Spanish Language
The Spanish Language
is a member of the Romance group in the Italic subfamily of the Indo-European
language family, spoken chiefly in the Iberian peninsula and in Latin America by
an estimated 330 million people. It is also known as Castilian, after the
dialect from which modern Spanish developed.
The Spanish language was
carried by Spanish colonists to the Canary Islands, the Antilles, the
Philippines, southern North America, the greater part of South America, and the
coast of Africa. In the Iberian peninsula the Spanish-language area does not
coincide exactly with the political boundaries of Spain. Spain contains three
non-Spanish-speaking regions: Galicia, in the north-west, where Gallegan
(technically a dialect of Portuguese) is spoken; the Basque provinces, in the
north, where Basque, a unique agglutinative language, is spoken; and Catalonia,
along the east coast, where Catalan, also a Romance language, is spoken. Catalan
is also spoken in the Balearic Islands; in France, in the Pyrénées-Orientales;
and in parts of Cuba and Argentina.
In its grammatical structure
Castilian Spanish is generally in conformity with French, Italian, Portuguese,
and the other Romance languages
History of the Spanish Language
The
Vulgar Latin spoken by Roman armies and settlers in ancient Spain formed the
basis of the many Spanish dialects that developed in the various regions of the
country during the Middle Ages. The dialect of Castile, or Castilian Spanish,
gradually became the accepted standard as Castile gained political dominance in
the 13th century.
While
the majority of Spanish words derive from Latin, many are taken from other
sources; for example, pre-Latin languages such as Greek, Basque, and Celtic. The
invasion of the Visigoths early in the 5th century AD
introduced a few Germanic words. The Muslim conquest three centuries later
brought in a large number of Arabic words, many of which are easily detected by
the prefixed Arabic article al. Under the influence, beginning in the
11th century, of French ecclesiastics and pilgrims on their way to Santiago de
Compostela in north-western Spain, the Spanish vocabulary was appreciably
augmented by words and phrases from French. During the 15th and 16th centuries
an infusion of elements from the Italian occurred because of Aragonese
domination in Italy and the great vogue of Italian poetry in Spain. Relations
between Spain and its colonies and possessions have led to the introduction of
terms from Native American languages and other sources, and scholarly activities
have constantly increased the stock of borrowed words.
Thinking of Learning Spanish?
Don
Quijote Spanish Language Schools have become the leading specialists in
the teaching of Spanish in Spain and Latin America since they were formed in
1986. They operate their own schools in Spain and Latin America which
means they have absolute control over the quality of the courses. The
organisation has its own information and enrolment offices in the Netherlands
and the United Kingdom, and two Promotion Offices in Salamanca - one for the US
market and another for the rest of the world. Their schools in Spain are
located in Barcelona, Granada, Madrid, Salamanca, Seville, Tenerife and
Valencia.
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