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Asturleonese ( ast, Asturlleonés; es, Asturleonés; pt, Asturo-leonês; mwl, Asturlhionés) is a
Romance language The Romance languages, sometimes referred to as Latin languages or Neo-Latin languages, are the various modern languages that evolved from Vulgar Latin. They are the only extant subgroup of the Italic languages in the Indo-European languages, I ...
spoken primarily in northwestern Spain, namely in the
historical region Historical regions (or historical areas) are geographical regions which at some point in time had a cultural, ethnic An ethnic group or an ethnicity is a grouping of people who identify with each other on the basis of shared attributes that ...
s and Spain's modern-day
autonomous communities eu, autonomia erkidegoa ca, comunitat autònoma gl, comunidade autónoma oc, comunautat autonòma an, comunidat autonoma ast, comunidá autónoma , alt_name = , map = , category = Autonomous administra ...
of
Asturias Asturias (, ; ast, Asturies ), officially the Principality of Asturias ( es, Principado de Asturias; ast, Principáu d'Asturies; Galician-Asturian: ''Principao d'Asturias''), is an autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in nor ...
, northwestern
Castile and León Castile and León ( es, Castilla y León ; ast-leo, Castiella y Llión ; gl, Castela e León ) is an autonomous community in northwestern Spain. It was created in 1983, eight years after the end of the Francoist regime, by the merging of the ...
and
Cantabria Cantabria (, also , , Cantabrian: ) is an autonomous community in northern Spain with Santander as its capital city. It is called a ''comunidad histórica'', a historic community, in its current Statute of Autonomy. It is bordered on the east ...
, and also in a small neighbouring area of Portugal. The name of the language is largely uncommon among its native speakers, as it forms a
dialect continuum A dialect continuum or dialect chain is a series of Variety (linguistics), language varieties spoken across some geographical area such that neighboring varieties are Mutual intelligibility, mutually intelligible, but the differences accumulat ...
of mutually intelligible varieties and therefore it is primarily referred to by various regional glossonyms like ''Leonese'', '' Cantabrian'', ''Asturian'' or '' Mirandese'' (in Portugal). Extremaduran is sometimes included as well. Asturleonese has been classified by UNESCO as an endangered language, as Asturian is being increasingly replaced by Spanish. Phylogenetically, Asturleonese belongs to the West Iberian branch of the Romance languages that gradually developed from
Vulgar Latin Vulgar Latin, also known as Popular or Colloquial Latin, is the range of non-formal Register (sociolinguistics), registers of Latin spoken from the Crisis of the Roman Republic, Late Roman Republic onward. Through time, Vulgar Latin would evolve ...
in the old
Kingdom of León The Kingdom of León; es, Reino de León; gl, Reino de León; pt, Reino de Leão; la, Regnum Legionense; mwl, Reino de Lhion was an independent kingdom situated in the northwest region of the Iberian Peninsula. It was founded in 910 when t ...
. The Asturleonese group is typically subdivided into three linguistic areas (Western, Central and Eastern) that form the vertical Asturleonese region, from
Asturias Asturias (, ; ast, Asturies ), officially the Principality of Asturias ( es, Principado de Asturias; ast, Principáu d'Asturies; Galician-Asturian: ''Principao d'Asturias''), is an autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in nor ...
, through León, to the north of
Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...
and
Extremadura Extremadura (; ext, Estremaúra; pt, Estremadura; Fala: ''Extremaúra'') is an autonomous community of Spain. Its capital city is Mérida, and its largest city is Badajoz. Located in the central-western part of the Iberian Peninsula, it ...
. The ''Cantabrian Montañes'' in the East and '' Extremaduran'' in the South have transitional traits with
Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...
(northern Spanish for Cantabrian, southern Spanish for Extremaduran). There are differing degrees of vitality of the language for each region in the area: Asturias and Miranda do Douro have historically been the regions in which Asturleonese has been the best preserved. Leonese (used interchangeably with ''Asturleonese'') was once regarded as an informal dialect ( basilect) that developed from
Castilian Spanish In English, Castilian Spanish can mean the variety of Peninsular Spanish spoken in northern and central Spain, the standard form of Spanish, or Spanish from Spain in general. In Spanish, the term (Castilian) can either refer to the Spanish langua ...
, but in 1906,
Ramón Menéndez Pidal Ramón Menéndez Pidal (; 13 March 1869 – 14 November 1968) was a Spanish philologist and historian."Ramon Menendez Pidal", ''Almanac of Famous People'' (2011) ''Biography in Context'', Gale, Detroit He worked extensively on the history of t ...
showed it developed from
Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
independently, coming into its earliest distinguishable form in the old
Kingdom of León The Kingdom of León; es, Reino de León; gl, Reino de León; pt, Reino de Leão; la, Regnum Legionense; mwl, Reino de Lhion was an independent kingdom situated in the northwest region of the Iberian Peninsula. It was founded in 910 when t ...
. As is noted by the Spanish scholar Inés Fernández Ordóñez, Menéndez Pidal always maintained that the Spanish language (or the common Spanish language, ''la lengua común española'', as he sometimes called it) evolved from a Castilian base which would have absorbed, or merged with, Leonese and Aragonese. In his works ''Historia de la Lengua Española'' ('History of the Spanish language') and especially ''El español en sus primeros tiempos'' ('Spanish in its early times'), Menéndez Pidal explains the stages of this process, taking into account the influence Leonese and Aragonese had on the beginnings of modern Spanish.


History

The Asturleonese language originated from Latin, which began to be transmitted through the Roman legions in
Asturica Augusta Astorga () is a municipality and city of Spain located in the central area of the province of León, in the autonomous community of Castilla y León, southwest of the provincial capital. It is located in the transit between the Páramo Leonés ...
as well as the Roman Sixth (Hispanian) Legion. The adoption of Latin by the
Astures The Astures or Asturs, also named Astyrs, were the Hispano-Celtic inhabitants of the northwest area of Hispania that now comprises almost the entire modern autonomous community of Principality of Asturias, the modern province of León, and the ...
, who inhabited the area, was a slow but inevitable process, as the use of the colonial language was the key to obtaining equal rights; the most important priority, at the time, being to earn Roman citizenship. However, like the rest of the peninsula, it was not until the establishment of the Germanic kingdoms of Iberia that Latin came to be the commonly spoken language of the area. Along with many linguistic similarities to Latin, the Asturian language also has distinct characteristics that can be linked back to the
Cantabrian Wars The Cantabrian Wars (29–19 BC) (''Bellum Cantabricum''), sometimes also referred to as the Cantabrian and Asturian Wars (''Bellum Cantabricum et Asturicum''), were the final stage of the two-century long Roman conquest of Hispania, in what to ...
; a conflict in which the former inhabitants of Leon and Asturias fought against the incorporation of the Roman culture. These two linguistic influences, together with the expansion and the subsequent regression of vernacular languages, would determine the linguistic evolution in the northwestern part of the peninsula. The vocabulary of Asturleonese contains pre-romanic elements that survived the later romanization of the area, as well as including pre-Indoeuropean elements that were only maintained through toponymy.


Diglossia

For a long time, during the 12th, 13th, and 14th centuries, Latin and Asturian co-existed within a diglossic relationship. During this time, Asturleonese was used in official documents and held a high legal status, a status that would drastically change within the following centuries. In the period of time between the fifteenth to eighteenth centuries, many linguistic dialects were marginalized within the Iberian Peninsula as well as other parts of Europe. Because of this, many linguistic dialects and minorities were marginalized, making it difficult for some languages, such as Asturleonese, to survive, and resulted in the fragmentation of others. During the nineteenth century, the Asturian territories were included as part of the Spanish circle. During this time, Spanish thrived as a language of prestige and culture, which led to its progressively replacing Asturleonese in these areas, as well as with Galician in neighboring Galicia, leaving it to mainly oral usage. Consequently, there existed, and still exists, a distinct divide between the spoken languages of Spanish and Asturian and the written ones. This being said, diglossia exists today within the region of Asturias. While Spanish is the official language, being used in the government and political spheres, the Asturian language survives as the language mainly used in informal and casual conversation in many rural areas within this community. Additionally, the language is often offered as an elective subject in schools throughout the linguistic region.


Legal status

Asturleonese only recently received recognition in the municipality of
Miranda do Douro Miranda do Douro () or Miranda de l Douro in Mirandese () is a city and a municipality in the district of Bragança, northeastern Portugal. The population in 2011 was 7,482, in an area of 487.18 km². The town proper had a population of 1,9 ...
by virtue of Portuguese law 7/99 on January 29, 1999, although merely as a language that should continue to be protected and preserved, not awarding it any official status. Meanwhile,
Catalan Catalan may refer to: Catalonia From, or related to Catalonia: * Catalan language, a Romance language * Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia Places * 13178 Catalan, asteroid #1 ...
,
Basque Basque may refer to: * Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France * Basque language, their language Places * Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France * Basque Country (autonomous co ...
, and Galician were all granted official status in their respective regions in 1978. Therefore, there exists some tension, as Asturleonese is still not regarded as an official language today. However, the language is optional at school, where it is widely studied. The
Spanish Constitution The Spanish Constitution (Spanish, Asturleonese language, Asturleonese, and gl, Constitución Española; eu, Espainiako Konstituzioa; ca, Constitució Espanyola; oc, Constitucion espanhòla) is the Democracy, democratic law that is supreme l ...
recognizes the existence of vehicular languages and the need for the protection of existing dialects within the national territories. In article 3.3 of the constitution, the document concretely states that "the richness of the distinct linguistic modalities of Spain is a cultural heritage that will be the subject of special respect and protection." Additionally, article 4 of the Asturian Statute of Autonomy states that, "The Asturian language will enjoy protection. Its use, teaching and diffusion in the media will be furthered, whilst its local dialects and voluntary apprenticeship will always be respected." In light of these stated provisions of the 1/1998, on the 23 of March, the Use and Promotion of the Asturleonese Language serves this purpose; promoting the use of the language, its knowledge within the educational system, as well as its dissemination in media. However, Asturleonese continues to have a very limited presence in the public administration. In Portugal, the related Mirandese dialect is recognized by the Assembly of the Republic as a co-official language along with
Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...
for local matters, and it is taught in public schools in the few areas where Mirandese is natively spoken. Initially thought to be a basilect of Portuguese,
José Leite de Vasconcelos José Leite de Vasconcelos Cardoso Pereira de Melo (7 July 1858 – 17 May 1941) was a Portuguese ethnographer, archaeologist and prolific author who wrote extensively on Portuguese philology and prehistory. He was the founder and the first direc ...
studied Mirandese and concluded it was a separate language from Portuguese.


Geographic distribution

Linguistically, it's considered that within the dominion of Asturleonese, the known dialects such as Leonese, Asturian, or Mirandese form a macrolanguage. A macrolanguage is a language that exists as distinct linguistic varieties. Within this macrolanguage, the Western and Eastern dialects share some linguistic characteristics with Galaicoportuguese and Spanish respectively. The boundaries of the Asturleonese language extend through Asturias, Leon, Zamora, and Miranda do Douro. However, the language is not just the sum of Asturian, Leonese, Zamorano, and Mirandan dialects; in purely linguistic terms, the main divisions of Asturleonese have north-south boundaries and form three separate sections that are shared between Asturias and Leon: occidental, central, and oriental. Only through a second level of analysis were smaller sections able to be distinguished. The political and administrative entities and linguistic spaces rarely coincide, as it's most common that languages go beyond borders and do not coincide with them.


Usage of glossonyms

Given the low social and political acceptance of referring to the language in Asturias as ''Leonese'', and in other parts of the domain (such as León or Zamora) as ''Asturian'' (even though it is virtually the same language), a significant part of the authors and specialists prefer to refer to all the dialects collectively as ''Asturllionés or Asturleonés'', although others continue to use the regional terms (like Leonese, Asturian, Mirandese, etc.).


Asturian (''Asturianu'')

Much effort has been made since 1974 to protect and promote Asturian. In 1981 Asturian, or ''Bable'', as the language is officially named, was recognized as a language in need of special protection by the local government. In 1994 there were 100,000 first language speakers and 450,000 second language speakers able to speak or understand Asturian. However, the outlook for Asturian remains critical, with a large decline in the number of speakers in the last 100 years. At the end of the 20th century, the
Academia de la Llingua Asturiana The Academia de la Llingua Asturiana or Academy of the Asturian Language (ALLA) is an Official Institution of the Government of the Principality of Asturias that promotes and regulates the Asturian language, a language of the Spanish autonomous ...
undertook initiatives designed to provide the language with most of the tools needed to survive in the modern era: a
grammar In linguistics, the grammar of a natural language is its set of structure, structural constraints on speakers' or writers' composition of clause (linguistics), clauses, phrases, and words. The term can also refer to the study of such constraint ...
, a
dictionary A dictionary is a listing of lexemes from the lexicon of one or more specific languages, often arranged alphabetically (or by radical and stroke for ideographic languages), which may include information on definitions, usage, etymologies ...
and
periodicals A periodical literature (also called a periodical publication or simply a periodical) is a published work that appears in a new edition on a regular schedule. The most familiar example is a newspaper, but a magazine or a Academic journal, journal ...
. A new generation of Asturian writers has championed the language. These developments have given Asturian greater hope of survival.


Leonese (''Llionés'')

Leonese was probably spoken in a much larger area in the Middle Ages, roughly corresponding to the old
Kingdom of León The Kingdom of León; es, Reino de León; gl, Reino de León; pt, Reino de Leão; la, Regnum Legionense; mwl, Reino de Lhion was an independent kingdom situated in the northwest region of the Iberian Peninsula. It was founded in 910 when t ...
. As the
Castilian language In English, Castilian Spanish can mean the variety of Peninsular Spanish spoken in northern and central Spain, the standard form of Spanish, or Spanish from Spain in general. In Spanish, the term (Castilian) can either refer to the Spanish langu ...
became the main language in Spain, the linguistic features of the Leonese language retreated progressively westwards. In the late 1990s several associations unofficially promoted Leonese language courses. In 2001 the ''Universidad de León'' (University of León) created a course for Leonese teachers, and local and provincial governments developed Leonese language courses for adults. Nowadays Leonese can be studied in the largest towns of León, Zamora and
Salamanca Salamanca () is a city in western Spain and is the capital of the Province of Salamanca in the autonomous community of Castile and León. The city lies on several rolling hills by the Tormes River. Its Old City was declared a UNESCO World Heritag ...
provinces. Leonese's desperate reality as a minority language has driven it to an apparent dead end, and it is considered a Seriously Endangered Language by
UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...
. There are some efforts at language revival aimed at the urban population (the Leonese Council has made campaign to encourage young people to learn Leonese). Some experts think Leonese will be dead in two generations. In spite of all these difficulties, the number of young people learning and using Leonese (mainly as a written language) has increased substantially in recent years. The Leonese City Council promotes Leonese language courses for adults. Leonese is taught in sixteen schools in Leon. Leonese has special status in the Statute of Autonomy of
Castile and León Castile and León ( es, Castilla y León ; ast-leo, Castiella y Llión ; gl, Castela e León ) is an autonomous community in northwestern Spain. It was created in 1983, eight years after the end of the Francoist regime, by the merging of the ...
.


Mirandese (''Mirandês'')

In the 19th century, José Leite de Vasconcelos described Mirandese as "the language of the farms, work, home, and love between the Mirandese," noting that it was a fully separate language from Portuguese. Since 1986/87 the language has been taught to students between the ages of 10 and 11, and Mirandese is now recovering. Today Mirandese has fewer than 5,000 speakers (but the figure goes up to 15,000 if one includes second language speakers). Portugal took a further step in protecting Mirandese when the Portuguese Republic officially recognised the language in 1999. It is administrated by the Anstituto de la Lhéngua Mirandesa.


Number of speakers

There is no known, exact number of Asturleonese speakers, as not enough statistical research has been conducted in this area and many dialects are not accounted for due to their close similarities with Spanish. It is believed that there are over 100,000 Asturian speakers within Spain and Portugal. However, a study conducted in 1991 on the specific Asturian dialect, showed that there could be as many as 450,000 speakers within the Asturias region, with about 60,000 to 80,000 able to read and write the language. The same study indicated that another 24 percent of the population could understand Asturian. This also explains the diverse range of knowledge and familiarity that those within the region have of the Asturleonese language, as there exist some speakers, some who can only understand the language, and a very small portion of the population who are able to read and write.


References

* Bauske, Bernd (1995) ''Sprachplannung des Asturianischen. Die Normierung und Normalisierung einer romanischen Kleinsprache in Spannungsfeld von Linguistik, Literatur und Politic''. Berlin, Köster (There's also a Spanish translation: (1998) ''Planificación lingüística del asturiano''. Xixón, Vtp ) * ''Lexikon der Romanitischen Linguistik'', Bd. 6.I: Aragonesisch/Navarresisch, Spanisch, Asturianisch/Leonesisch. Tübingen, Max Niemeyer, . *. * Menéndez Pidal, R (1906): "El dialecto Leonés", ''Revista de Archivos, Bibliotecas y Museos'' 2-3:128-172, 4-5:294-311 (There's a modern reprint: (2006) ''El dialecto Leonés''. León, El Buho Viajero ) *


External links


Héctor García Gil. Asturian-leonese: Linguistic, Sociolinguistic and Legal Aspects

Academia de la Llingua Asturiana
– Academy of the Asturian Language – Official website
Asturian grammar in EnglishXunta pola Defensa de la Llingua Asturiana
– Committee for the Defense of Asturian Language
Oficina de Política Llingüística del Gobiernu del Principáu d'Asturies
– Bureau of Asturian Linguistic Politics (Government of the
Principality of Asturias Asturias (, ; ast, Asturies ), officially the Principality of Asturias ( es, Principado de Asturias; ast, Principáu d'Asturies; Galician-Asturian: ''Principao d'Asturias''), is an autonomous community in northwest Spain. It is coextensive ...
)
Real Instituto de Estudios Asturianos
– Royal Institute of Asturian Studies (RIDEA or IDEA), founded 1945.
Asturian–English dictionary
*Entry o

at the Folclore Português website

- González i Planas, Francesc. Institutum Studiorum Romanicorum «Romania Minor». The Asturleonese Dialects.
La Caleya - Cultural Association.

Furmientu Cultural Association.

Faceira Cultural Association.

El Teixu Cultural Association.
* González Riaño, Xosé Antón; García Arias, Xosé Lluis: ''"II Estudiu Sociollingüísticu De Lleón: Identidá, conciencia d'usu y actitúes llingüístiques de la población lleonesa"''. Academia de la Llingua Asturiana, 2008. . * Abel Pardo, Pardo, Abel. ''"El Llïonés y las TICs"''. Mikroglottika Yearbook 2008. Págs 109-122. Peter Lang. Frankfurt am Main. 2008. * Staaff, Erik. : ''"Étude sur l'ancien dialecte léonais d'après les chartes du XIIIe siècle"'', Uppsala. 1907. {{DEFAULTSORT:Astur-Leonese Linguistic Group Astur-Leonese languages