Leonese language
set of certain vernacular Romance language varieties spoken in León and Zamora (Spain)
Leonese (llionés, ḷḷionés, lionés) is a set of vernacular Romance language varieties spoken in northern and western portions of the historical region of León in Spain (the modern provinces of León, Zamora, and Salamanca), the village of Riudenore (in both Spain and Portugal) and Guadramil in Portugal, sometimes considered another language. In the past, it was spoken in a wider area, including most of the historical region of Leon. The current number of Leonese speakers is estimated at 20,000 to 50,000. Spanish is now the predominant language in the area.
Leonese forms part of the Asturleonese linguistic group along with dialects of Asturian. The division between Asturian and Leonese is extra-linguistic, as the main divisions within the Asturleonese complex are between eastern and western varieties, rather than between varieties spoken in Asturias and Leon.
Name
Menéndez Pidal used "Leonese" for the entire linguistic area, including Asturias. This designation has been replaced by Ibero-Romance scholars with "Asturian-Leonese", but "Leonese" is still often used to denote Asturian-Leonese by non-speakers of Asturian or Mirandese. Sometimes the language as a whole is simply called "Asturian" for several reasons, such as the Leonese dialects being on the brink of extinction, or the widespread ignorance of its very existence (even in León), as well as their lack of recognition and institutional support (as opposed to their Asturias counterparts).
Leonese and Asturleonese
In a narrow geographical sense, Leonese is distinct from the dialects grouped under the Asturian language.
The public source identifies “Leonese language” as set of certain vernacular Romance language varieties spoken in León and Zamora (Spain). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Leonese, language and certain.
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This entry incorporates text from “Leonese language” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.