Paḷḷuezu dialect


Paḷḷuezu 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 in the narrow sense of the designation "Leonese".
Paḷḷuezu is spoken in the upper half of the valley of the Sil River, in the comarca of El Bierzo, which is in the northwest of the Province of León, 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 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. 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 imposible to write ḷḷ. It can be a voiceless retroflex affricate , a voiced retroflex plosive or a voiced retroflex affricate , 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 are:
EnglishLatinPaḷḷuezuSpanish
peoplegent-xentegente
gameiugumxuguyugo
frozengelatusxiláuhelado
son-in-lawgenerxenruyerno
leaffoliafuechahoja
flameflammachamallama
rainpluviachuvialluvia
nail, pinclavischavellave
lead plumbumchumbuplomo
hilllumbusḷḷombulomo
dovepalumbapalumba/palombapaloma
fed up with; surfeitedfartusfartuharto
tongue; languagelinguaḷḷingualengua

In 2006, an anthology was published, Cuentos del Sil , Na Nuesa Ḷḷingua.. For the year 2009, the Asociación Club Xeitu de la Montaña Occidental Astur-Leonesa started an annual literary competition, the Certamen Lliterariu "Guzmán Álvarez". The competition continued in 2010 and 2011.