Astur-Leonese Languages

Astur-Leonese Languages

Astur-Leonese is a group of mutually intelligible Romance dialects of the West Iberian branch:

• Asturian, asturianu or bable, in the Spanish province of Asturias; this is the area with more speakers left
• Leonese, llionés, in western parts of the provinces of León, Zamora and Salamanca, and until recent times in the border towns of Rio de Onor (Rionor) and Guadramil, in the District of Bragança (Portugal); and
• Mirandese, mirandés, in villages around the border town of Miranda do Douro (Portugal).

In addition:

• Astur-Leonese dialects closer to Spanish are spoken in Cantabria, where they are called Cantabrian, cántabru or montañés. There are different positions about whether these varieties are dialects of the Spanish language, dialects of Astur-Leonese or independent languages on their own right.
• The Extremaduran language, estremeñu, spoken in northwestern Extremadura is more distantly related to the group.
• The Asturian Eonavian dialect, eonaviegu or gallego-asturianu, spoken between the Eo and Navia rivers in Asturias is closer to Galician; it is sometimes considered the westernmost variety of Asturian, but it is more often seen as either a group of Galician dialects or an independent language.

Leonese (as a denomination for the whole linguistic group) was once considered an informal dialect (basilect) of Spanish or Castilian, but in 1906, Ramón Menéndez Pidal showed it was the result of Latin evolution in the Kingdom of León.

Leonese is officially recognised by the Autonomous Community of Castile and León (2006). In Asturias it is protected under the Autonomous Statute legislation and is an optional language at schools, where it is widely studied.

In Portugal, the related Mirandese language is recognized by the Assembly of the Republic as a co-official language along with Portuguese for local matters, and it is taught in public schools in the areas where Mirandese is natively spoken. Initially thought to be a basilect of Portuguese, José Leite de Vasconcelos studied Mirandese and concluded it was a separate language from Portuguese.