Linguistic situation in Spain is rather difficult. For many years the only official language of Spain was Castellano. Still, nowadays, there are three other languages which function on the territory of the country. The first one, Catala, is an independent language which belongs to the group of Romanic languages. It is very similar to the dialects of Northern France. The second one, Galego, is similar to the Portuguese language. The third language which is spoken on the territory of Spain is Euskara, the Basque language. The last language does not belong to the Romanic group. All four languages are recognized as Spanish administrative languages: they are spoken on radio, TV, books and newspapers are written in the languages, etc. According to the Spanish Constitution, all Spanish are obliged to know Castellano. However, all languages of Spain are recognized officially and considered to be national patrimony.
It is mistaken to think that the Catalan language is the mixture of Spanish and French languages. The origin of Catalan is Vulgar Latin. The translation of the phrase “I want to eat eight apples” would sound absolutely different in Spanish, French, and Catalan. The Spanish translation of the phrase: “quiero comer ocho manzanas”. The French translation is “je veux manger huit pommes”. Finally, the Catalan version of the Phrase is “vull menjar vuit pomes”. It is obvious that Catalan is closer to Latin than other languages. The process of singling out and development of Catalan was closely connected with the history of the Catalan nationality as an independent ethnic group. It was conditioned by different historical processes which took place on the territory of Catalan people. In the eighth century the Northern Catalonia was won from the Arab conquest by Franks. After that Catalan people were given wide rights in the aspect of self-government. By the ninth century the Franks Empire of Charles the Great was disintegrated, Catalonia became an independent Barcelonese county. In other words, during certain period Catalonia was isolated from Spain, which could not but effect development of its culture and language which was influenced by France. Another aspect which played a great role in the process of the language and nation development was early formation of statehood and nationality. By the thirteenth century Catalan developed into an independent linguistic form (Hall 27). Soon, Catalonia became a part of Spanish Kingdom. From time to time Spanish government took measures to bounds its dissemination. Nevertheless, in the nineteenth century the Catalan literary language was formed. After the civil war of 1936-1938 Catalonia became a stronghold of republicans. When the Republic was defeated the Catalan language was forbidden to use in all spheres of communication. And only when “Llei 7/1983 de 18 de abril, de la normalització lingüística de Catalunya” was adopted the Catalan language was recognized as the second official language of Spain (Lecours and Nootens 101).
The area of the Catalan spread “includes three autonomous communities in Spain – Catalonia, the Balearic Island and Valencia – as well as the easternmost part of Aragon and few boroughs in Murcia bordering on Valencia” (Hall 39). Contemporary situation with the Catalan language is rather difficult. The thing is that due to long anti-Catalan policy the language is unfamiliar for a big part of Spanish people. Comparing familiarity of Spanish with the oral form of Catalan, knowledge of the written one is below-normal. Nevertheless, about ten million people of Spain speak in Catalan.
As well as Catalan the Galician language, or Galego, was created on the basis of Vulgar Latin. Still, evolution of Galego was rather slow. Its medieval form was called by linguists Galician-Portuguese. It is difficult to admit in what period Galician-Portuguese gained features of the contemporary language. Nevertheless, by the eighth century there was an obvious difference between official Latin Church language and the language in which common people communicated. The difference between Latin and Galician-Portuguese was caused by different spheres of usage: Latin was used as a written language, and Galician-Portuguese was a spoken one, which caused the second one rapid spread. As a result by the Middle Ages it was the language of poetry and culture. Only after Portugal separated from Spain Galego developed as an independent language. It is obvious that due to the historic reasons Galego is very similar to Portuguese. For example, if we compare words with the same meanings in Portuguese, Spanish, and Galego, we would notice the phenomenon: “the word for “street” in Galician is rua. This is the same as in Portuguese, but is very different form the Spanish word for “street”, calle” (Faiella 43). Nowadays Galician language is spoken by more than three billion of people in Galicia and Galician communities in other parts of Spain (Madrid, Barcelona), in the USA (mainly, in Buenos Aires, Caracas, Montevideo, Habana and México) and in Europe. Besides Galicia, Galician language is also spoken on the west of El Bierzo (in the province of Leon) and in Sanabria (in the northeast of the province of Zamora) (Mar-Molinero 49-50).
Speaking about Basques history is impossible without referring to the Basque language. In fact, notions about people and language were interwoven so that Basque language does not have any special word to determine Basque nation: the word “euskaldun” or a Basque literally means the one, who knows Basque language. Thereby, even the name of Basques Country “Euskal Herria” one may translate as the Country of Basque Language. The language is a unique phenomenon for contemporary Europe. Its vocabulary is dissimilar to other languages. Though Basque contains a lot of loanwords from Latin, Spanish, French, etc., original Basque vocabulary is very rich. At the same time, many loanwords have changed so much, that one can hardly recognize their origin without help: for example, a Roman would hardly identify the contemporary Basque word “poltsa” (valet) as his/her native “bursa” (Trask 8-11, 383).
The fact, that Basque language does not have strong connections with languages of neighboring countries (except words loaning) leaded to the emergence of various hypothesis of its origin. Some linguists consider Basque to be connected with Caucasus languages due to several similarities with Georgian languages. Other researchers link the Basque with non-Arabic languages of northern Africa. Also, there is a theory that Basque language developed on its own in Country of ancient Basques.
Basque language was unwritten till the 16 century though the fact did not become an obstacle for creation of abundant folklore and verbal literature. Still, Basque competed with such powerful neighboring languages, as Castilian and French. It passed through the period of persecution, when speaking Basque was prohibited (after the Spanish Civil War 1936-1939). Basque language is considered to include seven dialects, as long as the eighths has already disappeared. Since 1964, the program of language standardization was implemented. In 1973 a new standard of the Basque language got the name “united Basque” – euskara batua.
“In historical times, the Basque language is found occupying an area of variable extension on both sides of the Pyrenees and along the Bay of Biscay” (Hualde and Urbina 7). Thereby, taking into account the threat of Indo-European invasion, it is more than possible that Basques were firstly spread over bigger area of Western Europe; at the same time, other languages might supplant Basque language in some regions (Hualde and Urbina 7). Nowadays Basques are native people of the historical area called Country of Basques, which was traditionally divided into seven provinces. Three of them are in Spain (Gipuzkoa, Biscay, and Álava) and form an Autonomous Community. The fourth, Navarre, is also autonomous nowadays. Three Northern provinces of the Basque Country (Labourd, Lower Navarre, and Soule) are situated in France. In 1939 a huge part of native speakers emigrated to Argentina, Venezuela, Canada and the USA. The biggest diaspora nowadays is in the Nevada State. At present, only quarter of Basque people, who live in Basque Country, knows the language. Mostly, bilingualism is observed. At the same time, amount of native speakers is shrinking. Basque language is one of official languages of Spain part of Basque Country. Though, in French part of Basque Country it is not recognized as official (Trask 2-6).
To make a conclusion it should be pointed out that despite the fact that all three languages are recognized by Spanish government as official languages of Spain, less and less people use the in the common speech. The root of such phenomenon may be territorial separation of the languages and not active policy of the government dedicated to preserve Galego, Catalan, and Basque not only as cultural heritage, but also as languages necessary for national communities.
Works Cited
Hall, Jacqueline. Convivència in Catalonia: Languages Living Together. Barcelona: Institut d’Estudis Catalans, 2001. Print.
Hualde, José Ignacio, and Urbina, Jon Ortiz. A Grammar of Basque. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 2003. Print.
Faiella, Graham. Spain: a Primary Source Cultural Guide. New York: The Rosen Publishing Group, 2004. Print.
Lecours, André, and Nootens, Geneviève. Dominant Nationalism, Dominant Ethnicity: Identity, Federalism, and Democracy. Frankfurt: Peter Lang, 2009. Print.
Mar-Molinero, Clare. The Politics of Language in the Spanish-Speaking World: from Colonisation to Globalization. London: Routledge, 2000. Print.
Trask, Robert Lawrence. The History of Basque. London: Routledge, 1997. Print.