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Asturleonese Language
The Asturleonese language (also referred to as Asturian or Leonese) is a Romance language, spoken primarily in northwestern Spain, known for its many dialects including, Asturian, Leonese, and Miranda. This language has been classified by UNESCO as an endangered language, as Asturian is being increasingly replaced by Spanish.

Asturleonese is a part of the group of Western Iberian Romance languages and evolved from vulgar Latin under the Austrian reign. The linguistic region of the Asturleonese language stretches from Asturias in the north until the northern part of Portugal at its southernmost point. The language consists of three main linguistic subgroups: occidental, central and oriental. The "montañés" in the east and the "extremeño" in the south are linguistic variations of Asturleonese, all with similar qualities to the oficial language of Spanish. While there exist differing degrees of vitality between regions in the area, Asturias and Miranda del Douro have historically been the regions in which Asturleonese has been the best preserved.

Brief History
The Asturleonese language originated from Latin, which was mainly transmitted through the Roman legions in Asturica Augusta as well as the Legionnaire VI. The adoption of Latin by the Astures, who inhabited the area, was a slow process but an inevitable one, as the use of the colonial language was the key to obtaining equal rights; the most important priority, at the time, being to earn Roman citizenship. However, like the rest of the peninsula, it was not until the establishment of the German reign that Latin came to be the common spoken language of the area.

Along with many linguistic similarities to Latin, the Asturian language also has distinct Roman characteristics that can be linked back to the Cantabrian Wars; a conflict in which the northern villages of Leon and Asturias fought against the incorporation of the Roman culture. These two linguistic influences, together with the expansion and the subsequent regression of vernacular languages, such as Basque, would determine the linguistic evolution in the northwestern part of the peninsula. The vocabulary of Asturleonese contains pre-romanic elements that survived the later romanization of the area, as well as including pre-Indoeuropean elements that were only maintained through typonymy.

Diglossia and the Language of Castellano
For a long time, during the 12th, 13th, and 14th centuries, Latin and Asturian co-existed within a diglossic relationship. During this time, Asturleonese was used in official documents and shared a high legal status than the it would within the following centuries. However, the period of time between the fifteenth to eighteenth centuries, many linguistic dialects were marginalized within the Iberian Peninsula as well as other parts of Europe. Because of this, many linguistic dialects were omitted and many cultural minorities were marginalized, making it dangerous for some languages, such Asturleonese, to exist and resulted in the fragmentation of others.

During the nineteenth century, the Asturian territories were included as part of the Spanish circle. During this time, Spanish thrived as a language of prestige and culture which led to its replacing Asturleonese in these areas, as well as in the neighboring Galicia, leaving it to mainly oral usage. Consequently, there existed, and still exists, a distinct divide between the spoken languages of Spanish and Asturian and the written ones.

This being said, diglossia exists today within the region of Asturias. While Spanish is the official language, being used in the government and political spheres, the Asturian language survives as the language mainly used in informal and casual conversation within these communities. Additionally, the language is often offered as an elective in schools throughout the linguistic region.

Legal Status
Asturleonese only recently received recognition in the municipality of Miranda de Duero by virtue of Portuguese law 7/99 on January 29, 1999, although merely as a language that should continue to be protected and preserved, not awarding it any official status within Asturias. Meanwhile, Catalan, Basque, and Galician were all granted official status in their respective regions in 1978. Therefore, there exists some tension, as Asturleonese is still not regarded as an official language today.

The Spanish Constitution recognizes the existence of vehicular languages and the need for the protection of existing dialects within the national territories. In article 3.3 of the constitution, the document concretely states that "the richness of the distinct linguistic modalities of Spain is a cultural heritage that will be the subject of special respect and protection." Additionally, article 4 states that, "The Asturian language will enjoy protection. Its use, teaching and diffusion in the media will be furthered, whilst its local dialects and voluntary apprenticeship will always be respected." In light of these stated provisions of the 1/1998, on the 23 of March, on the Use and Promotion of the Asturleonese Language serves this purpose; promoting the use of the language, its knowledge within the educational system, as well as its dissemination in media. However, Asturleonese continues to have a very limited presence within the government.

Geographic Distribution
Linguistically, it's considered that within the dominion of Asturleonese, the known dialects such as Leonese, Asturiano, or Mirandese form part of a macrolanguage. A macrolanguage is a language that exists as distinct linguistic varieties. Within this macrolanguage, dialects such as the Occidental and Oriental share some linguistic characteristics with Galaicoportuguese and Castellano.

Linguistics have shown how the boundaries of the Asturleonese language extend through Asturias, Leon, Zamora, and Miranda do Douro. The common characteristic of Asturleonese in every area, however, is that the language is not characterized for being an aggregation of an Asturian, Leonese, Zamorano, or Mirandan dialect; the first linguistic divisions of Asturleonese are vertical divisions that form three separate sections that are shared between Asturias and Leon: occidental, central, and oriental. Only through a second level of analysis were smaller sections able to be expressed. The political and administrative entities and linguistic spaces rarely coincided, as it's most common that languages go beyond borders and do not coincide with them.

Number of Speakers
There is no known, exact number of Asturleonese speakers, as not enough statistical research has been conducted in this area and many dialects are not accounted for due to their close similarities with Spanish. It is believed that there are over 100,000 Asturian speakers within Spain and Portugal. However, a study conducted in 1991 on the specific Asutrian dialect, showed that there could be as many as 450,000 speakers within the Asturias region, with about 60,000 to 80,000 able to read and write the language. The same study indicated that another 24 percent of the population could understand Asturian. This also explains the diverse range of knowledge and familiarity that those within the region have of the Asturleonese language, as there exist some speakers, some who can only understand the language, and a very small portion of the population who are able to read and write.