Galician–Asturian, also known as Eonavian or Eonaviego, (autonym: ; ; ) is a set of Romance dialects or falas whose linguistic dominion extends into the zone of Asturias between the Eo River and Navia River (or more specifically the Eo and the Frejulfe River). The dialects have been variously classified as the northeastern varieties of Galician, as a linguistic group of its own, or as a dialect of transition between Galician and Asturian, an opinion upheld by José Luis García Arias, the former president of the Academy of the Asturian Language (ALLA).
The set of dialects was traditionally included by linguists as Galician-Portuguese or Galician, with some traits of the neighbouring Astur-Leonese linguistic group. Now, however, there is a political-linguistic conflict on the identity of the language between those who prioritise the mixed identity and those that continue to prioritise the Galician substratum. Supporters of the former, mostly in Asturias, identify Eonavian as part of a dialect continuum between the Asturian and Galician languages or even a third language belonging to Portuguese-Galician group spoken only in that area. Supporters of the latter, mostly in Galicia, identify it as just Galician and want for it the same level of protection as Galician has in Castile and Leon, which protects the dialects of El Bierzo (of which the westernmost varieties are usually classified as Galician) in cooperation with the Galician government. Recently, the director of an exhaustive study by the University of Oviedo (ETLEN, a Linguistic Atlas of the Boundary between Galician-Portuguese and Asturleonese in Asturias) concluded that both proposals are true and compatible: that is, local varieties belong to the Galician-Portuguese domain and are part of the transitional varieties between this domain and Astur-Leonese.
Nomenclature Terms used to refer to the language include , the name used in Act 1/1998 of the Principality of Asturias, meaning "Galician–Asturian language"; ("the speech", not to be confused with the Fala language of Extremadura); and ("Galician language of Asturias"). The term was first used by the linguist Xavier Frías Conde, who translated it as Eonavian in English, in French, and in Catalan. In 2007, the Academy of the Asturian Language accepted the term Eonavian to refer to the dialect.
Classification
From a philological point of view, the origin of the language is surely in the Galician-Portuguese language family, the dominant language in the northwest of the Iberian peninsula in the Middle Ages. That follows from an examination of the more than six hundred parchments preserved in the Monastery of Santa María de Villanueva de Oscos. The examination of these documents allows us to recognise one of the most genuine examples of the medieval Galician-Portuguese language and many of its documents are cited as the earliest written samples of this language.
For the early stage, there are only documented translations of copies of ancient Latin deeds that were beginning to be unintelligible to the common people, (v. AHN sec. clergy, carp. 1617, AHN, Sec Clergy, carp. No. 1617. 15, no. 2, Sec AHN clergy carp. 1621 No 15 etc.), and there would not be until the mid-13th century that the first original deeds were written in the Galician-Portuguese language. In the early 14th century, the oddness of this language with the rest of the galacoifonía, was noticed. The most of these developments were the result of the Castilian language advancement in the urban centres of the River Eo: Revoredo, Ribadeo and Castropol, such influence was more significant in the writings of the bishops' notaries of Oviedo in these villages, but if the influence of Castilian was growing in the urban centres, the manuscripts of the monastery notaries still kept the original features of this language, and others were added that then appeared.
Since 1865, when Aureliano Fernández Guerra y Orbe published the first texts of the monastery of Oscos, the enormous divergences with the rest of the Asturian cartularies and specifically with the Fuero de Avilés, of which many of these texts are contemporary, became evident. In this sense, Rafael Lapesa, when dealing with the evolution of "Western Asturian" during the High Middle Ages, expressly excluded from his study the region to the west of the river Navia because he considered that it did not present any speciality in relation to other Galician-Portuguese cartularies. Many subsequent studies have dealt with the specific features of the Galician-Portuguese languages found in this cartulary, particularly the conjugated infinitive or articles system.
The cartulary of Oscos is an essential landmark for understanding the evolution of the Galician-Portuguese language, but the monastery's influence was ended with the arrival of the Castillian congregation in 1511. That started another period of great economic and social growth of the monastery around the iron industries, but the installation of the reformed order ended the written language, until its re-emergence in the late 19th century.
Distribution
The area where the dialects are spoken includes the Asturian municipalities of Boal, Castropol, Coaña, Eilao, El Franco, Grandas de Salime, Pezós, San Martín de Ozcos, Santalla de Ozcos, Santiso de Abres, Tapia de Casariego, Taramundi, A Veiga, Vilanova de Ozcos, and partially those of Navia, Ibias, Villayón, and Allande; as well as the Galician municipality of Negueira de Muñiz.
Comparative table Latin Galician Galician-asturian Galician- portuguese Portuguese Western Asturian Spanish English Western Central Eastern (Ancares) animales animais animás animáis animales ant. animaes animais animales ] animales animals audire oír/ouvir oír/ouvir oír/ouvir ouguir oir/ouvir/ouguir ouvir ouyer ] oír ] hear canes cans cas cais cais / cães/cããs cães canes canes (perros) dogs caballus cabalo cabalo cabalo cabalo/caballo / * cavalo cavalo caballu caballo horse infantam/puellam nena nena nena nía ninna menina neña niña girl latrones ladróns ladrós ladróis ladróis/lladróis * ladrões ladrões ỊỊadrones ladrones thieves germanum irmán irmao irmao ermao irmão irmão hermanu hermano brother lux luz luz luz luz/lluz * luz/lus luz ỊỊuz luz light longe lonxe lonxe lonxe lonxe/llonxe/ * longe longeỊỊo̞ñelueñe (lejos) far quinque cinco cincocincocinco cinco cincocincu cinco five oculum ollo olloollo oyo ollo olho güeyu/güechu/ ojo eye horam hora hora/ hora hora hora hora hora hora hour hominem home home home home home homem huome/home/ hombre man plenum cheo cheo chẽo chén/ chío/ chẽo 'cheio 'chen/ỊỊen/ lleno full trahere traer traer traer/traguer trer/traguer trager trazer trayer] traer] bring tu canta(vi)sti ti cantaste(s)tu/ti cantachestu cantachetu cantache tu cantastetu cantastetu cantastitu cantaste you sang
(*) The lateral sound ʎ: Porcia River to Navia River. The lateral sound l: Eo River to Porcia River.
Diachronic evolution
Here is the evolution of the language, taking into account the Monastery of Oscos parchments:
English Latin Galician-Portuguese Portuguese Mediaeval Galician–Asturian Current Galician–Asturian high altu(m) outo alto outo alto tree árbor(em) árvol árvore árvore árbol add in addere enader adicionar nader añidir key clave (m) chave chave chave chave right directu (m) direyto direito dereyto dereito/dereto son filius (um) fillo filho fillo fiyo ward (keep) guardare guardar guardar gardar guardar plant plantare chantar plantar chantar chantar bring trahere trager trazer trager trer wash lavare lavar lavar lavar/llavar lavar/llavar hand mānu(m) mão mão maao mao apple mattiāna (m) maçã maçã maçaa mazà mine mea (m) minna/mía minha mĩa (mina) mía much multu(m) muito/ muyn muito muito muito black niger /nigrum nieiro/neiro negro neiro negro night nox/nócte(m) noite noite noite nòite obligate obligare obrigar obrigar obridar obrigar who quī / quem quem quem quen quèn wall parĭes/ parĕtem parede parede parede parede four quattuor quatro quatro quatro cuatro one (f.) ūna(m) ũa/ hũa uma ũa úa leave salire sair sair sair salir yours tuus /tuum teu/tou teu tou tou truth veritas/ veritatem verdade verdade verdade verdá English Latin Galician-Portuguese Portuguese Mediaeval Galician Asturian Current Galician–Asturian
Phonology
Vowels
The system of stressed vowels is similar to Galician since there are seven in both languages; it was used by Ramón Menéndez Pidal when he assigned this language to the group of Galician-Portuguese languages. The system is very stable. It does not find the alterations that can be observed by effects of metaphony in other regions of Galician phonetics. Here are the vowels obtained by García García in the El Franco village and Fernández Vior in Vegadeo: • ä Open central unrounded vowel: f1 =700 y f2 =1350 hz (FV); f1 =750 y f2 =1500 hz (GG) – a: Long open central unrounded vowel: f1 =870 y f2 =1463 hz (FV); f1 =800 y f2 =1537 hz (GG) – Open front unrounded vowel: f1 =700 y f2 =1300 hz (FV); f1 =715 hz y f2 =1400 hz (GG) – ɑ Open back unrounded vowel): • e Close-mid front unrounded vowel: f1 =450 hz y f2 =1900 hz (FV) – e Close-mid front unrounded vowel affected by front sound: f1 =475 hz y f2 =1700 hz (GG) – e Close-mid front unrounded vowel affected by back sound: f1 =525 hz y f2 =1800 hz (GG) • ɛ Open-mid front unrounded vowel: f1 =700 hz y f2 =1800 hz (FV) • o Close-mid back rounded vowel: f1 =490 y f2 =1015 (FV); f1 =500 y f2=1075 (GG) • ɔ Open-mid back rounded vowel: f1 =555 hz y f2 =1100 (FV): f1 =600 hz y f2 =1100 hz (GG) • i Close front unrounded vowel: f1 =337 y f2 =2300 (FV); f1 =400 y f2 =2600 hz (GG) • u Close back rounded vowel: f1 =350 y f1 =1185 (FV); f1 =400 y f2 =925 hz (GG)
As it was indicated by García García regarding unstressed vowels, "Unlike other areas of Galician phonetics, there are no relevant differences between open and closed -e- and -o- and the sound of variant pairs can be considered, each with their own archiphonemes, keeping the following system: -i-, E-, a,-O-, u.
There are three unstressed vowels in final position: -e-,-o-and-a -. There is the loss of the -o endings -ene and -inu, 'sen', 'fren', 'centen', 'allén', 'padrín', 'camín'..., an overall conservation "-e" syllables end, after '-ete' and 'ite' headquarters, 'rede', 'vide', 'parede', etc. It is clearer still in place names 'San Mamede', 'Nonide', 'Taladride'. It is also normal to conserve "-e" after "θ" like in 'couce, 'fouce', etc. On the other hand, under the influence of Castilian, 'salú', 'verdá', 'enfermedá', it has been lost The paragogic vowel -e- after liquids consonant appear very residually, Acevedo y Huelves cites 'carcele'. Final vowel -o- has disappeared in suffix -elo, in toponyms: 'Tol', 'Castropol', 'Boal', etc.
Until the 19th century, nasal vowels were a fairly common phenomenon throughout Eonavian but today are very unusual. Dámaso Alonso was the first in confirming the phenomenon, widespread in the nearby Ancares Mountains. M. Menéndez García finds nasality remains in Freixulfe and points in Villallón Village, y Celso Muñiz in the Valledor region, in the frontier with the Asturo-Leonese languages. These remnants of nasal vowels in Eonavian explain that the syllables ended in nasal coda are always opened, the necessary consequence of velarization, the stage prior to the formation of the nasal.
A change in unstressed vowels when absolute enclitic position has labial consonant and vowel assimilation.
Regarding the unstressed vowels, as pointed out by García García, "Unlike other areas of the Galaicofonía, the relevant differences between open e-y-o and closed sounds can be considered such as variants of two separate couples archiphoneme, keeping to the following system-i-, E-, a,-O-, u.