Occitan (IPA AmE: /ˈɑksəˌtæn/), known also as Lenga d'òc or Langue d'oc (native name: occitan [utsi'ta]^[1], lenga d'òc [ˈleŋgɔˈðɔ(k)]^[2]; native nickname: la lenga nòstra [laˈleŋgɔˈnɔstrɔ]^[3] i.e. "our [own] language") is a Romance language spoken in Occitania, that is, Southern France, Monaco, the Occitan Valleys of Italy, and in the Aran Valley of Spain. It is also spoken in the linguistic enclave of Guardia Piemontese (Calabria, Italy). At the present time it is an official language only in the Aran Valley (and in the region of Catalonia, which includes Aran). ISO 639-1 is the first part of the ISO 639 international-standard language-code family. ... ISO 639-2 is the second part of the ISO 639 standard, which lists codes for the representation of the names of languages. ... ISO 639-3 is an international standard for language codes. ... Articles with similar titles include the NATO phonetic alphabet, which has also informally been called the “International Phonetic Alphabet”. For information on how to read IPA transcriptions of English words, see IPA chart for English. ... Unicode is an industry standard designed to allow text and symbols from all of the writing systems of the world to be consistently represented and manipulated by computers. ... IPA may refer to: The International Phonetic Alphabet or India Pale Ale ... For other uses, see American English (disambiguation). ... The Romance languages (sometimes referred to as Romanic languages) are a branch of the Indo-European language family, comprising all the languages that descend from Latin, the language of the Roman Empire. ... Occitania refers to the lands where the Occitan language is spoken. ... This region consists of the southern part of France. ... Location of the Occitan Valleys (blue zone) within Occitania (red line) The Occitan Valleys (Occitan: Valadas Occitanas, Italian: Valli Occitane) are the part of Occitania (the territory of the Occitan language) which is situated within the borders of Italy. ... Province Lleida Capital Vielha Largest city Vielha Demonym aranès () aranesa () Population 7130 (1996) Area 620. ... Guardia Piemontese (Occitan: La Gàrdia; Arpitan: La Gouardia) is town and comune in the province of Cosenza in the Calabria region of southern Italy. ... Cliffside dwellings in Tropea. ... Province Lleida Capital Vielha Largest city Vielha Demonym aranès () aranesa () Population 7130 (1996) Area 620. ... Anthem: Capital Barcelona Official language(s) Catalan,Spanish and Aranese. ...

The area where Occitan was historically dominant is home to some 14 million inhabitants. It may be spoken as a first language by as many as two million people in France, Italy, Spain and Monaco (Ethnologue, 2005). It is furthermore stated by some researchers that up to seven million people in France understand the language. However, these two estimates should be considered very optimistic upper bounds; the actual figures are almost certainly substantially lower. More widely accepted wisdom suggests that as few as half a million proficient speakers remain in France, for example.^{[citation needed]} Written Occitan is generally understandable by readers who have some knowledge of French and Spanish.

English-speakers often use the term "Provençal" (an older French word derived from the name of the region Provence) to refer to Occitan.

Name

History of the modern term

The name Occitan comes from òc, the Occitan word for yes, as opposed to oïl as used in the Oïl languages spoken in the territory now comprising northern France, parts of Belgium and the Channel Islands, which was the ancestor of the word oui of modern French. Òc has been proposed as a possible origin of the English term "OK", but linguists are far from unanimous about this. The geographical spread of the Oïl languages (except French) can be seen in shades of green and yellow in this map Langues doïl is the linguistic and historical designation of the Gallo-Romance languages which originated in the northern territories of Roman Gaul now occupied by northern... This article is about the British dependencies. ... Okay is a term of approval, assent, or acknowledgment, often written as OK or O.K.. This is also known as AOK. When used to describe the quality of a thing, it denotes acceptability. ...

The Italian medieval poet Dante was the first to have used the term lingua d'oc. In his De vulgari eloquentia he wrote in Latin: "nam alii oc, alii si, alii vero dicunt oil" ("some say oc, others say si, others say oïl"), thereby classifying the Romance languages into three groups based on each language's word for "yes", the oïl languages (in northern France), the oc languages (in southern France), and the si languages (in Italy and Iberia). This was not, of course, the only defining character of each group. Dante in a fresco series of famous men by Andrea del Castagno, ca. ... De vulgari eloquentia (On Vernacular Speech) is the title of an important essay by Dante Alighieri, written in Latin and initially meant to consist in four books, but aborted after the second. ... The Iberian Peninsula, or Iberia, is located in the extreme southwest of Europe, and includes modern day Spain, Portugal, Andorra and Gibraltar. ...

The word òc came from Vulgar Latin hoc ("this"), while oïl originated from Latin hoc illud ("this [is] it"). Other Romance languages derive their word for yes from the Latin sic, "thus", such as Spanish sí, Lombard sé, Italian sì, Catalan sí, or Portuguese sim. Vulgar Latin, as in this political graffito at Pompeii, was the speech of ordinary people of the Roman Empire — different from the classical Latin used by the Roman elite. ...

Other names for Occitan

Occitania

For many centuries, the Occitan dialects (together with Catalan^[4]) were referred to as Lemosin or Provençal, the names of two regions lying within modern "Occitania". After Mistral's Félibrige movement in the 19th century, Provençal achieved the greatest literary recognition, and so became the most popular term for the Occitan language. Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (640x617, 71 KB) Depuis fr:Image:Occitanie. ... Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (640x617, 71 KB) Depuis fr:Image:Occitanie. ... Catalan IPA: (català IPA: or []) is a Romance language, the national language of Andorra, and a co-official language in the Spanish autonomous communities of Balearic Islands, Catalonia and Valencia (in the latter with the name of Valencian), and in the city of LAlguer in the Italian island of... Provençal (Provençau) is one of several dialects of Occitan spoken by a minority of people in southern France and other areas of France and Italy. ... Occitania refers to the lands where the Occitan language is spoken. ... Frédéric Mistral (September 8, 1830 - March 25, 1914) was a French poet who led the 19th century revival of Occitan (Provençal) language and literature. ... Meeting of the Félibrige in 1854: Frédéric Mistral, Joseph Roumanille, Théodore Aubanel, Jean Brunet, Paul Giéra, Anselme Mathieu, Alphonse Tavan The Félibrige is a literary and cultural association founded by Frédéric Mistral and other Provençal writers to defend and promote the...

Nowadays, strictly, the terms Provençal and Lemosin are used to refer to specific varieties within Occitania, whereas Occitan is used for the language as a whole. However, many non-specialists continue to refer to the language as Provençal, causing some confusion.

History

Further information: Occitan literature

Occitan was the vehicle for the influential poetry of the medieval troubadours. With the gradual imposition of French royal power over its territory, Occitan declined in status from the 14th century on. By the Edict of Villers-Cotterets (1539) it was decreed that the langue d'oil (Northern French) should be used for all French administration. Occitan's greatest decline was during the French Revolution, during which diversity of language was considered a threat. The literary renaissance of late 19th century (which including a Nobel Prize for Frédéric Mistral) was attenuated by the First World War, where Occitan speakers spent extended periods of time alongside French-speaking comrades. Occitan literature — which was erroneously called Provençal literature some decades ago — is a body of works written in Occitan in what is nowadays the South of France. ... The Chinese poem Quatrain on Heavenly Mountain by Emperor Gaozong (Song Dynasty) Poetry (from the Greek , poiesis, a making or creating) is a form of art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its ostensible meaning. ... For the article about the night club in West Hollywood, California, see: Troubadour (nightclub). ... This 14th-century statue from south India depicts the gods Shiva (on the left) and Uma (on the right). ... The Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts expanded the central control of the French state The Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts is an extensive piece of reform legislation signed into law by François I of France on August 10, 1539 in the city of Villers-Cotterêts. ... The French Revolution (1789–1815) was a period of political and social upheaval in the political history of France and Europe as a whole, during which the French governmental structure, previously an absolute monarchy with feudal privileges for the aristocracy and Catholic clergy, underwent radical change to forms based on... Ypres, 1917, in the vicinity of the Battle of Passchendaele. ...

Origins

Because Occitan is the most central of the Romance languages, external influences could have impeded its origin 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 (sometimes referred to as Romanic languages) are a branch of the Indo-European language family, comprising all the languages that descend from Latin, the language of the Roman Empire. ...

• 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-Romance and Ibero-Romance 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)

Composite satellite image of the Mediterranean Sea. ... France, viewed from the NASA Shuttle Topography Radar Mission. ... Pic de Bugatetin the Néouvielle Natural Reserve Central Pyrenees For the mountains in Victoria, Australia, see Pyrenees (Victoria). ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... This article is about the French department. ... The Garonne (Occitan: Garona) is a river in southwest France, with a length of 575 km (357 miles). ... Capital Zaragoza Official language(s) Spanish Area  â€“ Total  â€“ % of Spain Ranked 4th  47,719 km²  9. ... Gaius Julius Caesar [1] (Latin pronunciation ; English pronunciation ; July 12 or July 13, 100 BC or 102 BC – March 15, 44 BC), was a Roman military and political leader and one of the most influential men in world history. ... (Region flag) (Region logo) Location Administration Capital Regional President Departments Dordogne Gironde Landes Lot-et-Garonne Pyrénées-Atlantiques Arrondissements 18 Cantons 235 Communes 2,296 Statistics Land area1 41,308 km² Population (Ranked 6th)  - January 1, 2006 est. ... Look up lexicon in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... The Frankish language can refer to: Old Frankish, the language spoken by the Franks, a Germanic people active in the Roman era Low Franconian, the only linguistic subgroup containing modern variants of the Old Frankish language: Dutch and Afrikaans. ... Map of the route Benjamin of Tudela (flourished 12th century) was a medieval Spanish Jewish Rabbi, traveler and explorer. ... Map of Gaul circa 58 BC Gaul (Latin: ) was the name given, in ancient times, to the region of Western Europe comprising present-day northern Italy, France, Belgium, western Switzerland and the parts of the Netherlands and Germany on the west bank of the Rhine river. ... Genoa (Genova [] in Italian - Zena [] in Genoese) is a city and a seaport in northern Italy, the capital of the Province of Genoa and of the region of Liguria. ... Leaning Tower of Pisa. ...

Occitan around the world

Usage in France

This bilingual street sign in Tolosa (Toulouse), like many such signs found in historical parts of the city, is maintained primarily for its antique charm; it is typical of what little remains of the lenga d'oc in southern French cities.

Though it was still an everyday language for most of the rural population of the South well into the 20th century, it has been all but replaced by the imposition of French. According to the 1999 census, there are 610,000 native speakers (almost all of whom are also native French speakers) and perhaps another million persons with some exposure to the language. Following the pattern of languages in decline, most of this remainder is to be found among the eldest populations. Occitan activists (called Occitanists) have attempted, particularly with the advent of Occitan-language preschools (the Calandretas), to reintroduce the language to the young. Nonetheless, the number of proficient speakers of Occitan appears 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 will likely 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. Occitans, as a result of nearly 200 years of conditioned suppression and humiliation, seldom speak their own language in the presence of foreigners, whether they're 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. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... New city flag (Occitan cross) Traditional coat of arms Motto: (Occitan: For Toulouse, always more) Location Coordinates Time Zone CET (GMT +1) Administration Country Region Midi-Pyrénées Department Haute-Garonne (31) Intercommunality Community of Agglomeration of Greater Toulouse Mayor Jean-Luc Moudenc  (UMP) (since 2004) City Statistics Land... (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...

Usage outside France

• In the Val d'Aran, a valley in the north of Catalonia (in north-eastern Spain), Aranese (a variety of Gascon, in turn a variety of Occitan) is treated as an official language, together with Catalan and Spanish. Spanish is the dominant language.
• In Italy Occitan is also spoken in the Occitan Valleys (Alps) in Piedmont and Liguria. An Occitan-speaking enclave also exists at Guardia Piemontese (Calabria) since the 14th century. Italy adopted in 1999 a Linguistic Minorities Protection Law, or "Law 482", which includes Occitan. Italian is the dominant language.
• In Monaco, Occitan hardly survives and does not have any official protection (it coexists with Ligurian Monegasque, which is an another local language of Monaco). French is the dominant language.
• Scattered Occitan-speaking communities exist in different countries:
  • There were Occitan-speaking colonies in Württemberg (Germany) since the 18th century, the latter as a consequence of the Camisard war. The last Occitan speakers were heard in the 1930's.
  • In the Spanish Basque country, Gascon was spoken in the center of Donostia/San Sebastián, perhaps until the beginning of the twentieth century ^{[citations needed]}.
  • In the Americas, Occitan-speakers exist
    • in the United States, in Valdese, North Carolina^[5] (perhaps also in Louisiana and in western states such as Idaho and Oregon^{[citation needed]})
    • in Argentina, in Pigüé
    • in Canada, in Quebec where there are Occitan associations such as Association Occitane du Québec and Association des Occitans.^[6]

Val dAran, a small valley (620. ... Anthem: Capital Barcelona Official language(s) Catalan,Spanish and Aranese. ... Aranese (aranés in Occitan/Gascon/Aranese) is a variety of Pyrenean Gascon (a dialect of the Occitan language), spoken in Val dAran, in northwestern Catalonia (Spain), where it is one of the three official languages besides Catalan and Spanish. ... Gascon (Gascon, ; French, ) is a dialect of the Occitan language. ... Catalan IPA: (català IPA: or []) is a Romance language, the national language of Andorra, and a co-official language in the Spanish autonomous communities of Balearic Islands, Catalonia and Valencia (in the latter with the name of Valencian), and in the city of LAlguer in the Italian island of... Location of the Occitan Valleys (blue zone) within Occitania (red line) The Occitan Valleys (Occitan: Valadas Occitanas, Italian: Valli Occitane) are the part of Occitania (the territory of the Occitan language) which is situated within the borders of Italy. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... For other uses, see Piedmont (disambiguation). ... Liguria is a coastal region of north-western Italy, the third smallest of the Italian regions. ... Guardia Piemontese (Occitan: La Gàrdia; Arpitan: La Gouardia) is town and comune in the province of Cosenza in the Calabria region of southern Italy. ... Cliffside dwellings in Tropea. ... This 14th-century statue from south India depicts the gods Shiva (on the left) and Uma (on the right). ... Year 1999 (MCMXCIX) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display full 1999 Gregorian calendar). ... Ligurian may mean one of several things: Pertaining to the ancient Ligures Pertaining to modern Liguria Ligurian language This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... The Principality of Monaco or Monaco (French: Principauté de Monaco or Monaco), also known as Munegu or Principatu de Munegu in Monegasque, is a city state and the second-smallest country in the world, wedged in between the Mediterranean Sea and France along the French Riviera or Côte d... Arms of the Kingdom of Württemberg The title of this article contains the character ü. Where it is unavailable or not desired, the name may be represented as Wuerttemberg. ... (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). ... Events and trends Technology Jet engine invented Science Nuclear fission discovered by Otto Hahn, Lise Meitner and Fritz Strassmann Pluto, the ninth planet from the Sun, is discovered by Clyde Tombaugh British biologist Arthur Tansley coins term ecosystem War, peace and politics Socialists proclaim The death of Capitalism Rise to... Pays Basque) see Northern Basque Country. ... 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... Location Location of Donostia-San Sebastian in Spain Coordinates : 43º 19 17 w. ... Valdese is a town in Burke County, North Carolina, United States. ... Official language(s) de jure: none de facto: English & French Capital Baton Rouge Largest city New Orleans [1] Area  Ranked 31st  - Total 51,885 sq mi (134,382 km²)  - Width 130 miles (210 km)  - Length 379 miles (610 km)  - % water 16  - Latitude 29°N to 33°N  - Longitude 89°W... Official language(s) English [1] Capital Boise Largest city Boise Area  Ranked 14th  - Total 83,642 sq mi (216,632 km²)  - Width 305 miles (491 km)  - Length 479 miles (771 km)  - % water 0. ... Official language(s) (none)[1] Capital Salem Largest city Portland Area  Ranked 9th  - Total 98,466 sq mi (255,026 km²)  - Width 260 miles (420 km)  - Length 360 miles (580 km)  - % water 2. ... Pigüé is an Argentinian town located in the Pampas, 584 km south-west of Buenos Aires. ... Motto: Je me souviens (French: I remember) Capital Quebec City Largest city Montreal Official languages French Government - Lieutenant-Governor Pierre Duchesne - Premier Jean Charest (PLQ) Federal representation in Canadian Parliament - House seats 75 - Senate seats 24 Confederation July 1, 1867 (1st) Area  Ranked 2nd - Total 1,542,056 km² (595...

Traditionally Occitan-speaking areas

• 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 are originally Occitan-speaking, with Basque-speaking groups, but their Basque populations grew sharply during the industrial revolution.
• Midi-Pyrénées — including one of France's largest cities, Toulouse. There are a few street signs in Toulouse in Occitan, but the language is almost never heard spoken.
• Languedoc-Roussillon (from "Lenga d'òc") — including the areas around the medieval city of Carcassonne, excluding the large part of the Pyrénées-Orientales where Catalan is spoken (Fenolhedés is the only Occitan-speaking area of the Pyrénées-Orientales).
• Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur — except for the Roya and Bévéra valleys, where there is a transition dialect between Ligurian and Occitan (Roiasc, including Brigasc). There were former and now extinct isolated towns that spoke Ligurian in the Alpes-Maritimes département. Mentonasque, that is spoken in Menton, is an Occitan transition dialect with a strong Ligurian influence.
• Principality of Monaco — The Monégasque language, a Ligurian dialect, is traditionally spoken as well as Occitan.
• 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 among the oldest residents.
• Auvergne — The language's use has declined in some urban areas. The departement of Allier is divided between a southern Occitan-speaking area and a northern French-speaking area.
• Centre region — Some villages, in the extreme South, speak Occitan.
• Rhône-Alpes — While the south of the region is clearly Occitan-speaking, the central and northern Lyonnais, Forez and Dauphiné parts belong to the Franco-Provençal language area.
• Occitan Valleys (Piedmont, Liguria) — Italian regions where Occitan is spoken only in the southern and central Alpine valleys.
• Val d'Aran — part of Catalonia that speaks a mountain dialect of Gascon Occitan.

(Region flag) (Region logo) Location Administration Capital Regional President Departments Dordogne Gironde Landes Lot-et-Garonne Pyrénées-Atlantiques Arrondissements 18 Cantons 235 Communes 2,296 Statistics Land area1 41,308 km² Population (Ranked 6th)  - January 1, 2006 est. ... Basque (native name: euskara) is the language spoken by the Basque people who inhabit the Pyrenees in North-Central Spain and the adjoining region of South-Western France. ... 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 (Poetevin-séntunjhaes) is a language spoken by the people in Poitou-Charentes. ... Biarritz (French: Biarritz, pronounced ; Gascon Occitan: Biàrritz; Basque: Miarritze) is a town and commune which lies on the Bay of Biscay, on the Atlantic coast, in southwestern France. ... Anglet is a French commune situated in the department of Pyrénées-Atlantiques and the Aquitaine region. ... Bayonne (French: Bayonne, pronounced ; Gascon Occitan and Basque: Baiona) 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. ... Languages Basque - few monoglots Spanish - 1,525,000 monoglots French - 150,000 monoglots Basque-Spanish - 600,000 speakers Basque-French - 76,000 speakers [4] other native languages Religions Traditionally Roman Catholic The Basques (Basque: Euskaldunak) are an indigenous people[5] who inhabit parts of northwestern Spain and southwestern France. ... (Region flag) (Occitan cross) (Region logo) Location Administration Capital Regional President Departments Ariège Aveyron Gers Haute-Garonne Hautes-Pyrénées Lot Tarn Tarn-et-Garonne Arrondissements 22 Cantons 293 Communes 3,020 Statistics Land area1 45,348 km² Population (Ranked 8th)  - January 1, 2006 est. ... New city flag (Occitan cross) Traditional coat of arms Motto: (Occitan: For Toulouse, always more) Location Coordinates Time Zone CET (GMT +1) Administration Country Region Midi-Pyrénées Department Haute-Garonne (31) Intercommunality Community of Agglomeration of Greater Toulouse Mayor Jean-Luc Moudenc  (UMP) (since 2004) City Statistics Land... (Region flag) (Region logo) Location Administration Capital Montpellier Regional President Georges Frêche (PS) (since 2004) Departments Aude Gard Hérault Lozère Pyrénées-Orientales Arrondissements 14 Cantons 186 Communes 1,545 Statistics Land area1 27,376 km² Population (Ranked 10th)  - January 1, 2006 est. ... Carcassonne (Carcassona in Occitan) is a fortified French town, in the Aude département of which it is the préfecture, in the former province of Languedoc. ... Pyrénées-Orientales (English: , Catalan: , Occitan: ) is a department of southern France adjacent to the northern Spanish frontier and the Mediterranean Sea. ... Fenholeda, also Fenolhedés (French: Fenouillèdes, Occitan: Fenolhedés/Fenolheda, Catalan: Fenolleda), is an Occitan comarca in the French Département of Pyrénées-Orientales. ... Location Administration Capital Marseille Regional President Michel Vauzelle (PS) (since 1998) Départements Alpes-de-Haute-Provence Alpes-Maritimes Bouches-du-Rhône Hautes-Alpes Var Vaucluse Arrondissements 18 Cantons 237 Communes 963 Statistics Land area1 31,400 km² Population (Ranked 3rd)  - January 1, 2005 est. ... Brigasc is a group of dialects of the Occitan language spoken in Italy and France. ... Ligurian is a Romance language, consisting of a group of Gallo-Italic dialects currently spoken in Liguria, northern Italy, and parts of the Mediterranean coastal zone of France, and Monaco. ... Alpes_Maritimes is a département in the extreme southeast corner of France. ... The départements (or departments) are administrative units of France and many former French colonies, roughly analogous to English counties. ... Mentonasque is a language traditionally assigned to the Occitan language group but closer to Ligurian dialects spoken near Ventimiglia and Sanremo (intemelio). ... Menton (Occitan: Menton in classical norm or Mentan in Mistralian norm; Italian: Mentone) is a town and commune in the Alpes-Maritimes département of the Provence-Alpes-Côte dAzur région of France. ... Street sign in French and Monégasc in Monaco-Ville Monégasque (natively Munegascu) is a Romance language and a dialect of the modern Ligurian language. ... Categories: Stub | Regions of France ... Capital Limoges Land area¹ 16,942 km² Regional President Jean-Paul Denanot (PS) (since 2004) Population  - Jan. ... 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... Allier is a département in south-central France named after the Allier River. ... (Région flag) (Région logo) Location Administration Capital Orléans Regional President Michel Sapin (PS) (1998 to 2000, and since 2004) Départements Cher Eure-et-Loir Indre Indre-et-Loire Loir-et-Cher Loiret Arrondissements 20 Cantons 198 Communes 1,842 Statistics Land area1 39,151 km² Population... (Région flag) (Region logo) Location Administration Capital Lyon Regional President Jean-Jack Queyranne (PS) (since 2004) Departments Ain Ardèche Drôme Isère Loire Rhône Savoie Haute-Savoie Arrondissements 25 Cantons 335 Communes 2,879 Statistics Land area1 43,698 km² Population (Ranked 2nd)  - January 1, 2006... Flag of the Lyonnais Lyonnais is a former province of central-eastern France, located in the modern day Rhône département. ... Coat of arms of Forez Forez is a former province of France, corresponding approximately to the central part of the modern Loire département and a part of the Haute-Loire and Puy-de-Dôme départements. ... Flag of the Dauphiné Dauphiné (Occitan : Daufinat, Arpitan : Dôfenâ, archaic English: ), usually referred to as the Dauphiné, is a former province in southeastern France, roughly corresponding to the present departments of the Isère (Isera), Drôme (Drôma), and Hautes-Alpes (Hiôtas-Arpes). ... Franco-Provençal (Francoprovençal) or Arpitan (in vernacular: patouès) (in Italian: francoprovenzale, provenzale alpina, arpitano, patois; French: francoprovençal, arpitan, patois) is a Romance language with several dialects in a linguistic sub-group separate from Langue dOïl and Langue dOc. ... Location of the Occitan Valleys (blue zone) within Occitania (red line) The Occitan Valleys (Occitan: Valadas Occitanas, Italian: Valli Occitane) are the part of Occitania (the territory of the Occitan language) which is situated within the borders of Italy. ... For other uses, see Piedmont (disambiguation). ... Liguria is a coastal region of north-western Italy, the third smallest of the Italian regions. ... Val dAran, a small valley (620. ... Anthem: Capital Barcelona Official language(s) Catalan,Spanish and Aranese. ...

Dialects

Dialectal classification

According to linguist Pèire Bèc (Pierre Bec), in Manuel pratique d'occitan moderne (Paris, Picard, 1973), here is the most widely accepted dialectal classification. Pierre Bec (in Occitan Pèire Bèc), is an Occitan poet and linguist. ...

• Gascon
• Northern Occitan (nòrd-occitan) group
  • Lemosin
  • Auvernhat
  • Vivaroalpenc or Vivaro-Alpine
• Southern Occitan (sud-occitan) group
  • Provençal (Provençau), including the Niçard subdialect
  • Lengadocian

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... Northern Occitan is a group of Occitan dialects mostly spoken in Southern France. ... 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. ... Auvergnat (French name) or Auvernhat (native name) is one of several dialects of the Occitan language spoken in Auvergne, which is a historical province in the northern part of Occitania. ... Vivaro-Alpine (English name) or Vivaroalpenc, Vivaroaupenc (native name) is the northeastern dialect of the Occitan language. ... Southern Occitan is a group of Occitan dialects mostly spoken in Southern France. ... Provençal (Provençau) is one of several dialects of Occitan spoken by a minority of people in southern France and other areas of France and Italy. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Languedocien is a Romance language akin to Provençal spoken by some people in the part of southern France known as Languedoc. ...

Supradialectal classification

Pèire Bèc says that another "supradialectal" classification is possible, that follows different criteria: Pierre Bec (in Occitan Pèire Bèc), is an Occitan poet and linguist. ...

• Arvèrnomediterranèu
  • Lemosin
  • Auvernhat
  • Vivaroalpenc or Vivaro-Alpine
  • Provençal (Provençau), including the Niçard subdialect
• Central Occitan (Occitan central), i. e. the Lengadocian dialect, excepting the Southern Lengadocian subdialect
• Aquitanopirenenc
  • Southern Lengadocian subdialect
  • Gascon
  • The Catalan language is an Ausbau language which became independent from Occitan during the 13th Century. But it comes from the Aquitanopirenenc stem.

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. ... Auvergnat (French name) or Auvernhat (native name) is one of several dialects of the Occitan language spoken in Auvergne, which is a historical province in the northern part of Occitania. ... Vivaro-Alpine (English name) or Vivaroalpenc, Vivaroaupenc (native name) is the northeastern dialect of the Occitan language. ... Provençal (Provençau) is one of several dialects of Occitan spoken by a minority of people in southern France and other areas of France and Italy. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Languedocien is a Romance language akin to Provençal spoken by some people in the part of southern France known as Languedoc. ... 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 IPA: (català IPA: or []) is a Romance language, the national language of Andorra, and a co-official language in the Spanish autonomous communities of Balearic Islands, Catalonia and Valencia (in the latter with the name of Valencian), and in the city of LAlguer in the Italian island of... An Ausbausprache (also called an ausbau language) is a language which has a standard spelling, a standard grammar and a relatively wide and clear vocabulary (and is thus almost identical with a standard language). ...

Codification

Standardization

All these regional varieties of the Occitan language are written and valid. Standard Occitan, also called Occitan larg (i.e. "wide Occitan") is a synthesis which respects and admits soft regional adaptations (which are based on the convergence of previous regional koines). So Occitan can be considered as a pluricentric language^[7]. The standardization process began during the 1970's with the works of Pèire Bèc, Robèrt Lafont, Rogièr Teulat, Jacme Taupiac and Patric Sauzet. But it has not been achieved yet. It is mostly supported by users of the classical norm. Due to the strong situation of diglossia, some users still reject the standardization process and don't conceive Occitan as a language which could work just as other standardized languages. In linguistics, a koiné language (common language) is a standard language or dialect, specifically one that has arisen as a result of language contact much as pidgins or creoles, but where the original dialects are mutually intelligible. ... A pluricentric language is a language with several standard versions. ... Pierre Bec (in Occitan Pèire Bèc), is an Occitan poet and linguist. ... Robèrt Lafont (IPA [rruβɛrt lafun]) (born in Nîmes on March 16, 1923) is an Occitan intellectual from Provence and more specifically a linguist, an author, a historian, an expert in literature and a political theoretician. ... Occitan (IPA AmE: ), known also as Lenga dòc or Langue doc (native name: occitan [1], lenga dòc [2]; native nickname: la lenga nòstra [3] i. ... Look up Diglossia in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

Writing system

There are two main linguistic norms 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. Sometimes, there is some conflict between some 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 or journ, 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, most probably after Friar Gerald, a monk from Moissac, became bishop of Braga in Portugal in 1047 and played a major role in modernizing written Portuguese using classical Occitan norms^[8].

• The Mistralian norm (or less exactly 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. Nowadays it is mostly used in the Provençal/Niçois dialect, besides the classical norm. It has also been used by a number of eminent writers, particularly in Provençal. However, it is somewhat impractical, since it is based mainly on the Provençal dialect and also uses many digraphs for simple sounds, most notably ou for the [u] sound, 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 only used 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 dialect, besides the classical norm. Catalan IPA: (català IPA: or []) is a Romance language, the national language of Andorra, and a co-official language in the Spanish autonomous communities of Balearic Islands, Catalonia and Valencia (in the latter with the name of Valencian), and in the city of LAlguer in the Italian island of... 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... A stop on the way to Santiago of Compostella The town of Moissac holds 3 major points of interest : the National heritage, tourism and economy which reflect Monuments, Streams and Fruit. ... Location    - Country Portugal    - Region Norte  - Subregion Cávado  - District or A.R. Braga Mayor Mesquita Machado  - Party PS Area 183. ... Events William the Conqueror, with assistance from King Henry I of France, secured control of Normandy by defeating the rebel Norman barons at Caen the Battle of Val-ès-Dunes Births Deaths October 9 - Pope Clement II Categories: 1047 ... Provençal (Provençau) is one of several dialects of Occitan spoken by a minority of people in southern France and other areas of France and Italy. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Auvergnat is a language spoken in Auvergne, which is a historical province in the northern part of Occitania. ...

Vivaro-Alpine (English name) or Vivaroalpenc, Vivaroaupenc (native name) is the northeastern dialect of the Occitan language. ...

Debates concerning linguistic classification and orthography

The vast majority of scholars think that Occitan constitutes a single language^[9]. Some authors ^[10], constituting a tiny minority ^[11], refuse this opinion and even the name Occitan: they think that there is a family of distinct languages (called langues d'oc / lengas d'oc in plural) rather than dialects.

Many Occitan linguists and writers, particularly those involved with the pan-Occitan movement centred on the Institut d'Estudis Occitans, disagree with the view that Occitan is a family of languages and think that Limousin, Auvergnat, Languedocien, Gascon, Provençal and Alpine Provençal are dialects of a single language. Though there are some noticeable differences between these varieties, there is a very high degree of mutual intelligibility between them ^[12]; they also share a common literary history, and in academic and literary circles, have been identified as a collective linguistic entity—the langue d'oc—for centuries. The Institut dEstudis Occitans (IPA [istityd destyðiz utsitas]), or IEO, or Occitan Studies Institute, or Institute for Occitan Studies, is a cultural association that was created in 1945. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ...

Some Provençal authors ^[13] 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^[14] .

This debate about the status of Provençal should not be confused with the debate concerning the spelling of Provençal.

• The classical orthography is more phonemic, and so more pan-Occitan. It is used in (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 phonetic and 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 (pan-Occitan) spelling writes Polonha where the Mistralian spelling system has Poulougno, for [puˈluɲo], 'Poland'. A phonemic orthography is a writing system where the written graphemes correspond to phonemes, the spoken sounds of the language. ... Phonetic (pho-NET-ic) is a nationwide voicemail-to-text messaging service available for most digital mobile phones in which a subscriber is provided a custom voice mailbox for the purpose of receiving all incoming voice messages as actual transcribed text for reading via short messaging (also known as SMS...

The question of Gascon is more controversial still, as Gascon presents a number of significant differences from the rest of the language; but despite of these differences, Gascon and other Occitan dialects share a very important common lexical and grammatical material, so authors such as Pierre Bec argue that they could never be considered as different as, for example, Spanish and Italian.^[15] In addition, the fact that Gascon is included within Occitan despite its particular differences, can be also justified ^[16] because there is a common elaboration (Ausbau) process between Gascon and the rest of Occitan. The vast majority of the Gascon cultural movement ^[17] considers itself as a part of the Occitan cultural movement. And the official status of Val d'Aran (Catalonia, Spain), adopted in 1990, says that Aranese is a part of Gascon and Occitan. 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 Ausbausprache - Abstandsprache - Dachsprache framework is a tool developed by sociolinguists, e. ... Val dAran, a small valley (620. ... Anthem: Capital Barcelona Official language(s) Catalan,Spanish and Aranese. ... 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. ... 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... Occitan, or langue doc is a Romance language characterized by its richness, variability, and by the intelligibility of its dialects. ...

The exclusion of Catalan from the Occitan sphere, although Catalan is a language closely related to Occitan, is justified because there has been a conscience of it being different to Occitan since the later Middle Ages and the elaboration (Ausbau) processes of Catalan and Occitan (including Gascon) have been quite distinct since the 20th Century. Catalan IPA: (català IPA: or []) is a Romance language, the national language of Andorra, and a co-official language in the Spanish autonomous communities of Balearic Islands, Catalonia and Valencia (in the latter with the name of Valencian), and in the city of LAlguer in the Italian island of...

Linguistic characterization

Jules Ronjat has sought to characterize Occitan by 19 principal criteria, as generalized as possible. Of those, 11 are phonetic, five morphologic, one syntactic, and two lexical. Close rounded vowels (French: 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. Meridional French (French: Français Méridional) is a regional variant of the French language. ... A pro-drop language (from pronoun-dropping) is a language where pronouns can be deleted when they are in some sense pragmatically inferable (the precise conditions vary from language to language, and can be quite intricate). ...

Features of Occitan

Among the diachronic features of Occitan as a Romance language: The adjective diachronic (from Greek elements dia through and chronos time) means historically, over time. It is generally opposed to synchronic. ...

• Unlike in French, stressed Latin A was preserved (Latin mare > Oc. mar, but > Fr. mer).
• Like in French, Latin U changed into [y], shifting around the series of back vowels, [u] > [y], [o] > [u].
• Gascon changed Latin initial [f] into [h] (Latin filiu > Gascon Oc. hilh), like medieval Spanish (possibly under Basque influence).
• Other lenition and palatalisation phenomena shared with the rest of the Western Romance languages, especially with Catalan.

A back vowel is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. ... Gascon (Gascon, ; French, ) is a dialect of the Occitan language. ... Basque (native name: euskara) is the language spoken by the Basque people who inhabit the Pyrenees in North-Central Spain and the adjoining region of South-Western France. ... Lenition is a kind of consonant mutation that appears in many languages. ... Palatalization means pronouncing a sound nearer to the hard palate, making it more like a palatal consonant; this is towards the front of the mouth for a velar or uvular consonant, but towards the back of the mouth for a front (e. ... Catalan IPA: (català IPA: or []) is a Romance language, the national language of Andorra, and a co-official language in the Spanish autonomous communities of Balearic Islands, Catalonia and Valencia (in the latter with the name of Valencian), and in the city of LAlguer in the Italian island of...

Comparison with other Romance languages

Vulgar Latin, as in this political graffito at Pompeii, was the speech of ordinary people of the Roman Empire — different from the classical Latin used by the Roman elite. ...

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.) Look up lexicon in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Definition A lexeme is an abstract unit of morphological analysis in linguistics, that roughly corresponds to a set of words that are the same in basic meaning. ... 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,^[18] 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. 1888 advertisement for Websters Dictionary Websters Dictionary is a common title given to English language dictionaries in the United States, deriving its name from American lexicographer Noah Webster. ...

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. Magazine logo. ...

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, as the vocabulary of the countryside became less important. At the same time, it was disparaged as a patois. Nevertheless, Occitan has also incorporated new words into its lexicon to describe the modern world. The Occitan word for web is oèb, for example. The Industrial Revolution was a major shift of technological, socioeconomic, and cultural conditions that occurred in the late 18th century and early 19th century in some Western countries. ... Patois, although without a formal definition in linguistics, can be used to describe a language considered as nonstandard. ...

Differences between Occitan and Catalan

As detailed above, the separation of Catalan from Occitan is largely politically (rather than linguistically) motivated. However, the variety that has become standard Catalan does differ from that which has become standard Occitan in a number of ways. The following are just a few examples:

• Phonology
  • (Standard) Catalan is unique in that Latin short e developed into a close vowel /e/ (é) and Latin long e developed into an open vowel