Romance language
| Spanish |
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| Castilian |
español
castellano |
| Pronunciation | [espaˈɲol], [kasteˈʎano] |
|---|
| Region | Spain, Hispanic America, Equatorial Guinea (see below) |
|---|
| Ethnicity | Spaniards, Hispanics, and Latinos |
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Native speakers | 480 million (2017)[1]
570 million total speakers
L2 speakers: 90 million (no date)[2] |
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| |
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Early form | |
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| Latin (Spanish alphabet)
Spanish Braille |
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| Signed Spanish (Mexico, Spain and presumably elsewhere) |
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| Official status |
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Official language in |
|
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| Regulated by | Association of Spanish Language Academies
(Real Academia Española and 22 other national Spanish language academies) |
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| Language codes |
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| ISO 639-1 | es |
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| ISO 639-2 | spa |
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| ISO 639-3 | spa |
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| Glottolog | stan1288[3] |
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| Linguasphere | 51-AAA-b |
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 Spanish as official language Unofficial, but spoken by more than 25% of the population (In Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, it is co-official) Unofficial, but spoken by 10-20% of the population (In Bonaire, it is semi-official) Unofficial, but spoken by 5-9% of the population Spanish-based creole languages spoken |
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Spanish (/ (
listen); español (help·info)) or Castilian[4] (/ ( listen), castellano (help·info)), is a Western Romance language that originated in the Castile region of Spain and today has hundreds of millions of native speakers in the Americas and Spain. It is usually considered a global language and the world's second-most spoken native language, after Mandarin Chinese.[5][6][7][8][9]
Spanish is a part of the Ibero-Romance group of languages, which evolved from several dialects of Vulgar Latin in Iberia after the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century. The oldest Latin texts with traces of Spanish come from mid-northern Iberia in the 9th century,[10] and the first systematic written use of the language happened in Toledo, then capital of the Kingdom of Castile, in the 13th century. Beginning in the early 16th century, Spanish was taken to the viceroyalties of the Spanish Empire, most notably to the Americas, as well as territories in Africa, Oceania and the Philippines.[11]
Around 75% of modern Spanish vocabulary is derived from Latin.Ancient Greek has also contributed substantially to Spanish vocabulary, especially through Latin, where it had a great impact.[12][13]Spanish vocabulary has been in contact with Arabic from an early date, having developed during the Al-Andalus era in the Iberian Peninsula.[14][15][16][17] With around 8% of its vocabulary being Arabic in origin, this language is the second most important influence after Latin.[14][18][19] It has also been influenced by Basque, Iberian, Celtiberian, Visigothic, and by neighboring Ibero-Romance languages.[20][14].
Additionally, it has absorbed vocabulary from other languages, particularly the Romance languages—French, Italian, Portuguese, Catalan, Occitan, and Sardinian—as well as from Nahuatl, Quechua, and other indigenous languages of the Americas.
Spanish is one of the six official languages of the United Nations. It is also used as an official language by the European Union, the Organization of American States, the Union of South American Nations, the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, the African Union and by many other international organizations.[21]
