Bercian dialect
Encyclopedia
Bercian is the generic name of the linguistic varieties
spoken in El Bierzo
region, in the province
of León
, Spain
. They belong to the dialect continuum
of Romance languages in northern Spain, linking the Galician
and Leonese
languages. Many of these varieties are on the brink of disappearing.
Nowadays it has almost disappeared, surviving in many expressions of daily use. Local expressions and vocabulary have been gathered in several works, the most interesting ones being those made by Luís A. Pastrana and David Lopez, at the beginning of the 1970s, with a sketch of the morphology and syntax of the dialect and one interesting dictionary of expressions and words, and Manuel Gutiérrez Tuñón's doctoral thesis "The Speech of El Bierzo", published in 1975.
, the latter stating that the dividing line between Leonese and Galician should be placed between the basins of the Cúa and Sil rivers. In 1934, Verardo García Rey gathered the vocabulary of the Bercian dialect in the publication: Vocabulario de El Bierzo, where the author makes clear that after his fieldwork, he would re-place the dividing line between the Asturleonese and the Galician-Portuguese
linguistic groups, setting it strictly along the Sil river. Jesús García y García, in 1994, places the mentioned line from the high Cúa river up to a place in Ponferrada
's municipality (Dehesas, Fuentesnuevas).
Variety (linguistics)
In sociolinguistics a variety, also called a lect, is a specific form of a language or language cluster. This may include languages, dialects, accents, registers, styles or other sociolinguistic variation, as well as the standard variety itself...
spoken in El Bierzo
El Bierzo
El Bierzo is a shire in the province of León, Spain. The valley has the administrative status of comarca and its capital is the town of Ponferrada. Other major towns are Bembibre and Villafranca del Bierzo, the historical capital.- History :...
region, in the province
Provinces of Spain
Spain and its autonomous communities are divided into fifty provinces .In other languages of Spain:*Catalan/Valencian , sing. província.*Galician , sing. provincia.*Basque |Galicia]] — are not also the capitals of provinces...
of León
León (province)
León is a province of northwestern Spain, in the northwestern part of the autonomous community of Castile and León.About one quarter of its population of 500,200 lives in the capital, León. The weather is cold and dry during the winter....
, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
. They belong to the dialect continuum
Dialect continuum
A dialect continuum, or dialect area, was defined by Leonard Bloomfield as a range of dialects spoken across some geographical area that differ only slightly between neighboring areas, but as one travels in any direction, these differences accumulate such that speakers from opposite ends of the...
of Romance languages in northern Spain, linking the Galician
Galician language
Galician is a language of the Western Ibero-Romance branch, spoken in Galicia, an autonomous community located in northwestern Spain, where it is co-official with Castilian Spanish, as well as in border zones of the neighbouring territories of Asturias and Castile and León.Modern Galician and...
and Leonese
Leonese language
The Leonese language is the endonym term used to refer to all vernacular Romance dialects of the Astur-Leonese linguistic group in the Spanish provinces of León and Zamora; Astur-Leonese also includes the dialects...
languages. Many of these varieties are on the brink of disappearing.
Written references
The first written references dealing with the local speech like Bercian dialect correspond to the middle of the 19th century in Isidoro Andrés de Llano's work, Remembrance of Puentedeume in Bercian dialect, 1860, published in the Esla journal. In 1861, Antonio Fernandez Morales wrote upon Mariano Cubí's (co-author) request, in Bercian dialect: Ensaios Poéticos en Dialecto Berciano.Nowadays it has almost disappeared, surviving in many expressions of daily use. Local expressions and vocabulary have been gathered in several works, the most interesting ones being those made by Luís A. Pastrana and David Lopez, at the beginning of the 1970s, with a sketch of the morphology and syntax of the dialect and one interesting dictionary of expressions and words, and Manuel Gutiérrez Tuñón's doctoral thesis "The Speech of El Bierzo", published in 1975.
Classifications
El Bierzo has always been considered a bridge between Galicia and Leon province; but with salient particular features, which led to defining this speech of El Bierzo as Bercian dialect in the 19th century, being considered part of the Galician linguistic domain by Antonio Fernández Morales in 1861 and part of the Leonese linguistic domain by Ramón Menéndez PidalRamón Menéndez Pidal
Ramón Menéndez Pidal was a Spanish philologist and historian. He worked extensively on the history of the Spanish language and Spanish folklore and folk poetry. One of his main topics was the history and legend of The Cid....
, the latter stating that the dividing line between Leonese and Galician should be placed between the basins of the Cúa and Sil rivers. In 1934, Verardo García Rey gathered the vocabulary of the Bercian dialect in the publication: Vocabulario de El Bierzo, where the author makes clear that after his fieldwork, he would re-place the dividing line between the Asturleonese and the Galician-Portuguese
Galician-Portuguese
Galician-Portuguese or Old Portuguese was a West Iberian Romance language spoken in the Middle Ages, in the northwest area of the Iberian Peninsula. It was first spoken in the area bounded in the north and west by the Atlantic Ocean and the Douro River in the south but it was later extended south...
linguistic groups, setting it strictly along the Sil river. Jesús García y García, in 1994, places the mentioned line from the high Cúa river up to a place in Ponferrada
Ponferrada
Ponferrada is a city in the province of León, Castile and León, Spain. It lies on the Sil River, a tributary of the river Miño, in the El Bierzo valley, completely surrounded by mountains. It is the last major town along the French route of the Way of St. James before it reaches its destination...
's municipality (Dehesas, Fuentesnuevas).
External links / Further reading
- El gallego-leonés de Ancares y su interés para la dialectología portuguesa. Dámaso Alonso y García Yebra.
- L'Asturianu n'El Bierzu. Apropósitu del ALBI, Ana Mª Cano en "Lletres Asturianes" Boletín Oficial de la ALLA.
- La Fala de Palacios de Sil, Roberto González-Quevedo; Academia de la Llingua Asturiana.
- Aspeutos fónicos na fala de Forniella"; Héctor García Xil en Lletres Asturianes, Alla.
- Cruce de dialectos en el habla de San Pedro de Olleros", Alfredo Álvarez Díaz en "Lletres Asturianes".
- Ensayos poeticos en dialecto berciano Autor Antonio Fernandez y Morales, Mariano Cubí y Soler . Google books