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The territory was taken from the Muslims when conquered by the Crown of Catalonia and Aragon in the 12th Century and initially settled by Catalan speakers, although the frontier between Catalonia and Aragon has changed many times since then. Catalan was used almost exclusively in official circles until the unification of the Crowns of Castille and Catalonia-Aragon in the 15th Century. The first known documents in Catalan in the region go back to the 13th Century. The Catalan-speaking part of Aragon diminished as certain areas were resettled by Castilian speakers in the 17th Century, although the general imposition of Castilian did not begin until the 18th Century with the arrival of the Bourbon dynasty. When Spain was split into provinces (1833), La Franja was divided into three Aragon provinces (Huesca, Saragosa and Teruel). Catalan experienced a revival towards the turn of the century with the cultural and political renaissance of Catalonia, and the dialects specific to La Franja were taken into consideration in the codification work carried out in Catalonia. Under Franco, Catalan in Aragon and throughout Spain suffered severe repression, although this in turn generated a new awareness of the language during the 1970s.
The "statute of autonomy" granted to Aragon in 1982 contains no reference to Catalan, being providing merely for measures to protect the various arrangements for the use of language in the region, although it seems that these measures were not applied by the regional government until the mid-eighties. A manifesto (Declaració de Mequinensa) was signed in February 1984 calling for improved protection and standardization of Catalan. This manifesto was supported by 17 mayors in the region under the aegis of the Aragon Minister of Culture. With the exception of some progress in education, very little has been done to honour the commitments.
Using the name "Catalan" to describe the dialect spoken in La Franja has generated numerous arguments, as the term is sometimes seen as hinting at Catalonian colonial ambitions or the negation of people's Aragon identity. These considerations, added to a limited awareness of Catalan as such and an inferiority complex as far as language is concerned, have led the people of the area to use a whole series of names for Catalan taken from local place names (fragati, tamaritą, llitera, etc.). The protagonists of Castilian apply an even more pejorative epithet: chapurreau (from the verb "chapurrear", to gabble).
Some of the most important groups and associations devoted to the defence of Catalan in Aragon are: Consells Populars de Cultura, l'Associació Cultural del Matarranya, l'Institut d'Estudis del Baix Cinca, and l'Associació de Consells Locals de la Franja. There have been various campaigns calling for official status for Catalan, teaching of Catalan and in Catalan, changes of place names, the use of Catalan for official business, etc.
The "statute of autonomy" granted to Aragon in 1982 contains no reference to Catalan, being providing merely for measures to protect the various arrangements for the use of language in the region, although it seems that these measures were not applied by the regional government until the mid-eighties. A manifesto (Declaració de Mequinensa) was signed in February 1984 calling for improved protection and standardization of Catalan. This manifesto was supported by 17 mayors in the region under the aegis of the Aragon Minister of Culture. With the exception of some progress in education, very little has been done to honour the commitments.
Using the name "Catalan" to describe the dialect spoken in La Franja has generated numerous arguments, as the term is sometimes seen as hinting at Catalonian colonial ambitions or the negation of people's Aragon identity. These considerations, added to a limited awareness of Catalan as such and an inferiority complex as far as language is concerned, have led the people of the area to use a whole series of names for Catalan taken from local place names (fragati, tamaritą, llitera, etc.). The protagonists of Castilian apply an even more pejorative epithet: chapurreau (from the verb "chapurrear", to gabble).
Some of the most important groups and associations devoted to the defence of Catalan in Aragon are: Consells Populars de Cultura, l'Associació Cultural del Matarranya, l'Institut d'Estudis del Baix Cinca, and l'Associació de Consells Locals de la Franja. There have been various campaigns calling for official status for Catalan, teaching of Catalan and in Catalan, changes of place names, the use of Catalan for official business, etc.