Fala language
Encyclopedia
Fala is a Romance linguistic variety commonly classified in the Portuguese-Galician subgroup, with some traits from Leonese
, spoken in Spain
by about 10,500 people, of whom 5,500 live in a valley of the northwestern part of Extremadura
near the border with Portugal
. The speakers of Fala live in the towns of Valverde del Fresno
(Valverdi du Fresnu), Eljas
(As Ellas) and San Martín de Trevejo
(Sa Martín de Trebellu).
Other names sometimes used for the language are Fala de Jálama or Fala de Xálima, but neither of them is used by the speakers themselves, who call their linguistic varieties lagarteiru (in Eljas), manhegu/mañegu (in San Martín de Trevejo) and valverdeiru (in Valverde del Fresno).
Even though it has no official status, and has little presence in schools and church, use of the language is vigorous, and the literacy rate in Fala is nearly 100% . As a linguistic community, speakers have a strong, independent identity; even though Fala is mutually intelligible with the Galician language
, they have rejected implementing a standard orthography
similar to or based on the Galician one. A translation of the New Testament has been completely drafted in Fala (2011), but is not yet finalized.
Leonese language
The Leonese language is the endonym term used to refer to all vernacular Romance dialects of the Astur-Leonese linguistic group in the Spanish provinces of León and Zamora; Astur-Leonese also includes the dialects...
, spoken in 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...
by about 10,500 people, of whom 5,500 live in a valley of the northwestern part of Extremadura
Extremadura
Extremadura is an autonomous community of western Spain whose capital city is Mérida. Its component provinces are Cáceres and Badajoz. It is bordered by Portugal to the west...
near the border with Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
. The speakers of Fala live in the towns of Valverde del Fresno
Valverde del Fresno
Valverde del Fresno is a municipality located in the province of Cáceres, Extremadura, Spain. According to the 2006 census , the municipality has a population of 2576 inhabitants....
(Valverdi du Fresnu), Eljas
Eljas
Eljas is a municipality located in the province of Cáceres, Extremadura, Spain. According to the 2008 census , the municipality has inhabitants....
(As Ellas) and San Martín de Trevejo
San Martín de Trevejo
San Martín de Trevejo is a municipality located in the province of Cáceres, Extremadura, Spain. According to the 2008 census , the municipality has inhabitants....
(Sa Martín de Trebellu).
Other names sometimes used for the language are Fala de Jálama or Fala de Xálima, but neither of them is used by the speakers themselves, who call their linguistic varieties lagarteiru (in Eljas), manhegu/mañegu (in San Martín de Trevejo) and valverdeiru (in Valverde del Fresno).
Even though it has no official status, and has little presence in schools and church, use of the language is vigorous, and the literacy rate in Fala is nearly 100% . As a linguistic community, speakers have a strong, independent identity; even though Fala is mutually intelligible with the Galician language
Galician language
Galician is a language of the Western Ibero-Romance branch, spoken in Galicia, an autonomous community located in northwestern Spain, where it is co-official with Castilian Spanish, as well as in border zones of the neighbouring territories of Asturias and Castile and León.Modern Galician and...
, they have rejected implementing a standard orthography
Orthography
The orthography of a language specifies a standardized way of using a specific writing system to write the language. Where more than one writing system is used for a language, for example Kurdish, Uyghur, Serbian or Inuktitut, there can be more than one orthography...
similar to or based on the Galician one. A translation of the New Testament has been completely drafted in Fala (2011), but is not yet finalized.
See also
- Galician-PortugueseGalician-PortugueseGalician-Portuguese or Old Portuguese was a West Iberian Romance language spoken in the Middle Ages, in the northwest area of the Iberian Peninsula. It was first spoken in the area bounded in the north and west by the Atlantic Ocean and the Douro River in the south but it was later extended south...
- Leonese languageLeonese languageThe Leonese language is the endonym term used to refer to all vernacular Romance dialects of the Astur-Leonese linguistic group in the Spanish provinces of León and Zamora; Astur-Leonese also includes the dialects...
- PortuguesePortuguese languagePortuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...
- GalicianGalician languageGalician is a language of the Western Ibero-Romance branch, spoken in Galicia, an autonomous community located in northwestern Spain, where it is co-official with Castilian Spanish, as well as in border zones of the neighbouring territories of Asturias and Castile and León.Modern Galician and...
- Fala dos arxinasFala dos arxinasFala dos arxinas is the name of an argot employed by stonecutters in Galicia, Spain, particularly in the area of Pontevedra, based on galician language...
("Stonecutters' speech") is a cantCant (language)A Cant is the jargon or argot of a group, often implying its use to exclude or mislead people outside the group.-Derivation in Celtic linguistics:...
spoken by Galician stonecutters. - PortuñolPortuñolPortuñol or Portunhol is the code-switching of Portuguese and Spanish.The word portunhol is a portmanteau of the words Portugués/Português and Español/Espanhol ....