page_title: Castile and León
section_title: Languages
hierarchical_section_title: Castile and León / Languages
caption_attribution_description: 12072009 153421 G 15623 This is a photo of a monument indexed in the Spanish heritage register of Bienes de Interés Cultural under the reference RI-51-0000467.
context_page_description: Castile and León is an autonomous community in north-western Spain.
  It was created in 1983. Formed by the provinces of Ávila, Burgos, León, Palencia, Salamanca, Segovia, Soria, Valladolid and Zamora, it is the largest autonomous community in Spain in terms of area, covering 94,222 km². It is however sparsely populated, with a population density below 30/km². While a capital has not been explicitly declared, the seats of the executive and legislative powers are set in Valladolid by law and for all purposes that city serves as de facto regional capital.
  Castile and León is a landlocked region, bordered by Portugal as well as by the Spanish autonomous communities of Galicia, Asturias, Cantabria, the Basque Country, La Rioja, Aragon, Castilla–La Mancha, the Community of Madrid and Extremadura. Chiefly comprising the northern half of the Inner Plateau, it is surrounded by mountain barriers and it is drained by the Douro River, flowing west toward the Atlantic Ocean.
  The region contains eight World Heritage Sites. UNESCO recognizes the Cortes of León of 1188 as the cradle of worldwide parliamentarism.
context_section_description: A large part of the "Route of the Castilian language" passes through the autonomous community, which indicates the importance traditionally attributed to this land in the origin and subsequent development of that language. In the province of Burgos begins its journey, due both to being the birthplace of the language according to Ramón Menéndez Pidal, and the famous Cantar de Mio Cid. Valladolid stands out for having been the residence of the author of Don Quixote, Miguel de Cervantes, as well as authors such as José Zorrilla or Miguel Delibes and the thrust of its University. In Ávila the mystical writers St. Teresa of Ávila and St. John of the Cross stand out. Finally, Salamanca and its University have given rise to great works for the Castilian language, such as Lazarillo de Tormes or La Celestina. Professors of its University as the writer Miguel de Unamuno also give the city great importance in the evolution of the language. To conclude, Campos de Castilla, by the Andalusian writer Antonio Machado, whose theme predominates the admiration for the Castilian lands, focusing mainly on Province of Soria.
  Regarding the first testimonies of the Castilian language, in the Abbey of Santo Domingo de Silos a very old beatus, the Silos Beatus is preserved. The Glosas Silenses come from that Monastery. Also in Castilian lands is the Monastery of San Pedro de Cardeña, place where the Cardeña Beatus was written. In addition, the Statute of Autonomy of the community itself mentions the Cartularies of Valpuesta and the Nodicia de kesos as the most primitive traces of Castilian (Spanish) language. The Instituto Castellano y Leonés de la Lengua is responsible for carrying out various scientific works in this regard.
  In addition to the Castilian language, in Castile and León two other languages or linguistic varieties are spoken in small areas of the community: the Leonese language, that "will be subject to specific protection [...] because of its particular value within the Community's linguistic heritage" (This dialect is only spoken for less than 2000 people, what means this "will be subject to specific protection [...] because of its particular value within the Community's linguistic heritage" is not accomplished) and Galician language, which, according to the Statute of Autonomy, "will enjoy respect and protection in the places where it is usually used" (fundamentally, in the border areas with Galicia of the comarcas of El Bierzo and Sanabria). In the Salamancan comarca of El Rebollar, a modality of Extremaduran language is spoken (of the Asturian-Leonese branch) known as Palra d'El Rebollal. In Merindad de Sotoscueva (province of Burgos) a Castilian is spoken with some dialectal features of the Asturian-Leonese.
caption: Abbey of Santo Domingo de Silos.
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