Mirandese language - Wikipedia

Mirandese language - Wikipedia
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Asturleonese language
Not to be confused with
Mirandolese
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Mirandese
mirandés
lhéngua/léngua mirandesa
charro
Native to
Portugal
Region
Eastern
Tierra de Miranda
Miranda de l Douro
and eastern
Bumioso
Native speakers
3,500 speakers, 1,000 common users of the language.
(2020)
Language family
Indo-European
Italic
Latino-Faliscan
Latin
Romance
Italo-Western
Western
Ibero-Romance
West Iberian
Asturleonese
Mirandese
Early forms
Old Latin
Vulgar Latin
Proto-Romance
Old Leonese
Official status
Official language in
Co-official recognition. Special protection status in
Miranda de l Douro
Portugal
. Statutory language of provincial identity in 4 municipalities, northeast Portugal (1999, Law No. 7-99 of 29 January).
Regulated by
Anstituto de la Lhéngua Mirandesa
Language codes
ISO 639-2
mwl
ISO 639-3
mwl
Glottolog
mira1251
ELP
Miranda do Douro
Linguasphere
51-AAA-cb
Map of the Mirandese-speaking regions of Portugal, highlighting the language's three dialects:
Central Mirandese
Sendinese Mirandese
Raiano Mirandese
Mirandese is classified as Definitely Endangered by the
UNESCO
Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger
Central Mirandese reading of the poem "
Lhiçon de Giografie
" (
transl.
"Geography Lesson"
), written originally in the Sendinese dialect ("
Liçon de Giografie
").
A sticker located in
New York City
showing the Mirandese text
Un mirandés stubo eiqui
transl.
A Mirandese (person) was here
). An unofficial flag for the Mirandese people is displayed behind the text.
Mirandese
mirandés
[miɾãˈdes̺,
-ɾãŋ-]
note 1
is an
almost extinct
language or variety that is sparsely spoken in a small area of northeastern
Portugal
in eastern
Tierra de Miranda
, an ethnocultural region comprising the area around the municipalities of
Miranda de l Douro
Mogadouro
and
Bumioso
. It is extinct in Mogadouro and present in Bumioso only in some eastern villages, like
Angueira
. The
Assembly of the Republic
granted Mirandese official recognition alongside
Portuguese
for local matters with Law 7/99 of 29 January 1999.
In 2001, Mirandese was officially recognised by the
European Bureau for Lesser-Used Languages
, which aims to promote the survival of the least-spoken European languages.
Mirandese has a distinct
phonology
morphology
and
syntax
. It has its roots in the local
Vulgar Latin
spoken in the northern
Iberian Peninsula
The language is a descendant of the Asturleonese variety spoken in the
Kingdom of León
and has both
archaisms
and innovations that differentiate it from the modern varieties of Asturleonese spoken in Spain. In recognition of these differences, and due to its political isolation from the rest of the Asturleonese-speaking territory, Mirandese has adopted a different written norm to the one used in Spain for Asturleonese.
History
edit
Mirandese is a descendant of the
Old Leonese
language spoken in the
Kingdom of León
in medieval Iberia. In the early 16th century, Old Leonese began to split, alongside
Galician–Portuguese
, into the varieties existing today, one of them being Mirandese.
Rough geographical distribution of
Old Asturleonese
(in light purple) in northeastern Portugal and surrounding areas, in comparison to its modern descendants, including Mirandese (in dark purple).
Until 1884, Mirandese was a purely spoken language, but in that year,
José Leite de Vasconcelos
wrote the book
Flores Mirandézas
transl.
Mirandese Flowers
Froles Mirandesas
in Mirandese), in which he proposed a writing system for Mirandese. The system included a large number of diacritics which have helped to convey how Mirandese sounded in the 19th century.
Transcribed below is a poem included in
Flores Mirandézas
as a sample text,
"La Lhêngua Mirandéza"
transl.
"The Mirandese Language"
, spelled
"La Lhéngua Mirandesa"
in the modern orthography):
Vasconcelos's orthography (1884)
First official orthography (1990s)
Current orthography
English translation
Qĭêm dirĭê q'antre 'ls matos èiriçados / Las ourrĭêtas i 'ls ríus d'ésta tĭêrra / Bibĭê, cumo l chaguárço de la ſĭêrra / Ũṅa lhêngua de ſóuns tã bariados? / Mostre-ſe i fále-ſ' éssa lhêngua, filha / D'um póbo qe tĭêm néilha 'l chóro i 'l canto! / Nada pur çĭêrto mus câutíba tânto / Cumo la fórm' am qe l'idéia brilha. (...)
Quiên dirie qu'antre ls matos eiriçados / Las ourriêtas i ls rius desta tiêrra / Bibie, cumo l chaguarço de la siêrra / Ũa lhéngua de sons tan bariados? / Mostre-se i fale-se essa lhéngua, filha / Dun pobo que ten neilha l choro i l canto! / Nada por ciêrto mos cautiba tanto / Cumo la forma an que l'eideia brilha. (...)
Quien dirie qu'antre ls matos eiriçados / Las ourrietas i ls rius desta tierra / Bibie, cumo l chaguarço de la sierra / Ũa lhéngua de sons tan bariados? / Mostre-se i fale-se essa lhéngua, filha / Dun pobo que ten neilha l choro i l canto! / Nada por cierto mos cautiba tanto / Cumo la forma an que l'eideia brilha. (...)
Who would say that amongst the bristle bushes / The valleys and the rivers of this land / There lived, like the plants of the mountain range / A language of such varied sounds? / Let this language be heard and spoken, daughter / Of people that have in it the cry and the song! / Nothing certainly captivates us as much / As the way in which this idea shines. (...)
In the 19th century, Leite de Vasconcelos described Mirandese as "the language of the farms, of work, home, and love between the Mirandese". Since 1986–87, it has been taught optionally to students at the primary and lower secondary level, and has thus been somewhat recovering.
By Law 7/99, Mirandese was given official recognition by the
Assembly of the Republic
alongside Portuguese. The law provides for its promotion and allows its usage for local matters in
Miranda de l Douro
In 1999, Mirandese gained its first official orthography, which was later tweaked in 2000. Today Mirandese retains speakers in most of the villages of the municipality of
Miranda de l Douro
and in some villages of
Bumioso
(such as Vilar Seco and
Angueira
); and some linguistic influence can be observed at other villages of the municipality of Bumioso and the municipalities of
Mogadouro
Macedo de Cavaleiros
and
Bragança
A 2020 survey by the
University of Vigo
, carried out in Miranda de l Douro and Bumioso, estimated the number of speakers of the language to be around 3,500, with 1,500 of them being regular speakers. The study observed strong decline in the usage of the language in younger people
10
, verifying a roughly 40% decline in the exclusive use of Mirandese across the 32 settlements where it is still spoken, when comparing speakers aged over 60 to the teen population, alongside a modest increase of about 8% in bilingual usage between those same demographics.
11
Orthography
edit
Mirandese is written using the Latin alphabet, and its orthography is based on that of Portuguese:
Letters
and
Digraphs
Names
12
IPA
Uppercase
Lowercase
/a/
/ɐ/
AN
an
/ɐ̃(ŋ)/
bé
/b/
/β/
cé, qué
/k/
/s/
cé de cedilha
/s/
/z/
dé
/d/
/ð/
/ɛ/
/e/
/ɨ/
EN
en
/ẽ(ŋ)/
/ɨ̃/
fé
/f/
gué
/g/
/ɣ/
/ʒ/
hagá
/i/
/j/
IN
in
/ĩ(ŋ)/
/ɨ̃j̃/
(Sendinese)
jé
/ʒ/
lé
/l/
/ɫ/
LH
lh
/ʎ/
mé
/m/
/◌̃/
né
/n/
/◌̃/
/ŋ/
NH
nh
/ɲ/
/ɔ/
/o/
/u/
/ʊ/
ON
on
/õ(ŋ)/
pé
/p/
qué
/k/
ré
/ɾ/
/r/
RR
rr
/r/
sé
/s̺/
/z̺/
SS
ss
/s̺/
té
/t/
/u/
/w/
/ũ/
UN
un
/ũ(ŋ)/
/ʊ̃(ŋ)/
xiç
/ʃ/
i griego
/j/
zé
/z/
Variants
edit
Three primary
variants
of the Mirandese language exist: Border Mirandese (
Mirandés Raiano
), Central Mirandese (
Mirandés Central
) and Sendinese (
Sendinés
). Most speakers of Mirandese also speak Portuguese.
Map demonstrating the dialectal variations of the word “street” in Mirandese:
rue / ruga
Despite there being a singular writing system for Mirandese, there is one
phoneme
that is written differently in different dialects. In the Sendinese dialect, many words that in other dialects are said with
/ʎ/
⟨lh⟩
, are said with
/l/
⟨l⟩
: examples include
alá
for
alhá
over there
lado
for
lhado
side
luç
for
lhuç
light
The main orthographical differences between Mirandese in Portugal and the Asturleonese languages in
Spain
are caused by the dominant languages in each region. And while Mirandese has been influenced phonetically and in lexicon by Portuguese and the Asturleonese languages in Spain by Spanish, they retain more similarities among themselves than to the main languages of each country. Another difference is that Mirandese and Leonese remain very conservative, while Asturian has undergone a greater amount of change.
13
Phonology
edit
Development
edit
Some historical developments in Mirandese are the following:
Mirandese maintains distinct reflexes of all seven
Ibero-Romance
sibilants:
Proto–Ibero-Romance
Mirandese
Portuguese
Northern/​Central Spanish
/t͡ʃ/
/t͡ʃ/
⟨ch⟩
/ʃ/
⟨ch⟩
/t͡ʃ/
⟨ch⟩
/ʃ/
/ʃ/
⟨x⟩
/ʃ/
⟨x⟩
/x/
⟨j⟩
/ʒ/
or
/d͡ʒ/
/ʒ/
⟨g⟩
⟨j⟩
/ʒ/
⟨g⟩
⟨j⟩
/x/
⟨g⟩
⟨j⟩
/t͡s/
/s̻/
⟨c⟩
⟨ç⟩
/s̻/
⟨c⟩
⟨ç⟩
/θ/
⟨c⟩
⟨z⟩
/d͡z/
/z̻/
⟨z⟩
/z̻/
⟨z⟩
/θ/
⟨c⟩
⟨z⟩
/s̺/
/s̺/
⟨s-⟩
⟨-ss-⟩
/s̻/
⟨s-⟩
⟨-ss-⟩
/s̺/
⟨s⟩
/z̺/
/z̺/
⟨-s-⟩
/z̻/
⟨-s-⟩
/s̺/
⟨-s-⟩
/s̺/
and
/z̺/
indicate
apico-alveolar
sibilants (as in modern Catalan, northern/central peninsular Spanish and coastal northern European Portuguese), while
/s̻/
and
/z̻/
are dentalized laminal alveolar sibilants (as in most modern Portuguese, French and English). The unrelated
Basque language
also maintains a distinction between
/s̺/
and
/s̻/
(Basque has no voiced sibilants), which suggests that the distinction originally was an
areal feature
across
Iberia
Portuguese spelling still distinguishes all seven sibilants and is identical to Mirandese spelling in this respect, but in pronunciation, Portuguese has reduced them to four
/s,
z,
ʃ,
ʒ/
except in northern hinterland
European Portuguese
dialects, including those in the area where Mirandese is also spoken. Northern/central Peninsular Spanish has also reduced them to four but in quite a different way:
/t͡ʃ,
θ,
s̺,
x/
Western Andalusian Spanish
and
Latin American Spanish
have further reduced them to three:
/t͡ʃ,
s̻,
x/
Retention of the initial
/f/
from
Latin
, like nearly all dialects of Western Romance but unlike Spanish, which underwent the sound change
/f/
/h/
/∅/
Development of the
Latin
initial
consonant clusters
/pl/
/kl/
/fl/
evolve into
/t͡ʃ/
, as in
Leonese
and
Galician-Portuguese
Development of the medial clusters
/-li-/
and
/-kl-/
as
/-ʎ-/
, like in Galician-Portuguese.
The cluster /-mb-/ is kept.
vague
Development of
-mn-
as
/m/
, like in Galician-Portuguese:
lūm'nem
lume
Preservation of the falling diphthongs
/ei/
/ou/
Raising of final
to
/u/
, as in Portuguese.
Retention of voiced sibilants, like Portuguese, but unlike Spanish.
Retention of intervocalic
/l/
/n/
, like Spanish, but unlike Portuguese.
Frequent
diphthongization
of
Western Romance
/ɛ/
/ɔ/
to
/jɛ/
/wo/
, as in
Italian
; this happens not only before palatals, as in
Aragonese
, but also before nasals.
Word-initial
palatalization
of
/l/
, as in other Asturleonese languages and
Catalan
Consonants
edit
Labial
Dental
Alveolar
Palatal
Velar
Nasal
⟨m⟩
⟨n⟩
⟨nh⟩
⟨ũ, n⟩
note 2
14
Plosive
voiceless
⟨p⟩
⟨t⟩
⟨c, qu⟩
voiced
⟨b⟩
⟨d⟩
⟨g, gu⟩
Affricate
voiceless
tʃ
⟨ch⟩
Fricative
voiceless
⟨f⟩
s̻
⟨c, ç⟩
s̺
⟨s, ss⟩
⟨x⟩
voiced
z̻
⟨z⟩
z̺
⟨s⟩
⟨j⟩
Approximant
median
⟨y⟩
⟨u-⟩
lateral
⟨l⟩
⟨lh⟩
Trill
⟨r, rr⟩
Tap
⟨r⟩
As stated above, the laminal dental sibilants correspond to Portuguese
/s,
z/
. These are spelled
and
. The corresponding alveolar sibilants are apical and are spelled
s(s)
and
. Furthermore, there is an additional palatal affricate
/tʃ/
ch
that is distinct from the fricative
/ʃ/
, spelled
. The voiced
/ʒ/
is spelled
or
, as in Portuguese. Standard Portuguese has reduced all these sounds to just four fricatives:
/s,
z,
ʃ,
ʒ/
The "hard" or "long" R is an alveolar trill
/r/
, as in other varieties of Asturleonese and in Spanish. The Portuguese uvular fricative
is not found in Mirandese. The "soft" or "short" R is an ordinary alveolar tap
commonly found in the Iberian Peninsula. As in other languages spoken in the region, the two contrast only in word-internal position.
Voiced stops
/b,
d,
ɡ/
may be lenited as fricatives
[β,
ð,
ɣ]
15
Vowels
edit
Mirandese has the same basic phonemes as most Asturleonese varieties, but with some differences in allophones:
Mirandese vowels
Front
Central
Back
Close
Mid
Open
/a/
has allophones of
[ä,
ɐ]
/e/
of
[ɛ,
e,
ɨ~ə]
, and
/o/
of
[ɔ,
o,
u,
ʊ]
Vowels
/i,
u/
can become glides
[j~ʝ,
w]
when preceding or following other vowels.
15
All vowel phonemes have nasal counterparts, reflected in all its allophones.
Dialectal variations
edit
Pronunciation differences between the three Mirandese dialects may be illustrated with the following example:
Dialect
Sentence
IPA
Meaning
Raiano
Hai más fuogo alhá, i ye deimingo!
ˈaj ˈmas̺ ˈfwo.(ɣ)u/ ɐˈʎa, ˈi ˈje dejˈmĩ.gʲʊ/u
There's more fire over there, and it's Sunday!
Central
Hai más/mais fuogo alhá, i ye deimingo!
ˈaj ˈma(j)s̺ ˈfwo.ɣʊ/u ɐˈʎa, i je dejˈmĩ.gʊ/u
Sendinese
Hai más fuogo alá, i ye demingo!
ˈaj ˈmas̺ ˈfu.ɣʊ/u ɐˈla, ˈi ˈ(j)i dɨˈmʊ̃j̃.gʲʊ/u
Morphology
edit
As in Portuguese, Mirandese still uses the following synthetic tenses:
Synthetic
pluperfect
in
-ra
Future subjunctive
in
-r(e)
Personal infinitive
wd
in
-r(e)
, which has the same endings as the future subjunctive but often differs as the personal infinitive always uses the infinitive stem, whereas the future subjunctive uses the past.
Influence on Transmontano Portuguese
edit
Mirandese was formerly spoken in the general area of the district of
Bragança
Bergáncia
in Mirandese), that speaks the Transmontano dialect of Portuguese. Although Mirandese has been lost in this region, it left some words and phonetic influences behind.
Words used in eastern Trás-os-Montes of (likely) Mirandese origin
edit
Portuguese of
Campo de Víboras
16
Mirandese
Rest of Trás-os-Montes/Standard Portuguese
English Translation
alcaforro
alcaforro
abutre
vulture
amalinado
amalinado
adoentado
sick
anubrado
anubrado
nublado
cloudy
assomar
assomar
(false friend with Portuguese assomar)
espreitar
to peek
bardeiro
bardeiro
vassoura
broom
betxe
beche
(false friend with Portuguese beche)
bode
billy-goat
botxe
boche
bofe
lung (vulgar)
catxo
cacho
bocado
bit
canhona
canhona
ovelha
sheep
carambelo
carambelo
gelo
ice
txafurgo
chafurgo
mergulho
dive
curgidoso
curjidoso
curioso / desenrascado
curious / resourceful
d'apeto
(d')apeto
de propósito
on purpose
desinjum
zinjun
pequeno-almoço / desjejum
(rare)
breakfast
emantes
mentes
enquanto
while
(ele)
fai
(el)
fai
(ele)
faz
(he)
does
forfalha
forfalha
migalha
crumb
guitxo
guicho
esperto / alerta
smart / alert
ai
hai
há
there is
scuma
scuma
espuma / escuma
(archaic)
foam
Lack of protection measures
edit
This section
does not
cite
any
sources
Please help
improve this section
by
adding citations to reliable sources
. Unsourced material may be challenged and
removed
August 2025
Learn how and when to remove this message
There are significant limitations in the protection of the Mirandese language:
17
Portugal has not ratified the
European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages
There is no Mirandese law, its use in courts or public administration is not legal.
The budget for the protection and promotion of Mirandese is not implemented.
Lack of specialized teacher training, translations and media
Education in Mirandese is not mandatory and discouraged
Windows, macOS, Linux and
Big Tech
does not support it
On mobile, Gboard doesn't support it, only SwiftKey and Heliboard.
The following measures have been taken to protect and develop Mirandese:
Allow primary teaching staff in the district of
Miranda de l Douro
to teach in Mirandese, since 1986/1987, thanks to the ministerial authorisation published on 9 September 1985.
Publish books in Mirandese and about the Mirandese language, promoted by the Council of
Miranda de l Douro
Facilitate annual celebrations in the city as well as a literary competition, promoted by the Council of
Miranda do Douro
Use Mirandese in town celebrations, official commemorations and, occasionally, on social media.
Publish two volumes of the
Asterix
comic books.
Translate all the
toponymic
signs in
Miranda do Douro
, promoted by the Council of
Miranda do Douro
in 2006.
Develop studies by research centres in Portugal, such as
"Atlas Linguístico de Portugal"
, by the
Centro de Linguística
at
University of Lisbon
, and
"Inquérito Linguístico Boléo"
, by the
University of Coimbra
Create
Biquipédia
, a Mirandese-language Wikipedia.
Make sites available in Mirandese, such as Photoblog and WordPress.
Record Mirandese music, with singers including
Roberto Leal
in his albums
Canto da Terra
(2007) and
Raiç
Raíz
(2010).
Integrated into the SwiftKey keyboard in 2018, with autocorrect and word suggestions.
Participation in the European Language Equality project (2021–2022), which promotes digital equality by 2030.
Create a GNOME Translation Team to help translate Linux distros into Mirandese.
18
Sample text
edit
The following is a sample text of the Mirandese language, written by Amadeu Ferreira and published in the newspaper
Público
on 24 July 2007.
Mirandese
Portuguese
Muitas lhénguas ténen proua de ls sous pergaminos antigos, de la lhiteratura screbida hai cientos d'anhos i de scritores hai muito afamados, hoije bandeiras dessas lhénguas. Mas outras hai que nun puoden tener proua de nada desso, cumo ye l causo de la lhéngua mirandesa.
Muitas línguas têm orgulho dos seus pergaminhos antigos, da literatura escrita há centenas de anos e de escritores muito famosos, hoje bandeiras dessas línguas. Mas há outras que não podem ter orgulho de nada disso, como é o caso da língua mirandesa.
Many languages take pride in their ancient scrolls, their centuries-old literature, and in famous writers, today standards of those languages. But there are others which can't boast of any of this, as in the case of Mirandese.
Then a comparison of the previous text in three modern languages of the Asturoleonese group:
Mirandese
Leonese
Asturian
Muitas lhénguas ténen proua de ls sous pergaminos antigos, de la lhiteratura screbida hai cientos d'anhos i de scritores hai muito afamados, hoije bandeiras dessas lhénguas. Mas outras hai que nun puoden tener proua de nada desso, cumo ye l causo de la lhéngua mirandesa.
Muitas llinguas tien arguyu de los sous pergaminos antiguos, de la lliteratura escrita van cientos d'annos y d'escritores bien famosos; guei bandeiras d'eisas llinguas. Peru hai outras que nun pueden tener arguyu de nada d'eisu, cumu ye'l casu de la llingua mirandesa.
Munches llingües tienen arguyu de los sos pergaminos antiguos, de la lliteratura escrita hai cientos d'años y d'escritores enforma famosos, güei banderes d'eses llingües. Pero hai otres que nun pueden tener arguyu de nada d'eso, como ye'l casu de la llingua mirandesa.
Superseded orthography
edit
When Mirandese was first officially recognised and a writing system was established, it used
⟨ê⟩
and
⟨ô⟩
(like Portuguese) to represent
[e]
and
[o]
respectively in the diphthongs
⟨uô⟩
and
⟨iê⟩
. These have since fallen in disuse because this rendering was only accurate in the Central and Raiano dialects, where these diphthongs read
[wo]
and
[je]
, unlike in the Sendinese dialect, where they had been reduced to
[u]
and
[i]
19
In 2000, the
"purmeira adenda"
'first addendum'
) was made to the Mirandese orthography, quickly followed by a second one two years later,
20
but only the first was put to use officially, removing the glyphs
⟨ê⟩
and
⟨ô⟩
and allowing Sendinese speakers to spell their unpalatalised pronunciation of words using
⟨l⟩
instead of
⟨lh⟩
, among other small changes.
21
Bilingual sign in the village of
Pruoba
Póvoa
), with the glyph
⟨ô⟩
used in the superseded orthography; the sign reads
Dius bos l pague pula buôssa besita i buôna biaige
, or
Thank you (
lit.
God bless you
) for your visit and
bon voyage.
Comparative table
edit
Latin
Mirandese
Leonese
Central Asturian
Montañés
Cantabrian
Pasiegu
Cantabrian
Extremaduran
22
Portuguese
Galician
23
Fala
24
Spanish
Aragonese
25
Catalan
Gascon
altus
alto
altu
altu
altu
altu
artu
alto
alto
altu/cirulalgu, firulalgu
alto
alto
alt
haut
high/tall
quasi
quaije/quaisque
cuasi
cuasi, cuásique
cuasi
casi
cuasi,
abati
quase
case
caishi/cashi/casi/cuashi/cuasi
casi
cuasi
quasi
quasi
almost
dicere
dezir
dicire
dicir
dicir/icir
dicer/dicir/icir
izil
dizer
dicir
idil/idel
decir
decir
dir
díser
to say
facere
fazer
facere
facer
ḥacer
hacel
hazel
fazer
facer
fel/ficel
hacer
fer
fer
har
to do
focus
fuogo
fueu
fuebu/fueu
ḥueu
ḥuigu/ḥuegu
hueu
fogo
fogo
fogu
fuego
fuego
foc
huec
fire
flamma
chama
chama
llama
llapa
llama
flama
chama
chama
chama
llama
flama
flama
ehlama
flame
legere
lher
(Sendinese: lher)
lliere
lleer
leer
leyer
leel
ler
ler
leel/lel
leer
leyer
llegir
léger
to read
lingua
lhéngua
(Sendinese: léngua)
llingua
llingua/llengua
lengua
lengua
luenga/léngua
língua
lingua
lengua
lengua
luenga
llengua
lengua
tongue/language
lumbum
lhombo
(Sendinese: lombo)
llombu
llombu
lombu/llombu
lumu/lomu
lombu
lombo
lombo
lombu/lomu
lomo
lomo
llom
lom
loin
mater
mai/madre
mai
ma
madre
madri
mairi
mãe
nai/mai
madri/mairi
madre
mai
mare
mair
mother
merula
mierlo/mielro
mielru
ñarbatu/mierbu
miruellu
miruilu
mielru
melro
merlo
mirlo
merla
merla
mèrlo
blackbird
monstrare
amostrar
amosare
amostrar
amostrar
mostrar
muestral
mostrar
mostrar
mostral
mostrar
amostrar
mostrar
muishar
to show
noster
nuosso
nuesu
nuestru
nuestru
muistru
muestru/nuestru
nosso
noso
nosu
nuestro
nuestro
nostre
noste
ours
tussis
tuosse
tose
tose/tos
tus
tus
tossi
tosse
tose
tosi
tos
tos
tos
tos
cough
Recognition
edit
Mirandese, given its status as a recognised language in Portugal after Portuguese, has been the subject in recent years of some publicity and attention in other parts of Portugal. A monthly chronicle in Mirandese, by researcher and writer
Amadeu Ferreira
, appears in the daily Portuguese national newspaper
Público
. The first volume of the
Adventures of Asterix
, named
Asterix, L Goulés
Asterix the Gaul
), was published in a Mirandese translation by
Amadeu Ferreira
in 2005, and sold throughout Portugal.
Amadeu Ferreira
also translated into Mirandese the epic poem by
Camões
Os Lusíadas
Ls Lusíadas
), under his pseudonym Francisco Niebro, and published it in 2009.
26
In 2011, the four
Gospels
of the
Bible
's
New Testament
were translated into Mirandese, and in 2013 the entire Bible was translated into the language by Domingos Augusto Ferreira.
27
See also
edit
Asturian language
Extremaduran language
Leonese language
Cantabrian language
Portals
Languages
Portugal
Notes
edit
Also called
lhéngua mirandesa
[ˈʎẽɡwa
miɾãˈdez̺a,
ˈʎeŋ-,
-ɾaŋ-]
in Central and Raiano, and
léngua mirandesa
[ˈlẽɡwɐ
miɾãˈdez̺a,
ˈleŋ-,
-ɾan-]
in Sendinese
The voiced velar nasal
[ŋ]
only appears intervocalically in the word
ũa
a/one
in the feminine singular), contractions including it (such as
dalgũa
or
cũa
) and their respective plurals. Therefore,
[ŋ]
does not have its own letter or digraph in these words,
⟨ũ⟩
representing
[ũŋ]
or
[ʊ̃ŋ]
. One could argue that
[ŋ]
does not even have any symbol representing it,
⟨ũ⟩
representing
[ũ]
or
[ʊ̃]
and the reader is supposed to know that the voiced velar nasal exists in said word.
References
edit
"Mirandês "está numa situação muito crítica" e pode desaparecer"
Diário de Notícias
. 21 February 2023
. Retrieved
21 June
2024
Bandarra, Victor.
"Mil portugueses resistem e continuam a falar a segunda língua oficial do país"
(in Portuguese)
. Retrieved
27 December
2025
Mirandese language
at
Ethnologue
(18th ed., 2015)
(subscription required)
"Mirandese in Portugal | UNESCO WAL"
"Discovering Mirandese"
Terminology Coordination Unit
. 26 May 2015
. Retrieved
24 January
2020
"Lei 7/99, 1999-01-29"
Diário da República Eletrónico
(in Portuguese)
. Retrieved
24 January
2020
Svobodová, Petra.
"Mirandese language and its influence on the culture of the municipality of Miranda do Douro"
Universidade Palacký
Vasconcelos, José Leite de (1884).
Flores Mirandezas
(in Portuguese).
Pera, Goreti (18 December 2016).
'Buonos dies'. Aqui fala-se Mirandês, a língua dos avós e das crianças"
['Good luck'. Mirandese is spoken here, the language of grandparents and children].
Ciberdúvidas da Língua Portuguesa
(in Portuguese)
. Retrieved
12 September
2021
No concelho, são cerca de 300 os estudantes que frequentam a disciplina opcional de língua mirandesa. Esta é lecionada exclusivamente no Agrupamento de Escolas de
Miranda do Douro
desde 1986
[In the municipality, there are around 300 students taking the Mirandese language as an optional subject. This has been taught exclusively at the
Miranda do Douro
School Group since 1986]
"Mirandês "está numa situação muito crítica" e pode desaparecer"
Diário de Notícias
. 21 February 2023
. Retrieved
21 June
2024
Persente i feturo de la

lhéngua mirandesa, Universidade de Vigo, p. 37
"Ls nomes de las letras de l ABéCé de l mirandés"
(in Mirandese). Associação de Língua e Cultura Mirandesa. 10 January 2010
. Retrieved
19 January
2019
Alves, António; Barros, Anabela (2015). "Mirandês, leonês, português e castelhano: glotocídio e conciliação". In Macedo, Ana Gabriela; Sousa, Carlos Mendes de; Moura, Vítor (eds.).
Conflito e Trauma: XVI Colóquio de Outono
(in Portuguese). V. N. Famalicão: Húmus; Centro de Estudos Humanísticos da Universidade do Minho. pp.
413–
434.
Vasconcelos, José Leite de
(1884).
Flores Mirandezas
(in Portuguese). p. 33.
Ferreira & Raposo (1999)
José Guilherme Fernandes Afonso’s (2022)
Dicionário de Camponês (e outras falas do Nordeste Transmontano)
TSF (29 November 2024).
"Verba de 500 mil euros para promoção do mirandês: "são cêntimos" para o Estado, mas "permite manter identidade"
TSF
(in European Portuguese)
. Retrieved
27 December
2025
"mnw"
l10n.gnome.org
Alves, António Bárbolo; Castro, Ivo; Fernandes, Marcolino; Ferreira, Manuela Barros; Gonçalves, Valdemar; Martins, Cristina; Marquilhas, Rita; Mourinho, António Maria; Pires, Moisés; Raposo, Domingos; Raposo, José Augusto (1999).
Convenção Ortográfica da Língua Mirandesa
Orthographical Convention of the Mirandese Language
] (in Portuguese). Miranda de l Douro: Câmara Municipal de Miranda do Douro/Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa. p. 18.
Ferreira, Amadeu; Alves, António Bárbolo; Raposo, Domingos; Ferreira, Manuela Barros (5 March 2002).
Segunda Adenda a la Cumbençon Ourtográfica de la Lhéngua Mirandesa/Segunda Adenda à Convenção Ortográfica da Língua Mirandesa
Second Addendum to the Orthographical Convention of the Mirandese Language
] (in Portuguese).
Barros Ferreira, Manuela; Marquilhas, Rita (1 February 2000).
Purmeira Adenda a la Cumbençon Ourtográfica de la Lhéngua Mirandesa/Primeira Adenda à Convenção Ortográfica da Língua Mirandesa
First Addendum to the Orthographical Convention of the Mirandese Language
] (in Portuguese). Lisbon: self-published. pp.
1–
5.
Ismael Carmona García's dictionary (2005)
Izionariu castellanu-estremeñu
Dicionario da Real Academia Galega
. A Coruña: Real Academia Galega.
Miroslav Valeš’s dictionary (2021)
DICCIONARIU a fala-castellanu
Aragonario
"Oito anos para traduzir "Os Lusíadas" em língua mirandesa"
Diário de Notícias
(in Portuguese).
Lusa
. 19 August 2010
. Retrieved
3 July
2018
Galvan, Virginia (22 March 2013).
"Exposição "Bíblia Sagrada" traduzida em mirandês em Miranda do Douro"
(in Portuguese). Local.Pt. Archived from
the original
on 6 June 2014
. Retrieved
21 August
2014
Sources
edit
Ferreira, Manuela Barros; Raposo, Domingos, eds. (1999).
Convenção Ortográfica da Língua Mirandesa
Orthographic Convention for Mirandese Language
(PDF)
(in Portuguese). Miranda do Douro and Lisboa: Câmara Municipal de Miranda do Douro and Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa. Archived from
the original
(PDF)
on 29 June 2003.
Further reading
edit
Quarteu, Reis; Frías Conde, Xavier (2001).
"L Mirandés: Ũa Lhéngua Minoritaira an Pertual"
[Mirandese: A Minority Language in Portugal]
(PDF)
Ianua: Revista Philologica Romanica
(in Mirandese).
89–
105. Archived from
the original
(PDF)
on 21 March 2006.
Vasconcellos, J. Leite de
(1900).
Estudos de Philologia Mirandesa
(in Portuguese). Vol. I. Lisboa: Imprensa Nacional.
Vasconcellos, J. Leite de (1901).
Estudos de Philologia Mirandesa
(in Portuguese). Vol. II. Lisboa: Imprensa Nacional.
External links
edit
Mirandese edition
of
Wikipedia
, the free encyclopedia
Wikimedia Commons has media related to
Mirandese language
Excerpt of
The Lusiads
in Mirandese
(in Portuguese)
Lei n. 7/99 dre.pt
– Legislation which officially recognizes Mirandese as a language of Portugal
Seth Kugel,
"In Portugal, Mirandese spoken here—and only here"
The New York Times
, 17 January 2012
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