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Aragonese
Data gathered by portalingua.info, the Latin Union website.
Data on Aragonese
Alternative names: fabla, patués
Classification: Indo-European language family, Romance language, variation of Spanish
Area: Autonomous Community of Aragon
Number of speakers: 30 000
Leclerc (2001) estimates between 11 000 and 30 000 speakers. SIL data agrees with Leclerc’s estimate, and specifies 11 000 active speakers, as well as 20 000 speakers whose second language is Aragonese. The SIL data is based on a census provided by the Council of the Aragonese Language. The website redaragon.com mentions 12 000 active speakers and 40 000 passive speakers. The website Mercator estimates exactly 11 824 speakers, according to a source from 1981.
Language status: Almost non-existent in institutions.
Vitality & transmission:
UNESCO considers Aragonese to be in danger.
Media sources:
At least five magazines
Broadcasts on Catalunya Cultura and Radio Huesca (30 mins /week)
A few books are published in Aragonese every year.
Education:
Optional extra-curricular subject, only taught in a select number of cities.
Historical observations
976 : « Glosas Emilianenses », first written material containing references to forms of Aragonese.
10th c.: Aragonese survives the Arabe invasion, but its development is blocked by the explosion of neighbouring Castilian.
1194-1211 : « Liber Regum », anonymous work containing traces of Aragonese.
1205 : « Razon feita d’amor », anonymous lyrical poetry containing Aragonese words.
1247 : Huesca Vidal de Canellas (bishop), « Compilación de Huesca » et « Vidal Mayor ».
14th c.: « Cronica de San Juan de la Peña » and works by Juan Fernàndez de Heredia (1310-1396) in Aragonese: « La Grant Cronica d’Espanya », « La Cronica de los Conqueridores ».
However, literary works are heavily influenced by Castilian at a very early stage, as are all official documents from the fifteenth century onwards.
1412: The Castilian dynasty of the Trastàmara settles in Aragon, and contributes to the spread of Castilian. The wealthy and educated elite are « castlianised », while the common people continue to speak Aragonese. 17th c.: Some writers, such as « el Vicario de Cariñena » and Ana Abarca de Bolea, choose to make Aragonese an artistic language.
18th c.: Aragonese is preserved in the North of Aragon. At this time, popular theater productions (called « pastoradas ») flourish.
20th c.: While the usage of the language largely decreased, a few authors nevertheless choose to write in Aragonese: Domingo Miral, Cleto Torrodellas, Leonardo Escalona, Veremundo Méndez, Pedro Arnal, Tonon de Baldomera, José Gracia, Nieus Luzia Dueso.
In the 1970s, a literary movement promotes the emergence of a standard Aragonese, with the help of authors such as Anchel Conte Eduardo Vicente de Vera and Inazio Almudébar. These authors draw from a shared written form (outlined in 1974) and from a grammatical system (1977).
1987 : First Congress on the standardization of Aragonese.
Sociolinguistic observations
The classification of Aragonese varies between «language» and «dialect». For many speakers, Aragonese is nothing more than badly spoken Spanish. This type of perception is a recurrent phenomenon whenever a regional or minority language exists alongside a prestigious standard language that resembles it typologically. Thus Campbell (2000) considers Aragonese to be a « dying dialect » of Spanish.
The linguistic awareness of Aragonese speakers has traditionally been weak, but it has grown over the 20th century, thanks to the « re-discovery » of Aragonese in linguistic studies, and thanks to young militants fighting for its preservation.
Sources & Additional bibliography:
ALCARAZ, Ramos M. (1999), El pluralismo lingüístico en la Constitución Española, Madrid, Congreso de los Diputados. ALVAR, Manuel (1953), El dialecto aragonés, Madrid.
ALVAR, Manuel (1973), Estudios sobre el dialecto aragonés, Zaragoza.
ALVAR, Manuel et al. (1979-1983), Atlas Lingüistico y Etnografico de Aragon, Navarra y Rioja, Madrid, 12 volumenes.
ALVAR, Manuel (1996), « Aragonés », in Manuel Alvar (dir.), Manual de dialectologia hispànica. El español de España, Editorial Ariel, Barcelona, pp. 263-292.
CAMPBELL, George L. (2000), Compendium of the World’s Languages, Routledge, London & New York, 1st ed. 1991, 2 vols.
GARCIA DE DIEGO (1918), Caracteres fundamentales del dialecto aragonés, Zaragoza.
LECLERC, Jacques (2001), « L’Etat espagnol » dans L’aménagement linguistique dans le monde, Québec, TLFQ, Université Laval.
UMPHREY (1913), The Aragonese Dialect, Seattle.
WALTER, Henriette (1994), L’aventure des langues en Occident, Laffont.
ZAMORA VICENTE, Alonso (1985), Dialectologia española, Madrid, Gredos, 1ere éd. 1960.
Links :
« Aragonés »: http://www.redaragon.com/sociedad/otraslenguas
Ethnologue Spain: http://www.sil.org/ethnologue/countries/Spai.html#AXX
Mercator Legislació: http://www.ciemen.org/
Aragonese school of Zaragoza – Nogará Association: http://wzar.unizar.es/
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