Aragonese ( ; in 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.

Historically, people referred to the language as ('talk' or 'speech'). Native Aragonese people usually refer to it by the names of its local dialects such as (from Valle de Hecho) or (from the Benasque Valley).

History

Aragonese, which developed in portions of the Ebro basin, can be traced back to the High Middle Ages. It spread throughout the Pyrenees to areas where languages similar to modern Basque might have been previously spoken. The Kingdom of Aragon (formed by the counties of Aragon, Sobrarbe and Ribagorza) expanded southward from the mountains, pushing the Moors farther south in the Reconquista and spreading the Aragonese language.

The union of the Catalan counties and the Kingdom of Aragon which formed the 12th-century Crown of Aragon did not merge the languages of the two territories; Catalan continued to be spoken in the east and Navarro-Aragonese in the west, with the boundaries blurred by dialectal continuity. The Aragonese Reconquista in the south ended with the cession of Murcia by James I of Aragon to the Kingdom of Castile as dowry for an Aragonese princess.

The best-known proponent of the Aragonese language was Johan Ferrandez d'Heredia, the Grand Master of the Knights Hospitaller in Rhodes at the end of the 14th century. He wrote an extensive catalog of works in Aragonese and translated several works from Greek into Aragonese (the first in medieval Europe).

The spread of Castilian (Spanish), the Castilian origin of the Trastámara dynasty, and the similarity between Castilian (Spanish) and Aragonese facilitated the recession of the latter. A turning point was the 15th-century coronation of the Castilian Ferdinand I of Aragon, also known as Ferdinand of Antequera.

In the early 18th century, after the defeat of the allies of Aragon in the War of the Spanish Succession, Philip V ordered the prohibition of the Aragonese language in schools and the establishment of Castilian (Spanish) as the only official language in Aragon. This was ordered in the Aragonese Nueva Planta decrees of 1707.

In recent times, Aragonese was mostly regarded as a group of rural dialects of Spanish. Compulsory education undermined its already weak position; for example, pupils were punished for using it. However, the 1978 Spanish transition to democracy heralded literary works and studies of the language.

Modern Aragonese

Aragonese is the native language of the Aragonese mountain ranges of the Pyrenees, in the comarcas of Somontano, Jacetania, Sobrarbe, and Ribagorza. Cities and towns in which Aragonese is spoken are Huesca, Graus, Monzón, Barbastro, Bielsa, Chistén, Fonz, Echo, Estadilla, Benasque, Campo, Sabiñánigo, Jaca, Plan, Ansó, Ayerbe, Broto, and El Grado.

It is spoken as a second language by inhabitants of Zaragoza, Huesca, Ejea de los Caballeros, or Teruel. According to recent polls, there are about 25,500 speakers (2011) including speakers living outside the native area. In 2017, the Dirección General de Política Lingüística de Aragón estimated there were 10,000 to 12,000 active speakers of Aragonese.

In 2009, the Languages Act of Aragon (Law 10/2009) recognized the "native language, original and historic" of Aragon. The language received several linguistic rights, including its use in public administration.Languages Act of Aragon Official Bulletin of AragonLey 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 Some of the legislation was repealed by a new law in 2013 (Law 3/2013).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. See Languages Acts of Aragon for more information.

Dialects

Western dialect: Ansó, Valle de Hecho, Chasa, Berdún, Chaca Central dialect: Panticosa, Biescas, Torla, Broto, Bielsa, Yebra de Basa, Aínsa-Sobrarbe Eastern dialect: Benás, Plan, Bisagorri, Campo, Perarrúa, Graus, Estadilla Southern dialect: Agüero, Ayerbe, Rasal, Bolea, Lierta, Uesca, Almudévar, Nozito, Labata, Alguezra, Angüés, Pertusa, Balbastro, Nabal

Phonology Traits

Aragonese has many historical traits in common with Catalan. Some are conservative features that are also shared with the Asturleonese languages and Galician–Portuguese, where Spanish innovated in ways that did not spread to nearby languages.

Shared with Catalan Romance initial f- is preserved, e.g. > ('son', Sp. , Cat. , Pt. ). Romance groups cl-, fl- and pl- are preserved and in most dialects do not undergo any change, e.g. clavis > clau ('key', Sp. llave, Cat. clau, Pt. chave). However, in some transitional dialects from both sides (Ribagorzano in Aragonese and Ribagorçà and Pallarès in Catalan) it becomes cll-, fll- and pll-, e.g. clavis > cllau. Romance palatal approximant (ge-, gi-, i-) consistently became medieval , as in medieval Catalan and Portuguese. This becomes modern ch , as a result of the devoicing of sibilants (see below). In Spanish, the medieval result was either /, (modern ), , or nothing, depending on the context. e.g. > ('young man', Sp. , Cat. ), > ('to freeze', Sp. , Cat. ). Romance groups -lt-, -ct- result in , e.g. > ('done', Sp. , Cat. , Gal./Port. ), > ('many, much', Sp. , Cat. , Gal. , Port. ). Romance groups -x-, -ps-, scj- result in voiceless palatal fricative ix , e.g. > ('crippled', Sp. , Cat. ). Romance groups -lj-, -c'l-, -t'l- result in palatal lateral ll , e.g. > ('woman', Sp. , Cat. ), > ('needle', Sp. , Cat. ).

Shared with Catalan and Spanish

Open o, e from Romance result systematically in diphthongs , , e.g. > ('old woman', Sp. , Cat. , Pt. ). This includes before a palatal approximant, e.g. > ('eight', Sp. , Cat. , Pt. oito). Spanish diphthongizes except before yod, whereas Catalan only diphthongizes before yod. Voiced stops may be lenited to approximants .

Shared with Spanish

Loss of final unstressed -e but not -o, e.g. > ('big'), > ('done'). Catalan loses both -e and -o (Cat. , ); Spanish preserves -o and sometimes -e (Sp. , ~ ). Former voiced sibilants become voiceless (, ). The palatal is most often realized as a fricative .

Shared with neither

Latin -b- is maintained in past imperfect endings of verbs of the second and third conjugations: ('he had', Sp. , Cat. ), ('he was sleeping', Sp. , Cat. ). High Aragonese dialects () and some dialects of Gascon have preserved the voicelessness of many intervocalic stop consonants, e.g. > ('sheep hurdle', Cat. , Fr. ), > ('crested lark', Sp. , Cat. ). Several Aragonese dialects maintain Latin -ll- as geminate . The mid vowels can be as open as , mainly in the Benasque dialect.

Vowels

+ Vowel phonemesFrontBackClose Mid Open

Consonants

+Consonant phonemes Labial Dental Alveolar Palatal Velar Nasal Plosive Fricative Approximant Flap Trill

Orthography

Before 2023, Aragonese had three orthographic standards: The , codified in 1987 by the Consello d'a Fabla Aragonesa (CFA) at a convention in Huesca, is used by most Aragonese writers. It has a more uniform system of assigning letters to phonemes, with less regard for etymology; words traditionally written with and are uniformly written with in the Uesca system. Similarly, , , and before and are all written . It uses letters associated with Spanish, such as . The , devised in 2004 by the Sociedat de Lingüistica Aragonesa (SLA), is used by some Aragonese writers. It uses etymological forms which are closer to Catalan, Occitan, and medieval Aragonese sources; trying to come closer to the original Aragonese and the other Occitano-Romance languages. In the SLA system , , , , and before and are distinct, and the digraph replaces . In 2010, the Academia de l'Aragonés (founded in 2006) established an orthographic standard to modernize medieval orthography and to make it more etymological.

During the 16th century, Aragonese Moriscos wrote aljamiado texts (Romance texts in Arabic script), possibly because of their inability to write in Arabic. The language in these texts has a mixture of Aragonese and Castilian traits, and they are among the last known written examples of the Aragonese formerly spoken in central and southern Aragon.

+Comparison of Aragonese orthographiesSome orthographic details related to local dialects are not listed. Sounds and features Grafía de Uesca (1987) Grafía SLA (2004) Academia de l'Aragonés (2010) a a a bEx: bien, serbizio, bal, autibo, cantaba, debán b, v according to Medieval etymology, as in Catalan and OccitanEx: bien, servício, val, activo, cantava, devant b, v according to Latin etymology Ex: bien, servicio, val, activo, cantaba, debant c qu before e, i c qu before e, i c qu before e, i cu as in SpanishEx: cuan, cuestión If there is an etymological q, as in Catalan and a bit in Occitan: qu before a, o qü before e, iEx: quan, qüestion If there is an etymological q, as in Catalan and a bit in Occitan: qu before a, o qü before e, iEx: quan, qüestión zEx: zona, Probenza, fez, zentro, serbizio, realizar, berdaz z before a, o, u, in initial position ç before a, o, u, in inner position z in final position c before e, i z in international formations (learned Greek words and loans that have z in their etyma)Ex: zona, Provença, fez, centro, servício, realizar, verdaz z before a, o, u c before e, i (except some loanwords that have z in their etyma) z in final position (but tz as a grapheme reflecting the t+s that became ts in Benasquese in various plurals and verb forms)

Ex: zona, Provenza, fetz, centro, servicio, realizar, verdatz d d d e e e f f f g gu before e, i g gu before e, i g gu before e, i gu before a, o gü before e, i gu before a, o gü before e, i gu before a, o gü before e, i chEx: chaminera, minchar, chustizia, cheografía ch j (g before e, i) according to etymology, as in Catalan and OccitanEx: chaminera, minjar, justícia, geografia chEx: chaminera, minchar, chusticia, cheografía Etymological h Not writtenEx: istoria, ibierno Written as in Medieval Aragonese and CatalanEx: história, hivierno Written according to Latin etymologyEx: historia, hibierno i y as a copulative conjunction i y as a copulative conjunction i y as a copulative conjunction l l l ll ll ll m m m n n n ñ as in SpanishEx: añada ny as in Medieval Aragonese and CatalanEx: anyada ny as in Medieval Aragonese and CatalanEx: anyada o o o p p p r r r rr r- (word-initially) rr r- (word-initially) rr r- (word-initially) s (also between two vowels, never *ss) s (also between two vowels, never *ss) s (also between two vowels, never *ss) t t t Etymological final -t Not writtenEx: soziedá, debán, chen Written as in Medieval Aragonese, Catalan and OccitanEx: sociedat, devant, gent Written as in Medieval Aragonese, Catalan and OccitanEx: sociedat, debant, chent u u u and xEx: baxo x in most words and ix in some words (for Eastern dialects) x in most words (for Western dialects)Ex: baixo (Eastern) = baxo (Western) ix as unifying grapheme for all dialectsEx: baixo x as in xoriguer and xilófono y initial and between vowels i in other cases y initial and between vowels i in other cases y initial and between vowels i in other cases Learned Greco-Roman words Assimilatory tendencies writtenEx: dialeuto, estensión, but lecsico Not all assimilatory tendencies writtenEx: dialecto, extension, and lexico Assimilatory tendencies not writtenEx: dialecto, extension, and lexico Accent mark for stress Spanish modelEx: istoria, grazia, serbizio mitolochía, cheografía, María, río atenzión choben, cantaban Portuguese, Catalan and Occitan modelEx: