4.  Bable more commonly known as Asturian.  Romance language derived from Latin in the early middle ages.  It became closely linked with the Kingdom of Asturies (established in 718) and the ensuing Asturian-Leonese or Leonese kingdom.  In the 12th, 13th and part of the 14th centuries, the language used in official documents of the kingdom was Asturian.  Castilian started to take over in the 14 th century.  There is no record of Asturian for the following two centuries.

5.  Reappeared in the 17 th century - Anton de Marirreguera.  18th century - Xeneracion del Mediu Sieglu produced poetry.  19 th century – More literature produced.  20 th century: ◦ Early part saw writers such as Xose Garcia Pelaez ◦ Asturian National Theatre ◦ First national newspaper written in Asturian ◦ Asturian Academy

6.  1939 onwards – writers began to work against the minorisation of Asturian.  Weakening and liberalisation of the Spanish dictatorship meant an uprising of Asturian power and local demands.  Asturian generation of writers and linguists born after the civil war began to make an impact on the Asturian scene: ◦ 1974 - Conceyu Bable ◦ 1980 - Academia de la Llingua Asturiana ◦ 1981 – Asturian national language was recognised but did not achieve normalisation in Statute of Autonomy

7.  1994: ◦ 100,000 first language speakers ◦ 450,000 second language speakers  End of 20 th century – grammar, dictionary and periodicals.  Castilian still the official language in schools – children are offered classes in Asturian from the age of 6.

8. Asturian

9.  UNESCO – entire Asturian group in danger  Media: ◦ Journals/Newspapers – Asturias, El Fielatu ◦ Radio – Alitar Asturies, Radio Kras ◦ Television – TLG, TLU  Education: ◦ Used in some elementary schools ◦ Can be taken throughout secondary education ◦ Higher education – Can take Bable at Oviedo

10. Reasons for endangerment:  Despite increase in popularity, number of speakers is decreasing  Rural exodus and socio-economic crisis  Lower prestige, contact language mixing, variety of bilingual abilities and diglossia with Spanish

11.  No official status  Autonomy Statute of Asturias: ◦ Article 4: “The protection of ‘Bable’ will be insured. Its usage and its presence in the media and within the school system will be encouraged, all the while respecting regional variations and the willingness to learn, in any given circumstance.” ◦ Article 10: “The Principality of Asturias is fully responsible for [...]: - the advancement of research and culture, particularly in regards to regional expressions and to the teaching of local culture. - the development and protection of the different varieties of Bable when used as a ‘linguistic modality’ within the territory of the Principality of Asturias.”

12.  In decline  50% of population over 60 consider Asturian as their childhood language BUT  15% of population 16-17 do so Therefore: - Asturian will be spoken less and less  Socio-economic context – developing migration patterns

13.  However, still hope  Interest in preserving the language and culture  Internet – promoting the awareness  50% of the lower class population – use it frequently

14.  http://www.orbilat.com/Languages/Asturia n/Asturian.htm http://www.orbilat.com/Languages/Asturia n/Asturian.htm  http://www.consello.org/ http://www.consello.org/  http://www.academiadelallingua.com/ http://www.academiadelallingua.com/  ‘Normativisation, a Priority for Aragonese’, Rosa Bercero

15.  Spoken in the Asturias region of Spain.  Divided into three main dialects; Western, Central and Eastern Asturian.  Central Asturian also known as Bable.  Asturian recognised as a minority language of Asturias and protected by ‘Ley 1/1998, de 23 de marzo, de uso y promoción del bable/asturiano’.  43% of population immigrants from southern Spain.  Academia de la Llingua Asturiana founded 1981.  Currently 100,000 native speakers of Asturian.

17. Asturian Linguistic Features

19.  Gender  Singulars & Plurals  In/Definite articles  Possessives  Demonstratives  Personal Pronouns  Comparison of adjectives  Quantifiers  Numbers  Interrogative & Relative pronouns  Verbs  Prepositions  Conjunctions  (X. Frías Conde)

20. Nouns Masculine Nouns Usually end in -u; sometimes -e or consonant Feminine Nouns Usually end in -a but not always Neuter Nouns Masc. Neuters – masculine form & articles Fem. Neuters – feminine form & articles Pure Neuters – nominal groups not nouns, neuter adj. & pronouns

21.  Neuter Adjectives  Neuter is more obvious in adjectives so adjectives can take one of three endings; -u (masc.); -a (fem.); -o (neuter).  El vasu ta fríu (=The glass is cold)  Tengo la mano fría (=My hand is cold)  L’agua ta frío (=Water is cold)

22. Feminine -a > -es: vaca > vaques -á, -ada, -ú > -aes, -úes: ciudá > ciudaes; cansada > cansaes; virtú > virtúes Masculine -u > -os: almariu > almarios -ín > -inos: camín > caminos Consonant ending -Ø > -es: animal > animales; xabón > xabones -Z Masc. -z + os to distinguish gender in plural form: rapaz > rapazos (m.); rapaza > rapaces (f.)

23.  Xabier Frías Conde  http://www.romaniaminor.net/gramatiques/gramatica _asturiana.pdf  Includes a digestible introduction to Asturian morphological features.

24.  Vowels  Diphthongation  Consonants  Initial  Internal

25.  Diphthongation LatinO (FONTEM) E (PEDEM) Cast. (10 th Century)uéié Astur-leoneseuéié uáiá uó Examples PEDEM > pia BENE > bian NOCTEM > nueche, nueite FOVEUM > fueyos

26. Conservation of ie before /ʎ/ Examples CASTELLUM > castiello SELLAM > siella Descending Diphthongs AU, AL + Consonant > ou  CAUSUM > cousa  PAUCUM > pouco  ALTERN > outro AI > ei  -ARIUM > -eiro (e.g. vaqueiro)

27. Initial F- Conserved in West & Central areas  fesoria; fachu Aspirated in East areas > h-; later became j- /x/  josoria; jachu Initial L- Palletised > /ʎ/; except in extreme East > /l/ Central area: /ʎ/ > /ĵ/ (yeísmo)

28. Initial N- Palletised > /ɲ/  Ñegro; ñube; ñuble Initial PL-, KL-, FL- > / ʧ /  PLOVERE > chover  PLANUM > chaver  CLAMARE > chamar

29. Internal features -DY- > /ĵ/ PODIUM > puyu -KT- > /ʧ/ NOCTEM > nuiche -KS- > /x/ LAXARE/LEXARE > dexar Some -B- and -G- confusion. E.g. fuibo (fuego)

32.  In Aragon, Catalan and Aragonese are the two vernacular languages that coexist with Spanish. Aragonese is spoken mostly in the northern Pyrenean valleys.  Romance Language developed in the Pyrenees and derived from Latin.  Emerged in the 8th century in what is today northern Aragon, southern Navarre and La Rioja.

33.  First text – Glosas emilianeses – 11 th century.  Between the 11 th and 15 th centuries: ◦ Spread south ◦ Became more prestigious in literature.  15 th century – Ferdinand I of Aragon who was Castilian was made king. Aragonese limited to colloquial use.  Since 15 th century – Castilian dominated.  20 th century Franco – pupils were beaten in schools for using Aragonese.

34.  Still spoken natively in its core area.  Learnt as a second language in Huesca, Zaragoza and Teruel.  Currently around 30,000 speakers.  1978 – constitutional democracy – debut of literary works and studies in Aragonese.

35. Aragonese

36.  UNESCO – Aragonese in danger  Declining population in the valleys where natural isoglosses have developed  Education – Not compulsory  Media – Journals, Radio, Literature

37.  1974 – proposal for a standard form  1976 – Consello d’a Fabla Aragonesa “the defence, promotion, study and dissemination of Aragonese in all its aspects.” (Quintana, 1999)  1977 – Diccionario Aragonés – Rafael Andolz - Gramática de la Lengua Aragonesa  1978 – “L’Aragonés t’a Escuela” “L’Aragonés Cofizial

38.  1980s – Increase in courses, associations, books  1987 – “Congreso ta ra Normalizazión de l’Aragonés” – standard orthographical norms  1997 - “Tresoro d’a Lengua Aragonesa” -Lexicography research project

39.  2001 - “Consello Asesor de l’Aragonés” -Progress in standard written Aragonese -Progress in normativisation and normalisation  2001 – “Ley de Lenguas de Aragón” - called for co-officiality

40.  Argument amongst scholars: Comte, Gimeno, Nagore vs Alvar and Buesa - Movement to have standardised form of written Aragonese - BUT: could lose the many dialects of Aragonese as one regional variety will be promoted over others

41. Aragonese recognised as a minority language of Aragón (Ley de Lenguas de Aragón en 2009). Derived from Latin, similar to Castilian and Catalan. Formerly considered as merely a dialect of Castilian. Currently 10,000 native speakers of Aragonese. There are 25-30 dialectal variants of Aragonese. Aragonese language linked to regional identity. Taught as a second language in certain schools in Zaragoza and Huesca.

42. Aragonés Linguistic Features

43. Gender Maintains the remainders of Latin genders in nouns  VALLEM > la val  SALICEM > la salz Adjectives take -a/-o endings from Latin  trista / tristo Pronouns Lots of variation between local areas Some comparability with Gascón Evolved from Latin  ILLUM > lo, o; ILLE > el; ILLOS > es (m. pl.); ILLUM, ILLAM > ro, ra

44. Imperfect -er, -ir conserve -b-  teneba (tenía); partiba (partía) Perfect Perfect was substituted by the imperfect and therefore now uses a present tense stem in -er and -ir Evolution of perfect provoked -b- preservation in imperfect.

45. Perfect cont'd TENEBAT > *tenea > tenía > teníe > tenié TENUERUNT > … > tenieron -ar-er, -ir 1P s-é-ié 2P s-és-iés 3P s-ó-ié 1P pl-emos-iemos 2P pl-éis, -ez-iez 3P pl-oron, -on-ieron Other forms are found in old/medieval texts

46.  Vowels  Diphthongation  Loss of final vowel  Consonants  Initial  Internal

47. Diphthongation of short, stressed Latin vowels Diphthongation of ser Ser > ye, yes, yera... etc. Diphthongation of -ELUM > -iello LatinO (FONTEM) E (PEDEM) Cast. (10 th Century)uéié Aragoneseuéié uáiá uó

48. Loss of final vowel NOCTE > nueyt FALCEM > falz GENTE > chen

49. Initial F- More obviously maintain in medieval documentation  e.g. fuesa, filo Alternatively; F- > h- > Ø (more prominent in Western areas) Initial J-, G e,i - > palatal-alveo fricatives Voiced  GERMANOS > germanos Voiceless  JENIPERU > Chinebro

50. -KS- > voiceless palatal-alveo fricative FRAXINU > fraxin -SKY-, SK e,i - > voiceless palatal-alveo fricative ASCIATA > eixada NASCERE > naxer -KT-, -ULT- > it Medieval examples  LECTU > leyto  OCTO > ueito  CATARACTA > Cadreita Modern examples  PECTU > peitu > pit  LACTE > let

51.  Asturian  http://www.ridea.org http://www.ridea.org  http://www.exunta.org/spip http://www.exunta.org/spip  http://www.academiadelallingua.com http://www.academiadelallingua.com  Aragonese  http://www.charrando.com http://www.charrando.com  http://www.consello.org http://www.consello.org  http://www.acalaaragon.com http://www.acalaaragon.com

52.  Alvar, M. El dialecto aragones  Alvar, M. Manual de dialectología hispánica  Frías Conde, X. 'An Approach to the Asturian Language'  Menendez Pidal, R. El dialecto leonés