Spanish language

Spanish or Castilian (in its own language: español, castellano) is one of the Romance languages. It began as a variety of Latin in what is now northern Spain, and has since become one of the world's most widely-spoken languages.

Spanish is closely related to the following Romance languages:

• Asturian-Leonese (asturllionés)
• Galician-Portuguese (galegoportuguês)
• Aragonese (aragonés, fabla)
• Catalan (català)
• Occitan (occitan)

Ladino (djudeo-espanyol, sefardí) is a Spanish dialect.

Phonology

Due to a Basque substratum (which can also occur in the Gascon dialect of Occitan), but in all positions, Latin initial f- mutated into h- before a non-diphthongised vowel.

Spanish around the world

The Philippines

In 2007, the Instituto Cervantes in Manila requested of the Philippine government to reinstate the status of Spanish as an official language, prior to current president's Gloria Arroyo's state visit to Spain in December 2007.

See also

• Romance languages
• Rioplatense Spanish