Galician (Galician: galego, IPA: [gaˈlego]) is a language of the Western Ibero-Romance branch, spoken in Galicia, an autonomous community with the constitutional status of "historic nationality," located in northwestern Spain and small bordering zones in neighbouring autonomous communities of Asturias and Castilla y León. This article is about a subdivision of the Romance language family Galicia (occasionally Galiza) is an autonomous community in northwest Spain. An autonomous community is a first-level political division of the Kingdom of Spain, established in accordance with the Spanish Constitution. Spain () or the Kingdom of Spain (Reino de España is a country located mostly in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. The Principality of Asturias ( Spanish: Principado de Asturias, Asturian: Principáu d'Asturies or Asturies) is an Castile and León (Castilla y León known formally as the Community of Castile and León is one of the seventeen autonomous communities of Spain.

Galician and Portuguese were, in medieval times, a single language which linguists call Galician-Portuguese, Medieval Galician, or Old Portuguese, spoken in the territories initially ruled by the medieval Kingdom of Galicia. Portuguese ( or língua portuguesa) is a Romance language that originated in what is now Galicia (Spain and northern Portugal. Galician-Portuguese (also known as galego-português or galaico-português in Portuguese and as galego-portugués or galaico-portugués The Kingdom of Galicia (410-1833 was a kingdom of the Iberian Peninsula for two distinct periods Both languages are even today united by a dialect continuum located mainly in the northern regions of Portugal. A dialect continuum is a range of Dialects spoken across a large geographical area differing only slightly between areas that are geographically close and gradually decreasing

Classification

Historically, the Galician-Portuguese language originated in Galicia and Northern Portugal in lands belonging to the ancient Kingdom of Galicia (comprising the Roman Gallaecia) and branched out since the 14th century after the Portuguese expansion brought it southwards. Galician-Portuguese (also known as galego-português or galaico-português in Portuguese and as galego-portugués or galaico-portugués Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic (República Portuguesa is a country on the Iberian Peninsula. The Kingdom of Galicia (410-1833 was a kingdom of the Iberian Peninsula for two distinct periods Gallaecia or Callaecia was the name of a Roman province that comprised There are linguists who consider Modern Galician and Modern Portuguese as dialects or varieties of the same language, but this is a matter of debate. Linguistics is the scientific study of Language, encompassing a number of sub-fields A dialect (from the Greek word διάλεκτος dialektos) is a variety of a Language that is characteristic of a particular group of For instance, in past editions of the Encyclopædia Britannica, Galician was termed a Portuguese dialect spoken in northwestern Spain. The Encyclopædia Britannica is a general English-language encyclopaedia published by Encyclopædia Britannica Inc Portuguese dialects are variants of the Portuguese language that are shared by a substantial number of speakers over several generations but are not sufficiently distinct from (It has also been considered incorrectly as a dialect of Spanish. ) However, the Galician government does not regard Galician as a variety of Portuguese, but rather as a distinct language. Mutual intelligibility (estimated at 85% by R. A. Hall, Jr. , 1989^[1]) is good between Galicians and Northern Portuguese, but poorer between Galicians and speakers of Central-Southern European Portuguese. The dialects of Portuguese most similar to Galician are those of Alto-Minho and Trás-os-Montes in northern Portugal. Minho ( pron. 'miɲu is a historical Province of Portugal. It was established as an official province in 1936 and dissolved in 1976 Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro ( pron. tɾaz-uʒ-'mõtɨʃ i 'aɫtu 'do(owɾu is a historical province of Portugal located in the northeastern corner of the country

Relation to Portuguese

The linguistic status of Galician with respect to Portuguese is controversial. Some authors, such as Lindley Cintra,^[2] consider that they are still dialects of a common language, in spite of superficial differences in phonology and vocabulary. Others, such as Pilar Vázquez Cuesta,^[3] argue that they have become separate languages due to major differences in phonetics and vocabulary usage, and, to a lesser extent, morphology and syntax. The official position of the Galician Language Institute is that Galician and Portuguese should be considered independent languages. The standard orthography is noticeably different from the Portuguese one partly because of the divergent phonological features and partly due to the use of Spanish orthographic conventions.

Map of Galicia showing speakers of Galician as first language according to Population and Housing Census of the Galician Statistics Institute (2001)

The relationship involving Galician and Portuguese can be compared with that between Macedonian and Bulgarian, Occitan and Catalan, or English and Lowland Scots. Galicia (occasionally Galiza) is an autonomous community in northwest Spain. Macedonian () is the official Language of the Republic of Macedonia and is a part of the Eastern group of South Slavic languages. Bulgarian (български език IPA: ɛzˈik is an Indo-European language, a member of the Slavic linguistic group Occitan ( IPA BrE: /ˈɒksɪtn/ AmE: /ˈɑksəˌtɑn/ known also as Lenga d'òc or Langue d'oc (native name occitan Catalan ˈkætəˌlæn ( català kətəˈla or) is a Romance language, the national and official language of Andorra, and a co-official English is a West Germanic language originating in England and is the First language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States Scots ( The Scots leid) refers to Anglic varieties derived from early northern Middle English spoken in parts of Scotland and Northern Due to language proximity two interpretations have risen in conflict:

The official institution regulating Galician language is Instituto da Lingua Galega (ILG). It claims that modern Galician must be considered an independent Romance language that belongs to the group of Ibero-Romance Languages and has strong ties with Portuguese and its northern dialects. The Romance languages (sometimes referred to as Romanic languages, or Neolatin languages) are a branch of the Indo-European language family comprising all This article is about a subdivision of the Romance language family

There is also an unofficial institution, Associaçom Galega da Língua (AGAL, Galician Association of the Language), according to which differences between Galician and Portuguese speech are not enough to consider them separate languages, and Galician is simply one variety of Galician-Portuguese, along with Brazilian Portuguese; African Portuguese; the Galician-Portuguese still spoken in Spanish Extremadura, Fala; and other dialects. Associaçom Galega da Língua or AGAL (Galician Association of the Language is a reintegrationist association established in 1981 which seeks the full restoration Brazilian Portuguese ( Language code pt-BR Portuguese: português brasileiro or português do Brasil) is a group of Portuguese African Portuguese (Português Africano in Portuguese is a term for the varieties of Portuguese spoken in Africa. Fala ("Talk" is a Romance language from the Portuguese-Galician subgroup spoken in Spain by about 10500 people of which 5500 live in

See also: Reintegrationism

Geographic distribution

Galician is spoken by more than 3 million people, including most of the people in Galicia, as well as among the many Galician immigrants in the rest of Spain (Madrid, Barcelona, Biscay), elsewhere in Europe (Andorra, Geneva, London), and Ibero-America (Buenos Aires, Montevideo, Havana, Caracas, Mexico City, São Paulo, Guadalajara, Veracruz City and Panama City). The term reintegrationism ( reintegracionismo) refers to the linguistic and cultural movement in Galicia which defends the unity of Galician and Galicia (occasionally Galiza) is an autonomous community in northwest Spain. Madrid (pronounced in English in Spanish and colloquially in Spain) is the Capital and largest city of Spain. Barcelona ( Catalan bəɾsəˈlonə Spanish baɾθeˈlona is the capital and most populous city of the Autonomous Community of Catalonia Population Of the 1133444 people who live in Biscay about 35% live in the capital Bilbao and 88% in its metropolitan area. Andorra, officially the Principality of Andorra ( Catalan: Principat d'Andorra) is a small Landlocked country in western Geneva (Genève is the second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and is the most populous city of Romandy (the French -speaking London ( ˈlʌndən is the capital and largest urban area in the United Kingdom. Ibero-America is a term which started to be used in the second half of the 19th century to refer collectively to the countries in the Americas which were formerly colonies Buenos Aires is the Capital and largest city of Argentina. It is geographically located on the southern shore of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern Montevideo (monteβi'ðeo is the largest city the capital and chief port of Uruguay. Havana ( IPA: aˈβana officially Ciudad de La Habana, is the Capital city, major port and leading Caracas (kaˈɾakas is the Capital and largest city of Venezuela. Mexico City (in Spanish: Ciudad de México, México DF, México or simply Méjico) is the Capital city of Mexico São Paulo ( is the largest city in Brazil, with its metropolitan area ranking among the largest urban areas in the world Guadalajara (ˌgwɑːdləˈhɑːrə Spanish pronunciation) is the capital city of the Mexican state of Jalisco, and the seat of the municipality The city of Veracruz is a major port city and municipality on the Gulf of Mexico in the Mexican state of Veracruz. Panama City (Ciudad de Panamá is the Capital and largest city of the Republic of Panama.

Controversy exists regarding the inclusion of Eonavian dialects spoken in Asturias into the Galician language, with those defending Eonavian as a dialect continuum of transition to the Asturian language on the one hand, and those defending it as clearly Galician on the other. Eonavian or Eonaviego is a term used to refer a set of dialects or falas whose linguistic dominion extends in the zone of Asturias between the Eo A dialect continuum is a range of Dialects spoken across a large geographical area differing only slightly between areas that are geographically close and gradually decreasing Asturian (Asturian Asturianu or Bable) is a Romance language of the West Iberian group, Astur-Leonese Subgroup, spoken in the

Because of its historical status as a non-official language, for some authors the situation of language domination in Galicia could be called "diglossia," with Galician in the lower part of the dialect continuum, and Spanish at the top; while for others, the conditions for diglossia established by Ferguson are not met. In Linguistics, diglossia is a situation where in a given society there are two (often closely-related languages one of high prestige, which is generally used A dialect continuum is a range of Dialects spoken across a large geographical area differing only slightly between areas that are geographically close and gradually decreasing Charles A Ferguson (1921-1998 was a US linguist who taught at Stanford University.

Official status

Spain has recognized Galician as one of Spain's four "official languages" (lenguas españolas), the others being Castilian (also called Spanish), Catalan (or Valencian), and Basque. There are two Names given to the Spanish language: Spanish ( español) and Castilian ( castellano) Catalan ˈkætəˌlæn ( català kətəˈla or) is a Romance language, the national and official language of Andorra, and a co-official Valencian ( valencià) is the historical traditional and official name used in the Valencian Community of Spain to refer to the region's native language Basque ( native name: euskara) is the Language spoken by the Basque people who inhabit the Pyrenees in North-Central Spain Galician is taught at primary and secondary school and used at the universities in Galicia. Further, it has been accepted orally as Portuguese in the European Parliament and used as such by, among others, the Galician representatives José Posada, Camilo Nogueira and Xosé Manuel Beiras. Portuguese ( or língua portuguesa) is a Romance language that originated in what is now Galicia (Spain and northern Portugal. The European Parliament ( Europarl or EP) is the only directly elected parliamentary institution of the European Union (EU José Domingo Posada González (born May 9, 1940) of Galicia, Spain, was a Member of the European Parliament from 1994 Camilo Nogueira Román was born on 22 November 1936 in Vigo ( Galicia)

Dialects

Galician has three principle dialects, each of them divided in local areas mutual intelligibility. In Linguistics, mutual intelligibility is recognized as a relationship between Languages in which speakers of different but related languages can readily understand Eastern Galician. Four areas; Eonaviega, ancaresa, leonesa and zamorana Central Galician. Four area; mindoniense, lucu-auriense Western Galician. Three areas; fisterrá do norte, tudense, baixo limega

History

Further information: Galician-Portuguese

From the 8th century, Galicia was a political unit within the kingdoms of Asturias and Leon, but was able to reach a degree of autonomy, becoming an independent kingdom at certain times in the tenth, eleventh and twelfth centuries. Galician-Portuguese (also known as galego-português or galaico-português in Portuguese and as galego-portugués or galaico-portugués The 8th century is the period from 701 to 800 in accordance with the Julian calendar in the Christian / Common Era. Galician was the only language in spoken use, and Latin was used, to a decreasing extent, as a written language. Latin ( lingua Latīna, laˈtiːna is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. This monopoly on spoken language was able to exert such pressure in the 13th century, that it led to a situation of dual official status for Galician and Latin in notarial documents, edicts, lawsuits, etc. ; Latin, however, continued to be the universal vehicle for higher culture.

Written texts in Galician have only been found dating from the end of the 12th century, because Latin continued to be the cultured language (not only in Galicia, but also throughout medieval Europe).

The oldest known document is the poem Ora faz ost'o Senhor de Navarra by Joam Soares de Paiva, written around 1200. The first non-literary documents in Galician-Portuguese date from the early 13th century, the Noticia de Torto (1211) and the Testamento of Afonso II of Portugal (1214), both samples of medieval notarial prose. Afonso II ( Portuguese ɐˈfõsu English Alphonzo) or Affonso (Archaic Portuguese Alfonso or Alphonso ( Portuguese-Galician

In the Middle Ages, Galaico-português (or Galician-Portuguese) was a language of culture, poetry, and religion throughout not only Galicia and Portugal, but also Castile (where Castilian was used mainly for prose). Galician-Portuguese (also known as galego-português or galaico-português in Portuguese and as galego-portugués or galaico-portugués A former kingdom, Castile (Castilla kasˈt̪iʎa or) gradually merged with its neighbors to become the Crown of Castile and later the Kingdom of Spain

After the separation of Portuguese and Galician, Galician was considered provincial, and it was not widely used for literary or academic purposes until its renaissance in the mid-19th century. The 19th century of the Common Era began on January 1, 1801 and ended on December 31, 1900, according to the Gregorian calendar

With the advent of democracy, Galician has been brought into the country's institutions, and it is now co-official with Spanish. Galician is taught in schools, and there is a public Galician-language television channel, TVG.

The Real Academia Galega and other Galician institutions celebrate each May 17 as "Día das Letras Galegas" ("Galician Literature Day"), dedicated each year to a deceased Galician-language writer chosen by the academy. The Real Academia Galega ( Galician for Royal Galician Academy is an institution dedicated to the study of Galician culture and especially the Galician language; it Events 1521 - Edward Stafford 3rd Duke of Buckingham, is executed for Treason. The Día das Letras Galegas ( Galician for "Galician Literature Day" is a holiday in Galicia.

Sounds

The vowel phonemes of Galician

See also Wikipedia in Galician: Official orthography of Galician. A vowel diagram or vowel chart is a schematic arrangement of the Vowels Depending from the particular language being discussed it can take the form of a Triangle The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA is a system of phonetic notation based on the Latin alphabet, devised by the International Phonetic The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA is a system of phonetic notation based on the Latin alphabet, devised by the International Phonetic

Almost all dialects of Galician have lost nasal vowels. A nasal vowel is a Vowel that is produced with a lowering of the velum so that air escapes both through Nose as well as the Mouth. However, vowels can become nasalized in proximity to nasal consonants. Along the modern age, Galician consonants went through significant changes which closely paralleled the evolution of the Spanish consonants, namely the following consonant mergers and sound changes:

• /β/ → /b/;
• /z/ → /s/;
• /dz/ → /ts/ → /s/ in western dialects or /θ/ in eastern and central dialects;
• /ʒ/ → /ʃ/;

For a comparison, see Differences between Spanish and Portuguese: Sibilants. The Spanish language developed from Vulgar Latin, with loan-words from Basque in the north and Arabic in the southern part of the Iberian Portuguese and Spanish are two of the most widely spoken languages in the world today Additionally, during the 17th and 18th centuries the western and central dialects of Galician (a phenomenon called gheada) developed a voiceless fricative pronunciation of /g/. This may be glottal [h], pharyngeal [ħ], uvular [χ], or velar [x]. ^[4]

During the 20th and 21st centuries Spanish has experienced a new consonant shift in which the lateral consonant /ʎ/ came to be pronounced as a fricative /ʝ/ (see yeísmo). The palatal lateral approximant is a type of Consonantal sound used in some spoken Languages The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet The voiced palatal fricative is a type of Consonantal sound used in some spoken Languages The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet See also Spanish dialects and varieties Yeísmo (pronounced /ʝeˈizmo/ is a distinctive feature of many dialects of the Spanish language, This merger has somewhat influenced other dialects spoken in Spain, including some Galician ones, but it is rejected by Galician language institutions.

In this respect, it can be said that Portuguese is phonologically more conservative than Galician.

Grammar

Galician allows pronominal clitics to be attached to indicative and subjunctive forms, as does Portuguese, unlike standard Spanish or Castilian. In Linguistics, a clitic is a grammatically independent and phonologically dependent Word. After many centuries of close contact between the two languages, Galician has also adopted many loan words from Spanish, and some calques of Spanish syntax.

Writing system

The current official Galician orthography was introduced in 1982, and made law in 1983, by the Real Academia Galega (RAG), based on a report by the ILG. Year 1982 ( MCMLXXXII) was a Common year starting on Friday (link displays the 1982 Gregorian calendar) Year 1983 ( MCMLXXXIII) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays the 1983 Gregorian calendar) The Real Academia Galega ( Galician for Royal Galician Academy is an institution dedicated to the study of Galician culture and especially the Galician language; it It remains a source of contention, however; a minority of citizens would rather have the institutions recognize Galician as a Portuguese variety as cited before, and therefore still opt for the use of writing systems that range from adapted medieval Galician-Portuguese writing system or European Portuguese one (see reintegrationism). The term reintegrationism ( reintegracionismo) refers to the linguistic and cultural movement in Galicia which defends the unity of Galician and

In July 2003 the Real Academia Galega (Galician Royal Academy) modified the language normative to admit some archaic Galician-Portuguese forms conserved in modern Portuguese. The Real Academia Galega ( Galician for Royal Galician Academy is an institution dedicated to the study of Galician culture and especially the Galician language; it Galician-Portuguese (also known as galego-português or galaico-português in Portuguese and as galego-portugués or galaico-portugués These changes have been considered an attempt to build a consensus among major Galician philology trends and represent, in the words of the Galician Language Academy, "the orthography desired by 95% of Galician people. " The 2003 reform is thought to put an end to the so-called "normative wars" raised by the different points of view of the relationship between the modern Galician and Portuguese languages. This modification has been accepted only by a part of the reintegrationist movement at this point.

The question of the spelling system has very significant political connotations in Galicia. At present there are minor but significant political parties representing points of view that range from greater self-government for Galicia within the Spanish political setup to total political independence from Spain designed to preserve the Galician culture and language from the risk of being inundated by the Castillian culture and language. Since the modern Galician orthography is somewhat influenced by Castillian spelling conventions, some parties wish to remove it. Since medieval Galician and medieval Portuguese were the same language, modern Portuguese spelling is nearer to medieval Galician than to modern Galician Spanish-style spelling. Language unification would also have the benefit of linking the Galician language to another major language with its own extensive cultural production, which would weaken the links that bind Galicia and Spain and ultimately favor the people's aspiration toward an independent state. However, although all three concepts are frequently associated, there is no correlation between reintegrationism, independentism and defending Galician and Portuguese linguistic unity, and in fact reintegrationism has a small force in the whole Galician nationalist movement.

Examples

**Note that avó /ɐˈvɔ/ in Portuguese means "grandmother". The Real Academia Galega ( Galician for Royal Galician Academy is an institution dedicated to the study of Galician culture and especially the Galician language; it The term reintegrationism ( reintegracionismo) refers to the linguistic and cultural movement in Galicia which defends the unity of Galician and Portuguese ( or língua portuguesa) is a Romance language that originated in what is now Galicia (Spain and northern Portugal.

*In Galician, adeus is rarely used (signifies that you won't see that person for many years). Ata logo is more common and literally means "until later" (Spanish hasta luego).

Notes

Bibliography

• Regueira, Xose (1996), "Galician", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 26 (2): 119-122

See also

• Barallete
• Castrapo
• Eonavian
• Galician literature
• Fala dos arxinas, a jargon of Galician masons
• Galician-Portuguese
• Portuguese language
• Fala language

External links

Newspapers in Galician:

• Luns a Venres - Free daily newspaper
• Galicia Hoxe - daily newspaper
• A Nosa Terra - weekly newspaper
• Vieiros
• Gznacion
• Arroutada Noticias
• Galiza Livre - pro independence online news (In reintegrationist Galician)

Other links related to Galician:

• Real Academia Galega
• Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Associaçom Galega da Língua - Portal Galego da Língua - Reintegrationist
• Biblioteca Virtual Galega
• Xarmenta - Asociacion Berciana da lingua Xarmenta
• Fala Ceibe - Asociación Cultural Fala Ceibe do Bierzo
• Sound recordings of the different dialects of the Galician language
• Ethnologue report for Galician
• English-Galician CLUVI Online Dictionary
• Biblioteca Virtual Galega
• Galician - English Dictionary: from Webster's Online Dictionary - the Rosetta Edition. Barallete is an Argot employed by the traditional knife-sharpeners and Umbrella -repairers ( afiadores e paragüeiros) of the Galician province Castrapo (a portmanteau of castellano and trapo, meaning rag) is the pejorative name for the form of the Spanish language spoken in Eonavian or Eonaviego is a term used to refer a set of dialects or falas whose linguistic dominion extends in the zone of Asturias between the Eo Galician literature is the literature written by Galician authors Fala dos arxinas or verbo dos arginas (in Spanish, jerga de los canteros) ( Galician, " Argot of stonecutters " Galician-Portuguese (also known as galego-português or galaico-português in Portuguese and as galego-portugués or galaico-portugués Portuguese ( or língua portuguesa) is a Romance language that originated in what is now Galicia (Spain and northern Portugal. Fala ("Talk" is a Romance language from the Portuguese-Galician subgroup spoken in Spain by about 10500 people of which 5500 live in
• A short English-Galician-Japanese Phraselist( Renewal) incl. sound soft