THE STATUS OF THE ARAGONESE LANGUAGE: STANDARDISATION, LINGUISTIC REVITALISATION AND FUTURE PROSPECTS

This paper provides a description of the current status of Aragonese, with a particular emphasis on the possibilities of standardising it. Bearing in mind the fact that standardisation is often the default strategy for revitalising a language, in the aim of helping focus efforts in this regard on those strategies with the greatest chance of success, said description pays particular attention to three key factors for successfully standardising any variety: 1) the economic and demographic factor; 2) the political and legal framework, and 3) the political players in pursuit of standardisation. This description concludes with an analysis of the political scenario opened up by Aragon autonomous community elections of 26 May 2019, with the aim of being in a position to sketch out some future scenarios for Aragonese. It therefore analyses Aragonese socio-political context in order to judge whether standardisation is the best strategy for revitalising the language, and concludes that its future depends on prioritising other revitalisation strategies and working upon the basis of existing consensuses, which do not encompass standard Aragonese.