Fala language
| Fala | |
|---|---|
| Native to | Spain |
| Region | NW Extremadura |
|
Native speakers
|
11,000 (1994) |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | |
| Glottolog | fala1241 |
Fala ("Speech") is a Romance language 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; they have rejected implementing a standard orthography similar to or based on the Galician one. A translation of the New Testament has been published in Fala (2015).
In the Middle Ages we can find mixed varieties of Portuguese and Leonese throughout the border between Leon and Portugal, represented in texts as in the Foro de Castelo Rodrigo (13th century); and although there is no documentation about the colonization and repopulation in this place in the 13th century, there are several hypothesis of Galician citizens moved to protect the frontiers against Muslims as a punishment imposed by the Leonese king, or the delivery of the territories to various military orders by Alfonso IX and Fernando II.
Generally speaking, philologists in favor of the Galician theory are based in the hypothesis that the valley is an isolated region and, therefore, the Galician colonists maintain their way of speaking in a "pure" form because of the lack of external influences. This thesis is refuted if we contrast it with other historic data:
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