Nerea Fernández’s fight for the “estremeñu”, a good of cultural interest with only Vox against: “They are the dentidá sample”

“We have brought together all the work that, over the years, associations and organizations have carried out to defend our cultural heritage,” says Nerea Fernández in conversation with SPANISH. “A month ago, the The Council of Europe has asked Spain that Extremadura and Portuguese Rayano have been recognized and declared assets of cultural interest. We are talking about a living languagewhich is still heard in the cities, we must therefore defend it and encourage its dissemination.

The initiative is also inspired by a previous report from the Council of Europeparticularly from 2019, which asks the administrations of each country to protect, promote and research their traditional languages. Furthermore, the section 7 of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages pushes countries to promote linguistic varieties to encourage the expression of cultural wealth. In 2020, the ‘thrill‘ was included in the Charter, just two years after the UNESCO also did the same thing in the Congress on languages ​​called into question in the Old World and, previously, in the Atlas of Endangered World Languages.

Alliance against Vox

Although he is a soldier from the most left-wing sector, Fernández Cordero managed to convince both the PSOE like the deputies of PP that this initiative goes beyond ideological division, since it engages in the recognition of a native language with centuries of history behind it and whose linguistic remains are spoken, according to estimates by cultural and academic groups, at least 10,000 people. a precious cultural heritage which reflects the rich and diverse history of Extremadura, and whose cataloging as BIC has only been challenged by the Court of Voice.

“It’s a way of protecting what belongs to us,” Fernández continues. “We all wanted to vote for it. We accept some amendments from the PP this did not change the meaning of the text and we reached a consensus. Vox, on the contrary, says that we are divided, that we have an identity problem. This is curious, because if we study the texts in ‘thrill‘ from 1920 and 1930, The inhabitants of Phalange used it a lot. If your identity is so small that you are threatened by the protection of your cultural heritage, perhaps you should take a look. “I don’t feel threatened because they like bulls,” she criticizes.

However, the approval of the Assembly is not bindingand the proposal to declare the “estremeñu” and the Portuguese border BIC now remains in the hands of the Junta de Extremadura, which chairs the popular party. Maria Guardiola. It is your team who must decide whether or not to approve the initiative. Although, with the favorable votes of his party and the demands of the European Commission behind him, it would be completely illogical not to do so.

The next step is therefore to lay the foundations to make it known and standardize its use. United for Extremadura is committed to promotionhe awareness and the broadcast of “estremeñu” and bordering on Portuguese in schools. Also for the strengthening of what they came to call “linguistic awareness“, as well as the disclosure of information campaigns through media.

“Queremos que se refuerce en el currículo escolar para que los niños y niñas sepan que aquí se hablan más lenguas. Revisar las editoriales para que lo puedan incluir en sus libros. Que la Universidad de Extremadura lo conozca y ofrezca cursos para poder estudiarlo”, asegura Nerea Fernández sobre las posibles estrategias para divulgar las lenguas una vez sean reconocidas bienes de interés cultural.

“Sin embargo, son las organizaciones que han intentado promover esto durante años las que deben decirnos qué pasos hay que seguir, porque cada lengua y territorio tiene una necesidad diferente. El portugués rayano, por ejemplo, tiene más peligro de desaparecer que el a fala, que está más asentado y divulgado”.

Por supuesto, la iniciativa no ha estado exenta de críticas e intentos de ridiculizar a la propia Fernández, quien, tras conocer que la medida salía adelante, compartió en su cuenta de X el siguiente mensaje en ‘estremeñu’: “Una lengua que se canta, conas sus raízis ena tierrina, que cuenta leyendas i cuentu ala lus dela lumbri. Nus sentimus ergullosus quandu las gastamus, porque son la muestra dentidá, las muestras raízis, la estoria del muestru puebru”.

“La ignorancia es atrevida y ruidosa entre quienes odian y no tienen comprensión lectora”, zanja cuando sus detractores le sugiren que esto es una forma de recaudar dinero para abrir nuevos chiringuitos o una estrategia para imponer una identidad lingüística sectaria. “Todo proviene de los bulos. Algunos medios hablan de ‘la diputada comunista que quiere hacer el extremeño lengua oficial‘. Es ignorancia, no entender que las lenguas son un patrimonio cultural, guste o no guste, y que esto no divide, sino que refuerza; declarar BIC nuestras lenguas es como hacerlo de la ciudad histórica de Cáceres o de una iglesia. Es lo nuestro. Una cultura que no queremos dejar morir”.

El origen del ”estremeñu”

‘Farragua‘ es como se le dice a los niños que van desaliñados. ‘Achiperres‘, otrora herramientas de labranza, hoy son utillajes caseros como los que hay, por ejemplo, en una cocina convencional. ‘Tole tole‘ significa hablar muy rápido. ‘Amantujado‘, quien está muy mimado. ‘Coruja‘, la lechuza; ‘troje‘, la buhardilla. Estos son sólo algunos ejemplos de palabras en extremeño que muchos locales, sobre todo de Las Hurdes, Garrovillas, Piornal y Montehermoso, utilizan en su día a día.

“Si la fala de Xálima, ubicada en tres localidades de la esquina noroeste de Extremadura y el portugués rayano, que se encuentra en otras seis, derivan del galaico-portugués, el ‘estremeñu’, por el contrario, es de la familia del leonés y el asturiano, es decir, el asturleonés“, explica Daniel Gordo, presidente del Órgano de Seguimiento y Coordinación del Extremeño y su Cultura (OSCEC), uno de los organismos volcados en la divulgación de las lenguas vernáculas extremeñas.

El origen de esta lengua, explica Gordo, proviene de la trashumancia, de aquellos ganaderos asturianos que bajaban por León y el occidente de Castilla-La Mancha con sus rebaños. Hoy, las pocas localidades en las que se habla extremeño, son las mismas cuyos pueblos formaban parte o estaban cerca de las cañadas medievales del ganado. Serradillas. Garrovillas. Las Hurdes. Torrejoncillo. Ceclavín. Desde el norte del Tajo al oeste de la Ruta de la Plata. 

“A fala, aparte de ser BIC, la conocen 5.000 personas [entre Valverde del Fresno, Eljas y San Martín de Trevejo]. They are few in number, but they have a lot of vitality, because up to 95% of its inhabitants speak it. Borderline Portuguese is less dangerous because everyone knows they are Portuguese. We don’t use it much anymore because it’s chapurreaoeven if within a radius of 5 kilometers, it is already an official language in its own right. The most threatened, on the contrary, is the ‘thrill‘because people don’t know it’s a language“.

“Hoy quedarán unas 10.000 personas que la hablen [en 1995 se calculaban que había unas 200.000]”, says Gordo. “What we call diglossiathat is to say that a language is not at the same level as the others because it coexists with another cultivated language in relation to which it is the subject of shame And ridiculous. This is something historical, because since medieval times there have already been plays in which it is confirmed that the nobleman, the courtier and the clergy speak Spanish and The criminals are those who speak Extremadura, Leonese or Asturian“.

It was not until 1880 and more precisely 1900 that the poet from Extremadura José María Gabriel and Galán dignified the language by publishing part of his work in ‘estremeñu’. His moment of greatest glory was therefore experienced between 1880 And 1920. However, the language has been lost. “Progress gradually pushes him aside and the Spaniard quickly gains space.. Ever since we were little, we were always told that certain words were wrongly pronounced, that “estremeñu” was bad Spanish. This has been fixed. This is why people are still ashamed to talk about it. Recognition as a BIC is a way of showing that it is part of our culture“.