OC redirects here. For the show, see The O.C.. The O.C. ( stands for Orange County) is an American television dramedy/soap opera program broadcast on the Fox Network. ...

Occitan, or langue d'oc is a Romance language characterized by its richness and variability, and by the mutual intelligibility of its dialects. It is spoken by about two million people in France, Italy, and Spain (Ethnologue, 2005). It is estimated that up to seven million people in France understand the language. ISO 639 is one of several international standards that lists short codes for language names. ... SIL International is a non-profit, Christian, scientific organization with the main purpose to study, develop and document lesser-known languages for the purpose of expanding linguistic knowledge, promoting world literacy and aiding minority language development. ... This list of languages is alphabetical by English name. ... The Romance languages, also called Romanic languages, are a subfamily of the Italic languages, specifically the descendants of the Vulgar Latin dialects spoken by the common people evolving in different areas after the break-up of the Roman Empire. ...

In France Occitan is the customary name given to dialects of occitan spoken in the South-West while the dialects spoken in the South-East are called Provençal. Provençal (Prouvençau in Provençal language) is one of several dialects of the Romance language Occitan, which is spoken by a minority of people in southern France and other areas of France. ...

In the English-speaking world, "Provençal" is often used to refer to all dialects of Occitan as well to medieval versions of occitan known as "Langue d'oc".

Origin of name

The name Occitan comes from oc, the medieval Occitan word for yes, as opposed to northern French or langue d'oïl (the ancestor of the modern French oui). The word oc came from Latin hoc, while oïl originated from Latin hoc ille. The Middle Ages formed the middle period in a traditional schematic division of European history into three ages: the classical civilization of Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and modern times, beginning with the Renaissance. ... The langue doïl language family in linguistics comprises Romance languages originating in territories now occupied by northern France, part of Belgium and the Channel Islands. ...

Linguistic status

Scholars dispute whether Occitan constitutes a single language, and some characterize the langues d'oc as a family of distinct languages rather than dialects. As Pierre Bec notes in La langue occitan (1963, p. 48), Gascon and Catalan pose a particular problem in Iberian-Roman classification: "It is difficult [...] to separate Catalan from Occitan if one does not grant the same status to Gascon." The most neutral nomenclature would be to speak of the Occitano-Roman linguistic group, inclusive of both Occitan and Catalan. The Gascon language is an Occitan dialect mostly spoken in Gascony (in the French départements of Pyrénées-Atlantiques, Hautes-Pyrénées, Landes, Gers, Gironde, a part of Lot-et-Garonne, a part of Haute-Garonne, and a part of Ariège), and in the small Spanish... Catalan (Català, Valencià) is a Romance language understood by as many as 12 million people in portions of Spain, France, Andorra and Italy, although the majority of active Catalan speakers are in Spain. ...

Traditional Occitan-speaking areas

Geography of Occitan dialects

• Aquitaine — excluding the Basque speaking part of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques in the western part of the department and a small part of Gironde where Saintongeais is spoken. The towns of Biarritz, Anglet, and Bayonne were originally Basque-speaking, with Occitan-speaking groups, until their Basque populations grew sharply during the industrial revolution.
• Midi-Pyrénées
• Languedoc-Roussillon — excluding the large part of the Pyrénées-Orientales where Catalan is spoken.
• Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur — except for the Roya and Bévéra valleys, and some isolated areas speaking Ligurian in Var and the Alpes-Maritimes départements. The Mentonasque language is a blend of Occitan (Provençal) and Ligurian. In the independent state of Monaco the Monegasque language, a Ligurian dialect, is spoken despite strong Provençal immigration.
• Poitou-Charentes — Use of Occitan has declined here, replaced by French. Only Charente limousine, the eastern part of the region, has resisted.
• Limousin A rural region (about 710 000 inhabitants) where Occitan (Lemosin dialect, Nord-Occitan family) is still spoken by a large part of +65 y.o. category
• Auvergne — The language's use has declined in the Marche and Basse-Auvergne areas.
• Rhône-Alpes — While the south of the region is clearly Occitan-speaking, the northern Lyonnais, Forez and Dauphiné parts, which were the intermediate zones between Occitan and Franco-Provençal, have become French-speaking.
• Piedmont — Italian region where Occitan is still spoken only in the high valleys. Elsewhere, Italian and a Franco-Provençal dialect dominate.
• Val d'Aran — part of Catalonia that speaks a mountain dialect of Gascon.
• Aragon — a small region next to Val d'Aran and the French border.

Image File history File links From my computer. ... Image File history File links From my computer. ... Capital Bordeaux Area 41,309 km² Regional President Alain Rousset ( PS) (since 1998) Population   - 2004 estimate   - 1999 census   - Density (Ranked 6th) 3,049,000 2,908,359 74/km² (2004) Arrondissements 18 Cantons 235 Communes 2,296 Départements Dordogne Gironde Landes Lot-et-Garonne Pyrénées-Atlantiques Aquitaine... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... Pyrénées-Atlantiques (Gascon: Pirenèus-Atlantics; Basque: Pirinio-Atlantiarrak or Pirinio-Atlantikoak) is a département in the southwest of France which takes its name from the Pyrenees mountains and the Atlantic Ocean. ... Gironde is a département in the southwest of France named after the Gironde Estuary. ... Poitevin-Saintongeais is a language spoken by a minority of people in Poitou-Charentes. ... Biarritz is a town and commune which lies on the Bay of Biscay, on south-west coast of France. ... View of Grand Bayonne across the Adour Bayonne (Basque: Baiona; Spanish: Bayona) is a city and commune of southwest France at the confluence of the Nive and Adour rivers, in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques département, of which it is a sous-préfecture. ... The Basques (Basque: euskaldunak, i. ... Capital Toulouse Area 45,348 km² Regional President Martin Malvy (PS) (since 1998) Population   - 2004 estimate   - 1999 census   - Density (Ranked 8th) 2,687,000 2,551,687 59/km² (2004) Arrondissements 22 Cantons 293 Communes 3,020 Départements Ariège Aveyron Gers Haute-Garonne Hautes-Pyrénées Lot... Capital Montpellier Area 27,376 km² Regional President Georges Frêche (PS) (since 2004) Population   - 2004 estimate   - 1999 census   - Density (Ranked 10th) 2,458,000 2,295,648 90/km² (2004) Arrondissements 14 Cantons 186 Communes 1,545 Départements Aude Gard Hérault Lozère Pyrénées-Orientales... Pyrénées-Orientales (Eastern Pyrenees, Catalan: Pirineus Orientals) is a département of southern France adjacent to the northern Spanish frontier and the Mediterranean Sea. ... Capital Marseilles Area 31,400 km² Regional President Michel Vauzelle (PS) (since 1998) Population   - 2004 estimate   - 1999 census   - Density (Ranked 3rd) 4,666,000 4,506,151 149/km² (2004) Arrondissements 18 Cantons 237 Communes 963 Départements Alpes-de-Haute-Provence Alpes-Maritimes Bouches-du-Rhône Hautes-Alpes... The Ligurian language was spoken in pre-Roman times and into the Roman era by an ancient people of north-western Italy and south-eastern France known as the Liguri. ... Var is a département of southern France. ... Alpes_Maritimes is a département in the extreme southeast corner of France. ... The départements (or departments) are administrative units of France, roughly analogous to British counties. ... Monégasque (or Munegascu) is a Romance language based on Zeneize, the modern Ligurian language; it is spoken in Monaco and taught in schools there. ... Categories: Stub | Regions of France ... Capital Limoges Area 16,942 km² Regional President Jean-Paul Denanot Population  - 2004 estimate  - 1999 census  - Density 710,939 42/km² Arrondissements 8 Cantons 106 Communes 747 Départements Corrèze Creuse Haute-Vienne Limousin is a former province of France and now a region of France, around the city... Capital Clermont-Ferrand Area 26,013 km² Regional President Pierre-Joël Bonté (PS) (since 2004) Population   - 2004 estimate   - 1999 census   - Density (Ranked 19th) 1,327,000 1,308,878 51/km² (2004) Arrondissements 14 Cantons 158 Communes 1,310 Départements Allier Cantal Haute-Loire Puy-de-Dôme... Marche - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ... History Auvergne was also historically a province of France, deriving its name from Averni, a Gallic tribe who once occupied the area. ... Capital Lyon Area 43,698 km² Regional President Jean-Jack Queyranne (PS) (since 2004) Population   - 2004 estimate   - 1999 census   - Density (Ranked 2nd) 5,893,000 5,645,407 135/km² (2004) Arrondissements 25 Cantons 335 Communes 2,879 Départements Ain Ardèche Drôme Isère Loire Rhône... Lyonnais is a former province of central-eastern France, located in the modern day Rhône département. ... Dauphiné is a former province in southeastern France, roughly corresponding to the present départements of the Isère, Drôme, and Hautes-Alpes. ... Franco-Provençal is a Romance language consisting of dialects that can be found in Italy (Valle dAosta, Piemonte, Calabria, Apulia), in Switzerland (cantons Fribourg, Valais, Vaud, Neuchâtel, Geneva, non-German speaking parts of Bern, but not Jura, where the dialects spoken are French) and in France (Dauphinois... Piedmont is a region of northwestern Italy. ... Val dAran, a small valley (620. ... Capital Barcelona Official languages Spanish and Catalan In Val dAran, also Aranese. ... Capital Zaragoza Area  â€“ Total  â€“ % of Spain Ranked 4th  47 719 km²  9,4% Population  â€“ Total (2003)  â€“ % of Spain  â€“ Density Ranked 11th  1 217 514  2,9%  25,51/km² Demonym  â€“ English  â€“ Spanish  Aragonese  aragonés Statute of Autonomy August 16, 1982 ISO 3166-2 AR Parliamentary representation  â€“ Congress seats  â€“ Senate...

Occitan around the world

Occitan-speaking colonies developed in southern Italy (Calabria), Spanish Basque country (Gascon was spoken in the center of San Sebastián until the beginning of the twentieth century), Germany (duchy of Württemberg), Argentina, Uruguay, and the United States (western states such as Idaho and Oregon). Some colonies still speak Occitan, or use a dialect mixed with the local language. Also, in the regions of Houma and Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Cajun speakers use a variety of Occitan. Certain colonies still use Occitan today, or a dialect composed of Occitan mixed with the local language. Calabria, formerly Brutium, is a region in southern Italy which occupies the toe of the Italian peninsula south of Naples. ... Edit: It is important to underline that there has never been anything even similar to a basque state or independent country whatsoever. ... Geography > Europe > Spain > Basque Country > Guipúzcoa San Sebastián with sailboats Statue of Jesus on Urgull Mountain Donostia (in Basque) or San Sebastián (in Spanish) is the capital city of the province of Guipuscoa, in the Spanish autonomous community of Basque Country. ... Württemberg (often spelled Wurttemberg in English) refers to an area and a former state in Swabia, a region in south-western Germany. ... State nickname: Gem State Other U.S. States Capital Boise Largest city Boise Governor Dirk Kempthorne (R) Official languages none Area 216,632 km² (14th)  - Land 214,499 km²  - Water 2,133 km² (0. ... State nickname: Beaver State Other U.S. States Capital Salem Largest city Portland Governor Ted Kulongoski (D) Official languages None Area 255,026 km² (9th)  - Land 248,849 km²  - Water 6,177 km² (2. ... Houma is a city located in Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana. ... Capitol Building Baton Rouge (pronounced in English, and in French) is the capital of Louisiana, a state of the United States of America. ... State nickname: Pelican State Other U.S. States Capital Baton Rouge Largest city New Orleans Governor Kathleen Blanco (D) Official languages None; English and French de facto Area 134,382 km² (31st)  - Land 112,927 km²  - Water 21,455 km² (16%) Population (2000)  - Population 4,468,976 (22nd)  - Density 39. ... The Cajuns are an ethnic group consisting essentially of the descendants of Acadians who came from Nova Scotia to Louisiana as a result of their refusal to swear allegiance to the British Crown. ...

Linguistic characterization

Jules Ronjat has sought to characterize Occitan by 19 principal criteria, as generalized as possible. Of those, 11 are phonetic, 5 morphologic, one syntactic, and two lexical. Close vowels (French: pâte, rose, yeux) 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 allowing the omission of the subject (canti: I sing; cantas you sing). Among these 19 discriminating criteria, 7 are different from Spanish, 8 from Italian, 12 from Franco-provençal, and 16 from French. Pro-drop language (from pronoun-dropping) is a language where pronouns can be elided (deleted) when considered unnecessary or redundant by the speaker. ...

Differences between Occitan and Catalan

Writing systems differ significantly between the two languages, as most writing in Occitan today is in a system resembling that used in medieval times, of Roman origin; an alternative system more closely resembles that of French. Catalonians, on the other hand, use a system centered on their own pronunciation (no final 'n' on català, for example).

The political, cultural, and religious aspect is significant as well. Catalonia, in contrast to Occitania, has long benefited from independent statehood tied to strong economic development. Additionally, Occitan's territory is generally contained by the borders of France, while Catalan's is contained in Spain. More recently, the languages continue to develop separately: Catalan's dialects continue to approach Spanish, while Occitan's approach French. The significance of French and Spanish around the world weighs heavily on these lesser-spoken languages in the heart of France and Spain. Capital Barcelona Official languages Spanish and Catalan In Val dAran, also Aranese. ... Occitania refers to the land of the Occitan language. ...

The Occitano-Roman linguistic group

Despite differences that have arisen primarily over the past few centuries, Occitan and Catalan remain mutually comprehensible. The two peoples share historical, cultural, and amicable heritage.

The combined Occitano-Roman area is 259,000 km² and represents 23 million speakers. The regions are not equal in terms of language speakers. In France, no more than a quarter of the population in counted regions speak Occitan well, though around half can understand it (Bec, 1969, pp.120–121). In Catalonia, nearly three quarters of the population speak Catalan and 95% understand it.

Origins of Occitan

Because Occitan is the most central of the Romance languages, external influences could have impeded its birth and development, making it only a tributary of standard Latin. However, many factors favored its development as a language of its own. The Romance languages, also called Romanic languages or New Latin Languages, are a subset of the Italic languages, specifically the descendants of the Latin dialects spoken by the common people in what is known as Latin Europe (Italian/Portuguese/Spanish Europa latina, French Europe latine, Romanian Europa latină) as Vulgar...

• Mountains and seas: The range of Occitan is bounded naturally by the Mediterranean Sea, the Atlantic Ocean, the Massif Central, the Pyrenees, and the Alps.
• Buffer zones: Very dry land, marshes, and areas otherwise impractical for farming and resistant of colonization provide further separation (territory between Loire and Garonne, the Aragon desert plateau.
• Constant populations: Some Occitan-speaking peoples are descended from people living in the region since prehistory (Bec, 1963).
• Little Celtic influence (Bec, 1963)
• Ancient and long-term Roman influence: Julius Caesar once said that the people of Aquitaine could teach the Romans themselves to speak Latin more correctly. According to Müller, "France's linguistic separation began with Roman influence" (Bec, 1963, pp. 20, 21)
• A separate lexicon: Although Occitan is mid-way between Gallo-Roman and Ibero-Roman language groups, it has "around 550 words inherited from Latin that do not exist in the langues d'oïl nor in franco-provençal" (Bec, 1963, 20, 21).
• Little germanization: "The Frankish lexicon and its phonetic influence often end above the oc/oïl line" (Bec, 1963, 20, 21)
• Variety: Occitania has always been a linguistic crossroads, thanks to its commercial importance. The Spanish rabbi Benjamin of Tudela described Occitania in 1573 as a marketplace bringing together "Christians and Muslims, where Arabs, Lombard merchants, visitors from Rome, from all parts of Egypt, the lands of Israel, Greece, Gaul, Genoa, and Pisa. All languages are spoken there" (Géo magazine, 2004, p. 73)

Satellite image Map of the Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a part of the Atlantic Ocean almost completely enclosed by land, on the north by Europe, on the south by Africa, and on the east by Asia. ... France, viewed from the NASA Shuttle Topography Radar Mission. ... Central Pyrenees The Pyrenees (French: Pyrénées; Spanish: Pirineos; Occitan: Pirenèus or Pirenèas; Catalan Pirineus; Aragonese: Perinés; Basque: Pirinioak) are a range of mountains in southwest Europe that form a natural border between France and Spain. ... The Alps is the collective name for one of the great mountain range systems of Europe, stretching from Austria and Slovenia in the east, through Italy, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Germany to France in the west. ... Loire is a département in the east-central part of France occupying the Loire Rivers upper reaches. ... The Garonne ( Latin: Garumna, Occitan: Garona) is a river in southwest France, with a length of 575 km (357 miles). ... Capital Zaragoza Area  â€“ Total  â€“ % of Spain Ranked 4th  47 719 km²  9,4% Population  â€“ Total (2003)  â€“ % of Spain  â€“ Density Ranked 11th  1 217 514  2,9%  25,51/km² Demonym  â€“ English  â€“ Spanish  Aragonese  aragonés Statute of Autonomy August 16, 1982 ISO 3166-2 AR Parliamentary representation  â€“ Congress seats  â€“ Senate... Bust of Julius Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (Classical Latin: IMP·C·IVLIVS·CAESAR·DIVVS¹) (b. ... Capital Bordeaux Area 41,309 km² Regional President Alain Rousset ( PS) (since 1998) Population   - 2004 estimate   - 1999 census   - Density (Ranked 6th) 3,049,000 2,908,359 74/km² (2004) Arrondissements 18 Cantons 235 Communes 2,296 Départements Dordogne Gironde Landes Lot-et-Garonne Pyrénées-Atlantiques Aquitaine... A lexicon is a list of words together with additional word-specific information, i. ... The Frankish language can refer to: the language spoken by the Franks, a Germanic people active in the Roman era, often now called Old Frankish a West Franconian dialect of modern German spoken in Alsace and Lorraine, regions in France the Franconian language family In the second sense, Frankish (German... Benjamin of Tudela was a medieval Spanish Jewish Rabbi, traveler and explorer. ... Map of Gaul circa 58 BC Gaul (from Latin Gallia, c. ... Location within Italy Flag of Genoa Christopher Columbus monument in Piazza Aquaverde Genoa (Italian Genova, Genoese Zena, French Gênes) is a city and a seaport in northern Italy, the capital of the Province of Genoa and of the region of Liguria. ... Pisas coat of arms This article is about Pisa in Italy. ...

The language's assets

A rich lexicon

A comparison of terms and word counts between languages is not easy, as it is impossible to precisely count the number of words in a language. (See Lexicon, Lexeme, Lexicography for more information.) A lexicon is a list of words together with additional word-specific information, i. ... Definition A lexeme is a unit of linguistic analysis. ... Lexicography is either of two things Practical lexicography is the art or craft of writing dictionaries. ...

Some have claimed around 450,000 words exist in the Occitan language, a number comparable to English (The Webster's Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged with 1993 addenda reaches 470,000 words, as does the Oxford English Dictionary, Second edition.) The Merriam-Webster Web site 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 in the Industrial revolution, as the vocabulary of the countryside became less important. At the same time, it was disparaged under the name Patois. The Industrial Revolution was the major technological, socioeconomic and cultural change in the late 18th and early 19th century resulting from the replacement of an economy based on manual labor to one dominated by industry and machine manufacture. ... Patois, although without a formal definition in linguistics, can be used to describe a language considered as nonstandard. ...

Speakers of the language, dedicated to keeping Occitan a rich and healthy language, have developed a modern vocabulary. The Occitan word for web is oèb, for example. Thanks to these efforts, the language continues to thrive and isn't suffering the decline of one incapable of describing the surrounding world.

Learning foreign languages

Native speakers of Occitan are predisposed, according to Géo magazine (p. 79), to learning other languages. The human ear is capable of hearing sounds in a range of 24,000 hertz, but exclusive use of the maternal language reduces this ability. French speakers perceive only 5,000 hertz, while Occitan speakers hear over 8,000.

Furthermore, Occitan's geography as a central Romance language facilitates comprehension of neighboring languages (Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese.) Among languages in its family, Occitan has the most points in common with the others. Below is a comparison of Occitan (central dialect) with other Romance languages:

Note that English borrows Latin, French, and Occitan vocabulary. There many English words from Occitan that never existed or have disappeared in French, such as the following: jump / jumpar, rave (party) / rèva, record / recordar. Vulgar Latin (in Latin, sermo vulgaris) is a blanket term covering the vernacular dialects of the Latin language spoken mostly in the western provinces of the Roman Empire until those dialects, diverging still further, evolved into the early Romance languages — a distinction usually assigned to about the ninth century. ...

Languages or dialects?

The actual use of the term Occitan seems rather confusing. Some authors consider that Occitan is a family of languages, including:

• Auvergnat (Auvernhat)
• Gascon
• Limousin (Lemosin)
• Languedocian (Lengadocian)
• Provençal
• Alpine Provençal
• Aranese
• Shuadit or Judeo-Provençal (considered extinct since 1977)

which are seen as separate languages. Béarnais is considered as a dialect of Gascon. Auvergnat is a language spoken in Auvergne, which is a historical province in the northern part of Occitania. ... The Gascon language is an Occitan dialect mostly spoken in Gascony (in the French départements of Pyrénées-Atlantiques, Hautes-Pyrénées, Landes, Gers, Gironde, a part of Lot-et-Garonne, a part of Haute-Garonne, and a part of Ariège), and in the small Spanish... The Limousin dialect is a Romance language akin to Provençal spoken or understood by about 400 000 people in the part of southern France known as Limousin. ... Languedocien is a Romance language akin to Provençal spoken by some people in the part of southern France known as Languedoc. ... Provençal (Prouvençau in Provençal language) is one of several dialects of the Romance language Occitan, which is spoken by a minority of people in southern France and other areas of France. ... Aranese (Aranès or Aranais) is a dialect of Gascon (which is part of the Occitan language group of the Romance languages), spoken in Spain, where it is an official language. ... Shuadit, also spelled Chouhadite, Chouhadit, Chouadite, Chouadit, and Shuhadit is the extinct Jewish language of southern France, also known as Judæo-Provençal, Judéo-Comtadin, Hébraïco-Comtadin. ... Shuadit - Wikipedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ... 1977 was a common year starting on Saturday (the link is to a full 1977 calendar). ... The Gascon language is an Occitan dialect mostly spoken in Gascony (in the French départements of Pyrénées-Atlantiques, Hautes-Pyrénées, Landes, Gers, Gironde, a part of Lot-et-Garonne, a part of Haute-Garonne, and a part of Ariège), and in the small Spanish...

Many linguists and almost all Occitan writers disagree with the view that Occitan is a family of languages and think that Limousin, Auvergnat, Gascon, Languedocien and Provençal, and Alpine Provençal are dialects of a single language.

Despite the differences in these languages or dialects, most of the speakers can understand usage from the other dialects. The same is true about Catalan, as some linguists consider Occitan and Catalan to be two varieties of the same language. Catalan (Català, Valencià) is a Romance language understood by as many as 12 million people in portions of Spain, France, Andorra and Italy, although the majority of active Catalan speakers are in Spain. ...

In France Occitan is used for all the dialects spoken, while Provençal is used for the dialects spoken in the South-East, the Rhône River (Rose in Occitan) being more or less the border with the notable exception of Nîmes. Length 800 km Elevation of the source 1753 m Average discharge 1800 m³/s Area watershed 100,200 km² Origin Rhône glacier Mouth Mediterranean Sea Basin countries Switzerland, France The River Rhône (French Rhône, Occitan Ròse, Franco-Provençal Roun, standard German Rhone, Valais German Rotten... Location within France Nîmes is a city and commune of southern France, préfecture (capital) of the Gard département. ...

The term Provençal is also used by English, but according to linguistic classification Provençal is just one of the dialects grouped under the label Occitan, the variant of the Provence region, the literary dialect used by Frédéric Mistral and the Félibrige. Provençal (Prouvençau in Provençal language) is one of several dialects of the Romance language Occitan, which is spoken by a minority of people in southern France and other areas of France. ... Provence is a former Roman province and is now a region of southeastern France, located on the Mediterranean Sea adjacent to Frances border with Italy. ... Frédéric Mistral (September 8, 1830 - March 25, 1914) was a French poet who led the 19th century revival of Occitan (Provençal) language and literature. ... Félibrige - Wikipedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ...

Linguistic science contradicts the popular belief that Provençal and Occitan are two separate languages, a belief that could be traced back to Frédéric Mistral. Despite the fact that Mistral himself was a republican, the agenda of the Felibrige was to promote a revival of the Provençal tongue, which was largely in contradiction with the republican ideal of reinforcing the unity of France by enforcing the use of French language to the exclusion of all other languages. The claim that Provençal and Occitan were two languages was probably made by the conservative members to avoid integrating South-West members in the Felibrige as the South-West of France was (and remained for a long time) a region strongly supporting the left-wing of the republicans. French (français, langue française) is one of the most important Romance languages, outnumbered in speakers only by Spanish and Portuguese. ...

Provençal is also used as a synonym for Occitan.

History of Occitan

Occitan was the vehicle for the first vernacular poetry of medieval Europe, that of the troubadors. With the gradual imposition of French royal power over its territory, Occitan declined in status from the 14th century on. Its greatest decline was during the French Revolution, where diversity of languages was seen as a threat. Bust of Homer, one of the earliest European poets, in the British Museum Poetry (ancient Greek: ποιεω (poieo) = I create) is an art form in which human language is used for its aesthetic qualities in addition to, or instead of, its notional and semantic content. ... Europe - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ... A troubador (or troubadour) was a composer and performer of songs in particular styles during the Middle Ages in Europe. ... (13th century - 14th century - 15th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 14th century was that century which lasted from 1301 to 1400. ... During the French Revolution (1789–1799) democracy and republicanism overthrew the absolute monarchy in France, and the French portion of the Roman Catholic Church was forced to undergo radical restructuring. ...

Usage in France

Though it was still the everyday language of most of the rural population of the South well into the 20th century, it had been replaced in more formal usage by French. Today there are still several million native speakers of Occitan, though they are to be found mostly in the older generations. Ethnic activism, particularly the Occitan-language preschools, the Calandretas, have reintroduced the language to the young. (19th century - 20th century - 21st century - more centuries) Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s As a means of recording the passage of time, the 20th century was that century which lasted from 1901–2000 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar (1900–1999 in the...

Usage outside France

In the Val d'Aran, a valley in the north of Catalonia (in north-eastern Spanish State), Aranese (a dialect of Occitan) is treated as an official language, together with Catalan and Spanish. In Italy Occitan is also spoken in some Alpine valleys of the Province of Cuneo in Piedmont. Occitan-speaking colonies have existed in Calabria (Italy) since the 14th century, and in Württemberg (Germany) since the 18th century, the latter as a consequence of the Camisard war. Val dAran, a small valley (620. ... Capital Barcelona Official languages Spanish and Catalan In Val dAran, also Aranese. ... The Kingdom of Spain or Spain (Spanish: Reino de España or España; Catalan: Regne dEspanya; Basque: Espainiako Erresuma; Galician: Reino de España; Asturian: Reinu dEspaña) is a country located in the southwest of Europe. ... Aranese (Aranès or Aranais) is a dialect of Gascon (which is part of the Occitan language group of the Romance languages), spoken in Val dAran, Spain, where it is an official language. ... Catalan (Català, Valencià) is a Romance language understood by as many as 12 million people in portions of Spain, France, Andorra and Italy, although the majority of active Catalan speakers are in Spain. ... The Alps is the collective name for one of the great mountain range systems of Europe, stretching from Austria and Slovenia in the east, through Italy, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Germany to France in the west. ... Cuneo is a province in the Piedmont region of Italy. ... Piedmont is a region of northwestern Italy. ... Calabria, formerly Brutium, is a region in southern Italy which occupies the toe of the Italian peninsula south of Naples. ... (13th century - 14th century - 15th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 14th century was that century which lasted from 1301 to 1400. ... Württemberg (often spelled Wurttemberg in English) refers to an area and a former state in Swabia, a region in south-western Germany. ... (17th century - 18th century - 19th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 18th century refers to the century that lasted from 1701 through 1800. ... After the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685, a revolt by the Camisards (Occitan camisa, smock or shirtsleeves) broke out in 1702, in the rugged and isolated Cevennes region of south-central France, the traditional heartland of religious heterodoxy (see Cathar). ...

Features of Occitan

Among the diachronical features of Occitan as a Romance language:

• Unlike French, stressed A of Latin is preserved (Latin mare > Oc. mar, but > Fr. mer).
• Like French, changed Latin U to [y] and shifted the series of back vowels U>y, o>u O>o.
• Gascon changed initial Latin F to aspirated [h] (Latin filiu > Gascon Oc. hilh), like medieval Spanish did (Gascon and Spanish were under Basque influence).
• Other lenition and palatalisation phenomena shared with other western Romance languages, especially with Catalan.

The Gascon language is an Occitan dialect mostly spoken in Gascony (in the French départements of Pyrénées-Atlantiques, Hautes-Pyrénées, Landes, Gers, Gironde, a part of Lot-et-Garonne, a part of Haute-Garonne, and a part of Ariège), and in the small Spanish... Catalan (Català, Valencià) is a Romance language understood by as many as 12 million people in portions of Spain, France, Andorra and Italy, although the majority of active Catalan speakers are in Spain. ...

Occitan Orthography

There are two orthographies currently used for Occitan, one (known as classical) which is based on that of Mediaeval Occitan, and one (sometimes known as mistralian, due to its use by the Felibres, including Mistral) which is based on modern French orthography. There is some conflict between users of each system. The orthography of a language is the set of rules of how to write correctly in the writing system of a language. ...

The classical orthography has the advantage of maintaining a link with earlier stages of the language, and reflects the fact that Occitan is not merely a variety of French. 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 orthography, but could be jour, joun or journ, depending on the writer's origin, in mistralian orthography).

The mistralian orthography has the advantage of not forcing Occitan speakers who are already (as is usually the case) literate in French to learn an entirely new system. It has also been used by a number of eminent writers, particularly in Provençal.

The digraphs lh and nh, used in the classical orthography, were adopted by the Portuguese norm. The official Portuguese alphabet consists of the letters of the Latin alphabet minus K, W, and Y: A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, X, Z Although not found in vernacular terms, the letters K, W...

Dante and Occitan

Dante was the first to have used the term of "lingua d'oco." He raised the notion of langue d'oc (Occitan), the langue d'oil (French), and the langue des si (Italian). He based it on each language's use of "yes." In the first, "yes" was oc, the second was oil, and si was used for the Italian dialects. The three terms came from Latin: hoc for the first, hoc ille for the second, and sic for the third. Dante in a fresco series of famous men by Andrea del Castagno, ca. ...

Occitan quotes

One of the most notable passages of Occitan in Western literature occurs in the 26th canto of Dante's Purgatorio in which the troubadour Arnaut Daniel responds to the narrator: Dante in a fresco series of famous men by Andrea del Castagno, ca. ... ... Arnaut Daniel was a Provençal troubadour of the 13th century, praised by Dante and called Grand Master of Love by Petrarch. ...

«Tan m'abellis vostre cortes deman, / qu'ieu no me puesc ni voill a vos cobrire. / Ieu sui Arnaut, que plor e vau cantan; / consiros vei la passada folor, / e vei jausen lo joi qu'esper, denan. / Ara vos prec, per aquella valor / que vos guida al som de l'escalina, / sovenha vos a temps de ma dolor»

The above phrase, translated:

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!

See also

• Languages of France

There are a number of languages of France, although the French language is by far the most widely spoken and the only official language of the country. ...

External links

Occitan language edition of Wikipedia

• Ethnologue report for Provençal
• Overview and grammar of Occitan
• Occitan - English Dictionary
• Occitan and Occitania

Image:Wikipedia-logo. ... Wikipedia is a Web-based, multi-language, free-content encyclopedia written collaboratively by volunteers and sponsored by the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation. ...

References

Much of the content of this article comes from the equivalent French-language wikipedia article. The following references are cited by that article:

• Bec, 1963
• Géo Magazine, 2004
• Institut de Sociolingüística Catalana, 2004