Asturian

[Harold F. Schiffman]

Forwarded:  From: Xulio Viejo Fernández" <jviejo at correo.uniovi.es>

    The Asturian language, a non official romance language spoken in NW
Spain, is taught at the University of Uviéu-Oviedo (Asturias, Spain) from
1984. These classes were the result of the statements on protection and
teaching of the language included in Asturian autonomous laws, and have been
continuously supported by the majority of the university community, as well
as the students, who enrolled massively in spite of being optional, not
compulsory courses.

 Last week, the Spanish Council of Universities notified the University of
Oviedo the ban on offering these courses as part of its current studies,
based on rather obscure political and administrative reasons. This ban
(which contradicts the spirit of the Spanish Constitution and the Asturian
autonomous law, as well as the democratically expressed will of the
University itself and most of the teachers and students of the Faculty of
Philology) is a harsh attack not only to the scientific study of the
Asturian language, but a serious problem for the training of teachers of
other educational levels. As a consequence, it seriously threatens the
social survival of the language.

 Asturian is one of the world's endangered languages, according to the
UNESCO Catalogue and the European Charter for Minority Languages, and is
theoretically protected by both Asturian and Spanish laws.

 The teachers of Asturian at the University of Oviedo appeal linguists from
all over the world to support the maintenance of these studies at our
university by sending backing e-mail messages to jviejo at correo.uniovi.es
(Xulio Viejo Fernández, Departament of Spanish Philology, University of
Oviedo), stating your name, professional status, university or research
institution and country. All messages received will be submitted to the
Spanish Council of Universities, the Spanish Ministry of Education and
Culture, the Department of Education of the Principality of Asturias, the
vice-chancellor of the University of Oviedo and the Asturian media.

 Many thanks for your solidarity.

Julio Viejo <jviejo at correo.uniovi.es>