Galician language facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Galician |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| galego | ||||
| Region | Galicia and adjacent areas in Asturias and Castile and León | |||
| Ethnicity | Galician | |||
| Native speakers | 2.4 million (2012)e18 58% of the population of Galicia (c. 1.56 million) are L1 speakers (2007) |
|||
| Language family | ||||
| Early forms: |
Galician-Portuguese
|
|||
| Writing system | Galician alphabet (Latin script) Galician Braille |
|||
| Official status | ||||
| Official language in | Galicia (Spain) Official regional language. Decades of development as language of literature, including poetry and essays for all levels of education. Growing sense of ethnic identity. | |||
| Regulated by | Royal Galician Academy | |||
| Linguasphere | 51-AAA-ab | |||
Distribution of the various dialects of Galician in Spain and the extreme north of Portugal.
|
||||
|
||||
Galician (called Galego in Galician) is a language spoken in Galicia, a region in northwest Spain. It's very similar to Portuguese because both languages came from an older language called Galician-Portuguese. This older language was spoken in the Middle Ages.
Some people think Galician and Portuguese are just different ways of speaking the same language. However, most experts agree that they have become truly different languages over hundreds of years. Galician is also quite similar to the Leonese language.
Galician is a Romance language. This means it developed from Vulgar Latin. Vulgar Latin was the everyday language of common people in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia. This area is now Galicia, parts of Asturias, and Castile-Leon. It also includes the Norte region in northern Portugal.
Most Galician words come from Latin. Many words also come from Spanish. Some words have roots in Germanic and Celtic languages too.
Galician comes from Galician-Portuguese, which was spoken in the Middle Ages. Today, Galician is mainly spoken in Galicia. Some people also speak it in North America, South America, and Western Europe. In Jalisco, Mexico, you can still find traces of Galician in the accent and some words.
Galician: A Language or a Dialect?
Some people believe Galician and Portuguese are two dialects of the same language. This is because they share many similarities. However, they are officially recognized as two separate languages. Most language experts say they have grown too different over centuries.
People who speak Portuguese in northern Portugal, near Galicia, can often understand Galician speakers well. The same is true for Galician speakers understanding northern Portuguese. This understanding becomes less common as you go further south in Portugal.
Images for kids
-
Map showing the historical retreat and expansion of Galician (Galician and Portuguese) within the context of its linguistic neighbors between the year 1000 and 2000
-
One of the oldest legal charters written in Galician, the constitutional charter of the Bo Burgo (Good Burg) of Castro Caldelas, 1228
-
Mediaeval Galician inscription in a 14th-century house, in Noia: "ESTAS CASAS MANDOU FAZER VASCO DA COSTA, ERA DE MCCCLXXVII" These houses were ordered by Vasco da Costa, era 1377 (1339 AD)
-
Cantigas de Santa Maria, 13th century
-
14th-century inscription, in Galician language: 'ESTA : IMAGEE : HE : AQVI : POSTA : POR: ALMA : D(E) : I(O)HA(N) : TVORUM' 'This image is here in exposition for the soul of Joham Tuorum'.
-
Martín Sarmiento
-
The 19th-century author Eduardo Pondal
-
Speakers of Galician as a first language in 2001 and 2011, according to the Galician Institute of Statistics
-
Galician linguistic areas
-
Galician-speaking areas outside Galicia (yellow)
.PNG)
See also
In Spanish: Idioma gallego para niños
