Asturian

Asturian is a Romance language spoken in the autonomous community of Asturias in northwestern Spain. It is also spoken in the adjacent western part of the Principality of Asturias in León, and by a minority in the eastern part of the province of Asturias. Asturian has its origins in the Vulgar Latin spoken in the region during the Early Middle Ages. It began to diverge from other Romance languages in the 9th century, and by the 12th century it was a distinct language with its own literature. Although it is not currently an official language of Spain, it is co-official with Spanish in the autonomous community of Asturias. It is also spoken in the Asturian diaspora in the Americas, particularly in Uruguay and Argentina. There are three main dialects of Asturian: Central, Western, and Eastern. The Central dialect is spoken in Asturias, the Western dialect is spoken in León, and the Eastern dialect is spoken in the eastern part of the province of Asturias. The Asturian language is part of the West Iberian group of Romance languages, which also includes Galician and Portuguese. It is closely related to Galician, and the two languages share a lot of vocabulary. Asturian is a verb-final language, meaning that the verb is always placed at the end of the sentence. It is also a pro-drop language, meaning that personal pronouns are often omitted when they are not needed for clarity. Asturian has a rich literary tradition. Some of the most famous Asturian writers include Ramón María del Valle-Inclán, Vicente Risco, and Manuel Azaña.