[ L O I A . O R G]

Loia is a project of the Council of Galician Culture, carried out through its Language Section and the Sociolinguistics Documentation Centre of Galicia.

Galicia is an autonomous region in Spain and it has its own language called Galician. This language is spoken by the majority of the people alongside the so called Castilian or Spanish, the common language in Spain. Loia attempts to provide a basic on-line reference manual for anyone interested in the Galician language (lecturers and researchers, students and inquisitive minds). Therefore, it is also available in English besides the regular Galician and Castilian versions. Future versions will also be available in other languages. The contents of Loia are structured around four different areas: basic linguistic and grammatical information; a brief social history of the Galician language (with a quick glance at its important literature); a series of briefly explained maps and tables, that give an idea of the sociolinguistic situation in Galicia; and a concise list of on-line institutions, groups and resources to enable the study, defense and cultivation of the Galician language.

Our aim is to spread the basic elements needed to know the Galician language, its history, its cultural production and its social situation and prospects for the future, in a wide and concise manner. We also took into account that the users of Loia may wish to look deeper into some of the aspects summarized here. Therefore, a selection of online and bibliographical resources are also provided herein for those wishing to acquire an in-depth knowledge of Galician.

Loia is an initiative of the Sección de Lingua and of the Centro de Documentación Sociolingüística do Consello da Cultura Galega (Language Section and Centre for Sociolinguistics Documentation of the Council of Galician Culture). Although the Council of Galician Culture is an official institution of the autonomous region of Galicia, it is nevertheless non-governmental in nature. Its aims are the defense and promotion of cultural values and the heritage of Galicia. The project was managed by Henrique Monteagudo, the editing team was comprised of Håkan Casares Berg (coordinator), Susana Mayo and Rosario Pérez Magdalena, Manuel Gago was responsible for its publication, the images were digitalized by Teresa Navarro and the website was developed by the software company Imaxin. Julio Sousa (ILG) made some of the the maps. We thank the publishing house "Xerais" for allowing us to using texts which appear in The Time Period of the History.

The Consellería de Educación da Xunta de Galicia supports the diffusion of Loia in the schools of Galicia.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 2.5 License.

ABOUT LOIA

Loia is a project of the Council of Galician Culture, carried out through its Language Section and the Sociolinguistics Documentation Centre of Galicia.