Mirandese language
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Mirandese mirandés |
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|---|---|---|
| Spoken in: | Northeast Portugal (the municipalities of Miranda do Douro, Vimioso and Mogadouro) | |
| Total speakers: | 15,000 | |
| Language family: | Indo-European Italic Romance Italo-Western Gallo-Iberian Ibero-Romance West Iberian Astur-Leonese Mirandese |
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| Official status | ||
| Official language in: | special protection status in Miranda do Douro, Portugal | |
| Regulated by: | None (but there is an ortographical convention) | |
| Language codes | ||
| ISO 639-1: | none | |
| ISO 639-2: | mwl | |
| ISO 639-3: | mwl | |
| Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. | ||
The Mirandese language (autonym: lhéngua mirandesa; Portuguese: língua mirandesa) is a Romance language sparsely spoken in a small area of northeastern Portugal, in Miranda do Douro municipality. The Portuguese Parliament granted it co-official recognition (along with Portuguese language) for local matters on 17 September 1998 with the law 7/99 of 29 January 1999.
Mirandese has a distinct phonology, morphology and syntax, and has been distinct at least since the formation of Portugal (12th century). It has its roots in the spoken Latin of the north of the Iberian Peninsula (Portuguese developed in the northwest). It is a descendant of the ancient Leonese language of northern Iberia, the last remnant of the ancient language of the Kingdom of León, and closely related to modern Leonese and Asturian. However, these amalgamations in the Spanish territory did not affect Mirandese, which preserves distinct linguistic differences in relation to both Portuguese and Spanish. It shares a great deal of lexicon with regional Portuguese dialects.
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[edit] Speakers
In the 19th century, José Leite de Vasconcelos, described it as "the language of the farms, of work, home, and love between the Mirandese". Since 1986/1987 the language is taught to students between the age of 10 and 11, and the language is recovering.
Today Mirandese retains fewer than 5,000 speakers (but the number can be up to 15,000 if counting second language speakers) in the villages of the Municipality of Miranda do Douro and in some eastern villages (i.e. Vilar Seco & Angueira; in Caçarelhos, it is considered recently extinct) of the Municipality of Vimioso, and some linguistic influence can be observed at other villages of the municipality of Vimioso and the municipalities of Mogadouro, Macedo de Cavaleiros and Bragança.
[edit] Variants
Three variants of the Mirandese language exist: "Border Mirandese", "Central Mirandese" and "Sendinese". Most speakers of Mirandese also speak Portuguese; some of these speak Spanish as well.
The main differences between Mirandese in Portugal and Asturian or Leonese in Spain are caused by the dominant languages in each region. Mirandese has been influenced phonetically and in lexicon by Portuguese and Asturian and Leonese by Spanish. The three also have distinctive orthography that phonetically reflects the respective main national languages. Another difference is that Mirandese and Leonese remain very conservative, while Asturian has changed. The languages are recognized as closely-related (specially Leonese and Mirandese, called also "co-languages"), and in the past they were undoubtedly the same language.
[edit] Sample text
The following is a sample text of the Mirandese language, written by Amadeu Ferreira, and published in the newspaper Público, on the 24th July 2007.
| Mirandese: | Portuguese: | English: |
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Muitas lhénguas ténen proua de ls sous pergaminos antigos, de la lhiteratura screbida hai cientos d"anhos i de scritores hai muito afamados, hoije bandeiras dessas lhénguas. Mas outras hai que nun puoden tener proua de nada desso, cumo ye l causo de la lhéngua mirandesa. |
Muitas línguas têm prova dos seus pergaminhos antigos, da literatura escrita há centenas de anos e de escritores muito famosos, hoje bandeiras dessas línguas. Mas há outras que não podem ter prova de nada disso, como é o caso da língua mirandesa. |
Many languages have proof of their ancient scrolls, of the literature written hundreds of years ago and of famous writters, today flags of those languages. But others have no such proofs, as is the case of the Mirandese language. |
[edit] National attention
Mirandese, given its status as second official language in Portugal after Portuguese, has been the object, in the last years, of some publicity and attention in the rest of the country. A monthly chronicle in Mirandese, by researcher and writer Amadeu Ferreira, appears in the daily Portuguese national newspaper Público. The first volume of the The Adventures of Asterix, named Asterix, L Goulés (Asterix the Gaul), was published in a Mirandese translation by Amadeu Ferreira in 2005, and sold all throughout Portugal.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- (Portuguese) Ortographic Convention for Mirandese Language (PDF)
- Ethnologue report for Miranda do Douro (Mirandese)
- Mirandés na Net Lhéngua i Cultura Mirandesa (Mirandese Language & Culture)
- Excerpt of The Lusiads in Mirandese
- L Mirandés: Ũa Lhéngua Minoritaira an Pertual Mirandese: A minority language in Portugal (PDF, in Mirandese)
- (Portuguese) Piece of legislation which officially recognizes Mirandese as a language of Portugal
[edit] Other sites in Mirandese
- Blogger do Mirandês
- Sítiu de I Mirandés
- Sendim em Linha
- Froles mirandesas
- Cumo quien bai de camino
- Mirandés
- Tortulhas
- You Sou Raposa
- Diç que an Fuonte Aldé
- You que sei...mas eiqui ven al ganbuzino que ya tal diç!
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