Why is Catalan classified differently by different scholars?

The classification of the Catalan language is a subject of scholarly debate because it occupies a transitional position within the Romance languages family.1

The primary difficulty lies in determining whether Catalan should be categorized as Ibero-Romance or Gallo-Romance. This ambiguity arises because, while it is geographically situated in Spain, its medieval literary tradition shared significant similarities with the Occitan language of southern France. Because classification methods often rely on historico-geographic frameworks or specific phonetic criteria, the choice of methodology can lead to different groupings.12

Additionally, there have been politically motivated disputes regarding the internal classification of Catalan, specifically concerning whether the variety spoken in Valencia—known as Valencian—is a distinct language or a dialect of Catalan. While most linguists and the Valencian Academy of Language consider them to be the same language due to their high degree of mutual intelligibility and only minor differences in pronunciation, vocabulary, and verb conjugation, these debates highlight the complex intersection of linguistics and regional identity.23