Aragonese dialects

Eastern Aragonese

The eastern area includes a large part of the historic County of Ribagorza, plus eastern parts of Sobrarbe, and has many features in common with Catalan, with increasing similarity as one moves east.

Some common features of the group are:

• Latin plosive consonants become voiced between vowels: meligo (navel), caixigo (type of oak), forau (hole).
• In participles, the voiced Latin -T- was later deleted, giving endings in -au, -iu: cantau, metiu (sung, put in).
• There is a periphrastic past perfect as in modern Catalan: él/ell ba cantá/cantar (he sang).
• Conservation of the adverbial pronoun i (< IBI).
• Compared to the other dialects, more cases of evolution of the Latin endings -TY, -CE, -CI, -DE to -u, as in Catalan: peu (foot).

Western Aragonese

The Western Aragonese area corresponds to the Jacetania region, plus part of Alto Gállego and a few towns in Cinco Villas. Western dialects include Ansó Aragonese, Hecho Aragonese, Aragüés Aragonese, and Aísa Aragonese.

Common features:

• Latin plosive consonants are voiced between vowels, but with exceptions, such as gramito or espata. These exceptions might be related to the Gascon dialect.
• Participles, have endings in -au, -iu.
• The 1st and 2nd person plural pronouns are nos and bos.
• Dative pronouns: li, lis.
• Adverbial pronoun bi (< IBI), equivalent to French y, Catalan hi, etc.

Southern Aragonese

Southern dialects include Nevalese. They are the ones more influenced by the Spanish language, and in recent times most of them have lost all but a few of their Aragonese features, merging with the Spanish dialects spoken to the south of the area.

Central Aragonese

Corresponds to part of Alto Gállego and western parts of Sobrarbe. Features:

• Some instances of -ia- diphthong from Latin short E: fiasta (celebration).
• Latin intervocalic stops remain voiceless much more often than in other dialects: capeza (head), saper (to know), lupo (wolf), ayutar (to help).
• This conservation of voiceless stops leads to participles in -ato, -ito.
• Voicing of voiceless stops after liquid consonant: -MP- > -mb-; -NT- > -nd-; -NK- > -ng-; -LT- > -ld-; -RT- > -rd-; -LP- > -lb-; -RK- > -rg-. These rules apply variably for different words and towns.
• In some towns, definite articles ro, ra, ros, ras instead of the general Aragonese o, a, os, as.

Current Classification of Regional Dialects

Western Block:

• Ansotano from Ansó Valley
• Cheso from Hecho Valley
• Aragüesino from Aragüés and Jasa
• Aisino from Aísa Valley
• Jaqués from Jaca

Central Block:

• Central Western Aragonese
  • Tensino from Tena Valley
    • Panticuto from Panticosa
  • Biescas land Aragonese
  • Acumuer Valley Aragonese
  • Serrablés from Serrablo
  • Ballibasa Aragonese from Yebra de Basa
  • Sobrepuerto Aragonese
• Central Eastern Aragonese
  • Fiscal Aragonese
  • Bergotés from Broto Valley
  • Vió Valley Aragonese
  • Puértolas Valley Aragonese
  • Tella Valley Aragonese
  • Belsetano from Bielsa
  • Sierra Ferrera Aragonese

Eastern Block:

• Chistabino from Gistau Valley
• Fovano from La Fueva Valley
• Ribagorzano Aragonese from the old County of Ribagorza
  • Altorribagorzano or Benasqués or Patués from Benasque Valley
  • Mediorribagorzano or Campo dialect
  • Bajorribagorzano
    • Grausino from Graus
    • Estadillano from Estadilla
    • Foncense from Fonz

Southern Block:

• Ayerbense from Ayerbe
• Somontanés Aragonese from Somontano
  • Navalés from Naval
• Aragonese from Old Sobrarbe

Transition Dialects

• Aragonese Spanish

Valleys and Somontano

There are different degrees of similarities between variants:

Axial Pyrenees Valleys

The topography in the form of well-separated valleys has caused the Aragonese language to have evolved into a dialect or locally spoken language in each valley:

Western and Eastern Poles

There is a distribution of differences between the East and the West, with boundaries that do not coincide, but some that appear mainly from Broto and Cotefablo to the Ribagorza and further, and others that are seen mainly from Tena and Cotefablo to Navarre.