Astur-Leonese language

language
name=Astur-Leonese
nativename=Asturllionés: asturianu, llionés, mirandês
region=Spain (the autonomous communities of Asturias, Extremadura, Castile and León and Cantabria).
speakers=1,000,000 (200,000 natives)
familycolor=Indo-European
fam2=Italic
fam3=Romance
fam4=Italo-Western
fam5=Gallo-Iberian
fam6=Ibero-Romance
fam7=West Iberian
script=Latin alphabet
agency=Academy of the Asturian Language (Asturian), Institute of Mirandese Language (Mirandese)
iso2= ast (asturian), mwl (mirandese)
iso3= ast (asturian), mwl (mirandese)

Astur-Leonese is a dialect continuum included in the West Iberian branch of the Romance languages. It is spoken in the Spanish provinces of Asturias (Asturian Language, "asturianu", or Bable), León, Zamora and Salamanca (Leonese language, Llionés). 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 their 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, [Menéndez Pidal 1906:128-141] and nowadays it is considered a separate language. [ [http://www.ethnologue.com/14/show_country.asp?name=Spain 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 [http://www.uoc.edu/euromosaic/web/document/asturia/an/i1/i1.html Euromosaic report] , "Lexikon der romanitischen Linguistik" 6.I:652-708] In Portugal, the related Mirandese language is officially recognized.

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.

tatus

Asturian

Much effort has been made since 1974 to protect and promote Asturian. [Bauske 1995] In 1994 there were 100,000 first language speakers, and 450,000 second language speakers able to speak or understand Asturian. [Llera Ramo 1994] 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

In the late 90s 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.

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

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

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.

ee also

* List of Asturian language authors
* Cantabrian language
* Eonavian
* Extremaduran dialect
* Leonese language
* Menéndez Pidal
* Mirandese language

References

*Languageicon|de|German es 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)
*Languageicon|de|German es "Lexikon der Romanitischen Linguistik", Bd. 6.I: Aragonesisch/Navarresisch, Spanisch, Asturianisch/Leonesisch. Tübingen, Max Niemeyer, ISBN 3-484-50250-9.
*es 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.
*es 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

* [http://www.academiadelallingua.com/ Academia de la Llingua Asturiana] — Academy of the Asturian Language - Official website
* [http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=ast Ethnologue report for Asturian]
* [http://www.romaniaminor.net/gramatiques/gramatica_asturiana.pdf Asturian grammar in English]
* [http://www.exunta.org/ Xunta pola Defensa de la Llingua Asturiana] — Committee for the Defense of Asturian Language
* [http://www.politicallinguistica.org/ Oficina de Política Llingüística del Gobiernu del Principáu d'Asturies] — Bureau of Asturian Linguistic Politics (Government of the Principality of Asturias)
* [http://tematico.princast.es/cultura/ridea/index.html Real Instituto de Estudios Asturianos] — Royal Institute of Asturian Studies (RIDEA or IDEA), founded 1945.
* [http://www.websters-online-dictionary.org/definition/Asturian-english/ Asturian–English dictionary]
* [http://www.elfueyu.net El Fueyu] - Leonese Language Association, Llión
* [http://www.eltoralin.com El Toralín] - Leonese Language Association, Ponferrada
* [http://www.cuentosdelsil.com Cuentos del Sil] - Leonese Language written Book
* [http://www.puntuLLI.org Plataforma puntuLLI] - Campaign for a TLD for the Leonese Language
*Entry on [http://www.folclore-online.com/pessoas/jl_vasconcelos.html José Leite de Vasconcelos] at the Folclore Português website