Asturian, Astur-Leonese or Bable (Asturianu in Asturian) is a Romance language spoken in some parts of the provinces of Asturias and León in Spain, and in the area of Miranda de Douro in Portugal (where it is officially recognized as Mirandese). In Asturias it is protected under the Autonomous Status legislation and is an optional language at schools. There was a diglossia conflict between Asturian and Spanish, which resulted in some scholars considering it a dialect of Spanish. However, nowadays it is considered a separate language.

The language developed from Latin with contributions from the pre-Roman languages which were spoken in the territory of the Astures , an ancient tribe of the Iberian peninsula. Castilian Spanish came to the area later, in the 14th century, when the central administration sent emissaries and functionaries to occupy political and ecclesiastical offices.

Much effort has been made since 1980 to protect and promote Asturian. However, the situation of Asturian is critical, with a large decline in the number of speakers in the last 100 years. Portugal has taken a further step in protecting this language by recognizing it.

The denial of recognition of Asturian as an official language has driven Asturian to an apparent dead end. Speakers are prevented from using it in its daily life because neither the administration nor private institutions will accept documents written in Asturian and usually do not pay attention to people trying to deal with them in Asturian. Some reports claim that Asturian will be dead in two generations.

In spite of all the difficulties that government policies (both the Asturian government and the Spanish government) have caused, the number of young people learning and using it (mainly as a written language) has substantially increased in recent years, mainly among intellectual groups and politically active Asturians and Leonese proud of their regional identity.

At the end of the 20th century, the Academia de la Llingua Asturiana made efforts to provide the language with most of the tools needed by a language to ensure its survival: a grammar, a dictionary, and periodicals. A new generation of Asturian writers both in Asturias and in León have also championed the language. These developments give the Asturian language a greater hope of survival.

External links

• L'Academia de la Llingua Asturiana — the official Asturian language committee
• Asturian–English dictionary