• In the language itself: Estremeñu/Ehtremeñu, Castúo, Barranquênhu¹⁾²⁾
• ISO 639-3 standard: ext

• Classification: Indo-European → Romance → Western Romance → West-Ibero Romance → Castilic → Extremaduran. For more information, see extr1243 at Glottolog.
• Script: Latin

In 2017, the Ortografia del Extremeño (Orthography of Extremaduran) was published, lead by Extremaduran linguist Ismael Carmona García, and written in Spanish. There, it is described that Extremaduran is written in the Latin alphabet, including digraphs and diacritics: a, b, c, ç, ch, d, e, f, g, h, i, j, l, ll, m, n, ñ, o, p, qu, r, rr, s, ss, t, u, v, x, y, z,' ³⁾.

The ortography was published by the Órganu de Siguimientu i Cordinación del Estremeñu i la su Coltura (Organ for the Monitoring and Coordination of Extremaduran and its Culture, short OSCEC). OSCEC was founded in 2011, its objective being to function as a “meeting point for scholars, writers and lovers of the Extremaduran language and culture” and to study, standardise, strengthen, promote and institutionalise the language⁴⁾. The organisation consists of about sixty experts, including philologists, historians and journalists⁵⁾.

Extremaduran is spoken in the Spanish autonomous community of Extremadura, which is located in the West of the country, bordered to Portugal (see figure 1 and 2). Extremaduran coexists alongside Spanish, Oliventine Portuguese (portugués rayano) and the Galician-Portuguese Fala language, spoken in the Jalamá Valley (Valle de Jalamá/Val de Xálima)⁶⁾.

Three main Extremaduran varieties can be distuingished⁷⁾⁸⁾, namely:

• Northern Extremaduran, or Altoextremeño
• Central Extremaduran
• Southern Extremaduran, or Bajoextremeño

There is discussion regarding the distinction between what counts as a variety of Extremaduran or Spanish. OSCEC states that Extremaduran is spoken in the north, as well as in the south of Extremadura⁹⁾.

Points of Interest

id	symbol	latitude	longitude	description
Europe
1		39.19º	-6.10º	Extremaduran in Spain

^{Figure 1. Map showing the central point for the Extremaduran language area. The coordinate data were retrieved from Glottolog10).}

^{Figure 2. Map of showing the Extremaduran language area within the autonomous community of Extremadura. It labels Extremaduran language varieties as Idioma Extremeño, Altoextremeño, Bajoextremeño, shown in green and dark yellow. Portugal is shown in light grey/blue 11).}

There is no official data on the current number of speakers of Extremaduran. A complication for such an estimation of speakers is that some speakers are not aware of their use of Extremaduran, and instead believe that they are speaking a dialectal, “badly” spoken form of Castilian Spanish (p.4)¹²⁾. The OSCEC states that while it considers Ethnologue's estimation of 200,000 - 500,000 speakers in 1995 to be possible in theory, the organisation estimates that in reality, there are about 10,000 people who consider themselves to be speaking a language distinct from Spanish. Moreover, many people tend to call their language by the name of their local variety instead of denominating it Extremaduran.

In terms of language skills, OSCEC considers 40% of people in the centre of the region of Extremadura to be able to understand Extremaduran. There are very few speakers who are proficient in reading and writing¹³⁾.

The use of Extremaduran in education has been discouraged for many years, and students could even face physical punishment for speaking the language until the 1970s ¹⁴⁾¹⁵⁾.

Nevertheless, the Extremaduran language has been included in more general initiatives promoting Extremaduran culture. However, there are no concrete measures for the Extremaduran language in particular ¹⁶⁾¹⁷⁾.

In 1977, the “Week of Extremadura in School” (Semana de Extremadura en la Escuela) was first organised by a group of teachers at the school Colegio Virgen de Guadalupe in Badajoz, right after the end of Francoist Spain and before the formation of an autonomous government for Extremadura. During this week, everything revolved around Extremadura, including e.g. music, language, geography, history and arranged expositions, dances and excursions. From 1978 onwards, the project was gradually extended to other educational centres and a large closing activity involving up to 15,000 students was hosted in different Extremaduran towns and cities every spring. The project was awarded the first ever Medal of Extremadura in 1986, but was discontinued after 1997¹⁸⁾. Nowadays, there is a day when schools celebrate the passing of the Statute of Autonomy of Extremadura (25 February)¹⁹⁾. This celebration can last longer than a day, and linguistic diversity can be one of the aspects celebrated ²⁰⁾.

In 2002, the Extremaduran Ministry of Education, Science and Technology approved a secondary school curriculum of Extremaduran topics, also creating an optional subject called “Extremaduran Culture” (Cultura Extremeña). However, this elective subject would be eliminated by subsequent educational legislation, which is why the teaching of Extremaduran content happens at the discretion of individual educators²¹⁾.

Spain has signed the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages (ECRML) in 1992 and ratified in 2001, but did not (explicitely) include Extremaduran until 2020²²⁾²³⁾. Since then, Extremaduran has been recognised under part II of the ECRML²⁴⁾²⁵⁾.

For education, this means that commitments are made. For example:

• the provision of appropriate forms and means for the teaching and study of regional or minority languages at all appropriate stages;
• the provision of facilities enabling non-speakers of a regional or minority language living in the area where it is used to learn it if they so desire;
• the promotion of study and research on regional or minority languages at universities or equivalent institutions;

Spain declares languages “protected by the Statutes of Autonomy in the territories where they are traditionally spoken” as regional or minority language via part II of the ECRML²⁶⁾. In December 2019, the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe adopted a Recommendation on the application of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages by Spain, in which it advised the Spanish authorities to “clarify the situation of […] Estremeñu in Extremadura”, among other regional languages“²⁷⁾. This lead to changes regarding the protection of Extremaduran in 2020, as the OSCEC submitted the request to have Extremaduran declared as an “Asset of Cultural Interest (BIC, its Spanish acronym)”²⁸⁾, and Extremaduran was explicitely included within the framework of the ECRML²⁹⁾. Resulting from this, information on Extremaduran has been included in reports for the ECRML^30)31)32).

The Autonomous Community of Extremadura has Castillian Spanish as offcial language, but states in article 9.1.47 of the Extremaduran constitution, that it has exclusive jurisdiction over “Culture in all its forms. […] Protection of the specific linguistic modalities” (translated from Spanish), in which the linguistic modalities refer to Extremaduran, Fala and Border Portuguese ³³⁾³⁴⁾.

Early 2020, the OSCEC submitted the request to have Extremaduran declared as an “Asset of Cultural Interest” in the Autonomous Community of Extremadura³⁵⁾, which was still a work in process in 2024³⁶⁾.

The Autonomous Community of Extremadura is the main authority for education ³⁷⁾.

In September 2024, Montehermoso became the first municipality within the autonomous community of Extremadura to officially commit to the protection and promotion of the regional languages, including Extremaduran, with the declaration Municipio comprometido con las lenguas de Extremadura³⁸⁾³⁹⁾.

Since 2019, OSCEC offers talks, workshops and courses both for educational professionals and students of all ages. In a dossier directed at educational centres, they explain that the goal of these events is to inform and discuss about the linguistic diversity of Extremadura. The introductory talk directed at teacher training centres (centros de profesores y de recursos, short CPR) and the teaching staff of individual educational centres has a duration of an hour and a half and is given in Extremaduran unless specifically requested otherwise. The organisation provides participants with ways to preserve and transmit linguistic cultural heritage in the educational system. An extended course on this matter covers the topics of plurilingualism and tolerance, the legal framework, the formation of the Extremaduran languages, characteristics of the Extremaduran languages, and linguistic plurality in the classroom⁴⁰⁾.

There is no financial support given to educational institutions for the teaching of Extremaduran language and culture. OSCEC reported that they do not benefit from any financial help or subsidies granted by government institutions⁴¹⁾.

The Extremaduran language has no official presence in the Extremaduran education system⁴²⁾. Nevertheless, attention to the language can be given, such as “highlighting the linguistic plurality of Extremadura in the areas where a dialect is spoken” (translated from Spanish) during celebrations of the Extremaduran Statute of Autonomy⁴³⁾.

Schools have the option to host workshops and classes organised by OSCEC and offered for students of different age groups, which involve games, exercises and other activities to activate participants' knowledge of Extremaduran regional languages and to emphasise these languages' importance⁴⁴⁾.

Individual teachers may decide to include Extremaduran in class. One example of such inclusion is the project called “En Extremaúra se parla Castúo” (In Extremadura we speak Extremaduran), organised in year 2º ESO (second year of secondary education, aged 12 to 13) at secondary school IES Castillo de Luna in Alburquerque (Badajoz). Students explored the language and its vocabulary as well as Extremaduran history and culture. For this project, students made use of both information from the internet and physical books. The project was presented as a radio program of their school radio and a was published on the website of the educational radio project RadioEdu of the Junta (Government) of Extremadura⁴⁵⁾.

The University of Extremadura has no department dedicated to the study of Extremaduran. Where the university initially considered the Extremaduran language to be dead and Extremadurans to have voluntarily chosen to speak Spanish instead of Extremaduran⁴⁶⁾, by 2024, the university was involved in a local project with OSCEC, Turismo activo a través de las Lenguas Minoritarias de Extremadura (Active tourism through the Minority Languages ​​of Extremadura)⁴⁷⁾

In 2021, the Consejo de la Juventud de Extremadura (Council of Extremaduran Youth, short CJEx) offered a basic Extremaduran class (CEFR-level A1), for which the 150 available spots were full within two days ⁴⁸⁾. The course with the name “Hablamos extremeño - Palramus estremeñu” (Let's speak Extremaduran) had a duration of six weeks, spanning 120 hours, and was supported with online materials. The course aimed to teach basic linguistic competences and inform about the linguistic situation of Extremadura, and was taught by members of OSCEC⁴⁹⁾.

• OSCEC organsises an annual celebration day for Extremaduran, in light of European Day of Languages on the 26th of September since 2018⁵⁰⁾.
  It is active on social media also, including Facebook, X and Instagram

• El Cantón estremeñu is an educational project revolving around the Extremaduran language. Founded by Juan Francisco Reina Raposo (co-founder of OSCEC), teacher of Extremaduran and Spanish as a second language (ELE), the website started out as a blog about the language and has become a resource for both speakers and learners.

Dictionaries and ortorgraphies

• Diccionario Castellano – Extremeño: Spanish - Extremaduran dictionary
• Ortografia del extremeño: Ortography of Extremaduran]]

Learning materials

• El Cantón estremeñu: a basic study plan (in Spanish) for beginners and intermediate learners, covering general information, reading and writing, grammar, verbs, vocabulary and morphology
• Polyglot Club Wiki: lessons on Extremaduran grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation (English based). Grammar lessons include articles, auxiliary verbs, verb tenses, pronouns and prepositions, and basic vocabulary resources cover topics such as greetings, temporal adverbs, verbs, adjectives, numbers and body parts.
• Azetina: a YouTube channel on Extremaduran history, language and popular culture, including language lessons, recordings of spoken Extremaduran, radio interviews by OSCEC and news items.