Leonese language

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
This article is about the dialects in León, Zamora, and Salamanca provinces. For the wider linguistic area, see Asturleonese language.

Leonese
Llionés, Ḷḷionés, Lionés
Native toSpain, Portugal
RegionProvinces of León (north and west), Zamora (north-west) in Castilla y León, in Spain,[1][2][3] and the parishes of Riudenor (Rio de Onor) and Deilon (Deilão) in northeastern Portugal.[4][5]
EthnicityLeonese
Native speakers
20,000–50,000 (2008)[6][7]
Early forms
Dialects
Official status
Official language in
As of 2010, has special status in the
autonomous community of Castile and León
Language codes
ISO 639-2ast
ISO 639-3ast
Glottologleon1250
Linguasphere51-AAA-cc
IETFast-u-sd-escl
Astur-Leonese is classified as Definitely Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger
This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA.

Leonese (llionés, ḷḷionés, lionés) is a set of vernacular

León in Spain (the modern provinces of León, Zamora, and Salamanca), the village of Riudenore (in both Spain and Portugal) and Guadramil in Portugal, sometimes considered another language. In the past, it was spoken in a wider area, including most of the historical region of Leon. The current number of Leonese speakers is estimated at 20,000 to 50,000.[6][7][8] Spanish
is now the predominant language in the area.

Leonese forms part of the Asturleonese linguistic group along with dialects of Asturian. The division between Asturian and Leonese is extra-linguistic, as the main divisions within the Asturleonese complex are between eastern and western varieties, rather than between varieties spoken in Asturias and Leon.

Name

Menéndez Pidal used "Leonese" for the entire linguistic area, including Asturias. This designation has been replaced by Ibero-Romance scholars with "Asturian-Leonese", but "Leonese" is still often used to denote Asturian-Leonese by non-speakers of Asturian or Mirandese.[4][9] Sometimes the language as a whole is simply called "Asturian" for several reasons, such as the Leonese dialects being on the brink of extinction, or the widespread ignorance of its very existence (even in León), as well as their lack of recognition and institutional support (as opposed to their Asturias counterparts).

Leonese and Asturleonese

In a narrow geographical sense, Leonese is distinct from the dialects grouped under the

Astur-Leonese or Asturian-Leonese.[11] The principle isoglosses in this region do not divide Asturias and Leon, dialectal areas (western, central, eastern) are in fact shaped along a north-south axis (thus encompassing lands both north and south of the mountains, both in Asturias and in Castile and León).[11] In the west of Asturias and Leon, dialects of Asturo-Leonese begin to transition into the closely related Galician language, with the westernmost variants effectively constituting dialects of Galician.[11]

On the other hand,

Latin and encompassing two groups: the Asturian dialects on one hand, and dialects spoken in the provinces of León and Zamora in Spain and a related dialect in Trás-os-Montes (Portugal), on the other hand.[10][13][4]

The Asturleonese dialect (considered part of the Leonese dialects) of Miranda do Douro (Portugal), Mirandese, is most certainly a dialect on its own, considering the numerous differences it has when compared to dialects in the Spanish side. In fact, it is often considered as a separate language, especially in Portugal, where it has been granted official recognition,[14] and is regulated by the Institute of the Mirandese Language. Thus, Asturleonese is sometimes considered a group of two languages, Asturian or Asturleonese proper, and Mirandese.

Unlike Asturian, which is regulated by the Academy of the Asturian Language (ALLA) and promoted by the Asturian Government and local legislation, the Leonese dialects are not officially promoted or regulated.

Linguistic description

Phonology

Leonese consonants
Labial Dental Alveolar Palatal Velar
Nasal m
n
 		ɲ
Plosive
voiceless
 p
t
 		tʃ k
voiced
 b
d
 		ʝ~j g
Fricative f θ s ʃ
Lateral
l
 		ʎ
Flap ɾ
Trill
r
Leonese vowels
Front Central Back
Close i u
Mid e o
Open a

In Leonese, any of five

archiphonemes /ɪ/ and /ʊ/.[15]

Grammar

Leonese has two genders (masculine and feminine) and two numbers (singular and plural). The main masculine noun and adjective endings are -u for singular and -os for plural. Typical feminine endings are -a for singular and -as for plural. Masculine and feminine nouns ending in -e in the singular take -es for the plural.

Adjectives

Adjectives agree with nouns in number and gender.

Comparative table

Evolution from Latin to Portuguese, Galician, Astur and Leonese, Mirandese and Castilian
Gloss Latin Portuguese Galician
Asturian/Leonese
 Mirandese Spanish
Diphthongization of ŏ and ĕ
door pŏrta(m) porta porta puerta puorta puerta
eye ŏc(u)lu(m) olho ollo güeyu
güechu 		uolho ojo
time tĕmpu(m) tempo tempo tiempu tiempo tiempo
land tĕrra(m) terra terra tierra tierra tierra
Falling diphthongs
thing causa(m) cousa
coisa 		cousa co(u)sa cousa cosa
blacksmith ferrariu(m) ferreiro ferreiro ferre(i)ru ferreiro herrero
Initial n-
Christmas natal(is)
nativitate(m) 		natal nadal ñavidá natal navidad
Initial f-
make facere fazer facer facer fazer hacer
iron fĕrru(m) ferro ferro fierru fierro hierro
Initial l-
fireplace lare(m) lar lar llar
ḷḷar 		lhar lar
wolf lupu(m) lobo lobo llobu
ḷḷobu 		lhobo lobo
Initial pl-, cl-, fl-
flat planu(m) plano[note 1] chan
chao 		chanu
llanu 		chano llano
key clave(m) chave chave chave
llave 		chabe llave
flame flamma(m) chama chama chama
llama 		chama llama
Intervocalic -n-
frog rana(m) rã ra(n) rana rana rana
-ct- and -lt-
made factu(m) feito feito feitu
fechu 		feito hecho
night nŏcte(m) noite noite nueite
nueche 		noute noche
much mŭltu(m) muito moito
muito 		muitu
mueitu
muchu 		muito mucho
listen auscultāre escutar escoitar
escuitar 		escuitare
escueitare
escuchar 		scuitar escuchar
-c’l-, -t’l-, -g’l-
razor novac(u)la(m) navalha navalla ñavaya nabalha navaja
old vet(u)lu(m) velho vello vieyu
viechu 		bielho viejo
tile teg(u)la(m) telha tella teya telha teja
-lj-
woman muliere(m) mulher muller muyer
mucher 		mulhier mujer
-ll-
castle castellu(m) castelo castelo castiellu
castieḷḷu 		castielho castillo
Intervocalic -l-
ice / frost gelu(m)
gelare 		gelo[note 1] xeo xelu hielo
fern filictu(m) feto fieito, fento feleitu
feichu 		feleito helecho
-m'n-
man hom(i)ne(m) homem home home home hombre
hunger, famine fam(i)ne(m) fome fame fame fame hambre
fire lum(i)ne(m) lume lume llume
ḷḷume 		lhume lumbre

Historical, social and cultural aspects

History

Historical map of northern Spain
Conventus Asturum in the first century BC
Animated map of linguistic changes in Spain from 1000 to 2000 AD
The Leonese Romance language expanded into new territories of the Kingdom of León.
Present-day linguistic map of Europe
Atlas of 20th-century European Romance languages

The native languages of Leon, Zamora, Asturias, and the Terra de Miranda in Portugal are the result of the evolution of Latin introduced by

Romanization for the indigenous tribes).[16]

The city of Astorga was sacked by the

Asturian-Leonese, and Castilian
languages evolved and spread south.

The first known text in Asturian-Leonese is the

Liber Iudiciorum into Leonese),[citation needed][dubious – discuss] administration, and organization.[20][failed verification
]

After the 1230 union of Leon and Castile, Leonese had greater written and institutional use,[citation needed] although at the end of the 13th century Castilian began to replace it as a written language.[21][full citation needed] Leonese became an oral, rural language with little literary development.

At the beginning of the 20th century, it survived in oral form only in mid-western

León and western Zamora
provinces. Its scientific study and a nascent cultural movement began in the province of Leon in 1906. During the 1950s and 60s, the number of Leonese speakers and the area in which it was spoken decreased.

Use and distribution

Colour-coded linguistic map of north-western Spain
Dialects of Asturian-Leonese

Although the Astur-Leonese linguistic domain covers most of the principality of Asturias, the north and west of the province of Leon, the northeast of Zamora, both provinces in Castile and León, and the region of Miranda do Douro in the east of the Portuguese district of Bragança, this article focuses on the autonomous community of Castile and León. Borrego Nieto wrote that the area in where Leonese is best preserved, defined as "area 1", consists of the regions of

Sanabria.[3]

Borrego Nieto describes another geographical circle, which he calls "area 2", where Leonese is fading: " ... It is extended to the regions between the interior area and the Ribera del

Aliste, with at least a part of its adjacent lands (Alba [es] and Tábara). This area is characterized by a blur and progressive disappearance, greater as we move to the East, of the features still clearly seen in the previous area. The gradual and negative character of this characteristic explains how vague the limits are".[full citation needed
]

Number of speakers

Another colour-coded map of north-western Spain
Percentage of Asturleonese speakers, according to Iniciativa pol Asturianu

A "speaker of Leonese" is defined here as a person who knows (and can speak) a variety of Leonese. There is no linguistic census of the number of Leonese speakers in the provinces of León and Zamora, and estimates vary from 5,000 to 50,000.

Number of speakers, according to studies
Sociolinguistic study Number of speakers
II Estudiu sociollingüísticu de Lleón: Identidá, conciencia d'usu y actitúes llingüístiques de la población lleonesa[6] 50,000
Facendera pola Llengua newsletter[22] 25,000
El asturiano-leonés: aspectos lingüísticos, sociolingüísticos y legislación[23] 20,000 to 25,000
Linguas en contacto na bisbarra do Bierzo: castelán, astur-leonés e galego.[24] 2,500 to 4,000
(El Bierzo, Ribas de Sil [es], Fornela [es], and La Cabrera)

Studies

See caption
2009 linguistic map of Zamora and León

Two sociolinguistic studies, in northern Leon and the entire province[25][6] analysed the prevalence of Leonese and the linguistic attitudes of its speakers. According to the latter, maintenance of the language is the primary wish but opinions differ about how to do so. Almost 37 per cent think that the language should be kept for nonofficial uses, and about 30 per cent believe it should be on a par with Spanish. Twenty-two per cent favour its disappearance. Nearly the population supports granting official status to Leonese by amending the Statute of Autonomy. About 70 per cent favour linguistic coordination between León and Asturias, with 20 per cent opposing. Leonese in education is favoured by more than 63 per cent of the population, and opposed by about 34 per cent. Institutional promotion of the dialect, especially by town councils, was favoured by more than 83 per cent of respondents.

Recognition

The Statute of Autonomy of Castile and León, amended 30 November 2007, addresses the status of Spanish, Leonese, and Galician. According to Section 5.2, "Leonese will be specifically protected by the institutions for its particular value within the linguistic patrimony of the Community. Its protection, usage and promotion will be regulated".

On 24 February 2010, a parliamentary group from the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party presented a proposition to the Cortes of Castile and León to recognize the value of Leonese and implement a plan to protect and promote it. Although the proposition was approved unanimously by the plenary session of the parliament of Castile and León on 26 May, the government's position has not changed.

Vitality

Spray-painting on a road sign
Ad hoc "translation" into Leonese

UNESCO, in its Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger, listed Leonese in the most at-risk category.[citation needed] The category's criteria are:

  • unofficial
  • without legitimized significant use in the news media
  • low levels of proficiency and use
  • poor social prestige
  • not used as a medium of primary education
  • not used in official toponyms

Standardization

The Autonomous Community of Castile and León lacks a government agency to promote minority languages and a nongovernmental agency in an advisory capacity in matters pertaining to minority languages. The Academy of the Asturian Language has sponsored linguistic and sociolinguistic research, which encompasses the non-Asturian dialects of Asturian-Leonese. Two congresses about Leonese have been held, at which the following measures were proposed to move towards language standardization:

  • Based on articles 5.2 and 5.3 of the Statute of Autonomy,[26] raise the legal status of Leonese to equal that of Galician.
  • Create an autonomous administrative organ under the Department of Culture and Tourism responsible for protecting and promoting Leonese and Galician.
  • Introduce Leonese into adult and childhood education.
  • Recover native toponymy with bilingual signage.
  • Support cultural and literary Leonese and its publications and collaborate with associations which base their work on the recovery of Leonese, encourage Leonese in social media, and promote literary contests in the dialect.
  • Promote study of Leonese through the universities and centres of study and investigation such as the Institute of Studies in Zamora, the Cultural Institute in Leon, the Institute of Studies of El Bierzo and the Marcelo Macías Institute of Studies in Astorga.
  • Coordinate and cooperate with linguistic institutions, study centres, and administrations in the rest of the Asturialeonese linguistic area.
  • Require local governments to assume responsibility for the recovery of Leonese.

Promotion

For about 15 years cultural associations have offered Leonese-language courses, sometimes with the support of local administrations in the provinces of Leon and Zamora. In 2001, the

Salamanca provinces as El Fueyu courses, following an agreement between the Leonese provincial government and the organization. The Leonese Language Teachers and Monitors Association (Asociación de Profesores y Monitores de Llingua Llïonesa
) was created in 2008 to promote Leonese-language activities.

Literature

Leonese literature includes:

See also

Notes

  1. ^ a b Latinate borrowing, the shift applies otherwise mostly regularly in the language

References

  1. ISBN 978-84-935774-5-2
    .
  2. ISBN 9788439872092
    .
  3. ^
    ISBN 978-84-344-8217-3
    .
  4. ^ a b c Menéndez Pidal 1906.
  5. ^ Segura da Cruz, Luísa; Saramago, João; Vitorino, Gabriela (September 1993). "Os dialectos leoneses em território português: coesão e diversidade". Variação Linguística no Espaço, no Tempo e na Sociedade. Encontro Regional da Associação Portuguesa de Linguística. Miranda do Douro: Associação Portuguesa de Linguística. pp. 281–293.
  6. ^ a b c d González Riaño & García Arias 2008.
  7. ^
    ISBN 978-3-631-58027-1
    .
  8. ^ García Gil 2008, p. 12.
  9. ^ Morala Rodríguez 2009.
  10. ^
    ISBN 84-96100-13-8
    .
  11. ^ a b c Agard, Frederick B. (1990). "The Place Of Aragonese And Asturo-leonese In Iberian Romance". In Garza Cuarón, Beatriz; Levy Podolsky, Paulette (eds.). Homenaje a Jorge A. Suárez: lingüística indoamericana e hispánica. El Colegio de México. pp. 69–84. Retrieved 10 May 2024.
  12. ^ García Gil 2008, p. 10.
  13. ISBN 84-930359-4-7
    .
  14. ^ Lei n.º 7/99, de 29 de Janeiro (in Portuguese) – via diariodarepublica.pt
  15. ^ Pardo Fernández 2008.
  16. ISBN 978-84-7585-019-1
    .
  17. ISBN 84-87667-65-1
    .
  18. ISSN 0210-9174
    .
  19. ^ Bishop, Sarah G. (1977). The Leonese features in the Madrid manuscript of the Libro de Alexandre (PDF) (PhD). Ohio State University.
  20. ISBN 978-84-338-2315-1
    .
  21. ^ Lomax, Derek W. (April 1968). "La lengua oficial de Castilla". In Rosetti, Alexandru; Reinheimer-Rîpeanu, Sanda (eds.). Actele celui de-al XII-lea congres internaţional de lingvistică şi filologie romanică. International Congress of Romance Linguistics and Philology (in Spanish). Vol. 2. Academiei Republicii Socialiste România (published 1971). pp. 411–417.
  22. ^ "La "llingua" de los leoneses" (PDF). Furmientu (in Spanish).
  23. ^ García Gil 2008.
  24. ISSN 1616-413X
    . Retrieved 25 August 2022.
  25. ^ González Riaño, Xosé Antón; García Arias, Xosé Lluis (2006). Estudiu sociollingüísticu de Lleón: Identidá, conciencia d'usu y actitúes llingüístiques nes fasteres que llenden con Asturies. Estaya Sociollingüística (in Asturian). Vol. 3. Oviedo, Spain: Academia de la Llingua Asturiana.
  26. ^ Reforma del Estatuto de Autonomía de Castilla y León [Amendment to the Statute of Autonomy of the Castille and Leon] (Ley Orgánica 14/2007, 5) (in Spanish). Vol. 288. 1 December 2007. pp. 49486–49505 – via BOE.

Sources

Further reading

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Leonese language.
Look up Leonese language in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
Wikibooks has a book on the topic of: Leonese
Asturian edition of Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mirandese edition of Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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