Linguistic Heritage of Spain: Origins and Evolution
Understanding Language: Core Concepts
- Language: A set of signs and structures shared by members of a particular linguistic community.
- Dialect: A variant of a language specific to a particular geographical area or a particular moment in the evolution of the language.
- Talk: The individual act of using language by a particular individual.
The Linguistic Landscape of Spain
Spain is a multilingual country where several languages coexist. Castilian is spoken throughout the territory, coexisting in some autonomous communities with languages such as Catalan, Galician, and Basque (or Euskera). In territories where two languages are present, the population is often bilingual. Spanish (Castilian) is one of the most widely used languages in the world.
Origin and Evolution of Languages in Spain
Three of the four major languages of Spain are Romance languages, deriving directly from Latin. Basque, however, is of unknown origin.
Birth of the Romance Languages
Latin is the mother tongue of all Romance languages and belongs to the Indo-European family. Due to the enormous extension of the Roman Empire, different dialect forms developed, leading to the emergence of distinct Romance languages.
Development of Hispanic Romance Languages
Around the tenth century, two-thirds of the Iberian Peninsula was dominated by the Arabs, who settled in the southern territory after subjecting the Visigoths. Only the northern strip remained under Christian control. These Christian territories quickly organized into independent kingdoms, each with distinct linguistic developments:
- Galician-Portuguese
- Asturian-Leonese
- Castilian
- Basque
- Navarro-Aragonese
- Catalan
Other Notable Romance Languages
- Provençal: A language of southern France, now virtually extinct, though it led to a rich literature in the Middle Ages.
- Romansh: A minority language spoken in northern Italy and Switzerland.
- Sardinian: The language of Sardinia.
- Dalmatian: An extinct Central European language, serving as a linguistic bridge between Italian and Romanian.
Major Languages of Spain
Castilian Language
Originating in Cantabria, the area bordering the Basque Country and northern Burgos, particularly in a region known for its castles, hence its name. Its exact date of birth is difficult to pinpoint; the first written words date from the tenth century, indicating prior oral use. These early texts are known as the Glosses of Silos and Glosses of Emilianenses, which are explanatory comments written in the margins of ancient Latin codices. Castilian is now the official language throughout the Spanish territory.
Catalan Language
Originating in the Kingdom of Aragon, Catalan was clearly distinct from Castilian by the late tenth century, although the first written evidence dates from the second half of the twelfth century in legal and administrative texts. It is an official language of Catalonia, alongside Castilian.
Galician Language
Emerging in the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula, within the Kingdom of Galicia. Initially, it formed a linguistic unit with Portuguese. Galicia soon became part of the Kingdom of Castile. In the twelfth century, when Portugal gained independence from the Castilian crown, these two languages diverged from their common source, evolving in different ways from that point onward.
Basque Language
Unlike the other languages of Spain, Basque does not derive from Latin and does not even belong to the Indo-European language family. The origin of Basque remains a mystery. Basque, or Euskera, is considered one of Europe’s major ancient languages.