• In the language itself: Mirandés
• ISO 639-3 standard: mwl

• Classification: Indo-European → Italic. For more information, see mira1251 at Glottolog
• Script: Latin

Listen to the language here and here

A standardized ortography was created in 1999 in a joint effort by the Town Council of Miranda do Douro and the CLUL (Center for Linguistics of the University of Lisbon)¹⁾.

Mirandese is spoken in the municipality of Miranda do Douro, as well as, in the municipality of Vimioso, in the district of Bragança, in the northeast corner of Portugal, near the border with Spain ²⁾.

Dialects

There are three varieties of Mirandese ³⁾:

• Central or standard Mirandese: taken as the standard by the Mirandese Language Ortographic Convention;
• Sendinês or southern Mirandese, which is characterized by particular phonetic feautures (reason why there is an addendum to the Mirandese Language Ortographic Convention ⁴⁾ regarding this particular dialect).
• Border or northern Mirandese, which is distinguished mostly by some morphological differences.

Map showing where Mirandês is still spoken ⁵⁾.

Many cite 15.000 as the number of speakers of Mirandese; however, this is number is most likely too high. It is estimated that there should be around 5000 speakers in the region of Miranda do Douro, and, approximately, another 5000, max, of emigrants who still speak Mirandese. These numbers include both fluent speakers, who speak Mirandese on a daily basis, and those who speak it infrequently and may have only very basic language skills.⁶⁾.

Mirandese was until recently a language transmitted at home from generation to generation. Only in the eighties did the necessity to teach the language in school arise, also as a way to revitalize Mirandese. For this reason, in 1982 a petition by the management body of the Secondary School of Miranda do Douro was presented to the Ministry of Education, which requested permission to implement an optional course of Mirandese. This petition was denied by the Ministry which stated that, legally, courses that were not part of the national curriculum could not be introduced at specific locations ⁷⁾. Only in 1985 a weekly, two-hour, optional course of Mirandese for the 5th and 6th grades was approved for the region of Miranda do Douro ⁸⁾ and thus 1986/1987 were the first academic years in which Mirandese was taught at the Elementary School of Miranda do Douro ⁹⁾.

Nowadays, Mirandese is taught in all years of study. However, it was only with the official recognition of the Mirandese language in 1999 that the instruction of Mirandese was regulated and extended to other schools, though still merely as an optional course ¹⁰⁾. In Sendim, where one of the three dialects is spoken, the first courses of the Mirandese language for 5th and 6th graders started in 2000 ¹¹⁾ and the first courses for 7th to 9th graders opened in 2002/2003, for preschoolers and 1st to 4th graders in 2004/2005, and two years later for secondary school students ¹²⁾.

In 1999, the Portuguese Parliament officially recognized linguistic rights to the Mirandese community ¹³⁾, which include, among others, the following:

• The right to cultivate and promote the Mirandese language, as a culture, an instrument of communication and identity of the land of Miranda;
• The right of the child to learn Mirandese is recognized;
• The right to scientific and educational support, with a view to the training of teachers of the language and culture.

Later that year, the Legislative Order No. 35/99 further decrees that ¹⁴⁾:

• The students of the primary and secondary schools in the municipality of Miranda do Douro are provided with the learning of Mirandese, as part of the enrichment of the curriculum;
• The availability of the offer referred to above is the responsibility of the primary and secondary schools in the municipality of Miranda do Douro, through the development of projects aimed at preserving and promoting the Mirandese language.

In fact, this law only ratified what had already been approved in 1985 ¹⁵⁾.

The Portuguese Constitution does not mention the Mirandese language.

Portugal has not signed the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, because “no regional or minority language is spoken in their territory”¹⁶⁾

Even though Mirandese has been taught in schools for 30 years, teaching materials and training of Mirandese language teachers is scarce ¹⁷⁾. However, on the 25th of September 2017 a protocol was signed between the municipality of Miranda do Douro, the Ministry of Education and the University of Coimbra to reinforce the pilot project aimed at teaching and learning the Mirandese language and culture and in this way improve the training of teachers so that the continued teaching of this course in schools is ensured ¹⁸⁾.

There are children's books by the author Duarte Martins, teacher of Mirandese in the School Group of Miranda do Douro, in collaboration with illustrators and designers ¹⁹⁾., frequently used as school books for the younger pupils, based on of a collection of orally transmitted Mirandese short stories.

Enrollments in the Course of Mirandese Language and Culture in the School Group of Miranda do Douro ²⁰⁾

As can be seen in these tables, Mirandese is taught in all years until university. It is still an optional, extra-curricular course, which could explain why in secondary school there are so few students enrolled in the course. It is only taught for an hour a week, and, in general, there is a lack of suitable materials, as well as a lack of support for teacher training ²¹⁾.

There used to be a course of Mirandese at the University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro, but it has unfortunately been abandoned ²²⁾.

However, there are several organizations that provide courses every once in a while: Associçon de la Lhéngua i Cultura Mirandes, Casa de Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro em Lisboa and Scuola Mirandesa de l Porto. And additionally the Universidade Sénior de Miranda do Douro (Senior University of Miranda do Douro) offers a regular course of Mirandese Language.

Miranda do Douro has a Portuguese-Mirandese dictionary.