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

Abstract

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.