Asturian: resurgence and impeding demise of a minority language in the Iberian Peninsula
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Xulio Viejo Fernández
Abstract
Asturian is a Romance language spoken in the territory of the Principality of Asturias (Spain), nowadays in decline due to the strong pressure of Castilian. Although in the last few years some protective and linguistic planning measures have been taken, the Asturian language does not yet enjoy the official status of other Spanish languages such as Catalan, Basque, or Galician since the advent of democracy and the autonomous system in Spain. The Asturian situation is, in fact, paradoxical, since, in spite of sociological studies evincing a general support in society for official status and linguistic normalization this demand is thwarted by the averse attitude of certain political, social, and academic local élites who block, by means of their influence, any advancement in this direction. This article analyzes the historical and sociological keys of linguistic shift in Asturias exemplified by the peculiar situation of Asturian Language Teaching at the University of Oviedo, which has recently been in danger of becoming banned.
© Walter de Gruyter
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Artikel in diesem Heft
- Multilingual writing: a reader-oriented typology — with examples from Lira Municipality (Uganda)
- Political power, national identity, and language: the case of Afrikaans
- First-name changes in South Africa: the swing of the pendulum
- Globalization, the African Renaissance, and the role of English
- Ethnic identity and linguistic hybridization in Senegal
- Language, social history, and identity in post-apartheid South Africa: a case study of the “Colored” community of Wentworth
- Oppressing the oppressed: the threats of Hausa and English to Nigeria's minority languages
- “Ya know what I'm sayin'?” The double meaning of language crossing among teenagers in the Netherlands
- Asturian: resurgence and impeding demise of a minority language in the Iberian Peninsula
