Spanish Language History

THE EVOLUTION OF SPANISH

Spanish is a Romance language , meaning that it is a descendant from Latin, the official language of the Roman Empire and a branch of the Indo-European.

Like the other Romance languages, Spanish is derived from Vulgar Latin, the cluster of dialects spoken by legionaries, traders, farmers and the like.

Originally from Castilla in the northern area of Spain, it evolved as a Latin dialect along the Cantabria, Burgos and La Rioja provinces of Northern Spain. From there, its use gradually spread inside the Kingdom of Castile, where it devoloped and eventually became the principal language of the government and trade. It was later brought to the Americas and other parts of the world in the last five centuries by Spanish explorers and colonists.

Spanish is the native language of 332 million people in the world. In addition to Spain, Spanish is the official language of Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, and Venezuela. It is also widely spoken in other nations including Canada, Morocco, the Philippines, and the United States, where it is spoken as a second language by 22 million people.

Spanish is also one of six official working languages of the United Nations. The language of Cervantes, Picasso and García Marquez is already the second world language as a vehicle of international communication and the third as an international language of politics, economics and culture.

SPANISH TODAY

In 1713, the Real Academia Española was founded and since then it has been establishing authoritative criteria for the sanctioning of neologisms and the incorporation of international words.

In March 2006 the king and queen of Spain and the president of The Real Academia Espanola attended The xiii Spanish Language Congress in Colombia where representatives from the Spanish speaking counties gathered to write the new Panhispanic Grammar Book, that is to say the Latinamerican Grammar book, as the language has evolved significantly from its continental origin.

Names given to the Spanish language: Español o Castellano?

Spanish people tend to call this language español when contrasting it with languages of foreign states, such as French and English, but call it castellano, i.e. Castilian, the language of the Castile region, when contrasting it with other languages of Spain(such as Galician, Basque, and Catalan). In this manner, the Spanish Constitution of 1978 uses the term castellano to define the official language of the whole State, opposed to las demás lenguas españolas.

El castellano es la lengua española oficial del Estado. (…) Las demás lenguas españolas serán también oficiales en las respectivas Comunidades Autónomas…

Castilian is the official Spanish language of the State. (…) The other Spanish languages shall also be official in the respective Autonomous Communities…

Some Spanish speakers consider castellano a generic term with no political or ideological links.

Spanish or Castellano?

Here are two main names given to the Spanish language: 'Spanish' and 'Castilian'. Linguistically speaking, 'Castilian' means 'Spanish', as it is the medieval Castilian language that spread across Spain and became the national language known virtually always as 'Spanish', in English. But in Spanish itself, the term castellano (Castilian) is often used to refer to the language, at the expense of the term español (Spanish.) It seems that awareness of the term 'Castilian' is growing in English, and even more so in French. To understand how two terms can refer to the same language, imagine that the English language was sometimes called 'English' after the historical nation whose language it is, but also sometimes 'British' after the modern state of which it is the official language. Imagine then that Britain had an empire of colonies in the Americas. How would they then refer to the language? What about the speakers of Welsh and other non-English languages spoken in Britain? This is almost exactly the situation with Spain and its historical heart, Castile (Castilla.)

Spaniards tend to call this language español (Spanish) when contrasting it to languages of other states (e.g. in a list such as francés, inglés, chino y español) but castellano (Castilian) when contrasting it with other regional languages of Spain (e.g. gallego, vasco, catalán/valenciano y castellano, as in the Spanish Constitution of 1978).
The official Real Academia Española used castellano from the 18th century, but from 1923 its dictionary and grammar are de la lengua española. However, the Academy's use of one term or the other should not be taken to be a condemnation of the other.

The term castellano is occasionally used to imply more of a standard form than español does. For example, if someone mispronounces a word, they might be told ¡hable castellano!, i.e. 'Speak Castilian!', 'Speak properly!'. However, this nuance is not to be exaggerated, as it is perfectly possible that the term español or even cristiano ('Christian') could be used instead. Moreover, the term castellano is also commonly and correctly used to refer to dialects of Spanish that deviate dramatically from the standard.

In practice, the use of one term or the other tends to be a matter of local customs, rather than deep philosophical, sociological and political thought on the individual level. Some constitutions avoid the issue by talking about "the national language."


Countries or regions where castellano ('Castilian') is generally preferred:
• Argentina
• Uruguay
• Paraguay
• Bolivia
• Ecuador
• Venezuela

Countries or regions where there is generally oscillation between the two:
• Chile: The media uses the word español and the school subject is castellano.

Countries or regions where español ('Spanish') is generally preferred:
• Colombia
• Dominican Republic
• Mexico
• Peru (Both words)