Castilian Language: History, Dialects, and Modern Usage

Castilian: A Romance Language

Castilian is a Romance language derived from Vulgar Latin and enriched with contributions from other dialects and languages. Since its inception, it tended to innovate, distinguishing it from other Iberian languages. Castilian emerged in the north of the peninsula and spread during the Reconquista. Alfonso X greatly contributed to Castilian through linguistic leveling, fixing spelling, and the development of Castilian prose. The invention of printing, the publication of Nebrija's Grammar of the Spanish Language, and the discovery of America expanded Castilian's reach.

Royal Spanish Academy

A growing interest in linguistics and language purity is reflected in the foundation of the Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) in 1714.

Dialectal Varieties

Bilingual Areas

• Catalan: Palatal articulation of /l/, devoicing of final /d/, distinction between /b/ and /v/, and unique vocabulary.
• Galician: Closure of final vowels /o/ and /e/, use of the diminutive "-iño", and enclitic use of pronouns.
• Basque: Loss of initial /f/ and absence of pronouns as direct objects.

Historical Dialects of Spanish

• Asturian: Closure of final vowels /o/ and /e/, diminutive "-ino", and plurals in "-es".
• Aragonese: Suffix "-ico" and the use of pronouns with prepositions.

Northern Varieties

These varieties are characterized by the differentiation between /s/ and /z/, /s/ and /x/, "laísmo", and other features.

Southern Varieties

• Andalusian: "Seseo" (pronouncing /s/ for /θ/), "ceceo" (pronouncing /θ/ for /s/), aspiration of /s/, confusion of /l/ and /r/, diminutives "-illo" and "-illa".
• Canarian: "Ceceo", aspiration of /s/, "yeísmo" (pronouncing /ʎ/ as /ʝ/), use of "ustedes" instead of "vosotros", Andalusianisms, and "guanchismos" (words from the Guanche language).
• Extremaduran: Aspiration of /s/, confusion of /l/ and /r/, "yeísmo", suffix "-ino", and archaisms.
• Murcian: Aspiration of /s/, "ceceo", suffix "-ico".

Spanish Today

Modern Spanish is influenced by other languages, education, and technology. There is a tendency towards synalepha, and the relaxation or loss of vowels in colloquial speech. Other trends include the weakening or loss of intervocalic /d/, the expansion of "yeísmo", and expressive and emphatic tone in unstressed syllables.

Other Changes

• Variations in the gender of nouns for occupations performed by women.
• Pluralization of foreign words with "-s".
• Adverbalization of adjectives.
• Familiarity and disuse of the future subjunctive.
• Use of prepositional phrases with "que" ("queísmo").
• Incorporation of neologisms.
• Need for a pan-Hispanic standard.