Spanish Language
Spanish is a Romance language that originated from Vulgar Latin and is spoken by over 470 million people worldwide. It is the official language of Spain, Mexico, and numerous countries in South America, and it has a significant presence in the United States, Canada, Andorra, Morocco, and the Caribbean. The language's earliest written form appeared in the eleventh century, with standardization beginning in the thirteenth century under King Alfonso X. Spanish encompasses various dialects, with Castilian being the most prominent in Spain, while regional variations exist throughout Latin America, influenced by Indigenous languages.
Historically, Spanish evolved through a complex interplay of cultures, including Phoenician, Greek, Celtic, and Arabic influences, particularly during the time of the Moors in the Iberian Peninsula. The language spread globally during the Age of Exploration, leading to its establishment in the Americas, where distinct dialects developed. In the contemporary context, Spanish serves as the most common non-English language spoken at home in the U.S., illustrating its growing influence.
While Spanish is often viewed as a unifying aspect of Latino identity, challenges arise for second- and third-generation Latinos who may not speak the language fluently. The cultural significance of Spanish is further underscored by movements advocating for the recognition of regional languages, such as Basque, highlighting the diverse linguistic landscape within Spain itself. As a global language, Spanish plays a vital role in international communication, media, and cultural exchange.
Spanish Language
Spanish is the native language of more than 470 million people worldwide. It is the official language of Spain, Mexico, and many South American nations. It also is spoken widely in Canada, Andorra, Morocco, the Caribbean, and the United States. Although Spain lost possession and control of its colonies in the Americas in the nineteenth century, the language remained ingrained in those countries. In the twenty-first century, Spanish remains the official language across much of Latin America.
Spanish evolved from Vulgar Latin, a variation of the Classical Latin spoken and disbursed by the Roman Empire. The language was localized to the Iberian Peninsula and first appeared in writing as side-notes in Latin religious texts during the eleventh century. The language first underwent standardization efforts in the thirteenth century under King Alfonso X, and efforts continued in later centuries.
History and Classification
The Spanish language (Español) belongs to the Romance family, descended through the Italic group from Indo-European. Several Spanish dialects exist, including Castilian, which is both the official language and most commonly used dialect in Spain. Spanish spoken in other countries around the world exhibits regional differences that must be taken into account when considering the language's development. Much like English spoken in England differs from English spoken in the United States, Spanish spoken in Spain differs from Spanish spoken in the Americas.
Archeological evidence suggests that humans have lived on the Iberian Peninsula since 500,000 BCE. Around 1100 BCE, Phoenician traders established several cities and introduced writing and commerce to the region. The Phoenicians, along with the Tartessians, Greeks, and Celts, contributed to the development of Spanish. The Romans annexed the Iberian Peninsula after the Second Punic War, imposing the Latin language and Roman culture on the population beginning in 218 BCE. The Romans named the region Hispania and introduced not only Greek words but also Celtic-influenced vocabulary. The development of Vulgar Latin among the majority of the population was widespread throughout the Roman Empire, including in Hispania, while Classical Latin remained the language of the upper class, religious officials, and academics.
When the Roman Empire collapsed, the Visigoths invaded and seized Hispania during the fifth century CE. The Visigoths continued to use Latin as the official language of government and culture until 719 CE when the Arabic Moors conquered the region. At that point, Arabic and one of its dialects, Mozarabic, were spoken throughout Islamic Spain, except in the remote north where Christian kingdoms continued to speak Vulgar Latin. These kingdoms battled the Moors for the next several centuries, eventually reconquering Hispania and spreading Vulgar Latin as the dominant language once again.
The Castilian and Andalusian dialects of the Spanish language developed during the Middle Ages, when King Alfonso X developed a standardized form of Spanish based on Castilian. A poet and scholar, Alfonso wrote an encyclopedia in Castilian Spanish, and he and other scholars wrote original works and translated histories, literature, and religious writings from Greek, Latin, and Arabic into Castilian. In the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries, Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon, who supported early explorations of the Americas, used Castilian for official purposes. This led to the population’s widespread acceptance of the language and the emergence of Modern Spanish.
In 1713, Juan Manuel Fernández Pacheco y Zúñiga (1650–1725) established the Spanish Royal Academy. Based on the French Academy, its objective was to publicize the Spanish language. Between 1726 and 1739, the academy produced a six-volume dictionary. An orthography and a grammar text followed in 1741 and 1771, respectively.
Geographic Distribution and Modern Usage
The Spanish language is used in official and semi-official capacity in more than a dozen countries. The geographic roots of the language are from the northern province of Burgos in modern-day Spain, which was far from the urban centers dominated by Roman colonists. Beginning in the fifteenth century, Spanish explorers and colonists traveled to Central, South, and North America. The Castilian and Andalusian dialects in particular were present in the new colonies, with Castilian as the official language of Spain.
Over time, the American colonies developed their own variations of Spanish, influenced by local Indigenous languages. Much like the dialects that exist in Europe, these regional differences are often only minor. Rioplatense is spoken in the river basin between Argentina and Uruguay and in those countries and has been heavily influenced by Italian. Caribbean Spanish is spoken on the islands of Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Dominican Republic and along the eastern coast of Central America and Mexico.
In 1565, the settlement of Saint Augustine was established in Florida, providing an early foothold for the Spanish language to spread in the United States. Following the Mexican-American War (1846–48), the United States took control of territories such as Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas, which were home to many Spanish-speaking peoples. After the Spanish-American War in 1898, the United States also took control of Spanish-speaking populations in Puerto Rico, Cuba, Guam, and the Philippines.
Consequently, Spanish's use and popularity have increased. In the twenty-first century, Spanish was the most common non-English language spoken at home in the US, with 62 percent of Americans who spoke a non-English language speaking Spanish in 2019, according to the US Census Bureau. Moreover, Spanish often was taught to native English speakers as a second language because it is considered easy to learn. Over time, English and Spanish have blended into a dialect sometimes called Spanglish. While Spanglish has often been discouraged, especially in schools, acceptance of the blended language has grown as some educators in the early twenty-first century began viewing it as a useful skill in a multicultural country that should, in fact, be valued. Meanwhile, those Latinos who did not speak Spanish, usually those who were second- or third-generation Latinos, encountered their own challenges. Within Latino communities, some were shamed for not speaking Spanish by other Latinos, who viewed the Spanish language as an integral part of their culture and community. This could place Latinos in a "double bind," in which they were expected to be able to speak both Spanish and English authentically depending on which community was judging them.
The Spanish language is viewed as a world language because it serves as the language of government, media, and spoken communication in a large number of nations on several continents. In Spain, many speakers of the various dialects argue that their languages are in fact independent from Spanish and should be considered as such, particularly in Basque. The Basque community in the Pyrenees has an independence movement and views its language protectively as a unique form of cultural expression.
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