- A common Romance Language with dialectal differences was spoken throughout the ancient Roman Empire . During this stage, we can speak of ''the'' Romance language, although, probably, it was quite different from one region to another. It can still be called Popular or Vulgar Latin .
- From this point on, the Romance languages on the Iberian Peninsula followed a distinct path:
# Separation into Catalan on one side of the peninsula and Iberian Romance on the other. During this stage a set of romance dialects was spoken in Muslim areas of Iberia called Mozarabic . Catalan is regarded as a transition language between Iberian Romance and Gallo-Romance Languages .
# Iberian Romance divided into Castilian and Galician-Portuguese (among other Dialects / Languages ).
# Galician-Portuguese divided into two languages: Galician and Portuguese (although some linguists still consider them dialects of the same language). Portuguese split from Galician when the Portuguese population came into contact with speakers of Mozarabic - this explains the many Portuguese words of Arab origin.
It is important to note that power structures enormously influenced the formation of the Iberian languages. If kingdoms and states had formed in a different fashion, there could now be a single Galician-Portuguese language, or a multiplicity of languages. This political aspect was important in the development of every language.
- and '''Galician''': Because Portugal became independent in the 12th century and Galicia remained a province of Spain, political and sociolinguistic factors have made them be considered separate languages.
- : The Castilian Crown pushed for Castilian to be considered ''the'' Spanish language, which it is today. However, it did not abolish other languages within Spain .
- : The strong Catalan- Aragonese State made Catalan a language of culture, science, literature, etc. Its importance diminished for some centuries, but the desire for more autonomy for Catalonia gave it renewed importance (it never ceased to be the language of a majority of the Catalan population up to 20th Century ), being an official language of many regions and even one country ( Andorra ).
- The fact that Galicia and Catalonia are in Spain makes their languages prone to Castilian influences.
- Minor languages, like Astur-Leonese , Aragonese , etc., became regarded as mere dialects by most people, but they are Romance variants with enough distinct features to rank them as separate languages.
Thus, there are four major Romance languages in Iberia today (apart from three minor ones, like Astur-Leonese, also known as ''Bable'' in Asturias and Mirandese (in Portugal); Aragonese and Occitan ):
- : this originated from a common Galician-Portuguese language, which itself originated from a common Ibero-Romance shared with Castilian (but not with Catalan), with influences from Mozarabic. It is currently the sixth most widely spoken language in the world, with more than two hundred million speakers.
- : this originated from a common Galician-Portuguese language, which itself originated from a common Ibero-Romance shared with Castilian (but not with Catalan), with strong influence of Castilian.
- '''. It is now spoken by an estimated 392 million people throughout the world.
- : this originated from a common Romance language, which separated at an early stage in the development of the Iberian Romance languages. Within Spain, it is influenced by Castillian. Very similar to Occitan, it has many dialects and is spoken by about 7 million people.
, '''Spanish''' and '''Catalan''' have the status of International Language s, being officially spoken in more than one state:
- and members of the older generations of one town in Sardinia , Alghero );
- Portuguese : Portugal, Brazil, Angola, Mozambique, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, São Tomé and Príncipe, and East Timor;
- Spanish : many countries throughout the world.
Occitan is also an international language, as it is official in small regions of Spain and Italy .
Astur-Leonese is also an international language, but not officially so, since it is official only in a small region of just one state in Portugal.
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