The majority of languages of Spain[2] belong to the Romance language family, of which Spanish is the only language which has official status for the whole country.[3][4] Those also include Catalan and Galician (which enjoy official status in specific territories just like Basque, a language isolate) as well as an additional number of languages and dialects belonging to the Romance language continuum.
Asturian, a standarized variety of the Asturleonese dialect continuum. It enjoys protection in Asturias, where reportedly about a 25% of the population is able to understand, speak, read, and write in the language.[6] Asturleonese varieties collectively known as Leonese are spoken in parts of Castile and León (provinces of León and Zamora), where they enjoy legal protection.
Aragonese, spoken in the north of the Aragon region, in the Pyrenees. It enjoys legal protection.
Fala: This romance language belonging to the Galician-Portuguese group is spoken by about 6,000 people in the Jálama Valley. It has been declared Bien de interés cultural.[7]
Portuguese has been traditionally spoken by the inhabitants of the following border areas: Cedillo and Herrera de Alcántara (province of Cáceres),[9]La Alamedilla (province of Salamanca, primarily spoken in the place up until the mid-20th century),[10] and Olivenza (province of Badajoz).
Spanish itself boasts a substantial internal variation in the country. For example, the Andalusian or Canarian dialects, each with their own subvarieties, some of them being partially closer to the Spanish of the Americas, which they heavily influenced to varying degrees, depending on the region or period and according to different and non-homogeneous migrating or colonisation processes. Despite being a dialect, some Andalusian speakers have attempted to promote Andalusian as a different language independent of Spanish.
Five very localised dialects are of difficult filiation: Fala (a variety mostly ascribed to the Galician-Portuguese group locally spoken in an area of the province of Cáceres sometimes called Valley of Jálama/Xálima, which includes the towns of San Martín de Trevejo, Eljas and Valverde del Fresno); Cantabrian and Extremaduran, two Astur-Leonese dialects also regarded as Spanish dialects; Eonavian, a dialect between Asturian and Galician, closer to the latter according to several linguists; and Benasquese, a Ribagorçan dialect that was formerly classified as Catalan, later as Aragonese, and which is now often regarded as a transitional language of its own. Asturian and Leonese are closely related to the local Mirandese which is spoken on an adjacent territory but over the border into Portugal. Mirandese is recognised and has some local official status.
In terms of the number of speakers and dominance, the most prominent of the languages of Spain is Spanish, spoken by about 99% of Spaniards as a first or second language.[14] According to a 2019 Pew Research survey, the most commonly spoken languages at home other than Spanish were Catalan in 8% of households, Valencian 4%, Galician 3% and Basque in 1% of homes.[13]
A study of 2016 from the University of Navarra focused on which languages consumed the most news in a week (using multiple-choice surveys). The response included foreign languages, Spanish and only co-official and protected languages. A 95.2% consumed in Spanish and a 30.4% in a co-official or protected language.[15]
Language
Language of news consumption in the last week (%)[15]
The study reflects that protected languages consume is proportional to their knowledge, and that the foreign languages are replacing the regional languages.
Language policy
Spanish is official throughout the country; Catalan/Valencian, Galician, Basque, and Aranese have legal and co-official status in their respective communities and (except Aranese) are widespread enough to have daily newspapers and significant book publishing and media presence. Catalan and Galician are the main languages used by the respective regional governments and local administrations.
In addition to these, there are some protected languages. A protected language has not the co-official status but can be taught in schools as an optional subject, the possibility of having TV shows in the protected language and have their own institutions.
As of 2023, Aragonese is offered as a subject in about 30 schools of the Aragon region, with around 1,300 students.[19] Limited Aragonese-language television content is available on the regional public broadcaster, with shows such as A Escampar la Boira[20] or Charrín Charrán.[21]
Past languages
Alongside the languages spoken in Spain to the present day, other languages were spoken within the actual borders:
Distribution (assumed) of languages in the Iberian peninsula between 1000~2000 C.E.
^The term lenguas españolas appears in the Spanish Constitution, referring to all the languages spoken within Spain (those are Basque, Spanish, Catalan/Valencian, Galician, Asturian, Leonese, etc.).
^M. Teresa Turell (2001). Multilingualism in Spain: Sociolinguistic and Psycholinguistic Aspects of Linguistic Minority Groups. Multilingual Matters. p. 121. ISBN978-1-85359-491-5.
