The majority of languages of Spain belong to the Romance language family, of which Spanish is the only language which has official status for the whole country. Those also include Catalan and Galician (which enjoy official status in specific territories just like Basque, a language isolate) as well as an additional number of languages and dialects belonging to the Romance language continuum.
Present-day languages
The languages spoken in Spain include: Spanish. Official throughout the country, it is spoken by the majority of the population. Catalan, co-official in Catalonia, the Valencian Community and the Balearic Islands. Catalan is also spoken in the eastern strip of the Aragon region (La Franja) and in the Carche area of the Region of Murcia. It is known as Valencian in the Valencian Community. Galician is spoken in Galicia (where it has co-official status) as well as in nearby areas of Asturias and Castile and León. Basque, co-official in the Basque Country and northern Navarre (see Basque-speaking zone). Basque is the only non-Romance language (as well as non-Indo-European) with an official status in Spain. Aranese is a standarized variety of Gascon (Occitan) which is co-official in Catalonia. It is spoken in comarca of the Aran Valley, near the French border. Asturian, a standarized variety of the Asturleonese dialect continuum. It enjoys protection in Asturias, where reportedly about 25% of the population is able to understand, speak, read, and write in the language. Asturleonese varieties collectively known as Leonese are spoken in parts of Castile and León (provinces of León and Zamora), where they enjoy legal protection. Aragonese, spoken in the north of the Aragon region, in the Pyrenees. It enjoys legal protection. Fala: This romance language belonging to the Galician-Portuguese group is spoken by about 6,000 people in the Jálama Valley. It has been declared Bien de interés cultural. Silbo Gomero is a whistled language in La Gomera (Canary Islands). Protected by UNESCO (Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity). Portuguese has been traditionally spoken by the inhabitants of the following border areas: Cedillo and Herrera de Alcántara (province of Cáceres), La Alamedilla (province of Salamanca, primarily spoken in the place up until the mid-20th century), and Olivenza (province of Badajoz). Darija Arabic is spoken in Ceuta. It lacks government protection. Riffian is spoken in Melilla. It lacks government protection.
Other Romance varieties
Spanish itself boasts a substantial internal variation in the country. For example, the Andalusian or Canarian dialects, each with their own subvarieties, some of them being partially closer to the Spanish of the Americas, which they heavily influenced to varying degrees, depending on the region or period and according to different and non-homogeneous migrating or colonisation processes. Despite being a dialect, some Andalusian speakers have attempted to promote Andalusian as a different language independent of Spanish.
Five very localised dialects are of difficult filiation: Fala (a variety mostly ascribed to the Galician-Portuguese group locally spoken in an area of the province of Cáceres sometimes called Valley of Jálama/Xálima, which includes the towns of San Martín de Trevejo, Eljas and Valverde del Fresno); Cantabrian and Extremaduran, two Astur-Leonese dialects also regarded as Spanish dialects; Eonavian, a dialect between Asturian and Galician, closer to the latter according to several linguists; and Benasquese, a Ribagorçan dialect that was formerly classified as Catalan, later as Aragonese, and which is now often regarded as a transitional language of its own. Asturian and Leonese are closely related to the local Mirandese which is spoken on an adjacent territory but over the border into Portugal. Mirandese is recognised and has some local official status.
Statistics
In terms of the number of speakers and dominance, the most prominent of the languages of Spain is Spanish, spoken by about 99% of Spaniards as a first or second language. According to a 2019 Pew Research survey, the most commonly spoken languages at home other than Spanish were Catalan in 8% of households, Valencian in 4%, Galician in 3% and Basque in 1%. A study in 2016 by the University of Navarra focused on which languages were used most frequently to consume news within a week (using multiple-choice surveys). The response included foreign languages, Spanish and only co-official and protected languages. 95.2% of news was consumed in Spanish and 30.4% in a co-official or protected language.