Sprachen und Sprachkontakt in Andorra: ein überblick [Languages and language contact in Andorra: an overview]

The development of the linguistic situation of Andorra is mainly due to migration between Andorra and the neighbouring speech areas; practically from the outset, linguistic and cultural contact has been a constant in the life of the people from Andorra. The spreading of the language area in the Pyrenees has to be considered in the context both of the linguistic and cultural contacts and the accelerated change of the Andorran society during the 19th and especially the 20th centuries due to growing mobility. Special attention should be attached to the importance of the tourism branch and, in this context, to the role of the migrant labourers for the development of Andorra’s linguistic future. The role of the French- and Spanish-speaking migrants, yet especially the Portuguese migrant labourers, whose influence on the formation of Andorra’s linguistic future has been underestimated so far, should be taken more strongly into account.