Inside France Occitan is a customary name given to accent of Occitan spoken in the South-West when the accent spoken in the South-East come known as Provençal.

In the English-speaking globe, "Provençal" is typically wont to refer to completely idiom of Occitan also when to mediaeval versions of Occitan called "Langue d'oc".

Origin of name

A title Occitan comes from either oc, a medieval Occitan word for yes, as opposed to northern French or even ''langue d'oïl (the ancestor of the modern French oui). A word oc come from either Latin hoc, when oïl originated from either Latin hoc ille.

Linguistic status

Scholars dispute whether Occitan is one language, & a bit of characterize a langues five hundred'oc as a personal of distinct languages like than idiom. When Pierre Bec notes around La langue provencal (1963, p. 48), Gascon and Catalan pose a particular condition around Iberian-Roman classification: "It is difficult [...] to separate Catalan from Occitan if one does not grant the same status to Gascon." A virtually all neutral language would become to speak of the Occitano-Roman'' linguistic class action, inclusive of each Occitan & Catalan.

Traditional Occitan-speaking areas
Aquitaine — excluding the Basque-speaking part of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques in the western section of the department & the little a portion of Gironde where Saintongeais is spoken. A towns of Biarritz, Anglet, and Bayonne were originally Basque-speaking, with Occitan-speaking groups, until their Basque populations grew sharply during a industrial revolution. Midi-Pyrénées Languedoc-Roussillon — excluding the big a share 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. A Mentonasque language is a blend of Occitan (Provençal) and Ligurian. In the independent state of Monaco the Monegasque language, a Ligurian idiom, is spoken despite hard Provençal immigration. Poitou-Charentes — Use of Occitan has declined here, replaced by French. Lone Charente limo, a eastern a portion of the vicinity, has resisted. Limousin the rural region (astir 710 000 indweller) in which Occitan (Lemosin accent, Nord-Occitan personal) is however spoken by a big a share of +65 y.o. category Auvergne — The language's use has declined in the Marche and Basse-Auvergne areas. Rhône-Alpes — While a south of the vicinity is clearly Occitan-speaking, the northern Lyonnais, Forez and Dauphiné parts, which were the medium zones between Occitan & Franco-Provençal, have turn into French-speaking. Piedmont — Italian region in which Occitan is however spoken simply in the high vale. Elsewhere, Italian & the Franco-Provençal idiom dominate. Val d'Aran — part of Catalonia that speaks a mountain dialect of Gascon. Aragon — a small region next to Val 500'Aran & a French border.

Occitan around the world
Occitan-speaking colonies developed within 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 a United States (western states like Idaho and Oregon). Likewise, in the regions of Houma and Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Cajun speakers use the kind of Occitan. Certain colonies however utilize Occitan in todays world, or even a idiom composed of Occitan mixed by owning the local language.

Linguistic characterization
Jules Ronjat hevery bit sought to characterize Occitan by Xix main criteria, when generalized as conceivable. Of people, Eleven come phonetic, Fin morphologic, 1 syntactical, & deuce lexical. Close vowels (French: pâte, rose, yeux) come uncommon or even scatty around Occitan. This characteristic typically carries across to an Occitan speaker's French, leading to the distinctive méridional accent. Unlike French, these are the pro-drop language allowing the omission of the subject (canti: I personally sing; cantas busy people sing). Among these Xix discriminating criteria, Sevener come different from either either either either Spanish, Eighter from decatur from Italian, Twelve from Franco-provençal, & Xvi from French.

Differences between Occitan and Catalan
Orthography differ significantly between them languages, when virtually all writing inside Occitan withinside todays world is in the formulas resembling that utilized in mediaeval days, of Roman origin; an guide models extra closely resembles that of French. Catalonians, then again, apply the patterns centered in their have pronunciation (there are no final 'north' in català, for instance).

A political, ethnical, & religious aspect is important too. Catalonia, in counterpoint to Occitania, has long benefited from either independent statehood attached to hard economic development. In addition, Occitan's territory is usually contained per borders of France, when Catalan's is contained within Spain. Supplementary recently, a languages prove my point to acquire on an individual basis: Catalan's idiom prove my point to approach Spanish, when Occitan's approach French. A significance of French & Spanish in the area of the world weighs heavy in these lesser-spoken languages in the heart of France & Spain.

The Occitano-Roman linguistic group
Despite differences that develop arisen primarily above a retiring couple centuries, Occitan & Catalan remain reciprocally comprehendible. Them peoples part historical, ethnical, & amicable heritage.

A cooperative Occitano-Roman front yard is 259,000 kilometer² & is 23 million speakers. A regions are non compeer around terms of language speakers. Withinside France, those days are gone than the quarter of the people in counted regions speak Occitan swell, though as much as half could know it (Bec, 1969, pp.120–121). Within Catalonia, about ternion living quarters of the people speak Catalan & 95% know it.

Origins of Occitan

Because Occitan is the virtually all central of the Romance languages, external influences could have impeded its birth & development, making it just the feeder of standard Latin. Nevertheless, several factors favorite its development as a language of its have.

Mountains & seas: A range of Occitan is bounded naturally per Mediterranean Sea, the Atlantic Ocean, the Massif Central, the Pyrenees, and a Alps. Buffer zones: Super dry l&, lakes, & areas otherwise visionary for farming and immune of settlement provide farther separation (territory between Loire and Garonne, the Aragon desert plateau). Constant populations: A bit of Occitan-speaking peoples come descended from either population sleep in the area since prehistoric culture (Bec, 1963). Little Celtic influence (Bec, 1963) Ancient & long-semipermanent Roman influence: Julius Caesar once said that the population of Aquitaine could teach the Romans themselves to speak Latin additional aright. Based on data from Müller, "France's linguistic separation began with Roman influence" (Bec, 1963, pp. Xx, Xxi) The 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, Twenty, Twenty-one). Little germanization: "The Frankish lexicon and its phonetic influence often end above the oc/oïl line" (Bec, 1963, Xx, Twenty-one) Kind: Occitanithe has universally been a linguistic intersection, thanks to its commercial importance. A 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)

The language's assets

A rich lexicon

the comparison of terms & word numbers between languages is non convenient, when these are impossible to precisely count the total of words within a language. (View Lexicon, Lexeme, Lexicography for more facts.)

A select few develop claimed as much as 450,000 words survive in the Occitan language, a total like to English (The Webster's Third Just released International Dictionary, Unabridged by owning 1993 addenda reaches 470,000 words, when does a Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition.) A Merriam-Webster Web places estimates that a total is someplace between 250,000 & One million words.

A magazine Géo (2004, p. 79) claims that U.s. English literature may be extra well translated into Occitan than French, excluding modern technical terms that each languages own integrated.

a comparison of the lexical content could locate supplementary subtle differences between the languages. E.g., Occitan has 128 equivalent word related to cultivated l&, 62 for wetlands, and 75 for sunshine (Géo).

A language went across an occultation in the Industrial revolution, as a vocabulary of the countryside became less crucial. At a equivalent instance, it was disparaged under a title Patois.

Speakers of the language, dedicated to keeping Occitan the rich & fit language, keep close at hand developed the modern vocabulary. A Occitan word for web is oèb, e.g.. Thanks to these efforts, a language continues to thrive & international relations and security network't suffering a decline of a single incapable of describing a encompassing globe.

Learning foreign languages

Native speakers of Occitan come predisposed, based on data from Géo magazine (p. 79), to learning more languages. the person ear is capable of hearing sounds around a range of 24,000 hertz, however exclusive have of the maternal language reduces this ability. French speakers perceive sole 5,000 hertz, when Occitan speakers hear across 8,000.

Moreover, Occitan's geographics as a central Romance language facilitates comprehension of neighboring languages (Italian, Spanish, & Portuguese.) Among languages witharound its personal, Occitan has a virtually all points in park by having a others. Following occurs as comparison of Occitan (central accent) by using more Romance languages:

Note that English borrows Latin, French, & Occitan vocabulary. There are numbers of English words from either Occitan that never existed or even own disappeared inside French, like a below: go for it / jumpar, rave (person) / rèva, record / recordar.

Languages or dialects?
A actual utilise of the term Occitan seems like confusing. A bit of authors assume that Occitan occurs as personal of languages, including: Auvergnat (Auvernhat) Gascon Limousin (Lemosin) Languedocian (Lengadoquian) Provençal Aranese Noirais (Negrès) Shuadit or Judeo-Provençal (considered extinct since 1977) which are then seen when separate languages. Béarnais is considered as a dialect of Gascon.

Numbers of linguists & about a lot Occitan writers disagree by using a see that Occitan occurs as personal of languages & believe that Limousin, Auvergnat, Gascon, Languedocien & Provençal, & Alpine Provençal come accent of one language.

Despite a differences around these languages or even accent, virtually all of a speakers might know usage from either the more accent. A equivalent is avowedly just about Catalan, as a select few linguists assume Occitan & Catalan to become ii varieties of the equivalent language.

Within France Occitan is utilized for all the idiom spoken, when Provençal is utilized for a accent spoken in the South-East, the Rhône River (Rose in Occitan) existence close to a border sustaining a notable exception of Nîmes.

A term Provençal is too utilized by English, however based on data from linguistic classification Provençal is just one of a idiom sorted under a label Occitan, a variant of the Provence region, the literary idiom utilized by Frédéric Mistral and the Félibrige.

Linguistic science contradicts the popular belief that Provençal & Occitan come 2 separate languages, a belief that can be traced back to Frédéric Mistral. Despite a fact that Mistral himself was a republican, a agenda of the Felibrige was to promote a revival of the Provençal tongue, which was largely inside contradiction by owning the republican idealistic of reinforcing the unity of France by enforcing the apply of French language to the exclusion of all more languages. a claim that Provençal & Occitan were ii languages wwhen probably processed per conservative members to make sure your not integrating South-West members in a Felibrige as the South-West of France was (& remained for an extended period) a region strongly supporting the left-wing of the republicans.

Provençal is as well utilized as a equivalent word for Occitan.

History of Occitan
Occitan was a vehicle for the number one common poetry of medieval Europe, that of the troubadors. By owning a gradual imposition of French royal power on top its territory, Occitan declined within status from either a 14th century on. Its greatest decline was when you took a French Revolution, where diversity of languages was seen as a threat.

Usage in France

Though it was however an everyday language of virtually all of a rural people of the South swell into the 20th century, it had been replaced inside further formal usage by French. Based on data from a 1999 nose count, there are 610,000 native speakers & maybe a bit of other million souls using some exposure to the language. Native speakers of Occitan come to become discovered mostly in the older generations. Ethnic activism, particularly a Occitan-language preschools, a Calandretas, have reintroduced a language to the young.

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. Inside Italy Occitan is also spoken inside a bit of Alpine valleys of the Province of Cuneo in Piedmont. Occitan-speaking colonies develop existed within Calabria (Italy) since the 14th century, and within Württemberg (Germany) since the 18th century, the latter following of the Camisard war.

Features of Occitan
Among a diachronical features of Occitan as a Romance language: Unlike French, accented The of Latin is preserved (Latin mare > Oc. mar, however > Fr. thousand). Prefer French, changed Latin U to [y] & shifted a series of back vowels U>y, o>u O>o. Gascon changed initial Latin F to aspirated [h] (Latin filiu > Gascon Oc. hilh), such as mediaeval Spanish did (Gascon & Spanish were under Basque influence). More lenition & palatalisation phenomena shared by using more american Romance languages, especially by owning Catalan.

Occitan Orthography
There are deuce orthographies currently used for Occitan, a single (referred to as authoritative) which is according to that of Mediaeval Occitan, & 1 (every now and again referred to as mistralian, due to its apply per Felibres, including Mistral) which is according to modern French writing system. There exists a select few conflict between users of every patterns.

the definitive writing system has a benefit of maintaining a hyperlink sustaining earliest stages of the language, & reflects the fact that Occitan is non a kind of French. It too allows speakers of 1 idiom of Occitan to write understandably for speakers of more idiom (e.g. a Occitan for day is written jorn in the definitive writing system, however can be jour, joun or even journ, based on the writer's origaround, in mistralian writing system).

A mistralian writing technique hwhen a benefit of non forcing Occitan speakers world health organization come already (as is ordinarily a outbreak) literate within French to view an totally recently system. It has besides been utilized by the total of eminent writers, particularly inside Provençal.

A digram lh & new hampshire, utilized in the definitive writing system, were adopted per Portuguese norm.

Dante and Occitan

Dante was a foremost to keep around utilized the term of "''lingua d'oco." He raised a notion of langue five hundred'oc (Occitan), a langue 500'oil (French), & a langue des si'' (Italian). He depending it in both language's have of "yes." In the 1st, "yes" was oc, a 2nd was oil, & si was utilized for the Italian accent. A iii terms come from either Latin: hoc for the foremost, hoc ille for the 2nd, & set for the third.

Occitan quotes
One of a virtually all notable passages of Occitan around American literature occurs in the Twenty-sixth canto of Dante's Purgatorio in which the poet-singer Arnaut Daniel responds to the narrator:

''«Tan m'abellis vostre hernando cortez deman, / qu'ieu there is no maine puesc ni voill the 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, by the aquella heroism / que vos guida a50 som delaware l'escalinthe, / sovenha vos a temporary first state ma dolor»''

A above sentence, translated:

& so pleases pine tree state your computers nice require, / We just can non and I personally might not hide pine tree state from either smart shoppers. / We are Arnaut, world health organization weep & singing last;/ Contrite I personally view a folly of a past, /And joyous watch the hoped-awaited day prior to maine. / So run I personally implore professional people, by that power/ Which guides your family to the summit of the step, / Exist as aware to assuage the suffering!