Iberian Romance languages
The formation of
Iberian Romance languages followed more or less this process:
* A common
Romance language with dialectal differences was spoken throughout the ancient
Roman Empire. During this stage, we can speak of
the Romance language, although, probably, it was quite different from one region to another. It can still be called Popular or
Vulgar Latin.
* From this point on, the Romance languages on the
Iberian Peninsula followed a distinct path:
# Separation into
Catalan on one side of the peninsula from West Iberian Romance on the other. During this stage a group of Romance dialects collectively known as called
Mozarabic were spoken in the
Moorish areas of Iberia. Catalan is regarded as a transition language between
Iberian Romance and
Gallo-Romance languages.# West Iberian Romance split into
Castilian,
Galician-Portuguese,
Aragonese and Old
Astur-Leonese. # Galician-Portuguese later split into
Galician and
Portuguese (some linguists still consider them dialects of the same language, although this is controversial).
It is important to note that power structures enormously influenced the formation of the Iberian languages. If kingdoms and states had formed in a different fashion, there could now be a single Galician-Portuguese language, or a multiplicity of languages. This political aspect was important in the development of every language.
*
Portuguese and
Galician: Because Portugal became independent in the 12th century and Galicia remained a province of Spain, political and sociolinguistic factors have made them be considered separate languages.
*
Spanish: The Castilian Crown pushed for Castilian to be considered
the Spanish language, which it is today. However, it did not abolish other languages within
Spain.
*
Catalan: The strong Catalan-
Aragonese State made Catalan a language of culture, science, literature, etc. Its importance diminished for some centuries, but the desire for more autonomy for
Catalonia gave it renewed importance (it never ceased to be the language of a majority of the Catalan population up to
20th century), being an official language of many regions and even one country (
Andorra).
* The fact that
Galicia and Catalonia are in Spain makes their languages prone to Castilian influences.
* Minor languages, like
Astur-Leonese,
Aragonese, etc., became regarded as mere dialects by most people, but they are Romance variants with enough distinct features to rank them as separate languages.
Thus, there are four major Romance languages in Iberia today, and three main groups of minor Romance languages,
Astur-Leonese,
Aragonese, and
Occitan.
*
Portuguese originated from a common
Galician-Portuguese language, which itself originated from West Iberian Romance, along with Castilian (but not with Catalan), with influences from Mozarabic. It is currently the sixth most widely spoken language in the world, with more than two hundred million speakers.
*
Galician originated from the medieval
Galician-Portuguese language, which itself originated from West Iberian Romance, along with Castilian (but not with Catalan). It has had a strong influence of Castilian.
*
Spanish (also called
Castilian) originated from the common West Iberian Romance along with Galician-Portuguese, with some influence from
Mozarabic and
Basque. It is now spoken by an estimated 392 million people throughout the world.
*
Catalan originated from East Iberian Romance, which separated from West Iberian at an early stage of the development of the Iberian Romance languages. Within Spain, it is influenced by Castillian. Closely related to Occitan, it has many dialects and is spoken by about 7 million people.
Portuguese,
Spanish and
Catalan have the status of
international languages, being officially spoken in more than one state:
*
Catalan: Andorra and Spain (it is also spoken by about 100,000 people in
France and members of the older generations of one town in
Sardinia,
Alghero);
*
Portuguese: Portugal, Brazil, Angola, Mozambique, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, São Tomé and Príncipe, and East Timor;
*
Spanish: many countries throughout the world.
Occitan is also an international language, as it is official in small regions of Spain and
Italy.
