{{redirect|Aragonese}}

{{Infobox Language
|name=Aragonese
|nativename={{lang|an|aragonés}}
|states={{flag|Spain}}
|region=[[Aragon]]
|speakers=10,000 (30,000 total)
|familycolor=Indo-European
|fam2=[[Italic languages|Italic]]
|fam3=[[Romance languages|Romance]]
|fam4=[[Italo-Western languages|Italo-Western]]
|fam5=Pyrenean-Mozarabic
|agency=''[http://www.academiadelaragones.org/ Academia de l'Aragonés]''
|iso1=an
|iso2=arg
|iso3=arg
|sil=arg
|map=[[Image:Aragon languages-en.png|thumb|280px|center|Languages distribution in Aragon (Aragonese in red). Spanish is spoken in the whole area, but in the beige part Aragon is monolingual Spanish-speaking]]}}

'''Aragonese''' ({{pronEng|ˌærəɡɒˈniːz}} in English, {{lang|an|''aragonés''}}), is a [[Romance languages|Romance language]] now spoken by between 10,000 and 30,000 people over the valleys of the [[Aragón River]], [[Sobrarbe]] and [[Ribagorza]] in the [[province]] of [[Huesca (province)|Huesca]], [[Aragon]], [[Spain]]. It is also colloquially known as {{lang|an|''fabla''}} (literally, "speech").

==History==
Aragonese originated around the [[8th century]] as one of many [[Vulgar Latin|Latin dialects]] developed in the [[Pyrenees]] on top of a strong [[Basque language|Basque]]-like substratum. The original [[Kingdom of Aragon]] (formed by the counties of Aragon, Sobrarbe and Ribagorza) was progressively expanded from the mountain ranges towards the South, pushing the [[Moors]] further south in the ''[[Reconquista]]'' and spreading the Aragonese language.

The dynastic union of the [[Catalonia|Catalan Counties]] and the Kingdom of Aragon—which formed the [[Aragonese Crown]] in the 12th century—did not result in a merging of the language forms of the two territories into a single form; [[Catalan language|Catalan]] continued to be spoken in the east, and Aragonese in the west. The ''Aragonese'' reconquista to the south ended in the kingdom of [[Murcia]], that was ceded by [[James I of Aragon]] to the [[Kingdom of Castile]] as a dowry for an Aragonese princess.

The spread of Castilian, now also known as [[Spanish language|Spanish]], together with the
protective effect from it that Aragonese played for the Catalan language, the Castilian origin and the [[Trastamara]] dynasty and a strong similarity between Castilian and Aragonese, meant that further recession was to follow. One of the key moments in the history of Aragonese was when a king of Castilian origin was appointed in the 15th century: [[Ferdinand I of Aragon]], also known as Ferdinand of Antequera.

The mutual union of Aragon and Castile and the progressive suspension of all capacity of self-rule from the 16th century meant that Aragonese, while still widely spoken, was limited to a rural and colloquial use, as the nobility chose Spanish as their symbol of power. The suppression of Aragonese reached its most dramatic point during the rule of [[Francisco Franco]] in the 20th century. Pupils were punished in schools for using it, and [[language politics in Francoist Spain]] forbade the teaching of any language that was not Spanish.

The constitutional democracy voted by the people in 1978 meant an increase in the literary works and studies conducted in and about the Aragonese language. However, it may be too late for this language.

==Modern Aragonese==
Today, Aragonese is still spoken natively within its core area, the Aragonese mountain ranges of the Pyrenees, in the comarcas of Somontano, Sobrarbe, and Ribagorza.
These are the major cities and towns where Aragonese speakers can still be found: [[Huesca]], [[Graus]], [[Monzón]], [[Barbastro]], Fonz, Echo, Estadilla, [[Benasque]], [[Campo, Spain|Campo]], [[Sabiñánigo]], [[Jaca]], Plan, Ansó, [[Ayerbe]], Broto, El Grado.

Aragonese is also learnt as a second language by other inhabitants of the country in areas like [[Huesca]], [[Zaragoza]], [[Ejea de los Caballeros]], and [[Teruel]]. According to recent polls, altogether they only make up around 10,000 active speakers and about 30,000 passive speakers.

There are about 25-30 dialectal variants of Aragonese, the majority of which are in the province of Huesca, due to its mountainous terrain where natural [[isogloss|isoglosses]] have developed around valley enclaves, and where, not surprisingly, the highest incidence of spoken Aragonese is found. [[Ribagorçan]], is one such variant: an eastern Aragonese dialect, which is transitional to [[Gascon]], [[Occitan]], Catalan and Castilian.

Some historical traits of Aragonese language:
*As in Spanish, open O,E from Romance result systematically into diphthongs {{IPA|[we]}}, {{IPA|[je]}}, e.g. VET'LA > {{lang|an|''biella''}} ("old woman", Sp. {{lang|es|''vieja''}}, Cat. {{lang|ca|''vella''}})
*Loss of final unstressed -E, e.g. GRANDE > {{lang|an|''gran''}} ("big")
*Unlike Spanish, Romance initial F- is preserved, e.g. FILIU > {{lang|an|''fillo''}} ("son", Sp. {{lang|es|''hijo''}}, Cat. {{lang|ca|''fill''}})
*Romance yod (GE-,GI-,I-) results in voiceless palatal affricate ''ch'' {{IPA|[ʧ]}}, e.g. IUVEN > {{lang|an|''choben''}} ("young man"), GELARE > {{lang|an|''chelar''}} ("to freeze", Sp. {{lang|es|''helar''}}, Cat. {{lang|ca|''gelar''}})
*Like in [[Occitan language|Occitan]] and [[Galician language|Galician]]-[[Portuguese language|Portuguese]], Romance groups -ULT-, -CT- result in {{IPA|[jt]}}, e.g. FACTU > {{lang|an|''feito''}} ("done", Sp. {{lang|es|''hecho''}}, Cat. {{lang|ca|''fet''}}, Gal.-Port. {{lang|gl|''feito''}}), MULTU > {{lang|an|''muito''}} ("many"/"much", Sp. {{lang|es|''mucho''}}, Cat. {{lang|ca|''molt''}}, Gal.-Port. {{lang|gl|''muito''}}).
*Romance groups -X-, -PS-, SCj- result into voiceless palatal fricative ''ix'' {{IPA|[ʃ]}}, e.g. COXU > {{lang|an|''coixo''}} ("crippled", Sp. {{lang|es|''cojo''}}, Cat. {{lang||''coix''}})
*Unlike Spanish, Romance groups -Lj-, -C'L-, -T'L- result into palatal lateral ''ll'' {{IPA|[ʎ]}}, e.g. MULIERE > {{lang|an|''muller''}} ("woman", Sp. {{lang|es|''mujer''}}, Cat. {{lang|ca|''muller''}})), ACUT'LA > {{lang|an|''agulla''}} ("needle", Sp. {{lang|es|''aguja''}}, Cat. {{lang|ca|''agulla''}})
*Unlike Spanish, Latin -B- is maintained in past imperfect endings of verbs of the 2nd and 3rd conjugations: {{lang|an|''teneba / teniba''}} ("he had", Sp. {{lang|es|''tenía''}}, Cat. {{lang|ca|''tenia''}}), {{lang|an|''dormiba''}} ("he was sleeping", Sp. {{lang|es|''dormía''}}, Cat. {{lang|ca|''dormia''}})
*Aragonese is, along with dialects of [[Gascon]], the only Western Romance language to have preserved many of the voiceless stop consonants between vowels, e.g. CLETA > {{lang|an|''cleta''}} ("sheep hurdle", Cat. {{lang|ca|''cleda''}}, Fr. {{lang|fr|''claie''}}), CUCULLIATA > ''cocullata'' ("crested lark", Sp. {{lang|es|''cogujada''}}, Cat. {{lang|ca|''cogullada''}})

==Phonology==
{{stub-section}}

==Grammar==
{{Expand-section|date=January 2007}}
Aragonese grammar is similar to the grammar of other Iberian Romance languages, such as [[Spanish language|Spanish]] and [[Catalan language|Catalan]].
{{stub-section}}

==External links==
{{Interwiki|code=an}}
*[http://www.academiadelaragones.org/ Academia de l'Aragonés], language regulator for Aragonese.
*[http://www.consello.org/ Consello d'a Fabla Aragonesa]
*[http://www.sla-web.org/ Sociedat de Lingüistica Aragonesa]
*[http://www.charrando.com Aragonese language]
*[http://es.geocities.com/cursetaragones/engcur.htm Aragonese Course]
*[http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=arg Ethnologue report for Aragonese]
*[http://www.language-museum.com/a/aragonese.php Aragonese Language Sample]
*[http://www.websters-online-dictionary.org/translation/Aragonese/ Webster's Aragonese-English Dictionary]

{{Romance languages}}

[[Category:Pyrenean-Mozarabic languages]]
[[Category:Languages of Spain]]

[[ar:لغة أراغونية]]
[[an:Idioma aragonés]]
[[frp:Aragonês]]
[[ast:Aragonés]]
[[bg:Арагонски език]]
[[ca:Aragonès]]
[[cv:Арагон чĕлхи]]
[[cs:Aragonština]]
[[da:Aragonisk (sprog)]]
[[de:Aragonesische Sprache]]
[[es:Idioma aragonés]]
[[eo:Aragona lingvo]]
[[eu:Aragoiera]]
[[fr:Aragonais]]
[[ga:Aragóinis]]
[[gv:Aragonish]]
[[gl:Lingua aragonesa]]
[[hy:Առագոներեն]]
[[id:Bahasa Aragon]]
[[is:Aragónska]]
[[it:Lingua aragonese]]
[[kw:Aragonek]]
[[la:Lingua Aragonica]]
[[lij:Lengua aragoneise]]
[[li:Aragonees]]
[[hu:Aragóniai nyelv]]
[[mi:Reo Aragon]]
[[ms:Bahasa Aragones]]
[[nl:Aragonees]]
[[ja:アラゴン語]]
[[no:Aragonesisk]]
[[oc:Aragonés]]
[[nds:Aragoonsche Spraak]]
[[pl:Język aragoński]]
[[pt:Língua aragonesa]]
[[ro:Limba aragoneză]]
[[ru:Арагонский язык]]
[[se:Aragoniagiella]]
[[simple:Aragonese language]]
[[sr:Арагонски језик]]
[[fi:Aragonian kieli]]
[[sv:Aragonska]]
[[th:ภาษาอารากอน]]
[[tr:Aragonca]]
[[zh:阿拉贡语]]