Spain is not only a nice country, a top dream country
that we would like to visit one day, but is also a country that has been
present in the News headlines for a while due to the Crisis in Catalonia.
For many people, who know or does not know that much
about Spain, this is the country of the Spanish language, and a top destination
for students who want to learn this language. But not many people know that
under the linguistic point of view, Spain is the home country of many more
languages. This fact is often ignored by those who study the political situation
of this country. Before I continue with my article, I want to remind my readers
that this article has no intention to neither explain the internal conflicts
that exist in Spain nor to offer any valid solution for them. However, I truly
believe that any solution to its problems cannot ignore the fact that Spain is
a multilingual country.
Here is a list of languages spoken in Spain. It is
interesting to note that different sources I consulted regarding this subject,
they do not offer the same list of languages, sometimes different criteria
applies, so I try to offer here a complete list according to my own point of
view. I leave here a list of links visited, so my readers can compare them.
Spanish is the official language of the whole Kingdom
of Spain. It is also the dominant language in this country, and this includes
also the regions that have their own languages spoken. According to Omniglot there are
approximately 470 million speakers of this Romance language. It is also the main
language spoken in more than 20 countries. The oldest known Spanish writings are
from the 11th century. Spanish
is also known as Castilian language.
In a future article, I will explain more facts about
Spanish language. Here are some words of Spanish origin used in English, taken
from babel: Arroyo (stream),
Tornado, Mosquito, Jalapeño, Salsa, Sherry
(Spanish liquor, also known as “Licor de Xeres”), Chocolate,
Coyote and Chili. Some States of the US and some Geographic
locations also have Spanish names: Nevada, Florida, Colorado,
Montana, San Francisco.
Some Phrases of Spanish origin taken from Omniglot:
-Bienvenido: Welcome -Mi nombre es…:
My name is …
-¿Cómo estás?: How are you? -¿De
dónde eres?: Where are you from?
-¿Hablas Español?: Do you speak
Spanish?
-Perdón: Sorry -Yo
Te Amo mucho: I love you very much
-¡Que tengas un buen día!: Have a nice day!
-¡Felíz Año Nuevo!: Happy New Year!
-Aragonese: Is a Romance language spoken in the
region of Aragon. There are between 30,000 and 40,000 speakers,
including aprox 10,000 native speakers. Most of the speakers are living in the
province of Huesca in the region of Aragon. It is not an official
language, but it is recognized and is subjected to protection and promotion. It
is related with Spanish, Catalan and Occitan.
The main dialects are Western, Eastern, Central and
Southern. The Eastern dialect is the most spoken. In the page https://an.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idioma_aragon%C3%A9s there is a full description of the language
in Aragonese.
Some phrases in Aragonese:
-Bienveniu: Welcome -Me clamo…:
My name is …
-Qué tal plantas?: How are you? -D’an yes?: Where are
you from?
-Charras Aragonés?: Do you speak Aragonese?
-Perdón: Sorry -T’aimo: I
love you
-Qué tiengas un buen diya!: Have a nice day!
-Goyosa Añada Benién!: Happy New Year!
-Aranese: Is a Romance language spoken in the Val
d’Aran. It is a variant of the Gascon dialect of Occitan language. Around
5.000 people speak this language, in the place mentioned that is located in the
north of the province of Lerida (Lleida) in the region of Catalonia. Many
people don’t know that this language is also official in Catalonia, alongside
with Catalan and Spanish. During the controversial referendum in Catalonia, the
question was also written in Aranese.
In the page Proel they describe 3
varieties of Aranese: Low Aranese, Central and High Aranese. In https://oc.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aran%C3%A9s_(parlar) you can read a
description of Aranese in Occitan language.
Some phrases in Aranese:
-Adiu: Welcome -Que m’apèri…: My name
is …
-Com vas?: How are you? -D’on
vinis?: Where are you from?
-E parlats lo Gascon?: Do you speak Gascon?
-Escusats-me: Sorry -Que T’aimi:
I love you
-Bona jornada!: Have a nice day!
-Bona Annada!: Happy New Year!
Asturian: It is a romance
language spoken in Asturias and Leon. There are aprox 500 thousand speakers,
around 100 thousand are native speakers. It is a protected language but is not
official. The oldest written references of this language come from the 12th
century, and it was used in official documents until the 14th
century. But it was and is still used in literature.
There are 3 main dialects: Western, Central and
Eastern dialect. The central dialect is also called “Bable” and is
considered the normative dialect. In the page https://ast.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asturianu you can read the
description of the Asturian language in this same language.
Some phrases in Asturian:
-Bienveníu: Welcome -Llámome…:
My name is …
-¿Cómo tas?: How are you? -¿De
dónde yes?: Where are you from?
-¿Fala Asturianu?: Do you speak Asturian?
-Perdón: Sorry -Quiérote:
I love you
-¡Gayoleru Añu Nuevu!: Happy New Year!
-Catalan:
Is a romance language. There are aprox 10 million speakers of this
language, the second most spoken in Spain. Recently, I wrote an article about
this language that can be read in https://yuryjakymec.blogspot.ca/2017/10/kurdish-and-catalan-language.html
Catalan is official in the regions of Catalonia and
Baleares, and is the facto official language in Valencia. In https://ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catal%C3%A0 you can read a
full description of the language in Catalan.
Some phrases in Catalan:
-Benvinguts: Welcome -El meu nom és…: My name is …
-Com estàs?: How are you? -D’on
ets?: Where are you from?
-Parles Català?: Do you speak Catalan?
-Perdó: Sorry -T’estimo
molt: I love you very much
-Vostè té un gran dia!: Have a nice day!
-Feliç Any Nou!: Happy New Year!
Euskara: It is also
known as Basque. It is the only non Indo-European language that comes from
Spain. It is an isolated language spoken by more than 900 thousand people; more
than 500 thousand are native speakers. Basque is official language in Basque
Country and Navarre.
There are 7 dialects of this language: Biscayan,
Gipuzkoan, Upper Navarrese, Roncales, all of them spoken in Spain, and the
dialects Lower Navarrese, Laburdian and Souletin, spoken in France, where is
also an indigenous language.
The oldest inscriptions in Basque are from the 1st
century CE and consist in a few words in the “Aquitanian Language”, the name
given to the old Basque, however, Basque predates the Roman presence in Spain,
and can be considered the oldest language spoken in Europe. They adopted the
Latin Alphabet to put their words in written.
Basque has influenced other languages, especially
Spanish and Aragonese. At the same time, it received some influences from Latin
and Spanish. The influence of Basque
over Spanish starts with the phonetics. The 5 vowel system in Spanish, the
close pronunciation of the letters “B” and “V” and the strong “R” were
developed during the contact between Spanish and Basque. There are some loans
from Basque to Spanish like: “Izquierda” = Left (From Basque “Eskerr”),
“Chatarra” = scrap (in Basque “Txatarra”), “Chamarra”
= Jacket (“Zamarra”). There are some words that are used in
English, like “Anchovy” (in Basque “Antxoa”) and “Bizarre”
(This word came via French, from the Basque word “Bizarra” that
means “Beard”).
Basque is an Ergative – Absolute language. This case
is only repeated in Caucasic languages. This is a special form of the subject with
a transitive verb. The following page https://eu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euskara offers a brief
explanation of Basque in Euskara.
Very few people know that Basque was the first
European language that left its influence in Canada. During the 16th
century, Basque whalers, possible from France, arrived to the Saint Lawrence
River area and from the contact between them and the First Nations, mainly Mi’kmaq
and Innu (Also known as “Montagnais”) a Pidgin was formed, known as “Algonquin
– Basque pidgin”. This pidgin does not exist anymore, and there were aprox 30
Euskara words that we know, were used.
Some phrases in Basque:
-Ongui Etorri: Welcome -Nire
Izena…da: My name is …
-Zer moduz?: How are you? -Nongoa
Zara?: Where are you from?
-Hitz Egiten du Euskaraz?: Do you speak Basque?
-Barkatu: Sorry -Maite
zaitut: I love you
-Dute egun polit bat!: Have a nice day!
-Urte Berri On!: Happy New Year!
Extremaduran: It is a romance
language spoken in Western Spain, mainly in the northwest of the province of
Caceres in the autonomous community of Exrtemadura. Its number of speakers is
around 500 thousand; almost 200 thousand are native speakers. Most of the
people who speak this language are older than 40 years old. The orthography has
much in common with the Spanish one. It has no official Status.
There are mainly 3 dialects, Northern, Central and
Southern. The northern Dialect, also known as “High Extremaduran” is the
normative one.
In Wikipedia in https://ext.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lengua_estreme%C3%B1a they have a full
description of the language in Extremaduran.
Some phrases in Extremaduran:
-Bienveníu: Welcome -Me llamu…:
My name is …
-Cómu andas?: How are you? -Dándi
eris?: Where are you from?
-Pui Palras Estremeñu?: Do you speak Extremaduran?
-Perdón: Sorry -Te quieru:
I love you
-Que passis buen dia!: Have a nice day!
-Felís Añu Nuevu!: Happy New Year!
Fala: It is a romance
language spoken in the Val de Xálima in the northwest corner of the province of
Caceres in the autonomous community of Extremadura. The number of speakers is
around 10,000. Most of the speakers live in the towns of “Valverde del
Fresno”, “Eljas” and “San Martin de Trevejo”. It is closed
related with Portuguese and Galician.
In proel they reproduce a
small portion of the bible in Fala
“De fel u ben, nun temus que sansalmus nunca; ya chegará u día que
arrecollamus u que hemus sembráu.” (Galatians 6:9)
Galician: Is a romance
language spoken by aprox 2.4 million people who mainly live in Galicia. It is a
closed related language with Portuguese. It is also the 3rd most
spoken language in Spain.
There are mainly 3 dialects: Western, Central and
Eastern. The oldest documents from Galicia do not show any remarkable
difference between this and Portuguese. It is from the 19th century
that we can talk about a literary Galician language.
In https://gl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lingua_galega there is a
description of the language in Galician. Galician is an official language in
Galicia.
Some phrases in Galician:
-Benvido: Welcome -Chámome…: My name
is …
-Como estás?: How are you? -De
onde es?: Where are you from?
-Falas Galego?: Do you speak Galician?
-Sentímolo: Sorry -Eu
te amo tanto: I love you very much
-Que teñas un bo día!: Have a nice day!
-Felíz Aninovo!: Happy New Year!
-Leonese: It is a romance language that has
aprox 25,000 speakers, mostly in the provinces of León, Salamanca
and Zamora in the Region of Castilla y León. There are some
discussions about Leonese whether it is a Language or a dialect of Asturian
language. In Proel It is included
with the Asturian language as part of it. In Omniglot there is no
mention to it. There are some references found in Wikipedia, but there is no
page in this language. There is a short corpus of literature in this language,
including a translation of “The Little Prince” in Leonese (“El Prencipicu”)
-Valencian: It is a romance language with aprox
2 million speakers. There are some discussions about Valencian whether it is a
language or a dialect of Catalan. Valencians consider it a separate language from
Catalan and it is official in Valencian Community. In Proel It is shown as a
separate language, although they explain the different theories around it and
its possible belonging to Catalan. In Omniglot it is mentioned
as a dialect of Catalan. There are some references found in Wikipedia, but there
is no page in this language, however, exists an equivalent of this online
Encyclopedia in Valencian. It is https://www.lenciclopedia.org/
Here are some words in Valencian compared with other
languages
English
|
Spanish
|
Valencian
|
Catalan
|
Water
|
Agua
|
Aigua
|
Aigua
|
Peach
|
Durazno
|
Bresquilla
|
Préssec
|
Teaching
|
Enseñanza
|
Ensenyança
|
Ensenyament
|
Writer
|
Escritor
|
Escritor
|
Escriptor
|
Doctor
|
Médico
|
Mege
|
Metge
|
Travel
|
Viaje
|
Viage
|
Viatge
|
How are you?
|
¿Cómo estás?
|
Com estàs?
|
Com estàs?
|
What is your name?
|
¿Cómo te llamas?
|
Com te diuen?
|
Com et dius?
|
I Love You
|
Yo te amo
|
T’ame
|
T’estimo
|
These are the languages currently from Spain and
spoken in this country. But not all the languages from Spain are actually
spoken. In Canary Islands, there is a different way to communicate that its
population still use. We talk about Silbo Gomero.
-Silbo gomero language is not a conventional phonological one but
rather it is a mean used by shepherds and farmers of the island of La Gomera
(Islas Canarias), who limited by the complicated orography of the island they
had to resort to this unusual method to communicate with each other.
The means to produce sounds are
three: the mouth, the fingers and the hands, making the latter a kind of horn.
The sounds reach a distance of more than three kilometers away.
Since 1998, silbo Gomero
is included in the educational system of the island.
The Government of Canarias is
trying to promote its use among the population.
Some old languages not used any
more are:
-Guanche: It is also
known as Tamazight. It is an extinct Berber language. It was spoken in Canary
Island. There is not much information about it.
-Iberian Language: This
language was spoken in what is today South and East Spain. There are some
inscriptions left. It is an unclassified language, although some scholars
believe that this language may have links with Basque.
-Mozarabic: It was a
romance language spoken in the Muslim-controlled areas of the Iberian
Peninsula. It was spoken mainly by the Christian population. It was rich in
Arabic terms. It was mainly written with Arabic characters.
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