Asturian Alphabet & Letters

Asturian (asturianu, also called bable) is a Romance language of northern Spain, written in the Latin alphabet according to the spelling standard of the Academia de la Llingua Asturiana (ALLA) in Uviéu (Oviedo). The alphabet follows Spanish order, with Ñ ñ coming right after N; j, k and w are used to reproduce words from languages that use them, and q appears only in the pair qu, as in que and quesu (cheese).

The accented vowels á é í ó ú and ü are not separate letters but the plain vowels with a mark, and they sort with them. Asturian also uses the digraphs ch, ll, rr, gu and qu, two letters for one sound.

Asturian writing can mark two regional pronunciations with special forms: Ḷ ḷ (l with a dot below), doubled as ḷḷ for western che vaqueira, and Ḥ ḥ (h with a dot below) for eastern aspiration. They belong to regional pronunciations rather than to the standard language, which is why many texts never use them.

Asturian letters and accents: á é í ó ú, ñ, x, ll, ḷḷ and ḥ

The acute accent marks a stressed syllable that breaks the default rules, which work much as in Spanish: Uviéu, Xixón, díes (days). Adding a pronoun to a verb can move the stress back, so the accent appears: quiero (I want) but quiérote (I love you). Capitals keep their accents: XIXÓN, UVIÉU. Ü is used only in güe and güi to show that the u is pronounced.

Ñ sounds like the ny in canyon: añu (year), mañana, España. X is the sh sound of English, and it often stands where Spanish has j or g: xente (people, Spanish gente), Xixón (the city Spanish calls Gijón).

Many words that start with a plain l in Spanish start with ll in Asturian: llingua (language), lluna (moon), llibru (book), llobu (wolf). In western Asturias that ll is a different sound, the che vaqueira, which the Academy writes ḷḷ: ḷḷobu. The Academy also permits l.l as an alternative spelling; separately, ts represents some western pronunciations of the ch sound.

Ḥ writes the breathy, aspirated h of eastern Asturias, found where Latin had an f at the start of a word. Central and western Asturian keep the f (facer, to do), the east breathes it (ḥacer), and Spanish lost the sound altogether, leaving a silent h (hacer).

Asturian punctuation: ¿ ¡, « » and the apostrophe

Like Spanish, Asturian opens questions with ¿ and exclamations with ¡: ¿Cómo tas? (How are you?), ¡Puxa Asturies! (Go Asturias!). For quotations CLDR lists the angle quotes « » first and “ ” for quotes inside quotes.

The apostrophe ’ is everywhere in Asturian, because short words lose a vowel before another vowel: l’agua (the water), l’home (the man), d’Asturies (of Asturias), as in the region’s official name Principáu d’Asturies. Other contractions are written as one word: nel (in the), col (with the). A hyphen joins the pronoun -y (to him, to her) to a verb: dixo-y (he said to her).

How to type Asturian letters: ḷ, ḥ and the accents

The accents are the same as Spanish, so a Spanish keyboard or the Spanish methods work. Windows: hold Alt and type on the number pad á 0225, é 0233, í 0237, ó 0243, ú 0250, ñ 0241, ü 0252, Á 0193, É 0201, Í 0205, Ó 0211, Ú 0218, Ñ 0209, Ü 0220, ¿ 0191, ¡ 0161, « 0171, » 0187. On the United States-International layout type ' then a vowel for á, ~ then n for ñ. Mac: hold the letter and pick from the pop-up, or Option + E then a vowel, Option + N then n. Phones: long-press the vowel, n, ? or !.

Ḷ ḷ and Ḥ ḥ have no Alt codes and no key on ordinary layouts, so copying them from this page is the easiest way. Their Unicode code points are Ḥ U+1E24, ḥ U+1E25, Ḷ U+1E36 and ḷ U+1E37. In Microsoft Word type 1E37 and press Alt + X; on a Mac with the Unicode Hex Input source, hold Option and type 1E37; on Linux press Ctrl + Shift + U, type 1e37 and press Space. In HTML write ḷ for ḷ and ḥ for ḥ.

You can also build them from a plain letter and the combining dot below (U+0323). That looks the same in good fonts but is two characters, so searches and spell-checkers may not match it; the single precomposed letters on this page are the safer choice.

Where Asturian is spoken, and how it compares with Spanish

Asturian is spoken in the Principality of Asturias in northern Spain. CLDR estimates around 610,000 speakers, all in Spain 🇪🇸. It is not co-official there, but the Statute of Autonomy of Asturias and a 1998 law protect and promote it, and it is taught in schools. Asturias pays in euros, written after the number: 20 €. The blue flag of Asturias with its golden Cross of Victory has no emoji, so people pair 🇪🇸 with 💙💛.

Asturian belongs to the Astur-Leonese group of Romance languages, which continues south as Leonese and across the border as Mirandese in Portugal; Extremaduran is often grouped with them. Next to Spanish it looks familiar but is clearly its own language: masculine words end in -u (el gatu, el llibru), feminine plurals in -es (les cases, les vaques), and it writes x and ll where Spanish has j and l. In the far west, between the Navia and Eo rivers, people speak a variety close to Galician; see the Galician, Spanish and Portuguese collections for their letters.