martes, 9 de enero de 2018

Languages of Spain

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. 



No hay comentarios:

Publicar un comentario