Steve Velasquez, age 15, of Denton, Tex., for his question:
HOW MANY PEOPLE SPEAK SPANISH?
Altogether, about 150 million persons speak the Spanish language. It is the most widely used of the Romance languages.
Many people in the United States speak Spanish, especially in the Southwestern states and Florida. In addition, of course, it is the official language of Spain and its overseas provinces. It is also the official language of 18 Latin American republics and one of two official tongues of Puerto Rico.
The Spanish spoken in Latin America is known as American Spanish. The Spanish used in Spain is often called Castilian Spanish. Castilian Spanish and American Spanish are basically the same but have a few differences in pronunciation and vocabulary.
Spanish is one of the most phonetic of all languages. That is, its pronunciation follows its spelling closely.
The Spanish language developed from Latin. During the 200s and 100s B.C., Roman armies conquered the Iberian Peninsula, which is present day Spain and Portugal. The Iberians gradually adopted the language of their conquerors. This language was called vernacular or common Latin.
The Iberians changed the language continually. By the A.D. 400s or 500s, vernacular Latin had become Spanish. Few Iberian words remain.
In the early 400s, Germanic tribes invaded the Iberian Peninsula. These tribes controlled the peninsula until 711, but they had little influence on the Spanish language.
In 711, the Arabic speaking Moors conquered all but a small part of the peninsula. They ruled most of the region until the mid 1200s. The Moors added about 700 Arabic words to Spanish. But Spanish remained basically Latin in vocabulary and changed little in sound and structure.
Like other languages, Spanish developed several dialects. During the 1200s, the Spanish province of Castile became an important literary, military and political center. The influence of Castile spread and the Castilian dialect was soon the accepted form of Spanish in most parts of the Iberian Peninsula.
Two other dialects became separate languages during this period. The Galician Portuguese dialect had developed in the western part of the peninsula. This dialect was the basis of the Portuguese language, which began in the 1200s.
The Catalan dialect lived on in northeastern Spain and grew into the Catalan language.
Beginning in the 1500s, Spanish colonists, conquerors and missionaries brought their language to Latin America. Spanish gradually replaced many Indian languages, including those of the Aztec, Inca and Maya. Today, Spanish is the official language of all Latin American republics except Brazil and Haiti.