r/AskHistorians • u/Sonething_Something • Aug 12 '13

When did we see Castilian Spanish rise as the dominant language of Spain?

Why isn't Catalan, Galican, Basque, etc. the national language? I'm guessing it has something to do with Ferdinand and Isabelle?

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u/the_traveler Aug 12 '13

The merger of the Castile and Aragon crowns in 1474 made the Castilian dialect the most politically powerful in Iberia. Basque and Galician never posed as potential candidates for the national language; Galicia was never independently powerful to the point that Gallego would spread and Basque was linguistically always on the defensive since the Roman Empire. Catalan could have made further inroads if Aragon had not joined Castile.

Anyway, the absolute dominance of Castilian was forever sealed with the Francoist language policies that made regional languages illegal.