Asturian draws interational attention

[astúricu]

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Asturian language draws international attention


The Asturian language, one of the minority languages of Spain that does not have the political support that co-official languages such as Catalan or Basque do, is getting a boost this year from Seamus Heaney. The Irish poet, who won the 1995 Nobel prize for literature and is visiting Asturies, compares Asturian language, spoken in Asturies and parts of Spain and Portugal, with Irish Gaelic.

"Ireland speaks English but the national language is Irish," Heaney was quoted as saying in an asturian daily. "I believe the many Asturians feel they are in the same situation. There they speak English like many speak Spanish here, but here they have a particular feeling that Asturian language belongs to all of them. It's a divided situation."

Asturian is a Romance language spoken in the territory of the Principality of Asturias (Northern Iberian Peninsula), nowadays in decline due to the strong political pressures of Castilian. Although in the last few years some protective and linguistic planning measures have been taken, the Asturian language does not yet enjoy the official status of other hispanic languages such as Catalan, Basque, or Galician since the advent of democracy and the autonomous system in Spain. The Asturian situation is, in fact, paradoxical, since, in spite of sociological studies evincing a general support in asturian people for official status and linguistic normalization this demand is thwarted by the averse attitude of certain political and academic local élites who block, by means of their influence, any advancement in this direction. Recent studies, one of the most recent ones made by professor Xulio Viejo, analyze the historical and sociological keys of linguistic shift in Asturies exemplified by the peculiar situation of Asturian Language Teaching at the University of Uviéu, which has recently been in danger of becoming banned. The lingüístic repression in Asturies and its consequent lack of human lingüístic rights has been reported on a study made by the Academia de la Llingua Asturiana, the asturian language accademy, and reported to United Nations office for human rights. The Council of Europe has recently denounced the actual socialist government of Asturies for its responsabilities in the lingüístic policy of repression and its obstacles in the normalization of the asturian and its lack of support for this endangered and minorized hispanic language. Other important european and international institutions such as the AIDLCM (Langues et Cultures Menacés) has been continuously demanding official status, political support and normalization policys for the asturian language, the same as other local languages within Spain already have.