Linguistic Situation in Spain: Languages and Dialects

Posted on Oct 1, 2024 in Latin

Linguistic Situation in Spain Today

The languages spoken in Spain are:

  • Galician
  • Catalan (with Valencian and Balearic dialects)
  • Castilian (derived from Latin)
  • Basque (also known as Euskera, predates the arrival of the Romans)

Process of Formation of the Iberian Languages

The formation of Iberian languages is based on two key events:

  1. Roman Colonization: Introduced Latin to the Iberian Peninsula.
  2. Muslim Invasion: Brought the influence of Arabic.

While other languages were equated with Roman Latin, only the Basque language survived. Vulgar Latin spread throughout the region. The arrival of Germanic peoples caused linguistic disintegration, leading to the emergence of Romance languages. The Arab invasion further influenced the development of Latin. During the Reconquista, Christian kingdoms expanded their territories and imposed their languages on conquered regions. This resulted in the spread of Galician-Portuguese in the west, Castilian in the south, east, and west, and Catalan in the east and the Balearic Islands. Basque continued to be spoken alongside Castilian.

Castilian

Castilian is the official language of Spain and the common language of all Spaniards. It is also spoken in South and Central America, parts of the United States, Equatorial Guinea, the former Spanish Sahara, the Philippines, and Sephardic communities worldwide. Castilian is a Romance language derived from the Vulgar Latin spoken in ancient Cantabria. Fernán González unified Cantabria and Castile, uniting their language. Castilian gradually diverged from Latin. The first written examples of Castilian appear in the Glosas Emilianenses and Glosas Silenses. The first major literary work in Castilian was the Cantar de Mio Cid. During the reign of Alfonso X, Castilian replaced Latin as the official language and became a language of culture. After the unification of the kingdoms of Castile and Aragon, the Castilian crown imposed Castilian as the language of the new state. It was also brought to the Americas by the conquistadors. In 1492, Antonio de Nebrija wrote the first Castilian grammar. Castilian became known as Spanish and flourished during the Golden Age of Spanish literature in the 17th century. In the 18th century, the Royal Spanish Academy was founded to preserve the purity of the Castilian language and establish definitive rules. The Academy published the Diccionario de Autoridades, Ortografía, and Gramática.

Castilian Dialects

1 Andalusian

  • Lisp
  • Loss of final -s or -s between vowels
  • Assimilation of sounds like -ly and -ll to -y
  • Aspiration or loss of -s
  • Aspiration of the sound represented by the letter “j”

2 Murcian

  • Preservation of the consonant cluster -fl-
  • Suffix –ico
  • Lisp and aspiration of final -s and the sound represented by the letter “j”
  • Yeísmo (pronunciation of “ll” as “y”)
  • Aspiration of the sound represented by the letter “j”

3 Extremaduran

  • Andalusian features
  • Aspiration of the letter “h”
  • Loss of -d between vowels
  • Final -u or -o
  • Suffix –ino

4 Canarian

  • Americanisms
  • Lisp
  • Use of “pi” for “pece” (fish)

5 Spanish in America

  • Lisp
  • Yeísmo
  • Voseo (use of “vos” instead of “tú”)
  • Widespread use of the pronoun “ustedes”
  • Frequent use of diminutives
  • Rich lexicon

Catalan, Valencian, and Balearic

1 Catalan

The first written words in Catalan appeared in the 12th century. Catalan literature experienced a period of splendor during the 13th, 14th, and 15th centuries. Phonetic features of Catalan include:

  • Preservation of initial Latin “f-” (as in Galician), e.g., fill (son)
  • Opening of the stressed “e” and “o”
  • Preservation of consonant clusters “cl-“, “pl-“, and “fl-“
  • Pronunciation of “p”, “t”, and “c” as “b”, “d”, and “g”, respectively, in certain contexts
  • Loss of final vowels

There are two main dialect areas:

  • Western Catalan
  • Eastern Catalan

2 Valencian

Valencia was conquered by James I of Aragon and repopulated with people from Lleida and Tarragona. The origin of Valencian is therefore Romance. This language now has some phonetic, morphological, and lexical features of its own, but it is very similar to Western Catalan. Currently, Valencian, in addition to its variants, has an irregular presence throughout the Valencian Community. Valencian is not spoken in the same way across the territory but has its own varieties.

3 Balearic

Balearic belongs to the Eastern Catalan dialect group. It is spoken in the Balearic Islands.

Galician

Galician is a Romance language with origins linked to Galician-Portuguese. It experienced significant growth during the 19th century, recovering its use in cultured and literary contexts beyond its oral and familial use. Today, it is spoken by a very high percentage of the Galician population and is used at all levels of education, with several subjects taught in Galician. Several authors agree on dividing the Galician-speaking territory into three dialectal groups: Western, Central, and Eastern.

Basque or Euskera

Euskera, or Basque, is the third language of Spain by number of speakers. It also extends to some regions of southern France, including the French Basque Country and Navarre in the northern part of Spain. Slightly more than half a million people speak Basque. It predates the Romanization of Spain and is therefore the only peninsular language that does not derive from Latin. Some theories relate it to African languages or languages from the Caucasus. It is more than three thousand years old. The first written work in Basque dates from the 16th century. Thanks to the language policy implemented by the Basque Government, Basque is currently experiencing a slow but steady recovery. Its use is not homogeneous, and one difficulty is its dialectal fragmentation. A standardized version called Batua was created to unify the language.