{"id":5779,"date":"2024-07-12T10:48:51","date_gmt":"2024-07-12T10:48:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fasttxt.es\/en\/?p=5779"},"modified":"2024-10-21T12:02:23","modified_gmt":"2024-10-21T12:02:23","slug":"fala-the-secret-language-of-extremadura","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fasttxt.es\/en\/blog\/fala-the-secret-language-of-extremadura","title":{"rendered":"Fala: the secret language of Extremadura"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

\u00a0<\/strong>In previous publications, we have followed an articulated thematic line related to the historical languages of the Iberian Peninsula, approaching a study of the different languages that coexisted (and, in some cases, still coexist) in the Hispanic context: Catalan and its variants, Asturleonese, Navarrese-Aragonese, Mozarabic, Galician, Castilian, Basque, and others\u2026<\/p>

Today we are going to deal with a language that, despite being unknown to many, still survives today in the northeastern corner of the province of C\u00e1ceres, being the mother tongue of many of its inhabitants: Fala<\/strong>, a language that is still spoken today.<\/p>

Contextualization<\/strong><\/h2>

Fala, also known as X\u00e1lima Fala<\/em>, because it comes from the J\u00e1lama Valley<\/strong>, fulfills the conditions of a minority or regional language. It is only spoken in three villages in Extremadura: Valverde del Fresno, Eljas &<\/strong> San Mart\u00edn de Trevejo<\/strong>; Hence, it is also known as the language of three locations. <\/em>These three villages in the Sierra de Gata, in the province of C\u00e1ceres, near the border between Spain and Portugal, have approximately 4,500 speakers, and most of them are able to speak their vernacular language. All Fala speakers are bilingual with Spanish.<\/p>

T<\/em>he Valverde del Fresno variety is called valverde\u00f1u, <\/em>the Eljas variety is known as lagarteiru <\/em>and the San Mart\u00edn de Trevejo variety is called ma\u00f1egu<\/em>. The differences between the three varieties can be found at all levels of the language: phonological, grammatical and lexical. From a linguistic point of view, these differences are quite considerable; however, all three varieties are easily intelligible.<\/p>

Nature and origin of the language<\/strong><\/h2>

One of the first written references to a Fala<\/em> is found in Madoz’s Dictionary<\/em> (1845-1850), where the following evaluation is made: \u201cIts speakers use an unintelligible dialect, made up of Spanish and Portuguese words, all adulterated\u201d.<\/p>

Certainly, the opinion of linguists regarding Fala is very varied, and even controversial. Since it is a dialect used in an area that, geographically speaking, is far from Galicia and very close to Portugal, the first studies and research that were carried out classified it as a mixture between Portuguese and Leonese or a special variety of Portuguese.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

Other authors, on the other hand, have considered Fala as a transitional language between Galician-Portuguese and Asturleonese, although this theory is not widely accepted.<\/p>

Nowadays, researchers are more inclined to include Fala within the southern block of Galician, considering that these are mainly Galician speeches from Extremadura.<\/p>

Generally, philologists in favor of the Galician theory are based on the conjecture that the valley was an isolated region and, therefore, the Galician settlers kept their way of speaking almost \u00abpure\u00bb, since there were no external influences (mainly from Portugal and Le\u00f3n). However, this ‘isolation theory’ is usually refuted by contrasting it with other historical data, such as the fact that this enclave was already inhabited by the Portuguese before the arrival of these colonizers, or the fact that the ancient kingdoms of Portugal, Leon and Castile were ambitious about this territory, due to its frontier character.<\/p>

In any case, we can consider Fala as a transitional dialect with a marked Galician-Portuguese base and influences from the Asturian-Portuguese group, but with its own clearly differentiating linguistic personality, as can be seen in the common and specific features of each variety.<\/p>

Fala should not be confused with cast\u00fao<\/em><\/strong>, the name given to the variant of Castilian spoken in Extremadura, nor with the Extremaduran language or estreme\u00f1u<\/em><\/strong>, a variety of the Asturian-Leonese language whose features have developed mainly in the historical region of Leonese Extremadura (corresponding to the current Autonomous Community of Extremadura). \u00a0<\/p>

Linguistic aspects<\/strong><\/h2>

As we have already had occasion to comment, the three varieties of Fala have their own idiosyncratic features as far as linguistic issues are concerned. Nevertheless, it is possible to identify some general morphophonological features of Fala.<\/p>

First of all, one of the most outstanding characteristics of Fala is that, in the transition from Latin to Romance, there is no diphthongation of short e and o in the tonic position, a feature exclusive to Galician and Portuguese, for example: nevi<\/em><\/strong> (‘nieve’), colpu<\/em><\/strong> (‘cuerpo’), morti<\/em><\/strong> (‘muerte’).<\/p>

On the other hand, the initial f- from Latin is preserved in the three subvarieties, a feature shared with Galician-Portuguese and Asturleonese: f<\/em><\/strong>itu<\/em> (‘helecho’), f<\/em><\/strong>ari\u00f1a<\/em> (‘harina’), f<\/em><\/strong>icer<\/em> (‘hacer’).<\/p>

Likewise, there is the dropping of the Latin intervocalic –l<\/em>– and –n<\/em>-: anim\u00e1is<\/em> (‘animals’), pesoa<\/em> (‘persona’).<\/p>

If we look at the end of the word, we notice that there is a vowel closure in i and u, as we can see in words like bomeiru<\/em> (‘bombero’), as well as the non-appearance of the voiceless interdental in word final position, as in v\u00f3<\/em> (‘voz’) or cr\u00fa<\/em> (‘cruz’).<\/p>

Finally, if we look at verbal morphology, we can highlight the -u ending for the third person singular of the indefinite preterite: fizu<\/em> (‘hizo’), pusu<\/em> (‘puso’), etc.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

Future of the language<\/strong><\/h2>

In August 1992, Fala<\/em> i<\/em> Cultura<\/em> was founded, whose purposes included the drafting of a common grammar (note here a process similar to that followed by other relegated peninsular languages, as in the case of Asturian, albeit at a somewhat later time).<\/p>

Six years later, in 1998, the first literary work in a fala, Seis sainetes valverdeiros<\/em>, written by Isabel L\u00f3pez Lajas, was published.<\/p>

The official status of the language changed partially in 2001, when the Government of Extremadura proclaimed Fala an \u00abAsset of Cultural Interest\u00bb. However, the Statute of Autonomy of Extremadura does not mention Fala, and the references to the support and protection of its own linguistic modalities are quite non-specific.<\/p>

Therefore, despite the awareness that exists among the native inhabitants of the J\u00e1lama Valley about the importance of preserving their native language, the truth is that Fala has in a much more disadvantaged situation than other languages such as, for example, Aranese, a language in a similar sociolinguistic situation that nevertheless enjoys the status of an official language in Catalonia.<\/p>

In this sense, it is important that we are aware of the linguistic richness of our country and of the importance of preserving and promoting the use of these languages, as this is the only way to prevent them from falling into oblivion.<\/p>

\u00a0<\/p>

Carlos S\u00e1nchez Luis<\/em><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0In previous publications, we have followed an articulated thematic line related to the historical languages of the Iberian Peninsula, approaching a study of the different languages that coexisted (and, in some cases, still coexist) in the Hispanic context: Catalan and its variants, Asturleonese, Navarrese-Aragonese, Mozarabic, Galician, Castilian, Basque, and others\u2026 Today we are going to … Leer m\u00e1s<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":5780,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[26],"tags":[358,334],"class_list":["post-5779","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-translation-and-interpretation-services","tag-fala-the-secret-language-of-extremadura","tag-language"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t