West Iberian is a branch of the Ibero-Romance languages that includes the Castilian languages ( Spanish,

Judaeo-Spanish Judaeo-Spanish or Judeo-Spanish (autonym , Hebrew alphabet, Hebrew script: , Cyrillic script, Cyrillic: ), also known as Ladino, is a Romance languages, Romance language derived from Old Spanish language, Old Spanish. Originally spoken in Spain ...

, Extremaduran (sometimes) and Loreto-Ucayali),

Astur-Leonese Asturleonese ( ast, Asturlleonés; es, Asturleonés; pt, Asturo-leonês; mwl, Asturlhionés) is a Romance language spoken primarily in northwestern Spain, namely in the historical regions and Spain's modern-day autonomous communities of Asturi ...

( Asturian, Leonese,

Mirandese The Mirandese language ( mwl, mirandés, links=no or ''lhéngua mirandesa''; pt, mirandês or ) is an Astur-Leonese language or language variety that is sparsely spoken in a small area of northeastern Portugal in Terra de Miranda (made up of th ...

, Extremaduran (sometimes) and Cantabrian),UNESCO Interactive Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger
where Cantabrian is listed in the

Astur-Leonese linguistic group Asturleonese ( ast, Asturlleonés; es, Asturleonés; pt, Asturo-leonês; mwl, Asturlhionés) is a Romance language spoken primarily in northwestern Spain, namely in the historical regions and Spain's modern-day autonomous communities of Asturi ...

. and the descendants of

Galician-Portuguese Galician-Portuguese ( gl, galego-portugués or ', pt, galego-português or ), also known as Old Portuguese or as Medieval Galician when referring to the history of each modern language, was a West Iberian languages, West Iberian Romance languag ...

( Portuguese, Galician, Eonavian,

Fala The Armed Forces of the Liberation of Angola ( pt, Forças Armadas de Libertação de Angola) or FALA was the armed wing of the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), a prominent political faction during the Angolan Civil ...

Minderico Minderico, also known as (the language of Minde), was originally a sociolect or a secret language spoken by textile producers and traders in the freguesia (civil parish) of Minde (Alcanena, Portugal). History After this initial phase (18th c ...

, Cafundó, and

Judaeo-Portuguese Judaeo-Portuguese, or Judeo-Lusitanic, is said to be the extinct Jewish language that was used by the Portuguese Jews, Jews of Portugal. See also * History of the Jews in Portugal * Spanish and Portuguese Jews * Lusophone * Lusitanic * Pallache ...

). Pyrenean–Mozarabic ( Aragonese and Mozarabic) may also be included. Until a few centuries ago, they formed 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 ...

covering the western, central and southern parts of the Iberian Peninsula—excepting the Basque and

Catalan-speaking Catalan (; autonym: , ), known in the Valencian Community and Carche as ''Valencian'' (autonym: ), is a Western Romance language. It is the official language of Andorra, and an official language of three autonomous communities in eastern Spa ...

territories. This is still the situation in a few regions, particularly in the northern part of the peninsula, but due to the differing sociopolitical histories of these languages (independence 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 ...

since the early 12th century, unification of

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

in the late 15th century under the Catholic Monarchs, who privileged Castilian Spanish over the other Iberian languages), Spanish and Portuguese have tended to overtake and to a large extent absorb their sister languages while they kept diverging from each other. There is controversy over whether the members of the modern Galician-Portuguese and Astur-Leonese sub-groups are languages or dialects. A common, though disputed, classification is to state that Portuguese and Galician are separate languages, as are Asturian, Leonese, and Mirandese. Cantabrian and Extremaduran are considered codialects of the Leonese language for UNESCO, whereas the latter is a Castilian dialect in the ISO codes.

Papiamento Papiamento () or Papiamentu (; nl, Papiaments) is a Portuguese-based creole language spoken in the Dutch Caribbean. It is the most widely spoken language on the Caribbean ABC islands (Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao), with official status in Arub ...

is a West Iberian creole language spoken in the Dutch West Indies and believed to be derived from Portuguese,

, Spanish and

Classification

Bold indicates language families. Daggers indicate extinct languages. *West Iberian ** Asturleonese *** Asturian *** Leonese ***

*** Extremaduran *** Cantabrian **

Barranquenho Barranquenho (; English: Barranquian) is a Romance linguistic variety spoken in the Portuguese town of Barrancos, near the Spanish border. It is a mixed language, and can be considered either a variety of Portuguese (Alentejan Portuguese) heavi ...

** Castilian *** Extremaduran ***

*** Loreto-Ucayali *** Spanish **

*** Eonavian ***

*** Galician ***

*** Portuguese **Pyrenean–Mozarabic ***

Andalusi Romance Mozarabic, also called Andalusi Romance, refers to the medieval Romance languages, Romance varieties spoken in the Iberian Peninsula in territories controlled by the Islamic Emirate of Córdoba and its successors. They were the common tongue fo ...

*** Aragonese *** Judaeo-Aragonese ***

Navarro-Aragonese Navarro-Aragonese is a Romance language once spoken in a large part of the Ebro River basin, south of the middle Pyrenees, although it is only currently spoken in a small portion of its original territory. The areas where it was spoken might have ...

Notes and references

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:West Iberian Languages