Editing Valencian language (section)

== History ==
The Valencian language is usually assumed to have spread in the [[Kingdom of Valencia]] when Catalan and Aragonese colonists settled the territory after the conquests carried out by [[James I of Aragon|James the Conqueror]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Coll i Alentorn |first=Miquel |title=Història |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xxeCPuOYLzkC&dq=pa%C3%ADs+valenci%C3%A0+repoblaci%C3%B3+aragonesos&pg=PA346 |publisher=L'Abadia de Montserrat |date=1992 |pages=346 |isbn=8478263616}}</ref> A new resettlement in the 17th century, after the [[expulsion of the Moriscos]], largely led by Castilians, defined the Spanish language varieties of inland Valencia. However, Valencian has historically been the predominant and administrative language in the kingdom.

The first documental reference to the usage of the term {{lang|ca-valencia|valencià}} to refer to the spoken language of the Valencians is found in a judicial process of Minorca against Gil de Lozano, dated between 1343 and 1346, in which it is said that the mother of the indicted, Sibila, speaks {{lang|ca|valencianesch}} because she was from [[Orihuela]] (formerly Oriola).<ref>{{cite book |last1=Ferrando i Francés |first1=Antoni |last2=Nicolás Amorós |first2=Miquel |title=Història de la llengua catalana |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vhcpsXJH-osC&dq=valencianesch&pg=PA105 |publisher=Editorial UOC |date=2011 |pages=105 |isbn=978-8497883801}}</ref>

The concept of Valencian language appeared in the second half of the 14th century and it was progressively consolidated at the same time that its meaning changed due to events of a diverse nature (political, social, economic).{{sfn|Beltran i Calvo|Segura i Llopes|2018|p=24}} In the previous centuries the Catalan spoken in the territory of the Kingdom of Valencia was called in different ways: {{lang|ca|romanç}} (13th century) and {{lang|ca|catalanesch}} (during the 14th century, for the medieval concept of nation as a linguistic community). The concept of the Valencian language appeared with a particularistic character due to the reinforced nature of the legal entity of the Kingdom of Valencia for being the Mediterranean commercial power during the 14th and 15th centuries, becoming in the cultural and literary centre of the Crown of Aragon. Thus, the Valencians, together with the Majorcans, presented themselves to other peoples as Catalans while they referred to themselves as Valencians and Majorcans to themselves to emphasise the different legal citizenship of each kingdom.{{sfn|Beltran i Calvo|Segura i Llopes|2018|p=35}}

In the 15th century, the so-called Valencian Golden Age, the name "Valencian" was already the usual name of the predominant language of the [[Kingdom of Valencia]], and the names of {{lang|ca|vulgar}}, {{lang|ca|romanç}} or {{lang|ca|catalanesch}} had fallen into disuse. [[Joanot Martorell]], author of the novel ''[[Tirant lo Blanch]]'', said: "{{literal|''Me atrevire expondre: no solament de lengua anglesa en portuguesa. Mas encara de portuguesa en vulgar valenciana: per ço que la nacio d·on yo so natural se·n puxa alegrar''}}." ("I dare to express myself: not only in English in Portuguese. But even so from Portuguese to vulgar Valencian: for that the nation I am from born can rejoice").

Since the [[Spanish democratic transition]], the autonomy or heteronomy of Valencian with respect to the rest of the Valencian-Catalan linguistic system has been the subject of debate and controversy among Valencians, usually with a political background. Although in the academic field (universities and institutions of recognised prestige) of linguists the unity of the language has never been questioned since studies of the [[Romance languages]], part of Valencian public opinion believes and affirms that Valencian and Catalan are different languages, an idea that began to spread during the turbulent Valencian transition by sectors of the regionalist right and by the so-called {{lang|ca-valencia|[[Blaverism|blaverisme]]}} (Blaverism). There is an alternative secessionist linguistic regulation, the ''[[Normes del Puig]]'' (Norms of El Puig), drawn up by the [[Royal Academy of Valencian Culture]] ({{lang|ca-valencia|Real Acadèmia de Cultura Valenciana}}, RACV), an institution founded in 1915 by the Deputation of Valencia, but its use is very marginal.