The Association for the Defence of the Asturian Language (XDLA, Asturian acronym) says the next Asturias Day, to be held on September 8th, should mark "the beginning of a new linguistic policy" for the promotion of Asturian. The XDLA believes that a set of recent commitments undertaken by the two parties supporting the Asturian government (PSOE and IU) could become the basis for significant breakthrough for the language.

The two-party deal was signed in July, and opened the door for the formation of a new government in Asturias, chaired by Javier Fernández (PSOE). In the document, both parties admitted they hold "significant differences" as regards what the legal status of Asturian should be. IU believes the language should be granted official status, while PSOE is opposed to that.

However, both parties pointed to the creation of a study group on "the protection regime for Asturian and its alternatives." Among immediate measures to be introduced, PSOE and IU announced they would "reinforce the implementation, normalization and dissemination" of the language in public administration, the media and education. They also said they would "improve the financing of the Academy of the Asturian Language."

"It seems that the word 'normalization' is now accepted, instead of 'protection', which has earned us little," the XDLA says in a statement. "Furthermore, [the deal] talks about the visibility of the language in public events and its presence in the media." The group wishes that this leads to a change in attitudes towards Asturian, starting from the upcoming Asturias Day: "If you really want to normalize it, if indeed there is a change, there should be positive discrimination towards the language that currently does not enjoy normal use. That is the case for Asturian."

Meanwhile, the Academy of the Asturian Language (ALLA) criticized the PSOE-IU deal in a July statement. According to ALLA, the agreement is "yet another missed opportunity" to grant official status to Asturian and to deliver equal linguistic rights to both Asturian-speaking people and Spanish-speaking people.

The Academy announced it intends to forward to all parties in the Asturian Parliament a "concrete proposal on official status" for the Asturian language in September.

(Image: pro-Asturian language demonstration / photo by vsuarezp.)