Languages of Spain
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Languages of Spain | |
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Quechua, English, German, French, Bulgarian, Ukrainian, Russian, Wolof, Punjabi,[2] Hindu–Urdu, Wu dialects (Qingtian & Wenzhounese)[3] (see immigration to Spain) | |
Signed | Spanish Sign Language Catalan Sign Language Valencian Sign Language |
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The majority of languages of Spain[4] belong to the Romance language family, of which Spanish is the only language which has official status for the whole country.[5][6] Those also include Catalan/Valencian and Galician (which enjoy official status in specific territories just like Basque, a language isolate) as well as an additional number of languages and dialects belonging to the Romance language continuum.
Present-day languages
The languages spoken in Spain include:
- Spanish. Official throughout the country, it is spoken by the majority of the population.
- Catalan, co-official in Catalonia, the Valencian Community and the Balearic Islands. Catalan is also spoken in the eastern strip of the Aragon region (La Franja) and in the Carche area of the Region of Murcia. It is known as Valencian in the Valencian Community[7][8] and el Carche.
- Galician is spoken in Galicia (where it has co-official status) as well as in nearby areas of Asturias and Castile and León.
- Basque, co-official in the Basque Country and northern Navarre (see Basque-speaking zone). Basque is the only non-Romance language (as well as non-Indo-European) with an official status in Spain.
- Aran Valley, near the French border.
- Asturian, a standarized variety of the Asturleonese dialect continuum. It enjoys protection in Asturias, where reportedly about 25% of the population is able to understand, speak, read, and write in the language.[10] Asturleonese varieties collectively known as Leonese are spoken in parts of Castile and León (provinces of León and Zamora), where they enjoy legal protection.
- Aragonese, spoken in the north of the Aragon region, in the Pyrenees. It enjoys legal protection.
- Bien de interés cultural.[11]
- Silbo Gomero is a whistled code in La Gomera (Canary Islands). Protected by UNESCO[12] (Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity).
- Portuguese has been traditionally spoken by the inhabitants of the following border areas: Cedillo and Herrera de Alcántara (province of Cáceres),[13] La Alamedilla (province of Salamanca, primarily spoken in the place up until the mid-20th century),[14] and Olivenza (province of Badajoz).
- Caló, a mixed language, is spoken by the Spanish Romani communities across the country, with a large concentration in Andalusia and Catalonia, though it seems to be in the process of becoming just a dialect of Spanish. It should not be confused with Romani, the Indo-Aryanlanguage originally spoken by gypsies, which is most probably no longer spoken in Spain.
Other Romance varieties
Spanish itself boasts a substantial internal variation in the country. For example, the Andalusian or Canarian dialects, each with their own subvarieties, some of them being partially closer to the Spanish of the Americas, which they heavily influenced to varying degrees, depending on the region or period and according to different and non-homogeneous migrating or colonisation processes. Despite being a dialect, some Andalusian speakers have attempted to promote Andalusian as a different language independent of Spanish.
Five very localised dialects are of difficult filiation:
Statistics
In terms of the number of speakers and dominance, the most prominent of the languages of Spain is
Language | Language of news consumption in the last week (%)[19] |
---|---|
Spanish | 95.2 |
English | 23.9 |
Catalan/Valencian | 21.6 |
French | 7.2 |
Galician | 5.5 |
Basque | 2.6 |
Portuguese | 2.0 |
German | 1.9 |
Asturian/Leonese | 0.9 |
Romanian | 0.7 |
Aragonese | 0.6 |
Arabic |
0.3 |
Aranese | 0.3 |
Other foreign language | 2.0 |
Other regional language | 1.0 |
The study reflects that the consumption of protected languages is proportional to their knowledge and that the consumption of foreign-language news is greater than that of regional-language news.
Language policy
Spanish is official throughout the country; Catalan/Valencian, Galician, Basque, and Aranese have legal and co-official status in their respective communities and (except Aranese) are widespread enough to have daily newspapers and significant book publishing and media presence. Catalan and Galician are the main languages used by the respective regional governments and local administrations. Starting in 2023, members of the lower house of the Spanish Parliament were allowed to use Basque, Catalan and Galician in their interventions.[20] Members of the upper house already could use those languages in some specific discussions and initiatives.[21]
In addition to these, there are some protected languages. A protected language does not have co-official status but can be taught in schools as an optional subject, with the possibility of having TV shows in the protected language as well as institutions for that language.
Limited Asturian-language broadcasting is available on RTPA, and the language is learned as an optional subject by 53% of primary education students.[22] There is a prominent movement demanding for the declaration of Asturian as an official language in Asturias, which is a matter of an ongoing political debate.[23][24]
As of 2023, Aragonese is offered as a subject in about 30 schools in the Aragon region, with around 1,300 students.[25] Limited Aragonese-language television content is available on the regional public broadcaster, with shows such as A Escampar la Boira[26] or Charrín Charrán.[27]
Past languages
Alongside the languages spoken in Spain to the present day, other languages were spoken within the actual borders:
- Tartessian language
- Iberian language
- Celtic languages
- Lusitanian language
- Punic language
- Latin language
- Guanche language
- Galician-Portuguese
- Gothic language
- Vandalic language
- Frankish language
- Arabic
- Andalusi Arabic
- Classical Arabic
- Judeo-Arabic
- Mozarabic languages
- Romani language
Languages mostly spoken outside Spain but which had roots in Spain:
- Judeo-Catalan, (the existence of this language has been questioned)[citation needed].
- Judaeo-Spanish (Ladino)[28]
Variants
There are also variants of these languages proper to Spain, either dialect, cants or pidgins:
See also
- Iberian languages
- Languages of Portugal
- Iberian Romance languages
- Language policies of Francoist Spain
References
- ^ a b Brohy, Claudine; Climent-Ferrando, Vincent; Oszmiahska-Pagett, Aleksandra; Ramallo, Fernando (2019). "Carta europea de lenguas minoritarias". Consejo de Europa.
- ^ Solé Aubia, Montserrat; Rodríguez Roca, Josep (2005). "Pakistaníes en España: un estudio basado en el colectivo de la ciudad de Barcelona". Barcelona Centre for International Affairs. p. 108.
- ISBN 978-84-9788-682-6.
- ^ The term lenguas españolas appears in the Spanish Constitution, referring to all the languages spoken within Spain (those are Basque, Spanish, Catalan/Valencian, Galician, Asturian, Leonese, etc.).
- ^ Promotora Española de Lingüística - Lengua Española o Castellana Archived 27 November 2010 at the Wayback Machine. (Spanish)
- ISBN 978-1-85359-491-5.
- ^ DICTAMEN SOBRE ELS PRINCIPIS I CRITERIS PER A LA DEFENSA DE LA DENOMINACIÓ I ENTITAT DEL VALENCIÀ.
It is a fact that there are in Spain two equally legal names for designating this language: Valencian, as established by the Statute of Autonomy of the Valencian Community, and Catalan, recognized in the Statutes of Autonomy of Catalonia and the Balearic Islands, and ratified by the Spanish legal system (annex 8) and case law (annex 9).
- ^ "Ley Orgánica 1/2006, de 10 de abril, de Reforma de la Ley Orgánica 5/1982, de 1 de julio, de Estatuto de Autonomía de la Comunidad Valenciana" (PDF). Generalitat Valenciana. 10 April 2006. Retrieved 17 February 2013.
- ^ (in Catalan and Occitan) Llei 35/2010, d'1 d'octubre, de l'occità, aranès a l'Aran
- bbc.com.
- ^ 20minutos (22 February 2023). "Esta lengua solo se habla en tres localidades extremeñas y está en peligro de extinción". www.20minutos.es - Últimas Noticias (in Spanish). Retrieved 14 May 2023.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ "UNESCO - El Silbo Gomero, lenguaje silbado de la isla de La Gomera (Islas Canarias)". ich.unesco.org (in Spanish). Retrieved 14 May 2023.
- ^ Carrasco González, Juan M. (2017). "Documentación antigua sobre las localidades de habla portuguesa Herrera de Alcántara y Cedillo" (PDF). Revista de Estudios Extremeños. LXXIII (3): 2567–2592.
- ISSN 1888-4067.
- ^ "Protección del dariya: el Gobierno responde que el Estatuto de Autonomía no menciona esta lengua".
- ^ "Compromís exige que el tamazight se iguale a otras lenguas del Estado".
- ^ pewresearch.org. Pew Research. Retrieved 8 September 2021.
- ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 September 2010. Retrieved 15 January 2016.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ a b "Un 30% se informa en lenguas españolas distintas del castellano, y el 24% de los usuarios, en inglés | Digital News Report España 2022 (DNR): informe de noticias digitales en español" (in Spanish). Retrieved 14 May 2023.
- OCLC 60623878. Retrieved 19 September 2023.
- ^ Romero, Alexis (6 July 2020). "¿Se puede hablar catalán, euskera o gallego en las Cortes? Las ataduras al normal uso de las lenguas cooficiales". Público.
- ^ 20minutos (30 April 2015). "El 53% de los alumnos de primarias estudian lengua asturiana". www.20minutos.es - Últimas Noticias (in Spanish). Retrieved 14 May 2023.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ Bécares, Bárbara (8 May 2023). "La oficialidad del asturiano, una asignatura pendiente de la legislatura que termina". elDiario.es (in Spanish). Retrieved 14 May 2023.
- ^ "Cientos de personas marchan en Uviéu por la oficialidad del asturiano". www.elsaltodiario.com. Retrieved 14 May 2023.
- ^ "Día de la Lengua Materna: unos 5.700 alumnos estudian aragonés y catalán de Aragón". CARTV (in European Spanish). Retrieved 14 May 2023.
- ^ "ARAGÓN TELEVISIÓN ESTRENA 'A ESCAMPAR LA BOIRA', EL PRIMER LATE NIGHT EN LAS LENGUAS PROPIAS DE ARAGÓN – Lenguas de Aragón". lenguasdearagon.org. Retrieved 14 May 2023.
- ^ "Aragón TV - Charrín Charrán". www.aragontelevision.es. Retrieved 14 May 2023.
- ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 6 May 2019.
External links
- Detailed Ethno-Linguistic map of Pre-Roman Iberia (around 200 BC)
- Detailed linguistic map of Spain
- Languages in Spain - Find out information about the Official languages of Spain.