Extremaduran language

thumb|An Extremaduran speaker, recorded in the [[Netherlands.]]

Extremaduran ( , ) is a Western Romance language with some traits in common with Asturleonese language, spoken primarily in northwestern Extremadura and adjacent villages in the province of Salamanca.

Its northern varieties are generally considered a distinct language, while central and southern varieties are regarded as transitional dialects toward standard Spanish.

Dialects

The linguistic varieties of Extremadura are usually classified in three main branches: Northern or "High" (artu estremeñu), Central or "Middle" (), and Southern or "Low" (). and is spoken in the north-west of the autonomous region of Extremadura, and the south-west of Salamanca, a province of the autonomous region of Castile and León. The central and southern branches are spoken in the rest of Extremadura, and are not different enough from standard Spanish to be considered anything but dialects of the language, since at least the 18th century.

Northern Extremaduran is also spoken in a few villages of southern Salamanca, being known there as the "palra d'El Rebollal", which is now almost extinct.

History

The late 19th century saw the first serious attempt to write in Extremaduran, until then an oral language, with the poet José María Gabriel y Galán. Born in Salamanca, he lived most of his life in the north of Cáceres, Extremadura. He wrote in a local variant of Extremaduran, full of dialectal remnants, but always with an eye on Spanish usage.

Throughout the 20th century, revival efforts focused on documenting local vernacular forms. By the early 21st century, only a small community of activists advocated for co-official status of Northern Extremaduran, while regional authorities have not implemented legal protections beyond recognizing Extremaduran as part of the broader Spanish linguistic heritage.

There are also attempts to transform the southern Castilian dialects ("castúo", as some people named them, using the word which appeared in Luis Chamizo Trigueros's poems) into a language. Advocacy for codifying southern Castilian dialects under the label ‘Extremaduran’ has heightened tensions over linguistic identity, contributing to regional government decisions against granting co-official status to Northern Extremaduran.

It is in serious danger of extinction, with only the oldest people speaking it at present, while most of the Extremaduran population cannot speak the language, since the majority of Extremadurans, and even its own speakers, regard it as poorly spoken Spanish.

In 2013, the people of Serradilla created the first feature film in Extremaduran, Territoriu de bandolerus. In late 2024, Extremaduran and Oliventine Portuguese received legal recognition from the Regional Government of Extremadura.

Preservation of some old voiced fricatives, such as some instances of corresponding to in Portuguese or corresponding to in Portuguese (both corresponding to /θ/ in Spanish). This feature is an archaism preserved from Old Spanish or Old Astur-Leonese, as it happens only when it is etymologically justified. When a voiced fricative appears, one also does in languages such as Catalan or Portuguese: Extremaduran tristeza 'sadness' (still voiced in Portuguese tristeza , voice lost in Spanish tristeza ), but Extremaduran cabeça 'head' (voiceless also in Portuguese cabeça , Spanish cabeza ). The feature is dying out quite fast but is found all over the High Extremaduran speaking area.

Morphology

Anteposition of the article before the possessive pronoun, as in Old Spanish or in many Romance languages such as Leonese, Portuguese, Catalan or Italian.
Anteposition of the particle lu (or lo), in some interrogative sentences.
Use of diminutives inu and ina, as heritage from Leonese (as in Portuguese).
Occasional formation of gerund, derived from a form of the verb in past tense.
Usage of a vocative-exclamative case. When nouns are in the vocative, the closing of post-tonic vowels (e into i and o into u) disappears and those vowels open. (Ramiro wants to come), but Ramiro, ven pacá (Ramiro, come here!). Sé quién lo vidu, Pepi (I know who saw it, Pepe did), but Sé quién lo vidu, Pepe (I know who saw it, Pepe). This is a characteristic shared with the Fala language. Extremaduran and the Fala language are actually the only western Romance languages with a distinct form of vocative case for nouns formed with a change in the ending.
Usage of the preposition a with the verbs andal and estal indicating static temporal location, contrasting with the usage of en. Está a Caçris "He's at Cáceres (for a few days)", Está en Caçris "He's in Cáceres", Está pa Caçris "He's around Cáceres".
A very frequent usage of deictic forms to which enclitic pronouns can be added at the end. They can be used in the middle of a sentence: Velaquí la mi casa (Here is my house), velallilu (there he is), velaquí lechugas, millu... (Look, lettuce, corn and so on is grown here).
Usage of reduplicated forms of plural pronouns with a reciprocal sense (ellus y ellus, vujotrus y vujotrus...): Estaban brucheandu ellus y ellus: They were wrestling with each other.

Vocabulary

Usage of terms considered in Spanish as archaisms: ludia (Spanish levadura, "yeast").
Presence of common terms from Andalusian Arabic: zagal (from Andalusian Arabic zaḡál, "boy").

Comparative tables

{| class="wikitable"

!Latin

!Italian

!Romanian

!Catalan

!Gascon

!Aragonese

!Spanish

!Judezmo

!Portuguese

!Galician

!Extremaduran

!Leonese

!English

|altus

|alto

|(în)alt

|alt

|haut

|alto

|artu

In 2012, Ismael Carmona García published the poetry collection Pan i verea. The siblings Miguel Herrero Uceda and Elisa Herrero Uceda published two books of short stories in Extremaduran: one in 2012, entitled Ceborrincho, relatos extremeños, and another in 2015, entitled Mamaeña, relatos extremeños. Other books in subsequent years include La huélliga by Marcos Cruz Díaz and El sol del lobu by Aníbal Martín. In 2025, Vicente Costalago published Euris estremeñus i sotras poemas, divided into three parts: the first with epic poems about various Extremaduran heroes; the second with religious poems; and the last with individual poems. In November of the same year, he also published Estórias estremeñas, a collection of three short stories, two of which are inspired by the mythology of Extremadura and the third by the peasant revolt of Extremadura.

Organizations

There is a regional organization in Extremadura, OSCEC Estremaúra, that tries to defend the language, one journal (Belsana) and one cultural newspaper, Iventia, written in the new unified Extremaduran and the old dialect "palra d'El Rebollal".

Textual example

!Portuguese!!Galician!!Leonese!!Asturian

!Extremaduran!!Spanish!!Ladino!!English!!Catalan!!Cantabrian!!Aragonese!! Mirandese!!

| O estremenho é uma língua falada no noroeste da comunidade autónoma da Estremadura.

| O estremeño é unha lingua falada no noroeste da comunidade autónoma de Estremadura.

| L'estremennu yía una llingua falada nel noruesti la comunidá autónoma Estremadura.

| L'estremeñu ye una llingua falada nel noroeste de la comunidá autónoma d'Estremadura.

| El estremeñu es una luenga palrá nel noroesti de la comuniá autónoma d'Estremaúra.

| El extremeño es una lengua hablada en el noroeste de la comunidad autónoma de Extremadura.

| El ekstremadurano es una lingua favlada en el noroeste d'la komunitate autonoma d'Ekstremadura.

| Extremaduran is a language spoken in the northwest of the autonomous community of Extremadura.

| L'extremeny és una llengua parlada al nord-oest de la comunitat autònoma d'Extremadura.

| L'Extremaduran ye una llingua que se habla nel noroeste de la comunidá autónoma d'Extremadura.

| L'extremaduran ye una llingua que se parla en o noroeste de l'autonomía d'Extremadura.

| L stremenho ye ũa lhéngua falada ne l noroeste de la quemunidade outónoma de Stremadura.

Writers

José María Gabriel y Galán
Miguel Herrero Uceda
Elisa Herrero Uceda

References

External links

Languages of Spain and map
APLEx Extremadura Cultural Society
Linguistic cartography of Extremadura, which offers 418 linguistic and ethnographic maps on rural lexicon
a Short Comparative Grammar of the Astur-leonese Languages (in French) a linguistic comparison of all Astur-Leonese languages