Astur-Leonese languages

Astur-Leonese
Asturllionés: asturianu, llionés, mirandés
Spoken in	Spain (in the autonomous communities of Asturias, northwestern Extremadura, northwestern Castile and León and western Cantabria) and small pockets in northeastern Portugal.
Native speakers	300,000-450,000[1]  (date missing)
Language family	Indo-European Italic Romance Western Gallo-Iberian Ibero-Romance West Iberian Astur-Leonese
Writing system	Latin
Official status
Official language in	In Portugal: Co-official (as Mirandese) in Miranda do DouroIn Spain: Given special protection (as Leonese) in Castile and León, and (as Asturian) in Asturias
Regulated by	Academy of the Asturian Language, Institute of the Mirandese Language
Language codes
ISO 639-2	[[ISO639-3:ast – Asturian ext – Extremaduran mwl – Mirandese|ast – Asturian ext – Extremaduran mwl – Mirandese]]
ISO 639-3	Variously: ast – Asturian ext – Extremaduran mwl – Mirandese
Linguasphere	51-AAA-c
Astur-Leonese area

Astur-Leonese is the generic name for a group of closely related linguistic varieties included in the West Iberian branch of the Romance languages. The lects in the group are assigned different names:

• Asturian, asturianu or bable, in the Spanish province of Asturias;
• Leonese language, llionés, in western parts of the provinces of León, Zamora and Salamanca, and until recent times in the border towns of Rio de Onor (Rionor) and Guadramil, in the District of Bragança (Portugal);^[2][3] and
• Mirandese, mirandés, in villages around the border town of Miranda do Douro (Portugal). Best seen as a West Leonese dialect with heavy Galician and Portuguese influence.

In addition:

• Astur-Leonese dialects closer to Spanish are spoken in Cantabria, where they are called Cantabrian, cántabru or montañés. There are different positions about whether these speech forms are dialects of the Spanish language, varieties of Astur-Leonese or independent languages on their own right. The best analysis seems to be that Cantabrian is an Eastern Leonese dialect related to Extremaduran with heavy Castillian influence.
• The Extremaduran language, estremeñu, spoken in northwestern Extremadura is more distantly related to the group and is best seen as an Eastern Leonese dialect related to Cantabrian that has undergone heavy Castillian influence, though less so than Cantabrian.
• The Asturian Eonavian dialect, eonaviegu or gallego-asturianu, spoken between the Eo and Navia rivers in Asturias is closer to Galician and is sometimes considered the westernmost variety of Asturian, although many scholars prefer to see it as a either Galician dialects or an independent language. The best analysis seems to be that this is a Galician dialect with Asturian influence.

Leonese (as a denomination for the whole linguistic group) was once considered an informal dialect (basilect) of Spanish or Castilian, but in 1906, Ramón Menéndez Pidal showed it was the result of Latin evolution in the Kingdom of León.^[4][5][6]

Leonese is officially recognised by the Autonomous Community of Castile and León (2006). In Asturias it is protected under the Autonomous Statute legislation and is an optional language at schools, where it is widely studied.^[7]

In Portugal, the related Mirandese language is recognized by the Assembly of the Republic as a co-official language along with Portuguese for local matters, and it is taught in public schools in the areas where Mirandese is natively spoken. Initially thought to be a basilect of Portuguese, José Leite de Vasconcelos studied Mirandese and concluded it was a separate language from Portuguese.

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.

Asturian

Much effort has been made since 1974 to protect and promote Asturian.^[8] In 1981 Asturian, or Bable, as the language is officially named,^[9] was recognized as an area in need 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.^[10] 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 underwent initiatives designed to provide the language with most of the tools needed to survive in the modern era: a grammar, a dictionary and periodicals. A new generation of Asturian writers has championed the language. These developments have given Asturian greater hope of survival.

Leonese

Leonese was probably spoken in a much larger area in the Middle Ages, roughly corresponding to the old Kingdom of León. As the Spanish language became the main language in Spain, the linguistic features of the Leonese language retreated progressively westwards.

In the late 1990'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 largest towns of León, Zamora and Salamanca 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. 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 uses Leonese on its website, and there are Leonese language courses for adults. Leonese is taught in sixteen schools in Leon.

Leonese language has special status in the Statute of Autonomy of Castile and León.^[11]

Mirandese

Mirandese is closely related to Leonese but has undergone great Galician and Portuguese influence. In the 19th century, José Leite de Vasconcelos described it as "the language of the farms, work, home, and love between the Mirandese," noting that it was a completely separate language from Portuguese. Since 1986/1987 the language has been taught to students between the age of 10 and 11, and Mirandese is now recovering. Today Mirandese has fewer than 5,000 speakers (but the figure go up to 15,000 if one includes second language speakers).

Portugal has taken a further step in protecting Mirandese when the Portuguese Republic officially recognised the language in in 1999. It is administrated by the Anstituto de la Lhéngua Mirandesa.

See also

• Eonavian
• Extremaduran
• Cantabrian dialect
• Ramón Menéndez Pidal
• José Leite de Vasconcelos

References

• (German) (Spanish) 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)
• (German) (Spanish) Lexikon der Romanitischen Linguistik, Bd. 6.I: Aragonesisch/Navarresisch, Spanisch, Asturianisch/Leonesisch. Tübingen, Max Niemeyer, ISBN 3-484-50250-9.
• (Spanish) 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.

• (Spanish) 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 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
• 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 book
• Plataforma puntuLLI – Campaign for a TLD for the Leonese Language
• Entry on José Leite de Vasconcelos at the Folclore Português website