Border Languages: Mirandese

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Team:
Manuela Barros Ferreira (coordinator)
Ivo Castro (scientific adviser)
Rita Marquilhas (researcher)

External Collaborators:

Cristina Martins (researcher, Coimbra University)
Mirandese consultants:
António Bárbolo Alves (writer)
Amadeu Ferreira (writer)
Domingos Raposo (profesor)
Funding:
Without specific external funding.


Presentation of the Mirandese Language:

Mirandese is a minority language spoken in North Eastern Portugal on a 500 sq. km plateau next to the (ex) border with Spain, outlined by the River Douro. Historically, this idiom is integrated within the Asturo-Leonese linguistic domain, with which it shares a series of phonetic characteristics, amongst which the palatalization of "l-" initial in vernacular words of Latin origin. On the one hand constantly subjected to pressure from Portuguese in all situations and on the other to the growing influence of Spanish in tourist/commercial relationships, Mirandese was preserved up until the present time by the rural population. It bears one individuality which is patent in others traces which do not exist in Asturo-Leonese.

Nowadays, according to the latest estimates, it is used by six or seven thousand people in this area. Being a language with an oral tradition, it was the official recognition of its rights, in 1999, that provided it with new prestige, giving it full rights to occupy a space in the media and education. Its situation as an endangered language and the growing integration of rural populations into the circuits of education and modern services show a possible way for its preservation, which is based not only on a desirable rehabilitation of oral conditions but also in the capacity of writing to retain the collective memory in long-lasting and accessible supports.

Keeping this last objective in mind, Lisbon University's Linguistic Centre formed a team in 1994, with the aim of beginning a linguistic normatization at the "corpus" level, as an indispensable stage for it to reach its status recognition. After the publication of a "Proposal for an Orthographic Mirandese Convention" (1995) the Portuguese Parliament recognised the right of the Mirandese speakers to use their language (1999) and in the same year a more complete version of the Convention was published. Its first great result is obvious the increase of publications in Mirandese which can be confirmed from the year 2000 and the number of people who are interested in studying this language nowadays.

Given that the elaboration of the Convention didn't resolve all the problems raised by the setting of writing norms, it was continued the work in this area. In 2001 a web page linked to CLUL was set up with the aim of being a place to present new proposals of norms and advances in researches, to provide basic information about the language, and to maintain a constant exchange of information between scholars of the language via the Forum, Blog and e-mail.

Assignments carried out by CLUL:

The 70s and 80s:
Linguistic inquiries in the area of Asturo-Leonese dialects spoken in Portugal for the project "Atlas Linguístico-Etnográfico de Portugal e Galiza"
1987
Participation in "The first day conferences of the Mirandese language and culture" held in Miranda do Douro.
The 90s
Inquiries in villages of the neighbouring former Leonese area (Saiago and Aliste) in Spain.
1993
Organization of the regional meeting of the Portuguese Linguistic Association "Linguistic variation in space, time and society" in Miranda do Douro.
1995
Publication of a "Proposal for a Mirandese Orthographic Convention".
1999
Publication of the Mirandese Language Orthographic Convention.
2000
Participation in the Portuguese Commission for the European Year of Languages, with the aim of preparing a Mirandese presence in this celebration. Survey of the priorities for the normalization and improvement of the language. Adoption of a "First appendix" to the Orthographic Convention, with the aim of integrating the dialect of Sendim. in ordinary writing.
2001
Participation in the celebration of the European Year of Languages with various public interventions. Teaching course "Introduction to Mirandese" (First part) in the first Summer Course of Mirandese Language. Construction of a site exclusively dedicated to the Mirandese language.
2002
Publication of a Second Appendix to the Orthographic Convention for public discussion on the site "Sítio de l Mirandés".
2003
Continuation of the former activity.

 

Publications:

CRUZ, Mª Luísa Segura da, João SARAMAGO e Gabriela VITORINO 1994. "Os falares leoneses em território português: coesão e diversidade", Variação linguística no espaço, no tempo e na sociedade. Actas do Encontro Regional da Associação Portuguesa de Linguística, Miranda do Douro, Setembro de 1993, Lisboa: APL/ Edições Colibri, 281-293.

FERREIRA, Manuela Barros e Ana Maria MARTINS 1987. "O mirandês nos Atlas Linguísticos", Actas das 1ªs Jornadas de Língua e Cultura Mirandesas, Miranda do Douro: Câmara Municipal de Miranda do Douro, 33-42.

FERREIRA, Manuela Barros 1994. "A limitrofia do sendinês", Variação linguística no espaço, no tempo e na sociedade. Actas do Encontro Regional da Associação Portuguesa de Linguística, Miranda do Douro, Setembro de 1993, Lisboa: APL/ Edições Colibri, 281-293.

FERREIRA, Manuela Barros e Domingos RAPOSO (coord), António B. Alves, Ivo Castro, Marcolino Fernandes, Valdemar Gonçalves, Rita Marquilhas, Cristina Martins, A.M. Mourinho, Moisés Pires e José A. Raposo, 1995. Proposta de Convenção Ortográfica Mirandesa, Miranda do Douro: Câmara Municipal de Miranda do Douro.

FERREIRA, Manuela Barros 1999. "Lição de mirandês "You falo cumo bós I bós nun falais cumo you", in F. Fernández Rei e A. Santamarina (eds.) Estudios de Sociolingüística Románica. Linguas e variedades minorizadas, Santiago de Compostela: Servício de Publicacións da Universidade de Santiago de Compostela,133-153.

FERREIRA, Manuela Barros e Domingos RAPOSO (coord), António B. Alves, Ivo Castro, Marcolino Fernandes, Valdemar Gonçalves, Rita Marquilhas, Cristina Martins, A.M. Mourinho, Moisés Pires e José A. Raposo, 1999. Convenção Ortográfica da Língua Mirandesa. Miranda do Douro: Câmara Municipal de Miranda do Douro; Lisboa: CLUL. 1999: Acessível in http://mirandes.no.sapo.pt (página inicial).

FERREIRA, Manuela Barros 2000. "Em torno da Convenção Ortográfica da Língua Mirandesa", in José Francisco Meirinhos (coord.), Estudos Mirandeses. Balanço e Orientações. Homenagem a António Maria Mourinho. Actas do Colóquio internacional: Porto, 26 e 27 de Março de 1999, Porto: Granito Editores e Livreiros, 55-67.

FERREIRA, Manuela Barros e Rita MARQUILHAS 2000. "Justificação da Primeira Adenda", in http://mirandes.no.sapo.pt/LMRadendas.html

FERREIRA, Manuela Barros 2001. "A situação actual da língua mirandesa e o problema da delimitação histórica dos dialectos asturo-leoneses em Portugal" (comunicação ao Seminário "Intercambios lingüísticos y literários no ámbito románico", 2001), Revista de Filología Románica, vol. 18, Madrid: Universidade Complutense de Madrid, 117-136. Também in http://mirandes.no.sapo.pt/BEestudos2.html

FERREIRA, Manuela Barros 2001. "O mirandês no Ano Europeu das L'inguas" in Maria Helena Mira Mateus (coord.) Mais Línguas, mais Europa: celebrar a diversidade linguística e cultural da Europa, Colóquio 25 e 26 de Janeiro de 2001, Lisboa: edições Colibri, 35- 41.

FERREIRA, Manuela Barros 2000. "O mirandês, Língua Minoritária" (intervenção no Curso de Verão sobre "A Política do Português em África e na Europa", Arrábida, 1998), in M.ª Helena Mateus (coord.) Uma política de Língua para o Português, Lisboa: Colibri, 137-145.

GELM (Grupo de Estudo da Língua Mirandesa, coord. de M. B. Ferreira) 2000. "Proposta de programação de iniciativas para o desenvolvimento da língua mirandesa 2000-2001 e ss.) in http://mirandes.no.sapo.pt/LMPSdecdes.html.

GELM (coord. Manuela Barros Ferreira ) (2002) "(Para a Convenção Ortográfica da Língua Mirandesa). Proposta de Adenda 2. Empréstimos do Português: I - Empréstimos com x", in http://mirandes.no.sapo.pt/Pp1.html.
Last Updated on Monday, 27 December 2010 18:31  


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