Evolution of the Spanish Language: From Romanization to Modern Spanish

Posted on Sep 25, 2024 in Geography

1. Romanization (3rd Century BC)

The Roman conquest of the Iberian Peninsula, starting in the 3rd century BC, led to the imposition of Vulgar Latin, the language spoken by Roman soldiers and settlers. This gradually replaced the pre-Roman languages, leaving behind some loanwords that survived in Castilian and other Iberian languages (e.g., creek, dog, mud). Before the Roman conquest, the Iberian Peninsula had two main language areas:

  • Indo-European area: Primarily in the center and west, with languages like Celtiberian (well-documented in the Ebro valley and upper Douro region) and Lusitanian (with inscriptions found in parts of Portugal and western Spain).
  • Non-Indo-European area: Comprising the east and south, with languages like Iberian (with its own script, found from Catalonia to eastern Andalusia) and Tartessian (in western Andalusia and southern Portugal).

Basque, a non-Indo-European language, also existed during this period and occupied a larger geographical area than it does today. Its possible relationship with Iberian has been a subject of speculation.

2. Visigothic Invasion (5th Century)

The weakening of the Roman Empire in the 5th century led to barbarian invasions, including the Visigoths, who established a kingdom in the Iberian Peninsula. Despite speaking Gothic, an East Germanic language, the Visigoths were Romanized due to their prolonged contact with Latin and Roman culture. Their conversion to Catholicism further favored the use of Latin. The limited number of Visigoths compared to the Hispano-Roman population ensured the continued dominance of Latin. However, some Germanic words entered the Latin lexicon and eventually passed into Castilian (e.g., spy, feud, war, save, steal). Germanic influence is also seen in names like Alvaro, Rodrigo, Fernando, Alfonso, Elvira, Burgos, and Castrogeriz.

A significant linguistic phenomenon during this period was the fragmentation of Latin. With the fall of the Roman Empire, Vulgar Latin evolved differently in various territories, giving rise to Romance languages like Galician, Portuguese, Castilian, Catalan, French, Provençal, Sardinian, Rhaeto-Romanic, Italian, Romanian, and Dalmatian. The Oaths of Strasbourg (841 AD) is the oldest known text in a Romance language (French).

3. Arab Invasion (8th Century)

The Arab invasion of 711 AD shattered the linguistic unity of the Iberian Peninsula. While Latin remained the common language, the Reconquista led to the development of distinct dialects in the Christian territories north of the peninsula: Galician-Portuguese, Asturian-Leonese, Castilian, Navarrese-Aragonese, and Catalan. In Arab-dominated areas, Mozarabic dialects, influenced by Arabic, were spoken by Christians. Arabic significantly impacted the northern languages, particularly Castilian, which has over 4000 Arabisms (e.g., apricot, artichoke, cotton, sugar, orange, rug, pillow, mayor, sheriff, chess, blue, indigo, Alcala, Medina, Guadalquivir). Some Arabic loanwords have fallen out of use in modern Castilian.

Several factors contributed to the linguistic separation during this period:

  • Substrate influence: Pre-existing languages influenced the evolution of Latin in different regions.
  • Adstratum influence: Neighboring languages, like Basque in the case of Castilian and Provençal in the case of Catalan, exerted influence.
  • Varying degrees of Romanization: Latin’s impact was not uniform across all areas.
  • Isolation of Christian groups: The isolation of Christian communities in the northern mountains facilitated linguistic differentiation.
  • Low literacy levels: Widespread illiteracy hindered the regulatory pressure of Latin, promoting divergent linguistic evolution.

4. Evolution of Primitive Dialects

a) Mozarabic Dialects

Mozarabic dialects were gradually absorbed by other languages during the Reconquista and disappeared in the Middle Ages. However, they left behind some substrate influence and loanwords in Castilian, Portuguese, and other languages (e.g., spike, poppy, horchata).

b) Galician-Portuguese

Galician-Portuguese expanded southward with the Reconquista in Portugal. Despite a shared literary language in the Middle Ages, the political division between Portugal and Galicia in the 12th century led to the formation of distinct Portuguese and Galician languages. Portuguese flourished as a cultural language and is now spoken globally, while Galician experienced a period of diglossia with Castilian as the dominant language. The Rexurdimento movement in the 19th century revived Galician as a literary language, leading to its gradual normalization and a theoretical Galician-Castilian bilingualism.

c) Catalan

Catalan expanded southward during the Reconquista and reached Valencia and the Balearic Islands in the 13th century. It had a rich literary tradition in the Middle Ages, influenced by Provençal poetry. From the 16th century, Catalan experienced a decline, losing its official status in 1716. However, the Renaixença movement in the mid-19th century revitalized Catalan as a cultural language, leading to its standardization in the 20th century. While Valencian is considered a separate language for legal purposes, most linguists view it as a regional variety of Catalan.

d) Asturian-Leonese and Navarrese-Aragonese

Unlike Galician-Portuguese and Catalan, Asturian-Leonese and Navarrese-Aragonese had limited expansion due to the dominance of Castilian. They did not develop into standardized literary languages and are now considered historical dialects within the Castilian language area. Efforts to formalize Asturian and Aragonese as standardized languages have gained some recognition, particularly in Asturias, but achieving bilingualism in these regions remains challenging due to the strong sociolinguistic status of Castilian.

5. Expansion of Castilian, the Medieval Castilian

Castilian, the most innovative of the Iberian Romance dialects, originated in eastern Cantabria and northern Burgos. The County of Castile’s independence from the Kingdom of León in the 10th century and its leadership in the Reconquista fueled Castilian’s expansion southward (at the expense of Arabic and Mozarabic), westward (displacing Asturian-Leonese), and eastward (into Aragon). The oldest Castilian documents, dating back to the late 10th and early 11th centuries, are brief religious texts like the Emilian Glosses and the Silense Glosses.

Medieval Castilian had numerous geographical varieties and inconsistencies in its lexicon, morphology, syntax, phonetics, and writing. King Alfonso X’s efforts in the 13th century to regulate the language, based on the dialect of Toledo, marked the first attempt at standardization. During this period, Castilian’s vocabulary expanded significantly through the incorporation of learned words from Latin, particularly in literary, historical, and legal works. Latin, Arabic, and French contributed to the enrichment of Castilian’s lexicon. In the 15th century, with the completion of the Reconquista and the conquest of the Canary Islands, Castilian’s territorial expansion continued. The humanist movement led to a renewed influx of learned words, some of which did not take root. Despite these excesses, literary prose flourished, and Castilian reached maturity as a literary language, culminating in the publication of Antonio de Nebrija’s Grammar of the Castilian Language in 1492, the first grammar of a modern European language.

6. The Classic Castilian or Spanish

During the 16th and 17th centuries, Castilian solidified its position as a cultural and national language, gaining prestige and spreading beyond Spain. The term “Spanish” became synonymous with “Castilian.” Key linguistic developments during this period include:

  • Expansion to the Americas: The discovery and conquest of America dramatically expanded Castilian’s reach. The Castilianization of Latin America was a gradual process, intensifying after the independence of the American republics. This colonization also introduced numerous Americanisms into Castilian, many of which spread to other European languages (e.g., snuff, corn, potato, cocoa, tomato, chocolate, shark, canoe, hurricane, rubber).
  • Italian influence: Spain’s military and political presence in Italy and the prestige of Italian culture during the Renaissance led to a significant influx of Italian loanwords into Castilian, mainly related to military, engineering, and the arts (e.g., shotgun, arsenal, race, driver, model, balcony, novel, sonnet, piano, opera, casino).
  • Dominance in the Iberian Peninsula: Castilian strengthened its position in the peninsula, with Galician and Catalan losing their administrative and literary status. Even in Portugal, under Spanish rule for over half a century, Castilian enjoyed prestige.
  • Phonetic changes and standardization: Castilian underwent significant phonetic changes, leading to the establishment of the modern sound system. The writing system did not fully adapt to these changes, although the spread of printing led to some adjustments.
  • Scholarly contributions: Alongside influential writers, language scholars like Juan de Valdés, Sebastián de Covarrubias, and Gonzalo de Correas contributed to the gradual standardization of Castilian.

7. The Modern Spanish

The early 18th century saw the acceleration of Spain’s political and administrative unification under the Bourbon dynasty. The Decrees of Nueva Planta (1716) established Castilian as the sole official language throughout the kingdom. The founding of the Royal Spanish Academy (1713) marked a crucial step in language standardization. The Academy, tasked with setting the learned standard for Spanish grammar, lexicon, and orthography, published influential works like the Diccionario de Autoridades (1726-1739), the Orthographia (1741), and the Grammar (1771). Throughout the 18th and early 19th centuries, the Academy implemented spelling reforms, culminating in the 1815 rules that remain largely in effect today.

The independence of the American colonies in the 19th century presented a potential challenge to Spanish unity. However, despite regional variations in Spanish, the unity of the educated norm was largely preserved, with Latin American academies collaborating with the Royal Academy. French exerted a significant lexical influence on Spanish during the 18th and early 19th centuries (e.g., fashion designer, jacket, pants, jewelry, hotel, sofa, garage, chauffeur, croquette, merengue, biscuit, financial, stock, parliament, debate, intriguing). In the 19th and 20th centuries, the global dominance of English led to a substantial influx of Anglicisms into Spanish (e.g., tank, revolver, tunnel, tram, car, tourist, bar, club, sweater, apartment, rally, leader, soccer, penalty, goal, tennis).

Today, Spanish is the native language of over 350 million people, ranking fourth globally. It is an official language in Equatorial Guinea and most South American countries, as well as in the United States, where it has a strong presence. In Spain, other languages like Basque, Galician, and Catalan have experienced a resurgence in prestige and rights since the mid-19th century. Bilingualism exists in regions like the Basque Country, Navarre, Galicia, Catalonia, the Balearic Islands, and Valencia, where both Castilian and the native languages are official. However, these situations often involve practical challenges and potential conflicts. Spain’s linguistic diversity is a shared heritage that deserves recognition, respect, and protection.

Characteristics of the Linguistic Sign

  • Arbitrariness: The relationship between the signifier (phonetic form) and the signified (meaning) is arbitrary, as evidenced by the diversity of languages. However, some signs, like onomatopoeia, can be partially motivated.
  • Linear character: Language unfolds over time, with elements arranged sequentially according to language-specific rules.
  • Double articulation: Linguistic signs can be decomposed into smaller units: morphemes (minimal units of meaning) and phonemes (minimal units of sound).

Formal Register

The formal register is used in specific communication contexts, such as religious, legal, administrative, scientific, technical, and journalistic settings. It is characterized by planned and conscious language use, with a focus on the message’s accuracy and clarity. It adheres to the standard language and avoids colloquialisms. The formal register employs a rich vocabulary, including learned words and technical terms, and often requires a high level of education. While it can be used orally, it is more common in written form.

Informal Register

The informal register is used in everyday communication with family, friends, and colleagues. It is characterized by spontaneous language use, allowing for omissions and inaccuracies, especially in colloquial speech. It has a simpler vocabulary and grammar compared to the formal register but is often more expressive. While primarily associated with spoken language, it can also be used in written forms like personal letters and messages.

Semantic Relations

  • Monosemy: A word has a single meaning (e.g., medical terms like leukocyte, ectoderm).
  • Polysemy: A word has multiple related meanings that have evolved from a common base (e.g., head can refer to a body part or a leader).
  • Homonymy: Two or more different words have the same form but different meanings (e.g., bank as a financial institution and bank as a riverbank).
  • Synonymy: Two or more words have the same or very similar meanings (e.g., start and begin).
  • Hypernymy and hyponymy: A hypernym is a general term that encompasses more specific terms (hyponyms) (e.g., fruit is a hypernym of apple, pear, and orange).

Allomorphy and Suppletion

Allomorphs are different forms of a morpheme that occur due to inflection or derivation (e.g., work-er and work-ing are allomorphs of the verb work). Suppletion occurs when different forms of a lexical root have very distinct phonetic forms (e.g., the verb “to be” has suppletive forms like am, is, are, was, were).

Other Mechanisms for Creating Words

  • Apocope (truncation): Removing the end of a polysyllabic word to create a shorter form (e.g., cole from colegio).
  • Syncope: Removing sounds from the interior of a word (e.g., Navidad from Natividad).
  • Loanwords (foreignisms, barbarisms): Incorporating foreign words into the language’s lexicon (e.g., bit, chip, rap). Some loanwords are necessary to designate new concepts, while others are superfluous and reflect the influence of a dominant language (e.g., sponsor/patrocinador, spot/anuncio).