10.000 speakers
18 language specific characters
ISO 639 code: mwl
Mirandese is a Romance language closely related to Asturian spoken in northern Portugal by about 10,000 people. A further 5,000 or so people speak Mirandese occasionally. The majority of Mirandese speakers live in villages in the municipality of Miranda do Douro, and also in some villages in Vimioso, Mogadouro and Bragança.
Mirandese began to emerge as a distinct language during the 12th century, and Mirandese literature first appeared during the second half of the 19th century. The best known Mirandese writer is José Leite de Vasconcelos.
Today it is taught in some schools, articles in Mirandese appear some in newspapers and magazines, and there are occasional radio and television programmes in the language. Many young people view the language as archaic and underdeveloped and have little interest in it.
wikipedia.org, omniglot.com & ethnologue.com
younger brothers