Benasque
Encyclopedia
Huesca (province)
Huesca , officially Huesca/Uesca, is a province of northeastern Spain, in northern Aragon. The capital is Huesca.Positioned just south of the central Pyrenees, Huesca borders France and the French Departments of Pyrénées-Atlantiques and Hautes-Pyrénées...
, (Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
). It is the main town in the Benasque Valley, located in the heart of the Pyrenees
Pyrenees
The Pyrenees is a range of mountains in southwest Europe that forms a natural border between France and Spain...
and surrounded by the highest peaks in that range.
Language
Catalan language
Catalan is a Romance language, the national and only official language of Andorra and a co-official language in the Spanish autonomous communities of Catalonia, the Balearic Islands and Valencian Community, where it is known as Valencian , as well as in the city of Alghero, on the Italian island...
–Aragonese
Aragonese language
Aragonese is a Romance language now spoken in a number of local varieties by between 10,000 and 30,000 people over the valleys of the Aragón River, Sobrarbe and Ribagorza in Aragon, Spain...
transitional dialect that shares features with Gascon
Gascon language
Gascon is usually considered as a dialect of Occitan, even though some specialists regularly consider it a separate language. Gascon is mostly spoken in Gascony and Béarn in southwestern France and in the Aran Valley of Spain...
(Occitan). It is usually called Patués ("Patois
Patois
Patois is any language that is considered nonstandard, although the term is not formally defined in linguistics. It can refer to pidgins, creoles, dialects, and other forms of native or local speech, but not commonly to jargon or slang, which are vocabulary-based forms of cant...
") by its native speakers. Possessing features that are transitional between Aragonese and Catalan, it has sometimes been classified as a variety of Catalan.
To promote the local language, the local council has held an annual writing and poetry competition in Patués since 1999. Separate awards are given to young and adult authors.
External links
- Benasque Guide
- Benasque Guide
- Centro de Ciencias de Benasque Pedro Pascual
- Benasqués - an article about the culture and the language of Benasque in Gran Enciclopedia Aragonesa OnLine