Languages of Spain

Nowadays the most used languages in Spain are four, three of them have a latin origin (Spanish, Catalan and Galician) and the fourth one is the oldest and its origin is uncertain (Basque). There are also other dialects: Aranese, is a gascon dialect and it is used in the Val d'Aran (official in this area); Aragonese, used in the north of Aragon; Leonese (north of the Leon province).

Basque was spoken in the north of the Iberian Peninsula before the arrival of the Romans. It was the only language that resisted the intense romanization of the mainland. The South was occupied by the Turdetani, the Iberians inhabited the East and the Celts settled down in Galicia. It's easy to think that there were other people, all with their own languages. With the Roman occupation began a process of unification which introduced the Latin language in most of the territory. Latin spoken by the inhabitants of the peninsula was called Vulgar Latin, with influences from the previous languages.

When the Germans invaded the Iberian Peninsula in the 5th century, they adopted Latin as their own language and that was a new influence in the language of the Romans. After that, the invasion of the Arabs forced Christians to retreat to the north of the Peninsula on territories with difficult accesses. Latin was developing to the different Spanish languages on these Christian areas, from East to West: Catalan, Aragonese, Castilian, Leonese and Galician. The Christian advance to the South extended the use of these new languages with Arab influences.

The current situation of the spoken languages in Spain is very uneven. Spanish is spoken throughout the whole country and also from the Transition to Democracy. There was a process of recognition of different cultural and linguistic identities in the last quarter of the twentieth century, with difficulties because they have resisted pressure from the most used and unique recognized language, Spanish or Castilian.

Catalan

Catalan appears between the eighth and ninth centuries. The first written texts in Catalan, which are documented in the twelfth century, are the "Liber Iudiciorum" translation into Catalan of a Visigothic law code, and "Homilies d'Organyà", the first text written directly in Catalan, which commented on some passages from the Gospels. Catalan language was the language of the Crown of Aragon, a Mediterranean power during the Middle Ages. Catalan was spoken also in Valencia an the Balearic Islands, Sardinia, Sicily, Naples and Greece. There was a decline from the 16th to the 18th centuries. From the nineteenth century began a new phase of literary splendor and standardization that will give way to setting the rules of this language during the twentieth century.

Currently, Catalan language is spoken in four European countries:
- Spain, in the regions of Catalonia, Balearic Islands, Valencia, Aragon and Murcia
- Andorra, where Catalan is the only official language
- France, in five regions integrated into the Department of Pyrénées-Orientales
- Italy, Alghero, city of Sardinia, province of Sassari

It is estimated that the Catalan language is understood by nine million people and is spoken by more than seven million people, making it the seventh European language in number of speakers.

In 1861, Manuel Milà i Fontanals divided the Catalan into two groups, West and East, mainly based on phonetic criteria. Eastern Catalan has four dialects: Roussillon, Central, Balearic Algherese and their sub-dialects. Western Catalan is divided into north-western and Valencian.

Catalan in Valencia is called Valencian due to political reasons.

Galician

Galician was formed in the area of the River Mino. In the twelfth century the northern area of this river was granted to Dona Urraca by his father, Alfonso VI of Castile and Leon, who assigned the southern area from the Minho to the Tagus, to her other daughter, Theresa, Countess of Portugal. The extreme rivalry between the two daughters caused the indepence of Portugal, and the border between the two kingdoms favored the progressive division of Galician-Portuguese in two different languages.

During the thirteenth century, Galician-Portuguese, was the language of poetry with Provençal. For this reason, Alfonso X, who promoted the use of Castilian, wrote his poems in Galician-Portuguese, the most prestigious for the composition in verse.

Galician is spoken by more than two million people and its standardization process caused a dispute between those who defend the current situation of the language and those who would like Galician closer to Portuguese. This latter language has a small presence on the Spanish territory in some border areas of Castile and Extremadura.

Basque

Basque is the oldest language spoken in Spain. Nowadays one million people use this language, in the Basque Country, northern half of Navarre and the French department of Pyrénées-Atlantiques, where 100,000 people speak it.

The situation of Basque is very different from the other languages of Spain: First, its origin is uncertain, some theories suggest similarities with the Caucasian languages spoken between Russia and Turkey, other theories is its African origin, but the evidences are that the origin of this language is an enigma and it is not an indo-european language that was spoken before the Roman conquest of the peninsula in a large area of the North, between Cantabria and the Aran valley. ("Aran" is a name of Basque origin, "aran" means valley). Secondly, Basque has no secular literary tradition like Romance languages, the Basques used Castilian as a language of culture for a long time.

There are seven varieties of Euskera. Euskera unified "batua" comes from them and it is currently being taught in schools of the Basque Country.

Aranese

The Aran Valley is an area in the central part of the Pyrenees, in the Catalan province of Lleida. The population is around 7,000 people. The situation of the valley, facing France, and the difficult access for centuries from Catalonia and Aragon favored the preservation of the language, which is actually a dialect of Gascon.

Occitan is a Romance language and consists of five dialect groups: Provençal, Limousin, Languedocien, Auvergnat and Gascon. Gascon is a set of dialects, some deceased, spoken in the French area of Gascony. Aranese is one of those dialects and is recognized as official language of the Aran Valley by the Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia.

Aranese is the language of all primary schools in the Aran Valley. The native population of the Aran Valley speak three languages.

It should be mentioned a slang variant of Romani spoken by the Gypsies and Arabic dialects spoken in the African territories of Ceuta, Melilla and in those areas that are hosting large numbers of North African immigrants in recent years.