Asturian-American Migration Forum

hi Carlos: You are probably more deserving of a medal since you have to face the stigma of being a speaker of Asturian in Asturies! There is no such stigma in the US--in fact, people here tend to get interested in Asturies and Galicia whenever we bring up the language difference. My brothers and sisters (in Seattle and Paris) often meet up in the summer in L.luarca or Xixon and go out to eat pixín, or whatever, and lo and behold, people think we are ignorant country bumpkins for speaking in asturiano (we learned western Asturian as kids). Our Castilian Spanish is not as good because we have American accents. Anyway, I've had situations there where a person at a pharmacy was rude when I asked about a prescription medicine: "Que yía lu que me fai falta?" She shook her head and was visibly discomfitted. It can be surreal going back...

In my opinion, anyone working to preserve the existing varieties of asturianu or any other endangered language deserves a medal. When a language dies, a culture is lost.

Meca, nin! Astoncias tu falas del mesmu xeitu que miou má, que yara vaqueira del conceyu Cuideiru...

I'd also add that each language has it's own idiosyncrasies. There are certain things ideas/concepts that simply can't be said in any other language, if the language is lost we have lost a way of thinking. Not only our heritage becomes smaller but our ability to express ourselves and ideas becomes less able.

Yup, I agree with both Bob and Eli: an entire culture disappears when the words they use are replaced. I was at NMAI (National Museum of the American Indian) recently in Washington and went into the different rooms of Pueblo Indians (speakers of Tewa), Maya (speakers of Mayan languages) and Inuit (speakers of Inuqtiqut, not sure of the spelling). There was an old woman speaking entirely in Inuqtiqut from Alaska in a recorded loop and it was quite beautiful to listen to her words. Whenever she used the word for "seal blubber", a staple of the Inuit, there was not only an emotional register, but the word itself seemed magical. Luckily, in her community, the kids also learned Inuit at home. But only because English was such an obvious encroachment on traditional culture.

Now zoom back into Asturias: the language is disappearing because it is not being passed down, unless you go to very small, isolated communities (and I spent childhood summers in one of these). Otherwise, you encounter institutionalized prejudice. The concept behind it is that speakers of Asturian are throwbacks in time and a reason for embarrassment. When in fact, it is a treasure trove of non-material artifacts that gives Asturias its unique personality. I think it's too late for local tourist authorities to realize that if they paid more attention to Asturian, they would spark the interest of Americans with Irish roots, just to cite one example.

Carlos: Nun sei como yia la fala de Cuideiru. Diz-se bul.la ya l.leite na tua fasteira? Igual nas branas d'enrriba Cuideiru inda se fala cona l.l vaqueira. Mia famila (el l.lau de miou buolo) baxou a L.luarca del Mazu d'Abaxu tocante Penaseita na Puela d'Ayande (de una ferreria nomao La L.lera) nu sieglu pasau. Nos falamos n'amestao d'ingles ya outras l.linguas, pero prestame caltener la fala conos mious harmanos. Un saludin!

There's historical backing for the idea that killing a language kills the culture. This article suggests that the Anglo-Saxons who migrated to Britain killed off Briton culture in just 300 years:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news ... gland.html

But the researchers say 200,000 Anglo-Saxons could have dominated the English gene pool in less than 15 generations if the newcomers held a higher social standing.

...

Another question posed by the new study is why the native Britons ended up accommodating the Anglo-Saxons and their culture instead of rebelling.

"The natives realized they were the underdogs and realized that the only way to assimilate upwards was to adopt the new culture," said Heinrich Härke, study co-author and archaeologist at England's University of Reading.

"They tried to improve their status by learning English, which is why English was adopted," he added.

Sound familiar?

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Hay apoyo histórico para la idea que matar una lengua mata la cultura. Este artículo sugiere que los anglosajones que emigraron a Gran Bretaña mataran de la cultura británico en apenas 300 años: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news ... gland.html

[trans. Art] Pero los investigadores dicen que 200.000 anglosajones habrían podido dominar la reserva de genes inglesas en menos de 15 generaciones si los recientemente llegados ocuparon una situación social más alta.

…

Otra pregunta se presentó por el nuevo estudio es porqué los nativos británicos acomodaron a los anglosajones y su cultura en vez de rebelarse.

"Los naturales realizaron que eran los oprimidos y realizado que la única manera de asimilar hacia arriba era adoptar la nueva cultura", dijeron a Heinrich Härke, co-autor del estudio y arqueólogo en la Universidad de Reading de Inglaterra.

"Intentaron mejorar su estado aprendiendo el inglés, es por eso que se adoptó el inglés", agregó.

¿Suena familiar?

Pa Is:

Pues non, nin, pa la fastera de la mia familia nun s'utiliza la L.L ("che vaqueira), nin siquiera ente lus propius vaqueirus, masque conocían el sonidu pul roce con otrus vaqueirus, de la que tuvía se faían las trashumancias. En rialidá tu yá sabrás de sobra qu'esi soníu tá malamente llamau "che vaqueira", porque nun ía esclusivu de vaqueirus, sinon que nas comarcas onde lu utilizan úsanlu pur igual vaqueirus, xaldus ya marnuetus. Ya ondi nun lu usan, lo mesmo, lus tres pur igual. Lus cunceyus de Pravia ya Cuideiru pertenecen al asturianu ucidental, porque tienen lus diptongus -EI y -OU ya fain lus plurales femeninus con -AS, pero como nun hai fronteras llingüísticas herméticas, las isoglosas baillan p'aquí ya p'allá, ya nesa parti la LL ye lo que se fala, dizse LLOBUS, LLOMBU. Lo qu'agora nun sabría dicite bien ya si lus mayores dicían LLEITE o LLECHE, paezme que mi sona de la xeneración de lus mious buolus la primera, pero güei pienso que naide lo diz asina, nun sei si porque se perdiera o porque nunca se dixera, si eso yá lo miraré purí. Quitando palabras cultas, esto sería más o menos como sonaría lo que falaba la mia familia, masque nun cuadre del tou cona escritura estándar. Por supuesto, la bulla bien sei lo que ya, mialma, bien que nus avisaban de neñus pa que nun las pisáramus. Has a preguntar a tous pás qué ía un "peu de llobu".


Pa Art:

Claro que suena conocido. Eso es exactamente lo que pasa aquí, históricamente y todavía hoy en día.

Saludos

Perdonai, taba trabayando asgaya ya nun punxera lu que yia 'peu de l.lobu' pa Carlos. Nun yia un lycoperdum (puffball mushroom)? En Cabornu atoupara lepiotas nuna eiria, la xente de pueblu nun xinta nin eso nin los peus de l.lobu. Faime gracia, Carlos, el miou pai yía seteiru ya de rapacinos deprendieranos lu que yía eso!

And for those of you who don't know about puffballs (of the lycoperdum family, if I am not mistaken), they tend to emit a brown dust when you step on them after they dry out. I think they are edible, just not as tasty as other types of mushrooms like boletus edulis and many others. Apparently, cultures with Celtic roots are by tradition wary of mushrooms and therefore consumption has been low in Asturias and Galicia. Whereas in the Basque Country, Castile and Catalonia, people are wild about them. So are the Russians, by the way. I lived in Moscow for a while and tasted frozen Siberian mushrooms one night...served with 'miedovukha', a honey-based liquor similar to mead.