Sayago - Sayaguese Dialect

Sayaguese Dialect

Sayaguese dialect (in Spanish usually named Habla sayaguesa) is a local variant of Leonese language, an old vernacule Romance language used in the ancient Kingdom of Leon, and nowadays survives in some areas of León, Zamora and Bragança (Portugal). It is really similar to Asturian language. It's often characterized as a rustic way of expression, remarked by the Sayaguese people themselves because the historical isolation that affects the comarca. Indeed, during 16th and 17th centuries some Spanish authors (Lucas Fernández, Sánchez Badajoz,...) included the term "Sayaguese" to imprint rurality and coarseness to his characters. This use strongly distort the real nature of the dialect, adding some features or words that are not present in Sayago.

The main characteristics that define the dialect are the following ones:

• Conservation of the Latin /f/ instead of the /h/ used in Spanish (facer and not hacer)
• Double /l/ (llucha instead of lucha)
• Conservation of an ending vocal, specially /e/ (sede instead of sed)