HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Occitan (; ), also known by its native speakers as (; ), sometimes also referred to as Provençal, is a
Romance language The Romance languages, also known as the Latin or Neo-Latin languages, are the languages that are Language family, directly descended from Vulgar Latin. They are the only extant subgroup of the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-E ...
spoken in
Southern France Southern France, also known as the south of France or colloquially in French as , is a geographical area consisting of the regions of France that border the Atlantic Ocean south of the Marais Poitevin,Louis Papy, ''Le midi atlantique'', Atlas e ...
,
Monaco Monaco, officially the Principality of Monaco, is a Sovereign state, sovereign city-state and European microstates, microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Regions of Italy, Italian region of Liguria, in Western Europe, ...
,
Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...
's
Occitan Valleys The Occitan Valleys are the part of Occitania (the territory of the Occitan language) within the borders of Italy. It is a mountainous region in the southern Alps. Most of its valleys are oriented eastward and descend toward the plains of Piedmon ...
, as well as
Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...
's
Val d'Aran Aran (; ; ) (often known as the Aran Valley, or Val d'Aran in Aranese Occitan; in other forms of Occitan: ''Vath d'Aran'' or ''Vau d'Aran'', in Catalan: ''Vall d'Aran'', in Spanish: ''Valle de Arán'') is an autonomous administrative entity (form ...
in
Catalonia Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationalities and regions of Spain, nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006, Statute of Autonomy. Most of its territory (except the Val d'Aran) is situate ...
; collectively, these regions are sometimes referred to as
Occitania Occitania is the historical region in Southern Europe where the Occitan language was historically spoken and where it is sometimes used as a second language. This cultural area roughly encompasses much of the southern third of France (except ...
. It is also spoken in
Calabria Calabria is a Regions of Italy, region in Southern Italy. It is a peninsula bordered by the region Basilicata to the north, the Ionian Sea to the east, the Strait of Messina to the southwest, which separates it from Sicily, and the Tyrrhenian S ...
(
Southern Italy Southern Italy (, , or , ; ; ), also known as () or (; ; ; ), is a macroregion of Italy consisting of its southern Regions of Italy, regions. The term "" today mostly refers to the regions that are associated with the people, lands or cultu ...
) in a linguistic enclave of
Cosenza Cosenza (; Languages of Calabria#Northern Calabrian (Cosentian), Cosentian: ''Cusenza'', ) is a city located in Calabria, Italy. The city centre has a population of approximately 70,000, while the urban area counts more than 200,000 inhabitants. ...
area (mostly
Guardia Piemontese Guardia Piemontese ( Occitan: ''La Gàrdia'') is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Cosenza and the region of Calabria in southern Italy. Location and language Guardia Piemontese is located about 55 km northwest of Cosenza o ...
) named Gardiol, which is also considered a separate Occitanic language. Some include Catalan as a dialect of Occitan, as the linguistic distance between this language and some Occitan dialects (such as the
Gascon language Gascon ( , , ) is the vernacular Romance variety spoken mainly in the region of Gascony, France. It is often considered a variety of larger Occitan macrolanguage, although some authors consider it a separate language due to hindered mutual ...
) is similar to the distance between different Occitan dialects. Catalan was considered a dialect of Occitan until the end of the 19th century and still today remains its closest relative. Occitan is an official language of Catalonia, Spain, where a subdialect of Gascon known as
Aranese Aranese () is a standardized form of the Pyrenean Gascon dialect, Gascon variety of the Occitan language spoken in the Val d'Aran, in northwestern Catalonia close to the France–Spain border, Spanish border with France, where it is one of the t ...
is spoken (in the
Val d'Aran Aran (; ; ) (often known as the Aran Valley, or Val d'Aran in Aranese Occitan; in other forms of Occitan: ''Vath d'Aran'' or ''Vau d'Aran'', in Catalan: ''Vall d'Aran'', in Spanish: ''Valle de Arán'') is an autonomous administrative entity (form ...
). Since September 2010, the
Parliament of Catalonia The Parliament of Catalonia (, ; ; ) is the Unicameralism, unicameral legislature of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Catalonia. The Parliament is currently made up of 135 members, known as Deputy (legislator), deput ...
has considered Aranese Occitan to be the officially preferred language for use in the Val d'Aran. Across history, the terms
Limousin Limousin (; ) is a former administrative region of southwest-central France. Named after the old province of Limousin, the administrative region was founded in 1960. It comprised three departments: Corrèze, Creuse, and Haute-Vienne. On 1 Jan ...
(''Lemosin''),
Languedocien Languedocien (French name, ), Languedocian, or Lengadocian () is an Occitan language, Occitan dialect spoken in rural parts of southern France such as Languedoc, Rouergue, Quercy, Agenais and southern Périgord. It is sometimes also called Lang ...
(''Lengadocian''), Gascon, in addition to Provençal (''Provençal'', ''Provençau'' or ''Prouvençau'') later have been used as synonyms for the whole of Occitan; nowadays, the term "Provençal" is understood mainly as the Occitan dialect spoken in
Provence Provence is a geographical region and historical province of southeastern France, which stretches from the left bank of the lower Rhône to the west to the France–Italy border, Italian border to the east; it is bordered by the Mediterrane ...
, in southeast France. Unlike other Romance languages such as French or Spanish, Occitan does not have a single written standard form, nor does it have official status in France, home to most of its speakers. Instead, there are competing norms for writing Occitan, some of which attempt to be pan-dialectal, whereas others are based on a particular dialect. These efforts are hindered by the rapidly declining use of Occitan as a spoken language in much of southern France, as well as by the significant differences in phonology and vocabulary among different Occitan dialects. According to the
UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...
Red Book of Endangered Languages The UNESCO ''Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger'' was an online publication containing a comprehensive list of the world's endangered languages. It originally replaced the ''Red Book of Endangered Languages'' as a title in print after a ...
, four of the six major dialects of Occitan (Provençal,
Auvergnat (; ) or (endonym: ) is a northern dialect of Occitan spoken in central and southern France, in particular in the former administrative region of Auvergne. Currently, research shows that there is not really a true Auvergnat dialect but rath ...
, Limousin and Languedocien) are considered severely endangered, whereas the remaining two ( Gascon and Vivaro-Alpine) are considered definitely endangered.


Name


History of the modern term

The name Occitan comes from the term ("language of "), being the Occitan word for ''yes.'' While the term would have been in use orally for some time after the decline of Latin, as far as historical records show, the Italian medieval poet
Dante Dante Alighieri (; most likely baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri; – September 14, 1321), widely known mononymously as Dante, was an Italian Italian poetry, poet, writer, and philosopher. His ''Divine Comedy'', originally called ...
was the first to have recorded the term in writing. In his , he wrote in Latin, ("for some say , others , yet others say "), thereby highlighting three major Romance literary languages that were well known in Italy, based on each language's word for "yes", the '' language'' (Occitan), the '' language'' (French), and the '' language'' (Italian). The word came from
Vulgar Latin Vulgar Latin, also known as Colloquial, Popular, Spoken or Vernacular Latin, is the range of non-formal Register (sociolinguistics), registers of Latin spoken from the Crisis of the Roman Republic, Late Roman Republic onward. ''Vulgar Latin'' a ...
("this"), while originated from Latin ("this sit").
Old Catalan Old Catalan, also known as Medieval Catalan, is the modern denomination for Romance varieties that during the Middle Ages were spoken in territories that spanned roughly the territories of the Principality of Catalonia, the Kingdom of Valencia, ...
and now the Catalan of Northern Catalonia also have (). Other Romance languages derive their word for "yes" from the Latin , "thus t is t was done etc.", such as Spanish ,
Eastern Lombard Eastern Lombard is a group of closely related variants of Lombard, a Gallo-Italic language spoken in Lombardy, mainly in the provinces of Bergamo, Brescia and Mantua, in the area around Cremona and in parts of Trentino. Its main variants are ...
, Italian , or Portuguese . In modern Catalan, as in modern Spanish, is usually used as a response, although the language retains the word , akin to , which is sometimes used at the end of
yes–no question In linguistics, a yes–no question, also known as a binary question, a polar question, or a general question, is a closed-ended question whose expected answer is one of two choices, one that provides an affirmative answer to the question versus ...
s and also in higher register as a positive response. French uses to answer "yes" in response to questions that are asked in the negative sense: for example, ("You don't have any brothers, do you ?" "Yes I do, I have seven."). The name "Occitan" was attested around 1300 as , a crossing of and ( Aquitanian).


Other names for Occitan

For many centuries, the Occitan dialects (together with Catalan) were referred to as ''Limousin'' or ''Provençal'', after the names of two regions lying within the modern Occitan-speaking area. After
Frédéric Mistral Joseph Étienne Frédéric Mistral (; , 8 September 1830 – 25 March 1914) was an Occitan writer and lexicographer of the Provençal form of the language. He received the 1904 Nobel Prize in Literature "in recognition of the fresh origina ...
's Félibrige movement in the 19th century, Provençal achieved the greatest literary recognition and so became the most popular term for Occitan. According to Joseph Anglade, a
philologist Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources. It is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics with strong ties to etymology. Philology is also defined as the study of ...
and specialist of
medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...
literature who helped impose the then archaic term ''Occitan'' as the standard name, the word ''Lemosin'' was first used to designate the language at the beginning of the 13th century by Catalan
troubadour A troubadour (, ; ) was a composer and performer of Old Occitan lyric poetry during the High Middle Ages (1100–1350). Since the word ''troubadour'' is etymologically masculine, a female equivalent is usually called a ''trobairitz''. The tr ...
Raimon Vidal de Besalú(n) in his :
The French language is worthier and better suited for romances and pastourelles; but he languagefrom
Limousin Limousin (; ) is a former administrative region of southwest-central France. Named after the old province of Limousin, the administrative region was founded in 1960. It comprised three departments: Corrèze, Creuse, and Haute-Vienne. On 1 Jan ...
is of greater value for writing poems and cançons and sirventés; and across the whole of the lands where our tongue is spoken, the literature in the Limousin language has more authority than any other dialect, wherefore I shall use this name in priority.
The term ''Provençal'', though implying a reference to the region of
Provence Provence is a geographical region and historical province of southeastern France, which stretches from the left bank of the lower Rhône to the west to the France–Italy border, Italian border to the east; it is bordered by the Mediterrane ...
, historically was used for Occitan as a whole, for "in the eleventh, the twelfth, and sometimes also the thirteenth centuries, one would understand under the name of Provence the whole territory of the old Provincia romana Gallia Narbonensis and even
Aquitaine Aquitaine (, ; ; ; ; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''Aguiéne''), archaic Guyenne or Guienne (), is a historical region of southwestern France and a former Regions of France, administrative region. Since 1 January 2016 it has been part of the administ ...
". The term first came into fashion in
Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...
. Currently,
linguist Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), Morphology (linguistics), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds ...
s use the terms ''Provençal'' and ''Limousin'' strictly to refer to specific varieties within Occitan, using ''Occitan'' for the language as a whole. Many non-specialists, however, continue to refer to the language as ''Provençal''.


History

One of the oldest written fragments of the language found dates back to 960, shown here in italics mixed with non-italicized Latin:
Carolingian The Carolingian dynasty ( ; known variously as the Carlovingians, Carolingus, Carolings, Karolinger or Karlings) was a Frankish noble family named after Charles Martel and his grandson Charlemagne, descendants of the Arnulfing and Pippinid c ...
litanies Litany, in Christian worship and some forms of Jewish worship, is a form of prayer used in services and processions, and consisting of a number of petitions. The word comes through Latin ''wikt:litania, litania'' from Ancient Greek wikt:λιτα ...
(), though the leader sang in
Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
, were answered to in Old Occitan by the people (; ). Other famous pieces include the '' Boecis'', a 258-line-long poem written entirely in the Limousin dialect of Occitan between the year 1000 and 1030 and inspired by
Boethius Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius, commonly known simply as Boethius (; Latin: ''Boetius''; 480–524 AD), was a Roman Roman Senate, senator, Roman consul, consul, ''magister officiorum'', polymath, historian, and philosopher of the Early Middl ...
's ''
The Consolation of Philosophy ''On the Consolation of Philosophy'' (), often titled as ''The Consolation of Philosophy'' or simply the ''Consolation'', is a philosophical work by the Roman philosopher Boethius. Written in 523 while he was imprisoned and awaiting execution ...
''; the Waldensian (dated 1100), (–1076), the '' Romance of Flamenca'' (13th century), the '' Song of the Albigensian Crusade'' (1213–1219?), (12th or 13th century), (11th century) and (9th or 10th century). Occitan was the vehicle for the influential
poetry Poetry (from the Greek language, Greek word ''poiesis'', "making") is a form of literature, literary art that uses aesthetics, aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language to evoke meaning (linguistics), meanings in addition to, or in ...
of the medieval
troubadours A troubadour (, ; ) was a composer and performer of Old Occitan lyric poetry during the High Middle Ages (1100–1350). Since the word ''troubadour'' is etymologically masculine, a female equivalent is usually called a ''trobairitz''. The tro ...
() and : At that time, the language was understood and celebrated throughout most of educated Europe. It was the maternal language of the English queen
Eleanor of Aquitaine Eleanor of Aquitaine ( or ; ; , or ; – 1 April 1204) was Duchess of Aquitaine from 1137 to 1204, Queen of France from 1137 to 1152 as the wife of King Louis VII, and Queen of England from 1154 to 1189 as the wife of King Henry II. As ...
and kings
Richard I Richard I (8 September 1157 – 6 April 1199), known as Richard the Lionheart or Richard Cœur de Lion () because of his reputation as a great military leader and warrior, was King of England from 1189 until his death in 1199. He also ru ...
(who wrote troubadour poetry) and
John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second E ...
. With the gradual imposition of French royal power over its territory, Occitan declined in status from the 14th century on. The
Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts The Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts (, ) is an extensive piece of reform legislation signed into law by Francis I of France on August 10, 1539, in the city of Villers-Cotterêts and the oldest French legislation still used partly by French court ...
(1539) decreed that the (French – though at the time referring to the
Francien language Francien (), also anglicized as Francian (), is a 19th-century term in linguistics that was applied to the French dialect that was spoken during the Middle Ages in the regions of Île-de-France (with Paris at its centre), Orléanais, as well ...
and not the larger collection of dialects grouped under the name ) should be used for all French administration. Occitan's greatest decline occurred during the French Revolution, in which diversity of language was considered a threat. In 1903, the four Gospels (, i.e. Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) were translated into Provençal as spoken in Cannes and Grasse. The translation was given the official Roman Catholic Imprimatur by vicar general A. Estellon. The literary renaissance of the late 19th century (in which the 1904
Nobel Prize in Literature The Nobel Prize in Literature, here meaning ''for'' Literature (), is a Swedish literature prize that is awarded annually, since 1901, to an author from any country who has, in the words of the will of Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel, "in ...
winner,
Frédéric Mistral Joseph Étienne Frédéric Mistral (; , 8 September 1830 – 25 March 1914) was an Occitan writer and lexicographer of the Provençal form of the language. He received the 1904 Nobel Prize in Literature "in recognition of the fresh origina ...
, among others, was involved) was attenuated by
World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
, when (in addition to the disruption caused by any major war) many Occitan speakers spent extended periods of time alongside French-speaking comrades.


Origins

Because the geographical territory in which Occitan is spoken is surrounded by regions in which other
Romance languages The Romance languages, also known as the Latin or Neo-Latin languages, are the languages that are Language family, directly descended from Vulgar Latin. They are the only extant subgroup of the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-E ...
are used, external influences may have influenced its origin and development. Many factors favored its development as its own language. * Mountains and seas: The range of Occitan is naturally bounded by the
Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...
,
Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the Age of Discovery, it was known for se ...
, Massif Central,
Alps The Alps () are some of the highest and most extensive mountain ranges in Europe, stretching approximately across eight Alpine countries (from west to east): Monaco, France, Switzerland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Germany, Austria and Slovenia. ...
, and
Pyrenees The Pyrenees are a mountain range straddling the border of France and Spain. They extend nearly from their union with the Cantabrian Mountains to Cap de Creus on the Mediterranean coast, reaching a maximum elevation of at the peak of Aneto. ...
, respectively. * Buffer zones:
arid Aridity is the condition of geographical regions which make up approximately 43% of total global available land area, characterized by low annual precipitation, increased temperatures, and limited water availability.Perez-Aguilar, L. Y., Plata ...
land,
marsh In ecology, a marsh is a wetland that is dominated by herbaceous plants rather than by woody plants.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p More in genera ...
es, and areas otherwise impractical for farming and resistant of colonization provide further separation (territory between
Loire The Loire ( , , ; ; ; ; ) is the longest river in France and the 171st longest in the world. With a length of , it drains , more than a fifth of France's land, while its average discharge is only half that of the Rhône. It rises in the so ...
and
Garonne The Garonne ( , ; Catalan language, Catalan, Basque language, Basque and , ; or ) is a river that flows in southwest France and northern Spain. It flows from the central Spanish Pyrenees to the Gironde estuary at the French port of Bordeaux � ...
, the
Aragon Aragon ( , ; Spanish and ; ) is an autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. In northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces of Spain, ...
desert plateau). * Constant populations: Some Occitan-speaking peoples are descended from people living in the region since prehistoric times. * Deeper Roman influence: The Romans had established an earlier presence in Southern France in 121 BC beginning with
Gallia Narbonensis Gallia Narbonensis (Latin for "Gaul of Narbonne", from its chief settlement) was a Roman province located in Occitania and Provence, in Southern France. It was also known as Provincia Nostra ("Our Province"), because it was the first ...
, where the seeds of the Occitan language were first sowed. According to Müller, "France's linguistic separation began with Roman influence" * A separate
lexicon A lexicon (plural: lexicons, rarely lexica) is the vocabulary of a language or branch of knowledge (such as nautical or medical). In linguistics, a lexicon is a language's inventory of lexemes. The word ''lexicon'' derives from Greek word () ...
: Although Occitan is midway between the
Gallo-Romance Gallo-Romance can refer to: * Old Gallo-Romance, the Romance language spoken from around 600 to 900 AD. * Gallo-Romance languages, a branch of the Romance language family, which includes in the narrowest sense the ''langues d'oïl'' and Franco-Prov ...
and
Iberian Romance languages The Iberian Romance, Ibero-Romance or sometimes Iberian languages Iberian languages is also used as a more inclusive term for all languages spoken on the Iberian Peninsula, which in antiquity included the non-Indo-European Iberian language. are ...
, it has "around 550 words inherited from Latin that no longer exist in the langues d'oïl or in
Franco-Provençal Franco-Provençal (also Francoprovençal, Patois or Arpitan) is a Gallo-Romance languages, Gallo-Romance language that originated and is spoken in eastern France, western Switzerland, and northwestern Italy. Franco-Provençal has several di ...
" * Lack of Germanic influence: "The Frankish lexicon and its phonetic influence often end above the / line"


Occitan in the Iberian Peninsula

Catalan in Spain's northern and central Mediterranean coastal regions and the
Balearic Islands The Balearic Islands are an archipelago in the western Mediterranean Sea, near the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula. The archipelago forms a Provinces of Spain, province and Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Spain, ...
is closely related to Occitan, sharing many linguistic features and a common origin (see Occitano-Romance languages). The language was one of the first to gain prestige as a medium for literature among Romance languages in the Middle Ages. Indeed, in the 12th and 13th centuries, Catalan troubadours such as Guerau de Cabrera, Guilhem de Bergadan, Guilhem de Cabestany, Huguet de Mataplana, Raimon Vidal de Besalú, Cerverí de Girona, Formit de Perpinhan, and Jofre de Foixà wrote in Occitan. At the end of the 11th century, the ''
Franks file:Frankish arms.JPG, Aristocratic Frankish burial items from the Merovingian dynasty The Franks ( or ; ; ) were originally a group of Germanic peoples who lived near the Rhine river, Rhine-river military border of Germania Inferior, which wa ...
'', as they were called at the time, started to penetrate the
Iberian Peninsula The Iberian Peninsula ( ), also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in south-western Europe. Mostly separated from the rest of the European landmass by the Pyrenees, it includes the territories of peninsular Spain and Continental Portugal, comprisin ...
through the Ways of St. James via Somport and Roncesvalles, settling in various locations in the Kingdoms of
Navarre Navarre ( ; ; ), officially the Chartered Community of Navarre, is a landlocked foral autonomous community and province in northern Spain, bordering the Basque Autonomous Community, La Rioja, and Aragon in Spain and New Aquitaine in France. ...
and
Aragon Aragon ( , ; Spanish and ; ) is an autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. In northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces of Spain, ...
enticed by the privileges granted them by the Navarrese kings. They settled in large groups, forming ethnic
borough A borough is an administrative division in various English language, English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History ...
s where Occitan was used for everyday life, in
Pamplona Pamplona (; ), historically also known as Pampeluna in English, is the capital city of the Navarre, Chartered Community of Navarre, in Spain. Lying at near above sea level, the city (and the wider Cuenca de Pamplona) is located on the flood pl ...
, Sangüesa, and
Estella-Lizarra Estella (Spanish language, Spanish) or Lizarra (Basque language, Basque) is a town located in the autonomous community of Navarre, in northern Spain. It lies south west of Pamplona, close to the border with La Rioja (autonomous community), La Rioj ...
, among others. These boroughs in Navarre may have been close-knit communities that tended not to assimilate with the predominantly
Basque Basque may refer to: * Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France * Basque language, their language Places * Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France * Basque Country (autonomous co ...
-speaking general population. Their language became the status language chosen by the Navarrese kings, nobility, and upper classes for official and trade purposes in the period stretching from the early 13th century to the late 14th century. Written administrative records were in a '' koiné'' based on the Languedocien dialect from Toulouse with fairly archaic linguistic features, evidence survives of a written account in Occitan from Pamplona centered on the
burning Combustion, or burning, is a high-temperature exothermic redox chemical reaction between a fuel (the reductant) and an oxidant, usually atmospheric oxygen, that produces oxidized, often gaseous products, in a mixture termed as smoke. Combust ...
of borough San Nicolas from 1258, while the ''History of the War of Navarre'' by Guilhem Anelier (1276), albeit written in Pamplona, shows a linguistic variant from
Toulouse Toulouse (, ; ; ) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Haute-Garonne department and of the Occitania (administrative region), Occitania region. The city is on the banks of the Garonne, River Garonne, from ...
. Things turned out slightly otherwise in Aragon, where the sociolinguistic situation was different, with a clearer Basque-Romance bilingual situation (cf. Basques from the cited ), but a receding Basque language (Basque banned in the marketplace of Huesca, 1349). While the language was chosen as a medium of prestige in records and official statements along with Latin in the early 13th century, Occitan faced competition from the rising local Romance vernacular, the
Navarro-Aragonese Navarro-Aragonese was a Romance language once spoken in a large part of the Ebro River basin, south of the middle Pyrenees; the dialects of the modern Aragonese language, spoken in a small portion of that territory, can be seen as its last remain ...
, both orally and in writing, especially after Aragon's territorial conquests south to
Zaragoza Zaragoza (), traditionally known in English as Saragossa ( ), is the capital city of the province of Zaragoza and of the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. It lies by the Ebro river and its tributaries, the ...
,
Huesca Huesca (; ) is a city in north-eastern Spain, within the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Aragon. It was the capital of the Kingdom of Aragon between 1096 and 1118. It is also the capital of the Spanish Huesca (province), ...
and Tudela between 1118 and 1134. It resulted that a second Occitan immigration of this period was assimilated by the similar Navarro-Aragonese language, which at the same time was fostered and chosen by the kings of
Aragon Aragon ( , ; Spanish and ; ) is an autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. In northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces of Spain, ...
. In the 14th century, Occitan across the whole southern Pyrenean area fell into decay and became largely absorbed into
Navarro-Aragonese Navarro-Aragonese was a Romance language once spoken in a large part of the Ebro River basin, south of the middle Pyrenees; the dialects of the modern Aragonese language, spoken in a small portion of that territory, can be seen as its last remain ...
first and Castilian later in the 15th century, after their exclusive boroughs broke up (1423,
Pamplona Pamplona (; ), historically also known as Pampeluna in English, is the capital city of the Navarre, Chartered Community of Navarre, in Spain. Lying at near above sea level, the city (and the wider Cuenca de Pamplona) is located on the flood pl ...
's boroughs unified). Gascon-speaking communities were called to move in for trading purposes by Navarrese kings in the early 12th century to the coastal fringe extending from San Sebastian to the river Bidasoa, where they settled down. The language variant they used was different from the ones in Navarre, i.e. a
Béarnese dialect Béarnese (Endonym and exonym, endonym or ; ) is the variety of Gascon dialect, Gascon spoken in Béarn. The usage of a specific name for Béarnese lies in the history of Béarn, Viscounty of Béarn, a viscounty that became a sovereign principa ...
of Gascon. Gascon remained in use in this area far longer than in Navarre and Aragon, until the 19th century, thanks mainly to the fact that Donostia and
Pasaia Pasaia () is a town and municipality located in the province of Gipuzkoa in the Basque Autonomous Community of northern Spain. It is a fishing community, commercial port and the birthplace of the famous admiral Blas de Lezo and of the fashion de ...
maintained close ties with
Bayonne Bayonne () is a city in southwestern France near the France–Spain border, Spanish border. It is a communes of France, commune and one of two subprefectures in France, subprefectures in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques departments of France, departm ...
.


Geographic distribution


Number of speakers

The area where Occitan was historically dominant has approximately 16 million inhabitants. Recent research has shown it may be spoken as a first language by approximately 789,000 people in
France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
,
Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...
,
Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...
and
Monaco Monaco, officially the Principality of Monaco, is a Sovereign state, sovereign city-state and European microstates, microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Regions of Italy, Italian region of Liguria, in Western Europe, ...
. In Monaco, Occitan coexists with Monégasque Ligurian, which is the other native language. Up to seven million people in France understand the language, whereas twelve to fourteen million fully spoke it in 1921. In
1860 Events January * January 2 – The astronomer Urbain Le Verrier announces the discovery of a hypothetical planet Vulcan (hypothetical planet), Vulcan at a meeting of the French Academy of Sciences in Paris, France. * January 10 &ndas ...
, Occitan speakers represented more than 39% of the whole French population (52% for
francophone The Francophonie or Francophone world is the whole body of people and organisations around the world who use the French language regularly for private or public purposes. The term was coined by Onésime Reclus in 1880 and became important a ...
s proper); they were still 26% to 36% in the 1920s, but less than 7% in 1993.


Usage in France

Though it was still an everyday language for most of the rural population of southern France well into the 20th century, the language is now declining in every region where it was spoken. A 2020 study conducted by the Office Public de la Langue Occitane on the territories of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine and Occitanie regions estimated around 540,000 speakers in these two regions. It is worth noting that the survey was conducted in the Occitan language for respondents who declared they were proficient in it. However, the regions including Auvergne and Provence were effectively excluded from this census, as the Office in question does not currently have a partnership with these territories. According to the 1999 census, there were 610,000 native speakers (almost all of whom were also native French speakers) and perhaps another million people with some exposure to the language. Following the pattern of
language shift Language shift, also known as language transfer, language replacement or language assimilation, is the process whereby a speech community shifts to a different language, usually over an extended period of time. Often, languages that are perceived ...
, most of this remainder is to be found among the eldest populations. Occitan activists (called ''Occitanists'') have attempted, in particular with the advent of Occitan-language preschools (the '' Calandretas''), to reintroduce the language to the young. Nonetheless, the number of proficient speakers of Occitan is thought to be dropping precipitously. A tourist in the cities in southern France is unlikely to hear a single Occitan word spoken on the street (or, for that matter, in a home), and is likely to only find the occasional vestige, such as street signs (and, of those, most will have French equivalents more prominently displayed), to remind them of the traditional language of the area. Occitan speakers, as a result of generations of systematic suppression and humiliation (see
Vergonha In Occitan language, Occitan, ''vergonha'' (, meaning "shame") refers to the effects of various language discriminatory policies of the government of France on its minorities whose native language was deemed a ''patois'', where a Romance langua ...
), seldom use the language in the presence of strangers, whether they are from abroad or from outside Occitania (in this case, often merely and abusively referred to as ''Parisiens'' or ''Nordistes'', which means ''northerners''). Occitan is still spoken by many elderly people in rural areas, but they generally switch to French when dealing with outsiders. Occitan's decline is somewhat less pronounced in
Béarn Béarn (; ; or ''Biarn''; or ''Biarno''; or ''Bearnia'') is one of the traditional provinces of France, located in the Pyrenees mountains and in the plain at their feet, in Southwestern France. Along with the three Northern Basque Country, ...
because of the province's history (a late addition to the Kingdom of France), though even there the language is little spoken outside the homes of the rural elderly. The village of Artix is notable for having elected to post street signs in the local language.


Usage outside France

* In the Val d'Aran, in the northwest corner of
Catalonia Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationalities and regions of Spain, nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006, Statute of Autonomy. Most of its territory (except the Val d'Aran) is situate ...
,
Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...
, Aranese (a variety of Gascon) is spoken. It is an official language of
Catalonia Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationalities and regions of Spain, nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006, Statute of Autonomy. Most of its territory (except the Val d'Aran) is situate ...
together with Catalan and Spanish. * In
Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...
, Occitan is also spoken in the
Occitan Valleys The Occitan Valleys are the part of Occitania (the territory of the Occitan language) within the borders of Italy. It is a mountainous region in the southern Alps. Most of its valleys are oriented eastward and descend toward the plains of Piedmon ...
(
Alps The Alps () are some of the highest and most extensive mountain ranges in Europe, stretching approximately across eight Alpine countries (from west to east): Monaco, France, Switzerland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Germany, Austria and Slovenia. ...
) in
Piedmont Piedmont ( ; ; ) is one of the 20 regions of Italy, located in the northwest Italy, Northwest of the country. It borders the Liguria region to the south, the Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna regions to the east, and the Aosta Valley region to the ...
. Gardiol also has existed at
Guardia Piemontese Guardia Piemontese ( Occitan: ''La Gàrdia'') is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Cosenza and the region of Calabria in southern Italy. Location and language Guardia Piemontese is located about 55 km northwest of Cosenza o ...
(
Calabria Calabria is a Regions of Italy, region in Southern Italy. It is a peninsula bordered by the region Basilicata to the north, the Ionian Sea to the east, the Strait of Messina to the southwest, which separates it from Sicily, and the Tyrrhenian S ...
) since the 14th century. Italy adopted in 1999 a ''Linguistic Minorities Protection Law'', or "Law 482", which includes Occitan; however,
Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...
is the dominant language. The
Piedmontese language Piedmontese ( ; autonym: or ; ) is a language spoken by some 2,000,000 people mostly in Piedmont, a region of Northwest Italy. Although considered by most linguists a separate Romance languages, language, in Italy it is often mistakenly regar ...
is extremely close to Occitan. * In
Monaco Monaco, officially the Principality of Monaco, is a Sovereign state, sovereign city-state and European microstates, microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Regions of Italy, Italian region of Liguria, in Western Europe, ...
, some Occitan speakers coexist with remaining native speakers of Monégasque ( Ligurian). French is the dominant language. * Scattered Occitan-speaking communities have existed in different countries: ** There were Occitan-speaking colonies in
Württemberg Württemberg ( ; ) is a historical German territory roughly corresponding to the cultural and linguistic region of Swabia. The main town of the region is Stuttgart. Together with Baden and Province of Hohenzollern, Hohenzollern, two other histo ...
(Germany) since the 18th century, as a consequence of the Camisard war. The last Occitan speakers were heard in the 1930s. ** In the Spanish Basque country, Gascon was spoken in
San Sebastián San Sebastián, officially known by the bilingual name Donostia / San Sebastián (, ), is a city and municipality located in the Basque Autonomous Community, Spain. It lies on the coast of the Bay of Biscay, from the France–Spain border ...
, perhaps as late as the early 20th century. ** In the Americas, Occitan speakers exist: *** in the United States, in
Valdese, North Carolina Valdese ( ) is a town in Burke County, North Carolina, Burke County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 4,689 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Hickory, North Carolina, Hickory-Lenoir, North Carolina, Lenoir-Morganton, North Car ...
*** in Canada, in
Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...
where there are Occitan associations such as ''Association Occitane du Québec'' and ''Association des Occitans''. *** Pigüé, Argentina – Community settled by 165 Occitans from the Rodez-Aveyron area of Cantal in the late 19th century. *** Guanajuato, Mexico – A sparse number of Occitan settlers are known to have settled in that state in the 19th century.


Traditionally Occitan-speaking areas

*
Aquitaine Aquitaine (, ; ; ; ; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''Aguiéne''), archaic Guyenne or Guienne (), is a historical region of southwestern France and a former Regions of France, administrative region. Since 1 January 2016 it has been part of the administ ...
– excluding the Basque-speaking part of the
Pyrénées-Atlantiques Pyrénées-Atlantiques (; Gascon language, Gascon Occitan language, Occitan: ''Pirenèus Atlantics''; ) is a Departments of France, department located in the Regions of France, region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine in the southwest corner of metropolitan ...
in the western part of the department and a small part of
Gironde Gironde ( , US usually , ; , ) is the largest department in the southwestern French region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine. Named after the Gironde estuary, a major waterway, its prefecture is Bordeaux. In 2019, it had a population of 1,623,749.
where the ''langue d'oïl'' Saintongeais dialect is spoken. * Midi-Pyrénées – including one of France's largest cities,
Toulouse Toulouse (, ; ; ) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Haute-Garonne department and of the Occitania (administrative region), Occitania region. The city is on the banks of the Garonne, River Garonne, from ...
. There are a few street signs in Toulouse in Occitan, and since late 2009 the Toulouse Metro announcements are bilingual French-Occitan, but otherwise the language is almost never heard spoken on the street. *
Languedoc-Roussillon Languedoc-Roussillon (; ; ) is a former regions of France, administrative region of France. On 1 January 2016, it joined with the region of Midi-Pyrénées to become Occitania (administrative region), Occitania. It comprised five departments o ...
(from "Lenga d'òc") – including the areas around the medieval city of
Carcassonne Carcassonne is a French defensive wall, fortified city in the Departments of France, department of Aude, Regions of France, region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania. It is the prefectures in France, prefecture of the department. ...
, excluding the large part of the
Pyrénées-Orientales Pyrénées-Orientales (; ; ; ), also known as Northern Catalonia, is a departments of France, department of the Regions of France, region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Southern France, adjacent to the northern Spain, Spanish ...
where Catalan is spoken ( Fenolheda is the only Occitan-speaking area of the Pyrénées-Orientales). *
Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur (commonly shortened to PACA), also known as Région Sud, is one of the eighteen Regions of France, administrative regions of France, located at the far southeastern point of the Metropolitan France, mainland. The main P ...
– except for the Roya and Bévéra valleys, where there is a transitional dialect between Ligurian and Occitan, (''Roiasc'', including the Brigasc dialect of Ligurian). In the department of
Alpes-Maritimes Alpes-Maritimes (; ; ; ) is a Departments of France, department of France located in the country's southeast corner, on the France–Italy border, Italian border and Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean coast. Part of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'A ...
there were once isolated towns that spoke Ligurian called Figún, but those varieties are now extinct. The Mentonasc dialect of Ligurian, spoken in
Menton Menton (; in classical norm or in Mistralian norm, , ; ; or depending on the orthography) is a Commune in France, commune in the Alpes-Maritimes department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region on the French Riviera, close to the Italia ...
, is a Ligurian transition dialect with a strong Occitan influence. French is the dominant language of the Alpes-Maritimes,
Dauphiné The Dauphiné ( , , ; or ; or ), formerly known in English as Dauphiny, is a former province in southeastern France, whose area roughly corresponded to that of the present departments of Isère, Drôme and Hautes-Alpes. The Dauphiné was ...
and
French Riviera The French Riviera, known in French as the (; , ; ), is the Mediterranean coastline of the southeast corner of France. There is no official boundary, but it is considered to be the coastal area of the Alpes-Maritimes department, extending fr ...
areas. * In
Monaco Monaco, officially the Principality of Monaco, is a Sovereign state, sovereign city-state and European microstates, microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Regions of Italy, Italian region of Liguria, in Western Europe, ...
, Occitan, imported by immigrants coexisted in the 19th and 20th centuries with the
Monégasque dialect Monégasque (, ; , ; ) is the variety of Ligurian spoken in Monaco. It is closely related to the Ligurian dialects spoken in Ventimiglia and is considered a national language of Monaco, though it is not the official language of the countr ...
of Ligurian. French is the dominant language. * Poitou-Charentes – Use of Occitan has declined here in the few parts it used to be spoken, replaced by French. Only Charente Limousine, the eastern part of the region, has resisted. The natural and historical languages of most of the region are the ''langues d'oïl'' Poitevin and Saintongeais. *
Limousin Limousin (; ) is a former administrative region of southwest-central France. Named after the old province of Limousin, the administrative region was founded in 1960. It comprised three departments: Corrèze, Creuse, and Haute-Vienne. On 1 Jan ...
– A rural region (about 710,000 inhabitants) where Limousin is still spoken among the oldest residents. French is the dominant language. * Auvergne – The language's use has declined in some urban areas. French is the dominant language. The department of
Allier Allier ( , , ; ) is a Departments of France, department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regions of France, region that borders Cher (department), Cher to the west, Nièvre to the north, Saône-et-Loire and Loire (department), Loire to the east, Pu ...
is divided between a southern, Occitan-speaking area and a northern, French-speaking area. *
Centre-Val de Loire Centre-Val de Loire (; ,In isolation, ''Centre'' is pronounced . ) or Centre Region (, ), as it was known until 2015, is one of the eighteen Regions of France, administrative regions of France. It straddles the middle Loire Valley in the interior ...
– Some villages in the extreme South speak Occitan. *
Rhône-Alpes Rhône-Alpes () was an administrative region of France. Since 1 January 2016, it is part of the new region Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. It is located on the eastern border of the country, towards the south. The region was named after the river Rhône a ...
– While the south of the region is clearly Occitan-speaking, the central and northern
Lyonnais The Lyonnais (, ) is a historical province of France which owes its name to the city of Lyon. The geographical area known as the ''Lyonnais'' became part of the Kingdom of Burgundy after the division of the Carolingian Empire. The disintegra ...
,
Forez Forez (; ) is a Provinces of France, former province of France, corresponding approximately to the central part of the modern Loire (department), Loire ''département in France, département'' and a part of the Haute-Loire and Puy-de-Dôme ''dépa ...
and
Dauphiné The Dauphiné ( , , ; or ; or ), formerly known in English as Dauphiny, is a former province in southeastern France, whose area roughly corresponded to that of the present departments of Isère, Drôme and Hautes-Alpes. The Dauphiné was ...
parts belong to the
Franco-Provençal language Franco-Provençal (also Francoprovençal, Patois or Arpitan) is a Gallo-Romance language that originated and is spoken in eastern France, western Switzerland, and northwestern Italy. Franco-Provençal has several distinct dialects and is s ...
area. French is the dominant language. *
Occitan Valleys The Occitan Valleys are the part of Occitania (the territory of the Occitan language) within the borders of Italy. It is a mountainous region in the southern Alps. Most of its valleys are oriented eastward and descend toward the plains of Piedmon ...
(
Piedmont Piedmont ( ; ; ) is one of the 20 regions of Italy, located in the northwest Italy, Northwest of the country. It borders the Liguria region to the south, the Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna regions to the east, and the Aosta Valley region to the ...
) – Italian region where Occitan is spoken only in the southern and central Alpine valleys. *
Val d'Aran Aran (; ; ) (often known as the Aran Valley, or Val d'Aran in Aranese Occitan; in other forms of Occitan: ''Vath d'Aran'' or ''Vau d'Aran'', in Catalan: ''Vall d'Aran'', in Spanish: ''Valle de Arán'') is an autonomous administrative entity (form ...
– part of Catalonia that speaks a mountain dialect of Gascon.


Pronunciation

The following section describes the pronunciation of the Languedocian dialect which is central geographically and the most conservative among Occitan dialects. For that reason it serves as a basis for standardization of Occitan.


Vowels


Consonants


Stress

Words ending with a vowel, ''s'' or ''n'' have stress on the penultimate syllable. Words ending with a consonant (but ''s'' or ''n'') or diphthongs have stress on the last syllable. Exceptions have marked stress. Examples are: ''La mecanica''; destriar; cuélher; cantan; penós; gaton.


Grammar

The following section describes the grammar of the Languedocian dialect which is central geographically and most conservative among Occitan dialects. For that reason it serves as a basis for standardization of Occitan.


Pronouns

Personal
pronouns In linguistics and grammar, a pronoun ( glossed ) is a word or a group of words that one may substitute for a noun or noun phrase. Pronouns have traditionally been regarded as one of the parts of speech, but some modern theorists would not con ...
are shown in the following table.


Possessives

Possessives are shown in the following table.


Demonstratives

Demonstratives Demonstratives (abbreviated ) are words, such as ''this'' and ''that'', used to indicate which entities are being referred to and to distinguish those entities from others. They are typically deictic, their meaning depending on a particular frame ...
(''this'', ''that'', ''these'', ''those'') are shown in the following table.


Nouns

There are 2 genders: masculine, and feminine. Feminine nouns are usually created by adding termination ''-a''. Plural is created by adding ''-s'' to nouns.


Articles

There are two indefinite articles in singular (a/an): masculine ''un'' and feminine ''una'' and one in plural: ''de''. ''de'' before vowels is shortend to ''d. It's summarized in the following table. Definite articles (the) are shown in the following table. ''l is used before a vowel.
Preposition Adpositions are a part of speech, class of words used to express spatial or temporal relations (''in, under, towards, behind, ago'', etc.) or mark various thematic relations, semantic roles (''of, for''). The most common adpositions are prepositi ...
s ''a'', ''de'', ''per'' and ''sus'' followed by articles ''lo'' and ''los'' are merged with them according to the following table. For instance ''a+los = als.''


Verbs

Verbs inflect for person, number, tense and mood. There are 3 conjugations: ''-ar'', ''-ir'' and -''re''. Verbs ending with ''-ir'' have two subconjugations: with and without a suffix. Pattern of inflection of regular verbs belonging to the first conjugation is presented in the following table. ''Parlar'' (= ''to speak''), ''parlat'' (= ''spoken''), ''parlant'' (= ''speaking''). Conjugation ''-ir'' with the suffix is shown below. ''Dormir'' (= ''to sleep''), ''dormit'' (= ''slept''), ''dormint'' (= ''sleeping''). Second conjugation without the suffix is shown below. ''Sentir'' (= ''to feel''), ''sentit'' (= ''felt''), ''sentent'' (= ''feeling''). The third conjugation is shown below. ''Batre'' (= ''to beat''), ''batut'' (= ''beaten''), ''beatent'' (= ''beating'')


Irregular verbs

Two very important irregular verbs are ''èsser/èstre'' (= ''to be'') and ''aver'' (= ''to have''). Conjugation of ''èsser/èstre'' is shown below. ''estat'' (= ''been''), ''essent'' (= ''being'') Conjugation of ''aver'' is shown below. ''agut'' (= ''had''), ''avent'' (= ''having'')


Reflexive verbs

Reflexive verbs are verbs which require
reflexive pronoun A reflexive pronoun is a pronoun that refers to another noun or pronoun (its antecedent) within the same sentence. In the English language specifically, a reflexive pronoun will end in ''-self'' or ''-selves'', and refer to a previously n ...
''se''. Pronoun ''se'' inflects for person and number. An example is ''se levar'' (= ''to get up''). It's inflacted according to the following table.


Negation

Negation is done by adding ''pas'' after a verb. For example: * ''Parli pas'' (= ''I don't speak''). * ''An pas parlat'' (= ''They haven't spoken''). * ''Vesi pas res'' (= ''I don't see anything''). * ''Lo tròbi pas enluòc'' (= ''I don't find him anywhere''). * ''Sortís pas jamai'' (= ''He never goes out''). * ''Degun es pas vengut'' (= ''Nobody came'').


Dialects

Occitan is fundamentally defined by its dialects, rather than being a unitary language, as it lacks an official written standard. Like other languages that fundamentally exist at a spoken, rather than written, level (e.g. the
Rhaeto-Romance languages Rhaeto-Romance, Rheto-Romance, Rhaeto-Italian, or Rhaetian, is a purported subfamily of the Romance languages that is spoken in south-eastern Switzerland and north-eastern Italy. The name "Rhaeto-Romance" refers to the former Roman province of ...
,
Franco-Provençal Franco-Provençal (also Francoprovençal, Patois or Arpitan) is a Gallo-Romance languages, Gallo-Romance language that originated and is spoken in eastern France, western Switzerland, and northwestern Italy. Franco-Provençal has several di ...
, Astur-Leonese, and Aragonese), every settlement technically has its own dialect, with the whole of Occitania forming a classic
dialect continuum A dialect continuum or dialect chain is a series of Variety (linguistics), language varieties spoken across some geographical area such that neighboring varieties are Mutual intelligibility, mutually intelligible, but the differences accumulat ...
that changes gradually along any path from one side to the other. Nonetheless, specialists commonly divide Occitan into six main dialects: * Gascon: includes the Béarnese and
Aranese Aranese () is a standardized form of the Pyrenean Gascon dialect, Gascon variety of the Occitan language spoken in the Val d'Aran, in northwestern Catalonia close to the France–Spain border, Spanish border with France, where it is one of the t ...
(spoken in Spain). ** Judeo-Gascon *
Languedocien Languedocien (French name, ), Languedocian, or Lengadocian () is an Occitan language, Occitan dialect spoken in rural parts of southern France such as Languedoc, Rouergue, Quercy, Agenais and southern Périgord. It is sometimes also called Lang ...
(''lengadocian'') *
Limousin Limousin (; ) is a former administrative region of southwest-central France. Named after the old province of Limousin, the administrative region was founded in 1960. It comprised three departments: Corrèze, Creuse, and Haute-Vienne. On 1 Jan ...
(''lemosin'') *
Auvergnat (; ) or (endonym: ) is a northern dialect of Occitan spoken in central and southern France, in particular in the former administrative region of Auvergne. Currently, research shows that there is not really a true Auvergnat dialect but rath ...
(''auvernhat'') * Provençal (''provençau'' or ''prouvençau''), including the Niçard subdialect. ** Judeo-Provençal ** Judeo-Niçard * Vivaro-Alpine (''vivaroaupenc''), also known as "Alpine" or "Alpine Provençal", and sometimes considered a subdialect of Provençal The northern and easternmost dialects have more morphological and phonetic features in common with the Gallo-Italic and Oïl languages (e.g.
nasal vowel A nasal vowel is a vowel that is produced with a lowering of the soft palate (or velum) so that the air flow escapes through the nose and the mouth simultaneously, as in the French vowel /ɑ̃/ () or Amoy []. By contrast, oral vowels are p ...
s; loss of final consonants; initial ''cha/ja-'' instead of ''ca/ga-''; uvular R, uvular ; the front-rounded sound instead of a diphthong, instead of before a consonant), whereas the southernmost dialects have more features in common with the
Ibero-Romance languages The Iberian Romance, Ibero-Romance or sometimes Iberian languages Iberian languages is also used as a more inclusive term for all languages spoken on the Iberian Peninsula, which in antiquity included the non-Indo-European Iberian language. are a ...
(e.g.
betacism In historical linguistics, betacism ( , ) is a sound change in which (the voiced bilabial plosive, as in ''bane'') and (the voiced labiodental fricative , as in ''vane'') are confused. The final result of the process can be either /b/ → ...
; voiced fricatives between vowels in place of voiced stops; -''ch''- in place of -''it''-), and Gascon has a number of unusual features not seen in other dialects (e.g. in place of ; loss of between vowels; intervocalic ''-r-'' and final ''-t/ch'' in place of medieval --). There are also significant lexical differences, where some dialects have words cognate with French, and others have Catalan and Spanish cognates. Nonetheless, there is a significant amount of
mutual intelligibility In linguistics, mutual intelligibility is a relationship between different but related language varieties in which speakers of the different varieties can readily understand each other without prior familiarity or special effort. Mutual intelli ...
and some of the words with two cognates can be used in the same dialect as synonymous (''totjorn/sempre'' in provençal or ''maison/ostau'' in gascon for instance). There is also no particular geographical distribution of the cognates, with some shared by distant dialects and other not shared with bordering foreign languages (for instance ''maison'' in both Gascon and Niçard, cognate of French but not of Spanish or Italian, although these dialects are geographically closer to these languages). Gascon is the most divergent, and descriptions of the main features of Occitan often consider Gascon separately. Max Wheeler notes that "probably only its copresence within the French cultural sphere has kept asconfrom being regarded as a separate language", and compares it to Franco-Provençal, which is considered a separate language from Occitan but is "probably not more divergent from Occitan overall than Gascon is". There is no general agreement about larger groupings of these dialects. Max Wheeler divides the dialects into two groups: * Southwestern (Gascon and Languedocien), more conservative * Northeastern (Limousin, Auvergnat, Provençal and Vivaro-Alpine), more innovative Pierre Bec divides the dialects into three groups: * Gascon, standing alone * Southern Occitan (Languedocien and Provençal) * Northern Occitan (Limousin, Auvergnat, Vivaro-Alpine) In order to overcome the pitfalls of the traditional romanistic view, Bec proposed a "supradialectal" classification that groups Occitan with Catalan as a part of a wider Occitano-Romanic group. One such classification posits three groups: * "Arverno-Mediterranean" (''arvèrnomediterranèu''), same as Wheeler's northeastern group, i.e. Limousin, Auvergnat, Provençal and Vivaro-Alpine * "Central Occitan" (''occitan centrau''), Languedocien, excepting the Southern Languedocien subdialect * "Aquitano-Pyrenean" (''aquitanopirenenc''), Southern Languedocien, Gascon and Catalan According to this view, Catalan is an
ausbau language In sociolinguistics, an abstand language is a language variety or cluster of varieties with significant linguistic distance from all others, while an ausbau language is a standard variety, possibly with related dependent varieties. Heinz Klos ...
that became independent from Occitan during the 13th century, but originates from the Aquitano-Pyrenean group. Domergue Sumien proposes a slightly different supradialectal grouping.Domergue Sumien (2006), ''La standardisation pluricentrique de l'occitan: nouvel enjeu sociolinguistique, développement du lexique et de la morphologie'', Publications de l'Association Internationale d'Études Occitanes, Turnhout: Brepols * Arverno-Mediterranean (''arvèrnomediterranèu''), same as in Bec and Wheeler, divided further: ** Niçard-Alpine (''niçardoaupenc''), Vivaro-Alpine along with the Niçard subdialect of Provençal. ** Trans-Occitan (''transoccitan''), the remainder of Provençal along with Limousin and Auvergnat. * Pre-Iberian (''preïberic''). ** Central Occitan (''occitan centrau''), same as in Bec. ** Aquitano-Pyrenean (''aquitanopirenenc''), same as in Bec.


Jewish dialects

Occitan has 3 dialects spoken by Jewish communities that are all now extinct.


Judeo-Gascon

A
sociolect In sociolinguistics, a sociolect is a form of language ( non-standard dialect, restricted register) or a set of lexical items used by a socioeconomic class, profession, age group, or other social group. Sociolects involve both passive acquisit ...
of the Gascon dialect spoken by
Spanish and Portuguese Jews Spanish and Portuguese Jews, also called Western Sephardim, Iberian Jews, or Peninsular Jews, are a distinctive sub-group of Sephardic Jews who are largely descended from Jews who lived as New Christians in the Iberian Peninsula during the fe ...
in
Gascony Gascony (; ) was a province of the southwestern Kingdom of France that succeeded the Duchy of Gascony (602–1453). From the 17th century until the French Revolution (1789–1799), it was part of the combined Province of Guyenne and Gascon ...
. It, like many other Jewish dialects and languages, contained large amounts of
Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...
loanwords. It went extinct after World War 2 with the last speakers being elderly Jews in
Bayonne Bayonne () is a city in southwestern France near the France–Spain border, Spanish border. It is a communes of France, commune and one of two subprefectures in France, subprefectures in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques departments of France, departm ...
. About 850 unique words and a few morphological and grammatical aspects of the dialect were transmitted to Southern Jewish French.


Judeo-Provençal

Judeo-Provençal was a dialect of Occitan spoken by Jews in
Provence Provence is a geographical region and historical province of southeastern France, which stretches from the left bank of the lower Rhône to the west to the France–Italy border, Italian border to the east; it is bordered by the Mediterrane ...
. The dialect declined in usage after Jews were expelled from the area in 1498, and was probably extinct by the 20th century.


Judeo-Niçard

The least attested of the Judeo-Occitan dialects, Judeo-Niçard was spoken by the community of Jews living in
Nice Nice ( ; ) is a city in and the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative city limits, with a population of nearly one million


Southern Jewish French

All three of these dialects have some influence in Southern Jewish French, a dialect of French spoken by Jews in southern France. Southern Jewish French is now estimated to only be spoken by about 50–100 people.


IETF dialect tags

*: Old Occitan (until the 14th century). *: Judeo-Occitan Several
IETF language variant tags have been registered: * : Aranese. * : Auvergnat. * : Cisalpine, northwestern Italy. * : Croissant * : Gascon. * : Leimousin. * : Languedocien. * : Niçard. * : Provençal. * : Vivaro-Alpine.


Codification


Standardization

All regional varieties of the Occitan language have a written form; thus, Occitan can be considered as a
pluricentric language A pluricentric language or polycentric language is a language with several codified standard forms, often corresponding to different countries. Many examples of such languages can be found worldwide among the most-spoken languages, including but n ...
. Standard Occitan, also called ''occitan larg'' (i.e., 'wide Occitan') is a synthesis that respects and admits soft regional adaptations (which are based on the convergence of previous regional koinés). The standardization process began with the publication of '' Gramatica occitana segon los parlars lengadocians'' ("Grammar of the Languedocien Dialect") by
Louis Alibert Adrien Louis Marie Alibert, known as Louis Alibert (''Loís Alibèrt'' in Occitan; 1884–1959) was a French linguist, born on October 12, 1884, in Bram in the Aude and died on April 16, 1959, in Montpellier. He specialized in Occitan and Langu ...
(1935), followed by the '' Dictionnaire occitan-français selon les parlers languedociens'' ("French-Occitan dictionary according to Languedocien") by the same author (1966), completed during the 1970s with the works of Pierre Bec (Gascon), Robèrt Lafont (Provençal), and others. However, the process has not yet been completed as of the present. Standardization is mostly supported by users of the classical norm. Due to the strong situation of
diglossia In linguistics, diglossia ( , ) is where two dialects or languages are used (in fairly strict compartmentalization) by a single language community. In addition to the community's everyday or vernacular language variety (labeled "L" or "low" v ...
, some users thusly reject the standardization process, and do not conceive Occitan as a language that can be standardized as per other standardized languages.


Writing system

There are two main linguistic norms currently used for Occitan, one (known as "classical") based on that of Medieval Occitan, and one (sometimes known as "Mistralian", due to its use by
Frédéric Mistral Joseph Étienne Frédéric Mistral (; , 8 September 1830 – 25 March 1914) was an Occitan writer and lexicographer of the Provençal form of the language. He received the 1904 Nobel Prize in Literature "in recognition of the fresh origina ...
) based on modern
French orthography French orthography encompasses the spelling and punctuation of the French language. It is based on a combination of phonemic and historical principles. The spelling of words is largely based on the pronunciation of Old French –1200 AD, and has ...
. Sometimes, there is conflict between users of each system. * The ''classical norm'' (or less exactly ''classical orthography'') has the advantage of maintaining a link with earlier stages of the language, and reflects the fact that Occitan is not a variety of French. It is used in all Occitan dialects. It also allows speakers of one dialect of Occitan to write intelligibly for speakers of other dialects (e.g. the Occitan for ''day'' is written ''jorn'' in the classical norm, but could be ''jour'', ''joun'', ''journ'', or even ''yourn'', depending on the writer's origin, in Mistralian orthography). The Occitan classical orthography and the Catalan orthography are quite similar: they show the very close ties of both languages. The digraphs ''lh'' and ''nh'', used in the classical orthography, were adopted by the orthography of Portuguese, presumably by Gerald of Braga, a monk from
Moissac Moissac () is a Commune of France, commune in the Tarn-et-Garonne Departments of France, department in the Occitania (administrative region), Occitanie Regions of France, region in southern France. The town is situated at the confluence of the riv ...
, who became bishop of
Braga Braga (; ) is a cities of Portugal, city and a Municipalities of Portugal, municipality, capital of the northwestern Portugal, Portuguese Braga (district), district of Braga and of the historical and cultural Minho Province. Braga Municipality ...
in Portugal in 1047, playing a major role in modernizing written Portuguese using classical Occitan norms. * The ''
Mistralian norm The Mistralian norm is a linguistic norm for the Occitan language Occitan (; ), also known by its native speakers as (; ), sometimes also referred to as Provençal, is a Romance language spoken in Southern France, Monaco, Italy's Occitan ...
'' (or less exactly ''Mistralian orthography'') has the advantage of being similar to that of French, in which most Occitan speakers are literate. Now, it is used mostly in the Provençal/ Niçard dialect, besides the classical norm. It has also been used by a number of eminent writers, particularly in Provençal. However, it is somewhat impractical, because it is based mainly on the Provençal dialect and also uses many digraphs for simple sounds, the most notable one being ''ou'' for the sound, as it is in French, written as ''o'' under the classical orthography. There are also two other norms but they have a lesser audience. The ''Escòla dau Pò norm'' (or ''Escolo dóu Po norm'') is a simplified version of the Mistralian norm and is used only in the Occitan Valleys (Italy), besides the classical norm. The ''Bonnaudian norm'' (or ''écriture auvergnate unifiée, EAU'') was created by Pierre Bonnaud and is used only in the
Auvergnat (; ) or (endonym: ) is a northern dialect of Occitan spoken in central and southern France, in particular in the former administrative region of Auvergne. Currently, research shows that there is not really a true Auvergnat dialect but rath ...
dialect, besides the classical norm. Note that Catalan version was translated from the Spanish, while the Occitan versions were translated from the French. The second part of the Catalan version may also be rendered as "Són dotades de raó i de consciència, i els cal actuar entre si amb un esperit de fraternitat", showing the similarities between Occitan and Catalan.


Orthography IETF subtags

Several IETF language subtags have been registered for the different orthographies: * : Classical Occitan orthography. * : Italian-inspired Occitan orthography. * : Mistralian-inspired Occitan orthography.


Debates concerning linguistic classification and orthography

The majority of scholars think that Occitan constitutes a single language. Some authors, constituting a minority, reject this opinion and even the name ''Occitan'', thinking that there is a family of distinct rather than dialects of a single language. Many Occitan linguists and writers, particularly those involved with the pan-Occitan movement centered on the
Institut d'Estudis Occitans The Institut d'Estudis Occitans (English: Occitan Studies Institute or Institute for Occitan Studies; ), or IEO, is a cultural association that was founded in 1945 by a group of Occitan and French writers including Jean Cassou, Tristan Tzara, Is ...
, disagree with the view that Occitan is a family of languages; instead they believe Limousin, Auvergnat, Languedocien, Gascon, Provençal and Vivaro-Alpine are dialects of a single language. Although there are indeed noticeable differences between these varieties, there is a very high degree of
mutual intelligibility In linguistics, mutual intelligibility is a relationship between different but related language varieties in which speakers of the different varieties can readily understand each other without prior familiarity or special effort. Mutual intelli ...
between them partly because they share a common literary history; furthermore, academic and literary circles have identified them as a collective linguistic entity—the —for centuries. Some Provençal authors continue to support the view that Provençal is a separate language. Nevertheless, the vast majority of Provençal authors and associations think that Provençal is a part of Occitan. This debate about the status of Provençal should not be confused with the debate concerning the spelling of Provençal. * The classical orthography is
phonemic A phoneme () is any set of similar speech sounds that are perceptually regarded by the speakers of a language as a single basic sound—a smallest possible phonetic unit—that helps distinguish one word from another. All languages con ...
and diasystemic, and thus more pan-Occitan. It can be used for (and adapted to) all Occitan dialects and regions, including Provençal. Its supporters think that Provençal is a part of Occitan. * The Mistralian orthography of Provençal is more or less phonemic but not diasystemic and is closer to the French spelling and therefore more specific to Provençal; its users are divided between the ones who think that Provençal is a part of Occitan and the ones who think that Provençal is a separate language. For example, the classical system writes ''Polonha'', whereas the Mistralian spelling system has ''Poulougno'', for , 'Poland'. The question of Gascon is similar. Gascon presents a number of significant differences from the rest of the language; but, despite these differences, Gascon and other Occitan dialects have very important common lexical and grammatical features, so authors such as Pierre Bec argue that they could never be considered as different as, for example, Spanish and Italian. In addition, Gascon's being included in Occitan despite its particular differences can be justified because there is a common elaboration (''
Ausbau In sociolinguistics, an abstand language is a variety (linguistics), language variety or cluster of varieties with significant linguistic distance from all others, while an ausbau language is a standard language, standard variety, possibly with r ...
'') process between Gascon and the rest of Occitan. The vast majority of the Gascon cultural movement considers itself as a part of the Occitan cultural movement. And the official status of
Val d'Aran Aran (; ; ) (often known as the Aran Valley, or Val d'Aran in Aranese Occitan; in other forms of Occitan: ''Vath d'Aran'' or ''Vau d'Aran'', in Catalan: ''Vall d'Aran'', in Spanish: ''Valle de Arán'') is an autonomous administrative entity (form ...
(
Catalonia Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationalities and regions of Spain, nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006, Statute of Autonomy. Most of its territory (except the Val d'Aran) is situate ...
, Spain), adopted in 1990, says that
Aranese Aranese () is a standardized form of the Pyrenean Gascon dialect, Gascon variety of the Occitan language spoken in the Val d'Aran, in northwestern Catalonia close to the France–Spain border, Spanish border with France, where it is one of the t ...
is a part of Gascon and Occitan. A grammar of Aranese by Aitor Carrera, published in 2007 in
Lleida Lleida (, ; ; '' see below'') is a city in the west of Catalonia, Spain. It is the capital and largest town in Segrià county, the Ponent region and the province of Lleida. Geographically, it is located in the Catalan Central Depression. It ...
, presents the same view. The exclusion of Catalan from the Occitan sphere, even though Catalan is closely related, is justified because there has been a consciousness of its being different from Occitan since the later Middle Ages and because the elaboration (''Ausbau'') processes of Catalan and Occitan (including Gascon) have been quite distinct since the 20th century. Nevertheless, other scholars point out that the process that led to the affirmation of Catalan as a distinct language from Occitan started during the period when the pressure to include Catalan-speaking areas in a mainstream Spanish culture was at its greatest. The answer to the question of whether Gascon or Catalan should be considered dialects of Occitan or separate languages has long been a matter of opinion or convention, rather than based on scientific ground. However, two recent studies support Gascon's being considered a distinct language. For the first time, a quantifiable, statistics-based approach was applied by Stephan Koppelberg in attempt to solve this issue. Based on the results he obtained, he concludes that Catalan, Occitan, and Gascon should all be considered three distinct languages. More recently, Y. Greub and J.P. Chambon (Sorbonne University, Paris) demonstrated that the formation of Proto-Gascon was already complete at the eve of the 7th century, whereas Proto-Occitan was not yet formed at that time. These results induced linguists to do away with the conventional classification of Gascon, favoring the "distinct language" alternative. Both studies supported the early intuition of the late Kurt Baldinger, a specialist of both medieval Occitan and medieval Gascon, who recommended that Occitan and Gascon be classified as separate languages.


Linguistic characterization

Jules Ronjat has sought to characterize Occitan with 19 principal, generalizable criteria. Of those, 11 are phonetic, five morphologic, one syntactic, and two lexical. For example, close rounded vowels are rare or absent in Occitan. This characteristic often carries through to an Occitan speaker's French, leading to a distinctive '' méridional'' accent. Unlike French, it is a
pro-drop language A pro-drop language (from "pronoun-dropping") is a language in which certain classes of pronouns may be omitted when they can be pragmatically or grammatically inferable. The precise conditions vary from language to language, and can be quite ...
, allowing the omission of the subject (: I sing; you sing)—though, at least in Gascon, the verb must be preceded by an "enunciative" in place of the pronoun, for questions, for observations, for other occasions: , (I am), (He/she is?), (We are.). Among these 19 discriminating criteria, 7 are different from Spanish, 8 from Italian, 12 from Franco-Provençal, and 16 from French.


Features of Occitan

Most features of Occitan are shared with either French or Catalan, or both.


Features of Occitan as a whole

Examples of pan-Occitan features shared with French, but not Catalan: * Latin ː(Vulgar Latin ) changed to , as in French (Lat. > Oc. ''dur''). * Vulgar Latin changed to , first in unstressed syllables, as in Eastern Catalan (Lat. > Oc. ''roman'' uˈma, then in stressed syllables (Lat. > Oc. ''flor'' luɾ. Examples of pan-Occitan features shared with Catalan, but not French: * Stressed Latin was preserved (Lat. > Oc. ''mar'', Fr. ''mer''). * Intervocalic -- was lenited to rather than lost (Lat. > Oc. ''vida'', Fr. ''vie''). Examples of pan-Occitan features not shared with Catalan or French: * Original preserved. * Final becomes (note in
Valencian Valencian can refer to: * Something related to the Valencian Community ( Valencian Country) in Spain * Something related to the city of Valencia * Something related to the province of Valencia in Spain * Something related to the old Kingdom of ...
(Catalan), may appear in word-final unstressed position, in a process of
vowel harmony In phonology, vowel harmony is a phonological rule in which the vowels of a given domain – typically a phonological word – must share certain distinctive features (thus "in harmony"). Vowel harmony is typically long distance, meaning tha ...
). * Low-mid and diphthongized before velars. generally becomes ; originally became or , but has since usually undergone further fronting (e.g. to , etc.). Diphthongization also occurred before palatals, as in French and Catalan. * Various assimilations in consonant clusters (e.g. in ''Occitan'', pronounced in conservative Languedocien).


Features of some Occitan dialects

Examples of dialect-specific features of the northerly dialects shared with French, but not Catalan: * Palatalization of to . * Vocalization of syllable-final to . * Loss of final consonants. * Vocalization of syllable-final nasals to
nasal vowel A nasal vowel is a vowel that is produced with a lowering of the soft palate (or velum) so that the air flow escapes through the nose and the mouth simultaneously, as in the French vowel /ɑ̃/ () or Amoy []. By contrast, oral vowels are p ...
s. * Uvular R, Uvularization of some or all sounds. Examples of dialect-specific features of the southerly dialects (or some of them) shared with Catalan, but not French: * Latin become . *
Betacism In historical linguistics, betacism ( , ) is a sound change in which (the voiced bilabial plosive, as in ''bane'') and (the voiced labiodental fricative , as in ''vane'') are confused. The final result of the process can be either /b/ → ...
: and merge (feature shared with Spanish and some Catalan dialects; except for Balearic, Valencian and Algherese Catalan, where is preserved). * Intervocalic voiced stops (from Latin ) become voiced fricatives . * Loss of word-final single (but not , e.g. ''an'' "year" < ). Examples of Gascon-specific features not shared with French or Catalan: * Latin initial changed into (Lat. > Gasc. ''hilh''). This also happened in medieval Spanish, although the was eventually lost, or reverted to (before a consonant). The Gascon has retained its aspiration. * Loss of between vowels. This also happened in Portuguese and Galician (and moreover also in
Basque Basque may refer to: * Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France * Basque language, their language Places * Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France * Basque Country (autonomous co ...
). * Change of to , or word-finally (originally the voiceless palatal stop , but now generally either or , depending on the word). This is a unique characteristic of Gascon and of certain Aragonese dialects. Examples of other dialect-specific features not shared with French or Catalan: * Merging of syllable-final nasals to . This appears to represent a transitional stage before nasalization, and occurs especially in the southerly dialects other than Gascon (which still maintains different final nasals, as in Catalan). * Former intervocalic (from Latin ) becomes /z/ (most dialects, but not Gascon). This appears to have happened in primitive Catalan as well, but Catalan later deleted this sound or converted it to . * Palatalization of (from Latin ) to in most dialects or : ''lach'' vs ''lait'' (Gascon ''lèit'') 'milk', ''lucha'' vs ''luta'' (Gascon ''luta'') 'fight'. * Weakening of to in the Vivaro-Alpine dialect.


Comparison with other Romance languages and English


Lexicon

A comparison of terms and word counts between languages is not easy, as it is impossible to count the number of words in a language. (See
Lexicon A lexicon (plural: lexicons, rarely lexica) is the vocabulary of a language or branch of knowledge (such as nautical or medical). In linguistics, a lexicon is a language's inventory of lexemes. The word ''lexicon'' derives from Greek word () ...
,
Lexeme A lexeme () is a unit of lexical meaning that underlies a set of words that are related through inflection. It is a basic abstract unit of meaning, a unit of morphological analysis in linguistics that roughly corresponds to a set of forms ta ...
,
Lexicography Lexicography is the study of lexicons and the art of compiling dictionaries. It is divided into two separate academic disciplines: * Practical lexicography is the art or craft of compiling, writing and editing dictionaries. * Theoretical le ...
for more information.) Some have claimed around 450,000 words exist in the Occitan language, a number comparable to English (the ''
Webster's Third New International Dictionary ''Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged'' (commonly known as ''Webster's Third'', or ''W3'') is an American English-language dictionary published in September 1961. It was edited by Philip Babcock Gove a ...
'', Unabridged with 1993 addenda reaches 470,000 words, as does the Oxford English Dictionary, Second edition). The Merriam-Webster website estimates that the number is somewhere between 250,000 and 1 million words. The magazine ''Géo'' (2004, p. 79) claims that American English literature can be more easily translated into Occitan than French, excluding modern technological terms that both languages have integrated. A comparison of the lexical content can find more subtle differences between the languages. For example, Occitan has 128 synonyms related to cultivated land, 62 for wetlands, and 75 for sunshine (''Géo''). The language went through an eclipse during the
Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution, sometimes divided into the First Industrial Revolution and Second Industrial Revolution, was a transitional period of the global economy toward more widespread, efficient and stable manufacturing processes, succee ...
, as the vocabulary of the countryside became less important. At the same time, it was disparaged as a
patois ''Patois'' (, same or ) is speech or language that is considered nonstandard, although the term is not formally defined in linguistics. As such, ''patois'' can refer to pidgins, creoles, dialects or vernaculars, but not commonly to jargon or sl ...
. Nevertheless, Occitan has also incorporated new words into its lexicon to describe the modern world. The Occitan word for web (as in World Wide Web) is , for example.


Differences between Occitan and Catalan

The separation of Catalan from Occitan is seen by some as largely politically (rather than linguistically) motivated. However, the variety that has become standard Catalan differs from the one that has become standard Occitan in a number of ways. Here are just a few examples: *
Phonology Phonology (formerly also phonemics or phonematics: "phonemics ''n.'' 'obsolescent''1. Any procedure for identifying the phonemes of a language from a corpus of data. 2. (formerly also phonematics) A former synonym for phonology, often pre ...
** Standard Catalan (based on Central Eastern Catalan) is unique in that Latin short ''e'' developed into a close vowel (''é'') and Latin long ''e'' developed into an open vowel (''è''); that is precisely the reverse of the development that took place in Western Catalan dialects and the rest of the Romance languages, including Occitan. Thus Standard Catalan ''ésser'' corresponds to Occitan ''èsser/èstre'' 'to be;' Catalan corresponds to Occitan ''carrièra'' 'street', but it is also ''carriera'' , in Provençal. ** The distinctly Occitan development of word-final ''-a'', pronounced in standard Occitan (''chifra'' 'figure' ), did not occur in general Catalan (which has ''xifra'' ). However, some Occitan varieties also lack that feature, and some Catalan (
Valencian Valencian can refer to: * Something related to the Valencian Community ( Valencian Country) in Spain * Something related to the city of Valencia * Something related to the province of Valencia in Spain * Something related to the old Kingdom of ...
) varieties have the pronunciation, mostly by vowel harmony. ** When in Catalan word stress falls in the antepenultimate syllable, in Occitan the stress is moved to the penultimate syllable: for example, Occitan ''pagina'' vs. Catalan ''pàgina'' , "page". However, there are exceptions. For example, some varieties of Occitan (such as that of
Nice Nice ( ; ) is a city in and the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative city limits, with a population of nearly one millionDiphthong A diphthong ( ), also known as a gliding vowel or a vowel glide, is a combination of two adjacent vowel sounds within the same syllable. Technically, a diphthong is a vowel with two different targets: that is, the tongue (and/or other parts of ...
ization has evolved in different ways: Occitan ''paire'' vs. Catalan ''pare'' 'father;' Occitan ''carrièra (carrèra, carrèira)'' vs. Catalan ''carrera''. ** Although some Occitan dialects lack the
voiceless postalveolar fricative A voiceless postalveolar fricative is a type of consonantal sound used in some Speech, spoken languages. The International Phonetic Association uses the term ''voiceless postalveolar fricative'' only for the sound #Voiceless palato-alveolar frica ...
phoneme , others such as southwestern Occitan have it: general Occitan ''caissa'' vs. Catalan ''caixa'' and southwestern Occitan ''caissa, caisha'' , 'box.' Nevertheless, some Valencian dialects like Northern Valencian lack that phoneme too and generally substitute : ''caixa'' (Standard Valencian) ~ (Northern Valencian). ** Occitan has developed the
close front rounded vowel The close front rounded vowel, or high front rounded vowel, is a type of vowel sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is , and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is y. Ac ...
as a
phoneme A phoneme () is any set of similar Phone (phonetics), speech sounds that are perceptually regarded by the speakers of a language as a single basic sound—a smallest possible Phonetics, phonetic unit—that helps distinguish one word fr ...
, often (but not always) corresponding to Catalan : Occitan ''musica'' vs. Catalan ''música'' . ** The distribution of
palatal consonant Palatals are consonants articulated with the body of the tongue raised against the hard palate (the middle part of the roof of the mouth). Consonants with the tip of the tongue curled back against the palate are called retroflex. Characteris ...
s and differs in Catalan and part of Occitan: while Catalan permits them in word-final position, in central Occitan they are neutralized to and (Central Occitan ''filh'' vs. Catalan ''fill'' , 'son'). Similarly, Algherese Catalan neutralizes palatal consonants in word-final position as well. Non-central varieties of Occitan, however, may have a palatal realization (e.g. ''filh, hilh'' ). ** Furthermore, many words that start with in Occitan start with in Catalan: Occitan ''libre'' vs. Catalan ''llibre'' , 'book.' That feature is perhaps one of the most distinctive characteristics of Catalan amongst the Romance languages, shared only with Asturian, Leonese and Mirandese. However, some transitional varieties of Occitan, near the Catalan area, also have initial . ** While is always clear in Occitan, in Catalan it tends to be velarized ("
dark l The voiced dental, alveolar, and postalveolar lateral approximants are a type of consonantal sound used in many spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents dental, alveolar, and postalveolar lateral ...
"). In coda position, has tended to be vocalized to in Occitan, while remained dark in Catalan. ** Standard Eastern Catalan has a
neutral vowel The mid central vowel is a type of vowel sound, used in some spoken languages. A reduced mid central vowel is known as a schwa. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents either sound is , a rotated lowercase letter e. ...
whenever ''a'' or ''e'' occur in unstressed position (''passar'' , 'to happen', but ''passa'' , 'it happens'), and also whenever ''o'' or ''u'' occur in unstressed position, e.g. ''obrir'' , 'to open', but ''obre'' , 'you open'. However, that does not apply to Western Catalan dialects, whose vowel system usually retains the ''a''/''e'' distinction in unstressed position, or to Northern Catalan dialects, whose vowel system does not retain the ''o''/''u'' distinction in stressed position, much like Occitan. *
Morphology Morphology, from the Greek and meaning "study of shape", may refer to: Disciplines *Morphology (archaeology), study of the shapes or forms of artifacts *Morphology (astronomy), study of the shape of astronomical objects such as nebulae, galaxies, ...
** Verb
conjugation Conjugation or conjugate may refer to: Linguistics *Grammatical conjugation, the modification of a verb from its basic form *Emotive conjugation or Russell's conjugation, the use of loaded language Mathematics *Complex conjugation, the change o ...
is slightly different, but there is a great variety amongst dialects. Medieval conjugations were much closer. A characteristic difference is the ending of the second person plural, which is ''-u'' in Catalan but ''-tz'' in Occitan. ** Occitan tends to add an analogical -''a'' to the
feminine Femininity (also called womanliness) is a set of attributes, behaviors, and Gender roles, roles generally associated with women and girls. Femininity can be understood as Social construction of gender, socially constructed, and there is also s ...
forms of adjectives that are invariable in standard Catalan: for example, Occitan ''legal'' / ''legala'' vs. Catalan ''legal'' / ''legal''. ** Catalan has a distinctive past tense formation, known as the 'periphrastic preterite', formed from a variant of the verb 'to go' followed by the infinitive of the verb: ''donar'' 'to give,' ''va donar'' 'he gave.' That has the same value as the 'normal' preterite shared by most Romance languages, deriving from the Latin perfect tense: Catalan ''donà'' 'he gave.' The periphrastic preterite, in Occitan, is an archaic or a very local tense. *
Orthography An orthography is a set of convention (norm), conventions for writing a language, including norms of spelling, punctuation, Word#Word boundaries, word boundaries, capitalization, hyphenation, and Emphasis (typography), emphasis. Most national ...
** The writing systems of the two languages differ slightly. The modern Occitan spelling recommended by the
Institut d'Estudis Occitans The Institut d'Estudis Occitans (English: Occitan Studies Institute or Institute for Occitan Studies; ), or IEO, is a cultural association that was founded in 1945 by a group of Occitan and French writers including Jean Cassou, Tristan Tzara, Is ...
and the
Conselh de la Lenga Occitana The Conselh de la Lenga Occitana or CLO or Occitan Language Council is the body responsible for managing and developing the standard variant of the Occitan language Occitan (; ), also known by its native speakers as (; ), sometimes also refe ...
is designed to be a pan-Occitan system, and the Catalan system recommended by the
Institut d'Estudis Catalans The Institute for Catalan Studies ( ), also known by the acronym and initialism, acronym IEC, is an academic institution which seeks to undertake research and study into "all elements of Catalan culture". It is based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spai ...
and
Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua The Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua ("Valencian Academy of the Language"), also known by the acronym An acronym is a type of abbreviation consisting of a phrase whose only pronounced elements are the initial letters or initial sounds of ...
is specific to Catalan and Valencian. For example, in Catalan, word-final ''-n'' is omitted, as it is not pronounced in any dialect of Catalan (''Català'', ''Occità''); central Occitan also drops word-final ''-n'', but it is retained in the spelling, as some eastern and western dialects of Occitan still have it (''Catalan'', ''Occitan''). Some digraphs are also written in a different way such as the sound , which is ''ll'' in Catalan (similar to Spanish) and ''lh'' in Occitan (similar to Portuguese) or the sound written ''ny'' in Catalan and ''nh'' in Occitan.


Occitano-Romance linguistic group

Despite these differences, Occitan and Catalan remain more or less mutually comprehensible, especially when written – more so than either is with Spanish or French, for example, although this is mainly a consequence of using the classical (orthographical) norm of the Occitan, which is precisely focused in showing the similarities between the Occitan dialects with Catalan. Occitan and Catalan form a common diasystem (or a common Abstandsprache), which is called Occitano-Romance, according to the linguist Pierre Bec. Speakers of both languages share early historical and cultural heritage. The combined Occitano-Romance area is 259,000 km2, with a population of 23 million. However, the regions are not equal in terms of language speakers. According to Bec 1969 (pp. 120–121), in France, no more than a quarter of the population in counted regions could speak Occitan well, though around half understood it; it is thought that the number of Occitan users has decreased dramatically since then. By contrast, in the
Catalonia Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationalities and regions of Spain, nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006, Statute of Autonomy. Most of its territory (except the Val d'Aran) is situate ...
administered by the Government of Catalonia, nearly three-quarters of the population speak Catalan and 95% understand it.


Preservation

In the modern era, Occitan has become a rare and highly threatened language. Its users are clustered almost exclusively in Southern France, and it is unlikely that any monolingual speakers remain. In the early 1900s, the French government attempted to restrict the use and teaching of many minority languages, including Occitan, in public schools. While the laws have since changed, with bilingual education returning for regions with unique languages in 1993, the many years of restrictions had already caused serious decline in the number of Occitan speakers. The majority of living speakers are older adults.


Samples

One of the most notable passages of Occitan in Western literature occurs in the 26th ''canto'' of
Dante Dante Alighieri (; most likely baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri; – September 14, 1321), widely known mononymously as Dante, was an Italian Italian poetry, poet, writer, and philosopher. His ''Divine Comedy'', originally called ...
's in which the troubadour
Arnaut Daniel Arnaut Daniel (; floruit, fl. 1180–1200) was an Occitans, Occitan troubadour of the 12th century, praised by Dante Alighieri, Dante as "the best smith" (''miglior fabbro'') and called a "grand master of love" (''gran maestro d'amore'') by Petra ...
responds to the narrator: : :Modern Occitan: The above strophe translates to: :So pleases me your courteous demand, / I cannot and I will not hide me from you. / I am Arnaut, who weep and singing go;/ Contrite I see the folly of the past, / And joyous see the hoped-for day before me. / Therefore do I implore you, by that power/ Which guides you to the summit of the stairs, / Be mindful to assuage my suffering! Another notable Occitan quotation, this time from Arnaut Daniel's own 10th ''Canto'': : : : Modern Occitan: : : : Translation: :"I am Arnaut who loves the wind, :and chases the hare with the ox, :and swims against the torrent." French writer
Victor Hugo Victor-Marie Hugo, vicomte Hugo (; 26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French Romanticism, Romantic author, poet, essayist, playwright, journalist, human rights activist and politician. His most famous works are the novels ''The Hunchbac ...
's classic ''
Les Misérables ''Les Misérables'' (, ) is a 19th-century French literature, French Epic (genre), epic historical fiction, historical novel by Victor Hugo, first published on 31 March 1862, that is considered one of the greatest novels of the 19th century. '' ...
'' also contains some Occitan. In Part One, First Book, Chapter IV, "", one can read about Monseigneur Bienvenu: :" , " Translation: :"Born a Provençal, he easily familiarized himself with the dialect of the south. He would say, as in lower Languedoc; as in the Basses-Alpes; as in upper Dauphiné. ..As he spoke all tongues, he entered into all hearts." :: So, Mister, everything's fine? :: Which way will you go? :: I brought some fine mutton with a fine fat cheese The Spanish playwright Lope de Rueda included a Gascon servant for comical effect in one of his short pieces, ''La generosa paliza''.
Registro de Representantes
'' by Lope de Rueda, in Spanish. Peirutón speaks a mix of Gascon and Catalan.
John Barnes John Charles Bryan Barnes (born 7 November 1963) is a former professional football player and manager. Often considered one of the greatest England players of all time and one of Liverpool's greatest ever players, Barnes currently works as an ...
's ''Thousand Cultures'' science fiction series ('' A Million Open Doors'', 1992; '' Earth Made of Glass'', 1998; '' The Merchants of Souls'', 2001; and ''
The Armies of Memory ''The Armies of Memory'' (2006) is a science fiction novel by American writer John Barnes (author), John Barnes, the fourth book of his ''Thousand Cultures'' series. The story is told from the perspective of a middle-aged special agent named Gira ...
'', 2006), features Occitan. So does the 2005 best-selling novel ''
Labyrinth In Greek mythology, the Labyrinth () is an elaborate, confusing structure designed and built by the legendary artificer Daedalus for King Minos of Crete at Knossos. Its function was to hold the Minotaur, the monster eventually killed by the h ...
'' by English author
Kate Mosse Katherine Louise Mosse (born 1961) is a British novelist, non-fiction and short story writer and broadcaster. She is best known for her 2005 novel ''Labyrinth'', which has been translated into more than 37 languages. She co-founded in 1996 th ...
. It is set in
Carcassonne Carcassonne is a French defensive wall, fortified city in the Departments of France, department of Aude, Regions of France, region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania. It is the prefectures in France, prefecture of the department. ...
, where she owns a house and spends half of the year. The French composer
Joseph Canteloube Marie-Joseph Canteloube de Malaret (; 21 October 18794 November 1957) was a French composer, musicologist, and author best known for his collections of orchestrated folksongs from the Auvergne (province), Auvergne region, ''Chants d'Auvergne''. ...
created five sets of folk songs entitled '' Songs of the Auvergne'', in which the lyrics are in the Auvergne dialect of Occitan. The orchestration strives to conjure vivid pastoral scenes of yesteryear.
Michael Crichton John Michael Crichton (; October 23, 1942 – November 4, 2008) was an American author, screenwriter and filmmaker. His books have sold over 200 million copies worldwide, and over a dozen have been adapted into films. His literary works heavil ...
features Occitan in his ''
Timeline A timeline is a list of events displayed in chronological order. It is typically a graphic design showing a long bar labelled with dates paralleling it, and usually contemporaneous events. Timelines can use any suitable scale representing t ...
'' novel.


See also

* Association internationale d'études occitanes * Baìo * History of the Basque language *
Languages of France French is the sole official language in France according to the second article of the French Constitution. French, a Gallo-Romance language, is spoken by nearly the entire population of France. In addition to French, several regional langua ...
*
Languages of Italy The languages of Italy include Italian language, Italian, which serves as the country's national language, in its standard and Regional Italian, regional forms, as well as numerous local and regional languages, most of which, like Italian, ...
*
Languages of Spain The majority of languages of Spain belong to the Romance languages, Romance language family, of which Spanish language, Spanish is the only one with Official languages of Spain, official status in the whole country. Others, including Catalan l ...
* Occitan cross * Occitan cuisine *
Language policy in France France has one official language, the French language. The French government does not regulate the choice of language in publications by individuals, but the use of French is required by law in commercial and workplace communications. In additio ...


Notes


Explanatory footnotes


Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * *
Ursula Reutner Ursula Reutner (born 6 October 1975 in Bayreuth) is a German linguist. She holds the Chair of Romance Languages and Cultures at the University of Passau. Reutner is an internationally renowned expert in Romance Studies and Intercultural Communi ...
: "'Minor' Gallo-Romance Languages". In: Lebsanft, Franz/Tacke, Felix: ''Manual of Standardization in the Romance Languages''. Berlin: de Gruyter (Manuals of Romance Linguistics 24), 773–807. *


External links


Orbilat.com
– Overview and grammar of Occitan

– a guide to the language

– Troubadour & Early Occitan Literature
Ostaldoccitania.net
– The house of Occitan associations of Toulouse

– "LexRomEdic", electronic version of Lexique Roman of Rainouard (A provisional version is available).
arrilemosin.fr
– Occitan Limousin group website with maps and vocabulary * {{DEFAULTSORT:Occitan Language Languages of Andorra Languages of France Languages of Italy Languages of Piedmont Languages of Catalonia Southern France Endangered Romance languages Subject–verb–object languages Occitano-Romance languages