Provençal Language

Provençal Language, also referred to as Occitan or langue d'oc, Indo-European language spoken fluently in the southern third of France (particularly Provence) by around 250,000. In addition, some 800,000 French citizens claim to have some knowledge of the language. It is also spoken by around 100,000 bilinguals in Italy, and 4,500 émigrés from France living in Monaco. Since it was a standard and literary language in France and northern Spain, Provençal developed an eminent literature between the 11th and 15th centuries, including the poems of the troubadours. It extended significantly north of its present speech region, and its standard literary dialect (langue d'oc) bridged many local dialects. This literary language began to wane after France established dominion over the south in the 14th century. In the 19th century the poet Frédéric Mistral led a movement to establish a modern standard literary Provençal. In a move to preserve regional heritage and culture, the French government in 1993 instructed state schools to start teaching Provençal and other indigenous languages, although no one dialect of Provençal has been widely established as the standard.

Provençal is part of the Oc sub-group from the Gallo-Iberian branch of Romance languages, along with five other regional French languages: Auvergnat, Limousin, Gascon, Languedocien, and Shuadit (now extinct). However, there are differing opinions (among linguists and speakers alike) as to whether some of these varieties are in fact languages or are dialects of Provençal and more study is needed in order to settle the highly sensitive matter. Provençal is reportedly unintelligible to speakers of Languedocien, but both are said to be understood in part by Gascon speakers, and Limousin is partly intelligible with Provençal. Although Provençal is sometimes referred to as Occitan or langue d’oc, it is the Languedocien language (or dialect) that is intended by these terms and this language is closest to the Medieval Occitan spoken by the troubadours. Known dialects of Provençal are Transalpin, Niçard, Marseillais, Gavot, Rhodanien, and Dauphinois. Although Provençal has been increasingly influenced by the French language, its structure is closer to that of Spanish and Catalan. The term Franco-Provençal refers to another Gallo-Iberian language, from the Oïl sub-group, spoken north-east of the Provençal area, extending slightly into Switzerland and Italy.

Selected statistical data from Ethnologue: Languages of the World, SIL International.