Eonavian

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Eonavian or Eonaviego is a term used to refer a set of dialects or falas whose linguistic dominion extends in the zone of Asturias between the Eo and Navia rivers (or more exactly Eo and Freixulfe rivers). It 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 Casarego, Taramundi, A Veiga, Vilanova de Ozcos, and partially those of Navia, Ibias, Villaión, and Allande. Other terms used include gallego-asturiano (the official term in Asturias,[1] meaning 'Asturian-Galician language') a fala ('the speech', not to be confused with the Fala language of Extremadura) and galego de Asturias ('Galician language of Asturias'). The term Eonaviego was first used by the linguist Xavier Frías Conde, and it was himself who translated it as Eonavian in English, Éonavien in French or eonavienc in Catalan. In 2007, the Academy of the Asturian Language accepted the denomination of Eonavian to refer to this Galician-Portuguese dialect.

This set of dialects was traditionally included by linguists as Galician-Portuguese or Galician, with some characteristics of Asturian language. That was the opinion of some linguists as Menéndez Pidal,[2] Eugenio Coseriu, Luís Lindley Cintra,[3] Dámaso Alonso or even more recent ones as Francisco Xavier Frías Conde[4] or Xoán Babarro.[5] Nowadays, however, there is a political-linguistic conflict on the identity of the language, between those that prioritize the Asturian identity of this speech and those that continue to prioritize the Galician substratum. The former, mostly in Asturias, identify Eonavian as a dialect continuum between the Asturian and Galician languages, or even a third language spoken only in that area. The latter, mostly in Galicia, identify it as Galician and request the protection which Galician enjoys in Castile and Leon, that protects the dialects of El Bierzo- O Bierzo in cooperation with the Galician Government.

In this dialectal area, there are associations supporting each side, such as Mesa prá Defensa del Galego de Asturias, Colectivo Cotarelo Valledor and Asociación Abertal (defending the Galician theory) and Xeira (defending the Asturian theory). Its protection and language policy is the responsibility of the Asturian Government and the Secretaría Llingüística del Navia-Eo, a division of the Academia de la Llingua Asturiana responsible for this area. There are two different orthographies for Eonavian, the official one (more Asturian-like) and one made by the Mesa prá Defensa del Galego de Asturias (more Galician-like).

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ (Spanish) Used in the "Disposición additional" (Addenda) of the Ley 1/98, de 23 de marzo, de uso y promoción del bable/asturiano (Law 1/98 of use and promotion of Asturian language)
  2. ^ (Spanish) Menéndez Pidal, R (1906): "El Dialecto Leonés", Revista de Archivos, Bibliotecas y Museos, 2-3:130-131
  3. ^ (Portuguese) Lindley Cintra, Luís F. Nova Proposta de Classificação dos Dialectos Galego-Portugueses Boletim de Filologia, Lisboa, Centro de Estudos Filológicos, 1971, p. 16-17
  4. ^ (Spanish) Frías Conde, F. X. (2002): O galego exterior ás fronteiras administrativas. Gijón:VTP
  5. ^ (Galician) Babarro, X. (2003): Galego de Asturias. Fundación Pedro Barrié de la Maza

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