí also has a few English loan words dating back to the British occupation such as "grevi", "xumaquer", "boinder" and "xoc" taken from "gravy", "shoemaker", "bow window" and "chalk", respectively.
related topics: