Mirandese (lhéngua mirandesa)

Mirandese is a Romance language closely related to Asturian spoken in northern Portugal by about 10,000 people. A further 5,000 or so people speak Mirandese occasionally. The majority of Mirandese speakers live in villages in the municipality of Miranda do Douro, and also in some villages in Vimioso, Mogadouro and Bragança.

Mirandese began to emerge as a distinct language during the 12th century, and Mirandese literature first appeared during the second half of the 19th century. The best known Mirandese writer is José Leite de Vasconcelos.

Today it is taught in some schools, articles in Mirandese appear some in newspapers and magazines, and there are occasional radio and television programmes in the language. Many young people view the language as archaic and underdeveloped and have little interest in it.

Mirandese alphabet

Mirandese pronunciation

Notes

• b = [β] between vowels and after voiced consonants
• c = [s] before e or i, [k] elsewhere
• ç = [z] before words starting with voiced consonants
• d = [ð] between vowels and after r
• e = [ ɨ, ɨ̃ ] before stressed syllables
• g = [ɣ] between vowels and after r. Before e and i, g = [ʒ]. g = [gu] in certain words such as guira, guiron and guirica. g = [gu̯] before a
• gu = [ɣ] between vowels and after r
• l = [ɫ] when in final position and befor consonants
• o = [u] when unstressed
• m is silent before nasalized front vowels, e.g. amportante
• n is silent before consonants and at the end of words before nasalized front vowels, e.g. lhéngua, sons, quien
• qu = [k] before e and i, and [kṷ] before a and en
• r = [rr] at the beginning of words and after n
• s = [s̻] when in initial position and before silent consonants. Between vowels and before voiced consonants, s = [z̻]
• k, v and w are only used in loanwords from other languages

Download an alphabet chart for Mirandese (Excel)

Source: http://mirandes.no.sapo.pt/LMRNconvencao.pdf (PDF), Marcelo Luiz and Marcelo Manschein

Sample text in Mirandese

Quien dirie qu'antre ls matos eiriçados
Las ourriêtas i ls rius d'esta tiêrra,
Bibie, cumo l chaugarço de la siêrra,
Ua lhéngua de sons tan bariados?

Mostre-se i fale-s' essa lhéngua filha
D'un pobo que ten neilha l choro i l canto!
Nada por ciêrto mos cautiba tanto
Cumo la form' an que l'eideia brilha.

Zgraçiado d'aquel, qu'abandonando
La patri' an que naciu, la casa i l huôrto.
Tamien se squeçe de la fala! Quando
L furdes ber, talbéç que stéia muôrto!

A poem by J. Leite de Vasconcelos, source: http://www.orbilat.com/Languages/Asturian-Mirandes/Texts/Mirandes-Poem.html

Sample videos in Mirandese

Links

Information about the Mirandese Language
http://www.uoc.es/euromosaic/web/document/mirandes/an/i1/i1.html
http://www.orbilat.com/Languages/Asturian-Mirandes/
http://www.eb2-miranda-douro.rcts.pt/mirandes/mirandes.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirandese_language

Romance languages

Aragonese, Aranese, Aromanian, Asturian, Catalan, Corsican, Dalmatian, Emilian-Romagnol, Extremaduran, Fala, Franco-Provençal, French, Friulian, Galician, Gallo, Gascon, Genoese, Guernésiais, Istro-Romanian, Istriot, Italian, Jèrriais, Ladino, Ladin, Ligurian, Lombard, Lorrain, Megleno-Romanian, Mirandese, Moldovan, Monégasque, Mozarabic, Neapolitan, Occitan, Occitan (Auvergnat), Occitan (Languedocien), Occitan (Limousin), Occitan (Provençal), Picard, Piedmontese, Portuguese, Romanian, Romansh, Sardinian, Sicilian, Spanish, Valencian, Venetian, Walloon

Languages written with the Latin alphabet

Page last modified: 23.04.21

[top]

---

Why not share this page:

Learn languages for free on Duolingo

 

If you like this site and find it useful, you can support it by making a donation via PayPal or Patreon, or by contributing in other ways. Omniglot is how I make my living.

 

Note: all links on this site to Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.fr are affiliate links. This means I earn a commission if you click on any of them and buy something. So by clicking on these links you can help to support this site.

[top]