Lexical interferences from spanish in the catalan language of the early 20th century

The paper is dedicated to the study of lexical interferences from Spanish in the Catalan language in the beginning of the 20th century. The research is based on the text of the novel L’auca del senyor Esteve (1907) by Santiago Rusicol. We present a brief description of the history of the Spanish-Catalan language contact and analyze the linguistic situation in Catalonia in the late 19th - early 20th century. The paper determines the notions of ‘interference’ and ‘borrowing’. The described lexical interferences from Spanish are not used in the modern Catalan. Nowadays these lexemes are not registered by the Dictionary of the Catalan language. All the lexical interferences in text of the novel are divided into two groups: pure interferences and Spanish inclusions are marked in italics by the author. It is revealed that Spanish inclusions are used in the text 6,46 times as frequently as pure interferences. There are more nouns in the text than other parts of speech. Some Spanish interferences in the novel take part in the processes of word-building. The presence of numerous Spanish interferences in the text characterizes the situation of the Catalan language in the first decade of the 20th century. That period was the time of formation of the language standard and struggle to gain official status.