Discover

'Astur-Leonese' is a Romance language group of the West Iberian group, spoken in the Spanish provinces of Asturias ('Asturian Language', '''asturianu''', or 'Bable'), León, Zamora and Salamanca ('Leonese language', 'Llïonés'). In some villages in the District of Bragança, Portugal (Miranda do Douro) a closely related language called 'Mirandese' is spoken.
Astur-Leonese dialects (mixed with Spanish) are also spoken in Extremadura (where it is called 'Extremaduran', '''estremeñu''') and Cantabria (where it is called 'Cantabrian', or '''Montañés''') it is disputed whether these speech forms are a dialect of the Spanish Language, a variety of Astur-Leonese or independent languages in its own right.
Leonese language was once considered an informal dialect (basilect) of Spanish, but, in 1906, Ramón Menéndez Pidal showed it was the result of Latin evolution in the Kingdom of León,^[1] and nowadays it is considered a separate language.^[2] In Portugal, the related Mirandese language is officially recognized.

Contents

History

Status

Asturian

Leonese

Cantabrian

Mirandese

See also

References

External links

History

The language developed from Vulgar Latin with contributions from the pre-Roman languages, which were spoken in the territory of the Astures, an ancient tribe of the Iberian peninsula. Castilian Spanish came to the area later, in the 14th century, when the central administration sent emissaries and functionaries to occupy political and ecclesiastical offices.
In the Middle Ages, Leonese Language was the official language of the Kingdom of León.

Status

Asturian

Main articles: Asturian language

Much effort has been made since 1974 to protect and promote Asturian.^[3] In 1994 there were 100,000 first language speakers, and 450,000 second language speakers able to speak or understand Asturian.^[4] However, the situation of Asturian is 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 made efforts to provide the language with most of the tools needed by a language to ensure its survival: a grammar, a dictionary, and periodicals. A new generation of Asturian writers both in Asturias and in León have also championed the language. These developments give the Asturian / Leonese language a greater hope of survival.

Leonese

Main articles: Leonese language

In the late 90's 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 most important villages of Leon, Zamora and Salamanca provinces.
In 2006, Castile and Leon Autonomous Community officially recognised Leonese in the Proposal of Autonomy Statute, promoting its knowledge and use.
The situation of Leonese as a minority language has driven Leonese to an apparent dead end, and it is considered as a Seriously Dangered Language by UNESCO. There are some efforts to gain acceptance among the urban population (the Leonese Council has made campaigns for young people in the Leonese language). Some reports claim that it will be dead in two generations.
In spite of all the difficulties, the number of young people learning and using it (mainly as a written language) has substantially increased in recent years, mainly among intellectual groups and politically active Leoneses proud of their regional identity.

Cantabrian

Main articles: Cantabrian language

Cantabrian language or Mountain language is the name received the language used in the West of Cantabria and some zones of the Valley of Pas and the Valley of Soba, in its Eastern zone, Northern Spain.

Mirandese

Main articles: Mirandese language

Portugal has taken a further step in protecting Mirandese, which is closely related to Asturian and Leonese, and it can be studied. Mirandese was officially recognised by the Portuguese Republic.

See also

★ List of Asturian language authors

★ Cantabrian language

★ Eonavian

★ Extremaduran dialect

★ Leonese language

★ Menéndez Pidal

★ Mirandese language

References

1. Menéndez Pidal 1906:128-141
2. Ethnologue report for Spain.
Leonese language is officially recognised by the Autonomous Coummunity of Castile and Leon (2006).
In Asturias it is protected under the Autonomous Statute legislation, and is an optional language at schools, being widely studied Euromosaic report, ''Lexikon der romanitischen Linguistik'' 6.I:652-708
3. Bauske 1995
4. Llera Ramo 1994


★ 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 ISBN 84-89880-20-4)

★ ''Lexikon der Romanitischen Linguistik'', Bd. 6.I: Aragonesisch/Navarresisch, Spanisch, Asturianisch/Leonesisch. Tübingen, Max Niemeyer, ISBN 3-484-50250-9.

★ Llera Ramo, F. (1994) ''Los Asturianos y la Lengua Asturiana: Estudio Sociolingüístico para Asturias-1991''. Oviedo: Consejería de Educación y Cultura del Principado de Asturias ISBN 84-7847-297-5.

★ 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 reimpression: (2006) ''El Dialecto Leonés''. León, El Buho Viajero ISBN 84-933781-6-X)

★ Wurm, Stephen A. (ed) (2001) ''Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger of Disappearing''. Unesco ISBN 92-3-103798-6.

External links

★ Academia de la Llingua Asturiana — Academy of the Asturian Language - Official website

★ Ethnologue report for Asturian

★ Asturian grammar in English

★ Xunta 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)

★ Real Instituto de Estudios Asturianos — Royal Institute of Asturian Studies (RIDEA or IDEA), founded 1945.

★ Asturian–English dictionary

★ El Fueyu - Leonese Language Association, Llión

★ El Toralín - Leonese Language Association, Ponferrada

★ Cuentos del Sil - Leonese Language written Book

★ Plataforma puntuLLI - Campaign for a TLD for the Leonese Language

★ Entry on José Leite de Vasconcelos at the Folclore Português website