Provençal (, , , ; or ) is a variety of Occitan, spoken by people in Provence and parts of
Drôme
Drôme (; Occitan: ''Droma''; Arpitan: ''Drôma'') is the southernmost department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of Southeastern France. Named after the river Drôme, it had a population of 516,762 as of 2019.
and
Gard
Gard () is a department in Southern France, located in the region of Occitanie. It had a population of 748,437 as of 2019;Merriam-Webster
Merriam-Webster, Incorporated is an list of companies of the United States by state, American company that publishes reference work, reference books and is mostly known for Webster's Dictionary, its dictionaries. It is the oldest dictionary pub ...
states that it can be used to refer to general Occitan, though this is going out of use.
Provençal is also the customary name given to the older version of the Occitan language used by the troubadours 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
Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially novels, Play (theatre), plays, and poetry, poems. It includes both print and Electroni ...
, when
Old French
Old French (, , ; ) was the language spoken in most of the northern half of France approximately between the late 8th [2-4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk of the beginnings of French, that is, when it wa ...
or the ' was limited to the northern areas of France. Thus, the ISO 639-3 code for Old Occitan is [pro].
In 2007, all the ISO 639-3 codes for Occitan dialects, including [prv] for Provençal, were retired and merged into [oci] Occitan. The old codes ([prv], [auv], [gsc], msnc are no longer in active use, but still have the meaning assigned to them when they were established in the Standard.
Some groups have called for Provençal's recognition as a full language, distinct from Occitan. The Regional Council of Provence has variously labelled Provençal as a dialect of Occitan or as a distinct language, depending on different lobbies and political majorities.
Subdialects
The main subdialects of Provençal are:
* ''Rodanenc'' (in French ''Rhodanien'') around the lower Rhone river,
Arles
Arles ( , , ; ; Classical ) is a coastal city and Communes of France, commune in the South of France, a Subprefectures in France, subprefecture in the Bouches-du-Rhône Departments of France, department of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Reg ...
,
Avignon
Avignon (, , ; or , ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Vaucluse department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of southeastern France. Located on the left bank of the river Rhône, the Communes of France, commune had a ...
,
Nîmes
Nîmes ( , ; ; Latin: ''Nemausus'') is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Gard Departments of France, department in the Occitania (administrative region), Occitanie Regions of France, region of Southern France. Located between the Med ...
.
** A Rodanenc subvariety, the '' Shuadit'' (or Judeo-Provençal), has been considered extinct since 1977. It was spoken by the Jewish community around
Avignon
Avignon (, , ; or , ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Vaucluse department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of southeastern France. Located on the left bank of the river Rhône, the Communes of France, commune had a ...
. When Jews were granted freedom of residence in France the dialect declined.
* ''Maritim'' or ''Centrau'' or ''Mediterranèu'' (Maritime or Central or Mediterranean) around
Aix-en-Provence
Aix-en-Provence, or simply Aix, is a List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, city and Communes of France, commune in southern France, about north of Marseille. A former capital of Provence, it is the Subprefectures in France, s ...
,
Marseille
Marseille (; ; see #Name, below) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Bouches-du-Rhône and of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region. Situated in the ...
,
Toulon
Toulon (, , ; , , ) is a city in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of southeastern France. Located on the French Riviera and the historical Provence, it is the prefecture of the Var (department), Var department.
The Commune of Toulon h ...
,
Cannes
Cannes (, ; , ; ) is a city located on the French Riviera. It is a communes of France, commune located in the Alpes-Maritimes departments of France, department, and host city of the annual Cannes Film Festival, Midem, and Cannes Lions Internatio ...
Ardèche
Ardèche (; , ; ) is a Departments of France, department in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Southeastern France. It is named after the river Ardèche (river), Ardèche and had a population of 328,278 as of 2019.Vivaro-Alpine. So is the dialect spoken in the upper valleys of
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 ...
,
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 ...
( Val Maira, Val Varaita, Val Stura di Demonte, Entracque, Limone Piemonte, Vinadio, Sestriere).Nòrmas ortogrà ficas, chausias morfològicas e vocabulari de l'occitan alpin oriental èxte imprimit/ Commission internacionala per la normalizacion linguistica de l'occitan alpin, Published by Espaci Occitan, Piemonte, 2008 . - 242. -PN-01 Some people view Gavòt as a variety of Provençal since a part of the Gavot area (near Digne and Sisteron) belongs to historical Provence.
Orthography
When written in the Mistralian norm (""), definite articles are in the masculine singular, in the feminine singular and in the masculine and feminine plural ( before vowels). Nouns and adjectives usually drop the Latin masculine endings, but ''-e'' remains; the feminine ending is ''-o'' (this is the opposite of the neighbouring Italian masculine gender). Nouns do not inflect for number, but all adjectives ending in vowels (''-e'' or ''-o'') become ''-i'', and all plural adjectives take ''-s'' before vowels.
When written in the classical norm (""), definite articles are masculine u feminine a and plural ej/lejz = li/liz Nouns and adjectives usually drop the Latin masculine endings, but ''-e'' remains; the feminine ending is ''-a'' � Nouns inflect for number, all adjectives ending in vowels (''-e'' or ''-a'') become ''-ei/-eis'' j/ejz = i/izin some syntactic positions, and most plural adjectives take ''-s''.
Pronunciation remains the same in both norms (Mistralian and classical), which are only two different ways to write the same language.
The IETF language tags register for the Mistralian orthography and for the classical one.