| Extremaduran | |
| Nativename: | estremeñu |
| States: | Spain |
| Region: | Extremadura Castile and León (southern Salamanca province) |
| Ethnicity: | Extremadurans 1.1 million (1994) |
| Speakers: | 200,000 |
| Date: | 1994 |
| Ref: | e25 |
| Familycolor: | Indo-European |
| Fam2: | Italic |
| Fam3: | Latino-Faliscan |
| Fam4: | Latin |
| Fam5: | Romance |
| Fam6: | Italo-Western |
| Fam7: | Western Romance |
| Fam8: | Gallo-Iberian |
| Fam9: | Ibero-Romance |
| Fam10: | West Iberian |
| Fam11: | Asturleonese or Castilian |
| Ancestor: | Old Latin |
| Ancestor2: | Vulgar Latin |
| Ancestor3: | Proto-Romance |
| Ancestor4: | Old Spanish/Old Leonese (possibly) |
| Minority: | Extremadura[1] (Spain) |
| Iso3: | ext |
| Glotto: | extr1243 |
| Glottorefname: | Extremaduran |
| Elp: | 10418 |
| Elpname: | Estremeñu--> |
| Notice: | IPA |
Extremaduran (ext|estremeñu|link=no pronounced as /ext/, es|extremeño) is a Western Romance language with some traits in common with Asturleonese language, spoken primarily in northwestern Extremadura and adjacent villages in the province of Salamanca.[2] Its northern varieties are generally considered a distinct language, while central and southern varieties are regarded as transitional dialects toward standard Spanish.
The linguistic varieties of Extremadura are usually classified in three main branches: Northern or "High" (artu estremeñu), Central or "Middle" (meyu estremeñu), and Southern or "Low" (baju estremeñu). The northern branch is usually considered to be the language proper,[3] and is spoken in the north-west of the autonomous region of Extremadura, and the south-west of Salamanca, a province of the autonomous region of Castile and León. The central and southern branches are spoken in the rest of Extremadura, and are not different enough from standard Spanish to be considered anything but dialects of the language, since at least the 18th century.
Northern Extremaduran is also spoken in a few villages of southern Salamanca, being known there as the "palra d'El Rebollal", which is now almost extinct.
The late 19th century saw the first serious attempt to write in Extremaduran, until then an oral language,[4] with the poet José María Gabriel y Galán. Born in Salamanca, he lived most of his life in the north of Cáceres, Extremadura. He wrote in a local variant of Extremaduran, full of dialectal remnants, but always with an eye on Spanish usage.
Throughout the 20th century, revival efforts focused on documenting local vernacular forms. By the early 21st century, only a small community of activists advocated for co-official status of Northern Extremaduran, while regional authorities have not implemented legal protections beyond recognizing Extremaduran as part of the broader Spanish linguistic heritage.[5] [6]
There are also attempts to transform the southern Castilian dialects ("castúo", as some people named them, using the word which appeared in Luis Chamizo Trigueros's poems) into a language. Advocacy for codifying southern Castilian dialects under the label ‘Extremaduran’ has heightened tensions over linguistic identity, contributing to regional government decisions against granting co-official status to Northern Extremaduran.[7] It is in serious danger of extinction, with only the oldest people speaking it at present, while most of the Extremaduran population cannot speak the language, since the majority of Extremadurans, and even its own speakers, regard it as poorly spoken Spanish.[8]
In 2013, the people of Serradilla created the first feature film in Extremaduran, Territoriu de bandolerus.[9] In late 2024, Extremaduran and Oliventine Portuguese received legal recognition from the Regional Government of Extremadura.
| Latin | Italian | Romanian | Catalan | Gascon | Aragonese | Spanish | Judezmo | Portuguese | Galician | Extremaduran | Leonese | English |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| altus | alto | (în)alt | alt | haut | alto | alto | alto | alto | alto | artu | altu | high/tall |
| quasi | quasi | (aproape) | quasi | quasi | cuasi | casi | kaji | quase | case | cuasi, ábati | cuasi | almost |
| dicere | dire | zice | dir | díser | decir | decir pronounced as /[deˈθir]/ | dizir | dizer | dicir | izil pronounced as /[iˈðil]/ | dicire | to say |
| facere | fare | face | fer | har | fer | hacer pronounced as / [aˈθer]/ | (f)azer | fazer | facer | hazel pronounced as /[haˈðel]/ | facere | to do |
| focus | fuoco | foc | foc | huec | fuego | fuego | fuego,huego | fogo | fogo | hueu | fueu | fire |
| flamma | fiamma | flamă | flama | ehlama | flama | llama | yama | chama | chama | flama | chama | flame |
| legere | leggere | (citi) | llegir | léger | leyer | leer | meldar | ler | ler | leyel | lliere | to read |
| lingua | lingua | limbă | llengua | lengua | luenga | lengua | elguenga | língua | lingua | luenga/léngua | llingua | tongue |
| lumbum | lombo | ((zona) lombară) | llom | lom | lomo | lomo | lombo | lombo | lombo | lombu | llombu | loin |
| mater | madre | mamă | mare | mair | mai | madre | madre | mãe | nai | mairi | mai | mother |
| merula | merlo | mierlă | merla | mèrlo | merla | mirlo | melro | merlo | mielra | mielru | blackbird | |
| monstrare | mostrare | mustra | mostrar | muishar | amostrar | mostrar | amostrar | mostrar | mostrar | muestral | amuesare | to show |
| noster | nostro | nostru | nostre | noste | nuestro | nuestro | muestro,muesho | nosso | noso | muestru/nuestru | nuesu | ours |
| tussis | tosse | tuse | tos | tos | tos | tos | toz | tosse | tose | tossi | tose | cough |
* The words in this table refer only to High Extremaduran.
** Extremaduran words in this table are spelled according to Ismael Carmona García's orthography.
The language of Extremadura began to appear in documentation from the 13th century. In the 17th century, texts in the Talaveran subdialect appeared (1638). Extremaduran began to have more presence in literature with Vicente Barrantes and his Días sin sol of 1875.
In 1984, José María Alcón Olivera published Requilorios, the first novel written in Extremaduran. It was not until the 2000s that new publications in Extremaduran were seen, in this case, in the El Rebollar variant, with El corral los mis agüelus, by José Benito Mateos Pascual. This was followed by the Primera Antología de Poesía Extremeña in 2005. In 2011, La nueva literatura en estremeñu was published, followed in 2012 by a second part.
In 2012, Ismael Carmona García published the poetry collection Pan i verea. The siblings Miguel Herrero Uceda and Elisa Herrero Uceda published two books of short stories in Extremaduran: one in 2012, entitled Ceborrincho, relatos extremeños, and another in 2015, entitled Mamaeña, relatos extremeños. Other books in subsequent years include La huélliga by Marcos Cruz Díaz and El sol del lobu by Aníbal Martín. In 2025, Vicente Costalago published Euris estremeñus i sotras poemas, divided into three parts: the first with epic poems about various Extremaduran heroes; the second with religious poems; and the last with individual poems. In November of the same year, he also published Estórias estremeñas, a collection of three short stories, two of which are inspired by the mythology of Extremadura and the third by the peasant revolt of Extremadura[11] .
There is a regional organization in Extremadura, OSCEC Estremaúra,[12] that tries to defend the language, one journal (Belsana) and one cultural newspaper, Iventia,[13] written in the new unified Extremaduran and the old dialect "palra d'El Rebollal".
