Cedillo is a town and municipality in
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")
, ...
, located in the
province of Cáceres
The province of Cáceres ( ; es, provincia de Cáceres, ) is a province of western Spain, and makes up the northern half of the autonomous community of Extremadura. Its capital is the city of Cáceres. Other cities in the province include Pl ...
, community of
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, ...
. According to the 2008
census
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses in ...
(
INE), the municipality has a population of 518 inhabitants.
Languages
The town is close to the border with Portugal. Although the official language is
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, Ca ...
, the traditional local dialect is a variety of
Portuguese. The Portuguese spoken here is not Standard Portuguese but instead consists of an archaic Portuguese dialect arrived in the 18th century known as ''Cedilhero''. It is similar to the Alentejan dialect of Portuguese spoken in the neighbouring area of Portugal.
Portuguese is spoken here because most of the first inhabitants of this region were
Portuguese colonists who arrived in the 18th century. In addition, in Cedillo, speaking Spanish was considered an act of pedantry and a symbol of social and economic relief. The children who could attend school spoke Spanish because they learned it in school, but they still spoke Portuguese in their homes.
Currently older people mostly speak Portuguese, while young people speak Spanish but understand both languages. Cedilhero is on the verge of dying out here under pressure from Spanish.
References
Municipalities in the Province of Cáceres
{{Extremadura-geo-stub