Astur-Leonese languages

Spoken in

• Indo-European Italic Romanesque Ibero-Romance Asturleonesisch

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Branch

Branch

The Asturian - Leonese Asturleonesische or ( astur. / Leones. Asturllionés, Spanish asturleonés ) is an Ibero-Romance group of languages ​​, which is spoken in northwestern Spain and adjacent areas of Portugal. It includes the Asturian in most of the region of Asturias, the Leonese in parts of the provinces of León, Zamora and Salamanca and the Mirandesische in the area of Miranda do Douro in Portugal. In a broader sense, the Extremadurische Extremadura will be added occasionally.

Language names

The term Asturleonesisch or Asturian - Leonesisch ( astur. / Leones. Asturllionés, Spanish asturleonés ) comes from the Roman linguistics and is used in scientific publications as an overarching term for the totality of related varieties, but is not in use as a self-designation.

In Asturias, the local varieties are generally ( asturianu astur., Spanish asturiano ) as Asturian or Bable called, which latter term is widely used colloquially, but perceived by some as pejorative and is therefore rejected. In circles, demanding the official recognition of the language in Asturias, the name is almost exclusively Asturian common.

In the provinces of León, Zamora and Salamanca the term is ( leones. llïonés or span Leonés ) Leonesisch used for the local varieties, however.

In Miranda do Douro, the local variety is called Mirandés.

Classification

This is part of a dialect continuum Asturischleonesische that includes all Ibero-Romance varieties in the north of the Iberian Peninsula. It is next to Galician - Portuguese, Castilian (Spanish), Aragonese and Catalan one of the still existing Roman dialect groups of the Iberian Peninsula, which have emerged from the current state of historical-comparative Romance linguistics directly from the local Vulgar Latin five - in contrast to the south of the peninsula spoken varieties which have arisen from the Reconquista taken there language forms.

The asturleonesischen varieties go in the east, southeast and south into the Castilian ( Spanish ) and in the West in the Galician and Portuguese through. Overall, the similarities with the Spanish are larger than those with the Gallego - Portuguese.

The dialectal division within the Asturleonesischen follows only partly motivated primarily sociolinguistic distinction of Asturian, Leonesisch and Mirandese. The Asturian can be divided into numerous sub- dialects, the running eden in north-south direction isoglosses continue mostly in Leonese. The Mirandesische takes in some respects a privileged position, which is due in addition to its peripheral location also through the separating effect of the Spanish-Portuguese border.

To the south can be in the varieties of Extremadura, the Extremeño, demonstrate next to Castilian also significant asturleonesische elements without it could be clearly attributed to the Asturleonesischen.

Dissemination

Asturian - Leonesisch is spoken in most of the region of Asturias; Exception is the area on the border with Galicia, where transitional dialects between Asturian and Galician are spoken. Especially in the larger cities, however, the Castilian (Spanish ) has recently spread not only as a second - but also as a first language, so that there is a part of the population does not speak more Asturian. Overall, there are approximately 450,000 people in Asturias ( 44.4% of total population) Asturian.

Furthermore, Asturian - Leonesisch the north and west of the Spanish province of León and in the west of the Spanish provinces of Zamora and Salamanca who were once also part of the Kingdom of León spoken.

Finally, a going back to the Asturian - Leonese variety, the Mirandês, talked in circles Miranda do Douro and in some villages of the neighboring counties in northeastern Portugal.

In some varieties of western Asturias and León province as well as in the East the Galician province of Ourense is debatable whether they are more likely attributable to the Leonese Asturian - or Galician.

Sociolinguistics

The native speaker of Asturleonesischen speak their local variety in general.

Because of these numerous similarities with the Spanish one hand and the fact that it was long time no standardized asturischleonesische written language, but in this function, the Spanish was used, the asturleonesischen varieties in the older Romance in general were regarded as dialects of the Spanish language. This also corresponded to the previously widespread self-perception of the speakers of their language as a kind of " corrupted " Spanish.

In the region of Asturias, a standard written language of the Asturian has been prepared on the basis of the dialects Zentralasturiens since the 1970s and 1980s. The demand for official recognition of the language has been (school level and at the local level in some communities ) met only to a limited extent. However, the official language of the region of Asturias is exclusively Spanish. Some pre-and primary schools use the language as a medium of instruction. In the primary and secondary level Asturian is offered as an elective.

In Portugal, the Mirandês in the area of Miranda do Douro local official language together with the Portuguese.