Aragonese people

Last updated
Aragonese
Total population
1,192,111 Decrease2.svg[ citation needed ] (2020)
Regions with significant populations
Flag of Aragon.svg  Aragon, Spain
Languages
Majority:
Spanish
Minority:
Aragonese, Catalan
Religion
Predominantly Roman Catholicism [1]
Related ethnic groups
other Spaniards, including peoples from the old Crown of Aragon (Catalans, Valencians) and other neighboring areas (Navarre, La Rioja, provinces of Soria and Guadalajara)

The Aragonese (Aragonese and Spanish : aragoneses, Catalan : aragonesos) are the Romance people self-identified with the historical region of Aragon, in inland northeastern Spain. Their Aragonese language, which might have been spoken in the whole of the Kingdom of Aragon, Kingdom of Navarre and La Rioja in the Middle Ages, is nowadays a seriously endangered language, natively spoken only by around 25,000 people in the northern mountain area of the autonomous community of Aragon. [2] In 2009, the Aragonese language was recognized by the regional government as the "native language, original and historic" of Aragon, and it received several linguistic rights, such as use in public administration. [3] [4] This legislation was repealed by a new law in 2013 (Law 3/2013). [5]

Most Aragonese (90% or more) speak the Spanish language, traditionally in a northern variety with some regional traits, particularly in intonation and vocabulary. The use of the native Aragonese language is now confined to a minority, mostly in rural and mountainous regions of northern Aragon. In the easternmost areas, La Franja, varieties of the Catalan language are spoken by about 90% of the population. [6]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aragonese language</span> Romance language of northern Aragon, Spain

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. It is the only modern language which survived from medieval Navarro-Aragonese in a form distinct from Spanish.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Catalan language</span> Western Romance language

Catalan, known in the Valencian Community and Carche as Valencian, is a Western Romance language. It is the official language of Andorra, and an official language of three autonomous communities in eastern Spain: Catalonia, the Balearic Islands and the Valencian Community, where it is called Valencian. It has semi-official status in the Italian comune of Alghero, and it is spoken in the Pyrénées-Orientales department of France and in two further areas in eastern Spain: the eastern strip of Aragon and the Carche area in the Region of Murcia. The Catalan-speaking territories are often called the Països Catalans or "Catalan Countries".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Occitan language</span> Romance language of Western Europe

Occitan, also known as lenga d'òc by its native speakers, sometimes also referred to as Provençal, is a Romance language spoken in Southern France, Monaco, Italy's Occitan Valleys, as well as Spain's Val d'Aran in Catalonia; collectively, these regions are sometimes referred to as Occitania. It is also spoken in Calabria in a linguistic enclave of Cosenza area. Some include Catalan in Occitan, as the distance between this language and some Occitan dialects is similar to the distance between different Occitan dialects. Catalan was considered a dialect of Occitan until the end of the 19th century and still today remains its closest relative.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aragon</span> Autonomous community of Spain

Aragon is an autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. In northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces : Huesca, Zaragoza, and Teruel. Its capital is Zaragoza. The current Statute of Autonomy declares Aragon a historic nationality of Spain.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Navarre</span> Autonomous community and province of Spain

Navarre, officially the Chartered Community of Navarre, is a landlocked foral autonomous community and province in northern Spain, bordering the Basque Autonomous Community, La Rioja, and Aragon in Spain and Nouvelle-Aquitaine in France. The capital city is Pamplona. The present-day province makes up the majority of the territory of the medieval Kingdom of Navarre, a long-standing Pyrenean kingdom that occupied lands on both sides of the western Pyrenees, with its northernmost part, Lower Navarre, located in the southwest corner of France.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Asturleonese language</span> Romance language spoken in Spain and Portugal

Asturleonese is a Romance language or language family spoken in northwestern and central Spain, and northeastern Portugal, namely in the historical regions and Spain's modern-day autonomous communities of Asturias, northwestern Castile and León, Cantabria and Extremadura, and in Riudenore and Tierra de Miranda in Portugal. The name of the language is largely uncommon among its native speakers, as it forms a dialect continuum of mutually intelligible varieties and therefore it is primarily referred to by various regional glossonyms like Leonese, Cantabrian, Asturian or Mirandese. Extremaduran is sometimes included as well. Asturleonese has been classified by UNESCO as an endangered language, as the varieties are being increasingly replaced by Spanish and Portuguese.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Name of the Spanish language</span>

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Valencian language</span> Language of the Valencian Community

Valencian or Valencian language is the official, historical and traditional name used in the Valencian Community of Spain to refer to the Romance language also known as Catalan, either as a whole or in its Valencia-specific linguistic forms. The Valencian Community's 1982 Statute of Autonomy and the Spanish Constitution officially recognise Valencian as the name of the regional language.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Province of Huesca</span> Province of Spain

Huesca, officially Huesca/Uesca, is a province of northeastern Spain, in northern Aragon. The capital is Huesca.

The Iberian Romance, Ibero-Romance or sometimes Iberian languages are a group of Romance languages that developed on the Iberian Peninsula, an area consisting primarily of Spain, Portugal, Gibraltar, Andorra and southern France. They are today more commonly separated into West Iberian and Occitano-Romance language groups.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Catalan Countries</span> Regions where Catalan is the native language

The Catalan Countries are those territories where the Catalan language is spoken. They include the Spanish regions of Catalonia, the Balearic Islands, Valencian Community, and parts of Aragon and Murcia (Carche), as well as the Principality of Andorra, the department of Pyrénées-Orientales in France, and the city of Alghero in Sardinia (Italy). It is often used as a sociololinguistic term to describe the cultural-linguistic area where Catalan is spoken. In the context of Catalan nationalism, the term is sometimes used in a more restricted way to refer to just Catalonia, Valencia and the Balearic Islands. The Catalan Countries do not correspond to any present or past political or administrative unit, though most of the area belonged to the Crown of Aragon in the Middle Ages. Parts of Valencia (Spanish) and Catalonia (Occitan) are not Catalan-speaking.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">La Franja</span> Catalan-speaking part of Aragon, Spain

La Franja is the area of Catalan-speaking territories of eastern Aragon bordering Catalonia, in Spain. It literally means "the strip" and can also more properly be called Franja d'Aragó, Franja de Ponent or Franja Oriental d'Aragó in Catalan.

Education in Spain is compulsory and free for all children aged between 6 and 16 years and is supported by the national government together with the governments of each of the country's 17 autonomous communities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Languages of Spain</span> Languages spoken across Spain

The majority of languages of Spain belong to the Romance language family, of which Spanish is the only language which has official status for the whole country. Those also include Catalan/Valencian and Galician as well as an additional number of languages and dialects belonging to the Romance language continuum.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Asturian language</span> Romance language of the West Iberian group

Asturian is a West Iberian Romance language spoken in the Principality of Asturias, Spain. Asturian is part of a wider linguistic group, the Asturleonese languages. The number of speakers is estimated at 100,000 (native) and 450,000. 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Navarro-Aragonese</span> Romance language spoken in northeast Iberia

Navarro-Aragonese was a Romance language once spoken in a large part of the Ebro River basin, south of the middle Pyrenees; the dialects of the modern Aragonese language, spoken in a small portion of that territory, can be seen as its last remaining forms. The areas where Navarro-Aragonese was spoken might have included most of Aragon, southern Navarre, and La Rioja. It was also spoken across several towns of central Navarre in a multilingual environment with Occitan, where Basque was the native language.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Valencians</span>

Valencians are the native people of the Valencian Community, in eastern Spain. Legally, Valencians are the inhabitants of the community. Since 2006, the Valencian people are officially recognised in the Valencian Statute of Autonomy as a nationality "within the unity of the Spanish nation". The official languages of Valencia are Valencian and Spanish.

There is a variety of Vernacular languages spoken in Spain. Spanish, the official language in the entire country, is the predominant native language in almost all of the autonomous communities in Spain. Six of the seventeen autonomous communities in Spain have other co-official languages in addition to Spanish. Bilingualism in different degrees and in distinct communicative situations between Spanish and another language is a habitual practice for many of the Spanish people who reside in one of these autonomous communities.

The parliament of Aragon has passed two laws concerning the regulation of languages in the Spanish autonomous community of Aragón: the Language Act of Aragon of 2009, approved with a leftist majority in the parliament, and the Language Act of Aragon of 2013, approved with a rightist majority. Both laws have been controversial.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Royal Academy of Valencian Culture</span>

The Royal Academy of Valencian Culture (RACV) is a public law corporation, combining features of a public and private entity, founded in 1915 to research and study the Valencian language and culture.

References

  1. Interactivo: Creencias y prácticas religiosas en España
  2. Report about Census of population 2011 of Aragonese Sociolinguistics Seminar and University of Zaragoza
  3. Languages Act of Aragon Archived 2019-07-21 at the Wayback Machine Official Bulletin 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. Statistics about languages in Catalan-Speaking Aragon Archived September 20, 2009, at the Wayback Machine Generalitat de Catalunya (in Catalan)