| Occitano-Romance | |
| Region: | France, Spain, Andorra, Monaco, Italy |
| Familycolor: | Indo-European |
| Fam2: | Italic |
| Fam3: | Latino-Faliscan |
| Fam4: | Latin |
| Fam5: | Romance |
| Fam6: | Italo-Western |
| Fam7: | Western Romance |
| Fam8: | Gallo-Iberian?[1] |
| Fam9: | (unclassified) |
| Child1: | Catalan/Valencian |
| Child2: | Occitan |
| Child3: | Aragonese (possibly) |
| Ancestor: | Old Latin |
| Ancestor2: | Vulgar Latin |
| Ancestor3: | Proto-Romance |
| Ancestor4: | Old Occitan |
| Glotto: | none |
| Map: | Llengües Occitanorromàniques.png |
| Mapcaption: | Occitan in shades of Purple, Catalan in shades of Red and Aragonese in shades of Yellow |
Occitano-Romance (Catalan; Valencian: llengües occitanoromàniques; Occitan (post 1500);: lengas occitanoromanicas; Aragonese: luengas occitanoromanicas) is a branch of the Romance language group that encompasses the Catalan/Valencian, Occitan languages and sometimes Aragonese, spoken in parts of southern France and northeastern Spain.[2] [3]
The group covers the languages of the southern part of France (Occitania including Northern Catalonia), eastern Spain (Catalonia, Valencian Community, Balearic Islands, La Franja, Carche, Northern Aragon), together with Andorra, Monaco, parts of Italy (Occitan Valleys, Alghero, Guardia Piemontese), and historically in the County of Tripoli and the possessions of the Crown of Aragon. The existence of this group of languages is discussed on both linguistic and political bases.
According to some linguists both Occitan and Catalan/Valencian should be considered Gallo-Romance languages. Other linguists concur as regarding Occitan but consider Catalan and Aragonese to be part of the Ibero-Romance languages.
The issue at debate is as political as it is linguistic because the division into Gallo-Romance and Ibero-Romance languages stems from the current nation states of France and Spain and so is based more on territorial criteria than historic and linguistic criteria. One of the main proponents of the unity of the languages of the Iberian Peninsula was Spanish philologist Ramón Menéndez Pidal, and for a long time, others such as Swiss linguist Wilhelm Meyer-Lübke (Das Katalanische, Heidelberg, 1925) have supported the kinship of Occitan and Catalan. Also, due to Aragonese not having been studied as much as both Catalan and Occitan, many people still label it as a Spanish dialect.[4]
From the 8th century to the 13th century, there was no clear sociolinguistic distinction between Occitania and Catalonia. For instance, the Provençal troubadour, Albertet de Sestaró, says: "Monks, tell me which according to your knowledge are better: the French or the Catalans? And here I shall put Gascony, Provence, Limousin, Auvergne and Viennois while there shall be the land of the two kings."[5] In Marseille, a typical Provençal song is called 'Catalan song'.[6]
Aragonese is a language which has not been studied as much as Catalan and Occitan. In many occasions throughout history, people have disregarded it and label it as a Spanish dialect, mainly because of extralinguistic reasons such as its small extension and the fact that it's spoken in rural areas.
The language has been minoritized for centuries and labelled as either a broken dialect or as a second class language. Spanish became the language of prestige right away after the union of Aragon with Castile and the use of Aragonese started to decline. Even though it had been used by the government and administration for many years, it rapidly became a language that was used informally and looked down upon.
This situation of diglossia meant the beginning of a period (that still lasts) of a strong Spanish influence. Many Spanish loanwords entered Aragonese and its evolution from that moment on was tied to Spanish. Some grammatical features documented in medieval Aragonese were lost, such at the usage of the Latin ending Latin: -ŪTUM for the creation of the participle verb forms such as in perduto (lost) instead of Latin: -ĪTUM that ended up being perdito, which later became perdiu in many dialects due to Spanish influence as well. Many of the loanwords that entered Aragonese were names of new concepts, but many others were basic words of the everyday life such as numbers or the days of the week. Aragonese morphology could have been affected as well. One example of the morphological influence of Spanish is the treatment of the terminal Latin vowels -Ĕ, -Ŭ (later -e, -o). Aragonese tends to lose the final unstressed -e that Spanish preserves (compare the word for milk in Aragonese leit and in Spanish leche), while the final -o is maintained more depending on the dialect and the degree of Spanish influence. Some dialects, such as Belsetan, a central dialect, tend to have the apocope of -o when the word ends with -n, -r and -l, such as in camín (path), rar (rare) and pel (hair). However this apocope of -o but also the apocope of -e have been receding in territory and usage, and the final vowels have been reintroduced in many dialects.[7] [8]
On the other hand, the recent studies have allowed us to get a better insight into the core of the Aragonese language. Despite the previously mentioned influence, there are still many features that bring Aragonese closer to both Occitan and Catalan. The lexicon of everyday life is harder to change after being influenced by other languages. The lexicon of plants, animals and the rural life pose a great example of this:[9]
| English | Occitan | Catalan | Aragonese | Spanish | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| oat | Occitan (post 1500);: civada | Catalan; Valencian: civada | Aragonese: cibada ~ Aragonese: cebada | Spanish; Castilian: avena | |
| barley | Occitan (post 1500);: òrdi | Catalan; Valencian: ordi | Aragonese: ordio | Spanish; Castilian: cebada | |
| acorn | Occitan (post 1500);: aglan | Catalan; Valencian: glà | Aragonese: glan | Spanish; Castilian: bellota | |
| rosehip | Occitan (post 1500);: gratacuol | Catalan; Valencian: gavarrera ~ Catalan; Valencian: gavarró | Aragonese: garrabera ~ Aragonese: gabardera | Spanish; Castilian: escaramujo | |
| pomegranate | Occitan (post 1500);: milgrana | Catalan; Valencian: magrana ~ Catalan; Valencian: mangrana | Aragonese: minglana ~ Aragonese: mengrana | Spanish; Castilian: granada | |
| fern | Occitan (post 1500);: falguièra ~ Occitan (post 1500);: feuse | Catalan; Valencian: falguera | Aragonese: feleguera ~ Aragonese: felze | Spanish; Castilian: helecho | |
| squirrel | Occitan (post 1500);: esquiròl | Catalan; Valencian: esquirol | Aragonese: esquirol ~ Aragonese: esquiruelo | Spanish; Castilian: ardilla |
Another example would be the use of the verb "to be". Aragonese and Occitan use one verb for what Catalan and the Ibero-Romance languages use two:
Èster vielha. (to be old, in Aranese Occitan)
Estar viella (to be old)
Ser vella (to be old. In this case ser and estar can't be used indistinctly without altering the meaning)The conjugation of the Aragonese and Occitan forms come close to the conjugation of ser in Catalan, and this sets the three languages apart from the Ibero-Romance languages with the kind of uses that the verb "to be" has. For example with the sentence "We are here" we can see the difference in use of the verb "to be" when used to talk about a location:
Romance languages form what it is called a linguistic continuum. Each language within this continuum tends to be linked to another via a dialect that shares many traits with the other language. Usually these dialects are far enough from the standard forms of the two languages they link, and sometimes they can be difficult to classify as a dialect of language X or language Y. Between Aragonese and Catalan there is a linguistic variety called Ribagorçan. This constitutive dialect makes a clean transition between Aragonese and Catalan. Some linguists consider that it belongs to the Aragonese language, some others that it belongs to the Catalan language and some others that it constitutes a micro-language on its own.[10] Nowadays, most of the dialect is considered to be Aragonese and it is recognized as such by the regional governments. The matter is that the Ribagorçan variety has more characteristics that take it closer to Catalan than other Aragonese dialects. Therefore some of the people that argue that Ribagorçan is Catalan, could argue that it should be classified alongside Catalan.
It's important to note that, unlike between Aragonese and Catalan, there isn't a constitutive dialect between Aragonese and Spanish. There was during the medieval times two linguistic varieties (Riojan and Navarrese respectively) between old Spanish and old Aragonese. However these two varieties were replaced by Spanish and the dialect continuum was broken between the Ibero-Romance languages and Aragonese plus the other Romance languages.
Most linguists separate Catalan and Occitan, but both languages have been treated as one in studies by Occitan linguists attempting to classify the dialects of Occitan in supradialectal groups, such is the case of Pierre Bec[11] and, more recently, of Domergue Sumien.[12]
Both join together in an Aquitano-Pyrenean or Pre-Iberian group including Catalan, Gascon and a part of Languedocien, leaving the rest of Occitan in one (Sumien: Arverno-Mediterranean) or two groups (Bec: Arverno-Mediterranean, Central Occitan).
The answer to the question of whether Gascon or Catalan should be considered dialects of Occitan or separate languages has long been a matter of opinion or convention, rather than based on scientific ground. However, two recent studies support Gascon's being considered a distinct language. For the very first time, a quantifiable, statistics-based approach was applied by Stephan Koppelberg in attempt to solve this issue.[13] Based on the results he obtained, he concludes that Catalan, Occitan, and Gascon should all be considered three distinct languages. More recently, Y. Greub and J.P. Chambon (Sorbonne University, Paris) demonstrated that the formation of Proto-Gascon was already complete at the eve of the 7th century, whereas Proto-Occitan was not yet formed at that time.[14] These results induced linguists to do away with the conventional classification of Gascon, favoring the "distinct language" alternative. Both studies supported the early intuition of late Kurt Baldinger, a specialist of both medieval Occitan and medieval Gascon, who recommended that Occitan and Gascon be classified as separate languages.[15] [16]
Most of the differences of the vowel system stem from neutralizations that take place on unstressed syllables.In both languages a stressed syllable has a great number of possible different vowels,while phonologically different vowels end up being articulated in the same way in an unstressed syllable.Although this neutralization is common to both languages, the details differ markedly. In Occitan the form of neutralization depends on whether a vowel is pretonic (before the stressed syllable) or posttonic (after the stressed syllable). For example pronounced as //ɔ// articulates as pronounced as /[u]/ in pretonic position and as pronounced as /[o]/ in posttonic position, and only as pronounced as /[ɔ]/ in stressed position.In contrast neutralization in Catalan is the same regardless of the position of the unstressed syllable (although it differs from dialect to dialect). Many of these changes happened in the 14th or late 13th century.
Slightly older are the palatalizations present in Occitan before a palatal or velar consonant:
| Occitan | Catalan | English | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Occitan (post 1500);: vièlha | Catalan; Valencian: vella | Old | |
| Occitan (post 1500);: mièg | Catalan; Valencian: mig | Middle/Half | |
| Occitan (post 1500);: ieu | Catalan; Valencian: jo | I | |
| Occitan (post 1500);: seguir | Catalan; Valencian: seguir | To follow | |
| Occitan (post 1500);: fuèlha | Catalan; Valencian: fulla | Leaf |
The diphthongs and also set all these three languages apart, having each language different patterns and systems. Most of these come from the diphthongisation of Latin words with monophthongs, such as the descendants of the words like Latin: FĒSTA (party) or Latin: OCULUS (eye), or the monophthongization of Latin words that already had a diphthong, like Latin: CAUSA (thing). Some examples:
| English | Catalan | Occitan | Aragonese | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| eye | Catalan; Valencian: ull | Occitan (post 1500);: uèlh | Aragonese: uello | |
| leaf | Catalan; Valencian: fulla | Occitan (post 1500);: fuèlha | Aragonese: fuella | |
| bridge | Catalan; Valencian: pont | Occitan (post 1500);: pont | Aragonese: puent | |
| party | Catalan; Valencian: festa | Occitan (post 1500);: fèsta | Aragonese: fiesta | |
| thing | Catalan; Valencian: cosa | Occitan (post 1500);: causa | Aragonese: cosa | |
| few, little | Catalan; Valencian: poc | Occitan (post 1500);: pauc | Aragonese: poco |
A noticeable difference heard by speakers of Catalan and Aragonese is the use of rounded vowels in Occitan. Both Catalan and Aragonese lack rounded vowels. However Occitan has /y/ and /œ/ in words like luna and fuèlha respectively.
The treatment of the Latin geminate -nn- also differs in Occitan. While Catalan and Aragonese tend to reduce the -nn- into a [ɲ] while in Occitan it turned into a [n]:
On another page, while Occitan uses exclusively the simple past tense, Catalan (most dialects) and Aragonese (Eastern dialects) use another past tense called the periphrastic past. This tense is made of the sum of the conjugation of the verb to go plus the verb performing the action in infinitive form:| English | Catalan | Aragonese | Occitan | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| I bought | Catalan; Valencian: vaig comprar | Aragonese: va crompar ~ Aragonese: voi crompar | Occitan (post 1500);: crompèri | |
| you bought | Catalan; Valencian: vas comprar | Aragonese: vas crompar | Occitan (post 1500);: crompères | |
| he/she bought | Catalan; Valencian: va comprar | Aragonese: va crompar | Occitan (post 1500);: crompèt | |
| we bought | Catalan; Valencian: vam comprar | Aragonese: vam crompar ~ Aragonese: vom crompar | Occitan (post 1500);: crompèrem | |
| you bought | Catalan; Valencian: vau comprar | Aragonese: vaz crompar ~ Aragonese: voz crompar | Occitan (post 1500);: crompèretz | |
| they bought | Catalan; Valencian: van comprar | Aragonese: van crompar | Occitan (post 1500);: crompèron |
Something that sets apart Aragonese and some Catalan dialects (such as central Valencian or Ribagorçan Catalan) from Occitan and most of the Catalan dialects is the devoicing or desonorization that happened in the former group. Phonemes such as /dʒ/ and /z/, which were replaced by /tʃ/ and /θ/.
Aragonese is the only of the three languages to have the -mbr- consonant cluster between vowels. Note that Ribagorçan tend to lose them as well:
Catalan also has some things that sets it apart from the other two is the palatalization of the initial L. From /l/ to /ʎ/.[17]
| English | Catalan | Occitan | Aragonese | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| tongue | Catalan; Valencian: llengua | Occitan (post 1500);: lenga | Aragonese: luenga ~ Aragonese: lengua | |
| to read | Catalan; Valencian: llegir | Occitan (post 1500);: legir | Aragonese: leyer |
It is important to note those dialects of Aragonese that palatalize the consonant clusters mentioned before, also palatalize the initial L:
| English | Catalan | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Tongue | Catalan; Valencian: llengua | Aragonese: lluenga ~ Aragonese: llengua | |
| to read | Catalan; Valencian: llegir | Aragonese: llechir ~ Aragonese: lleyer |
Another trait is the use of the descendants of the pronoun Latin: EGO when used as the object of a preposition. Most Catalan dialects and the Ibero-Romance languages distinguish between the pronoun used as a subject Latin: EGO and the object of a preposition Latin: MIHĪ̆, while both Aragonese and Occitan use the descendant of Latin: EGO:
| English | Catalan | Occitan | Aragonese | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| I | Catalan; Valencian: jo | Occitan (post 1500);: ieu | Aragonese: yo | |
| (with) me | Catalan; Valencian: amb '''mi''' | Occitan (post 1500);: amb '''ieu''' | Aragonese: con '''yo''' |
Variations in the spellings and pronunciations of numbers in several Occitano-Romance dialects:[18] [19]
| Numeral | Occitan | Catalan | Aragonese[20] | PROTO- OcRm | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Northern Occitan | Western Occitan | Eastern Occitan | Eastern Catalan | Northwestern Catalan | ||||||
| Limousin | Gascon | Provençal | ||||||||
| 1 | pronounced as /vyn / vynɐ/ vun / vunå | pronounced as /ỹ / ynɔ/ un / una | pronounced as /y / yo/ un / ua | pronounced as /yᵑ / ynɒ/ un / una | pronounced as /yŋ / yno/ un / una | pronounced as /un / unə/ un / una | pronounced as /un / una/ un / una | pronounced as /un~uno / una/ un~uno / una | pronounced as /
| |
| 2 | pronounced as /du / dua/ dou / duas | pronounced as /du / dua/ dos / doas | pronounced as /dys / dyos/ dus / duas | pronounced as /dus / duɒs/ dos / doas | pronounced as /dus / duas/ dous / douas | pronounced as /dos / duəs/ dos / dues | pronounced as /dos/dues/ dos / dues | pronounced as /dos / duas/ dos / duas | pronounced as /
| |
| 3 | pronounced as /tʀei/ trei | pronounced as /trei/ tres | pronounced as /tres/ tres | pronounced as /tʁɛs/ tres | pronounced as /tʀes/ tres | pronounced as /trɛs/ tres | pronounced as /trɛs/ tres | pronounced as /tɾes/ tres | pronounced as /
| |
| 4 | pronounced as /katʀə/ catre | pronounced as /katre/ quatre | pronounced as /kwatə/ quatre | pronounced as /katʁe/ quatre | pronounced as /katʀə/ quatre | pronounced as /kwatrə/ quatre | pronounced as /kwatre/ quatre | pronounced as /kwatre~kwatro/ quatre / quatro | pronounced as /
| |
| 5 | pronounced as /ʃin/ sin | pronounced as /ʃin/ cinc | pronounced as /siŋk/ cinq | pronounced as /siŋk/ cinc | pronounced as /siŋ/ cinq | pronounced as /siŋ / siŋk/ cinc | pronounced as /siŋ / siŋk/ cinc | pronounced as /θiŋko~θiŋk/ cinco / cinc | pronounced as /
| |
| 6 | pronounced as /ʃei/ siei | pronounced as /ʃiei/ sieis | pronounced as /ʃeis/ sheis | pronounced as /si̯ɛi̯s/ sièis | pronounced as /siei/ sieis | pronounced as /sis/ sis | pronounced as /sis/ sis | pronounced as /seis~sieis/ seis / sieis | pronounced as /
| |
| 7 | pronounced as /se/ sé | pronounced as /ʃe/ sèt | pronounced as /sɛt/ sèt | pronounced as /sɛt/ sèt | pronounced as /sɛ/ sèt | pronounced as /sɛt/ set | pronounced as /sɛt/ set | pronounced as /siet~sɛt/ siet / set | pronounced as /
| |
| 8 | pronounced as /vø/ veu | pronounced as /jɥe/ uèch | pronounced as /weit/ ueit | pronounced as /y̯ɛt͡ʃ / y̯ɛi̯t/ uèch / uèit | pronounced as /vɥe/ vue | pronounced as /buit / vuit/ vuit | pronounced as /vuit / wit/ vuit / huit | pronounced as /weito~weit/ ueito / ueit | pronounced as /
| |
| 9 | pronounced as /niø~nou/ nieu~nou | pronounced as /nɔu/ nòu | pronounced as /nau/ nau | pronounced as /nɔu̯/ nòu | pronounced as /nu/ nòu | pronounced as /nɔu/ nou | pronounced as /nɔu/ nou | pronounced as /nweu~nɔu/ nueu / nou | pronounced as /
| |
| 10 | pronounced as /die~de/ dié~dé | pronounced as /diɛ~de/ detz | pronounced as /dɛt͡s/ dètz | pronounced as /dɛt͡s/ dèts | pronounced as /dɛs/ dès | pronounced as /dɛu/ deu | pronounced as /dɛu/ deu | pronounced as /dieθ~deu/ diez / deu | pronounced as /
| |
The numbers 1 and 2 have both feminine and masculine forms agreeing with the object they modify.