The Spanish Constitution of 1978, in its second article, recognises historic entities ("nationalities", a carefully chosen word in order to avoid the more politically charged "nations") and regions, within the context of the Spanish nation. For some people, Spain's identity consists more of an overlap of different regional identities than of a sole Spanish identity. Indeed, some of the regional identities may even conflict with the Spanish one. Distinct cultural groups within Spain include the Basques, Catalans, and Galicians.

It is this last feature of "shared identity" between the more local level or Autonomous Community and the Spanish level which makes the identity question in Spain complex and far from univocal.

Languages in Spain

Spanish is spoken all over the country and so is the only language with official status nationwide. Other languages have been declared co-official, along with Spanish, in their constituent communities where they are spoken:

Basque (euskera) (2%) in the Basque Country and Navarre;
Catalan (català) (17%) in Catalonia and the Balearic Islands; Valencian, a distinct variant of Catalan, is official in the Valencian Community;
Galician (galego) (7%) in Galicia.

There are also some other surviving Romance minority languages such as the Astur-Leonese group, which includes two languages in Spain: Asturian is "protected" in Asturias and Leonese Language is protected in Castile and León autonomy. Aragonese is vaguely recognized in Aragon.[76] But unlike Basque, Catalan/Valencian and Galician, they do not have any official status. This might be due to their very small number of speakers, a less significant written tradition in comparison to Catalan or Galician, and lower self-awareness of their speakers which traditionally meant lack of strong popular demand for their recognition in the regions in which they are spoken.[77] In the North African Spanish city of Melilla, Tarifit is spoken by a significant part of the population. In the tourist areas of the Mediterranean coast and the islands, English and German are widely spoken by tourists, foreign residents, and tourism workers.

Source: Wikipedia Encyclopedia

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