The present state of aragonese

How much Aragonese is still spoken remains largely an unknown quantity. Naturally, establishing the number of speakers of any variety begs the question of what speaking a language actually means, and the picture is often clouded by the political interests of particular groups, as is the case in Aragon. The strong claim to the continued widespread use of Aragonese made by such associations as the Consello d"a Fabla in Huesca is counterbalanced by that of the more reactionary, sceptical academics at the University of Saragossa, who maintain that Aragonese varieties, ignoring the Catalan of Aragon spoken right down La Franja, the transition area between Aragon and Catalonia, now only survive in certain pockets of resistance across the north of Huesca. This paper will attempt to provide a summary of the available facts and report on some of the author"s own findings during his more recent trips to Aragon. Keywords Spanish dialectology, Aragonese, standardization of Aragonese, vitality of Aragonese