Paḷḷuezu (also known as Patsuezu, Pachuezu, Patsuezo, Pachuezo, or Nuesa Ḷḷingua ("our language")) is a dialect of Asturian-Leonese, which is one of the Iberian Romance languages. It is one of eight recognized dialects of the

Leonese language Leonese (''llionés, ḷḷionés, lionés'') is a set of vernacular Romance languages, Romance language varieties spoken in northern and western portions of the historical region of León (historical region), León in Spain (the modern provi ...

in the narrow sense of the designation "Leonese" (i.e., excluding Asturian, Cantabrian, Eonavian, and Mirandese). Paḷḷuezu is spoken in the upper half of the valley of the Sil River, in the

comarca A ''comarca'' (, , , ) is a traditional region or local administrative division found in Portugal, Spain, and some of their former colonies, like Brazil, Nicaragua, and Panama. The term is derived from the term ''marca'', meaning a "march, mark ...

El Bierzo El Bierzo (; or ''El Bierzu''; ) is a '' comarca'' in the province of León, Spain. Its capital is the town of Ponferrada. Other major towns are Bembibre and Villafranca del Bierzo, the historical capital. The territory of El Bierzo inclu ...

, which is in the northwest of the

Province of León León (, ; ; ; ) is a province of northwestern Spain in the northern part of the Region of León and in the northwestern part of the autonomous community of Castile and León. About one quarter of its population of 463,746 (2018) lives in the c ...

, and to a minor extent in the province of Asturias, in the lands north of this portion of the Sil valley. The majority of Paḷḷuezu speakers reside in the

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

of Laciana. Paḷḷuezu is also spoken upriver from Laciana in the municipality of Babia, downriver from Laciana in the municipalities of Palacios del Sil and Páramo del Sil, and elsewhere. Palacios del Sil and Páramo del Sil are part of an ancient district called Ribas de Sil, and this name is still in use.Referred to as "the comarca of Ribas ''de'' Sil" in a 2010 manifesto signed by 54 Pal.luezu intellectuals and journalists. (The

toponym Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of ''wikt:toponym, toponyms'' (proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage, and types. ''Toponym'' is the general term for ...

Ribas de Sil occurs also in Galician speaking territory to the west, in the neighboring Province of Lugo.) The number of speakers of this dialect is unknown. However, the combined population of all speakers of Asturian-Leonese in the provinces of León and Zamora is only 20,000 to 25,000.

Orthography

The Asturian spelling ''Ḷḷ ḷḷ'', called "che vaqueira" is used where ''l.l'' has sometimes been used if it is impossible to write ḷḷ. It can be a voiceless retroflex affricate ʂ a voiced retroflex plosive �or a voiced retroflex affricate ʐ and it corresponds to standard palatal lateral approximant /ʎ/, dritten '' Ll ll'' and called "elle". The latter spelling is current in publications of the Paḷḷuezu literary revival that has been underway since approximately 2006.

Main consonantal features

The main consonantal features distinguishing this dialect from Spanish (many of which are common to Astur-Leonese generally) are: * It preserves the phoneme �(voiceless palatal fricative), spelled 'x'. * Latin /-li-/ becomes the voiceless palatal affricate ʃ spelled ''ch''. * Latin /pl-,cl-,fl-/ become ʃ * Latin /-mb-/ is preserved. * Latin /f-/ is preserved. * Latin initial /l-/ palatalizes into the apico-postalveolar voiceless affricate spelled ''ḷḷ'' (termed "che vaqueira" in Spain, "cowherd ''ch''" used by the

transhumant Transhumance is a type of pastoralism or nomadism, a seasonal movement of livestock between fixed summer and winter pastures. In montane regions (''vertical transhumance''), it implies movement between higher pastures in summer and lower ...

herders of the region, who form a distinct society) which used to be spelled ''ts''. This is distinct from the Pal.luezu palatal affricate ''ch''.

Grammatical features

* Possessive adjectives are always preceded by the definite article: ''la mia fuecha'' 'my leaf' (Spanish ''mi hoja''). (This is usually the case in Catalan, Portuguese and Italian too.)

Literary revival

In 2006, an anthology was published, ''Cuentos del Sil'' ales of the Sil(Severiano Alvarez and eight other authors), Na Nuesa Ḷḷingua. . For the year 2009, the Asociación Club Xeitu de la Montaña Occidental Astur-Leonesa (founded 2009) started an annual literary competition, the Certamen Lliterariu "Guzmán Álvarez". The competition continued in 2010 and 2011.

Notes

References

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External links

Asociación Club Xeitu de la Montaña Occidental Astur-Leonesa
{{DEFAULTSORT:Leonese Language Endangered Romance languages Dialects of Leonese