Occitan

Occitan is a Romance language spoken mainly in southern France, and also in Monaco, in the Aran Valley (Val d'Aran) in northern Spain, and in the Occitan Valleys (Valadas Occitanas) in Italy. There are perhaps 1.5 million people who speak Occitan in their daily lives, while 5 or 6 million people are able to speak the language. The majority of speakers are elderly and live in rural areas. There are six dialects of Occitan: Provençal, Gascon, Languedocien, Limousin, Alpine and Auvergne.

Occitan first began to appear in writing during the 10th century and was used particularly to write the poetry of the troubdours. The troubadours performed their poetry of love, satire and war in the courts of kings and nobles all over France, Spain and other countries in Europe.

When France became a unified country in the 15th century, the language of the French court, langue d'oïl, was favoured over Occitan and other regional languages, which went into decline. Langue d'oïl developed into modern French.

A revival in interest in Occitan started during the 19th century, largely thanks to poet, Frédéric Mistral (1830-1914), who wrote the much-admired long poem Mireiò and worked to standardise written Occitan. Mistral was adwarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1904.

Today there is one weekly newspaper La Setmana, and one monthly magazine Prouvènço d'Aro written entirely in Occitan. Some of the popular regional newspapers, such as La Dépêche du Midi publish columns in Occitan. There are also cultural and/or political magazines and reviews such as L'Occitan, and bilingual ones such as Aquo d'Aqui and Monde en Óc. There are also a few Occitan radio and TV programmes.

Occitan is taught in about 40 primary and secondary schools in southern France, and is also used as a medium of instruction, along with French, in some schools in the Midi-Pyrénées region.

In the Occitan-speaking part of Spain, the Aran Valley, Occitan has co-official status with Spanish and Catalan and is used in official documents, on road signs and as a medium of instruction in schools. The local government also provides financial support for the publication of books in Occitan.

Occitan alphabet (standard pronunciation)

Languedocien (Lengadocian)

Languedocien is spoken in Languedoc, Rouergue, Quercy, Agenais and Southern Périgord in southern France. About 10% of the people in Languedoc are fluent in the language, and another 20% understand the language to some extent. All speak French as their first or second language. Most speakers are over 50 and live in rural areas.

Pronunciation of Languedocian

Notes

b = [b] at the beginning of a word/[β] elsewhere

c = [s] before i or e/but [k] elsewhere

g = [ʤ] before i or e/but [g] elsewhere

r is not pronounced at the ends of words

m = [n] at the end of a word. [m] elsewhere

mp = [n] at the end of a word

Sample texts

Langue d'oc / Languedocien (Lengadocian)

Totas las personas naisson liuras e egalas en dignitat e en drech. Son dotadas de rason e de consciéncia e lor cal agir entre elas amb un esperit de frairesa.

A recording of this text by Micaèl Gabrièl Belièr Mesnièr

Auvergnat (Auvernhat)

Totas las personas naisson liuras e egalas en dignitat e en dreit. Son dotadas de rason e de consciéncia e lor chau (/fau) agir entre elas amb un esperit de frairesa.

Gascon

Totas las personas que naishen liuras e egaus en dignitat e en dreit. Que son dotadas de rason e de consciéncia e que'us cau agir enter eras dab un esperit de hrairessa.

Limousin (Lemosin)

Totas las personas naisson liuras e egalas en dignitat e en drech. Son dotadas de rason e de consciéncia e lor chau (/fau) agir entre elas emb un esperit de frairesa.

Provençal (Provençau)

Totei lei personas naisson liuras e egalas en dignitat e en drech. Son dotadas de rason e de consciéncia e li cau (/fau) agir entre elei amb un esperit de frairesa.

Nice (Niçard)

Toti li personas naisson liuri e egali en dignitat e en drech. Son dotadi de rason e de consciéncia e li cau agir entre eli emb un esperit de frairesa.

Vivaro-Alpine (Vivaroalpenc, Vivaroaupenc)

Totas las personas naisson liuras e egalas en dignitat e en drech. Son dotaas de rason e de consciéncia e lor chal agir entre elas amb un esperit de fraternitat.

Translation

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

(Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)

Sample videos in Occitan

Langue d'oc / Languedocien

Auvergnat

Gascon

Provençal

Vivaro-Alpine

Information about Occitan | Phrases | Kinship terms | Learning materials

Links

Information about Occitan

http://occitanet.free.fr

http://perso.wanadoo.fr/christian.esteve/

http://www.panoccitan.org

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occitan_language

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occitan_alphabet

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occitan_phonology

Occitan courses and lessons

http://eurotalk.com/fr/resources/learn/occitan

http://www.crdp-montpellier.fr/occitan/direenoc.htm

http://www.aprenemloccitan.com

Online Occitan dictionaries

http://www.freelang.net/online/occitan.php

http://lengadoc.chez.com/lexic_medieval.htm

Online radio in Occitan

http://www.radiolengadoc.com/

http://www.imagine-tours.net/RadioCoupoSanto.html

Online news in Occitan

http://www.aquodaqui.info

L'association Convergéncia occitana

http://www.ostaldoccitania.net

Information about the use of Occitan in education (en français)

http://www.tarn.fr/Fr/Documents/Culture/

Schema_Departemental_Occitan.pdf

Romance languages

Aragonese, Aranese, Aromanian, Asturian, Catalan, Corsican, Dalmatian, Emilian-Romagnol, Extremaduran, Fala, Franco-Provençal, French, Friulian, Galician, Gallo, Gascon, Genoese, Guernésiais, Istriot, Italian, Jèrriais, Ladino, Ladin, Lombard, Lorrain, Megleno-Romanian, Mirandese, Moldovan, Monégasque, Mozarabic, Neapolitan, Occitan, Picard, Piedmontese, Portuguese, Romanian, Romansh, Sardinian, Sicilian, Spanish, Venetian, Walloon

Languages written with the Latin alphabet

Why not share this page:

report this ad

If you need to type in many different languages, the Q International Keyboard can help. It enables you to type almost any language that uses the Latin, Cyrillic or Greek alphabets, and is free.

If you like this site and find it useful, you can support it by making a donation via PayPal or Patreon, or by contributing in other ways. Omniglot is how I make my living.

Note: all links on this site to Amazon.com , Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.fr are affiliate links. This means I earn a commission if you click on any of them and buy something. So by clicking on these links you can help to support this site.