Asturian (; )Art. 1 de l
Ley 1/1998, de 23 de marzo, de uso y promoción del bable/asturiano [Law 1/93, of March 23, on the Use and Promotion of the Asturian Language
/nowiki>] is a West Iberian languages, West Iberian Romance languages, Romance language spoken in the Principality of Asturias, Spain. Asturian is part of a wider linguistic group, the Asturleonese languages. The number of speakers is estimated at 100,000 (native) and 450,000 (second language). The

dialect A dialect is a Variety (linguistics), variety of language spoken by a particular group of people. This may include dominant and standard language, standardized varieties as well as Vernacular language, vernacular, unwritten, or non-standardize ...

s of the Astur-Leonese language family are traditionally classified in three groups: Western, Central, and Eastern. For historical and demographic reasons, the standard is based on Central Asturian. Asturian has a distinct

grammar In linguistics, grammar is the set of rules for how a natural language is structured, as demonstrated by its speakers or writers. Grammar rules may concern the use of clauses, phrases, and words. The term may also refer to the study of such rul ...

dictionary A dictionary is a listing of lexemes from the lexicon of one or more specific languages, often arranged Alphabetical order, alphabetically (or by Semitic root, consonantal root for Semitic languages or radical-and-stroke sorting, radical an ...

, and

orthography An orthography is a set of convention (norm), conventions for writing a language, including norms of spelling, punctuation, Word#Word boundaries, word boundaries, capitalization, hyphenation, and Emphasis (typography), emphasis. Most national ...

. It is regulated by the Academy of the Asturian Language. Although it is not an

official language An official language is defined by the Cambridge English Dictionary as, "the language or one of the languages that is accepted by a country's government, is taught in schools, used in the courts of law, etc." Depending on the decree, establishmen ...

of Spain, it is protected under the Statute of Autonomy of Asturias and is an elective language in schools. For much of its history, the language has been ignored or "subjected to repeated challenges to its status as a language variety" due to its lack of official status.

History

Asturian is the historical language of Asturias, portions of the Spanish provinces of León and Zamora and the area surrounding

Miranda do Douro Miranda do Douro (), officially the City of Miranda do Douro (; , ), 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 populati ...

in northeastern Portugal. Like the other Romance languages of the Iberian peninsula, it evolved from

Vulgar Latin Vulgar Latin, also known as Colloquial, Popular, Spoken or Vernacular Latin, is the range of non-formal Register (sociolinguistics), registers of Latin spoken from the Crisis of the Roman Republic, Late Roman Republic onward. ''Vulgar Latin'' a ...

during the

early Middle Ages The Early Middle Ages (or early medieval period), sometimes controversially referred to as the Dark Ages (historiography), Dark Ages, is typically regarded by historians as lasting from the late 5th to the 10th century. They marked the start o ...

. Asturian was closely linked with the

Kingdom of Asturias The Kingdom of Asturias was a kingdom in the Iberian Peninsula founded by the nobleman Pelagius who traditionally has been described as being of Visigothic stock. Modern research is leaning towards the view that Pelagius was of Hispano-Roman ...

(718–910) and the ensuing Leonese kingdom. The language had contributions from pre-Roman languages spoken by the Astures, an Iberian

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foot ...

tribe, and the post-Roman

Germanic languages The Germanic languages are a branch of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family spoken natively by a population of about 515 million people mainly in Europe, North America, Oceania, and Southern Africa. The most widely spoke ...

of the

Visigoths The Visigoths (; ) were a Germanic people united under the rule of a king and living within the Roman Empire during late antiquity. The Visigoths first appeared in the Balkans, as a Roman-allied Barbarian kingdoms, barbarian military group unite ...

and Suebians. The transition from Latin to Asturian was slow and gradual; for a long time they co-existed in a diglossic relationship, first in the Kingdom of Asturias and later in that of Asturias and Leon. During the 12th, 13th and part of the 14th centuries Astur-Leonese was used in the kingdom's official documents, with many examples of agreements, donations, wills and commercial contracts from that period onwards. Although there are no extant literary works written in Asturian from this period, some books (such as the and the 1155 ) had Asturian sources.

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 langu ...

arrived in the area during the 14th century, when the central administration sent emissaries and functionaries to political and ecclesiastical offices. Asturian codification of the Astur-Leonese spoken in the Asturian Autonomous Community became a modern language with the founding of the Academy of the Asturian Language () in 1980. The Leonese dialects and Mirandese are linguistically close to Asturian.

Status and legislation

Efforts have been made since the end of the Francoist period in 1975 to protect and promote Asturian. In 1994 there were 100,000 native speakers and 450,000 second-language speakers able to speak (or understand) Asturian. However, the language is endangered: there has been a steep decline in the number of speakers over the last century. Law 1/93 of 23 March 1993 on the Use and Promotion of the Asturian Language addressed the issue, and according to article four of the Asturias Statute of Autonomy: "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." However, Asturian is in a legally hazy position. The Spanish Constitution has not been fully applied regarding the official recognition of languages in the autonomous communities. The ambiguity of the Statute of Autonomy, which recognises the existence of Asturian but does not give it the same status as Spanish, leaves the door open to benign neglect. However, since 1 August 2001 Asturian has been covered under the

European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages The European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages (ECRML) is a European treaty (CETS 148) adopted in 1992 under the auspices of the Council of Europe to protect and promote historical regional and minority languages in Europe. However, t ...

' "safeguard and promote" clause. A 1983 survey indicated 100,000 native Asturian speakers (12 percent of the Asturian population) and 250,000 who could speak or understand Asturian as a second language. A similar survey in 1991 found that 44 percent of the population (about 450,000 people) could speak Asturian, with from 60,000 to 80,000 able to read and write it. An additional 24 percent of the Asturian population said that they understood the language, making a total of about 68 percent of the Asturian population. At the end of the 20th century the Academia de la Llingua Asturiana (Academy of the Asturian Language) attempted to provide the language with tools needed to promote its survival: a

, a

and

periodicals Periodical literature (singularly called a periodical publication or simply a periodical) consists of Publication, published works that appear in new releases on a regular schedule (''issues'' or ''numbers'', often numerically divided into annu ...

. In addition a new generation of Asturian writers has championed the language. In 2021 the first complete translation of the Bible into Asturian was published.

Historical, social and cultural aspects

Literary history

Francisco de Goya y Lucientes - Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos

Although some 10th-century documents have the linguistic features of Asturian, numerous examples (such as writings by

notaries A notary is a person authorised to perform acts in legal affairs, in particular witnessing signatures on documents. The form that the notarial profession takes varies with local legal systems. A notary, while a legal professional, is distin ...

contract A contract is an agreement that specifies certain legally enforceable rights and obligations pertaining to two or more parties. A contract typically involves consent to transfer of goods, services, money, or promise to transfer any of thos ...

s and wills) begin in the 13th century. Early examples are the 1085 ''Fuero de Avilés'' (the oldest parchment preserved in Asturias) and the 13th-century ''Fuero de Oviedo'' and the Leonese version of the ''Fueru Xulgu''. The 13th-century documents were the laws for towns, cities and the general population. By the second half of the 16th century, documents were written in Castilian, backed by the Trastámara dynasty and making the civil and ecclesiastical arms of the principality Castilian. Although the Asturian language disappeared from written texts during the ''sieglos escuros'' (dark centuries), it survived orally. The only written mention during this time is from a 1555 work by Hernán Núñez about proverbs and

adages A saying is any concise expression that is especially memorable because of its meaning or style. A saying often shows a wisdom or cultural standard, having different meanings than just the words themselves. Sayings are categorized as follows: * ...

: "...in a large copy of rare languages, as Portuguese, Galician, Asturian, Catalan, Valencian, French, Tuscan..." Modern Asturian literature began in 1605 with the clergyman Antón González Reguera and continued until the 18th century (when it produced, according to Ruiz de la Peña in 1981, a literature comparable to that in Asturias in Castilian). In 1744,

Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos (born Gaspar Melchor de Jove y Llanos, 5 January 1744 – 27 November 1811) was a Spain, Spanish Spanish Enlightenment literature, neoclassical statesman, author, philosopher and a major figure of the Age of Enlighte ...

wrote about the historic and cultural value of Asturian, urging the compilation of a dictionary and a grammar and the creation of a language academy. Notable writers included Francisco Bernaldo de Quirós Benavides (1675), Xosefa Xovellanos (1745), Xuan González Villar y Fuertes (1746), Xosé Caveda y Nava (1796), Xuan María Acebal (1815), Teodoro Cuesta (1829), Xosé Benigno García González, Marcos del Torniello (1853), Bernardo Acevedo y Huelves (1849), Pin de Pría (1864), Galo Fernández and Fernán Coronas (1884). During the 19th and early 20th century, sections of poems, comics or commentary (often satirical) in Asturian were common in some regional Asturian newspapers and magazines, but no newspaper would be completely written in Asturian until 1901, as well as many '' costumbrist'' theater plays. The first Asturian dictionary (''Diccionario de algunas voces del dialecto asturiano'') was written in 1788 by Carlos González de Posada. Although the complete Bible was not translated until 2021, the Gospel of Matthew was translated to Asturian in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

in 1861 by priest Manuel Fernández de Castro y Menéndez Hevia (who also translated papal bulls to Asturian) and published by Louis Lucien Bonaparte (who had also published a Galician translation of the Gospel). The first book in Asturian printed and published was ''Llos Trabayos de Chinticu'' by Juan Junquera Huergo, published in Gijón in 1843 composed of 372 satirical verses. Junquera Huergo, former mayor of Gijón, also wrote the first Asturian grammar in 1869, using a writing standard invented by himself, but was left unpublished due to lack of funds after Junquera's death, and two dictionaries, a ''Diccionario del dialecto asturiano'' in 1867 and a Spanish-Asturian dictionary that was left uncompleted (only up to the letter "E"). In 1880 another very small dictionary would be written (''Pequeño vocabulario de voces en bable''), the writer is unknown, but it's attributed to José Fernández-Quevedo y González-Llanos alias "Pepín Quevedo". The first novel in Asturian, ''Viaxe del Tíu Pacho el Sordu a Uviedo'', was written and published in

Oviedo Oviedo () or Uviéu (Asturian language, Asturian: ) is the capital city of the Principality of Asturias in northern Spain and the administrative and commercial centre of the region. It is also the name of the municipality that contains th ...

by Enriqueta González Rubín in 1875 and written in the Eastern dialect of Asturian. The first newspaper written completely in Asturian language, '' Ixuxú,'' was created by poet Francisco González Prieto in 1901 in

Gijón Gijón () or () is a city and municipality in north-western Spain. It is the largest city and Municipalities of Spain, municipality by population in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Asturias. It is located on the coa ...

. It was a conservative ultracatholic weekly newspaper. He also created another newspaper in Asturian, ''L'Astur'' in 1904. Beginning in the 1930's and especially after Franco's victory in the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...

and due to his policies against non-Castilian languages of Spain, Asturian presence as a written language was greatly diminished until the 1970s ''Surdimientu''. In 1974, a movement for the language's acceptance and use began in Asturias. Based on ideas of the Asturian association Conceyu Bable about Asturian language and culture, a plan was developed for the acceptance and modernization of the language that led to the 1980 creation of the Academy of the Asturian Language with the approval of the Asturias regional council. ''El Surdimientu'' (the Awakening) authors such as Manuel Asur ''(Cancios y poemes pa un riscar)'', Xuan Bello ''(El llibru vieyu)'', Adolfo Camilo Díaz ''(Añada pa un güeyu muertu)'', Pablo Antón Marín Estrada ''(Les hores)'', Xandru Fernández ''(Les ruines)'', Lourdes Álvarez, Martín López-Vega, Miguel Rojo and

Lluis Antón González Lluis Antón González (June 13, 1955 in Baíña, Mieres) is an Asturian actor, writer, and director. A member of the theatrical group Telón de Fondo, he participated as an actor, director, and adaptor in many montages by the collective. As a fi ...

broke from the Asturian-Leonese tradition of rural themes, moral messages and dialogue-style writing. Currently, the Asturian language has about 150 annual publications. The Bible into the Asturian language was completed in 2021 after over 30 years of translation work, beginning in September 1988.

Use and distribution

Astur-Leonese's geographic area exceeds Asturias, and the language known as Leonese in the

autonomous community The autonomous communities () are the first-level administrative divisions of Spain, created in accordance with the Spanish Constitution of 1978, with the aim of guaranteeing limited autonomy to the nationalities and regions that make up Sp ...

Castile and León Castile and León is an Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in northwestern Spain. Castile and León is the largest autonomous community in Spain by area, covering 94,222 km2. It is, however, sparsely populated, with a pop ...

is basically the same as the Asturian spoken in Asturias. The Asturian-Leonese linguistic domain covers most of the principality of Asturias, the northern and western

province of León León (, ; ; ; ) is a province of northwestern Spain in the northern part of the Region of León and in the northwestern part of the autonomous community of Castile and León. About one quarter of its population of 463,746 (2018) lives in the c ...

, the northeastern

province of Zamora Zamora () is a Provinces of Spain, province of western Spain, in the western part of the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Castile and León. It is bordered by the provinces of Province of Ourense, Ourense, Province of Le� ...

(both in Castile and León), western

Cantabria Cantabria (, ; ) is an autonomous community and Provinces of Spain, province in northern Spain with Santander, Cantabria, Santander as its capital city. It is called a , a Nationalities and regions of Spain, historic community, in its current ...

and the Miranda do Douro region in the eastern Bragança District of Portugal.

Toponymy

Traditional, popular place names of the principality's towns are supported by the law on usage of Asturian, the principality's 2003–07 plan for establishing the language and the work of the ''Xunta Asesora de Toponimia'', which researches and confirms the Asturian names of requesting villages, towns, ''conceyos'' and cities (50 of 78 ''conceyos'' as of 2012).

Dialects

Asturian has several dialects. They are regulated by the Academia de la Llingua Asturiana and mainly spoken in Asturias (except in the west, where Galician-Asturian is spoken). The dialect spoken in the adjoining area of

is known as Leonese. Asturian is traditionally divided into three dialectal areas, sharing traits with the dialect spoken in León: western, central and eastern. The dialects are mutually intelligible. Central Asturian, with the most speakers (more than 80 percent), is the basis for standard Asturian. The first Asturian grammar was published in 1998 and the first dictionary in 2000.

Western Asturian Western Asturian (; ),Art. 1 de lLey 1/1998, de 23 de marzo, de uso y promoción del bable/asturiano aw 1/93, of March 23, on the Use and Promotion of the Asturian Language/nowiki> is the western dialect of Asturian language spoken in western ...

is spoken between the rivers Navia and Nalón, in the west of the province of León (where it is known as Leonese) and in the provinces of Zamora and

Salamanca Salamanca () is a Municipality of Spain, municipality and city in Spain, capital of the Province of Salamanca, province of the same name, located in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is located in the Campo Charro comarca, in the ...

. Feminine plurals end in ''-as'' and the falling diphthongs and are maintained. Central Asturian is spoken between the Sella River and the mouth of the River Nalón in Asturias and north of León. The model for the written language, it is characterized by feminine plurals ending in ''-es'', the

monophthongization Monophthongization is a sound change by which a diphthong becomes a monophthong, a type of vowel shift. It is also known as ungliding, as diphthongs are also known as gliding vowels. In languages that have undergone monophthongization, digrap ...

of and into and and the

neuter gender In linguistics, a grammatical gender system is a specific form of a noun class system, where nouns are assigned to gender categories that are often not related to the real-world qualities of the entities denoted by those nouns. In languages wit ...

in adjectives modifying uncountable nouns (''lleche frío'', ''carne tienro''). East Asturian is spoken between the River Sella, Llanes and Cabrales. The dialect is characterized by the

debuccalization Debuccalization or deoralization is a sound change or alternation in which an oral consonant loses its original place of articulation and moves it to the glottis (, , or ). The pronunciation of a consonant as is sometimes called aspiration ...

of word-initial to , written (''ḥoguera'', ''ḥacer'', ''ḥigos'' and ''ḥornu'' instead of ''foguera'', ''facer'', ''figos'' and ''fornu''; feminine plurals ending in ''-as'' (''ḥabas'', ''ḥormigas'', ''ḥiyas'', except in eastern towns, where ''-es'' is kept: ''ḥabes'', ''ḥormigues'', ''ḥiyes''); the shifting of word-final ''-e'' to ''-i'' (''xenti'', ''tardi'', ''ḥuenti''); retention of the neuter gender in some areas, with the ending ''-u'' instead of ''-o'' (''agua friu'', ''xenti güenu'', ''ropa tendíu'', ''carne guisáu''), and a distinction between direct and indirect objects in first- and second-person singular pronouns (direct ''me'' and ''te'' v. indirect ''mi'' and ''ti'') in some municipalities bordering the Sella: ''busquéte (a ti) y alcontréte/busquéti les llaves y alcontrétiles'', ''llévame (a mi) la fesoria en carru''. Asturian 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 ...

with Cantabrian in the east and Eonavian in the west. While this dialect continuum is for the most part smooth, a number of isoglosses cluster together parallel to the River Purón, linking the dialects of eastern Llanes, Ribadedeva, Peñamellera Alta, and Peñamellera Baja with those of Cantabria and separating them from the rest of Asturias. Cantabrian was listed in the 2009

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger The UNESCO ''Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger'' was an online publication containing a comprehensive list of the world's endangered languages. It originally replaced the ''Red Book of Endangered Languages'' as a title in print after ...

., where Cantabrian is listed in the Astur-Leonese linguistic group. The inclusion of Eonavian (spoken in western Asturias, bordering Galicia) in the

Galician language Galician ( , ), also known as Galego (), is a Iberian Romance languages, Western Ibero-Romance language. Around 2.4 million people have at least some degree of competence in the language, mainly in Galicia (Spain), Galicia, an Autonomo ...

is controversial, since it has traits in common with western Asturian.

Linguistic description

Asturian is one of the Astur-Leonese languages which form part of the

Iberian Romance languages The Iberian Romance, Ibero-Romance or sometimes Iberian languages Iberian languages is also used as a more inclusive term for all languages spoken on the Iberian Peninsula, which in antiquity included the non-Indo-European Iberian language. are ...

, close to Galician-Portuguese and Castilian and further removed from

Navarro-Aragonese Navarro-Aragonese was a Romance language once spoken in a large part of the Ebro River basin, south of the middle Pyrenees; the dialects of the modern Aragonese language, spoken in a small portion of that territory, can be seen as its last remain ...

. It is an inflecting, fusional,

head-initial In linguistics, head directionality is a proposed Principles and parameters, parameter that classifies languages according to whether they are head-initial (the head (linguistics), head of a phrase precedes its Complement (linguistics), complement ...

and

dependent-marking language A dependent-marking language has grammatical markers of agreement and case government between the words of phrases that tend to appear more on dependents than on heads. The distinction between head-marking and dependent-marking was first explored ...

. Its word order is subject–verb–object (in declarative sentences without

topicalization Topicalization is a mechanism of syntax that establishes an expression as the sentence or clause topic (linguistics), topic by having it appear at the front of the sentence or clause (as opposed to in a canonical position later in the sentence). T ...

Phonology

Vowels

Asturian distinguishes five vowel phonemes (these same ones are found in Spanish, Aragonese, Sardinian and

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 ...

), according to three degrees of vowel openness (close, mid and open) and backness (front, central and back). Many Asturian dialects have a system of metaphony. * When occurring as unstressed, close vowels can become glides in the pre-nuclear position. In the post-nuclear syllable margin, they are traditionally transcribed as non-syllabic vowels . The phenomenon of ''-u'' metaphony is uncommon, as are the falling diphthongs , usually in the west.

Consonants

* Some dialects also have sounds ''ḷḷ'', ''ḥ'' which are pronounced as and * may be lenited or sonorised as in certain environments, or word-initially. * is pronounced in coda position. * can have different pronunciations, as a voiced plosive , affricate , or as a voiced fricative .

Writing

Asturian has always been written in the

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

alphabet. Although the Academia de la Llingua Asturiana published orthographic rules in 1981, different spelling rules are used in Terra de Miranda (

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

). Although they can be written, ''ḷḷ'' ('' che vaqueira'', formerly written "''ts''") and the eastern '' ḥ'' aspiration (also written "''h.''" and cooccurring with ''ll'' and ''f'') are absent from this model. Asturian has triple gender distinction in the

adjective An adjective (abbreviations, abbreviated ) is a word that describes or defines a noun or noun phrase. Its semantic role is to change information given by the noun. Traditionally, adjectives are considered one of the main part of speech, parts of ...

, feminine plurals with ''-es'', verb endings with ''-es, -en, -íes, íen'' and lacks compound tenses (or

periphrasis In linguistics and literature, periphrasis () is the use of a larger number of words, with an implicit comparison to the possibility of using fewer. The comparison may be within a language or between languages. For example, "more happy" is periph ...

constructed with "''tener''").

Alphabet

(*) also ''zeda'', ''ceda'' The letters ''K'' (ka), ''J'' (jota) and ''W'' (uve doble) are only used in loanwords and are not part of the alphabet.

Digraphs

Asturian has several digraphs, some of which have their own names.

Dialectal spellings

The letter ''h'' and the digraph ''ll'' can take an under-dot to indicate additional sounds, for '' ḥ'' and '' digraph ḷḷ'' * The "''ḥ''" is common in eastern Asturian place names and in words beginning with ''f''; workarounds such as ''h.'' and ''l.l'' were used in the past for printing. * Besides dialectal words, the "''ḥ''" is also used in some loanwords: ''ḥoquei'' (hockey).

Grammar

Asturian grammar is similar to that of other Romance languages. Nouns have three genders (masculine, feminine and neuter), two

numbers A number is a mathematical object used to count, measure, and label. The most basic examples are the natural numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, and so forth. Numbers can be represented in language with number words. More universally, individual numbers can ...

(singular and plural) and no cases. Adjectives may have a third, neuter gender, a phenomenon known as matter-neutrality. Verbs agree with their subjects in

person A person (: people or persons, depending on context) is a being who has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations suc ...

(first, second, or third) and number, and are conjugated to indicate mood (indicative, subjunctive, conditional or imperative; some others include "potential" in place of future and conditional), tense (often present or past; different moods allow different tenses), and aspect (perfective or imperfective).

Morphology

Gender

Asturian is the only western Romance language with three genders: ''

masculine Masculinity (also called manhood or manliness) is a set of attributes, behaviors, and roles generally associated with men and boys. Masculinity can be theoretically understood as socially constructed, and there is also evidence that some beh ...

feminine Femininity (also called womanliness) is a set of attributes, behaviors, and Gender roles, roles generally associated with women and girls. Femininity can be understood as Social construction of gender, socially constructed, and there is also s ...

and neuter''. * ''Masculine nouns'' usually end in ''-u'', sometimes in ''-e'' or a consonant: ''el tiempu'' (time, weather), ''l’home'' (man), ''el pantalón'' (trousers), ''el xeitu'' (way, mode). * ''Feminine nouns'' usually end in ''-a'', sometimes ''-e'': ''la casa'' (house), ''la xente'' (people), ''la nueche'' (night). * ''Neuter nouns'' may have any ending. Asturian has three types of neuters: ** ''Masculine neuters'' have a masculine form and take a masculine article: ''el fierro vieyo'' (old iron). ** ''Feminine neuters'' have a feminine form and take a feminine article: ''la lleche frío'' (cold milk). ** ''Pure neuters'' are nominal groups with an adjective and neuter pronoun: ''lo guapo d’esti asuntu ye...'' (the interesting hingabout this issue is...). Adjectives are modified by gender. Most adjectives have three endings: ''-u'' (masculine), ''-a'' (feminine) and ''-o'' (neuter): ''El vasu ta fríu'' (the glass is cold), ''tengo la mano fría'' (my hand is cold), ''l’agua ta frío'' (the water is cold) Neuter nouns are abstract, collective and uncountable nouns. They have no plural, except when they are used metaphorically or concretised and lose this gender: ''les agües tán fríes'' (Waters are cold). ''Tien el pelo roxo'' (He has red hair) is neuter, but ''Tien un pelu roxu'' (He has ''a'' red hair) is masculine; note the noun's change in ending.

Number

Plural formation is complex: * Masculine nouns ending in ''-u'' → ''-os'': ''texu'' (yew) → ''texos''. * Feminine nouns ending in ''-a'' → ''-es'': ''vaca'' (cow) → ''vaques''. * Masculine or feminine nouns ending in a consonant take ''-es'': ''animal'' (animal) → ''animales; xabón'' (soap) → ''xabones''. * Words ending in ''-z'' may take a masculine ''-os'' to distinguish them from the feminine plural: ''rapaz'' (boy) → ''rapazos''; ''rapaza'' (girl) → ''rapaces''. * Masculine nouns ending in ''-ín'' → ''-inos'': ''camín'' (way, path) → ''caminos'', re-establishing the etymological vowel. * Feminine nouns ending in ''-á'', ''-ada'', ''-ú'' → ''-aes'' or ''-úes'', also re-establishing the etymological vowel: ''ciudá'' (city) → ''ciudaes; cansada'' (tired eminine → ''cansaes; virtú'' (virtue) → ''virtúes''.

Determiners

Their forms are: ^*Only before words beginning with ''a-'': ''l’aigla'' (the eagle), ''l’alma'' (the soul). Compare ''la entrada'' (the entry) and ''la islla'' (the island).

Resources

The Academy of the Asturian Language has published a grammar describing the Asturian language. It is a comprehensive manual that can be used in schools to facilitate learning. Additionally, a translator that can translate English, French, Portuguese and Italian, among a few other languages, into Asturian and vice versa is offered online.see https://eslema.it.uniovi.es/comun/traductor.php This software is funded and maintained by members of the University of Oviedo.

Vocabulary

As with other Romance languages, most Asturian words come from

: ''ablana, agua, falar, güeyu, home, llibru, muyer, pesllar, pexe, prau, suañar''. In addition to this Latin basis are words which entered Asturian from languages spoken before the arrival of Latin (its

substratum Substrata, plural of substratum, may refer to: *Earth's substrata, the geologic layering of the Earth *''Hypokeimenon'', sometimes translated as ''substratum'', a concept in metaphysics *Substrata (album), a 1997 ambient music album by Biosphere * ...

), afterwards (its superstratum) and

loanword A loanword (also a loan word, loan-word) is a word at least partly assimilated from one language (the donor language) into another language (the recipient or target language), through the process of borrowing. Borrowing is a metaphorical term t ...

s from other languages.

Substratum

Although little is known about the language of the ancient Astures, it may have been related to two

Indo-European languages The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the northern Indian subcontinent, most of Europe, and the Iranian plateau with additional native branches found in regions such as Sri Lanka, the Maldives, parts of Central Asia (e. ...

and Lusitanian. Words from this language and the pre–Indo-European languages spoken in the region are known as the prelatinian substratum; examples include ''bedul, boroña, brincar, bruxa, cándanu, cantu, carrascu, comba, cuetu, güelga, llamuerga, llastra, llócara, matu, peñera, riega, tapín'' and ''zucar''. Many Celtic words (such as ''bragues, camisa, carru, cerveza'' and ''sayu'') were integrated into Latin and, later, into Asturian.

Superstratum

Asturian's superstratum consists primarily of Germanisms and Arabisms. The Germanic peoples in the Iberian Peninsula, especially the

and the

Suevi file:1st century Germani.png, 300px, The approximate positions of some Germanic peoples reported by Graeco-Roman authors in the 1st century. Suebian peoples in red, and other Irminones in purple. The Suebi (also spelled Suavi, Suevi or Suebians ...

, added words such as ''blancu, esquila, estaca, mofu, serón, espetar, gadañu'' and ''tosquilar''. Arabisms could reach Asturian directly, through contacts with Arabs or

al-Andalus Al-Andalus () was the Muslim-ruled area of the Iberian Peninsula. The name refers to the different Muslim states that controlled these territories at various times between 711 and 1492. At its greatest geographical extent, it occupied most o ...

, or through the Castilian language. Examples include ''acebache, alfaya, altafarra, bañal, ferre, galbana, mandil, safase, xabalín, zuna'' and ''zucre''.

Loanwords

Asturian has also received much of its lexicon from other languages, such as Spanish, French,

Occitan Occitan may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the Occitania territory in parts of France, Italy, Monaco and Spain. * Something of, from, or related to the Occitania administrative region of France. * Occitan language, spoken in parts o ...

and Galician. In number of loanwords, Spanish leads the list. However, due to the close relationship between Castilian and Asturian, it is often unclear if a word is borrowed from Castilian, common to both languages from Latin, or a loanword from Asturian to Castilian. Some Castilian forms in Asturian are: ::

Lexical comparison

Lord's Prayer The Lord's Prayer, also known by its incipit Our Father (, ), is a central Christian prayer attributed to Jesus. It contains petitions to God focused on God’s holiness, will, and kingdom, as well as human needs, with variations across manusc ...

Education

Primary and secondary

Although Spanish is the official language of all schools in Asturias, in many schools children are allowed to take Asturian-language classes from age 6 to 16. Elective classes are also offered from 16 to 19. Central Asturias ( Nalón and Caudal comarcas) has the largest percentage of Asturian-language students, with almost 80 percent of primary-school students and 30 percent of secondary-school students in Asturian classes. Xixón, Uviéu, Eo-Navia and Oriente also have an increased number of students.

University

According to article six of the University of Oviedo charter, "The Asturian language will be the object of study, teaching and research in the corresponding fields. Likewise, its use will have the treatment established by the Statute of Autonomy and complementary legislation, guaranteeing non-discrimination of those who use it." Asturian can be used at the university in accordance with the Use of Asturian Act. University records indicate an increased number of courses and amount of scientific work using Asturian, with courses in the Department of Philology and Educational Sciences. In accordance with the

Bologna Process file:Bologna-Prozess-Logo.svg, 96px, alt=Logo with stylized stars, Logo file:Bologna zone.svg, alt=Map of Europe, encompassing the entire Bologna zone, 256px, Bologna zone The Bologna Process is a series of ministerial meetings and agreements b ...

, Asturian

philology Philology () is the study of language in Oral tradition, oral and writing, written historical sources. It is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics with strong ties to etymology. Philology is also de ...

will be available for study and teachers will be able to specialise in the Asturian language at the University of Oviedo.

Internet

Asturian government websites, council webpages, blogs, and entertainment webpages exist.

Free software Free software, libre software, libreware sometimes known as freedom-respecting software is computer software distributed open-source license, under terms that allow users to run the software for any purpose as well as to study, change, distribut ...

is offered in Asturian, and

Ubuntu Ubuntu ( ) is a Linux distribution based on Debian and composed primarily of free and open-source software. Developed by the British company Canonical (company), Canonical and a community of contributors under a Meritocracy, meritocratic gover ...

offers Asturian as an operating-system language. Free software in the language is available from

Debian Debian () is a free and open-source software, free and open source Linux distribution, developed by the Debian Project, which was established by Ian Murdock in August 1993. Debian is one of the oldest operating systems based on the Linux kerne ...

, Fedora,

Firefox Mozilla Firefox, or simply Firefox, is a free and open-source web browser developed by the Mozilla Foundation and its subsidiary, the Mozilla Corporation. It uses the Gecko rendering engine to display web pages, which implements curr ...

, Thunderbird,

LibreOffice LibreOffice () is a free and open-source office productivity software suite developed by The Document Foundation (TDF). It was created in 2010 as a fork of OpenOffice.org, itself a successor to StarOffice. The suite includes applications ...

, VLC,

GNOME A gnome () is a mythological creature and diminutive spirit in Renaissance magic and alchemy, introduced by Paracelsus in the 16th century and widely adopted by authors, including those of modern fantasy literature. They are typically depict ...

Chromium Chromium is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Cr and atomic number 24. It is the first element in Group 6 element, group 6. It is a steely-grey, Luster (mineralogy), lustrous, hard, and brittle transition metal. Chromium ...

and

KDE KDE is an international free software community that develops free and open-source software. As a central development hub, it provides tools and resources that enable collaborative work on its projects. Its products include the KDE Plasma gra ...

Minecraft ''Minecraft'' is a 2011 sandbox game developed and published by the Swedish video game developer Mojang Studios. Originally created by Markus Persson, Markus "Notch" Persson using the Java (programming language), Java programming language, the ...

also has an Asturian translation.

Wikipedia Wikipedia is a free content, free Online content, online encyclopedia that is written and maintained by a community of volunteers, known as Wikipedians, through open collaboration and the wiki software MediaWiki. Founded by Jimmy Wales and La ...

offers an Asturian version of itself, with 136,000+ pages as of November 2024.

References

Bibliography

* * * * Wurm, Stephen A. (ed) (2001) ''Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger of Disappearing''. Unesco . * M.Teresa Turell (2001). Multilingualism in Spain: ''Sociolinguistic and Psycholinguistic Aspects of Linguistic Minority Groups''. * Mercator-Education (2002): European Network for Regional or Minority Languages and Education. "The Asturian language in education in Spain" ISSN 1570-1239

External links

Academia de la Llingua Asturiana
nbsp;– the official Asturian language academy
Dirección Xeneral de Política Llingüística del Gobiernu del Principáu d'Asturies
nbsp;– Bureau of Asturian Linguistic Policy (Government of the

Principality of Asturias Asturias (; ; ) officially the Principality of Asturias, is an autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in northwest Spain. It is coextensive with the provinces of Spain, province of Asturias and contains some of the territory t ...

)
Asturian grammar in English

Asturian–English dictionary

Xunta pola Defensa de la Llingua Asturiana

Real Instituto de Estudios Asturianos
nbsp;– Royal Institute of Asturian Studies (RIDEA or IDEA), founded 1945.
A short Asturian–English–Japanese phrasebook
incl. sound file
Aconceyamientu de Xuristes pol Asturianu
The Advisory Council of Lawyers for Asturian
II Estudiu Sociollingüísticu d'Asturies (2002)

Diccionariu de la Academia de la Llingua Asturiana / Dictionary of the Royal Academy of the Asturian Language

Diccionario General de la lengua asturiana (Asturian — Spanish)

Eslema, Asturian online translator

Dirección Xeneral de Política Llingüística del Gobiernu del Principáu d'Asturies

Proyecto Eslema
"Eslema" Project for the creation of corpus Asturian language domain

Dictionaries and translators

* ttps://diccionariu.alladixital.org/ Diccionariu de la Academia de la Llingua Asturiana / Dictionary of the Royal Academy of the Asturian Language
Diccionario General de la lengua asturiana (Asturian — Spanish)

Eslema, Asturian online translator
{{DEFAULTSORT:Asturian Language