Leonese language

Leonese, also called llionés or ḷḷionés, is a group of traditional dialects spoken in parts of northern and western Spain. These dialects are mainly found in the provinces of León, Zamora, and Salamanca, as well as in a few villages just across the border in Portugal. Though some people also consider it a separate language, Leonese is part of a larger group known as the Asturleonese languages, which also includes Asturian.

Today, only about 20,000 to 50,000 people still speak Leonese. Most people in the area now use Spanish in their daily lives. Even though the number of speakers is small, Leonese remains an important part of the cultural history of the region. It is one of several local language varieties that make the area rich and interesting for linguists and historians studying how languages develop and change over time.

Name

The name "Leonese" was used by a scholar named Menéndez Pidal to describe a group of languages in a big area, including a place called Asturias. Today, some experts use the name "Asturian-Leonese" instead. However, many people still just say "Leonese" when talking about these languages. Sometimes, people even call the whole group "Asturian" because some of the Leonese types of speech are not used very much anymore and many people do not know about them. This is partly because they do not get as much help and support as the languages in Asturias.

Main article: Asturian-Leonese Further information: History of the Asturian language

Leonese and Asturleonese

Leonese is a group of dialects spoken in parts of northern Spain, mainly in the areas of León, Zamora, and Salamanca. It is closely related to the Asturian language, and together they are often called Astur-Leonese. These dialects share many features and are influenced by both Asturian and Galician languages.

Some experts think Leonese comes from Latin and includes dialects from both Spain and Portugal. One special dialect, called Mirandese, is spoken in Portugal and is recognized as its own language there. Unlike Asturian, which has official support, Leonese dialects do not have the same level of promotion or regulation.

Linguistic description

Leonese is a language spoken in parts of Spain and Portugal. It has five main vowel sounds that can appear in important positions in words. In other positions, some of these sounds blend together.

Leonese uses masculine and feminine genders, like English does with "he" and "she". Words change their endings depending on whether they are singular (one) or plural (many), and whether they are masculine or feminine. Adjectives also change to match the nouns they describe in gender and number.

Leonese consonants
		Labial	Dental	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar
Nasal		m		n	ɲ
Plosive	voiceless	p	t		tʃ	k
Plosive
voiced	b	d		ʝ~j	g
Fricative		f	θ	s	ʃ
Lateral				l	ʎ
Flap				ɾ
Trill				r

Leonese vowels
	Front	Central	Back
Close	i		u
Mid	e		o
Open		a

Evolution from Latin to Portuguese, Galician, Astur and Leonese, Mirandese and Castilian
Gloss	Latin	Portuguese	Galician	Asturian/Leonese	Mirandese	Spanish
Gloss	Diphthongization of ŏ and ĕ
door	pŏrta(m)	porta	porta	puerta	puorta	puerta
eye	ŏc(u)lu(m)	olho	ollo	güeyu güechu	uolho	ojo
time	tĕmpu(m)	tempo	tempo	tiempu	tiempo	tiempo
land	tĕrra(m)	terra	terra	tierra	tierra	tierra
	Falling diphthongs
thing	causa(m)	cousa coisa	cousa	co(u)sa	cousa	cosa
blacksmith	ferrariu(m)	ferreiro	ferreiro	ferre(i)ru	ferreiro	herrero
	Initial n-
Christmas	natal(is) nativitate(m)	natal	nadal	ñavidá	natal	navidad
	Initial f-
make	facere	fazer	facer	facer	fazer	hacer
iron	fĕrru(m)	ferro	ferro	fierru	fierro	hierro
	Initial l-
fireplace	lare(m)	lar	lar	llar ḷḷar	lhar	lar
wolf	lupu(m)	lobo	lobo	llobu ḷḷobu	lhobo	lobo
	Initial pl-, cl-, fl-
flat	planu(m)	chão	chan chao	chanu llanu	chano	llano
key	clave(m)	chave	chave	chave llave	chabe	llave
flame	flamma(m)	chama	chama	chama llama	chama	llama
	Intervocalic -n-
frog	rana(m)	rã	ra(n)	rana	rana	rana
	-ct- and -lt-
made	factu(m)	feito	feito	feitu fechu	feito	hecho
night	nŏcte(m)	noite	noite	nueite nueche	noute	noche
much	mŭltu(m)	muito	moito muito	muitu mueitu muchu	muito	mucho
listen	auscultāre	escutar	escoitar escuitar	escuitare escueitare escuchar	scuitar	escuchar
	-c’l-, -t’l-, -g’l-
razor	novac(u)la(m)	navalha	navalla	ñavaya	nabalha	navaja
old	vet(u)lu(m)	velho	vello	vieyu viechu	bielho	viejo
tile	teg(u)la(m)	telha	tella	teya	telha	teja
	-lj-
woman	muliere(m)	mulher	muller	muyer mucher	mulhier	mujer
	-ll-
castle	castellu(m)	castelo	castelo	castiellu castieḷḷu	castielho	castillo
	Intervocalic -l-
ice / to frost	gelu(m) gelare	gelo gear	xeo xear	xelu		hielo
fern	filictu(m)	feto	fieito, fento	feleitu feichu	feleito	helecho
	-m'n-
man	hom(i)ne(m)	homem	home	home	home	hombre
hunger, famine	fam(i)ne(m)	fome	fame	fame	fame	hambre
fire	lum(i)ne(m)	lume	lume	llume ḷḷume	lhume	lumbre

Historical, social and cultural aspects

The native languages of Leon, Zamora, Asturias, and the Terra de Miranda in Portugal grew from Latin, brought by Roman settlers. This led to the Conventus Asturum, with its capital at Asturica Augusta (now Astorga, Spain).

Conventus Asturum in the first century BC

In medieval times, Leonese was an important language used in government, literature, and daily life. Over time, it became less common in writing, mostly spoken in rural areas. Today, it is spoken by between 20,000 and 50,000 people in parts of Spain and Portugal.

Efforts are underway to protect and promote Leonese, including courses and support from local governments and universities.

Number of speakers, according to studies
Sociolinguistic study	Number of speakers
II Estudiu sociollingüísticu de Lleón: Identidá, conciencia d'usu y actitúes llingüístiques de la población lleonesa	50,000
Facendera pola Llengua newsletter	25,000
El asturiano-leonés: aspectos lingüísticos, sociolingüísticos y legislación	20,000 to 25,000
Linguas en contacto na bisbarra do Bierzo: castelán, astur-leonés e galego.	2,500 to 4,000 (El Bierzo, Ribas de Sil, Fornela, and La Cabrera)