Lletres Asturianes

José Arias de Miranda's 1858 article on the varieties of Asturian and its differences with Gumersindo Laverde Ruiz's 1862 version

2025-03-27T10:36:24+00:00

An article by José Arias de Miranda, published in two issues of Revista de Asturias in 1858, presents the first printed classification of Asturian into its western, central, and eastern varieties. The unavailability of the original text led to the assumption that a later article by Gumersindo Laverde-Ruiz (1862) was a faithful reproduction of the first. However, the original text reveals similarities between the two while also highlighting their differences: Arias de Miranda briefly describes Eastern Asturian without the apologetic tone of Laverde-Ruiz, characterizes Central Asturian without comparisons to other languages, and provides a more detailed account of his ideas regarding Western Asturian and its boundaries. This article reproduces the first part of José Arias de Miranda’s text alongside a brief comparative analysis with Gumersindo Laverde-Ruiz’s article, focusing on the classification of Asturian varieties. This approach allows for a reassessment of the impact of the 1858 article and a clearer distinction between the contributions of both authors. Our lack of knowledge of the second part of the article makes the conclusions necessarily provisional.

(Re)discovering Felisa la Santolaya (1924-2020)

2025-02-27T01:53:10+00:00

The article presents an account of the life and work of the Asturian writer Felisa Granda ‘Felisa la Santolaya’ (1924–2020), a popular author who left behind a considerable body of work across several volumes. It analyses the literary and linguistic perspectives of the author through interviews and family testimonies we were able to gather, as well as a selection of excerpts from her work, chosen as a representative sample.

On the evolution and the (limited) conservation of the Proto-Romance suffix */-ˈjon-e/ in Asturian

2025-01-10T09:52:35+00:00

This work aims to study the evolution of the Proto-Romance sufix */-ˈjon-e/ in mod- ern Asturian. This morpheme has a long history: it can indeed be reconstructed in Proto-In- do-European and Proto-Italic. It is widely attested in Latin and can also be reconstructed in Proto-Romance thanks to the comparison of the Romance languages. Its reflex in Asturian has the form ‘-zón’ and can be found in some inherited words and idioromance creations. The use of the word «some» might be surprising here, but this sufix, which was very prolific in earlier linguistic stages, happens not to have been very productive throughout the history of the Asturian language. Thanks to various works, a corpus of words ending with the graphic sequence <-zón> can be created, and these lexemes can then be arranged in various categories according to the linguistic type to which they belong and their relevance to this study. This approach makes it possible to draw up a short list of terms that are analysable as derivatives in ‘-zón’, which will serve as a basis for the analysis of this morpheme from a semantic, morphological and morpho- syntactic perspectives. Finally, the last part of this study will constitute an attempt to explain the low productivity and limited conservation of this sufix, by considering the competition exerted by other sufixes that are formally and/or semantically similar.

Mechanisms of linguistic change: a phraseological approach

2025-01-31T07:42:54+00:00

This article analyses the processes of linguistic change within the context of Asturian phraseology. It focuses on key phenomena such as lexicalization and grammaticalization, while also considering the subjectivization that often accompanies the latter. Through a theoretical framework tailored to the specific characteristics of Asturian, the article examines the features of these mechanisms and their effects on the structure and meaning of phraseological units.

Lexicalization is defined as the process by which multi-word syntactic units, whether grammatical or not, are transformed into lexical elements that may even achieve single-word elements, often their losing semantic compositionality and acquiring idiomatic meaning. Conversely, grammaticalization refers to the transition from lexical to grammatical elements, involving greater semantic abstraction and an increased functional value of the element in question. This process leads to subjectivization, understood as the projection of the speaker’s mental state onto discourse, which in turn facilitates the pragmatization of certain constructions. Although opposite in nature, both processes exhibit similar dynamics regarding semantic and formal fixation and are driven by figurative mechanisms, including metaphor, metonymy, and metaphtonymy.

Using a corpus primarily composed of phraseological units drawn from the main Asturian dictionaries, this study demonstrates how these phenomena contribute to the evolution of the Asturian lexicon, creating a cyclical dynamic between multi-word and single-word elements, as well as between lexicalization and grammaticalization.

This study not only advances the understanding of Asturian phraseology but also offers reflections on the boundaries of phraseology in the context of Asturian linguistics, emphasising the importance of these processes in shaping the linguistic system. Thus, the interplay between lexicalization and grammaticalization emerges as a fundamental concept for conducting an in-depth study of the phraseological lexicon of any language.

‘Atiendi, Asturies, atiendi’: the effects of the musical and collective interpretation of some poems by Manuel Asur

2025-01-22T08:46:36+00:00

This paper presents an analysis of the impact that the musicalization of some of Manuel Asur’s poems by the Nuberu group had on Asturian society. It begins by reviewing the historical and political context in which the poems were written, focusing on the origin, activity and objec- tives of Conceyu Bable. The role and interaction of other cultural organizations and movements of the time, such as Camaretá and the Nuevu Canciu Astur, are also described. After examining a range of ideas about the literary context that characterizes said poems, a literary analysis of those selected is presented, including some analysis of their musicalization that considers the interaction between music and lyrics. Next, bearing in mind the context, the paper focuses on the effects caused by the transition from poems to songs, analyzing the social and ideological characteristics of the public that received them. In addition, the article offers a description of the textual mechanisms used by Asur to fully develop his target audience: vocabulary, references,

and themes. Given their importance for the popularization of poetry through music in this con- text, the paper explores the collective interpretation of Asur’s works by the audience of Nuberu’s concerts, specifically how this interpretation determined the understanding of the songs, and how the public interacted with them and with each other. As possible future lines of research, the paper presents several thoughts on the validity of the ideas of the Nuevu Canciu Astur and its influence on later Asturian music, thus establishing comparisons between the analyzed works and some other more recent examples. In conclusion, this paper intends to understand the impact that Nuberu’s songs —and the appearance of an appropriate audience— had on the political and social context of Asturias at the time, which, with a modernized sound, were able to convey the emotions of an entire generation in the autochthonous language.

Sicilia: Translation proposal in Asturian and translationological comment

2024-12-13T11:35:51+00:00

La Sicilia is a 19th-century Sicilian legend which was collected and published by the Sicilian humanist Giuseppe Pitrè in Fiabe e leggende popolari siciliane in 1888. In it, the mythical origin of the name of the southernmost island of Italy is told. In this paper, we propose a translation of the story into Asturian and analyse the challenges that have emerged throughout the process. In this way, we seek to give continuity to the work begun by Pelayo Martínez-Olay (2021) with the translation of another legend by the same author, in which he studied the Sicilian periphrastic system in contrastive key with the Asturian language. We, however, offer a different study, not only focusing on grammatical elements, but also on cul- tural figures of the Sicilian region that appear, to varying extents, as characters or narrative elements in the legend. Although we are dealing with two structurally related languages (both Romance languages), the geographical distance and the absence of a good cultural exchange between them make it dificult for the target reader to know the Sicilian culture, so our objec- tive is twofold: on the one hand, to delve deeper into the most problematic points that arise throughout the translation process, and on the other, to make Sicilian culture accessible to new readers, so that it may be appreciated and shared beyond its borders. To achieve this, we employ a methodology based on the communicative model, which focuses the importance of the process on the text already in the target language, that is, Asturian. Before reaching the commentary of the translation, we describe the methodological framework we are going to follow and the main sources on which we base our decisions; next, we analyse the history and characteristics of the Sicilian language and then compare these features with the Asturian language; then, we do a preliminary analysis of the text to find the potentially problematic elements during the translation process; afterwards, we present both texts (the original and the translated one) and the traductological commentary, where we will focus on three specific elements: false friends, proper names (and their relation to Sicilian culture) and paremiological units. Finally, we offer our conclusions and bibliographical references.

Asturian Children’s and Youth literature in the last 25 years: formats, topics and future perspective

2025-02-11T09:28:44+00:00

Children’s and Youth Literature Is one of the key elements in the transmission of lan- guage and culture to children. The current educational legislation of Asturian Language and Literature subject for Primary and Secundary Education (ESO), includes as fundamental knowl- edge the reading of books suited to students’ interests, as well as an understanding of Asturian literary heritage and contemporary literature. In this sense, it is necessary to review whether the formats, topics and genres of Children’s and Young People’s books in Asturian respond to the interests of children and current literary trends. This study provides a comprehensive overview of Children’s and Youth Literature published in the last 25 years. For this purpose, a database was created containing a corpus of 46 books published in the Asturian language between 2000 and 2024. To classify the sources obtained, the criteria of age, topic, linguistic complexity, gender and subgenre were applied. The analysis focuses on literary genres/subgenres, topics, and formats, linking the results to trends in Children’s and Young People’s Literature in the Hispanic sphere and outlining a future perspective for Children’s and Youth Literature in Asturian.

Conceyu Bable (CB): some keys about its emergence and rapid expansion

2025-01-30T11:57:46+00:00

The birth of Conceyu Bable in 1974 marked the emergence of the movement to recover and vindicate the Asturian language and, beyond that, the appearance of modern Asturianism. On the fiftieth anniversary of its origin, this article aims to investigate the factors that favoured the emergence of this movement and its social diffusion. To do so, we starts with a contextualisation of the Asturian linguistic reality in the Franco era, to then delve into the keys that explain, in that scenario, the rise and expansion of Conceyu Bable. In this last sense, we consider the intervention of contextual aspects (1) and personal elements (2) as clarifying factors of the phenomenon. 1) The Asturias of the last decades of Francoism is marked, among other issues, by the socio-economic crisis, the growing politicisation and social resistance against the Regime, the cultural dynamism and the changes in the information sphere. In this

environment, a diffuse and embryonic regionalist consciousness began to emerge, as an op- position to the imaginary identity deployed by the Dictatorship and as a means of improving understanding of the region’s problems. 2) The founders of Conceyu Bable, closely connected to the rural environment, have Asturian as their familiar language. Their university experience will serve them to learn linguistic theories that explain the situation of the native language as an autonomous language situated in a framework of conflict, to recognize its possibilities of social recovery and to glimpse its potential as a nodal point for the demand for an au- tonomous and democratic Asturias. With the aim of making their ideas public, they shape a journalistic experiment - made possible by the changes that have occurred in the information field - a forum called Conceyu Bable, which will turn its authors into a vanguard group with the capacity to lay the strategic and theoretical foundations of a project that will serve as a reference for that sector of society with incipient Asturianist interests.

Jean-Pierre Chambon (2023). Recherches sur la toponymie de l’arrondissement de Lure (Haute-Saône): linguistique historique, dialectologie, traces d’histoire. En collaboration avec Daniel Curtit, Alain Guillaume, Jean Hennequin et Louis Jeandel. [Travaux d

2025-02-03T02:17:32+00:00

Reseña de

Jean-Pierre Chambon (2023). Recherches sur la toponymie de l’arrondissement de Lure (Haute-Saône): linguistique historique, dialectologie, traces d’histoire. En collaboration avec Daniel Curtit, Alain Guillaume, Jean Hennequin et Louis Jeandel. [Travaux de Linguistique Romane. Lexicologie, onomastique, lexicographie, 10]. Strasbourg: EliPHi, 651 p.

Intrecci di nomi. Studi di onomastica letteraria per Donatella Bremer, Mirto, S. e Sale, G. (2024). Pisa: Edizioni ETS. 424 p.

2025-02-28T12:02:08+00:00

Ensin resume

Dizionari de Lenghe Furlane (DLF). CLAAP [soc. coop. par cure di Alessandro Carrozzo] (2024).

2025-02-28T12:46:36+00:00

Ensin resume