them as separate languages: Galician is simply one variety of Galician-Portuguese, along with European Portuguese, Brazilian Portuguese, African Portuguese, the Galician-Portuguese still spoken in Spanish Extremadura, (Fala), and other variations. Nowadays, despite the positive effects of official recognition of the Galician language, Galicia's socio-linguistic development has experienced the growing influence of Spanish and persistent linguistic erosion of Galician due to the media as well as legal imposition of Spanish in learning. Galicia also boasts a rich oral tradition, in the form of songs, tales, and sayings, which has made a vital contribution to the spread and development of the Galician language. Still flourishing today, this tradition shares much with that of Portugal. Surnames Galician surnames, as is the case in most European cultures, can be divided into patronymic (originally based on one's father's name), occupational, toponymic or cognominal. The first group, patronymic includes many of the most frequent surnames and became fixed during the Low Middle Ages; it includes surnames derived from etyma formed with or without the additions of the patronymical suffixes -az, -ez, -iz: Alberte (Albert); Afonso (Alfons); Anes, Oanes, Yanes (Iohannes); Arias; Bernárdez (Bernard); Bermúdez (Medieval Galician Uermues, cf. Wermuth); Cristobo (Christopher); Diz (from Didaci); Estévez (Stephan); Fernández; Fiz (from Felici); Froiz, Frois (From Froilaci, from the Gothic personal name Froila, "lord"); Giance (Latin Iulianici); González; Henríquez (Henry); Martís (Martin); Méndez (Menendici); Miguéns, Miguez (from Michaelici, equivalent to Michaels); Páez, Pais, Paz (from Pelagici, Pelagio); Ramírez; Reimúndez (Raymond); Rodríguez; Sánchez; Sueiro (from Suarius); Tomé (from Thomas); Viéitez, Vieites (Benedictici, Benedict), among many others. Because of the settlement of Galician colonists in southern Spain during the Reconquista, some of the more frequent and distinctively Galician surnames also became popular in Spanish (which had its own related forms) and were taken later into the Americas, as a consequence of the expansion of the Spanish empire: The largest surname group is the one derived from toponyms, which usually referred to the place of origin or residence of the bearer. These places can be European countries (as is the case in the surnames Bretaña, Franza, España, Portugal) or nations (Franco, "Frenchman"); Galician regions (Bergantiños, Carnota, Cavarcos, Sanlés); or cities, towns or villages, which gave origin to a few thousand surnames. Another related group is formed with the preposition de, usually contracted with the definite article as da or do, and a common appellative: Dacosta (or Da Costa), "of the slope", Dopazo