Aranese is a standarized variety of
Occitan which is co-official in Catalonia.[9] It is spoken in
comarca of the
Aran Valley, near the French border.
Asturian, a standarized variety of the
Asturleonese dialect continuum. It enjoys protection in
Asturias, where reportedly about 25% of the population is able to understand, speak, read, and write in the language.[10] Asturleonese varieties collectively known as
Leonese are spoken in parts of
Castile and León (provinces of
León and
Zamora), where they enjoy legal protection.
Aragonese, spoken in the north of the
Aragon region, in the Pyrenees. It enjoys legal protection.
Fala: This romance language belonging to the Galician-Portuguese group is spoken by about 6,000 people in the Jálama Valley. It has been declared Bien de interés cultural.[11]
Portuguese has been traditionally spoken by the inhabitants of the following border areas:
Cedillo and
Herrera de Alcántara (province of Cáceres),[13]La Alamedilla (province of Salamanca, primarily spoken in the place up until the mid-20th century),[14] and
Olivenza (province of Badajoz).
Caló, a mixed language, is spoken by the
Spanish Romani communities across the country, with a large concentration in
Andalusia and
Catalonia, though it seems to be in the process of becoming just a dialect of Spanish. It should not be confused with
Romani, the
Indo-Aryan language originally spoken by gypsies, which is most probably no longer spoken in Spain.
Spanish itself boasts a substantial internal variation in the country. For example, the
Andalusian or
Canarian dialects, each with their own subvarieties, some of them being partially closer to the
Spanish of the Americas, which they heavily influenced to varying degrees, depending on the region or period and according to different and non-homogeneous migrating or colonisation processes. Despite being a dialect, some Andalusian speakers have attempted to
promote Andalusian as a different language independent of Spanish.
Five very localised dialects are of difficult filiation:
Fala (a variety mostly ascribed to the Galician-Portuguese group locally spoken in an area of the province of Cáceres sometimes called Valley of Jálama/Xálima, which includes the towns of
San Martín de Trevejo,
Eljas and
Valverde del Fresno);
Cantabrian and
Extremaduran, two Astur-Leonese dialects also regarded as Spanish dialects;
Eonavian, a dialect between Asturian and Galician, closer to the latter according to several linguists; and
Benasquese, a
Ribagorçan dialect that was formerly classified as Catalan, later as Aragonese, and which is now often regarded as a transitional language of its own. Asturian and Leonese are closely related to the local
Mirandese which is spoken on an adjacent territory but over the border into
Portugal. Mirandese is recognised and has some local official status.
In terms of the number of speakers and dominance, the most prominent of the languages of Spain is
Spanish, spoken by about 99% of Spaniards as a first or second language.[18] According to a 2019
Pew Research survey, the most commonly spoken languages at home other than Spanish were
Catalan in 8% of households,
Valencian in 4%,
Galician in 3% and
Basque in 1%.[17]
A study in 2016 by the
University of Navarra focused on which languages were used most frequently to consume news within a week (using multiple-choice surveys). The response included foreign languages, Spanish and only co-official and protected languages. 95.2% of news was consumed in Spanish and 30.4% in a co-official or protected language.[19]
Language
Language of news consumption in the last week (%)[19]
The study reflects that the consumption of protected languages is proportional to their knowledge and that the consumption of foreign-language news is greater than that of regional-language news.
Language policy
Spanish is official throughout the country; Catalan/Valencian, Galician, Basque, and Occitan have legal and co-official status in their respective communities and (except Occitan) are widespread enough to have daily newspapers and significant book publishing and media presence. Catalan and Galician are the main languages used by the respective regional governments and local administrations. Starting in 2023, members of the lower house of the Spanish Parliament were allowed to use Basque, Catalan and Galician in their interventions.[20] Members of the upper house already could use those languages in some specific discussions and initiatives.[21]
In addition to these, there are some protected languages. A protected language does not have co-official status but can be taught in schools as an optional subject, with the possibility of having TV shows in the protected language as well as institutions for that language.
As of 2023,
Aragonese is offered as a subject in about 30 schools in the Aragon region, with around 1,300 students.[25] Limited Aragonese-language television content is available on the regional public broadcaster, with shows such as A Escampar la Boira[26] or Charrín Charrán.[27]
Past languages
Alongside the languages spoken in Spain to the present day, other languages were spoken within the actual borders:
^The term lenguas españolas appears in the Spanish Constitution, referring to all the languages spoken within Spain (those are Basque, Spanish, Catalan/Valencian, Galician, Asturian, Leonese, etc.).
^M. Teresa Turell (2001). Multilingualism in Spain: Sociolinguistic and Psycholinguistic Aspects of Linguistic Minority Groups. Multilingual Matters. p. 121.
ISBN978-1-85359-491-5.
It is a fact that there are in Spain two equally legal names for designating this language: Valencian, as established by the Statute of Autonomy of the Valencian Community, and Catalan, recognized in the Statutes of Autonomy of Catalonia and the Balearic Islands, and ratified by the Spanish legal system (annex 8) and case law (annex 9).