Official Languages of Spain: Beyond Castilian
Languages of Spain
Castilian (Spanish) is not the only official language of Spain. Some communities have co-official status with Castilian, including Catalan, Galician, and Basque.
Catalan
Catalan is a Romance language that is co-official with Castilian in Catalonia, Andorra, the Balearic Islands, and Valencia (where it’s known as Valencian).
Origin: It emerged in the northeast of the Iberian Peninsula.
Literary Tradition: It has a rich literary tradition, highlighted by the Forum Iudicum, culminating in the works of Ramon Llull and historical chronicles. In the 15th century, notable figures include Ausias March and the novel Tirant lo Blanch. However, the influence of political power and the decline of Catalan literature led to the advancement of Castilian.
Renaissance (19th Century): A movement to recover the Catalan language and culture emerged, leading to literary works and the first Catalan newspapers.
20th Century: The Institute of Catalan Studies was created, and Catalan Grammar (Pompeu Fabra) was published. With the Second Republic and the adoption of the Statute, Catalan became an official language. Since the 1950s, a cultural recovery began, and with the 1978 Constitution, it became an official language.
Dialect Groups:
- Eastern Catalan
- Western Catalan
Features:
- Palatalization of ‘l’ (e.g., lluna)
- Different pronunciation of ‘b’ and ‘v’ in some words
- Opening or closure of vowels
- Conservation of the Latin initial ‘f’ (e.g., forn – oven)
Galician
Galician is a Romance language.
Origin: It emerged in the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula.
Medieval Period: It experienced great literary splendor with figures like Martin Codax and Alfonso X the Wise.
15th Century: A situation of diglossia was maintained for a long time, with Galician confined to rural areas and neglected in formal oral and written use.
Rexurdimiento (19th Century): A revival emerged, aiming to restore Galician as a suitable vehicle for literary cultivation, highlighted by Rosalia de Castro.
Second Republic: The Statute of Galicia was approved, and Galician became official during the democracy.
Present: The teaching of Galician and its use in the media have spread its knowledge, and it is increasingly present in political and cultural fields.
Features:
- Does not use compound tenses in verbs
- Preservation of Latin ‘f’ (e.g., fillo – son)
- Diphthongs ‘ai’ and ‘au’ become ‘ei’ and ‘ou’ (e.g., cousa – thing)
Basque (Euskera)
Basque is a co-official language in the Basque Country.
Origin: Its origin is very old, and it is considered a linguistic treasure. Many linguists have tried to establish a hypothesis about its origin, but none have succeeded.
Oral Tradition: For a long time, it was an unwritten language. However, there is an important oral lyric tradition, inherited by the bertsolaris (improvisational poets).
Written Form: The first written book is a collection of poems, Linguae Vascorum Primitae. Periodical publications began in the 20th century with almanacs.
Second Republic: The Statute officially recognized Euskera, but the Civil War interrupted its implementation.
Normalization: There were periods of diglossia, but since the 1978 Constitution, there has been a normalization process for Basque.
Batua (Unified Basque): One of the greatest challenges for achieving normalization is the great variety of dialects within the Basque territory. Therefore, Batua (unified Euskera) was implemented.
Features:
- Uses declension for casual familiarity and voseo
- Has no gender distinction
- Conjugated in the passive voice, where the subject is the patient
Bilingualism, Diglossia, and Contact Languages
Causes for these phenomena include conquest, colonization, the historical process of nation formation, and the migration of human groups.
Bilingualism
- Social Bilingualism: Two languages coexist in a territory, but not all speakers are bilingual (e.g., Catalan, Galician).
- Individual Bilingualism: A person has an equally correct command of two languages. This can be:
- Natural: Acquired through the environment.
- Secondary: Acquired through formal education (e.g., in an institute).
Diglossia
A situation where two languages exist, but one serves a social identity function, creating an imbalance.
Languages in Contact
This leads to the emergence of new languages, codes, and interference. Types of interference include:
- Phonetic: Affecting sound, accent, etc.
- Morphosyntactic: Referring to word order, use of prepositions, etc.
- Semantic: Lexical borrowing.
- Spelling: Difficulties and errors in writing.