Astur-Leonese is the generic name for a group of closely related linguistic varieties included in the West Iberian branch of the Romance languages. The linguistc varieties or languages in the group are assigned different names: Asturian, asturianu, or bable, in the Spanish province of Asturias; Leonese language, llïonés, in parts of the provinces of León, Zamora and Salamanca and in the District of Bragança (Portugal); and Mirandese in Miranda do Douro (Portugal). Astur-Leonese dialects closer to Spanish are spoken in Cantabria, where they are called Cantabrian or montañés.

There are different positions about whether these speech forms are to be considered dialects of the Spanish language, varieties of Astur-Leonese or independent languages on their own right. The Extremaduran language spoken in north-western Extremadura is more distantly related to the group. Astur-leonese group (as a denomination for the whole linguistic group) was once considered an informal dialect (basilect) of Spanish, but, in 1906, Ramón Menéndez Pidal showed it was the result of Latin evolution in the Kingdom of León, and now it is considered a separate language.

In Portugal, the related Mirandese language is officially recognized. The language developed from Vulgar Latin with contributions from the pre-Roman languages, which were spoken in the territory of the Astures, an ancient tribe of the Iberian peninsula. Castilian Spanish came to the area later, in the 14th century, when the central administration sent emissaries and functionaries to occupy political and ecclesiastical offices.

Much effort has been made since 1974 to protect and promote Asturian. In 1981 Asturian or Bable, as the language is officially named , was recognized as a subject of speficic protection by the local government. In 1994 there were 100,000 first language speakers, and 450,000 second language speakers able to speak or understand Asturian.

However, the situation of Asturian is critical, with a large decline in the number of speakers in the last 100 years. At the end of the 20th century, the Academia de la Llingua Asturiana made efforts to provide the language with most of the tools needed by a language to ensure its survival: a grammar, a dictionary, and periodicals. A new generation of Asturian writers both in Asturias have also championed the language.

These developments give the Asturianlanguage a greater hope of survival.

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