Asturian language
Asturian (; ,<ref name="bable/asturiano">Art. 1 de la [https://www.boe.es/eli/es-as/l/1998/03/23/1 Ley 1/1998, de 23 de marzo, de uso y promoción del bable/asturiano <nowiki>[Law 1/93, of March 23, on the Use and Promotion of the Asturian Language]</nowiki>] </ref> formerly also known as ) is a West Iberian Romance language spoken in the Principality of Asturias, Spain. Asturian is part of a wider linguistic group, the Astur-Leonese languages. The number of speakers is estimated at 100,000 (native) and 450,000 (second language). The dialects of the Astur-Leonese language family are traditionally classified in three groups: Western , Central, and Eastern. For historical and demographic reasons, the standard is based on Central Asturian. Asturian has a distinct grammar, dictionary, and orthography. It is regulated by the Academy of the Asturian Language. Although it is not an official language of Spain it is protected under the Statute of Autonomy of Asturias and is an elective language in schools. For much of its history, the language has been ignored or "subjected to repeated challenges to its status as a language variety" due to its lack of official status. History. Asturian is the historical language of Asturias, portions of the Spanish  provinces of León and Zamora and the area surrounding Miranda do Douro in northeastern Portugal. Like the other Romance languages of the Iberian peninsula, it evolved from Vulgar Latin during the early Middle Ages. Asturian was closely linked with the Kingdom of Asturias (718–910) and the ensuing Leonese kingdom. The language had contributions from pre-Roman languages spoken by the Astures, an Iberian Celtic tribe, and the post-Roman Germanic languages of the Visigoths and Suevi. The transition from Latin to Asturian was slow and gradual; for a long time they co-existed in a diglossic relationship, first in the  Kingdom of Asturias and later in that of Asturias and Leon. During the 12th, 13th and part of the 14th centuries Astur-Leonese was used in the kingdom's official documents, with many examples of agreements, donations, wills and commercial contracts from that period onwards. Although there are no extant literary works written in Asturian from this period, some books (such as the and the 1155 ) had Asturian sources. Castilian Spanish arrived in the area during the 14th century, when the central administration sent emissaries and functionaries to political and ecclesiastical offices. Asturian codification of the Astur-Leonese spoken in  the Asturian Autonomous Community became a modern language with the founding of the Academy of the Asturian Language () in 1980. The Leonese dialects and Mirandese are linguistically close to Asturian. Status and legislation. Efforts have been made since the end of the Francoist period in 1975 to protect and promote Asturian. In 1994 there were 100,000 native speakers and 450,000 second-language speakers able to speak (or understand) Asturian. However the language is endangered: there has been a steep decline in the number of speakers over the last century. Law 1/93 of 23 March 1993 on the Use and Promotion  of the Asturian Language addressed the issue, and according to article four of the Asturias Statute of Autonomy: "The Asturian language will enjoy protection. Its use, teaching and diffusion in the media will be furthered, whilst its local dialects and voluntary apprenticeship will always be respected.” However Asturian is in a legally hazy position. The Spanish Constitution has not been fully applied regarding the official recognition of languages in the autonomous communities. The ambiguity of the Statute of Autonomy, which recognises the existence of Asturian but does not give it the same status as Spanish, leaves the door open to  benign neglect. However since 1 August 2001 Asturian has been covered under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages' "safeguard and promote" clause. A 1983 survey indicated 100,000 native Asturian speakers (12 percent of the Asturian population) and 250,000 who could speak or understand Asturian as a second language. A similar survey in 1991 found that 44 percent of the population (about 450,000 people) could speak Asturian, with from 60,000 to 80,000 able to read and write it. An additional 24 percent of the Asturian population said that they understood the language, making a total of about 68 percent  of the Asturian population. At the end of the 20th century the Academia de la Llingua Asturiana (Academy of the Asturian Language) attempted to provide the language with tools needed to promote its survival: a grammar, a dictionary and periodicals. In addition a new generation of Asturian writers has championed the language. In 2021 the first complete translation of the Bible into Asturian was published. Historical, social and cultural aspects. Literary history. Although some 10th-century documents have the linguistic features of Asturian, numerous examples (such as writings by notaries, contracts and wills) begin in the 13th century. Early examples  are the 1085 "Fuero de Avilés" (the oldest parchment preserved in Asturias) and the 13th-century "Fuero de Oviedo" and the Leonese version of the "Fueru Xulgu". The 13th-century documents were the laws for towns, cities and the general population. By the second half of the 16th century, documents were written in Castilian, backed by the Trastámara dynasty and making the civil and ecclesiastical arms of the principality Castilian. Although the Asturian language disappeared from written texts during the "sieglos escuros" (dark centuries), it survived orally. The only written mention during this time is from a 1555 work by  Hernán Núñez about proverbs and adages: " ... in a large copy of rare languages, as Portuguese, Galician, Asturian, Catalan, Valencian, French, Tuscan ... ". Modern Asturian literature began in 1605 with the clergyman Antón González Reguera and continued until the 18th century (when it produced, according to Ruiz de la Peña in 1981, a literature comparable to that in Asturias in Castilian). In 1744, Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos wrote about the historic and cultural value of Asturian, urging the compilation of a dictionary and a grammar and the creation of a language academy. Notable writers included Francisco Bernaldo de Quirós Benavides (1675), Xosefa  Xovellanos (1745), Xuan González Villar y Fuertes (1746), Xosé Caveda y Nava (1796), Xuan María Acebal (1815), Teodoro Cuesta (1829), Xosé Benigno García González, Marcos del Torniello (1853), Bernardo Acevedo y Huelves (1849), Pin de Pría (1864), Galo Fernández and Fernán Coronas (1884). In 1974, a movement for the language's acceptance and use began in Asturias. Based on ideas of the Asturian association Conceyu Bable about Asturian language and culture, a plan was developed for the acceptance and modernization of the language that led to the 1980 creation of the Academy of the Asturian Language with the approval of  the Asturias regional council. "El Surdimientu" (the Awakening) authors such as Manuel Asur "(Cancios y poemes pa un riscar)", Xuan Bello "(El llibru vieyu)", Adolfo Camilo Díaz "(Añada pa un güeyu muertu)", Pablo Antón Marín Estrada "(Les hores)", Xandru Fernández "(Les ruines)", Lourdes Álvarez, Martín López-Vega, Miguel Rojo and Lluis Antón González broke from the Asturian-Leonese tradition of rural themes, moral messages and dialogue-style writing. Currently, the Asturian language has about 150 annual publications. The Bible into the Asturian language was completed in 2021 after over 30 years of translation work, beginning in September 1988. Use and  distribution. Astur-Leonese's geographic area exceeds Asturias, and that the language known as Leonese in the autonomous community of Castile and León is basically the same as the Asturian spoken in Asturias. The Asturian-Leonese linguistic domain covers most of the principality of Asturias, the northern and western province of León, the northeastern province of Zamora (both in Castile and León), western Cantabria and the Miranda do Douro region in the eastern Bragança District of Portugal. Toponymy. Traditional, popular place names of the principality's towns are supported by the law on usage of Asturian, the principality's 2003–07  plan for establishing the language and the work of the "Xunta Asesora de Toponimia", which researches and confirms the Asturian names of requesting villages, towns, "conceyos" and cities (50 of 78 "conceyos" as of 2012). Dialects. Asturian has several dialects. They are regulated by the Academia de la Llingua Asturiana and mainly spoken in Asturias (except in the west, where Galician-Asturian is spoken). The dialect spoken in the adjoining area of Castile and León is known as Leonese. Asturian is traditionally divided into three dialectal areas, sharing traits with the dialect spoken in León: western, central and eastern. The  dialects are mutually intelligible. Central Asturian, with the most speakers (more than 80 percent), is the basis for standard Asturian. The first Asturian grammar was published in 1998 and the first dictionary in 2000. Western Asturian is spoken between the rivers Navia and Nalón, in the west of the province of León (where it is known as Leonese) and in the provinces of Zamora and Salamanca. Feminine plurals end in "-as" and the falling diphthongs and are maintained. Central Asturian is spoken between the Sella River and the mouth of the River Nalón in Asturias and north of León. The  model for the written language, it is characterized by feminine plurals ending in "-es", the monophthongization of and into and and the neuter gender in adjectives modifying uncountable nouns ("lleche frío", "carne tienro"). Eastern Asturian is spoken between the River Sella, Llanes and Cabrales. The dialect is characterized by the debuccalization of word-initial to , written ("ḥoguera", "ḥacer", "ḥigos" and "ḥornu" instead of "foguera", "facer", "figos" and "fornu"; feminine plurals ending in "-as" ("ḥabas", "ḥormigas", "ḥiyas", except in eastern towns, where "-es" is kept: "ḥabes", "ḥormigues", "ḥiyes"); the shifting of word-final "-e" to "-i" ("xenti", "tardi", "ḥuenti"); retention of  the neutral gender in some areas, with the ending "-u" instead of "-o" ("agua friu", "xenti güenu", "ropa tendíu", "carne guisáu"), and a distinction between direct and indirect objects in first- and second-person singular pronouns (direct "me" and "te" v. indirect "mi" and "ti") in some municipalities bordering the Sella: "busquéte (a ti) y alcontréte/busquéti les llaves y alcontrétiles", "llévame (a mi) la fesoria en carru". Asturian forms a dialect continuum with Cantabrian in the east and Eonavian in the west. Cantabrian or Montañés is spoken in eastern Asturias and portions of Cantabria (the Pas and Soba Valleys ). Cantabrian was listed in the 2009 UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger. The inclusion of Eonavian (spoken in western Asturias, bordering Galicia) in the Galician language is controversial, since it has traits in common with western Asturian. Linguistic description. Asturian is one of the Astur-Leonese languages which form part of the Iberian Romance languages, close to Galician-Portuguese and Castilian and further removed from Navarro-Aragonese. It is an inflecting, fusional, head-initial and dependent-marking language. Its word order is subject–verb–object (in declarative sentences without topicalization). Phonology. Vowels. Asturian distinguishes five vowel phonemes  (these same ones are found in Spanish, Aragonese, Sardinian and Basque), according to three degrees of vowel openness (close, mid and open) and backness (front, central and back). Many Asturian dialects have a system of metaphony. Writing. Asturian has always been written in the Latin alphabet. Although the Academia de la Llingua Asturiana published orthographic rules in 1981, different spelling rules are used in Terra de Miranda (Portugal). Asturian orthography is based on a five-vowel system (), with three aperture degrees. It has the following consonants: . The phenomenon of "-u" metaphony is uncommon, as are decrescent diphthongs (, usually in the  west). Although they can be written, "ḷḷ" ("che vaqueira", formerly represented as ""ts"") and the eastern "ḥ" aspiration (also represented as ""h."" and corresponding to "ll" and "f") are absent from this model. Asturian has triple gender distinction in the adjective, feminine plurals with "-es", verb endings with "-es, -en, -íes, íen" and lacks compound tenses (or periphrasis constructed with ""tener""). Alphabet. ! | Uppercase ! | Lowercase ! | Name ! | Phoneme