Aragonese language explained

Aragonese
Nativename:Aragonese: aragonés
Pronunciation:pronounced as /an/
Ethnicity:Aragonese
States:Spain
Region:Aragon
northern and central Huesca and northern Zaragoza
Speakers:Active speakers: 10,000–12,000
Date:2017
Speakers2:Active and passive speakers: 30,000–50,000 (2017)
Familycolor:Indo-European
Fam2:Italic
Fam3:Latino-Faliscan
Fam4:Latin
Fam5:Romance
Fam6:Italo-Western
Fam7:Western Romance
Fam8:(unclassified)
Fam9:(in some classifications) Pyrenean–Mozarabic
Dia2:Navalese
Dia3:Aisinian
Dia4:Ansó
Dia5:Aragüés
Dia6:Benasquese
Dia7:Hecho
Dia8:Ribagorçan
Dia9:Central
Minority:Spain
  • Aragon (Protected language status)
Ancestor:Old Latin
Ancestor2:Vulgar Latin
Ancestor3:Navarro-Aragonese
Ancestor4:Old Aragonese
Script:Latin (Aragonese alphabet)
Agency:Academia d'a Luenga Aragonesa
Iso1:an
Iso2:arg
Iso3:arg
Glotto:arag1245
Glottorefname:Aragonese
Lingua:51-AAA-d
Map:Bariedaz lingüisticas d'Aragón.png
Mapcaption:Map of Aragon with the dialects of northern Aragon in grey, blue, and light orange
Notice:IPA
Map2:Lang Status 60-DE.svg

Aragonese (; pronounced as /an/ in Aragonese) is a Romance language spoken in several dialects by about 12,000 people as of 2011, in the Pyrenees valleys of Aragon, Spain, primarily in the comarcas of Somontano de Barbastro, Jacetania, Alto Gállego, Sobrarbe, and Ribagorza/Ribagorça.[1] [2] It is the only modern language which survived from medieval Navarro-Aragonese in a form distinct from Spanish.

Historically, people referred to the language as ('talk' or 'speech'). Native Aragonese people usually refer to it by the names of its local dialects such as (from Valle de Hecho) or (from the Benasque Valley).

History

Aragonese, which developed in portions of the Ebro basin, can be traced back to the High Middle Ages. It spread throughout the Pyrenees to areas where languages similar to modern Basque might have been previously spoken. The Kingdom of Aragon (formed by the counties of Aragon, Sobrarbe and Ribagorza) expanded southward from the mountains, pushing the Moors farther south in the Reconquista and spreading the Aragonese language.

The union of the Catalan counties and the Kingdom of Aragon which formed the 12th-century Crown of Aragon did not merge the languages of the two territories; Catalan continued to be spoken in the east and Navarro-Aragonese in the west, with the boundaries blurred by dialectal continuity. The Aragonese Reconquista in the south ended with the cession of Murcia by James I of Aragon to the Kingdom of Castile as dowry for an Aragonese princess.

The best-known proponent of the Aragonese language was Johan Ferrandez d'Heredia, the Grand Master of the Knights Hospitaller in Rhodes at the end of the 14th century. He wrote an extensive catalog of works in Aragonese and translated several works from Greek into Aragonese (the first in medieval Europe).

The spread of Castilian (Spanish), the Castilian origin of the Trastámara dynasty, and the similarity between Castilian (Spanish) and Aragonese facilitated the recession of the latter. A turning point was the 15th-century coronation of the Castilian Ferdinand I of Aragon, also known as Ferdinand of Antequera.

In the early 18th century, after the defeat of the allies of Aragon in the War of the Spanish Succession, Philip V ordered the prohibition of the Aragonese language in schools and the establishment of Castilian (Spanish) as the only official language in Aragon. This was ordered in the Aragonese Nueva Planta decrees of 1707.

In recent times, Aragonese was mostly regarded as a group of rural dialects of Spanish. Compulsory education undermined its already weak position; for example, pupils were punished for using it. However, the 1978 Spanish transition to democracy heralded literary works and studies of the language.

Modern Aragonese

Aragonese is the native language of the Aragonese mountain ranges of the Pyrenees, in the comarcas of Somontano, Jacetania, Sobrarbe, and Ribagorza. Cities and towns in which Aragonese is spoken are Huesca, Graus, Monzón, Barbastro, Bielsa, Chistén, Fonz, Echo, Estadilla, Benasque, Campo, Sabiñánigo, Jaca, Plan, Ansó, Ayerbe, Broto, and El Grado.

It is spoken as a second language by inhabitants of Zaragoza, Huesca, Ejea de los Caballeros, or Teruel. According to recent polls, there are about 25,500 speakers (2011) including speakers living outside the native area. In 2017, the Dirección General de Política Lingüística de Aragón estimated there were 10,000 to 12,000 active speakers of Aragonese.

In 2009, the Languages Act of Aragon (Law 10/2009) recognized the "native language, original and historic" of Aragon. The language received several linguistic rights, including its use in public administration.[3] [4] Some of the legislation was repealed by a new law in 2013 (Law 3/2013).[5] [See [[Languages Acts of Aragon]] for more information on the subject]

Dialects

See main article: Aragonese dialects.

Phonology

Traits

Aragonese has many historical traits in common with Catalan. Some are conservative features that are also shared with the Asturleonese languages and Galician–Portuguese, where Spanish innovated in ways that did not spread to nearby languages.

Shared with Catalan

Shared with Catalan and Spanish

Shared with Spanish

Shared with neither

Vowels

Vowel phonemes
FrontCentralBack
Closepronounced as /link/ pronounced as /link/
Midpronounced as /link/ pronounced as /link/
Openpronounced as /link/

Consonants

+Consonant phonemes LabialDentalAlveolarPalatalVelar
Nasalpronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/
Plosivepronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/
pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/
Fricativepronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/
Approximantpronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/
pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/
Flappronounced as /ink/
Trillpronounced as /ink/

Orthography

Before 2023, Aragonese had three orthographic standards:

During the 16th century, Aragonese Moriscos wrote aljamiado texts (Romance texts in Arabic script), possibly because of their inability to write in Arabic. The language in these texts has a mixture of Aragonese and Castilian traits, and they are among the last known written examples of the Aragonese formerly spoken in central and southern Aragon.

Comparison of Aragonese orthographies[10]
Sounds and featuresAcademia de l'AragonésGrafía de Uesca (1987)Grafía SLA
pronounced as //a//aaa
pronounced as //b//b, v according to Latin etymology
Ex: bien, servicio, val, activo, cantaba, debant
b
Ex: bien, serbizio, bal, autibo, cantaba, debán
b, v according to Medieval etymology, as in Catalan and Occitan
Ex: bien, servício, val, activo, cantava, devant
pronounced as //k//
  • c
  • qu before e, i
  • c
  • qu before e, i
  • c
  • qu before e, i
pronounced as //kw//If there is an etymological q, as in Catalan and a bit in Occitan:
  • qu before a, o
  • before e, i
    Ex: quan, qüestión
cu as in Spanish
Ex: cuan, cuestión
If there is an etymological q, as in Catalan and a bit in Occitan:
  • qu before a, o
  • before e, i
    Ex: quan, qüestion
pronounced as //tʃ//ch
Ex: chaminera, minchar, chusticia, cheografía
ch
Ex: chaminera, minchar, chustizia, cheografía
  • ch
  • j (g before e, i) according to etymology, as in Catalan and Occitan
    Ex: chaminera, minjar, justícia, geografia
pronounced as //d//ddd
pronounced as //e//ee e
pronounced as //f//fff
pronounced as //ɡ//
  • g
  • gu before e, i
  • g
  • gu before e, i
  • g
  • gu before e, i
pronounced as //ɡw//
  • gu before a, o
  • before e, i
  • gu before a, o
  • before e, i
  • gu before a, o
  • before e, i
Etymological h
Written according to Latin etymology
Ex: historia, hibierno
Not written
Ex: istoria, ibierno
Written as in Medieval Aragonese and Catalan
Ex: história, hivierno
pronounced as //i//
  • i
  • y as a copulative conjunction
  • i
  • y as a copulative conjunction
  • i
  • y as a copulative conjunction
pronounced as //l//lll
pronounced as //ʎ//llllll
pronounced as //m//mmm
pronounced as //n//nnn
pronounced as //ɲ//ny as in Medieval Aragonese and Catalan
Ex: anyada
ñ as in Spanish
Ex: añada
ny as in Medieval Aragonese and Catalan
Ex: anyada
pronounced as //o//ooo
pronounced as //p//ppp
pronounced as //ɾ//rrr
pronounced as //r//
  • rr
  • r- (word-initially)
  • rr
  • r- (word-initially)
  • rr
  • r- (word-initially)
pronounced as //s//s (also between two vowels, never *ss)s (also between two vowels, never *ss)s (also between two vowels, never *ss)
pronounced as //t//ttt
Etymological final -t
Written as in Medieval Aragonese, Catalan and Occitan
Ex: sociedat, debant, chent
Not written
Ex: soziedá, debán, chen
Written as in Medieval Aragonese, Catalan and Occitan
Ex: sociedat, devant, gent
pronounced as //u, w//uuu
pronounced as //jʃ// (Eastern dialects)
pronounced as //ʃ// (Western dialects)
ix as unifying grapheme for all dialects
Ex: baixo, x as in xoriguer
x
Ex: baxo
  • ix (Eastern dialects), x in some words
  • x (Western dialects)
    Ex: baixo (Eastern) = baxo (Western)
pronounced as //j//
  • y initial and between vowels
  • i in other cases
  • y initial and between vowels
  • i in other cases
  • y initial and between vowels
  • i in other cases
pronounced as //θ//
  • z before a, o, u
  • c before e, i (except some loanwords that have z in their etyma)
  • z in final position (but tz as a grapheme reflecting the t+s that became ts in Benasquese in various plurals and verb forms)


Ex: zona, Provenza, fetz, centro, servicio, realizar, verdatz

z
Ex: zona, Probenza, fez, zentro, serbizio, realizar, berdaz
  • z before a, o, u, in initial position
  • ç before a, o, u, in inner position
  • z in final position
  • c before e, i
  • z in international formations (learned Greek words and loans that have z in their etyma)
    Ex: zona, Provença, fez, centro, servício, realizar, verdaz
Learned Greco-Roman wordsAssimilatory tendencies not written
Ex: dialecto, extension, and lexico
Assimilatory tendencies written
Ex: dialeuto, estensión, but lecsico
Not all assimilatory tendencies written
Ex: dialecto, extension, and lexico
Accent mark for stress
Spanish model, but with the possibility for oxytones to not be accented
Ex:
  • historia, gracia, servicio
  • mitolochía, cheografía, María, río
  • atención
  • choven, cantaban
Spanish model
Ex:
  • istoria, grazia, serbizio
  • mitolochía, cheografía, María, río
  • atenzión
  • choben, cantaban
Portuguese, Catalan and Occitan model
Ex:
  • história, grácia, servício
  • mitologia, geografia, Maria, rio
  • atencion
  • joven, cantavan

In 2023, a new orthographic standard has been published by the Academia Aragonesa de la Lengua.[11] This version is close to the Academia de l'Aragonés orthography, but with the following differences: pronounced as //kw// is always spelled ⟨cu⟩, e. g. cuan, cuestión (exception is made for some loanwords: quad, quadrívium, quark, quásar, quáter, quórum); pronounced as //ɲ// is spelled ⟨ny⟩ or ⟨ñ⟩ by personal preference; final ⟨z⟩ is not written as ⟨tz⟩.

The marginal phoneme pronounced as //x// (only in loanwords, e. g. jabugo) is spelled j in the Uesca, Academia de l'Aragonés and Academia Aragonesa de la Lengua standards (not mentioned in the SLA standard). Additionally, the Academia de l'Aragonés and Academia Aragonesa de la Lengua orthographies allow the letter j in some loanwords internationally known with it (e. g. jazz, jacuzzi, which normally have pronounced as //tʃ// in the Aragonese pronunciation) and also mention the letters k and w, also used only in loanwords (w may represent pronounced as //b// or pronounced as //w//).

Grammar

Aragonese grammar has a lot in common with Occitan and Catalan,[12] but also Spanish.

Articles

The definite article in Aragonese has undergone dialect-related changes, with definite articles in Old Aragonese similar to their present Spanish equivalents. There are two main forms:

MasculineFeminine
Singularella
Pluralels/eslas/les
These forms are used in the eastern and some central dialects.
MasculineFeminine
Singularlo/ro/ola/ra/a
Plurallos/ros/oslas/ras/as
These forms are used in the western and some central dialects.[13]

Lexicology

Neighboring Romance languages have influenced Aragonese. Catalan and Occitan influenced Aragonese for many years. Since the 15th century, Spanish has most influenced Aragonese; it was adopted throughout Aragon as the first language, limiting Aragonese to the northern region surrounding the Pyrenees. French has also influenced Aragonese; Italian loanwords have entered through other languages (such as Catalan), and Portuguese words have entered through Spanish. Germanic words came with the conquest of the region by Germanic peoples during the fifth century, and English has introduced a number of new words into the language.

Gender

Words that were part of the Latin second declension—as well as words that joined it later on—are usually masculine:

Words that were part of the Latin first declension are usually feminine:

Some Latin neuter plural nouns joined the first declension as singular feminine nouns:

Words ending in -or are feminine:

The names of fruit trees usually end in -era (a suffix derived from Latin -aria) and are usually feminine:

The genders of river names vary:

Pronouns

Just like most other Occitano-Romance languages, Aragonese has partitive and locative clitic pronouns derived from the Latin and : / and //; unlike Ibero-Romance.

Such pronouns are present in most major Romance languages (Catalan and, Occitan and, French and, and Italian and /).

/ is used for:

// is used for:

Literature

See main article: Aragonese-language literature. Aragonese was not written until the 12th and 13th centuries; the history ,[14],, and date from this period;[15] there is also an Aragonese version of the Chronicle of the Morea, differing also in its content and written in the late 14th century called .

Early modern period

Since 1500, Spanish has been the cultural language of Aragon; many Aragonese wrote in Spanish, and during the 17th century the Argensola brothers went to Castile to teach Spanish.[16] Aragonese became a popular village language.[17] During the 17th century, popular literature in the language began to appear. In a 1650 Huesca literary contest, Aragonese poems were submitted by Matías Pradas, Isabel de Rodas and "Fileno, montañés".

Contemporary literature

The 19th and 20th centuries have seen a renaissance of Aragonese literature in several dialects. In 1844, Braulio Foz's novel was published in the Almudévar (southern) dialect. The 20th century featured Domingo Miral's costumbrist comedies and Veremundo Méndez Coarasa's poetry, both in Hecho (western) Aragonese; Cleto Torrodellas' poetry and Tonón de Baldomera's popular writings in the Graus (eastern) dialect and Arnal Cavero's costumbrist stories and Juana Coscujuela's novel, also in the southern dialect.

Aragonese in modern education

The 1997 Aragonese law of languages stipulated that Aragonese (and Catalan) speakers had a right to the teaching of and in their own language.[18] Following this, Aragonese lessons started in schools in the 1997–1998 academic year. It was originally taught as an extra-curricular, non-evaluable voluntary subject in four schools.[19] However, whilst legally schools can choose to use Aragonese as the language of instruction, as of the 2013–2014 academic year, there are no recorded instances of this option being taken in primary or secondary education. In fact, the only current scenario in which Aragonese is used as the language of instruction is in the Aragonese philology university course, which is optional, taught over the summer and in which only some of the lectures are in Aragonese.

Pre-school education

In pre-school education, students whose parents wish them to be taught Aragonese receive between thirty minutes to one hour of Aragonese lessons a week. In the 2014–2015 academic year there were 262 students recorded in pre-school Aragonese lessons.

Primary school education

The subject of Aragonese now has a fully developed curriculum in primary education in Aragon. Despite this, in the 2014–2015 academic year there were only seven Aragonese teachers in the region across both pre-primary and primary education and none hold permanent positions, whilst the number of primary education students receiving Aragonese lessons was 320.

As of 2017 there were 1068 reported Aragonese language students and 12 Aragonese language instructors in Aragon.[20]

Secondary school education

There is no officially approved program or teaching materials for the Aragonese language at the secondary level, and though two non-official textbooks are available ((Benítez, 2007) and (Campos, 2014)) many instructors create their own learning materials. Further, most schools with Aragonese programs that have the possibility of being offered as an examinative subject have elected not to do so.

As of 2007 it is possible to use Aragonese as a language of instruction for multiple courses; however, no program is yet to instruct any curricular or examinative courses in Aragonese.As of the 2014–2015 academic year there were 14 Aragonese language students at the secondary level.[21]

Higher education

Aragonese is not currently a possible field of study for a bachelor's or postgraduate degree in any official capacity, nor is Aragonese used as a medium of instruction. A bachelor's or master's degree may be obtained in Magisterio (teaching) at the University of Zaragoza; however, no specialization in Aragonese language is currently available. As such those who wish to teach Aragonese at the pre-school, primary, or secondary level must already be competent in the language by being a native speaker or by other means. Further, prospective instructors must pass an ad hoc exam curated by the individual schools at which they wish to teach in order to prove their competence, as there are no recognized standard competency exams for the Aragonese language.

Since the 1994–1995 academic year, Aragonese has been an elective subject within the bachelor's degree for primary school education at the University of Zaragoza's Huesca campus.[21]

The University of Zaragoza's Huesca campus also offers a Diploma de Especialización (These are studies that require a previous university degree and have a duration of between 30 and 59 ECTS credits.) in Aragonese Philology with 37 ECTS credits.[22]

External links

Notes and References

  1. News: Perez . R. . 2017-02-21 . El aragonés: la lengua romance que ya solo hablan el 1% de los aragoneses . es . Aragonese: the Romance language that already only 1% of Aragonese speak . ABC . 14 January 2020.
  2. Book: Reyes . Anchel . L'aragonés y lo catalán en l'actualidat. Analisi d'o Censo de Población y Viviendas de 2011 . Gimeno . Chabier . Montañés . Miguel . Sorolla . Natxo . Esgluga . Pep . Martínez . Juan Pablo . 2017 . . 978-84-16723-25-6 . Zaragoza . an . zaguan.unizar.es.
  3. http://www.boa.aragon.es/cgi-bin/BOAE/BRSCGI?CMD=VERDOC&BASE=BOLE&PIECE=BOLE&DOCR=3&SEC=FIRMA&RNG=200&SEPARADOR=&&PUBL=20091230 Languages Act of Aragon
  4. Ley 10/2009, de 22 de diciembre, de uso, protección y promoción de las lenguas propias de Aragón. BOE núm. 30, de 4 de febrero de 2010, páginas 9875 a 9887
  5. Ley 3/2013, de 9 de mayo, de uso, protección y promoción de las lenguas y modalidades lingüísticas propias de Aragón. BOE núm. 138, de 10 de junio de 2013, páginas 43654 a 43662
  6. Book: Estudio de Filología Aragonesa . Gramatica basica de l'Aragonés (Texto Provisional) . Edicions Dichitals de l'Academia de l'Aragonés . 2017 . Zaragoza.
  7. Book: Simón, Javier. Fonética y fonología del aragonés: una asignatura pendiente. 2016. Universidad de Zaragoza.
  8. Book: Rijk . Rudolf P. G. de . Rudolf de Rijk . Standard Basque : a progressive grammar . 2008 . MIT Press . Cambridge, Mass. . 9780262042420 . 636283146.
  9. Book: Primer Congreso ta ra Normalizazion de l’aragonés . Normas graficas de l'aragonés: Emologatas en o I Congreso ta ra Normalización de l'aragonés . 1987 . Publicazions d’o Consello d’a Fabla Aragonesa . 84-86036-19-4 . Uesca . an . 2008-10-14 . https://web.archive.org/web/20070927223602/http://www.charrando.com/normasgraficas.pdf . 2007-09-27 . bot: unknown.
  10. Some orthographic details related to local dialects are not listed.
  11. https://academiaaragonesadelalengua.org/sites/default/files/ficheros-pdf/ortografia-de-laragones_web_an.pdf Academia Aragonesa de la Lengua - Instituto de l'Aragonés Ortografía de l'aragonés
  12. Tomás Arias . Javier . Elementos de lingüística contrastiva en aragonés: estudio de algunas afinidades con gascón, catalán y otros romances . 2016 . Doctoral thesis . Universitat de Barcelona . Elements of Contrastive Linguistics in Aragonese: A Study of Certain Affinities with Gascon, Catalan and Other Romance Languages . 2445/108282 . free . es.
  13. Book: Nagore, Francho . Gramática de la Lengua Aragonesa . Mira Editores . 1989 . Zaragoza . es . Grammar of the Aragonese Language.
  14. Book: Enguita Utrilla, José María . I Curso sobre lengua y literatura en Aragón (Edad Media) . 1991 . Institución Fernando el Católico . 9788478200917 . Zaragoza . es . Course I on Language and Literature in Aragon (Middle Ages).
  15. see Book: Paul the Deacon . La Vida de Santa María Egipiciaqua . 1977 . University of Exeter . 9780859890670. es., a fourteenth-century translation into Old Castilian from Latin of a work by Paul the Deacon
  16. Carrasquer Launed . Francisco . 1993 . Cinco oscenses: Samblancat, Alaiz, Acín, Maurín y Sender, en la punta de lanza de la prerrevolución española . Five Oscenses: Samblancat, Alaiz, Acín, Maurín and Sender, at the Spearhead of the Spanish Pre-revolution . Alazet: Revista de filología . es . 5 . 16–17 . ... aragoneses eran los hermanos Argensola, que según el dicho clásico subieron a Castilla desde Barbastro a enseñar castellano a los castellanos ....
  17. Vespertino Rodríguez . Antonio . 2002–2004 . El aragonés de la literatura aljamiado-morisca . https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://ifc.dpz.es/recursos/publicaciones/26/50/097vespertino.pdf . 2022-10-09 . live . Archivo de filología aragonesa . es . 59-60 . 2 . 1731–1756.
  18. Huguet . Ángel . Lapresta . Cecilio . Madariaga . José M. . 2008 . A Study on Language Attitudes Towards Regional and Foreign Languages by School Children in Aragon, Spain . International Journal of Multilingualism . en . 5 . 4 . 275–293 . 10.1080/14790710802152412 . 144326159.
  19. Book: The Aragonese Language in Education in Spain . https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://www.mercator-research.eu/fileadmin/mercator/documents/regional_dossiers/aragonese_in_spain.pdf . 2022-10-09 . live . Martínez Cortés . Juan Pablo . Paricio Martín . Santiago J. . 2017 . Mercator . Leeuwarden.
  20. " Torres-Oliva, M., Petreñas, C., Huguet, Á., & Lapresta, C. (2019). The legal rights of Aragonese-speaking schoolchildren: The current state of Aragonese language teaching in Aragon (Spain). Language Problems & Language Planning, 43(3), 262–285. https://doi.org/10.1075/lplp.00045.tor
  21. van Dongera, R., Krol-Hage, R. (Ed.), Sterk, R. (Ed.), Terlaak Poot, M. (Ed.), Martínez Cortés, J. P., & Paricio Martín, J. (2016). Aragonese: The Aragonese language in education in Spain. (Regional dossiers series). Mercator European Research Centre on Multilingualism and Language Learning.
  22. https://magister.unizar.es/estudios/diploma-especializacion-filologia-aragonesa Diploma de Especialización en Filología Aragonesa