Asturian: History, contemporary status, and overview of its linguistic and cultural characteristics^[1]

2.1 Linguistic description

Below we present a brief description of some of the linguistic characteristics of the Asturian language, according to different linguistic features and using as a reference the version of the language in Asturias, the autonomous community in which it enjoys the most vitality and largest number of speakers (see Section 2.2).

2.1.1 Phonology

2.1.1.1 Vocalism

The system of stressed vowels of the majority of Romance languages, among them Asturian, traces its origin to the vowel system of spoken Latin or Proto-Romance, known as Qualitative-Italic, which has seven distinct vowels and four levels of openness developed after the loss of vowel quantity and the acquisition of pertinence of quality or timber (Lausberg 1970: 219):

Based on this system, Asturian reduced its vowel system to five distinct phonemes (Table 2), resolving the spoken Latin opposition between /ɛ/ – /e/ and /ɔ/ – /o/ through spontaneous diphthongization of the open vowels (García Arias 2003: 52; Cano González 2008: 245).

​The diphthongization of /ɛ/ and /ɔ/ produced /ie/ and /ue/ respectively, as is the case of pĕtra > p ie dra [stone] or rŏta > r ue da [wheel]. This diphthongization is also produced in palatal contexts with distinct types of yod (e.g., ŏculu > g üe yu [eye], fŏlia > f ue ya [leaf]; García Arias 2003: 82).

​Nevertheless, in spite of the generally spontaneous nature of diphthongization in Asturian, it is important to stress that there also exists a tendency to not diphthongize if /ɔ/ was followed by a nasal consonant, which would probably have fixed and closed the type of vowel by a degree as we see in ponte [bridge] (< pŏnte) or fonte [fountain] (< fŏnte).

​Besides /ie/ and /ue/, the Asturian language employs a large inventory of diphthongs and triphthongs not formed by diphthongization but rather by secondary processes, such as the loss of a consonant, the vocalization of a consonant, etc. (for an exhaustive description, see Muñiz-Cachón 2018: 236).

​Another very relevant linguistic phenomenon that can change the stressed vowel system is metaphony, understood as the process of vocalic harmonization by which a stressed vowel (/á/, /é/, /ó/) closes its tone (> /é ~ ó/, /í/, /ú/) due to the influence of a high final vowel (/-i/ or /-u/) (Viejo Fernández 2004; Cano González 2008: 242). There are two types of metaphony:

1. Historic metaphony: this occurred in the Proto-Romance period and it is evident in the different varieties of Asturian, including those in which metaphony is not a regular phenomenon or those in which it is not productive in the present day (e.g., fēcī > fici [I did], not *feci).

2. Modern metaphony: in some central regions of Asturias (Figure 3) this phenomenon continues to be productive (García Arias 2003: 13–15) (e.g., pl a tu > pl e tu ~ pl o tu [dish], p e rru > p i rru [dog], ll o cu > ll u cu [mad]), even though it is not part of the standard variety of the language. The affected vowels do not possess a phonological value since they are simply a mechanical effect of the final unstressed vowel. In fact, the five-value stressed vowel system is maintained or reestablished as soon as the absolute final position of the words ceases to be occupied by a high vowel (e.g., p e rru > p i rru [dog], but p e rros [dogs]).

Fig. 3: Zones affected by metaphony in the linguistic area of Asturian (García Arias 2003: Fig. 5a)

2.1.1.2 Consonantism

The Asturian consonant system has 20 distinct phonemes (Table 3).

While standard Asturian does not have /x/ in its inventory of consonants (ALLA 2001: 15), since it is a loan from Spanish, it is necessary to consider it in a synchronic description of spoken Asturian. It is used, however, in a few cases, in some native words, such as gua ḥ e [kid] or arro ḥ ar [to vomit] (Cano González 2008: 249).

From a phonetic point of view, there are some details to be considered. The voiced consonants /b/, /d/, /g/ have an occlusive articulation in word-initial position or after a nasal consonant. In other contexts, and especially in intervocalic position, they are rendered approximant [β], [ð], [ɣ]. In the case of the velar consonant [ɣ], it can also appear in the initial position (Muñiz Cachón 2002). Similarly, it should be noted that /n/ tends to produce a velar allophone at the end of a word preceded by a vocal, e.g., camín [kaˈmĩŋ] [road] (Muñiz Cachón 2003). This is a very typical feature of Asturian pronunciation.

​In terms of matters of dialect, one of the most notable differences with respect to the standard variety has to do with the allophones of /ʎ/, which in western variants of Asturian are rendered as voiced [ɖʐ] or unvoiced [ʈʂ] retroflexive cacuminal consonants (Cano González 2008: 250–251; Muñiz-Cachón 2018). Another notable dialect characteristic appears in eastern varieties of Asturian where /f/ is produced generally in absolute initial position as aspirated [h], which goes so far as to be pronounced [x] (García Arias 2003: 29–30).

2.1.2 Morphosyntax

Within the nominal paradigm the endings that express gender and number in the Asturian noun are the following (Table 4):

Other endings are also possible, such as -e (el xastr e [the male tailor]), -a (la xastr a [the female tailor]), -os/-es (los/les xastr es [the male/female tailors]) or -consonant (el rapa z [the boy]), -a (la rapaz a [the girl]), -os/-es (los rapaz os ~ rapac es [the boys]), -es (les rapac es [the girls]). Additionally, the expression and differentiation of gender of a noun can often allude to diverse semantic content: the size (el ventanu [the small window] vs la ventana [the window]), sex (el pitu [the rooster] vs la pita [the hen]), individual or collective (el cacíu [the bowl] vs la cacía [the set of bowls]), etc. (ALLA 2001: 87–88). From a dialectal point of view, feminine plurals in eastern and western variants of Asturian are formed as -as, and non -es, although those formed -es are the only ones that are standard Asturian.

​If we consider another element of the nominal group, such as the adjective, there are on the one hand those with one invariable ending for gender (e.g. l’home fuerte [the strong man] / la muyer fuerte [the strong woman]); and, on the other hand, those that have three endings: mal u (masculine) – mal a (feminine) – mal o (uncountable) [bad]. With this in mind, it is important to relate this fact to the characteristic unstressed vowel system of common Asturian which has five vowels (-i, -e, -a, -o, -u) with pertinent phonological distinctions between the palatal and velar series. In the velar series the functional performance of the -u/-o opposition is important in the adjective and in any other element that agrees with the noun (pronominal references, some stressed pronouns, etc.) since it allows the expression of the difference between the attribute that is countable or intermittent and that which is uncountable or continuous. One of the most recognizable phenomena of Asturian morphosyntax is the so-called neuter of material (Neira Martínez 1978; San Segundo Cachero 2015; Burner 2015), a label with which the grammaticalization of the difference between continuity and discontinuity is defined by means of explicit agreement between some nouns and their adjectives and pronominal references. The semantic and morphosyntactic conditions that have to be fulfilled for this phenomenon to appear are two: The continuous or uncountable attribute (which supersedes gender) of the subject that acts as the syntagmatic nucleus, and the postnuclear position of the modifier. The concordance established by the elements that go with the noun is made with the suffix -o, instead of the normative -u (masculine) or -a (feminine).

Examples:

The anteposition of the adjective that acts as a modifier reestablishes concordance with masculine and feminine endings, depending on the gender of the noun (la carne llandi o , but la llandi a carne ‘the bland meat’), except if this adjective is part of an attributive or predicative nucleus, where the position of the phrase is no longer relevant: La ropa ta barat o / Ta barat o la ropa ‘The clothes are cheap’. In dialects this phenomenon is present in the central and eastern varieties of Asturian, but not in the western ones.

​As for verbal morphology, the Asturian verb system is organized into three conjugations (verbs with infinitives ending by -ar [e.g., falar (to talk)], -er [e.g., morrer (to die)], and -ir [e.g., rir (to laugh)]). An example of the complete distribution of verbal moods and tenses in the verb paradigm can be found in ALLA (2001: 191).

​One of the principal characteristics of the Asturian verb system, compared to other Romance languages, is the absence of compound tenses (ALLA 2001: 189), a feature that is only shared with one other language of the region, Galician (RAG 2012: 102–104). In this way, simple verb forms have the ability to express by themselves all the content associated with different moods, points of view and perspectives, as well as those for which other Romance languages tend to need a compound tense:

Some authors (Llano Caelles 1993) have asserted that the expression tener + fixed participle, which has a reiterative meaning and which is well known in Asturian (e.g., Tengo sentío esa canción ‘I have listened to that song many times’), can be considered a true compound form in opposition to the simple form, and a parallel to the form that is documented in Portuguese. Nevertheless, this theory has been disproven, among other reasons, because its semantic content exceeds that of a strict compound form and because it is not consolidated as an alternative to all existing simple tenses (Cano González 2008: 268).

​The existence of a simple form of the indicative past perfect should also be noted, in reference to Asturian verbal morphology, which also coincides with the expression of the imperfect subjunctive and which conserves the etymological meaning of the Latin form from which it is derived: canta(v)eram (Cano González 2008: 269). It refers to “anteriority” with respect to a situation that is already situated in the past. E.g.: Cuando yo llegué, él yá marchara ‘When I arrived, he had gone away’.

​In terms of syntax, it is important to note that Asturian is a language with (S)VO order (e.g., Xuan mercó piescos ‘Xuan bought peaches’), an order that is also maintained in pronominal syntax, unlike a large number of Romance languages (e.g., Xuan mercólos ‘Xuan bought them’).

​The Asturian form of object pronouns, which are morphological signs made to express implementation or complementation of the verb, is the following:

​The basic position of the personal pronoun in Asturias is, like Galician and Portuguese, enclitic, that is, after the verb (D’Andrés Díaz 1993). E.g.:

With imperative forms, the pronouns are always enclitic:

​Nevertheless, there are a series of syntactic conditions in Asturian that require the use of proclisis. Some of the rules that govern the proclitic position are (ALLA 2001: 364–367):

Some special situations allow both enclitic and proclitic position, such as what is observed in certain circumstances with infinitives (e.g., Nun sé si dá voslo ~ Nun sé si vos lo dar ‘I do not know whether to give it to you’) or with verb complexes (e.g., Nun tien que face les ~ Nun tien que les facer ~ Nun les tien que facer ‘(He/she) does not have to do them’) (ALLA 2001: 367–369).

2.1.3 Lexicon

The fundamental lexical repertory of the Romance languages, among them Asturian, comes in good measure from Latin since this is the language from which they are derived. The words that make up this repertory refer in general to realities inherent to the human condition and the world that surrounds them. E.g. (cf., DELLA 2017–2021):

To this basic lexical foundation largely of Latin origin one must add other elements motivated, in good measure, by substrate or superstrate influence. In Asturian, the substrate that has had the greatest impact is Pre-Roman. A large number of words can be attributed to this substrate even if it is often difficult to determine their exact origin. E.g.: bierzu [crib], perhaps derived from the Celtic *bertiu (DELLA 2017–2021, 1: 896).

As for superstrate influences (Cano González 2008: 281–283), one can find:

• Germanisms: a certain number of words in Asturian can be attributed to a Germanic etymon, such as estaca [stick] (< gothic *stakka; DELLA 2017–2021, 3: 502). Nevertheless, the area in which Germanic influences are most important is in onomastics.

• Arabisms: it is important to keep in mind that the two Romance areas where the influence of Arabic is most notable are Sicily and the Iberian Peninsula, since both were territories of historic Muslim presence and rule. In any event, the importance of this superstrate was not as intense in the north of the Iberian Peninsula. Among the arabisms adapted to Asturian, even those for which it is uncertain if they were transmitted directly from Arabic or through Spanish (García Arias 2006), there are several examples, such as xabaril [wild pig] (< jabalî; DELLA 2017–2021, 6: 747) or zuna [bad habit] (< sunna; DELLA 2017–2021, 6: 922).

• Others: compared to the influence of Spanish, with which Asturian has maintained a diglossic relation for centuries which impels the continuous introduction of “castilianisms” in its lexical base (Cano González 2008: 284), the influence of other modern languages has much less importance. In this respect the loans from Gallo-Romance languages, such as French and Occitan are noteworthy (e.g., viaxe [trip, journey] [< occitan viatge; DELLA 2017–2021, 6: 695], xalé [chalet] [< french chalet; DELLA 2017–2021, 6: 756], etc.).

2.2 Demographics

It is a difficult task to determine the number of speakers of a language, especially when the language in question is minoritized, as is the case for Asturian. In this context, the difficulty of quantifying the number of Asturian speakers is determined by the following reasons:

1. The dominance of Spanish as Language A, that is, the language of power and prestige. One must not forget that both Spanish and Asturian are Romance languages that share the same Latin origin; for this reason, and because of the typological proximity, they are more susceptible to interference from each other, even though the direction of these interferences is more frequently, because of the diglossic frame, Spanish → Asturian (D’Andrés Díaz 1998: 166);

2. The late and precarious schooling of speakers in the Asturian language;

3. The linguistic stigma associated with the minoritized state of Asturian.

These factors can affect the self perception and self recognition of Asturian speakers when they identify what language they speak. Because of this it is important to point out that the most frequent method of collecting demographic data in Asturias has been through sociolinguistic surveys (Llera Ramo 1994; Llera Ramo & San Martín Antuña 2003; Llera Ramo 2018) which have described what people report speaking or understanding, which is a subjective self assessment.

​Thus, according to the data from the latest survey (Llera Ramo 2018: 85–86), 25% of Asturians report being able to write, read, speak, and understand the Asturian language (Figure 4), which accounts for approximately 250,000 speakers out of the approximately one million inhabitants in Asturias.

Fig. 4: Level of knowledge of Asturian between 1983 and 2017^[2] (Llera Ramo 2018: 86)

The increase with respect to the last decades has been considerable. Furthermore, this number is even greater if we add the percentage of people who are illiterate, even though they have the ability to understand and speak the language, as well as those considered passive speakers, who understand Asturian but do not speak it. If we add all the figures, we are left with more than 500,000 Asturian speakers (in a broad sense) in Asturias.

The estimates of the number of speakers in the rest of the territories where Asturian is spoken, where the language does not enjoy the same vitality that it does in Asturias, is dramatically lower. In this way, for León and Zamora, González Riaño & García Arias (2006, 2008, 2010) offer a number of around 50,000 speakers, although García Gil (2008) claims it is around 25,000. In the case of the Portuguese region, Miranda do Douro, the data used by Merlan (2009) set the number of speakers around 5,000.

2.3 Status

With the passage of the Constitución Española [Spanish Constitution] of 1978, the highest law of the Spanish state, a good number of Spanish territories with their language other than Spanish took advantage of the new legal context to declare the co-officiality of their languages, basing their actions on Article 3.2 (Las demás lenguas españolas serán también oficiales en las respectivas Comunidades Autónomas de acuerdo con sus Estatutos [Other Spanish languages will also be official in their respective autonomous communities according to their statutes]). Nevertheless, this was not the case of Asturias, which chose a form of protection that was less precise and effective in its Estatuto de Autonomía [Statute of Autonomy], which was approved in 1981 (Article 4: El bable gozará de protección. Se promoverá su uso, su difusión en los medios de comunicación y su enseñanza, respetando en todo caso, las variantes locales y la voluntariedad en su aprendizaje [Asturian will receive protection. Its use, dissemination in the media and in education will be promoted while nonetheless respecting local variants and the free choice to learn it]). For the moment, because of the development of this statute, the highest judicial framework that protects the Asturian language is the so-called Ley 1/1998, de 23 de marzo, de uso y promoción [Law 1/1998, from March 23th, of use and promotion] (Bartolomé Pérez 2022: 16–35) which, even if it establishes certain positive aspects a priori, in practice has been useless on many occasions in the face of inaction on the part of successive Asturian administrations who have failed to use or develop all its legal potential (Video 1). In this way the claim for judicial equivalency of Asturian and Spanish through the declaration of officiality following in the footsteps of other bilingual autonomous communities has been the prime focus of the asturianist movement of loyalty and rehabilitation of the Asturian language (Guardado Díez 2008).

Regarding the Autonomous Community of Castile and León to which the provinces of León and Zamora belong, its Estatuto de Autonomía [Statute of Autonomy] includes a paragraph that indicates that the language will be protected. Nevertheless, in this community there has not been a law passed covering the protection, use or promotion of Asturian (García Gil 2018: 185–186). There has been a certain level of protection for mirandés in Portugal through the law, Lei n.º 7/99, de 29 de enero de 1999 de la República Portuguesa [Law number 7/99, from January 29, 1999 of the Portuguese Republic] (“Reconhecimento oficial de direitos linguísticos da comunidade mirandesa” [Official recognition of linguistic rights of the mirandesa community]).

7.1 Structure of the educational system

The structure of the educational system is identical for the whole country: two years of pre-elementary schooling, six years of elementary education and four years of secondary education constitute the compulsory part. Those four years of secondary school can be divided into two years of secondary and two years of vocational school. Students are in the system until they complete these 12 years or until they are 18 years old, whichever comes first. After those, students can choose pursuing vocational school or continuing high school for two more years. Both avenues are at the same time terminal and also grant access to Higher Education, albeit with different quotas and requirements. In the event of pursuing Higher Education, students enter the Bolonia system for four years to obtain a degree, six for a master or up to ten for a doctorate. Another option after high school is continuing with two more years of vocational school. After those, there is an option to continue with Higher Education.

​At the pre and elementary levels, Asturias has slightly less than 60,000 students. At the secondary level, there are slightly under 43,000 (when this is written, according to the last data available from the Resultados académicos de la Educación asturiana 2020/2021, published in 2022).

​The results from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) for 2018, which are the last ones available, reveal that Asturian school-aged children score better than the average for the rest of the country, and slightly better than the OCDE countries.

​The main institution of Higher Education in Asturias is the Universidad de Oviedo (Oviedo University). It was founded in 1608 by means of the will of Valdés Salas, General Inquisitor of Castille, that was Asturian. During the French invasion of Uviéu, they foreign troops occupied the historical buildings of the University. As it was regarded as a bastion of the rich and the bourgeois, both the library and the picture gallery were set on fire and reduced to ashes during the Asturian Revolutionary movement of 1934. It was rebuilt and continued functioning as a University immediately afterwards. In its more than four centuries of history, it has yet to see a female-identified Chancellor.

​Oviedo University is composed of several different campuses in three different cities. There are three main locations in Uviéu: El Milán, where the Humanities are located; Llamaquique, that houses some Social Sciences and Education; and El Cristo, with Medicine, Law, and some Natural and Social Sciences. The campus in Xixón houses Computer Sciences, Engineering, and Economics. The third one, Mieres, is devoted to Engineering as well. All in all, when this piece is written in the Spring of 2023, it has 21,000 students: 17,000 pursuing a bachelor degree, 1,900 a master and 1,600 a doctorate.

7.2 Asturian language and the educational system

7.2.1 A brief history of Asturian in the educational system

Asturian language became part of the educational curriculum in 1984. The Francoist Ley General de Educación of 1970 [General Education Law] allowed for a timid inclusion of the lenguas nativas [native languages] of Spain in the curriculum (Rodríguez Álvarez 2022). In 1975, a new law came to clarify some of the aspects of the 1970 Ley General: the Decreto 1433/1970 [Decree 1433/1970]. According to testimonies from the time, and even when that particular Decree did not refer to any language by name, the general understanding was that the languages to which it applied were Galician, Basque and Catalan. The final implementation of the Decree was regulated through the Orden del 18 de febrero de 1976 [Order of February 18, 1976]. Following it, each Junta Provincial de Educación [Regional Educational Council] was tasked with the creation of an expert’s committee that would guide the development and assemblage of the pre-elementary and elementary curriculum of lenguas nativas. That committee was never created in Asturias, even when the denial of that pre-democratic willing was supported by more than 35,000 Asturians (Rodríguez Álvarez 2018).

​A group of educators, scholars, and community members, that were organized around Conceyu Bable (see Section 9), began to campaign then for the incorporation of Asturian language to the curriculum of pre-elementary and elementary education. Its motto was “Bable nes escueles” [Bable/Asturian Language in the Schools]. The social and political movilization was fueled in part by the enormous changes happening in Spain at that time. The Decreto 2929/1975 that regulated the presence in the public space of the lenguas regionales [regional languages] of Spain was issued less than three weeks before the death of the dictator.

​During the pre-Constitutional phase, Spain initiated a lengthy process of decentralization. The 1978 Constitution facilitates for some regions – Galicia, Basque Country, Catalonia, and Andalucía – to receive the transference of nation-building responsibilities on a fast-tracked system (Constitución española: Artículo 151), while the remaining 13 were entered into a slower-paced schedule (Constitución española: Artículo 143). Education was one of the competences that the central government retained longer for the second group.

​There was a territorial reorganization with the arrival of democracy. What had been called regiones [regions] during the dictatorship got transformed into Comunidades Autónomas [Autonomous Regions]. Some Comunidades Autónomas were formed from a pre-existing administrative region, as in the case with Asturias, while others were formed from multiple regions, as is the case of Castilla y León. Asturias became a Comunidad Autónoma uniprovincial [single-province Autonomous Community] and, as such, passed its Estatuto de Autonomía [Statute of Autonomy] in 1981. This legislation included the explicit protection of the Asturian language, although it fell short in declaring the Autonomous Community a bilingual one.

​By then, Education was already one of the main goals of the recently created Academia de la Llingua Asturiana (ALLA) [Academy of the Asturian Language]. The Estatutos de la Academia de la Llingua Asturiana [Statutes of the Academy of the Asturian Language] establish, among the functions of the Academy, “Estimular el uso, enseñanza y difusión del asturiano” [Stimulate the use, teaching and expansion of the Asturian language] (Article 2d). The Academy has charged itself with the creation and coordination of teaching materials, curriculum, and continuing education for teachers and professors. As part of that commitment, after multiple negotiations with the Socialist Party (PSOE), six elementary schools began a pilot project in the 1984/1985 school year. School children in the third year of their elementary education (which would most likely be between the ages of eight and nine) received three hours a week of instruction of Asturian language. This program reached 1,351 students. After that pilot experience, gradually, more schools began offering Asturian language classes. By the 1988/1989 school year, some high schools began offering Asturian language as part of their curriculum as well.

​However, the situation remained fragile. In 1998, the Ley 1/1998, de 23 de marzo, de uso y promoción del bable/asturiano was passed. It fell short of declaring a co-official status for Asturian, and it codified some elements related to education. It devotes its Chapter III (Articles 9, 10, and 11) to the topic. With respect to the teaching of Asturian, it reads:

El Principado de Asturias, en el ejercicio de sus competencias, asegurará la enseñanza del bable/asturiano y promoverá su uso dentro del sistema educativo, en los términos previstos en el Estatuto de Autonomía de Asturias.

[The Principality of Asturias, in the exercise of its competences, will ensure the teaching of Bable/Asturian and will promote its use in the educational system, according to the terms set forth by the Statute of Autonomy of Asturias] (Author’s translation)

With regards to the curriculum, this same legislation establishes that any student, including adult learners, who are willing to learn Asturian should be provided with the option to do so at all levels. Those that choose to learn Asturian will not be forced to do it at their own detriment: that is to say, the learning or use of the Asturian language will not prevent those choosing it from receiving the same education as others that have chosen not to learn it.

Finally, the law clarifies who is in charge of the curriculum and the official titles. The Asturian government is in charge of the titles and certifications, and the procedures to access those certifications, the authorization of materials, and the description of the curriculum for each level of education.

7.2.2 Asturian in education at present

In 2023 offering Asturian Language and Asturian culture is compulsory for all levels if families or legal tutors of school children request it: elementary (Decreto 82/2014 [Decree 82/2014]), secondary and secondary for adults (Decreto 43/2015 [Decree 43/2015]), and bachiller [last two years of high school, when students are in many cases between 16 and 18 years of age] (Decreto 42/2015 [Decree 42/2015]).

​With regards to elementary schools, students devote two periods (approximately 90 minutes a week) to Asturian language or to Asturian culture. The last year for which there are compiled data shows that 210 public schools offered the subject and 16 offered Gallego-Asturian. That is a 91.3% implantation, with 84.2% in the Navia-Eo region. Semi-public schools [escuelas concertadas] have a lower implementation, with 44 out of 54 schools offering Asturian Language. On the other hand, all the 36 private schools in the region do not offer Asturian or Gallego-Asturian. As families get to choose between Asturian Language and Asturian culture, enrollment varies. In the public system, the division is roughly half, with around 16,437 students in Asturian Language classes. Semi-public schools have 16% of students taking Asturian Language, which translates on to 2,045 students, and the remaining taking Asturian Culture.

​During the academic years 2017/2018 and 2018/2019, there was a pilot plan (Plan Piloto Experimental [Experimental Pilot Plan]) that went beyond the 90 minute coursework. In six elementary schools, students had the option of taking an additional class in Asturian that imparted content related to another subject in Asturian. It was available for students in their fourth and last year. Asturian language competes with other potential classes, such as Introduction to Business, a second foreign language, classical culture, among others, depending on the curriculum approved for the school. This situation, added to the difficulties in assigning instructors, is not conducive to an increase in the fourth grade [the fourth year of elementary school, in which children typically are ten years old]. Although successful in terms of students’ results, no line of funding was attached to it and the initiative did not continue.

​In secondary schools, Asturian Language and Literature – or Gallego-Asturian where applicable – is offered for two hours a week during the first three years, and for three hours a week during the last year. The classes compete with others, thus diminishing enrollment. As a result, the number of students has seen a slight but constant decrease. Asturian Language and Literature is offered at least partially in 76 out of 85 public secondary schools, and that number descends to four out of eight for Gallego-Asturian. Semi-public schools have improved their offerings in the last few years, and 26 out of 53 offer either a class or a series of classes. All in all, out of 32,619 students enrolled in secondary schools in Asturias in 2019/2020, 4,026 or a 12.34% were taking Asturian or Gallego-Asturian classes. As is the case for elementary schools, public schools have more representation, with 3,387 or a 14,98% from the 22,602 total, while semi-public schools reach a timid 6,37% or 639 students of their 10,017 total.

​In bachiller [last two years of high school] there is one hour of Asturian Language and Literature available for students who choose it. There are two main caveats. The first one is that it is framed in competition with other subjects such as an individual research project or others offered by each school. The second one, and most complex, is that the number of units required to complete two out of the four curricular paths of bachiller, Natural Sciences and Technology, impede adding the additional 1-unit of Asturian. In practical terms, only those students taking the Humanities or Social Sciences curriculum can take Asturian. The class is only available in public schools and, out of 9,952 students enrolled, 440 or 4.42% chose it the academic year 2019/2020.

The situation of Asturian at the University level is governed by Statutes of the University of Oviedo as well as by the Ley 1/1998, Article 17. With those in mind, the University approved in 2018 the Reglamento regulador del uso de asturiano en la Universidad de Oviedo y de la Comisión Asesora de Normalización Lingüística to regulate and facilitate the interactions between the University and its constituents when these happen in Asturian.

​In terms of curriculum, students have access to a Minor that consists of 48 credits ECTS (European Credit Transfer System). It includes eight 6-credit courses to be taken in three different academic years. According to the curricular planning, these courses are scheduled as follows:

• Sophomore year [second year]:

  • Lengua asturiana I: Normativa, Competencia y Uso [Asturian Language I: Regulations, Competency and Use],

  • Lengua asturiana II: Normativa, Competencia y Uso [Asturian Language I: Regulations, Competency and Use], and

  • Historia de la Lengua Asturiana [History of Asturian Language].

• Junior year [third year]:

  • Lengua asturiana III: Fonética y Fonología [Asturian Language III: Phonetics and Phonology],

  • Lengua asturiana IV: Morphology [Asturian Language IV: Morphology], and

  • Historia de la Literatura Asturiana [History of Asturian Literature].

• Senior year [fourth year, and likely final year of an undergraduate degree]:

  • Lengua asturiana V: Sintaxis [Asturian Language V: Syntax] and

  • Lengua asturiana VI: Léxico [Asturian Language: Lexical items].

This Minor in Asturian is available for students in different degrees:

• Estudios Clásicos y Románicos (Resolución de 2 de mayo de 2012, de la Universidad de Oviedo, por la que se publica el plan de estudios de Graduado en Estudios Clásicos y Románicos [Resolution from May 2, 2012, from the University of Oviedo that publishes the curriculum of the Degree in Classical and Romance Studies]),

• Estudios Ingleses (Resolución de 2 de mayo de 2012, de la Universidad de Oviedo, por la que se publica el plan de estudios de Graduado en Estudios Ingleses [Resolution from May 2, 2012, from the University of Oviedo that publishes the curriculum of the Degree in English Studies]),

• Lengua española y sus literaturas (Resolución de 2 de mayo de 2012, de la Universidad de Oviedo, por la que se publica el plan de estudios de Graduado en Lengua Española y sus Literaturas [Resolution from May 2, 2012, from the University of Oviedo that publishes the curriculum of the Degree in Spanish Language and its Literatures]).

Asturian is also present, this time as a Mención [Mention] for those in the degree in Elementary Education. For them, it consists of 30 ECTS credits distributed into five courses. To those, they are required to add a Practicum that is 12 more credits.

​Enrollment in these programs is not abundant. Comparatively, the Minor has fewer students than the Mención. In addition, not all students complete the whole series of courses, with some leaving them midway. It must be noted that drop out rates in Spain are more than double than the European Union. According to the data provided by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), these reach 28%.

​The Decreto 47/2019 [Decree 47/2019] implemented the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages to the context of Asturian language. The first exams took place in 2020. There were 500 seats for that first iteration, that included only B2 [an intermediate level of the Common European Framework]. 800 people tried to enroll to take the exam, and finally around 400 qualified and took it. The next opportunity, in 2021, added C1 [an advanced level] to B2. In that one, 283 qualified for B2 and 193 for C1.

7.3 Asturian for educators

One of the focuses of the Conceyu Bable, first, and of the Asturian Language Academy was the creation of courses for teachers. Since the very beginning of their activity in 1975, these institutions have organized a myriad of continuing education opportunities, as well as multiple studies to examine students’ (González Riaño & Armesto Fernández 2004, 2012; Hevia Artime & González Riaño 2017) and faculty satisfaction (González Riaño & Armesto Fernández 2012; González Riaño & Fernández Costales 2014; Mori de Arriba 2019). As part of this effort, the Academia de la Llingua Asturiana has been offering courses, as has lately the Universidá Asturiana de Branu, both for the general public, and also for educators and translators.

​There is also a specialization in Teaching Asturian within the Master in Education for Teaching, which provides the credential to teach in high schools. Since its inception, only 28 individuals have completed this degree.

​In order to teach Asturian, the instructor needs to demonstrate their knowledge of the Pedagogy of the Asturian Language by means of one of the following:

• Specialization in Asturian Language (before 1988)

• Asturian Language Courses for Educators (before 1995)

• Expert in Asturian Philology (University of Oviedo)

• Specialist in Asturian Philology (University of Oviedo)

• MEd in Teaching Asturian for Secondary, High School, and Vocational Schools

• BA with a Minor in Asturian

The central Government is yet to recognize the especialidad docente [teaching professional focus] in Asturian. The Asturian government, although with reticences, has petitioned for its creation, but the petition was denied on the basis of Asturian not yet being a co-official language. This created an unfortunate situation for instructors, who cannot be granted a permanent position and are forced to remain as temporary instructors in a high majority of the cases. In elementary schools, out of 265 instructors, only one in four had a permanent position (Presno Linera 2020: 135). In public secondary and high schools, the situation is even worse: 79 out of 81 instructors are classified as temporary. In semi-public schools teachers of Asturian are, for the most part, on an hourly basis (data from 2017/2018, last available). It is worth mentioning that some instructors have been in this position since the 80s. As a result, there is dissonance between the teaching of Asturian in the educational system and the number of qualified individuals to teach those classes.